Help for Dyslexic Adults wanting to improve their Writing and Grammar

How to help Dyslexics improve their grammar and writing skills

We are often asked for suggestions to help adult Dyslexics improve their writing skills such as spelling, grammar and organization of ideas. There are lots of helpful methods and accommodations. Here are a few ideas.

For Dyslexics it is often important to see examples and reasons for learning any new information or skills rather than just following step by step instructions.

• For spelling and grammar you could try going to a local college and take a course(s) on “technical writing”.  A technical writer is:

“a professional writer who engages in technical writing and produces technical documentation. The Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators has defined the profession as preparing information which helps users…

“Technical writing involves the creation of useful documents that can be clearly understood by readers. Good technical writing clarifies “jargon” presenting useful information that is clear and easy to understand for the intended audience; poor technical writing may increase confusion by creating unnecessary jargon or failing to explain it. While grammar, spelling and punctuation are of the utmost importance to technical writing, style is not; it can be sacrificed if doing so increases clarity, which is considered more important to the genre.”  ~wikedpedia

Technical writing is geared for occupations such as online help, user guides/manuals, white papers, design specifications, system manuals, project plans, test plans. This type of writing is a great place for a Dyslexic to learn grammar and structure in writing because the style is very specific, concise and not “flowery”.

College level technical writing  courses  are a good resource for learning this writing style. I would suggest taking a least two or more of these courses to work towards proficiency in this writing technique. Creative writers will take repeat courses in creative writing to practice, be critiqued and develop good writing skills to improve their stories or poetry. Dyslexics can also take online courses but I think the classroom can be very beneficial for feedback and hands on attention which is important to Dyslexics.

Because technical writing is for documenting information and instructions it can also be good practice for a Dyslexic learning to create a sequence of steps leading to a conclusion which is very difficult for many “big picture to details” Dyslexics.

Before taking the course try to find a teacher who is a “big picture” thinker.  Interview them or talk to other students who have taken their courses. Questions to ask: Does the professor use “mindmaps” to lay out lessons, favour explaining the “whys, whats and how”, gives lots of examples of the writing assignments, and uses big picture teaching methods. REMEMBER:  if they teach in a step by step sequential manner a Dyslexic will often be lost and frustrated.

If a Dyslexic takes one course they might have found it somewhat or very confusing – unless they get a very right-brain thinking teacher who thinks like them. They shouldn’t give up. The first course will help with the big picture of the technical writing style and the next and maybe third course will probably work well for the Dyslexic student wanting to learn how to write well. I realize this is a lot of dedication and most people probably don’t want to do more school but it will help tremendously.

• Another great way to practice good grammar and writing style is with public speaking. There is a website by a Dyslexic professor who discovered public speaking and it changed his life. I would check it out, maybe contact him for suggestions and find a course on public speaking. It will also help massively for a Dyslexic’s work in communications with people. His website is:http://publicspeakinglosangeles.net/

• Learn to mind map which will help with all facets of a Dyslexic’s work life and help them  write better. Tony Buzan’s website is great for information:

http://www.tonybuzan.com/

• There are computer programs available to help a Dyslexic improve their writing and spelling by using spell and grammar check software. For example:

http://www.ghotit.com/

http://www.gingersoftware.com

• Dragon Naturally Speaking is speech recognition software. You speak, it records and prints the text on your computer screen. This program helps a Dyslexic turn their thoughts into text. Often Dyslexics are very articulate but cannot write because they lose their ideas in the effort of trying to remember proper spelling and employing the physical action of handwriting or typing.

One thing to remember – part of the process with speech recognition software is training it to a person’s voice. This is done by using a head set with mic and reading a passage out loud that the software provides in the program. There are a number of reading choices.

The problem with this method is Dyslexics have difficulty reading aloud so the program will not train properly to their voice. The program cannot recognize their words when the Dyslexic reader hesitates, mispronounces or says the wrong word. The answer is to download and print the reading sample they chose.  Make sure to increase the size of the font and double space it. Then practice reading it in a normal voice until they are not hesitating or mispronouncing words. I wish I had a quarter for every parent of a Dyslexic student or adult Dyslexic who told me the program doesn’t work for them and gave up on it. They don’t realize the need to practice saying the passage aloud so the program gets a clear impression of their voice.

If you have something to share that you have found works for Dyslexics improving their spelling, grammar and writing I hope you will add it the comment section.

Thanks for your interest!
Karey Hope deGraaf
Dyslexia Victoria Online

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Tell your Dyslexic Student “There are no mistakes, only practice.”

This is a short thought for the day. When I am working with Dyslexic students they generally have issues with self-esteem. A large component of their poor self image is the belief that everything they do is wrong.

One of the first things I chat about with them is there are no mistakes, only practice. When we are learning, part of the process is practicing what we are studying so we can understand and do well with the subject.  This applies to many areas of life such as school, sports, hobbies, skills or a profession.

People who become great at what they do know the importance of practice. In school the focus is often on failure (worksheets, assignments and tests) and not on the value of practice. When I was in the University of Victoria in the Education faculty back in the 70’s I had an amazing professor, Chuck Galloway who taught child psychology. He believed passionately in the value of practice. He taught us that children learn well when their classroom environment promotes understanding what they are learning, not punishing them for what they haven’t sorted out yet. He used us as guinea pigs to demonstrate this. We were encouraged to hand our work in, have it reviewed and given suggestions to improve it. We could take that as far we wanted for a final grade and we were coached to ask for assistance with what we were not understanding.  Stress was low replaced with excitement and curiosity for the very difficult subject of child psychology.

Dyslexics have so much stress in school due to their learning issues which attracts bullying from their classmates and frustration from their teachers and parents. If their feelings of failure connected to getting everything wrong and making mistakes are not addressed and not employing appropriate teaching methods, clear specific instructions and accommodations for their learning differences, they will begin to shut down to most learning. They start to believe they can’t do anything right, only make “mistakes”.

So for Dyslexics and all students, focus on practice. When they say “Did I do it wrong?” tell them no, they are only practicing to get it right. Then go through their work to find out what they don’t understand. If they know they need more explanation and practice to understand their school work to “get it right” and you are there to help them, they will begin to open up and maybe even start to like school.

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ”
– Scott Adams (Cartoonist)

Here are a couple of blogs on the subject you might enjoy on the subject:

Dyslexia is Always Having to Say You’re Sorry

Dyslexia, being Public and the remote control of imaginations

Cheers!
Karey Hope deGraaf
Dyslexia Victoria Online Co-founder

How do Dyslexics go from having a Learning Difference to a Learning Disability

When I talk to parents with children who they suspect have Dyslexia I generally hear the same story. Problems with letters, numbers, counting and words when they were four or five. They couldn’t print well but often very artistic especially for their age. Sometimes they started talking later than other children and had speech difficulties such as lisps, mispronunciation of words more than other children, couldn’t remember simple words so would say “thing-a-ma-jig”, “whatcha-ma-callit” or use the wrong word. But they were also intelligent and quick learners with other skills and knowledge such as building things with legos, athletics, art projects, singing, dancing, telling stories, remembering events or movies in extensive detail or making observations about things that is way beyond their years. They loved to learn, asked endless questions about everything and were excited about going to school.

When they enter school they continue to have problems with letters, phonics, words, numbers, arithmetic, and other linear sequential skills such as memorizing the alphabet or counting in the right order. They also have difficulties with instructions so they don’t always understand what the teacher wants. As each year passes there is less and less emphasis on singing, dancing, drawing, painting, making things and physically demonstrating all new concepts. Their excitement to be in school begins to dissolve and is replaced with frustration, confusion, fear, anger, sadness and physical distress such as headaches, stomach aches and throwing up. Their self-esteem drops and they begin to doubt themselves.

Teachers become frustrated with them not understanding what they need and their classmates start to tease them because they can’t spell or read and they print poorly.  Right brain dominant children ask the same questions over and over and when they read out loud they can take forever, mispronounce everything, and can’t sound the words out.

School becomes a scary place and they will often feign sickness to stay home. Some children will have anxiety attacks at the mere thought of going to school.

As each grade passes, their problems and anxiety deepen. Dyslexics as right brain dominant thinkers are generally very empathetic and intuitive so they become keenly aware of the distress and fear their parents are feeling for them and  the frustration or outright hostility their teachers and classmates are expressing towards them in the classroom. They get farther and farther behind the class, convinced they are stupid and eventually shut down when learning things in class they are really good at such as science, math, building things or making up a story orally.

By grade four or five their learning difference has become a learning disability and these students are can be experiencing depression and other psychological issues.  I have had several parents tell me their children were saying they wanted to kill themselves when they were in the third or fourth grade.   Junior and high school is a nightmare as the school work becomes more difficult and demanding and they don’t have the ability to read a lot of  books for their school subjects. Less and less of their schooling uses concrete real examples – the emphasis is on abstract learning and requires students to do endless worksheets, written tests, reports and essays. Little of their schoolwork requires or allows a physical demonstration of the subject (3 dimensional structures, posters, drawings, play, dance or videos),  to show understanding and knowledge – mostly writing.  Eventually these students become a large percentage of our school’s dropouts.

So can this picture be different for a Dyslexic student? Of course it can. Let’s rewind this story back to the beginning.

• When our right brain student enters the school system the school tests them and other children  for reading readiness.  Some children, especially Dyslexics are not mature or developed enough for reading in kindergarten or grade one. When children are significantly younger than other students in their grade, a difference of six months or more in age is enough to severely affect a child being able to keep up with the class.

• Then determine the students who learn letters, phonics, words, numbers and sequences easily (word to image thinkers or left brain dominant) from the visual students. Visual or right brain dominant thinkers are image to word thinkers. They need to learn in whole complete and concrete concepts (images)and connect them to words. Complete understanding of letters, words and numbers comes more slowly for them.

These students are then broken into classrooms that teach to these two very different groups of learners  –  classes for strong left brain learners and right brain learners. Multi-sensory, hands on physical demonstration style teaching would be high priority in both classes but mandatory for all subjects for the right brainers throughout their school years.

The right brain/dyslexic students would be given more time to learn how to spell and read utilizing teaching methods appropriate for right brain learners such as colour to learn letters, numbers and arithmetic and making letters and numbers with modelling clay
(Ron Davis – The Gift of Dyslexia).

There would be emphasis on starting with sight reading and syllables (word families) which right brain dominant students learn more easily at the beginning.

Teachers would  encourage these students to ask their questions and use stories and pictures to explain everything. They would respect their need to not just learn information in a rote manner such as the steps to solving a division problem but would prioritize making a concept real by demonstrating what division is (subtracting in groups as opposed to multiplication which is adding in groups). This can be done with groups of candy, objects, pies, etc) so they understand what division is before doing the steps. This gives the big picture and meaning behind division.

Special attention would be paid to giving extensive practice learning to print to help address Dysgraphia, a common issue for Dyslexics, screening to see if they have Irlen Syndrome (distablized text) and learning style (auditory, kinesthetic or visual). Once these issues are determined then accommodations would be put in place.

Computers would be given them in the early grades with the use of the many programs available that would help them with their schoolwork. Some teachers will say this is unfair to other students in a class who don’t have a computer. If the Dyslexic student is not able to complete school work in the same fashion as other students who don’t have problems with reading and writing then the Dyslexic student is simply “leveling the playing field”.

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There are many different ways to make a right brain dominant and Dyslexic student’s school experience successful and exciting to prepare them for their future.

For more ideas I have provided some links:
Dyslexia Victoria Online
http://www.dyslexiavictoriaonline.com

Gifted Children (Visual Spatial Learners)
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm

4D program in New Zealand
http://www.4d.org.nz/school/

Neil MacKay (noted Dyslexia expert)
http://www.actiondyslexia.co.uk/

Chat with Sally Shaywitz (another Dyslexia specialist)
http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/LD-ADHD/859-overcoming-dyslexia-a-chat.gs?page=1#2

British Dyslexia Association
http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/

Also you might want to check out the page on our website about suggested books to read:
http://www.dyslexiavictoriaonline.com/otbowere.html

And our blog is:
https://dyslexiavictoria.wordpress.com/
You can sign up to receive new blog entries on the left side of the main page of the blog at the top where it says “Email Subscription Rants and Raves from the Right Side”

Cheers!
Karey Hope deGraaf
Dyslexia Victoria Online Co-founder

Open-Dyslexic Font – free download

I had a recent post on my facebook about fonts that are becoming available that have been developed for the Dyslexic reader. Wow! Like we used to say in the 70’s -“What a concept!”

These fonts could be used in so many ways: books, computer screens, worksheets and tests at school, with Word for doing schoolwork, business documents, reports, manuals, legal documents, advertising, writing of any kind – anything that requires text. The reader who posted the information about the fonts on my facebook attached a blog that talks about Kindle using these fonts – http://www.somethingoneverything.com/1/post/2012/09/dyslexia-friendly-fonts-and-open-dyslexic.html

Your brain can sometimes do funny things to letters. OpenDyslexic tries to help prevent some of these things from happening. Letters have heavy weighted bottoms to add a kind of “gravity“ to each letter, helping to keep your brain from rotating them around in ways that can make them look like other letters. Consistently weighted bottoms can also help reinforce the line of text. The unique shapes of each letter can help prevent flipping and swapping.                                                  ~Open-Dyslexic~dyslexicfonts.com    

You might want to go to the website, download the fonts and experiment with them. I am going to try the fonts with the kids we work with and the people I test for Irlen Syndrome (difficulty reading text on a white background) – a common problem for Dyslexics.

I will let you know what my results are.
Cheers!
Karey Hope deGraaf
Dyslexia Victoria Online Co-founder

Helping Dyslexics do their Homework

School is starting and for parents of Dyslexic students all the worries for their children’s education become a daily concern again. Homework is always a big one.

Dyslexic children use more areas of the brain to process language tasks than the average reader therefore they expend more energy – 5 times more! 

“…according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of University of Washington researchers…to explore the metabolic brain activity of six dyslexic and seven non-dyslexic boys during oral language tasks..
~The dyslexics were using 4.6 times as much area of the brain to do the same language task as the controls,” said Richards, a professor of radiology. “This means their brains were working a lot harder and using more energy than the normal children.”~  ScienceDaily (Oct. 6, 1999)

So when a Dyslexic child comes home from school the last thing they want to do is homework. They are mentally and physically exhausted from 5 times the exertion as a other students, frustrated with not understanding what they are learning and humiliated by impatient teachers and cruel classmates. If they have Irlen Syndrome which is common with Dyslexics (see info on our website: Irlen Syndrome and Dyslexia – Dyslexia Victoria Online) they can be further drained  experiencing stomach and head aches, dizziness, irritated eyes and other physical ailments of Irlen. Dyslexics can also experience a lot of discomfort from sitting in a desk all day and other issues that torment Dyslexics.

Parents of Dyslexic students will often set up a homework environment that they believe will help their child focus on their homework. Their good intentions however can actually make it more difficult for their child to get their homework done. Some considerations to think about to create a “dyslexia friendly” atmosphere:

• Let them have a break before starting homework after school – exercise is a great relaxer and way to de-stress rather than sitting down in front of the TV. They could ride a bike, go for a walk, play some kind of sport, play with their friends, etc. before settling down to their homework. The break can work wonders.
• Give them a protein snack after school to give them energy – protein bar or drink, raw nuts, peanut butter crackers, boiled eggs for example. No sugar as it can make them over-stimulated and then they crash when the sugar wears off.
• Make sure they have all their homework. Dyslexics tend to have difficulty organizing themselves. They will forget to bring their homework home. Ask the teacher if they could have a handout with the assignments listed and remind the student before school is out to gather their work to take home. Dyslexics often forget even with the best of intentions. This is not deliberate or lazy.
• Make an arrangement with the teacher to let you know about big projects and their dates for completion. Dyslexics often have a terrible time keeping this information together also. My Dyslexic son had great difficulty remembering his homework. The teachers and I tried everything. Finally I got one teacher to communicate with my son’s other teachers and send home a list of all his homework for me. It worked and eventually as he grew up he got better at organizing his work. Of course this was a very thoughtful teacher. Teachers generally don’t have time for helping a student this way but it can’t hurt to try to get cooperation.
• Help them with a list of what they have to do. Remind them what to do next. As I mentioned before – organization is tough for Dyslexics and needs to be understood, tolerated and supported. Write the list on a whiteboard or big piece of paper.
• Create star charts for homework assignments, chores and tasks that need to be done such as getting ready for school. Rewards for completing these charts is a great incentive for a reluctant, disorganized child. You can even take photos of them doing the chore or task and adding them to the poster. A picture is always “worth a thousand words” – which is the Dyslexic way. Here are a couple of examples – one you can purchase from amazon – the other is a free download.

Homework Chart

• Another reason to have the teacher make a homework handout for the Dyslexic student is they often cannot copy notes from the whiteboard easily and cannot get it all written down.
• Establish their learning style (auditory, visual or kinesthetic). Everyone generally has a dominant sense for learning and processing new information but Dyslexics especially respond well to teaching approaches and environments that take their best learning sense into consideration.
• A multi-sensory teaching program strongly based on physical  hands-on demonstrations for all lessons is effective for all children  but especially Dyslexics. They think in images first and then words therefore they need a concrete example of what they are learning to understand and process new information.  They do not learn sequential step by step methods easily if at all so everything should make sense to them first.                                                                  If they are visual learners you also want to use movies, posters, painting, drawing, etc. Auditory students like to be read to along with a demonstration and kinesthetics do best using movement.
• To go along with learning style consider the physical environment.
  • Do they need the room dead quiet or music, TV or white noise (beach or jungle noises for example)? A set of headphones with the right background music or white noise works great at home or school. I have parents get teachers permission for this accommodation and usually they get their approval.
  • Do they need no one including animals in the room or do they prefer the activity?
  • Do they need to stand a lot, walk around and work on a white board or lay down and roll around on the floor while doing their school work?
  • Do they need something in their hand(s) like a worry ball or  playdoh? Some kids do well with tossing beanbags around while practicing spelling words or facts for tests.
  • Keep their working area clear of objects. Dyslexics tend to get distracted by stuff on the table or desk they are working on.

The way to determine what the best working environment is talking to your child about what feels right for them and observe when they are on task and when they are not. Everybody learns differently so the conditions that compliments their thinking style is going to be much more beneficial than just sitting at a table in total quiet – unless of course that works for your child.

I often work with a Dyslexic students moving or playing with objects in their hands. The parent wants them to stop. The student however will be understanding and remembering everything we are talking about. The parent  generally says they have noticed that despite this behavior their child has been learning in the past. The parent thought however they should be sitting at a table or desk and still.

Think about your own situation when learning, concentrating or doing work – what is your best scenario? I bet it is different from other family members.

If you have found any great ideas for doing homework with a Dyslexic child, let me know. Much of what we have learned about Dyslexics is not just from the experts but from adult Dyslexics, parents of Dyslexics and of course Dyslexic children. Dyslexics are after all incredible problem solvers and always have amazing solutions or observations.

Cheers!
Karey Hope
Founder of Dyslexia Victoria Online

How to Teach Dyslexic Students Fractions

My husband, Howie and I were tutoring a Dyslexic 9 year old girl a few months ago. She was having difficulty understanding fractions.  The method her teacher was using confused her. The exercises our student was working with set problems up this way:

The problem with these two dimensional diagrams is they are as abstract as the numerical image 1/4. For a Dyslexic student including the little girl we were working with these both meant nothing to her. They are symbols for something real – portions or parts but the child does not know that.

My husband, Howie is the math person between the two of us and went to work showing her physically what these two dimensional abstract images meant. He started with oranges. When demonstrating math concepts with real objects always make sure you have one whole of the object being used as you show the parts. If there is no complete object in view a Dyslexic child tends to lose the concept being taught.

Use several examples of fractions of things until they start to understand what the concept of a fraction is. They need to connect the abstract language of math with the concrete ideas it represents.

Now let’s go back to the exercise with the squares. Once Howie had our student understanding he was talking about parts he took two pieces of paper and drew a four part  rectangle on both of them. One piece of paper was coloured yellow. He cut this rectangle into four pieces. The first piece of paper was blue ( she had Irlen Syndrome and blue was the best colour for paper and acetates for her – see our website for informationIRLEN SYNDROME & DYSLEXICS ) so that her ability to see the paper clearly was not an issue – text on white paper is hard to see for those with Irlen compounding problems with learning fractions. Then he started to put one or more of the yellow pieces on the blue squares talking about whether they were one, two, three or four quarters. She got it immediately and actually moved onto adding fractions that session. She left with a smile on her face and her mom felt relieved. She was also able to do the exercises using  two dimensional squares for school and understand what she was doing so her answers were correct and not guesses.

What was accomplished with this process was filling the needs of a Dyslexic requiring meaning and connection to what is real. Dyslexics don’t easily follow sequences well and anything they learn has to be fully understood. They will generally not follow how a square divided up in portions on a flat piece of paper means because it doesn’t connect to anything real to them. Provide physical demonstrations, connect them to the diagram and now you have meaning.

So when you are having difficulty teaching Dyslexics to connect the dots of a concept make it real and then connect it to abstract written languages such as words, arithmetic and math. We have also found this helps kids who do not have Dyslexia.

Cheers!
Karey Hope
Dyslexia Victoria Online

 

Teaching Letters to Dyslexics
I have been asked to reblog this – so here we go

Teaching Letters to Dyslexics

Rants & Raves by Dyslexia Victoria Online

Recently I was blogging about how using an image of a “person, place, thing or animal”  to represent a letter of the alphabet was confusing for a dyslexic child trying to memorize and print letters.

Often you will notice in classrooms or workbooks that a picture of an animal or object is used to help the child learn what a letter stands for.  This can create a problem for a student because they can end up thinking  the picture with the letter representswhat  the letteris.  Then when they are  trying to put the letters in a word together they are seeing a jumble of animals or objects in their minds connected to the letters.  This can completely confuse them when trying to understand that letters are symbols and when placed in a specific order represent a word in our language.

I came across this clipart above…

View original post 608 more words

Dyslexic Communication in “Pearls before Swine” Cartoon

“Pearls before Swine” is one of my favourite cartoons. I saw this one and I was really tickled about what a truly Dyslexic moment this is for communication. I have had many conversations with my husband like this. As a Dyslexic I am talking about my mental “big picture” that I am thinking at any given moment. The words I verbalize can get confused because I am picking things in the middle, side, or maybe the many extra images that get added to the first one. That can bring me to a completely different topic while I am in the middle of talking about the first one. Hard to talk about two things at once or maybe three!

So my husband will ask me will I be ready to leave by a certain time and I will respond with I have to dress, make a phone call, clean the bathroom…  you know – the big picture and he will interrupt and say “I don’t care how you will get ready but will you?”

This can be a common problem for women in general when talking to  left brain dominant men as we process  information from the right brain more easily than men do. A wonderful book to read about this difference between men and women is: The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image (Compass) by Leonard Shlain.

You can watch a group of women talk this way and they all understand and follow each other without additional explanation. However, if a woman is also Dyslexic this can really compound right brain communication issues. For a boy or man who is Dyslexic which means his right hemisphere is more dominant and his brain is wired a little differently, it must be painful talking to his friends who are lefties. I have often noticed Dyslexic boys will be able to talk to women more easily and relate to male or female teachers who are more right brain oriented in their teaching style. I would suggest you read my “How Teachers can Accommodate the Dyslexic Student” for ideas on how to teach Dyslexics their way.

Have a great day! – it’s the only one you have at this moment.

Karey Hope deGraaf
Email: khope@dyslexiavictoria.ca
Co-founder of Dyslexia Victoria Online

How Dyslexics Keep Track of their “Stuff”

I was talking to a friend recently who is Dyslexic like me and shares many of the same behaviors and traits common to many Dyslexics. We chatted about needing a “box” that held current projects, work from the office, “to do”  lists, bills to pay, books to read, pictures, cards to mail for special occasions, letters to write, warranties to mail, personal journals, drawings, events to go to and the box often substitutes for a daily planner. There are limitless versions of the “box”,  each designed to fit the owner’s needs and interests. The box can be portable so it can be carried everywhere and even on trips. Some people prefer a larger place to put their stuff and it will stay in one location.  Moveable boxes needs to be sturdy, a good size and light – my friend and I favor banker boxes. Perfect size, weight and has a lid!

When I worked for our family business my box came home with me every night and back to the office every morning.  Sometimes I would work on what was in the box or not.  I have often taken the contents of my box and spread it through my luggage on the off chance I might need to do something with it. My ex-husband found my attachment to my box odd and sometimes insisted I leave it at work. I would feel uncomfortable all night concerned I might need it and maybe even drive out secretly to get it.

Okay, so it is a little weird but all people are a bit weird in one way or another. My box keeps my mind calm. My friend says that she and her husband were painting the house and he put her box out in the shed temporarily along with other stuff in the rooms of their house. She had to know its location so she could at least visualize where it was so she could be calm and feel safe.

What I have learned over the years is that many of the Dyslexic children and adults I have met have the their own “box”. What is in the box varies widely but the main similarity is their need to keep their currently important stuff with them or somewhere they think is safe. They generally know all the contents and where it is located in their box. They can also tell if someone has been through the box.

So the question is why do some Dyslexics have a box that holds so much importance for them? We are visual people that think in images – whole pictures of everything. What  currently is of concern to us can cause us worry because we have to keep those pictures of our responsibilities together somewhere. Dyslexics have a tendency to lose things or forget about them and obligations, deadlines, events, important dates, things to pay or file can create a nightmare for them to keep under control.  We are not great at remembering or seeing the details of our pictures of our daily, monthly and god forbid, yearly responsibilities so we fret about keeping them somewhere we can find them easily and sift through regularly.

Daily planners are so frustrating because we plan to write in them or use a computer diary but after a day or so we never look at them again. Dyslexics are right brain dominant thinkers and the right hemisphere focuses on the present and the left hemisphere keeps track of the past and future. We can think about the past and the future but tend to be living in the present so keeping track of what we are supposed to be doing in a diary is quickly forgotten and is not that important until we have to do it. Also daily planners are about being sequential and many Dyslexics have a terrible time with a sequence of any description. So we get a box to hold it all!

A  silly personal example was trying to remember my wedding anniversary with my ex-husband. We are both Dyslexic and terrible at keeping track of special dates. We were married for twenty-six years and almost never remembered our anniversary. Days or a month later one of us would suddenly realize it had passed again. One year my sister tried to help. She called me in the morning to remind me – I thanked her because I had forgotten and then told my ex-husband. We planned to go out to dinner and then forgot to go!! We even made a reservation. My sister phoned me the next day to ask how the dinner went and I said, “What dinner?”.

When we are working with Dyslexic spouses and children we often talk about how many Dyslexics have a box for their stuff. They love to say, “See, I am not being lazy!” to their family members who have been annoyed with their “box” and forgetfulness. We suggest tolerance, understanding and a sense of humor from the family.

What I would love to see is other people’s version of the “Box”. If you would like to email us pictures of yours we will post them in a later blog. As I said before, the box can take many shapes and sizes. Doesn’t have to be portable. Maybe it’s a filing cabinet, closet, cupboard, plastic tote, whatever. Tell us your story about your “box” so we can share with others. Maybe your idea of a box will appeal to other Dyslexics looking for ideas to contain their stuff.

Cheers!
Karey Hope deGraaf
Email: khope@dyslexiavictoria.ca
Co-founder of Dyslexia Victoria Online