Dyslexia a rant, read or don't

[idun]

No idea how many posters have the the awful misfortune to have any of their children go through the french education system with dyslexia.

We are still reaping the 'rewards' of the totally reprehensible teachers who were arrogant beyond words and bullies, that my youngest faced at school.

We had a good 10 odd years of it, and nothing and no one helped. Well we paid a fortune in what our MG called charlatans. The ignoramuses of teachers and profs believed that it could be 'cured', one can only surmise that they believe being 'gay' could be cured too!

Things may be better now, I do hope they are with all my heart, if I had a god I suppose that a prayer would be something I would be doing.

I will add that one particular malevolent teacher is now in charge of the college............. so unless this person  has had a dramatic conversion to decency, I would imagine that things are still the same at that college.

I am mildly dyslexic myself, which actually did not interfere with my education, I take very very badly to criticism of spelling and grammer mistakes. Life's too short to check every last thing I do so that those who feel superior won't be offended by my spelling.

[Judith-aka-Judith]

I can be number dyslexic Idun, so I feel your pain.  Yes, it is not always understood or dealt with well, no matter which country you re in. 

Happily I have always spelt well, but when I type, it is amazing how the fingers don't seem to follow the brain quite so well, another problem, but one I am used to now .. but there are several types of "ability" and not all are understood or allowed for .. even on this forum.

[anotherbanana]

My younger daughter was treated savagely by the Belgian state system who even tried to get her put into a special school for the mentally retarded. Many of her teachers simply did not either believe she had a problem or that dyslexia existed.

However she persisted with the help of her late mother and managed to crawl through school.

Whence to England and HE where we found her a degree course without written exams, just course work and where she got extensive help including a computer with specially designed programmes and the right to X hours of tutoring per week. Plus a teeny weeny bit of help from Dad!

Got a decent 2:1 at the end of it all. Very proud of her.

Her son also has some similar problems but gets help from the Belgian system now.

Believe it or not, my daughter is now and English language teacher!

[alittlebitfrench]

Don't get me started...

Ok..I have started.

The French educational system is **** awful.

It is god awful. It is designed to make you not want to go to school.

That is before you suffer from dyslexia.

There are more intelligent people working in Lidl than those running the country. Both in industry and politics.

That is why you have riots in France every weekend.

[nomoss]

Dyslexia seems to be what people are accused of suffering from when they can't spell words in the conventional way.

Spelling is nothing more than a convention, which continuously evolves as the years go by, and which is and has been wrongly used as a yardstick for judging peoples' ability, so no-one can really claim to be able to spell properly.

The same goes for the use of apostrophes, which also seem to be used as another way of suggesting superiority.

IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW YOU SPELL SOMETHING SO LONG AS IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE.

Stupid pr*cks who correct others' spelling on this forum please note that this just makes you look dafter than you actually are..

But you are probably too tick to remember what I just posted..

[anotherbanana]

The word dyslexia actually covers a whole slew of conditions which includes number and concentration span problems, vision variations etc. Basically some people are very differently wired from the average. But so called dyslexics are original and recently I see they are sought after by the security services.

Bit like being left handed and misunderstood.

[nomoss]

It's not only French schools which are bad.

When we moved to Cornwall in 1978 after living overseas since 1963, our two children, aged 11 and 13, had never lived in the UK before.

The godawful comprehensive school we sent them to in Helston treated them as stupid furriners in a way that only the Cornish can, and we were told they were backward, and only capable of achieving one or two GCSE's at best.

After meetings with their teachers I couldn't believe how thick they were, so we got away from there asap, moved to Mallorca and put them in an International school. Fortunately I could afford to do this.

They thought the school was wonderful beyond their dreams. They managed 8 "O" levels each and went on to gain "A" levels, degrees, and careers far beyond anything within the dreams of a typical Janner.

[Ken]

NOMOSS wrote: IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW YOU SPELL SOMETHING SO LONG AS IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE.

I think that your heart and passion has put your statement in the wrong context. If someone knows you are dyslexic then of course it's wrong to point out an error? Perhaps that is what you meant? Even if they don't know you are dyslexic it is still pompous and unnecessary

However, the blunt statement about it doesn't matter how you spell something I certainly can't agree with. if you mean it across the spectrum of education then it is, in my view, wrong. Just what would be the point of education if fundamentals are ignored!

I never criticise others when they make a mistake as I make plenty of my own and have had some 'bright spark' point it out in the past! A mistake is a mistake and we all make them. Good English is important and it does matter. Incidentally three of my grandchildren are dyslexic!!!

[NormanH]

Artificial Intelligence has provided aids for those who have problems with accuracy in spelling, but unfortunately it has not yet succeeded in helping those who have problems with logical thought, or who are unwilling to provide clearly sourced evidence for their assertions and opinions.[6]

[Lehaut]

It is quite wonderful what the mind can do.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

[Judith-aka-Judith]

Well that wasn't difficult, I accept, but I am a quick and easy reader, having read and spelt well all my life .. but correct spelling is necessary sometimes, but on forums such as this, not always needed as long as the gist is gettable.  By the way, I'd hate to try to read that post if I had had too much to drink .. eyes don't always co-ordinate then ..and that is what is needed here.

We all scan read - I have been known to "read" some wordy novels simply by reading the first words of each paragraph, to decide whether to bother or not usually.  And not is usually the result. 

I sympathise greatly with those who cannot spell well, even though it' somethign I can do, but when it comes to numbers, well I know my limitations .. and we all should accept that we are none of us perfect.