How Dyslexics Read

I've been thinking a lot lately about how dyslexics, expecially stealth dyslexics, read. For example, The man that owns the house next door to us is a spine surgeon in Fl. He told me that he is very dyslexic and had trouble learning to read. He says that now though, he can read any medical journal or medical literature and have no trouble at all. But, he said he would not be able to read Hemingway if he tried. It makes me think that he is reading whole words and once he learns them, somehow he brains works with it.

Another friend of our said he out grew it, but I wonder if he just knows all the words in his reading interest and work areas.

It makes sense to me in how I read, I read fine until I get to a word I don't know. Does anyone have any insight? Thanks, Chris

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Permalink Reply by Christine Johnson on January 19, 2012 at 10:38am

Thanks, Davis, I will check those out. I decided to read Twilight over the holidays and thought I would have no problem, but I did. I ended up having to download the audio because I just couldn't get into it. I am thinking it is because of the emphasis on writing like she is an english teacher or something, and it had a lot of conversation dialog. The author used a lot of "he countered", and " she encouraged" etc. It drove me crazy and all I could hear was my kid's elementry teachers telling them they needed to use more "juicy words." I had no trouble reading The Help last summer. I am finally reading Dyslexic Advantage and am almost done after 3 days. I am not having much trouble, although I did order the audio version to read it again with. It is funny because my son picked up Twilight once to see what all the hoopla was about and then told the High School Librarian the author was terrible writer. The librarian flipped because she thinks Twilight is great writing. Maybe because she taught English for years?

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Permalink Reply by Davis W. Graham on January 19, 2012 at 11:03am

A lot of fluff words go into books. To read without hurdles, Bookshare is the key to reading for me, I have been on the edge of my reading chair for 4 years now and have read 100's of books with Bookshare and their two text to speech tools Read2Go ($19.95 one price for all apple device you own) and Read:OutLoud which comes with the Bookshare membership. 1st year is $75 ( $50 membership and $25 for startup) and then $50 a year for almost unlimited downloads. "Just do it" become a member and tell me how it changes your life. You wont regret...it

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Permalink Reply by Ethan on May 13, 2012 at 12:44am

I love to read, but it wasn't always so. At the beggining of third grade I was tested for reading comp problems and I scored at the level expected of a kindergardner while my listening comp/verbal communication was about 6th grade level. Since it was a not so good private school they told my dad to push me in reading ie. I was not trying hard enough! So from nov-march he would buy/borrow books that I had to read(see above my age level) and he would test me on memory, understanding and expantion of ideas presented. No one told me what was going on! In april I was retested and things seemed to have fixed themselves, my reading comp was now 6th grade level, my listening/verbal was either 12th grade or PHS(post high school) the note attached to the result said I maxed out on that test. Looking back I remember not getting that what was on a page was the same words that I understood out loud, I don't remember the exact process or time but in those 5 months something clicked and my brain now saw the words as I would hear them. To this day if I am struggling to read something(usually test questions or technical word heavy) I will unconciously read out loud then have a conversation with myself aloud till I understand the material.

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Permalink Reply by Davis W. Graham on May 14, 2012 at 1:27pm

Dear Ethan:

Try Balabolka visit mygiftofdyslexia.blogspot.com and under "Tools of engagement" the third item down is the link for the download to Balabolka, it's free. If you have documentation of your print disability then you should become a member Bookshare.org.today even there is no need to struggle with the written word text to speech has truly leveled the field for those with the gift of dyslexia.

Write if you have any questions. Sincerely Davis Graham

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Permalink Reply by Eric McCormick on May 14, 2012 at 8:29pm

One of the issues is how long it takes to read a passage, which is based on how long it takes to read any particular part of that passage. If you stumble over more and more words, then by the time you get to the end of the passage, you will not have a clear idea of the whole. Why? Because you will have lost track of the start.

Here is a video that talks a bit about that: 
   
 http://youtu.be/oD1aMr8WzFk

I have to second Drs. Eide on Tolkien.... I could not get past chapter 1 of The Hobbit, and have never tried again. But I have read lots of things by other fantasy authors. I have even read some very hard SF books, where they use well researched science as the foundation. The difference is that those authors gave me a reason to keep reading through the descriptive parts before loading me down with them.