BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.

Subject: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 01:17 PM

What is it like to live in the skin of a profound dyslexic? First off dyslexics share the same joy, dreams, pains and questions about life that all human beings have. Secondly profound dyslexia means that you can not read, spell, converse or write without many associative tricks and other compensatory efforts. The effort required to process language is five to ten times more strenuous than it is for a normal person. The effort is commonly so exhausting that reading more than fifteen minutes can be overcome by sleep or in worse cases a migraine headache develops that may last from one to three days.

There is a physical difference between dyslexics and others that can be seen with the naked eye, that is, as long as you are looking at MRI scans of the brain. What the normal person has that dyslexics do not, is an Angular Gyrus which directly links language symbols to language and is located on the left cerebral cortex near the La Broca's region which controls thought to speech functions. Even a profound dyslexic can compensate for not having an Angular Gyrus by involving large swaths of cerebral cortex on the right side of the brain, deep internal structures and more regions in the visual cortex than non dyslexics use to read, think and visualize things in terms of translating concepts into language and visa versa.

How does this feel? Sometimes it is as frustrating as hell. Sometimes it provides clarity of visual thought relationships that come from the right brain which are inventive or even downright amazing. But mostly it means that you can not recall lyrics to songs you may have heard a hundred times, or that remembering even a famous name may take many seconds to hours. Mnemonic tricks are helpful but it can never be a cure. Dyslexia can be viewed like a recording studio soundboard with 12 million switches and for each person with dyslexia those switches are at different settings so that one person who compensates with the audible memory switch on high is different from another who has that switch on low. The easiest books for dyslexics to read are films, followed by audio books.

Now get this, one in ten people are dyslexic. The reason you are unaware of all the dyslexics missing on chat forums is because reading and spelling may prevent them from posting. Since some of these dyslexics are brilliant despite an inability to read by some degree, they have to make their own environments and scenarios to contribute successfully. That is why a full 35% of all entrepreneurs are dyslexic. They have unique problem solving abilities as well as a need to delegate effectively. You might now begin to see why dyslexics are often artists, cosmologists, theoreticians, mechanical genius', policy analysts, musicians, natural navigators, time manipulation, dimensional clarity, Noble prize winning scientists, architects and other disciplines that benefit from great subjective insight and spatial understanding.

As a profound dyslexic I am easily out quipped in social settings and embarrassed by not having the necessary word at the right time. If writing on a forum I often get insults that I can not spell and occasionally get a helpful correction. I naturally have great empathy for stutterers but people do not recognize dyslexia in the same context, instead it is seen erroneously as stupidity or laziness. I have found that most people think of reversing a letter as the central issue of dyslexia.

If a normal person is shown a xyz graph in which the three dimensions of width breadth and height are displayed they can easily conceive of a 3D object represented by the graph. The more points on that graph the easier it is to see a 3D object. However if you ask that normal person to now draw a line in a direction perpendicular to all the other xyz axis, they feel like they are being asked to point in a direction that does not exist. Ask a dyslexic to do this and they will see that to add another dimension, you just immerse the xyz graph into another dimension like putting a very thin fish into a fishbowl.

While there is currently no solid objective proof for the concept I present to you now, I believe a dyslexic has a a structure deep in the brain that normal people do not have to the same degree. Normal people have a group of 188 cells that determine their sense of time. I contend that dyslexics have an overdeveloped central control of time. It is tucked in the middle of the brain and connects to both left and right limbic systems which are filled with fluid. In the multi dimensional nature of our universe a dyslexic may have the ability to "hear" the echoes of events that bounce both forward and backward in time. At a minimum they may have a more pronounced awareness of these phenomena that normal people. It is just as conceivable that people with an Angular Gyrus may have just as much pre awareness as dyslexics. Having forethought or any kind of warning is an evolutionary plus. Since dyslexia is an inherited trait from, one or both parents, a child may in a sense be able to inherit luck.

All my life teachers and parents thought I might one day catch fire and read all that I needed. After 5 years of music college, minoring in psychology and political science, I still did not graduate but not due to compensating for dyslexia but rather having one teacher fail to turn in my earned B grade and then retaking the class only to have the professor die before finals and mostly, I ran out of money and hope. I would work briefly at different jobs until I received training as a hypnotherapist. There I refined empathy, foresight and subjective problem solving abilities to do the job to the best of my abilities. I played music increasing by ear and took up the craft of instrument repair and inventions. I met a deaf guitarist and was inspired t help him hear his music which led the first attempts to use an inducer and nerve receptors that eventually became the cochlear implant. If I wanted something I all too often would try to make it myself with what I called Yankee ingenuity but it was really all a response to dyslexia. While I knew I was different I would try to hide it with varying success.

In evolutionary terms the variations of people with or without instant visual language abilities begs the question which came first and who is the fittest. Written language gave society memory that spans centuries or millennia. Oral histories can die suddenly. Then the printing press expanded the availability of societal memory. Now the internet can do so in real time! Naturally having a compromise between a dyslexic brain and normal brain would seem like the best advantage in the internet age, I think both kinds of brains will continue to evolve with separate and unique survival traits to each.

How I perceive you folks in the majority with normal brains is that you are on average, linear thinking beings. I think in more volumetric ways. The way I see most people perceive me, particularly in person, is slow, stupid, "there is something off about that guy" kind of reaction. Of course being discredited for bad spelling or "seemingly" magical thinking that pans out in the end is not a horrible thing. Often I am asked to provide a link to the subject I might be discussing. Truth is 90% of the information I know well comes from audible sources.

Twelve years ago I could not spell, read or write beyond a sixth grade level. I started with what came naturally and wrote in poetic styles. Having read no more than a dozen books in my life I began to read more. I posted on a forum of folk musicians who were comparatively more forgiving than any other social network forum. I've worked hard, and while many people on that forum still do not understand what I write, I have made enough progress that I hereby graduate myself with a degree of doing the impossible for a profound dyslexic, I can read and write.

On occasion someone would remark that I had written something moving and remarkable. They would not understand when I would reply "Thank you but you must realize I am virtually illiterate. So by the same odds of a blind person seeing this, if another profound dyslexic needs some encouragement in the struggle to read and write, show him my essay. They should be able to learn much faster than I did.

Thank you all,
Don Hakman

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 31 May 11 - 01:24 PM

Good post, Don, tub wyh did ouy bring this pu?

FsG

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 01:46 PM

It is critically important that I add that a dyslexic is not a superior person overall and that they are sometimes ignorant, selfish, meglomanical and even famous. If it takes one to know one, I remind you of George W Bush and Sarah Palin.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 01:54 PM

GoS,
I saw an HBO documetary on Dyslexia recently that caused me to recognize the prevasive effect that dyslexia has had on every aspect of my past, present and future life. I also realized that I have never admitted the extent of the challenges that I strive to overcome but will never cure.

PS
In those two sentences I did have to correct 4 inverse letterings, and one spelling error prior to hitting Submit Message, so your little joke on my behalf has some validity.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 11 - 01:59 PM

I'm the expection, I'm dylsexic.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 02:04 PM

Susan your dialects and success in getting to the point, rather than getting bogged down in statistics the way "normal" people do, is one of your strengths.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 02:08 PM

While people here do not cast expursions on Skarpi for her use of the English language, they do so to dyslexics all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Ebbie
Date: 31 May 11 - 02:25 PM

Interesting essay, Don. I had not realized the wide range of effects that dyslexia can cause.

When I have taken issue with you, Don, it was not because of your spellings(It is ASpersions, by the way- not EXpersions. lol) but because of some of your sweeping assertions that are frequently presented as fact rather than fancy.

Incidentally Skarpi is an Icelander and a man. English is not his first language.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 31 May 11 - 02:37 PM

Very, very good Donuel ... thanks for sharing this.

biLL .... who btw happens to be dyslexic

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Will Fly
Date: 31 May 11 - 02:41 PM

Now get this, one in ten people are dyslexic. The reason you are unaware of all the dyslexics missing on chat forums is because reading and spelling may prevent them from posting.

Just a point of logic, Don - if there are fewer dyslexics posting on Mudcat than non-dyslexics, then the "1 in 10" statistic does not apply to Mudcatters. Ergo - the "1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic" title is actually not true.

In other words, the Mudcat Forum population is not a standard sample of the whole population, so the "1 in 10" ratio may actually be 1 in 20, or 1 in 30, etc., on Mudcat.

Just a thought.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 31 May 11 - 02:49 PM

Don, though you 'might' have taken my reply as a 'joke', could you make sense of it?...and how quick were you able to do it? (all the letters are there, but just a little reversed.)

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: GUEST,nimber 6
Date: 31 May 11 - 02:53 PM

Ebbie .... in regards to skarpi (gender aside) ... what Donuel is saying, is that a dyslexic individule could be critized in regards to their spelling/strucuture in a post while Skarpi, whose 1st language is not English ... but with that being said, we pretty well all know skarpi is Iclandic, while we may not be aware that a poster is dyslexic.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 31 May 11 - 02:56 PM

clarification ... in a post while Skarpi, whose 1st language is not English is not criticized.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 03:01 PM

Ebbie
I know Skarpi is Icelandic but whenever gender is obscure in a users name I go with a visual association, In this case I associated a mudcat you tube of Icelandic musicians that featured a pleasing female vocalist.

There is no doubt I make out of the box assertions based on the unique right brained knowledge that is unapparent to a linear thinking process. I suspect you may have issues with Edgar Cayce as well for the same reasons, but he is not around to explain himself.

According to quantum theory and the Uncertainlty principle, any and every prophesy will with enough time, happen. When I speak of future events with certainly, I assure you I do so with reason, rationale and knowledge based on facts and pattern recognition.

For example I say here and now that; the great food bubble, which is another term for the coming great famine, will happen in the next 5 years.
It could happen as soon as next year if the grain crop of the United States does not exceed last year's yield.

I do not say might or could result in a great famine, I say WILL. Because it will.
I can litteraly offer you 10,000 words and a hundred reasons why, and you 'might' still dismiss it as all fancy for reasons you may not even know. Some of those reasons can stem from not knowing yourself. Cassandra complexes or egotism are often the ammunition hurled at people who claim foreknowledge exists.

You do not like it when people say 'such and such' WILL happen. Your first reaction is 'what makes them so smart or omnicient?' Maybe your dad spoke in such certainties that caused no end of angst.

I assure you that some people are genius when it comes to pattern recognition and some are not.

Dyslexics oftne fail Alegbra the first time around but we are able to estimate answers in calculus without any computation that are consistently within an error factor of 10 per cent or less.

What I can't do is remember your name and address. Of course that is a plus when speaking of client confidentiallity.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 03:07 PM

A true dyslexic might have a hard time with Algebra but score well in Geometry.

My grade in Algebra c-
My grade in Geometry A+

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Bill D
Date: 31 May 11 - 03:11 PM

I'm not dyslexic...but I'm a lousy 2-finger typist, which often means my typing LOOKS dyslexic, as I often get two fingers mixed up and reverse order.....which is why I use a 'correct as you go' spell checker which monitors me in real time. Of course, it doesn't help if the confused word is also a real word.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 03:18 PM

Typos are seperate and discrete accidents. But in a stretch if inversions are frequent , one could say a motor dyslexia could be a cause.

It may also be apparent that dyslexics may be unusually defensive regarding defending themselves against charges of laziness, stupidity and/or insanity.

But if I were caught writing notes on my hand or accidently inventing a word that is phoneticly close to the correct word, I would not defend it in the absurd manner as Sarah Palin.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 03:20 PM

Musicians are slightly more likely to be dyslexic as entrepeneurs, but if you are good at recalling lyrics, it is not likely you are dyslexic.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 31 May 11 - 03:38 PM

Here, see if this helps:

Here are some of the stumbling blocks to that understanding that people with dyslexia may encounter:

    The lines and spaces are named after letters of the alphabet. The same letters are causing difficulties with literacy skills.
    The order of letters may increase the child's confusion. In the bass clef the lines begin with G, in the treble clef with E, and C is a very important letter on its own little line. The correct sequencing of the letters of the alphabet starting with A causes enough difficulty on its own; now there is this added confusion.
    People with dyslexia have difficulty with naming things, and the names allocated to notes, whole note, half note, quarter note, etc. (or quaver, crotchet, minim, etc.) can put a great strain on the memory.
    The speed and style of a particular piece of music are usually given in words from a foreign language, e.g., Italian. People with dyslexia have difficulty remembering what these words mean: Is it adagio or allegro that means slow?
    The letters of the alphabet are used again to determine sections of a particular orchestral or band piece. When rehearsing with a musical group, conductors will frequently require players to go back to an earlier section simply by referring to the letter of the alphabet. It may well be difficult for people with dyslexia to find the right place quickly enough.
    Counting bars of rests when playing in an ensemble may cause problems, particularly for those playing a solo instrument or percussion.
    Verbal instructions relating to direction - up/down, top/bottom, and left/right - add to the confusion. For example, piano teachers may name the hand that should play a particular line of music without knowing that the student has considerable left/right confusion.
    If initial difficulties are overcome, sight reading often remains a major problem, which may prevent an individual with dyslexia from achieving success in music examinations and playing professionally in an orchestra. Vocal sight reading gives rise to an additional problem, that of reading the words and the notes simultaneously.
    The individual may encounter further difficulties in the copying of musical notes and in the writing of them in musical composition.

Musicians with dyslexia should not be deprived of the chance to fulfil their potential because of these difficulties. Solutions need to be sought - and found. The following are a few suggestions as to how this might be done:

    Singing to and with children from the earliest possible age is of crucial importance because it encourages musical development by training the ear. The alphabet, for instance, can take its place amongst preschool nursery rhymes.
    If someone plays the tune on an instrument while the child sings, this can ensure that the sense of melody and harmony continue to support the eyes that are dealing with those written notes.
    A colored staff with moveable pieces, such as that devised some years ago by Hubicki (Hubicki, 1991; 1994) may enable the learner to touch and feel the symbols of written music while positioning them in their appropriate places. Color coding will also help the pupil to recognize musical patterns, for example, the location of octaves on a staff.1

The recorder is an excellent instrument to start on. (The piano should be avoided in the early stages because it involves the reading of two clefs, not one, and it is a characteristic of individuals with dyslexia that they cannot handle large amounts of symbolic information at speed). If possible, a parent should share the experience of learning the recorder and ensure that sounds and fingering are directly related to the musical notation.

Careful consideration should be given to the choice of future instruments. It could be that, once the child has mastered the treble clef with the recorder, piano lessons could start. Possible problems should be discussed with potential teachers so as to make certain they are flexible in their approach and willing to adapt to the child's needs. In the case of a dyslexic child, the attitude of "This is the way I always teach" is not good enough. The children's own wishes as to choice of instrument are, of course, a crucial factor' and they should be allowed to express preferences regarding such matters as pitch, technical requirements, and musical repertoire.

Brass instruments can provide a musical outlet in a variety of groups. In the brass band, whatever the pitch of the instrument, only the treble clef will be required, and this is a great help for musicians with dyslexia. Also, when one is teaching a brass instrument to a pupil, the fingering can be written under the notes so that when players see the note on the page and push down their fingers the right sound is heard. Gradually, the process will become automatic and the numbers will not need to be written. If the player starts with the cornet and wants to move down in pitch to the euphonium (baritone), the fingering related to notes will remain the same - a great advantage. If the young cornet player wishes to play the trumpet in an orchestra, she or they will probably need to transpose and considerable teaching will be required to help them do this. Transposition can also prove a hazard for dyslexic French horn players.

Woodwind instruments, such as flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, provide their own challenges. Though the treble clef is normally easier than the bass clef for most people, musicians with dyslexia may have difficulty fingering and reading the notes.

Percussion instruments may be enticing, but require the ability to keep precise rhythm and to read rhythmic notations, both of which may cause problems for individuals with dyslexia (Miles & Miles, 1999, p. 149). Several musicians with dyslexia have reported that they learned rhythms by themselves without the musical nutation by listening and repeating (Ganschow, Lloyd-Jones, & Miles, 1994).

The violin might be the chosen instrument. Other instruments in the string family (viola, cello, and bass) should be considered with care since the musician will need to learn at least one other clef.

Music Examination Boards in Britain are demonstrating an understanding of the difficulties that musicians with dyslexia encounter. In suitable cases, the boards allow extra time so as to lesson feelings of pressure.

With the increased awareness of all of the above aspects of dyslexia, hopefully the right help will be available at the right time for musicians with dyslexia so that they will not find themselves excluded from the music making that they have the gifts to enjoy.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: gnu
Date: 31 May 11 - 03:47 PM

Donuel... In this case I associated a mudcat you tube of Icelandic musicians that featured a pleasing female vocalist."

You got it half right... Skarpi can SING! He is a fantastic vocalist and a fine musio.

And, his band has a lass that fits that "pleasing" part too.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 04:00 PM

YEs they are fine musicians indeed.


There is help for childhood and teen dyslexics as never before. There is technology, invented by a dyslexic that scans and reads books aloud.

But the adults with dyslexia are more often left to their own devices since they are not in school systems.
Thats why I graduated myself today.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 04:07 PM

The most far out bizarre dyslexic I have ever heard about is Franz Tesla. He invented his own language for much of his work and spoke of an electrical force perpendicular to all others in extra dimensional terms.

WHile he is respondsible for the first and now every alternating elecrical current grid and appliance in the world, he also would have delivered wireless free electricity if corporations had not destroyed and swindled him in the end.

The space between savants like Tesla and typical dyslexics is huge.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: frogprince
Date: 31 May 11 - 04:07 PM

Donuel, you definitely deserve a big, overpriced Hallmark graduation card.

And Gfs? excellent post.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 31 May 11 - 04:08 PM

Don
I empathise with you. I have worked with dyslexics and I know how tough it can be.
What is very brave, is you have the guts to admit to it. Many dyslexics will not admit to it.
I have seen dyslexics persecuted, because the so called "Normal" people do not have the time or patience to understand.
Oh and great news that you graduated. That is worth twice as much as "Normal" people :-)

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 04:33 PM

You are right on both accounts.

To graduate, the first and foremost thing is admiting to the whole schmeer.
Second is to recognize a marked improvement in the mechanical and comprehension side of reading and writing.

I have a notebook full of screen play and short story ideas but the effort to develop any one of these satisfactorily by myself was unlikely or impossible.
Upon graduation it looks more promising.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 04:46 PM

A disturbing scenario from my classical music phase is when I tried to audition for lessons from David Sawyer who was with the Guarneri string quartet. I was simply a dyslexic cellist about to audition but before they could hear my tone, phrasing and singing approach to instrumetal music, I was asked to sight read a sheet of music.

Between the panic and awkward attempt to fulfill such a monumental task (for me) I tried to explain that with only an extra moment of practice ...

David Sawyer took my application and theatricly threw it in the trash can. I thought I saw something akin to understanding or embarrasment in the eye of the first violin player but it was all played out and that door was forever shut, not behind me, but in front of me.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 31 May 11 - 05:10 PM

Bastards Don. Shame on them.
You keep your chin up and ignore ignorent people like them.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 May 11 - 05:16 PM

What an arse Sawyer was for having done that.

Congratulations on your graduation, Donuel and thank you for all of your postings in this thread; a most excellent discussion.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 31 May 11 - 05:39 PM

RAH!

I know quite well a number of dyslexics. Most of what is said here on this thread is gibberish. Those I know are perfectly capable of logical thought and oral and indeed written expression (if spelling is a challenge). I design and build speaker cabs and build PA rigs with one of them. I have lectured many others. All too often the designation is used as an excuse for sloppy thinking and assertions that are far from fact.

YOU DO IT ALL THE TIME DONUEL, and it is infuriating in that I agree with many of the points you are trying to make but you sabotage them by asserting things that are not so. You play into the hands of our enemies.

Just like your assertion in the heading of this thread. If 1 in 10 people are dyslexic then that is only true of Mudcatters if the distribution of dyslexia is the same in Mudcatters as in the population at large, and for the very reasons given that is improbable.

COP OUT.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 31 May 11 - 05:42 PM

Trust you Richard :-)

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 May 11 - 06:02 PM

Geez. George W Bush and Sarah Palin. I don't want to be in the same club as those two.

You pegged my scores in Geometry vs Algebra. Temple Grandin has a lot to say about that. Though she discusses autism, there are aspects of dyslexic brain that I recognize in her talk.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 31 May 11 - 06:14 PM

Autism is a great big spectrum SRS and includes dyslexia.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Bobert
Date: 31 May 11 - 08:58 PM

Yer right, Donuel... The only subject related to math that I got in high school was geometry... I got it the first week...\

Yeah, lexdexics figurate how to compensate... Well, fir the most part... I got spell check now that not only tells me when I'm messin' up but tells me the correct spellin'...

BTW, I didn't really read to well until I was 13 or so and my parents took me to Philadelphia to get tested to see why I was a dummie and they called it "cross dominance" back then...So I went to the George Washington University reading clinic and they did speed reading and rolled pages of written stuff thru a window and it was like, "Hey, this is cool" 'cause it taught me that the way lexdexics read is kinda this swirling thing and speed reading is something I can do... Okay, it still swirls and I don't read all the words but I can comprehend a lot of stuff real fast... Might not be 100% but it's purdy good, too...

Anyway, I wouldn't trade my dexdexia fir nuthin'... I like it just fine...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 10:53 PM

All I can say to Richard is that I have never said or implied that dyslexics are NOT perfectly capable of logical thought and oral and indeed written expression.

In fact the verbal communication skills are excellent. A trained observer will notice that there is a difference however. Pulling up names and certain sequential thoguhts will produce delays or gaps in speech.



Some of you might see a pattern begining to emerge here between dyslexics and non dyslexics. Not to put too fine a point on it but birds of a feather flock together.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 31 May 11 - 11:18 PM

Froggers: "And Gfs? excellent post."

I just fainted!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 31 May 11 - 11:19 PM

thanks again , here is the Word edited version of my final paper on the subject.


Dyslexia.

What is it like to live in the skin of a profound dyslexic? First off dyslexics share the same joy, dreams, pains and questions about life that all human beings have. Secondly profound dyslexia means that you can not read, spell, converse or write without many associative tricks and other compensatory efforts. The effort required to process language is five to ten times more strenuous than it is for a normal person. The effort is commonly so exhausting that reading more than fifteen minutes can be overcome by sleep or in worse cases a migraine headache develops that may last from one to three days.

There is a physical difference between dyslexics and others that can be seen with the naked eye, that is, as long as you are looking at MRI scans of the brain. What the normal person has that dyslexics do not, is an Angular Gyrus which directly links language symbols to language and is located on the left cerebral cortex near the La Broca's region which controls thought to speech functions. Even a profound dyslexic can compensate for not having an Angular Gyrus by involving large swaths of cerebral cortex on the right side of the brain, deep internal structures and more regions in the visual cortex than non dyslexics use to read, think and visualize things in terms of translating concepts into language and visa versa.
How does this feel? Sometimes it is as frustrating as hell.

Sometimes it provides clarity of visual thought relationships that come from the right brain which are inventive or even downright amazing. But mostly it means that you can not recall lyrics to songs you may have heard a hundred times, or that remembering even a famous name may take many seconds to hours. Mnemonic tricks are helpful but it can never be a cure. Dyslexia can be viewed like a recording studio soundboard with 12 million switches and for each person with dyslexia those switches are at different settings so that one person who compensates with the audible memory switch on high is different from another who has that switch on low. The easiest books for dyslexics to read are films, followed by audio books.

Now get this, one in ten people are dyslexic. The reason you are unaware of all the dyslexics missing on chat forums is because reading and spelling may prevent them from posting. Since some of these dyslexics are brilliant despite an inability to read by some degree, they have to make their own environments and scenarios to contribute successfully. That is why a full 35% of all entrepreneurs are dyslexic. They have unique problem solving abilities as well as a need to delegate effectively. You might now begin to see why dyslexics are often artists, cosmologists, theoreticians, mechanical genius', policy analysts, musicians, natural navigators, time manipulation, dimensional clarity, Noble prize winning scientists, architects and other disciplines that benefit from great subjective insight and spatial understanding.

As a profound dyslexic I am easily out quipped in social settings and embarrassed by not having the necessary word at the right time. If writing on a forum I often get insults that I can not spell and occasionally get a helpful correction. I naturally have great empathy for stutterers but people do not recognize dyslexia in the same context, instead it is seen erroneously as stupidity or laziness. I have found that most people think of reversing a letter as the central issue of dyslexia. Another common symptom of dyslexia can be a dyslexic building a scale model of something but what makes it unusual is the absurd amount of micro detail they will employ.

If a normal person is shown a xyz graph in which the three dimensions of width breadth and height are displayed they can easily conceive of a 3D object represented by the graph. The more points on that graph the easier it is to see a 3D object. However if you ask that normal person to now draw a line in a direction perpendicular to all the other xyz axis, they feel like they are being asked to point in a direction that does not exist. Ask a dyslexic to do this and they will see that to add another dimension, you just immerse the xyz graph into another dimension like putting a very thin fish into a fishbowl.

Famous dyslexics can be successful, intelligent, generous people or the exact opposite. People think of Einstein as being a dyslexic due to his early childhood speech delay and algebra troubles. His greatest discoveries stem from his visual thought experiments such as racing away from a clock face at the speed of light. Modern success stories of dyslexics include Richard Branson, Erin Brokovich , Tom Smothers, Scott 'Dilbert; Adams, Muhammed Ali, John Lennon. I suspect there is a class of dyslexic so far outside the box that they come but once a millennium, perhaps Franz Telsa was one. Dyslexia is not so much a key to any of their success as much as diligence and practice of the fundamentals of their craft. In my opinion there is a rather selfish side of famous dyslexics that include Sarah Palin and George W Bush.

I have a son who is autistic and while there is a somewhat similar verbal challenge and involves a neurological wiring factors, I see autism as almost the polar opposite of dyslexia. Autistic people have a tendency to be very literal and linear in their thinking. I look upon autism as an information overload problem due to the fact autistic people for some reason do not eliminate the redundant wiring in their brains from early childhood and therefore end up with many redundant neuronal connections which can be confusing. To overcome the confusion a rather rigid set of rules and limits helps them organize their abilities best.

While there is currently no solid objective proof for the concept I present to you now, I believe a dyslexic has a a structure deep in the brain that normal people do not have to the same degree. Normal people have a group of 188 cells that determine their sense of time. I contend that dyslexics have an overdeveloped central control of time. It is tucked in the middle of the brain and connects to both left and right limbic systems which are filled with fluid. In the multi dimensional nature of our universe a dyslexic may have the ability to "hear" the echoes of events that bounce both forward and backward in time. At a minimum they may have a more pronounced awareness of these phenomena that normal people. It is just as conceivable that people with an Angular Gyrus may have just as much pre awareness as dyslexics. Having forethought or any kind of warning is an evolutionary plus. Since dyslexia is an inherited trait from, one or both parents, a child may in a sense be able to inherit luck. As you notice I did not employ the word psychic since it opens a can of worms and controversy all its own.

There can be heart breaking moments due to dyslexia. A disturbing scenario from my classical music phase is when I tried to audition for lessons from David Sawyer who was with the Guarneri string quartet. I was simply a dyslexic cellist about to audition but before they could hear my tone, phrasing and singing approach to instrumental music, I was asked to sight read a sheet of music. Between the panic and awkward attempt to fulfill such a monumental task (for me) I tried to explain that with only an extra moment of practice ...David Sawyer took my application and theatricly threw it in the trash can. I thought I saw something akin to understanding or embarrasment in the eye of the first violin player but it was all played out and that door was forever shut, not behind me, but in front of me.

All my life teachers and parents thought I might one day catch fire and read all that I needed. After 5 years of music college, minoring in psychology and political science, I still did not graduate but not due to compensating for dyslexia but rather having one teacher fail to turn in my earned B grade and then retaking the class only to have the professor die before finals and mostly, I ran out of money and hope. I would work briefly at different jobs until I received training as a hypnotherapist. There I refined empathy, foresight and subjective problem solving abilities to do the job to the best of my abilities. I played music increasing by ear and took up the craft of instrument repair and inventions. I met a deaf guitarist and was inspired t help him hear his music which led the first attempts to use an inducer and nerve receptors that eventually became the cochlear implant. If I wanted something I all too often would try to make it myself with what I called Yankee ingenuity but it was really all a response to dyslexia. While I knew I was different I would try to hide it with varying success. Hiding the fact we did not read the entire Shakespeare assignment is something we all know about. Dyslexics know they are making more excuses for reading failures than they should.

In evolutionary terms the variations of people with or without instant visual language abilities begs the question which came first and who is the fittest. Written language gave society memory that spans centuries or millennia. Oral histories can die suddenly. Then the printing press expanded the availability of societal memory. Now the internet can do so in real time! Naturally having a compromise between a dyslexic brain and normal brain would seem like the best advantage in the internet age, I think both kinds of brains will continue to evolve with separate and unique survival traits to each.

I perceive you folks in the majority with normal brains as being linear thinking beings. I think in more volumetric ways. The way I see most people perceive me, particularly in person, is slow, stupid, "there is something off about that guy" kind of reaction. Of course being discredited for bad spelling or "seemingly" magical thinking that pans out in the end is not a horrible thing. Often I am asked to provide a link to the subject I might be discussing. Truth is, 90% of the information I know comes from audible sources.

Math skills vary but it is typical for dyslexics to fail Algebra on their first attempt but score a perfect 100% in Geometry. Not a savant skill but I seem to be able to estimate correct calculus answers at lest within narrow range of error. Not all dyslexics will have dysgraphia, writing difficulties, and/or dyscalculia, but they are both common among dyslexics. Sometimes abilities are improved by unknown mental processes. A savant may be able to do advanced math in their head by way of mentally visualized colored shapes that briefly dance and then end with the shapes displaying the symbolized answer.

Twelve years ago I could not spell, read or write beyond a sixth grade level. Within those limitations I could write about advanced concepts and meaningful poetry. I started with what came naturally and wrote in poetic styles, sometimes writing entire sonnets in perfect form without knowing it. Others would remark, "This is a nice Sonnet. Having read no more than a dozen books in my life I began to read more. I posted on a forum of folk musicians who were comparatively more forgiving than any other social network forum. I've worked hard, and while many people on that forum still do not understand what I write, I have made enough progress that I hereby graduate myself with a degree of doing the impossible for a profound dyslexic, I can read and write.

On occasion someone would remark that I had written something moving and remarkable. They would not understand when I would reply "Thank you but you must realize I am virtually illiterate. No more of that. I am here and I can read and write, but unlike other people. So by the same odds of a blind person seeing this, if another profound dyslexic in later life needs some encouragement in the struggle to read and write, show them my essay. They should be able to learn much faster than I did.

Thank you all,
Don Hakman

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 01:38 AM

I have probably the opposite whatever...very poor verbal skills..inability to speak more than a few words making any sort of sense..and extremely poor spatial abilities..never had trouble reading or writing and am a good typist..I am left=handed with probably, according to an expert, with speech in both hemispheres. Left-handed people are very interesting brain-wise. mg

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 06:52 AM

It sounds like you may be female. Guessing gender I found out is frought with controversy. If I'm wrong please know I have no malicious intent.

Did you know that a large number of left handed people were conceived as twins but absorbed the other twin at some point in gestation?

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 03:57 PM

1 in 10 Mudcatters don't understand binary numbers. The other half do.


DC

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 12:25 PM

Can you say that in base 7? My son can.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 04:37 PM

While no two cases of dyslexia are the same, since 10% of the general population rank somewhere along the spectrum of dyslexia, it stands to reason that one in ten members here rank similarly.

The illogical statements by some above posters that "mudcatters" must have a different distribution of dyslexic gifts and talents makes no sense.

Having idetic memory for lyrics not by reading but aural memorization is compatible with dyslexic compensation. A profound dyslexic may however have very little memory of lyrics in general.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 07:12 PM

Shouldn't that be "1 in 01" mudcatters?

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Janie
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 09:37 PM

Don, my impressions of you from your posts has always been that you are intuitive, brilliant, fantastically creative, and a bit whacky. The mix varies, but you are always worth reading. It is up to each of us to sort out what is worth holding in mind from the whackiness. I don't know how much any of that has to do directly with your dyslexia, though I understand that figures into the mix.

I almost but not quite echo what Ebbie had to say.

Keep on posting, friend.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jun 11 - 10:23 PM

I am astounded that it took me 50 years to see my dyslexia clearly.

The stereotype that dyslexics see letters switched or backwards is totally wrong.

What applies to every conscious person is that the mind sees. not he eyes. Even sounds change in your hearing if you see a person mouthing the letter V ,while the actual sound is bah. What you end up hearing is Vah and not bah. The mind changes what you hear due to what the eyes see. All your senses work as a team and influence each other in this way. This is why we are prone to be fooled by magician's illusions.

SOme dyslexics can read just fine but it exhausting beyond your belief. Reading even if well rested can put them to sleep in 10 minutes. Dyslexic readers are using 5 times the brain mass to compensate for a more direct pathway.

This is why new insights may occur to a dyslexic than a person who process words in a linear dirct fashion.

Part of my compensation included marrying a woman who can read a 300 page book in about an hour.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: GUEST,999
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 10:41 AM

"1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic."

Hrad to beleive taht satistic.

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 11:21 AM

sum pimples nver lern

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 12:08 PM

If you're worried you can always join the National Dyslexia Association (DNA).

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 05:57 PM

52% of mudcatters are disnumerate. The other 67% are fine.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Ed T
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 06:13 PM

"I perceive you folks in the majority with normal brains"

Is there actually such a thing? Or, a broad variation of brains, thought processes,resulting specialized skills, as a wide spectrum of differences in how humans process information (I expect many ingerited), perceive the world, use information, and communicate with others.

I am curious if there are specialized computer resources to assist those with dyslexia and Autism?

Subject: RE: BS: 1 in 10 Mudcatters are dyslexic.
From: Helen
Date: 08 Jun 11 - 06:59 PM

Thanks Donuel for opening the discussion. We have had some threads before about dyslexia, too, as I recall.

Count me in as part of the 1 in 10.

I found that playing computer games using the keyboard arrows or allocated keys for left & right, up & down, helped me a lot with my dyslexia. When I first tried playing the games - about 30 years ago - I was all over the place trying to get my fingers to respond to the visual info on the game screen, e.g. to get the game character to move left or right. Now I do it a lot more intuitively, which is something I tend to take for granted most of the time, and then it hits me suddenly, now and then, that this is a major breakthrough for me.

Touch typing used to be a trial for me, too, but years of working with word documents has helped me to "set" the left and right sides of the typing keyboard into my brain.

I still use mnemonics, especially visual cues, to remember names and words.

I still get words confused which have the almost the same syllables in a different order, e.g surreptitious, superstitious ("surrep" versus "super"). The syllables sound different, but when you read them they are almost the same letters in a different order.

If I'm saying numbers aloud, I know I will get "2" and "5" confused, yet mentally I know what the number is, and I know immediately when I've said it wrong. Why "2" & "5"? Look at "2" upside down. It looks almost like "5".

I still can't remember the names of songs, or the lyrics of most of the songs, except for bits here and there.

When I was learning the piano over the last couple years, I would sit and try to practice and feel like I had never played the piece before, and never seen it before. It was the same each time.

I tend not to think of the names of the notes, but just try to match the position on the music staff to the notes on the piano, i.e. their spatial/visual position in relation to the pattern of black & white keys.

I've never been able to play by ear, mainly because I can never remember how a tune starts. When I was going to music sessions regularly - for 10 years in total - I still couldn't play by ear. I also had to write the first few bars of the most frequent tunes we played onto a sheet of paper to be able to remember how each one started.

I am not able to listen to verbal things and remember them, unlike many dyslexics. If someone reads something out to me, I get the gist of it but I need to read it, as I am a more visual person. I like to see it illustrated with charts, graphs or pictures, and then the words make more sense.

It's also interesting to me that people will poke fun at dyslexics with those jokes about Santa/Satan, god/dog etc, but most of the same people would think it impolite to poke fun at people who have English as their second language. Some of the jokers will courteously ask if the jokes are ok, but generally dyslexics appear to be fair game in the humour department, in the world at large. On the other hand, though, I like jokes based on wordplay and puns, so I get the joke if it's funny, but I am just aware of the target on my forehead.

Helen