Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion What should I do if I suspect I'm Dyslexic?

I'm 24 years old and I've never been diagnosed with dyslexia but have often suspected I could have it. I've researched symptoms and literally could highlight nearly every single one as being my own. Aside from having above average reading/comprehension skills everything else fits. It's as if the information goes in correctly but when it comes back out its a jumbled mess. I'll copy numbers out of a book ie: 1945 and will somehow manage to type 1495, not just once but every time.I wont even mention my spelling or math skills. The list goes on. I've been going crazy trying to figure out why I have these issues. Is there something I can do? Does anyone have any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

How did you type the above? Pretty good job...

I googled a bit on adult dyslexia treatment and things do look a bit sparse. I do not have dyslexia, one of my sisters seems to have some symptoms but was never treated.
One obvious suggestion would be to get tested first (or screened?) -- perhaps this is some completely different issue, then get recommendations from the doctor/assessment person.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/15544.php

Trust me it took a while to type that. I'm constantly retyping/rewriting fixing words I should know. If I concentrate hard enough I mostly get things right. I suspect that if I am dyslexic its fairly mild and more predominant with other functions. Like driving. If I think I'm going the right way on a new set of directions I turn around and go the opposite way because it means I'm going the opposite of where I should be. 100% of the time my sense of direction is completely backwards. When speaking I'm always pausing and searching for words that I know, easy/common words, long pauses literally unable to speak them. Its not that I've forgotten them I can't speak them. Often when I do speak, the sounds of my words aren't right. An easy word like horses could be unintelligable to the person I'm conversing with. Like I said, its probably pretty mild but its just enought to where it makes things incredibly frustrating. I would be happy to go get screened I just have no idea where to start.

Some good places to start would be getting evaluated by either a neuropsychologist or a Speech-Language Pathologist who is familiar with diagnosing adults.

Is that something I would go to my general Doctor to be refered to? Or do I just find one on my own?

I always start with my primary doc, and have him refer me out. Some insurance plans don't require it, but I have just always gone off my dr's recommendations for specialists.

Thanks

If you're looking for an in-depth diagnosis, I'd recommend a neuropsychologist. If you're looking for treatment of symptoms, I'd recommend the speech language route.

I was convinced my son had dyslexia, and the neuropsych eval revealed dysgraphia and ruled out ADHD. So getting the right diagnosis helped us address his challenges quicker and more appropriately. While speech therapy was a part of the treatment, it also included OT and PT as well.

CA
I was not dx'd until I was in college. Basically, until the work got hard I compensated. My issue was primarily with numbers - showed up in matrices math - my TA could not understand why my approach was correct but I kept using the wrong numbers. I have never received formal support and assistance because at first I was embarrassed (dumb) and then I realized that I had created some workable solutions and now that I was aware I needed to create more.

Now we do it online, but when we checked the check book by hand - DH had to do it because I could never catch the number reversals. To some degree I can now see it/feel it - in that, I will stare at a word and it just looks wrong to me. Since I do most work on the computer, my letter reversals are dealt with - I don't hand-write enough to have an issue with it, where it matters. On my own personal stuff, if I notice it I just cross it out, if I don't I can still read it. My issue was never comprehension - unless I am super tired - so you would really benefit from those sorts of skills because improving comprehension will make things easier for you.

Good luck! Dx is probably the most important thing - too often un-diagnosed people think they are too stupid or just can't get something when in reality they just need tools to do it. The suggestions for where to go are good ones.

DeHe

You might like the book Dyslexic Advantage by Drs. Eide. They also have a website dedicated to their work.

I was also going to recommend the book Dyslexic Advantage, as well as a DVD by the Eides which I can't remember the name of at the moment - but you can find it on their website - and you can find their website by googlinge Eides + Neurolearning.

Ultimately I'd look into a neuropscyh eval, but in the meantime there are some practical things you can do that might help - so here are my random suggestions in no particular order - they may or may not apply, but hopefully something in among them might be useful

1) If spelling is a problem when you're writing (typing), you can try word prediction software (my ds uses Co:Writer 6 - google Don Johnston + Co:Writer), it's a bit pricey but it's amazing the difference it makes in his written work. There is another less expensive piece of word prediction software that our neuropsych recommends, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment.

2) If your math challenge is primarily in copying correctly, confusing signs, and difficulty with math facts that's possibly dyslexia related, but if you have difficulties beyond that you might want to google dyscalculia and see if any of the symptoms of dyscalculia fit.

3) Google dyslexia + accommodations and dysgraphia + accommodations - you may find some very helpful suggestions that would be useful to try now while you're waiting for a diagnosis.

4) Let us know how you use copying in your daily life and we might be able to help you out with work-arounds. My ds struggles tremendously with copying, and has a number of accommodations for it he uses in school - first, we try to have him avoid copying whenever! He has an accommodation to fill in answers in test booklets on standardized testing, I copy and scan in problems from his textbooks or type them out on his computer for him, when he is working on math using handwriting we have him either write one problem per page or have him section off the areas of his page he's working in for each problem, things like that. For note-taking he has a LiveScribe pen - I can try to explain it but it would probably be better for you to just google it and read about it.

If you let us know a little bit more about the specific parts of your life where you're having challenges with this - ie, specific tasks, we can all help you brainstorm work-arounds. I'm a little bit not sure what to recommend simply because you are an adult and I'm immersed in helping an 11 year old, so I'm sure his daily needs are much different than yours - but otoh I'm guessing that many of us here parenting kids with similar challenges might have some good ideas!

Best wishes,

polarbear

Polarbear- as for copying I'll literally read a number set that I have to say... enter into a computer,register etc... If the number is 564823 I'll read it as 564823 but somehow when I go and type in the number something goes wrong it will come out as 564832 or 654832. I'm reading it fine, in my head I read it in the right order but from my head to my hand its different. Same with typing or writing a email. I know how something is spelled but it will often end up with something like; "ehllo, how are uour today" if I'm not careful. I remember having issues as a child, my teacher once told my parents that when I was spelling I was phonetically adding letters that didn't exist and that it was a trait that would always be there. Well she was right even now I have to work to not add things. Even typing this I'm making constant corrections, I'm sure I haven't caught them all...
The biggest thing I've noticed that when I'm counting a large sum of money at work I count and recount and count some more trying to make sure the drawer isn't off. I write down the individual sums and then add them together sometimes getting different outcomes. My IQ is 113 it is incredibly frustrating when I can't seem to count something so simple as a drawer full of money acurately. I think the biggest problem is change if I'm holding two nickels I'll catch myself thinking 20 cents when its actually ten cents and obviously have to start over.