The other day we were listening to the radio and a brilliant young musician said he had a lot of trouble reading sheet music because he is dyslexic.
What the hell, is half the world dyslexic? Why do I keep running into and finding out about people who are? Is this the neurological equivalent to ADD/ADHD? Is every late bloomer dumped into the “dyslexic” category?
When I was in elementary school I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Both my parents were dyslexic, so it didn’t come as a surprise to them. For a very long time I never questioned this diagnosis. I was put into special ed classes, and it took me a few years to get up to speed with my peers as far as english language skills go. Then, when I was in 8th grade, I won an award for doing far above average in a state-wide reading comprehension test.
Today I read all the time (my love for books borders on obsession), I write all the time. For a while I assumed it was because the special ed teachers were properly trained to deal with my condition and did very well with teaching me in the proper learning methods for dyslexics. I thought I had gotten so good at using these techniques that it natural to me. But now I wonder. Why are so many people diagnosed with this? Do I even really have it?
I’ve been doing some research and I am starting to think I don’t. I found a list of “Common Signs in Adults” here. It doesn’t sound like me.
# May hide reading problems. I no longer have reading problems.
# May spell poorly; relies on others to correct spelling. I am not a poor speller.
# Avoids writing; may not be able to write. I love writing, even considering it as a career.
# Often very competent in oral language. Nope.
# Relies on memory; may have an excellent memory. Nope, I have to write everything down.
# Often has good “people” skills. HAHAHA!! No!
# Often is spatially talented; professions include, but are not limited, to engineers, architects, designers, artists and craftspeople, mathematicians, physicists, physicians (esp. surgeons and orthopedists), and dentists. This is rather broad.
# May be very good at “reading” people (intuitive). Nope.
# In jobs is often working well below their intellectual capacity. Ok, that’s true.
# May have difficulty with planning, organization and management of time, materials and tasks. Quite the contrary. I have excellent time management and planning skills, and can be sickeningly organized when I want to be (which is not often, I’m lazy).
# Often entrepreneurs. Nah, I tried, but it was too stressful.
Other sites have said things like “dyslexics learn better by hearing” but it’s not at all that way for me. Give me a book, some dry examples, google and a goal and I’ll be able to tackle whatever you throw at me. Explain it to me aloud and I’ll be scratching down notes as fast as possible so I have a record of it to refer to.
So now my only excuse for having a hard time learning to read is that I’m a late bloomer (there is probably a cool sounding techical term for this). I can live with that.