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Secretary: John Bradford

Copyright © Dyslexia Adults Link
(but articles may be printed out for
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When I was in grade school, there was no information or clarity about dyslexia (1960's). I suffered through reading problems and because of that the school sent me to a private reading teacher to help me get my reading skills up. Certain words like "the, there, were, where what, was, are, this" and others, would reverse themselves and/or the letters would briefly appear scrabbled or the whole world would jump in front or behind where it belonged, causing a choppy kind of reading that was confusing and almost stutter-like.

I have always had problems with math.

I have always had problems with math. I often thought in my younger days that I just wasn't smart like everybody else. My two sisters did not have any of the problems I had. My parents thought I was a slacker and class clown, but believe me if I could have gotten A's in school I would have gotten them. I did not like being the one that couldn't do the work. Junior high school was the worst. I remember when it came time to take the SAT test for the first time it was a nightmare for me. I just couldn't handle the reading and comprehension required for that test, so I just started coloring in dots (it was multiple choice). I didn't even read half the questions because of the time limit. The results of my test were disastrous and they thought I was really mentally disabled in some way. I don't remember if I ever revealed that I just colored in the dots.

Geometry was the worst.

I would get in major trouble when I got bad grades, especially in math, but no matter how much studying I did, I could not get good grades in math. Geometry was the worst. It seemed that anything that had to do with opposites or reversals, or any kind of back and forth thinking was trouble for me. Reading comprehension is still a problem for me and memory issues still persist. Math is still a problem, I can't do any kind of subtraction in my head. Somehow I just can't see the numbers in my mind long enough to do it. Any kind of thinking that requires back and forth or reversal is still a problem. I still have number reversal all the time. I have always been and continue to be a poor speller (thank goodness for spell-checkers).

I have become a better reader. I am not afraid to read aloud anymore. I did a lot of reading in my late 20s and 30s and that helped me a great deal.

As previously mentioned I am in my 40s and I think its important that I tell readers how my life has turned out despite the dyslexic troubles evident in my youth.

I have written poetry since I was about 12.

I have written poetry since I was about 12 (I have never studied poetry or taken a class). In the past four years I have written a number of poems, which I took to an editor who used to teach poetry at Stanford University. She read my poems and gave an honest critique. She told me that I had threepoems that were publishable and that I was in the top 5% of all the students she taught at Stanford. I always kept my poetry to myself, very personal stuff, but after some of my family members heard about this they made me share my poetry with them and were amazed.

I always got A's in any type of craft or art class. I was the only female in woodshop class in junior high and excelled in that class. I have also been drawing - drafting & design - ever since junior high school.

I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and got a degree in commercial photography multi media. This was the only time in my life that I was on the Dean's list and got A's at any school I ever attended. I travel much and created a decent portfolio. I have also sold my work.

I worked at civil engineering firms.

While going to art school and after, I worked at civil engineering firms drawing civil plans, always trying to hide my math problems, and squeaking by with a calculator handy. I seemed to find other ways to solve my geometry problems in this civil engineering field, which required much understanding of that. It was evident to me that if I had the time I needed to figure it out my own way, not necessarily the standard way ... I could get the answers needed. I often needed pictures drawn for me to understand some kind of math formula or geometry problem. If I was shown how to get a complicated answer on a calculator that worked formulas I could do the sequence and get the answers, but not understand what I was actually doing, mathwise. That was discovered one day by an engineer when he was amazed at the way I would get correct spot elevations and add contours to a plan by interpolating from a topographic survey. He asked me to show him how I was doing it and I broke into a sweat. I showed him on my calculator and then he asked if I understood what I was doing. I answered "not really". They all had a good laugh over that one, but I could still do the work.

I currrently have my own business.

Last but not least, I currently have my own business, doing civil, landscape, and architectural drawings on AutoCAD for engineers and architects. About 14 years ago manual drafting started to make the shift to electronic and most companies do all drawings on the computer now. To everyone's surprise, I was the one that started early with computer skills and kept it going until I turned myself into a pretty competent "geek" even to the extent of fixing computers, hardware and software problems. I use a highly complex program for creating drawings where you have to remember thousands of things. It seems that repetition is what makes it easier for me. I work in this program every day and am able to retain most things. I still have problems when I have studied a drawing very closely and then have to draw it in AutoCAD, I will sometimes draw it mirrored. It will look correct to me until someone points out I drew it mirrored, and only then do I see it.

I feared to take an IQ test.

I feared for many years to take an IQ test, but I finally did. I took it more than once and would always come up with the IQ of 127, which I was delighted to know.

November 2004.

Tina Sasada.

(The illustrations are not by Tina herself, but are typical of the sort of architectural drawings she does.)

Two of Tina's poems are below.

Your experiences.

Please do e-mail us your own experiences so that we can include them - anonymously if you wish - on this page.

A social worker writes of her experiences with words.
Whoa! Major Flashback.
Success with the Direct Learning Reading Comprehension Exercise.