Today I would like you to discuss the problem of dyslexia. Is it, in your opinion, just an excuse or a serious problem? Maybe it is an opportunity?
Probably many of you have heard about this disorder and most probably when some "not-so-smart" kid has wanted to excuse him/herself from getting bad grades. This word often is associated with "clever" kid who just wants to have higher grades and have more time for the school leaving exam. In some cases it is true; still, it is difficult for teachers to decide if somebody is just cheating the system. It is not as simple as being blind or being deaf. Besides some parents want their children to have this little "yellow paper" and privileges related with it.
According to
the Wikipedia:
"Dyslexia is characterized by difficulty
with learning to read fluently and with accurate comprehension despite normal
intelligence. This includes difficulty with phonological awareness,
phonological decoding, processing speed, orthographic coding, auditory
short-term memory, language skills/verbal comprehension, and/or rapid
naming"
In other words you can say that a person with dyslexia can have for
example problems
with reading:
- they can get lost in a text (missing one line of text or reading one line twice)
- they recognize words by guessing not by reading
- they cannot read fast out loud - problems with intonation or reading fast understanding the meaning
with reading:
- they can get lost in a text (missing one line of text or reading one line twice)
- they recognize words by guessing not by reading
- they cannot read fast out loud - problems with intonation or reading fast understanding the meaning
with
writing:
- they make orthographic mistakes because of lack of sight memory,
- are slow writers
- they have problems with writing just hearing words
- they have terrible handwriting
- they make orthographic mistakes because of lack of sight memory,
- are slow writers
- they have problems with writing just hearing words
- they have terrible handwriting
and
unfortunately many others...
By now you
could think that a person with dyslexia is unsuitable to learn at school and
will achieve nothing important and for sure you do not know anyone with it! Let
me introduce you a short list of great people with this disorder:
-Leonardo
da Vinci
-George Washington
-Hans Christian Andersen
-Thomas Edison
-Albert Einstein
-Pablo Picasso
-Agatha Christie
-George Washington
-Hans Christian Andersen
-Thomas Edison
-Albert Einstein
-Pablo Picasso
-Agatha Christie
Are you
surprised? You shouldn't be, because having a dyslexia also gives you many
abilities which normal people have problems with or even could only dream
about:
-
thinking with pictures not words. It means you literally see pictures when
someone is talking to you, you instantly imagine it. The same with reading, you
do not see words, but whole pictures. (That is why people with dyslexia learn
to read "properly" - using they natural abilities)
-
creativity and lateral thinking
- vivid imagination ( when you are able to create any or very complicated scenarios in your mind )
- realistic feeling of yours thoughts
- great intuition
- greater sensitivity to the environment
- vivid imagination ( when you are able to create any or very complicated scenarios in your mind )
- realistic feeling of yours thoughts
- great intuition
- greater sensitivity to the environment
I know that
these abilities in most cases are useless at school, for example when you have
to write some text just hearing it.
A dyslexic person
hearing words can instantly (try to) imagine what someone is saying and then
try to write down what their imagination sees. When it comes to complicated
topics it is pretty difficult.
So what can
they do? Practice, practice and practice! It is possible to learn how to write
or hear "correctly" but it requires a lot of work, teacher and parent
forbearance is also very important. Living with this disorder is not really
difficult if you are aware of your disabilities and you know how to fight with
them and on the other side you are aware of many advantages which it brings for you.
1. What do
you think about this disorder? Do people with it should have any privileges at
school? If yes, what about work?
2. Do you
have dyslexia? If yes, how do you feel about it? Does it interfere with your
work/ daily life or maybe it helps? If no, maybe you know someone who has it?
Sources:
http://dysleksjarozwojowa.wordpress.com/2007/05/18/slawni-z-dysleksja/
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100115151205AAaJg2j
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysleksja
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100115151205AAaJg2j
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysleksja
Comments
Dyslexia particularly doesn't seem like much of a deal to me. As it has been said in this presentation, practice makes perfect. Maybe I need more time than others to learn how to solve certain math problems. So what? I will learn it eventually and be as good as any other person at it. All it takes is the will to do it.
I must also say that I learned a new thing from this presentation: I never knew that dyslexia actually has also its "benefits". Nobody never told me that dyslectic people can be more creative or have a particularly vivid imagination. And I think I am actually a prove to that theory, since my hobby involves inventing new scenarios for my friends every week. Each time I try my best so that the plot has something new or is somehow unexpected and (according to my friends :P) I usually manage. It's not like I want to boast or something xD. Just thought it might be interesting to share, since it could be a prove to what has been said in the presentation.
Thank you for sharing yours experience! I'm glad that you have some benefits and you are aware of them :)
And the matter of proper handling students' talents/disorders while assessing them is another question :)
I don't have dyslexia, but my friend has and in his case it's rather serious thing. I admit that sometimes I can't understand his problem and it is strange for me that he might not know how to spell or write some words correctly, but I try to be tolerant and helpful.
People with dyslexia can have some privileges at school but there is no way to have any privileges in work. We have internet and Word. Everyone can just check orthography.
So, is dyslexia a thing of XX-XXI century? Sometimes it’s really hard to explain what this is. In my opinion, it’s more of a made up disorder, more of a one’s inability to focus on writing part of everyday life. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad thing, we are not equal. If someone focuses his or her attention to different parts of life, great for them! There are dyslectic writers that are very popular. Some are great in singing, some in writing, some in coding, some in drawing “design views” and some in origami. We are not equal and we don’t have to be perfect in every way. Heads up. Cheers.
But facilities in work (after they finish education) is a totally different thing. First of all I don’t really think that any employer will bother himself about why his employee can’t manage some of his responsibilities. He won’t simply hire him (I know it is sad but it is the truth). But in nowadays whe we have computers and most of the work is done by typing on a computer, rather than by hand dyslexia is less relevant then for example 10-15 years ago.