Does this sound like something in particular?
This sounds uncannily like me, down to the intrinsic motivation, preference for non fiction, auditory learning, and excellent spelling. Even as an adult.
I asked about it and he said that's how he reads, he says the words to himself and he can't read without saying it in his head, that's how he understands it.
Yes, very much this. For fiction, I have to read the words aloud in my head, and actually
watch the picture that the words conjure up, and then I understand. I usually find the first chapter or two of a fiction book to be exhausting because the words aren't oriented in a scene yet... they just float about with nothing to view. Eventually some sort of character and situation emerges, and only then does the book start to make sense. I just thought (until recently, in fact) that this is the way everyone reads. They really are lovely, extremely vivid pictures... it's just tiring and a commitment to get through fiction. It always has been (and probably always will be).
He regularly pulls out fiction books that are below his tested reading level and that he's already read many times (Dr Suess, Geronimo Stilton, Amulet). Interestingly, as I ponder what I've seen him reading in fiction over the last months, they are all picture books, graphic novels, comics or books with many illustrations.
He probably doesn't have to work as hard to conjure up the pictures in his mind if the pictures are already there. I also have a strong preference to re-read fiction I've already read rather than venture into new fiction. The initial climb is very unpleasant for me.
I have no idea if I'm dysgraphic, but I have always known that I was a slow reader. What you describe sounds so similar to me that I can't help but wonder if I am. My DS has some characteristics that have us on the lookout for dysgraphia as well. He doesn't seem to have the same problem I do with fiction, however.
