Hi again,

Thanks. I knew I wouldn't be the only one here.

Gargoyle, I didn't know it had a name either until about the '80's. And I like the word-picture for bed. I think it is a gift, too. I used to love mirror writing, and I'd get surprised when other people couldn't do it.

I had gone from a really loving, caring, fun infants' school (elementary school? Kindergarten to Second Grade) to a pretty good primary school (Grade School?) but the first teacher I had there made me feel awful. She used to go on and on about my writing and how I wasn't trying hard enough. I remember once asking her how I was supposed to know which side of the page to start writing on and she just kept telling me the left side, the left side. Yes, but how do I know which side is left?

Most of the other kids kept saying how nice she was, but I was totally confused & upset by her.

I never got into physical exercise classes, either because the teacher would throw these super quick instructions - arms to the left, arms to the right, whatever, & it would take me too long to stop and figure out which was left or right, so I started making excuses so that I could get out of it. And it was worse if the teacher stood in front of the class and said to the right, and used her own right hand rather than mirroring it for us - the brain translation process got really confused then.

I have been reading about it, here & there, and I think that it relates to the right and left brain functions. The latest thing I read said that in most people one side of the brain has more influence on the way we process written information but in dyslexics it is more balanced so we tend to see both sides at once and then have to go through a conscious process to make sense of what we see.

I'm not explaining that very well, but that is part of why I think it is a gift - to have a balance between both sides of my brain.

Helen