Reading and Writing

[littlemadangel]

Hey (hope this is in the right place, moderators please feel free to move it if not!)

Anyways, recently (well since I've left school almost 2 yrs ago) I've noticed that my reading and writing has taken a turn for the worst. At school, up until about the age of 14, I was a messy writer....but then I got told off for it, as the teachers could not read my writing and did not know about my dyspraxia. Anyway, I started putting in a bit more effort & time and it got slowly neater!

Now I'm 20 and I'm finding, that cos I'm not at school anymore and not writing everyday, it has gone right downhill. No matter how hard I try and how much time I take, my writing still appears extreemly messy, I make simple spelling errors, confuse letters etc. I was filling in a form the other day at work and it should have taken me all of 10 mins, it took me over an hour to write half a page and it was still probably not that tidy-looking.

Also reading, I used to be a great reader but I find I cant do it anymore. I have no concentration for it, everything is boring about it.

Because I was such a great speller and reader at school, I was told by an assessor that I was "most definitely not dyslexic" but now I find I'm really struggling!

Please help me cos its very frustrating.

[The Lurker]

Can't help but can sympathise. I have never really enjoyed reading books and could probably count on one hand the number I have read for 'pleasure'. Thinking back I never read that many at Uni either.

As for hand writing - I try to type stuff when I can. My writing is awful.

[Daniel]

Likewise, I'm afraid. My handwriting is terrible and I find filling in forms error free extremely difficult. Unfortunately I don't know of any tips to help with this at the moment.

Anyone?

Dan

[gherkin001]

Any forms I need to fill in, I will get 3 copies of, thus i can just copy from the ones with the mistakes (after my corrections are made) and get it right on the last copy!

Kirsty

[The Lurker]

I try when possible to get online or word etc copies of forms so that I can type and then email them.

[girlygirl333]

I have had the same problems. My handwriting is very good, though that came with a lot of hardwork. When I was a kid I would regularly get marked down so much on an assignment that it made it hardly worth turning in. There were a number of times that I was given an A for work but marked down to a C because it was too messy, disorganized, difficult to read, etc. At some point I got fed up with it. I remember one year we were going on a family vacation (in a pick up and camper on a long road trip) so I took a huge stack of scrap paper and first chose how I wanted my letters to look. There is something about aesthetics with me. If I like the way it looks, my brain has an easier time working with it (same reason why I can't use a number of websites). So, I chose how I wanted my letters to look and just practiced all summer long. Now, I get compliments on my writing and do custom glass engraving that requires me to freehand names and such on glass with a hand held sandblaster. When I haven't done it in a while though, I have to go right back to practicing.

I think maybe the reading and writing (as in stories/reports/etc) might be the same way. I am terrified to go back to school because I was on a very long break and when I returned could no longer formulate my thoughts in order to complete any type of written assignments. It got to where I would have panic attacks when I would look at blank paper. I used to journal and write stories, etc....can't seem to do that any more either. Same with any artistic stuff ..drawing, painting, crafts, poetry...all things I used to do. I have been thinking that it is all lying dormant for some reason. Of course I've been told this can be due to depression or medications.

I am not very effective at summing things up..lol. Basically what I'm saying is do it more...even if it isn't coming out right..or doesn't feel right. Maybe it is a wiring issue. Your brain isn't doing this on a daily basis like it used to so it's not making the same connections that it used to. ??? This is of course just a guess of sorts based on my personal challenges and what I'm learning about dyspraxia. I will try to practice what I preach and see how it works *smile*

[sarahlouise22]

My writing has always been quite bad... i too often got marked down for it. Job application forms are a bloomin nightmare...even if i write in rough first i still end up making a mess on the actual form lol

[agsiul]

I hear ye. I'm a teacher so you can imagine the pain I'm in when people point it out. I had to fill out a 5 page application the other day and it took about 4 hours and even with that I had to use tipex. I think my writing has gotten worse since I started to use the compupter. My writing is better when I use chalk but I hate the feeling of it. The writing on the whitebaord is messy. Hate writing on the board becassue I can't see what I'm writing so I don't know if it "looks" right. I went to a physio to get some excercises to improve the muscle tone in my hands and arms to help but I'm so disorganised I keep forgetting to do them!