Am I dyslexic?

Number one question I get asked. –“I can’t spell.  When I write, I mix up my letters and usually leave some out.  It takes me ages to read too.  Am I dyslexic?”

Official answer, short version: 

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability, specifically in the area of reading.  You need an assessment by a qualified person to tell if you have dyslexia.  It will cost.  It may cost a lot more than you expected.  You may not get any coverage from your health insurance.  If you need to show other people your assessment results be sure, beforehand, that the organization you’re showing the assessment to accepts the assessor’s credentials.

Practical answer, short version: 

An assessment is good if you need it to show to a college or workplace.  Otherwise, you may simply want to explain to people that you have dyslexia (or are a bit dyslexic).  Then people have a better understanding and it’s no big deal.  –Dyslexia is when you have trouble with reading when you don’t have any trouble in other areas of learning. You can have lesser and greater degrees of dyslexia but the trouble is pronounced enough to have made you feel embarrassed at times, and to have stopped you doing as well as you know you are capable of.  The trouble persists.  In school you will have sat next to your friends, same classes for years, and yet been unable to keep up with them -not without working much harder and longer.

Dyslexia is tough.  But it’s not that bad.- Especially with iPads and apps, and voice recognition software and spell checkers.  And you’re a lateral thinker, a many-tasks-at-one-time person, and all the time you’re learning nifty ways to cope better.  

“Hi.  Do you have dyslexia?”

Adult signs of dyslexia

Wondering if you slipped through the net in school? Considering getting assessed? - According to the The International Dyslexia Association you should take notice of these kinds of symptoms:

·       Hiding your reading and writing problems.

·       Being really poor at spelling.

·       Having weak management and organizational skills.

·       Often relying on your memory and verbal skills rather than your reading and writing.

·       Working a job that's well below your intellectual ability.

Dyslexia - How does it feel?

It's summer vacation, and my family is pretty new to the area, so today we went exploring. I'm driving the car and my daughter is navigating: -M is for me, D is for my daughter.

D- "Oh God Mom, I'm so bad at this, who knows where we'll end up? We've got plenty of gas haven't we?"

M- "You'll be fine, you'll soon get the hang of it."

M- "Harvey St, do you see it?. We're on Main and we just crossed Harvey."

D- "No."

M- "OK, Kelley, do you see Kelley?"

D- "Nope."

M-"Rowley?"

D- "No."

M-"What about Maple, we're crossing Maple, it's a big one, it MUST be there."

D- "It's not here, none of them are here! And the stupid page splits just where I need to see the road and of course there's this big box obliterating just about anything worth seeing."

M- "South, honey, we're going South. Are you sure you're not looking North?"

D- "Oh, THAT South, well would you look at that! Rowley did you say? Yup, it's here now. -Mom, can you imagine how hard this would be if I had dyslexia on top of how difficult this already is?"

And of course I don't suppose I could really image it at all. I help people with dyslexia every day but I'm not dyslexic and am always moved anew by the personal accounts my students give me. They say things like, " It's incredibly frustrating. I can read fine but my writing looks like a small kids. I can't spot my mistakes and then when someone points them out to me they seem so obvious and basic." "I make a joke of my dyslexia because I have to. My kids help me out a lot when I have to write something." "I hated school because I couldn't keep up with the books but I got along by being smart in other ways. I couldn't read or write much but I'm a great talker. When I left I even got a job delivering mail. I memorized names and street codes, I amazed even myself."

Dyslexia. How does it feel?

Hey, I think I have dyslexia

So here's a conversation I had yesterday, and I should add that I have this kind of conversation a lot. -I'm telling a colleague about this new blog when a student, sitting within ear range, strikes up this chat:

"Dyslexia? I think I have that. I'm always reversing letters and I put words in the wrong place in my sentences. My thinking's like that too. I sort of mix my thoughts up. Why's that? Do you think I have dyslexia? Should I do something?"

"Hmmm. Have you ever been tested?"

"No. I'm not sure about that, the whole thing about people knowing. What would people think if they knew? I don't know."

"Well, there's a few things to weigh up. You can get a lot of extra help in the disability unit, like specialised tutoring and extra time to take tests, but to get that help you have to show proof that you have dyslexia, or some disability, and to show that, you have to get assessed. And assessment can be expensive. The good news is that the people in the disability unit can connect you with someone who can diagnose you for free or for a relatively small fee (you may get quicker attention if you pay). The other thing to know is that college staff must keep your details strictly confidential. The disability unit can't disclose anything about you without your permission. Let's say, hypothetically, that you get diagnosed with dyslexia. You can choose to get extra help in the disability unit at college or decide to keep the information to yourself and forgo the help. Maybe you decide to get help in the disability unit but not disclose your info to your professors. After college, you may disclose at your workplace or not. The point is that you have the right to confidentiality. There are benefits to letting people know you have dyslexia but, conversely, you may feel that there's a stigma involved.

What's YOUR experience of getting an assessment or not?