ADULT DYSLEXIA: Difficulties, Professional Assessment, Contacts for Advice, Self-help & Action Remedies

If you are dyslexic, please ask a trusted friend or family member to read this with or for you. It is intended to help you deal with reading and writing difficulties.

Help for dyslexic children and students is widely available these days, if sometimes slow in materialising! There are contacts and advice available for parents; schools and experts can provide assessments. However........

An adult with reading/writing difficulties is not so well catered for and has added problems:

• difficulties have not been recognised in school, so no support
• this affects their working lives & self-esteem, even to the point of suicide
• they feel abandoned, lonely, left to struggle, desperate
• they might not even know they’re dyslexic; they’ve just been labelled slow, lazy...

Just knowing that the problem has a name and that support is available can be a breakthrough! It can be totally life-changing.

Dyslexic yourself? Know someone who is?

Either way, I'm hoping the following will help.

Remember! If you are an adult with reading and/or writing difficulties -

• it is NOT your fault
• you are no less important to your family or to society - you have skills & talents
• there is help out there - contacts & associations for information & advice
• there are simple screening tests for analysis
• there are ways to help you cope; self-help and adult literacy projects
• talk to a good friend about it - s/he might help you - most people already know a dyslexic
• don’t be afraid to seek advice or help
• writing can be done by others - spelling can be done by a spellchecker
• reading CAN improve

Let’s look at those points one at a time.

Our society is based on literacy. It is tough, very tough, extremely tough, if you have to fight your way through the day trying to cope with reading difficulties.

I don't mean reading newspapers, magazines or fiction. I’m talking about

• shop signs,
• road signs,
• bus timetables,
• information at a station,
• danger signs!
• not to mention office memos, emails, order sheets..........

Look around! How many examples of written information exist

• in your house,
• in your street,
• when you go out and about,
• when you travel.

How much paperwork do you deal with at work? How much information are you required to write down - taking notes, info on the phone, memos to others....?

It's not your fault society is this way, neither is your distribution of genes. For that is what makes you dyslexic; it's usually hereditary. It is possible to acquire dyslexia (through an accident, head trauma and the like) though this is a much less common cause.

The easiest way to think of dyslexia is as if it’s a wiring circuit in your head - the circuit is wired slightly differently to those who are not dyslexic. The wiring affects the paths which information goes down when it is processed; it might take a longer way round, it might take a totally different route, but it gets there eventually.

Here's the process:

• Information is provided -
• you take it in by listening or reading -
• you process it -
• it goes into your short-term memory.
• to get into long-term memory information has to be ‘rehearsed’, to be read or listened to again and again, for it to stick. A good way to remember information is to discuss it or pass it on to someone else.

Ok, so reading isn’t your thing. I bet you can do other things really well!

• Can you make things?
• Do you have brilliant ideas?
• Can you draw or paint?
• Can you design well?
• Are you good at decorating or building?
• Do you have good social skills?

Your family love you. You may have a spouse and children; they love you. You are good at being a spouse, a parent, a friend. What’s more important - being able to read or having a loving family and friends? Yes, reading would be good but someone is there to help and support you.

Celebrate those things which you CAN do. This is your self-worth, your self-esteem and you deserve it.

(Give yourself points for what you CAN do - give yourself a treat or reward for every 2, or 5, or 10 points.)

There are associations which have information and advice to help you. In Britain there is the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) and Dyslexia Action. There are also sites for the USA and other countries. See below for these links.

There are also local groups who might be able to help. The BDA have a list of local associations. In some areas there are drop-ins (like Taunton every first Saturday of the month - see SDA below). Local colleges usually have Adult Literacy classes or, if you want individual attention there is usually a list of tutors at your local dyslexia associations.

Don’t underestimate the value of family and friends. You can actually make it fun to look at words together and I bet you’ll find they make mistakes too!

It helps to know:

• any family history of dyslexia or
• details regarding your birth, such as any complications, and
• early development, such as whether you had difficulty tying shoelaces, were late walking, or maybe regularly mis-pronounced words
• if you have difficulties in areas like Maths, coordination and motor skills (fine skills such as ease of holding a pen, writing legibly, control of movements).

There is a simple list of questions you can start with, on the BDA site, which can give you an indication of dyslexia.

Go to: http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/

then either: click the ‘Dyslexia Test’ option on the top line

or: click on the ‘About Dyslexia’ option, then ‘Adults & Employment’ then ‘Adult Checklist’ in the left column

If you have any difficulty reading or negotiating the site, then ask a trusted friend or family member to help to read it with you.

Should you find that the term ‘dyslexic’ seems to apply to you, then a more in-depth assessment might suit you, depending on how much help you need, for example, if you need to obtain a grant to help you.

The main grant in England is what’s called (rather contentiously, I think) the ‘Disabled Students’ Grant’. It does, however, mean that you can apply for money to help with any studies - for equipment, travel expenses and the like. I have been surprised that many people do not know it exists; unfortunately it’s not widely publicised. It does take a while to have an assessment and apply for the grant but if you need it, go for it! There are various other grants available about which the BDA or your local association can advise you.

If you want to raise your reading ability,

• look carefully at any words you're not sure about,
• take off any common endings like ‘-ing’ or ‘-ed’ or ‘ly’ and
• see what you do recognise within the words,
• e.g. hidden = hid / den; surround = sur / round; carpenter = car / pen / ter.

In fact, sometimes the longer words are easier than the short ones - more clues!

The ending ‘-tion’ (pronounced ‘shun’ or ‘shn’) is a common one and once you know the sound/letters link you can cope with this one.

Also ‘-ise/-ize’ is always ‘eyes’.

There are many endings (suffixes) which can be ignored in search of the main or root word, then put back when you’ve worked out the rest. The most common after those above are: -ment, -ture (cher), -age (ij), -(s)sion (also ‘shn).

If you see ‘-ier’, then chances are that the ‘i’ has been changed from a ‘y’ when adding the ‘er’.

For example, ‘easier’ - take off the ‘er’, (easi) change the ‘i’ to ‘y’ = easy; prettier > pretti > pretty.

This all boils down to finding the 'root' word which others are built on. Once you get used to one pattern, then move on to another, and so on. Each time you conquer one, your confidence will improve, then you’re off!

Don't expect to read a novel right away! Choose magazines about subjects that really interest you - gardening, cars, wildlife, DIY, etc. You will already know lots of the vocabulary which goes with your subject, so you know what’s coming. You can fit the words into what you expect which makes it much easier.

If you want to challenge yourself with fiction, choose a short story to begin with, again about something which appeals to you. This might sound obvious but so many people just pick up a book, tackle it, find it too difficult or boring, lose confidence and give up. To help decide if a book is at the right level for you, use the Fogg test (see link below).

How did you learn as a child? You stood up first, took a few steps, got your balance, then tried more and more. Don’t expect to fly before you can walk through the process! However, remember that you will fly as far as you want to go.

If you need to write, let’s say, reports for work and you have the luxury of a secretary, then you can dictate your words which are then typed up for you.

If left to your own devices, use a PC and just write what you want to say without bothering about the spelling. Most people spell, if not correctly, phonetically which is usually understandable to others. Someone else can then proof-read and correct the spelling as necessary.

If you have no-one else to do this, there is voice-activated software which requires a little time to set up and learn but means that you can produce text yourself. If you are required to do this in the workplace, then companies should be dyslexia friendly these days and so should provide the software for you - I bet you wouldn’t be the only one, even in an office of up to only 20 people. Go to any of the dyslexia sites links below for advice on software or just put 'voice activated software' into search.

Play games:

• Kim's Game - get someone to set out 10 objects on a tray, covered; uncover for 1 minute, recover, then see if you can remember all 10. An alternative is - recover, the other person takes away one object, uncover and you have to say which one has gone.
• chinese whispers - a short message is whispered into someone's ear, repeated to the next person and so on, then the last person says out loud whatever message has been received - it can be hilarious, but the object for you is to get it as accurate as possible so be the recipient more than once in each round
• find rhyming words - use beats and music - this helps visual & aural memory
• ‘I went to the market and bought....’ ; the first person names an object for a shopping list, the second says that object, then another of his/her own choice, the third repeats those two plus another, and so on. You're out if you forget one. The longer you can keep it going, the more likely you are to win!
• practise ‘chunking’ phone numbers, e.g. 063498124356 becomes 06 34 98 12 43 56 - get someone to test you or play the game and see who can remember it first - extend this game to see who can remember it after a few hours or even the next day!
• when you’ve done that, you can practise ‘chunking’ letters in words, though sometimes this needs to be done in letter-sound chunks, e.g. shelf - sh el f; adventure - ad ven ture
• Pairs, or pelmanism - duplicated letters, words or pictures, placed them face down on a surface, 2 turned over by each person and kept if they are identical, or replaced in exactly the same place if they don't match - the object is to remember where they are, to gain as many pairs as possible; the winner is the one with the most pairs. This helps spatial awareness too.

Give yourself treats or rewards for each session of work - you deserve it!

Professional help will mean faster progress (you can still use the above to practise) and there are adult literacy classes or private tutors all over the country.

• celebrate your skills and interests
• be open and practical about your dyslexia - others will be interested and sympathetic (if they’re not, they’re not worth being with!)
• ask work or college to support you
• exercise your memory
• find recognisable parts of words and build on your growing reading knowledge

This might take quite a time and involve some professional help but persevere! Nothing comes without hard work but the reward will be worth it.

Good Luck!

• Dyslexia Adults Link - Information and Resources for Dyslexia

  Dyslexia - information, help, contacts, books, articles, organisations, research, etc., for adults who are or may be dyslexic; dealing with spelling difficulties, coping with dyslexia, and special provision for dyslexic adults.

• Somerset Dyslexia Association

  Details of the SDA & the Drop-In for Taunton

• The International Dyslexia Association Promoting literacy through research, education and advocacy

  Information regarding international groups

• dyslexiaaction.co.uk - dyslexia action Resources and Information.
• Dyslexia USA, Dyslexia America

  Dyslexia USA America - For everyone with an interest in dyslexia: dyslexia testing and assessment in USA America; resources and organizations in USA United States of America

• Juicy Studio: Readability Test

  Fogg's test of readability

  
  

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