Is it possible to be partially dyslexic

Nelliemoser, I so agree, I have a friend whose children are both dyslexic (as she is also). Our children were at school together and I can remember her being told that she would have to accept that her son had difficulty reading because he was just not very bright. Anyone knowing her son, as I did, knew that that was a ridiculous statement.

Fortunately they moved to another part of the country with a more helpful LEA shortly afterwards. The child in question now has a senior highly technical job in the aerospace industry. He still has great difficulty reading.

Do not forget that about 20 yrs ago you could hear people taking about dyslexia not existing and that it was middle class parents excuse for their children not being very clever.

To have that diagnosed by the OH did a lot for my self esteem even if my writing was still poor.
I then knew I was quite clever. Ignore my maths issues.
Go for it folks get some confidence back.

Fennel my problem is not with the composition composition or expression of ideas, my problem is with the physical act of writing, using a pen and writing on paper. Life is much easier now with computers, I can use a keyboard.

When I was much younger I had a friend who went to Uganda for a year to do research. I used to write to him about once a month and he said it was perfect spacing as it took him the full month and much puzzling to work out what each hand written letter said and occupied many of his evenings. DH has recently expressed amazement that any envelope I address by hand ever gets to its planned destination.

It is not that I do not try. DS has exactly the same problems. He is an academic and doesn't know how he would cope with writing papers and lectures, if it was not for the computer.

Good idea, M0nica.
You would never know you have these problems as you write so well on here.
Husband thinks he has dyspraxia too, but seems to manage his phone OK. As a baby he had an operation for a mastoid, he has a big scar behind his ear. I sometimes wonder if that caused his problems.
Like others on here he worked hard, used his other abilities and had a successful business.

Fennel, I too, as a result of my dyspraxia, have real problems with smart phones. I find it almost impossible to focus on any screen covered in icons. Personally, with my computer I find it easier to page down through hierarchies of files so that there is a limit to the number of icons on display at any one time. Faced with a tiny screen covered in icons and I can feel my eyes darting up and down across and round the screen. Especially as the information on most smart phone screens is badly designed, with secondary information in bigger bolder type faces than the key information

However, I have found a solution. I have found a computer tutor who is prepared to sit with me and help me master the phone bit by bit. I have signed up for 5 lessons and will have more if needed. She understands my problem and we are going slowly so that I can learn and memorise how each screen works. I have had a couple of tutorials so far and by concentrating on one function at a time and practicing continually (I have sent DH about 10 text messages a day, to reinforce my learning) I will get there in the end. I refuse to be beaten by technology.

Grandad1943 I agree that technology is a fantastic tool for helping to overcome barriers to learning.
Part of my job was sourcing hardware and software to support children experiencing difficulties. To see their confidence and self esteem raised, when they used technology to produce a completed piece of work was worth more than any riches.
My nephew, who is dyslexic, has a very responsible job in the City. His manager only realised he was dyslexic when the spellchecker on his PC wasn't working and a report was littered with spelling mistakes.
Having dyslexia doesn't mean you won't get anywhere in life, it just means you have to find your own strategies to cope.
I was a great fan of Mind Mapping, which many of my pupils with varying degrees of dyslexia found helpful to use.

I have suffered the same symptoms as described by the opening poster for my entire life. However, as can be seen in this post I have through various means overcome the disability and went on to have a successful career.

I have no problem with reading, but the spelling and punctuation of text has always been the major symptom of the disability. I was born in 1943 and had a major accident in 1947 which prevented me from starting school until I was almost eight years old.

As it was a head injury I succumbed to, the doctor's at that time thought my problem with writing text was due to the accident. That diagnosis in later life I disarded as I am sure that other symptoms would have shown themselves had that been correct.

However, I left school with no qualifications whatsoever, but began lifelong learning in my twenties through my trade union who were wonderful at teaching to students with dyslexia etc. As word processors became available I found that very much helped my spelling problems and that allowed me to take up a career in industrial safety

The technology of predictive text, software was a big step forward for me, but speech recognition has all but "wiped out" my disability in recent years. This post was created using speech recognition on my smartphone in less than three minutes.

Certainly nobody in my early years could help my condition by any number of hours spent trying to teach me spelling, and many of my tutors tried. However, in this modern era of technology it need not be a disability whatsoever.

Therefore, my advice would be to not "push" the child as the problem may be something they may well be incapable of overcoming in themselves but can be overcome with the use of technology.

I sincerely hope my experiences help HurdyGurdy and your granddaughter finds solutions to overcome her problems as they are not insurmountable.

M0nica - I take your point.
But for myself, I have a severe problem with understanding anything to do with internet, smartphones, all the modern technology. My brain just can't cope with it ( and I don't think it's just old age.)
Luckily my husband has a gift for that kind of thing.

My DGC was absolutely ecstatic to be "labelled" Fennel. He rushed round to tell us "now I know why I can't read like the other children can. I'm not stupid after all". His labelling helped his parents to get decide to get specialist help for him (which they had to pay for ) to assist him with his reading. Many years later, he can now read well. Writing is still appalling but thank goodness for computers.

Fennel dyspraxia, dyslexia, are not strange mental quirks Any more than being spartially sighted or deaf are. They are disabilities, that for some people can cause real problems in life and can be ameliorated by knowing what the problem is and how to cope with it.

Fortunately I am at the less severe end of dyspraxia, but those more seriously affected, have great difficulty learning to drive, for example because the sequencing of all the controls all the time is difficult, some can drive if they stick to automatic cars, some cannot drive at all.

A label is a label only if you pin it on yourself. I do not go around telling everyone that I am dyspraxic and I do not use it to get special concessions or sympathy, that is labelling. Most of the time I do not even think about it very much myself. It is rather like being shortsighted, you know you have it and you learn how to manage it, I know what activities will cause me problems and avoid them or devise ways to deal with the problem then I just get on with my life.

you should not be sitting over her for an hour like that, you won't get any sort of quality work out of any kid of that age that way.

What is recommended at that age is setting a timer for 20 mins per subject. Then let them stop, noting for school that the work was attempted. Forcing it for longer will create mental blocks and stress and will be counter productive

Doodle Not likely to be dyslexia if she can read ok I would have thought.*
No No No. I am living proof.

www.davidsongifted.org/Search-Database/entry/A10435
I assure you that poor writing is a part of the Dyslexia
sydrome.
Dyslexia brings all sorts of different learning issues for different people.
I could read easily from when I started at school but there are other things like writing.
My writing is dire I know what I want to write but the wrong words or letters come onto the page. I have real problems in writing unless I take it very slowly. I find non joined up writing easier. So I was always nagged for my bad hand writing. Even simple notes for the milkman go wrong.
I started the OU at 50 when I discovered this.
Do get her help

Fennel I don't think it's helpful to label these problems.

The point of 'labelling' is in order to get the necessary help. Without it, the children may well be left to get on with it as best they can because there will be no funding available for the extra help that they need.

I know many will disagree with this, but I don't think it's helpful to label these problems.
We've all got some strange mental quirks. Pinpoint what they are, try to compensate, and make the best of it.
eg I bet one of the reasons my husband married me was because he can't write an understandable letter and I'm good at it.

Thanks MOnica. Dyslexia is in both sides of her family so I suppose she’s doomed! Because she’s the only one of her generation with the problem I haven’t looked into all the variations and details but it does all make sense. DD2 was dyslexic but back then it wasn’t really recognised. In fact it was a friend who was a remedial teacher who picked up on it and helped her with extra tuition so she was up to speed by high school. The headteacher at her primary school denied that there was any dyslexia in her school! As if it was a disease!

Numbers are my downfall. Discalculia. A lovely word!

Now off to look up dispraxia, etc.

NfkDumpling, inability to code is part of dyslexia. Dyslexia, Dispraxia and ADHD all overlap and often go together. It is possible that in some cases it is hereditary. I am dyspraxic, possibly have AHDD. DS is dyspraxic and may have ADD, but we only have formal diagnosis for dyspraxia. Thankfully neither DGC shows any sign of either, nor is there any history of dyslexia in the family, anything but.

Sooo, is the inablility to code a form of dyslexia? I ask as my nine year old DGD reads fluently but is way behind in her spellings and writing and her hand writing is poor. With extra help she’s caught up with her arithmetic (sorry maths) except for interpreting problems, but her English is holding her back. She was a prem baby and is one of the youngest in her class which doesn’t help. Physically she’s fine. She has to sit her eleven plus next year and is obviously not going to pass but DD decided she should have a go so she doesn’t feel left out. I really don’t like the idea of her being in one of the lower classes at secondary school when she’s quite bright in so many other ways but easily led.

Possibly dyslexia and dyspraxia, a professional diagnosis is needed. As I had Dss with both problems one solution you could offer your GD is using a computer. I'm not suggesting she gives up on handwriting altogether just that the occasional use of a keyboard to put down her ideas may offer her a brief respite from the stresses and give her a chance to show what she can do.

Thanks marydoll - someone close to me re-did maths and science GCSE after getting a 2.1 in performance and drama. The community college had an edpsych assessments - severe dyslexia and discalculia diagnosed, age 23. That young persons mother first raised the possibility of dyslexia at age 6 and was dismissed, as she was when she raised it again at age 11 at high school.
This is such a common scenario. The way in which so called 'middle class' parents were dismissed as being over protective, or trying to find an 'excuse' for the fact their child was bright but that didn't seem to translate when putting pen to paper - grrrr, still makes me cross.

Both my children had a problem with getting words onto paper, but were above average readers as children so teachers always said they were fine. The distress the children experienced and bullying because they could not express themselves in writting has left its life long mark on them both. Recently I discovered a cousins child had exactly the same problem, which leaves us wondering if there are inheritated traits.

Both children with additional help did complete their education and get good degrees, but earlier diagnosis and targeted help at school could have avoided much distress. So I would urge your family to push for a proper assessment and plan to help, because with the right help so much distress can be avoided.

My 9 year old DGD has been recently diagnosed as dyslexic. She can barely read, but being very bright, can fool people that she is reading fluently, when in fact she is remembering the story, or making it up as she goes along. However, her handwriting is beautiful, with letters evenly and perfectly formed. Only problem is that neither she nor anyone else can read or make sense of it. Her spelling is appalling, exept iv u reed it foneticly it mayks perfikt senze. She has no problem with maths, nor writing numbers and excels at art and craft work. Obviously no problem with her fine motor skills. Surprisingly, she can read and play music.

I have detailed all this to illustrate that 'dyslexia' is as individual as the people who have it

Iam it's discalculia. I can't remember what I did 5 mins ago, but I never forget that word.?
I often found pupils with dyslexia had great difficulty learning times tables. There is no merit persisting and upsetting them, so they were given a tables card. It took the pressure off them.

If you can afford it get a private assessment. For what its worth, it sounds like dyslexia to me, both from my experience at work and at home. It's possible for hard working, well behaved children to stagger through to university with their dyslexia undiagnosed. It's happened to a number of young people I know.
Incidentally, dyslexia and dyslexia with numbers (apologies I've forgotten its correct title) often go hand in hand. It's increasingly difficult to get an EdPsych assessment in schools (cuts again folks)

The Ed Psych diagnosed my daughter's dyslexia. She could read fluently, but wrote gobbledegook at times. At 16, she had a spelling age of 11.
There are so many factors involved. My daughter never had a dominant hand either. One day she used her right hand, the next day her left. I now see the same left/right confusion with my granddaughter.
All we can offer is support advice to the OP.
Only the person who assesses her, will have the full picture and be able to make a diagnosis.
Good luck.

If your granddaughter can read well, I agree with others that her problem is more likely to be dyspraxia. The school should refer her for assessment.
Failing that, there are exercises that may help improve her coordination. Special pencils and pens are available and sometimes a sloping board (or desk) can make writing easier.
One to one sessions at school to help her coordination would be ideal, but there might not be funds for that.
The first step is an assessment. It might be that her difficulties improve with maturity. I hope your GD’s school is helpful.