Talking to my mom yesterday I discovered another piece of my dyslexia puzzle. She casually mentioned that she was watching the election of Mister Switzerland and that last year's winner said that his biggest problem was spelling and that many men then wrote in and said that they had the same problem. I wonder if boys have a different learning style regarding spelling than girls? Is the teaching style geared towards girls and not boys?
Well, that brought our conversation to me and learning to read in Grade 1. My mom explained that in 1960 I was taught the whole word method and not sounding out the words. I vividly remember telling the teacher that reading sucks and that I was never going to learn to read and would not take my homework, a box with words to make sentences, home. What was the teacher to do? She found an older neighbour's girl and asked her to bring my homework home for me and tell my mom. According to my mom is jumbled the letters b and d and everybody assumed that I did not know my ABC, but that was not true. I did know my ABC but the letters like b and d that are mirror opposites confused me and made reading difficult. In 1960 nobody knew what Dyslexia was.
I also recall when I was in Grade 6 going shopping for fruit and ordering a 'pilo keaches' rather than a 'kilo peaches' and I was very embarrassed about it. I don't seem to have much trouble with letter mixups anymore, but sometimes come across mistakes when I re-read something I wrote.
One way how my dyslexia shows itself if that I find it very difficult to follow when somebody is spelling a word fast, on the other hand, I have no trouble spelling a word for somebody. The most trouble I have with following spoken numbers like telephone numbers, I really have to concentrate. Telephone banking is just about impossible. I am still on the 2nd number when the whole number has already be said, I have no trouble with online banking which is visual.
I remember when my son was learning his ABCs his teacher asked me to help him at home as he found it difficult and she didn't have the time. For about 3 months we spent about 15 minutes after lunch practicing the ABC with a Fisher Price magnetic alphabet board. I found out very quickly that he knew his ABC but when I showed him a letter he could not tell me what it was, but if all the letter were jumbled on the table and I asked him to give me an 'H' he had no problem finding it.
My conclusion is, that a cookie cutter teaching style might leave some kids behind. I notice this when I am teaching how to use the computer. I have to find the right teaching style to get the information across.
Well, that brought our conversation to me and learning to read in Grade 1. My mom explained that in 1960 I was taught the whole word method and not sounding out the words. I vividly remember telling the teacher that reading sucks and that I was never going to learn to read and would not take my homework, a box with words to make sentences, home. What was the teacher to do? She found an older neighbour's girl and asked her to bring my homework home for me and tell my mom. According to my mom is jumbled the letters b and d and everybody assumed that I did not know my ABC, but that was not true. I did know my ABC but the letters like b and d that are mirror opposites confused me and made reading difficult. In 1960 nobody knew what Dyslexia was.
I also recall when I was in Grade 6 going shopping for fruit and ordering a 'pilo keaches' rather than a 'kilo peaches' and I was very embarrassed about it. I don't seem to have much trouble with letter mixups anymore, but sometimes come across mistakes when I re-read something I wrote.
One way how my dyslexia shows itself if that I find it very difficult to follow when somebody is spelling a word fast, on the other hand, I have no trouble spelling a word for somebody. The most trouble I have with following spoken numbers like telephone numbers, I really have to concentrate. Telephone banking is just about impossible. I am still on the 2nd number when the whole number has already be said, I have no trouble with online banking which is visual.
My conclusion is, that a cookie cutter teaching style might leave some kids behind. I notice this when I am teaching how to use the computer. I have to find the right teaching style to get the information across.
Dyslexia articles:
More up-to-date posts
- 20171109 - Richard Branson - What you should we call dyslexia?
- 20171031 - What is Dyslexia?
Older Links
- Dyslexic Kids' Brains Must Work Five Times Harder
- Symptoms of Dyslexia
- Wikipedia - Dyslexia
- Dyslexia articles on Ezine Articles
Comments