this is my blog

let me start by saying that i have spent quite a bit of time reading about my learning disability. i felt by becoming educated about it i could somehow help kick it. i did not kick it but i did learn to better cope with and feel comfortable with the condition.

when i try to describe to people the issues i have, especially currently, i tend to get responses like “you should try concentrating harder or reading words more slowly.” i also get the “oh, everyone struggles with that so it’s not really a big deal” a.k.a. “you are not dyslexic you are just dramatic”

history and current issues: they first “diagnosed” me with dyslexia in 2nd or 3rd grade. i was having both behavioral and academic trouble in classes. this is when they found out i had a severe near sidedness. once this was corrected, things got a bit better, with the exception of the new nickname of “four-eyes.” i do not recall particular instances that caused them to notice i was still having issues but my parents were called in for a conference with my teacher and i. i recall having to write my alphabet and numbers. i then recall, not sure if it was the same meeting or a different one, my teacher explaining the difference drawing a 4 and a 9. i think i was using the same symbol for both and this was an issue in handwriting and in math. from third grade until sixth grade i had to do additional handwriting assignments that other students did not have to do. occasionally my class would have an in-class project but i would not get to participate and had to sit somewhere else in the class and practice handwriting. this was embarrassing for me. my coping mechanism for handwriting is to write in all caps. every letter is significantly different from one another which helps a great deal. i still to this day have the cursive penmanship of a small child.

as i mentioned in the post before this one, the primary issue with my dyslexia currently is reading comprehension and recollection of detail. generally speaking, i average about 20 pages per hour when i read and it is a very exhausting experience. this is painfully slow especially considering how little information i retain. i still find it challenging to describe what it is like for me to read. largely this is because i do not have another perspective to compare it to. i feel like words to me are like objects or more like heireoglyfics as opposed to seeing letters that form words that have meanings. visually, my eyes tend to be drawn more to the white space in and around letters and word spaces instead of the actual stroke of the letter. my coping mechanisms include: reading on paper, reading on my computer with the text blown up really big, laying a colored transparent sheet over the text i’m reading, reading out loud, and walking around while i’m reading. side effects include being a highly intelligent, hard working student that makes c’s; never being able to pursue an interest that involves a solid math base (like my desire to be a computer scientist, seriously)

**If you know of anyone dyslexic and want to share this, please do. I would love feedback and to hear other peoples stories.**