DYSLEXIA ADULTS
LINK.   

  Large print size.

 

Home page.   In the workplace.   Student's guide.   Experiences of dyslexia.     Dyslexia treatment.     About dyslexia.     Testing - assessment.     Articles.   Success!   Your Questions.   Books and Software.   Colleges.     Your letters.     Links.     World of Dyslexia.     Free Newsletter.

Secretary: John Bradford

Copyright © Dyslexia Adults Link
(but articles may be printed out for
your own personal use only).

Whoa! major flashback.

I am in one of those one person desks made out of metal with the wooden top and seat, some still have the hole in the top right corner for holding ink bottles.

It is hot, there is no air conditioning in this small Central Texas school.

The windows are open and the chirping birds outside are interrupted by the chalk squeaks on the black board as the teacher spells out the writing assignment.

"One page before the bell."

I know the topic but, it doesn't really matter, I know I won't do well.

My pencil has only been sharpened a couple of times but the eraser is all but gone and the metal end has been squeezed together to force what little eraser is left, to bulge past the metal edge.

I am concentrating hard very hard.

I start the first sentence but I know I can't spell some of the words, even some simple ones.

I reword the sentence and try again several times but know some words are still wrong.

By now I have erased some places to the point the paper is about to be torn by the metal on the pencil.

I peel the metal edge back on my pencil with my teeth to expose more eraser.

If I am careful it may last through the class...

I reword the sentence over and over in my mind, somehow I have to make this work.

I bite the knuckle on my right hand hard, sometimes the pain will make the confusion go away... The teeth marks will last for days.

I concentrate even harder as I do I grip the pencil harder and harder till cramps fill my hand.

Still I continue on...

The ringing bell does not bring the normal relief I feel when class is over.

My hand is aching, I have completed almost half a page...

I try to read over the sloppy writing quickly to look for mistakes...

I know what I wanted to say, I knew the subject, probably better than the teacher, but I now realize this paper makes no sense, even to me.

Head down, I turn in my paper, glancing up only to see the teacher frown in disgust at the look of the messy page.

I want to scream and do, only it is a silent scream of anguish and despair...

Daniel Willemin.


Read more people's experiences of dyslexia on the following pages:

A social worker writes of her experiences with words.
Finding my own solutions.
Success with the Direct Learning Reading Comprehension Exercise.