The frustrations of adult dyslexia

Many people think that dyslexia goes away as an adult. The symptoms change over time and become less about reading and writing and more to do with day to day information processing and organisation. But the problems of dyslexia do not go away. As an adult I still have problems with auditory processing, short term auditory memory and sequencing.

What do you mean its less about reading and writing? Dyslexia is a reading and writing disability - isn't it? The answer is yes and no. Dyslexia is much more than just about reading and writing difficulty. It is reading and writing that is noticed in school. As these can be measured and it is clear when a child is 'behind' in these skills. Parents and teachers then focus on closing the gap.

But underneath the visible reading and writing difficulties are a range of 'hidden difficulties' which many people overlook. These include memory problems, visual processing, processing speed, left/right orientation and time management.

One of the reasons reading and writing can be less of a problem to adults, is that in the main we can find ways of avoiding it or we have strategies for managing our difficulties.  For most adult dyslexics it is also not that we can't read and write, just that we are slow and inaccurate. Very often we pick professions that are practical and involve interacting with people rather than writing things down. If we do have to read, we can usually do it privately at our own pace. I am a teacher and so spend most of my time interacting with children and my colleagues. For lesson planning I only have to make my own notes and no one sees that I spend twice as long as any one else on them.  The only stressful time is once a year when I have to write reports, then I have to allow myself plenty of time and make sure someone else proofreads them. I avoid reading aloud as much as possible, I ask for a child to volunteer or use audiobooks in class.  If I am in a meeting or doing a presentation I summarise or use my own words or delegate the reading to someone else.

For me the main difficulty that remains is auditory processing difficulties.  I need visuals as well as words to understand something.  If I am talking to someone I need to see their face, see their body language to follow the conversation.  As a result I have strong dislike of phone calls as I have misunderstood things so many times.  If someone gives me address over the phone I am prone to mishearing it. Usually I have to write what I think I heard phonetically and then use a map to find the likely address.  Even when someone spells out a name, my brain seems to scrabble the letters and I often can not write the letters down quickly enough. Again I have to find information from another source.  Email and the internet has been such a help to me is this respect. Most of the time I don't have to make phone calls at all and I can communicate and get information with less risk of misunderstanding.

My poor working memory also causes many practical problems too. I carry a note book everywhere as I know if some recommends a product or place I will not remember the name by the time I get home.  If someone gives me directions I have to write them down otherwise I will get half way to a place and then realise I have forgotten what was said.  It is definitely easier to find somewhere with a map! I leave my belongings are over the place and have not recollection of where I last had them. I then have to try to retrace my steps in the hope of finding the lost item. I struggle with PIN numbers and door codes as though I do remember them, my brain very often decides to change the sequence and so my card is swallowed or I am locked out!

Most of the time I am patient with myself and laugh when things go wrong.  The lack of understanding from others can be hard to deal with and it can be embarrassing when you struggle with every day tasks others consider to be easy. Fatigue also plays a big part in how well I can function so inevitably it when I am most tired that I make the most mistakes!

Using Google Classroom and Google Docs to support students with Dyslexia, ADHD and other Learning Differences

Self esteem and motivation can be a big issue for students who have spent years struggling to keep up with classwork. Teachers seldom recognise how much effort is going into surviving each day. Positive feedback becomes less and less as teachers focus on the shortfalls.  These students become more self-aware and know that many of their peers regard them as not being clever.

Every lesson has its pitfalls. To start with have you remembered all the equipment for the lesson? Then during the lesson, you might miss a key instruction, find the pace too fast, not process the visual information from the board, not be able to read a word in a text, mishear a word or not understand new vocabulary.  These children often have challenges with working memory, auditory processing or visual processing. They may also have difficulties with organization, vocabulary, slow processing and the physical process of writing. How can we level the playing field and offer discrete support in Senior School ?

Google classroom is an excellent way to discretely supporting students with dyslexia, ADHD and other learning difficulties.  Working memory difficulties, slow processing and auditory processing can be supported by pre-teaching via Google classroom.  Students can be given access to key texts or information to read prior to the lesson.  Relevant video clips can also be posted.  This means that when they come to the lesson they are already aware of the content which makes it much easier to tune in and follow what is being said.  During the lesson they can also have access to bullet points or visual prompts in front of them that can guide them through the lesson and keep them on track if they lose focus or miss a teaching point.

Having parts or the whole of the teaching slides in front of them on their own laptop also helps those with visual processing difficulties.  The font or the colour of the text can be altered to make it easier to read.  In a classroom situation if all the children are using their own laptop, Google classroom makes it is possible to personalise what each child sees without it being obvious that the child has something different.  It is possible to set up scaffolded worksheets with sentence starters or word lists for those who find written tasks challenging. Charts, labelling pictures and fill in the blanks texts are great ways for students to show their understanding while reducing the amount writing required.

Less discrete but helpful are text readers where the computer reads the text. This is particularly useful for longer texts or texts with a lot of technical language where fatigue may mean that a dyslexic student loses the meaning of what they are reading as all their energy in decoding. Headphones could be used here or it could be used only for homework tasks.

Voice to text could also be used for longer writing tasks that would be very laborious for a dyslexic learner or those with handwriting difficulties.  This allows the student to focus more on the content of their writing than the physical process of writing and spelling. Studies have shown that speed and efficiency of handwriting can make the biggest difference to the quality of content and composition of written work.

For students with ADHD, access to pre-teaching can greatly improve their focus and engagement during lessons. In addition, questions that the teacher intends to ask them could be posted on their laptop prior to the lesson or at the beginning of the lesson.  This way the student can listen out for key information that will help answer the question. This again helps focus during lessons.

Another area of potential source of embarrassment for older students can be feedback from the teacher. Often this is done very publicly within the classroom. The teacher may comment on spelling errors or lack of punctuation.  They may mention that the student hasn’t written enough or there is not sufficient detail.  With Google classroom teachers can give feedback through comment boxes alongside the work and other students need not be aware of personal feedback given to each student. The teacher can highlight where a sentence needs to be edited or improved and give hints to guide the student.  They can use different colours for different types of editing – spelling, punctuation, better vocabulary choices. For children with learning differences it is best to just focus on one aspect within each piece of work.  Not only is this type of feedback more discrete but most students respond better to this type of constructive advice. They can act on the advice and he end result should a piece of work they are proud of which could then be shared with the class, improving self esteem. 

Google Classroom and Google Docs are versatile tools which benefit all students but can make a tremendous difference to those with learning differences.

www.achievenow.org.uk has lots of practical advice and videos to help set up accessibility functions within different computer systems.