Teaching a Dyslexic Child Creative Writing is Easy
Dylexia is only a handicap if you let it be one
Dyslexics are often misunderstood; many people believe that having Dyslexia means you can't read or write at all, although this might be true for some people with very severe Dyslexia, the majority of Dyslexics have some reading and writing skills to varying degrees.
In fact older Dyslexics often got through school without anyone knowing they were anything else than "a little slow" when it comes to reading and writing. However with every dyslexic the writer has ever known, they are always far from "Slow". Their thinking and problem solving abilities are usually outstanding, they are so quick, they leave most people 3 miles back down the road.
Dyslectics range in severity from just having certain words that they can't ever remember how to spell, having many words that can't be spelt correctly, to only being able to spell 2 or 3 letter words. Often dyslectics with a medium dose of Dyslexia can read and can find other peoples spelling mistakes. I certainly always could.
They can see a spelling mistake, not know how to spell the word but still know it is wrong. other times, they can see the word is misspelt, and can usually find the right word out of a list of words, like with Micosofts Word spellcheck.
It's often thought that people with dyslexia can't read, that in my case is a load of huey, I have read many epic's novels over the years, and although I might stumble over the odd unfamiliar word, I read pretty well, I can't read aloud however, and since in school reading aloud in the early years is common, it's how I got the title of idiot or slow.
Reading can often be an issue, but it's often more to do with the number of words in a paragraph and the size of the font used. It's common practice with a dyslexic reading on a computer, to highlight the line they are reading, and then reading is or can be relativity easy. To highlight part of the text just left-click your mouse at the start of some text and holding the mouse button down, drag or push the mouse pointer down one or more lines.
You will note with my writing, I use far to many paragraph breaks, I usually don't make a paragraph any longer the 4 to 6 lines, this is as much for my dyslexia as for the reader, reading long paragraphs is extremely difficult, even if you don't have dyslexia.
Depending on the severity of the dyslexia, most people can lead quite normal lives and even when the condition is severe, sufferers usually just find jobs that use their other inherent skills, many dyslexics are very artistic or creative in some way. As with other disabilities like blindness the human spirit or body makes up for less in one area by providing more in another area.
So if your child is diagnosed with Dyslexia don't despair, they aren't doomed to a life of being simple or slow, you are guaranteed to have a child that is very creative in some way, often in several ways.
Probably the very best thing you could do for a child that is dyslexic is to buy them a computer, and encourage them to write. This may sound like the worst possible idea, but let's explain further.
All word processing programs have a spell-check, and spell checks or more the auto correct feature are a real gift for people with dyslexia. The spell-check/auto correct will need a bit of programming to begin with, which you as a parent will have to do, but once done, your child will be able to write with relative ease, and the more someone practices the better they get.
A spell-check can be programmed to correct any spelling errors as the person is typing, and you will quickly notice that your child will make the same spelling errors all the time.
You may think that having spell-check on auto correct will never help your child to spell correctly, and that's true to a certain extent, most dyslexics say they spell the same words wrong as they did when they were children.
1. The problems with not letting a program fix the spelling errors immediately, are the child/person will see they have made several spelling errors and will become discouraged about writing more.
2. Seeing a word spelt wrong only instills the misspelling in the mind of the writer so even with practice your child will probably not learn the spelling of the word anyway.
Read this quick page of how to set up auto spell correct for dylexics
http://sicktodeathnz.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/how-to-set-up-spell-check-for-dyslexic.html
To give an example of a word that is often spelled incorrectly by dyslexic writers; we'll use the word brochure.
There are about 4 ways that the writer of this article spells brochure: with an 'ire' instead of 'ure' happens often... 'brouch' is probably the most common mistake. The spell-check has been programmed to pick up any of these incorrect ways of spelling and change them to the correct spelling, which is why the full word cannot be given as an example here.
The majority of children, probably only use about 100 different words on a regular basis when writing, occasionally using extra nouns. Often people with dyslexia can spell 2 and 3 letter words, so it's only the longer words that need to be programmed into the spell-check. But even if your child spells 'the' with the 't' and 'h' transposed word processor will fix it. Spell-check can be configured to always correct misspellings.
You will find your child is so liberated by not having to worry about spelling; they will probably get right into writing. The first project might be a diary then onward to bigger and better things.
Being able to express yourself without ridicule is a wonderful thing, and your child will always remember how you took that time, and gave them that freedom.
Writers Bio
Lynny Brown an SEO in San Diego; works from home. After spending 15 or so years housebound with chronic back pain. Being in constant pain, and wanting to get away from pain, she found the computer and internet a wonderful distraction.
Gradually though the pain grew worse, and she ended up using the computer from bed, laying flat on the bed, with the keyboard propped on her stomach, the mouse on a book beside her hip, and the computer monitor on a kitchen table that straddled the bed.
As the pain grew worse, so did her dependence on painkillers. In April 09 she met a chiropractor via craigslist, that offered to swap SEO for his pain relief techniques. A few months later she was up and walking without medication. Now 12 months later she is quite healthy.
She is a self-taught SEO, learning these skills before even knowing what Search Engine Optimization was, back in 1999. Learning SEO came from simply wanting to see her own website rank highly in search engines. As it turns out her SEO skills have given her life back as an added bonus.
Note November 2012:
The above bio was written about 3 years ago, and much has changed. After living almost out of pain for a very short time, I was involved in a car accident in San Diego, a woman talking on her cellphone while driving, rear-ended our car while we were stopped at traffic lights, she didn't even try to slow down before she hit. I got severe neck whiplash injuries, and 10 days later, a blood clot from my neck moved up into my brain, and I had a stroke.
After the stroke, I was unable to work, and not having medical insurance, I couldn't afford to live or die in america, so I can home to New Zealand, where I live both with chronic pain again and the effects of the stroke. I'm still unable to work, I have had to go bankrupt, and my marriage of 10 years to an american is over.
Showing posts with label writer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writer. Show all posts
Monday, 10 June 2013
How to Set Up Spell-Check For a Dyslexic Child
How to Set Up Spell-Check For a Dyslexic Child
Dyslexic Children Are Often Very Creative
Note: (2013) This was written several years ago, for an older version of Microsoft Word, so the instructions for setting up the auto correct maybe different now.
You should be able to find the features I mention, they just might be in different places.
When teaching a child with Dyslexia how to use a computer to write just follow these steps, and you'd be amazed how quickly your child will become a confident writer and child in general.
Make the whole exercise a fun experience for your child. Have them watch the magic of a computer spell-check , write out a paragraph yourself, making some common spelling mistakes, explain You often spell this word a way the computer doesn't like. Spell the words almost correctly, maybe transposing a couple of letters show the child how computer underlines the errors, talk about how magic it is to find the words it doesn't like. (sometimes computers don't like a correctly spelt word)
First copy the wrongly spelt word so you can paste in, then right-click on the spelling error and Word will probably give you a few choices of what the word should be, but choose Auto-Correct then Auto Correct Options, put the incorrect spelling along with the correct spelling in and click ok. Do this with the other spelling errors, and then go back to your paragraph click right after the wrong spelt word and hit the spacebar... and like magic the word with auto correct.
Talk about how cool it is, and try typing the word incorrectly again, magic it fixes itself. You will probably know some of the words your child has a problem with, make sure a couple of those words are in the paragraph you write.
Ask them to write something using the word in a different way. Watch the magic again, get excited with the child.
Avoid saying "you spelt it wrong" just make the computer finding mistakes a fun thing, saying things like, "oh look it's found a new word , come on, let's make the computer change/magic it to one it likes."
Rather than "lets make the computer do it right or fix it"
Depending on the ages of the child, get them to write something to their level perhaps only a sentence, then program the spell-check with anything it finds. Do another sentence and so on, until you have found as many of the words commonly used by the child as possible.
Let your child write something by themselves.
Come back, and do the spell-check/auto correct thing, add the new words they have used to auto-correct. Soon you will only have to check occasionally, or when they ask you to "do the Spell-check magic"
I have found that after a few years of using auto-correct, that my spelling improved so much, that I don't use it anymore. I would so love to have the latest version of MS Office, as I would love to write much more on this subject, buying a 64 bit computer means the older versions of MS Word no longer worked so I got rid of it. And finances don't exist to buy the latest MS Office. Such is life. :)
Dyslexic Children Are Often Very Creative
Note: (2013) This was written several years ago, for an older version of Microsoft Word, so the instructions for setting up the auto correct maybe different now.
You should be able to find the features I mention, they just might be in different places.
When teaching a child with Dyslexia how to use a computer to write just follow these steps, and you'd be amazed how quickly your child will become a confident writer and child in general.
Make the whole exercise a fun experience for your child. Have them watch the magic of a computer spell-check , write out a paragraph yourself, making some common spelling mistakes, explain You often spell this word a way the computer doesn't like. Spell the words almost correctly, maybe transposing a couple of letters show the child how computer underlines the errors, talk about how magic it is to find the words it doesn't like. (sometimes computers don't like a correctly spelt word)
First copy the wrongly spelt word so you can paste in, then right-click on the spelling error and Word will probably give you a few choices of what the word should be, but choose Auto-Correct then Auto Correct Options, put the incorrect spelling along with the correct spelling in and click ok. Do this with the other spelling errors, and then go back to your paragraph click right after the wrong spelt word and hit the spacebar... and like magic the word with auto correct.
Talk about how cool it is, and try typing the word incorrectly again, magic it fixes itself. You will probably know some of the words your child has a problem with, make sure a couple of those words are in the paragraph you write.
Ask them to write something using the word in a different way. Watch the magic again, get excited with the child.
Avoid saying "you spelt it wrong" just make the computer finding mistakes a fun thing, saying things like, "oh look it's found a new word , come on, let's make the computer change/magic it to one it likes."
Rather than "lets make the computer do it right or fix it"
Depending on the ages of the child, get them to write something to their level perhaps only a sentence, then program the spell-check with anything it finds. Do another sentence and so on, until you have found as many of the words commonly used by the child as possible.
Let your child write something by themselves.
Come back, and do the spell-check/auto correct thing, add the new words they have used to auto-correct. Soon you will only have to check occasionally, or when they ask you to "do the Spell-check magic"
I have found that after a few years of using auto-correct, that my spelling improved so much, that I don't use it anymore. I would so love to have the latest version of MS Office, as I would love to write much more on this subject, buying a 64 bit computer means the older versions of MS Word no longer worked so I got rid of it. And finances don't exist to buy the latest MS Office. Such is life. :)
Monday, 27 May 2013
Being a dyslexic writer
Life as a dyslexic writer
My name is Lynny, I’m the owner of this website, and thought you might find the following article interesting.
Having dyslexia and desperately wanting to write is a challenge few could understand or appreciate.
I am not able to spell many words, which a majority of the time the computer spell check takes care of -if I actually know which of the words it offers is the correct one, as many of the words have the same/similar letters.
So it’s often a case of choosing one, and then seeing if the computer picks up that I’ve used a word in the wrong context. But does that mean the word I actually wanted to use is wrong, or does that mean I have chosen the wrong word from the list of possible options, or what if the word isn’t in the list, what then?
Each time I write an article or content for a webpage, I must get someone else to check what I have written. As well as not spelling correctly, often my thoughts are muddled and don’t come out as I had meant them to, or I over-explain things, making the article difficult to read.
My partner did this proofreading when she had time, but if she didn’t have time to do it as soon as she received it, often it would get forgotten. The good thing about asking my partner to do it was that she could ask me what I meant with some particular sentence which meant that what I was trying to convey wasn’t lost.
This of course couldn’t work if anyone else was doing it, they could really only check my spelling syntax etc and wouldn’t feel confident changing whole parts of what I had written.
Before I met people that could check my spelling I would often be considered an idiot, as only idiots can’t spell RIGHT? and would you believe, one of these people was actually a teacher so goodness help her students.
Growing up I was considered an stupid as well and was put into the dummy’s class, simply because of my lack of written skills. It wasn’t until I meet my present partner and speaking to me on MSN with headphones and the phone, she picked up that I was indeed very intelligent, I simply couldn’t spell.
She found a website online that had some sort of questionnaire and if you had a certain number of these symptoms you probably had dyslexia, I had all but three of the 50 or so symptoms.
Funnily enough that made me feel better, proving that I wasn’t a dummy or stupid as I had always believed.
But back to life now as a dyslexic (ghee’s I wish they would find an easier word to spell for this condition, every time I use it I have to look it up!) Anyway, life as a dyslexic is a struggle, especially when you want to write, when you love to write. People that know me say that they have to learn a new language when they start to talk to me on a chat program or through emails, they call it Lynnese and say it’s very easy to pick up.
Many words I spell are spelt like they sound, and I’m forever mixing up words like “their and there” , “live and life”, and “how and who” “quite and quiet”.
Dyslexia is an odd condition, well the version I have of it is. Often I know all the letters that are in a word, just not what order they come in, and often I can tell when a word is spelt wrong, even though I have no idea how to spell it right.
I have a list of words on the wall that I use all the time which I never have learnt how to spell. Also on the list is my address and phone number which I can never remember, I always mix up the sequence the numbers come in if I don’t look at them while I’m saying them on the phone or typing them.
I was going to leave this article as it was written, to show you what my writing looks like, but just looking back at Word’s spell check it’s far too embarrassing.
So I’ll send it away, and get someone to check it for me, and only let you all see the way it was supposed to be without you getting caught up in the spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Can anyone think of any other way one of us might spell dyslexic, i have done it these ways, dislexsick, dislexic, disslexsic, dyslexsick, dislexsyck, dyslici, dislesic .... you really do think they could have thought of an easier word/label to spell huh?
My name is Kym; I am Lynny’s partner, proof reader and general partner in crime and business.
I am a fairly good proof reader, my English, while American verses Lynny's New Zealand, is usually pretty good and I am a fair technical writer.
I do not have the skills, or the inclination to be an author, blogger or general communicator when it comes to the written word. My imagination is bent towards the images and websites I create. I love a conversation with an intelligent articulate person that is able to investigate all the pros and cons of a good logical argument or conversation.
Lynny has been my partner for over 10 years and she never ceases to amaze me with her humor, intelligence and willingness to overcome any and all difficulties life throws her way. I have never wasted my time correcting her spelling unless I am proof reading her articles, musings and web pages. I do not see the point, she is able to do the thing so many of us cannot… she can verbalize and put to webpage many things on multiple subjects in a concise logical well thought out manner. Quite frankly, the fact that she is spelling, grammar and syntax challenged is pretty irrelevant.
I do not find a person particularly cutting edge because they are able to correct other peoples spelling mistakes and not create anything original themselves. As you can see, there is a reason Lynny writes and I merely proofread.
My name is Lynny, I’m the owner of this website, and thought you might find the following article interesting.
Having dyslexia and desperately wanting to write is a challenge few could understand or appreciate.
I am not able to spell many words, which a majority of the time the computer spell check takes care of -if I actually know which of the words it offers is the correct one, as many of the words have the same/similar letters.
So it’s often a case of choosing one, and then seeing if the computer picks up that I’ve used a word in the wrong context. But does that mean the word I actually wanted to use is wrong, or does that mean I have chosen the wrong word from the list of possible options, or what if the word isn’t in the list, what then?
Each time I write an article or content for a webpage, I must get someone else to check what I have written. As well as not spelling correctly, often my thoughts are muddled and don’t come out as I had meant them to, or I over-explain things, making the article difficult to read.
My partner did this proofreading when she had time, but if she didn’t have time to do it as soon as she received it, often it would get forgotten. The good thing about asking my partner to do it was that she could ask me what I meant with some particular sentence which meant that what I was trying to convey wasn’t lost.
This of course couldn’t work if anyone else was doing it, they could really only check my spelling syntax etc and wouldn’t feel confident changing whole parts of what I had written.
Before I met people that could check my spelling I would often be considered an idiot, as only idiots can’t spell RIGHT? and would you believe, one of these people was actually a teacher so goodness help her students.
Growing up I was considered an stupid as well and was put into the dummy’s class, simply because of my lack of written skills. It wasn’t until I meet my present partner and speaking to me on MSN with headphones and the phone, she picked up that I was indeed very intelligent, I simply couldn’t spell.
She found a website online that had some sort of questionnaire and if you had a certain number of these symptoms you probably had dyslexia, I had all but three of the 50 or so symptoms.
Funnily enough that made me feel better, proving that I wasn’t a dummy or stupid as I had always believed.
But back to life now as a dyslexic (ghee’s I wish they would find an easier word to spell for this condition, every time I use it I have to look it up!) Anyway, life as a dyslexic is a struggle, especially when you want to write, when you love to write. People that know me say that they have to learn a new language when they start to talk to me on a chat program or through emails, they call it Lynnese and say it’s very easy to pick up.
Many words I spell are spelt like they sound, and I’m forever mixing up words like “their and there” , “live and life”, and “how and who” “quite and quiet”.
Dyslexia is an odd condition, well the version I have of it is. Often I know all the letters that are in a word, just not what order they come in, and often I can tell when a word is spelt wrong, even though I have no idea how to spell it right.
I have a list of words on the wall that I use all the time which I never have learnt how to spell. Also on the list is my address and phone number which I can never remember, I always mix up the sequence the numbers come in if I don’t look at them while I’m saying them on the phone or typing them.
I was going to leave this article as it was written, to show you what my writing looks like, but just looking back at Word’s spell check it’s far too embarrassing.
So I’ll send it away, and get someone to check it for me, and only let you all see the way it was supposed to be without you getting caught up in the spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Can anyone think of any other way one of us might spell dyslexic, i have done it these ways, dislexsick, dislexic, disslexsic, dyslexsick, dislexsyck, dyslici, dislesic .... you really do think they could have thought of an easier word/label to spell huh?
My name is Kym; I am Lynny’s partner, proof reader and general partner in crime and business.
I am a fairly good proof reader, my English, while American verses Lynny's New Zealand, is usually pretty good and I am a fair technical writer.
I do not have the skills, or the inclination to be an author, blogger or general communicator when it comes to the written word. My imagination is bent towards the images and websites I create. I love a conversation with an intelligent articulate person that is able to investigate all the pros and cons of a good logical argument or conversation.
Lynny has been my partner for over 10 years and she never ceases to amaze me with her humor, intelligence and willingness to overcome any and all difficulties life throws her way. I have never wasted my time correcting her spelling unless I am proof reading her articles, musings and web pages. I do not see the point, she is able to do the thing so many of us cannot… she can verbalize and put to webpage many things on multiple subjects in a concise logical well thought out manner. Quite frankly, the fact that she is spelling, grammar and syntax challenged is pretty irrelevant.
I do not find a person particularly cutting edge because they are able to correct other peoples spelling mistakes and not create anything original themselves. As you can see, there is a reason Lynny writes and I merely proofread.
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