~Writing Well Wednesday Tip~
Could you have dyslexia and not even know it?
It’s possible. Maybe you’ve struggled with reading much of your life, but you’ve hid it from family and friends. Maybe you have wonderful stories in your head, but writing them down is challenging.
Dyslexia is a learning disorder that affects about one in five children and adults. More specifically, it refers to the struggle to relate the sounds of words with the letters that create those words—something called a “phonological deficit.”
Some studies have found that people who suffer from dyslexia struggle with a phonological defice particularly as function of certain task requirements, notably short-term memory, conscious awareness, and time constraints.
Dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence. In fact, people with the disorder are often highly intelligent. Instead, it’s simply a learning disorder that makes some things more difficult. Though it may be diagnosed in childhood, often it can go undetected for years.
Common symptoms of adult dyslexia include:
- Difficulty reading: This may include reading slowly, suffering from visual problems when reading, needing to read something 2-3 times, and losing your place.
- Confusion, particularly confusing similar words or letters with each other while reading or writing.
- Difficulty pronouncing unfamiliar multi-syllable words.
- Difficulty with spatial relations, including difficulty reading maps.
- Trouble writing some letters correctly, perhaps writing them backwards.
- Time management troubles, or memorization problems.
If you suspect that you may have undiagnosed dyslexia, your best bet is to get tested by a psychologist or neurologist. And never fear—there have been a lot of successful writers who were believed to live with the disorder, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Irving.
Though there is no cure, tutoring sessions can help improve reading and writing ability.
Are you a writer with dyslexia?
Sources
25 Famous Authors With Learning Disabilities – BachelorsDegreeOnline.com. (2018, June 13). Retrieved from https://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2011/25-famous-authors-with-learning-disabilities/
Ramus, F., & Szenkovits, G. (2008). What phonological deficit? Q J Exp Psychol (Hove), 61(1), 129-41. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18038344