To explain to people dyslexia isn't just about jumbled words when you read

[BumpowderSneezeonAndSnot]

The jumbled letters is one aspect (for me the page swims making it hard to read rather than what people stereotypically think of as dyslexic reading).

It affects memory, processing speed, organisation, spatial awareness, and concentration levels among other things.

I like to think of myself as an intelligent woman but have to work extremely hard to overcome my issues. My organisationso skills I've had to work extremely hard at and put strategies in place in the workplace, my processing speed I have to explain to people I can't just read an email or report and ping a response straight back to them, my spatial awareness can be an issue when driving (I always er on caution and don't attempt to get through a gap or go for a space if I think I can't do it).

On the plus side I am extraordinarily creative as many people with dyslexia are!

Just wanted to say that there are many ways it affects people!

I agree. I have a high IQ, don’t see jumbled letters as much as the white space between letters seems to expand, and need a few seconds longer to process than other people. I also have to apply conscious thought to writing by hand which makes everything a million times slower in my degree (if only I could take exams via computer!).

DD and ds both can read but in comprehension they will understand perfectly what is going on in the piece and verbally be able to answer questions on the piece but ask them to write the answers down and there is a block between head and pen.

I work with kids with dyslexia as part of my job. I'm trying to get school to use this as I was hoping it might help a bit.

I thinks "Dys" conditions are really misunderstood in general arn't they? It is a daily stuggle,If they were called processing disorders or disabilities people might understand how complex having a dys .. can be.

I also have to apply conscious thought to writing by hand which makes everything a million times slower in my degree (if only I could take exams via computer!).

@RavingRoo
Is there a reason why you can't? Where I work this is a common adjustment for students with additional needs.

The dyslexia font is good. You can get it on Kindle. My daughter takes a Kindle to school to reading using that font, rather than using the schools reading books.

YANBU at all. DS is like you, swimming letters, lines appear to transpose, not letters. His working memory and processing speed are awful. He has managed to learn techniques to handle the organisation aspects but his concentration is atrocious.

Thanks, You - I shall try that out on DS tonight and see if he finds it easier to read!

raving have you looked into Irlens syndrome? It was suggested in high school that I had dyslexia but wasn’t formally tested.

In uni was re assessed and they said I didn’t gave dyslexia but Irlens Syndrome and now have glasses with specific tinted lenses.

They help when reading as the white spaces between words no longer move.

IF the letters are jumping around have you considered irlen’s syndrome? Colour tint glasses might help. Www.happyeye.co.uk There is a visual stress test to see which colour works best for you. A boy in one of my glasses got two pairs recently and is really pleased with them. The coloured over-lay wasnt working for him as he kept forgetting it. Or print documents on to a coloured paper that works for you. Not white! Im mainly printing on purple or blue.

Can you change the font on computer docs work to more dyslexia friendly Ones? AND change the screen background so it isnt white?

Raving you need to speak to someone at uni about the processing time etc. Get an assessment as you might be able to word process the exams. My gcse class all have 25% extra processing time, also readers and / or scribes. Two have extra time and a word processor.

I imagine there are lots of adults wrongly diagnosed with dyslexia when in fact they have irlens.

Funnily enough I have a coloured screen over my work monitor

DS has just turned 7 so hopefully we can begin checking for dyslexia soon. His memory for information is fantastic, but learning to read has been a slow process. He swaps sounds so a word like "church" could be written as hcurhc possibly with backwards letters or alternative sounds mixed in. His vocabulary is good, last year his teacher was puzzling over dungloo which turned out to be bungalow as it wasn't an obvious word to decipher. He loves examining diagrams in non fiction.

At home, personal organisation is tough going not helped by him tending to be distracted by his topic of interest, usually Lego, so his fine motor control is at least good in that department. Eating is uncordinated, food still scattered everywhere like a toddler despite the fact that virtually every meal he's ever eaten has been at a dinner table.

It's frustrating when his younger sibling manages things like eating neatly much sooner, and I have to remind myself that it may well be a genuine difficulty, not a choice and to be patient with him while not excusing it and letting it be, not encouraging development.

We talk about what he finds tricky, and he fortunately has good self esteem because he knows what he's good at and doesn't feel held back by his challenges. School is good at seeing him for who he is and have some helpful interventions in place already.

Interestingly, at a recent routine eye test the optician noticed he was picking up letters from the lines below and above- probably why he started seeing them as a result of the pre-school check.

Urgent's post reminds me of another thing that's annoying - people latching onto "one symptom in particular" and refusing to see that there are other ways of expressing the condition. So, for instance, every time I raise DS's dyslexia with school his teacher just says "oh but his handwriting is beautiful." Unlike Urgent's DS, mine has never had issues with fine motor skills - though his handwriting is painfully slow.

His problems are working memory and (to a lesser extent) processing speed. Which is why his teacher's insistence on timed tests for times tables is totally screwing his confidence with maths (he can do his times tables fine, verbally, and with no time pressure - get him to write out the answers with an insistence that he get 20 questions right in 3 minutes and he falls to pieces). It's also why it's less than helpful when he asks her to explain the work she's just set and she shouts at him for not paying attention first time round (despite the fact that one of the specific recommendations in his EP report is to be prepared to explain complex sets of instructions several times as he may not get them first time round).

But apparently everything's all right and I'm just "that parent" because his handwriting is beautiful.

I have dyslexia and although I have a postgraduate degree in a STEM subject I know I come across stupid to most people. It takes slightly longer for me to process what someone has said to me and the blank stare I give back causes people to underestimate me. It is very frustrating as I know I'm not stupid.

My dd has dyspraxia and irlens syndrome it is also called visual stress she got tinted lenses a few years ago she wasn't diagnosed untill she was 16 and almost left school sadly.

My 11 year old daughter has the processing speed aspect.

It’s not easy to explain or see.

She wasn’t given any tips on dealing with it.

No one in our circle has heard of this variable

Lots of these sound like Irlens...

Surely the educational psychologist or optician will have picked up on that?

YANBU. I'm dyslexic and dyspraxic, and I don't get the jumbled letters either, or the inability to spell correctly. I don't need the coloured overlays on text, but I have trouble tracking when reading and my eyes jump off the lines all the time. This slows my reading down dreadfully, although I can use a screen ruler on my PC when it's particularly bad, or follow with my finger when reading a book. My spacial awareness is a bit off in some ways (unless I'm really careful I do at times bump into door frames or knock my elbows on things) but not in others (I have no problem with driving and am an ace at parking). My processing speed and working memory are crap, I have attention issues and find it hard to focus on certain tasks, sometimes lose my train of thought half way through writing or speaking a sentence, but I'm not unintelligent at all, just take a bit longer than normal to get my ideas out or to remember stuff.

My favourite(!) thing is when people learn I am dyslexic (extremely so) and then start speaking to me slower and louder. Never mind the fact that I am highly likely to be the most intelligent person in the room and I excel in my professional field, can read write and spell very well and work in a financial field despite having dyscalculia. Or when they tell me I can't read write or spell because I'm dyslexic despite them having worked with me for years and having lots of evidence. Fuckers.

I also have irlen syndrome, it's not recognised officially in its own right as I understand it, only as part of dyslexia. When I went to get my coloured glasses made the optician was agog as the right colour increases my reading efficiency from average to something silly like 350% above "normal"! It's such an easy thing to test for at home now, ten yrs ago it was expensive to get all the resources but now you can buy a pack of all the coloured overlays for not very much and see if it helps. I also couldn't get overlays for my monitors back then and those are available now, must organise myself one of them!

DS had just been to the opticians and I mentioned he's being tested for dyslexia and he he found what he expected

We'll see if they make a difference

Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia have pretty much stunted my career progression and earning potential, they affect my everyday life in ways people who don’t suffer can’t imagine.
I’m on anti depressants because I’m so emotionally done with having processing disorders. I can’t even explain what I mean properly here because I can’t remember/work out what I need to say. I’m perpetually frustrated with myself!😫😫😫😫

I had been taking dd back and forward to the optition for years as she had been saying she couldn't make out the white board. it was a recently qualified optition whos university who had an irlens clinic suggested she might have it and referred her to the hospital so it isn't always simple getting diagnosis it is so frustrating.

I've a also looked at the font - shame the examples are on white background! Especially when the explanation is on yellow