Tips for Dyslexics
By Genevieve Dawid, June 2007
For all the science written on the subject, which I respect, ultimately, it is practical realities that have a daily effect on us. Therefore, on this web page I invite you to share the practical ways of dealing with dyslexia that you have discovered.
Please send your suggestions to: dyslexia@genevievedawid.com
Below are some personal tips, from ‘The Achiever’s Journey’, © 2007, Genevieve Dawid.
Learn to “Master” Any Task You Wish to Learn
The secret behind having learning difficulties is being able to “Master” the task by creating your own effective way of doing it. My experience is that there are no two dyslexics who are the same and there are great differences to the extent of an individual’s difficulties and needs. What one has to remember is that none of us are brilliant at everything. Mastering a task means just that, mastering - practicing or creating ways for you to be able to do a task for the same results as a non-dyslexic. For example, I get confused with keys, so I purchased lots of different key rings that help me to find my way around my key cupboard. My garage key has a car key ring and my office has a dice. Very quickly I can pull out whichever 1 of 20 sets of keys is required.
Identify your difficulties
First, you will need to identify your difficulties. My parents did that for me through the unique ways I mention in my book. However, there is a decent amount of professional help now. View my resources page, which will help identify the right professional organisation for you. This wealth of information and support is available for all ages.
Try to be Organised
With my dyslexia I can get disoriented fairly quickly. Certain tasks could take me a lot longer to do than the average person. However, I have developed ways to cope with my dyslexia, methods that have also helped thousands of others and I would like to share them with you. I have found being organised a huge help in assisting me with the very full lifestyle that I enjoy.
Below are just some of my ideas on being organised.
Diary
Using and regularly updating your diary is essential to being organised. Choose a method that is right for you, either electronic or hard copy, and remember to keep it updated. Record appointments and holidays in advance.
Data Bases
Data bases are also important to being organised; select the best system for your needs. I personally keep an electronic as well as a hard copy (printout) of all my data.
Make sure your data is correct before recording it to avoid
inaccurate or incomplete information. Do take the time to
record everything correctly and regularly update it.
I have also divided my data bases into different areas of
my life: friends and family, health practitioners, service
providers, etc.
Do make sure all your data is kept in a safe place. To be
safe, print out copies and also keep a back-up disk of all
the data. I also cross-shred all my papers before sending
for recycling.
Highlighting Numbers and Words
On the upside, I take in and process information quickly, and add and subtract numbers in my head well; the challenge is that I cannot identify text and numbers instantly on a page or computer screen. Without being able to read the data, I can’t read most spreadsheets, invoices, statements, etc. For me it’s like looking at Chinese, a language I don’t understand. I used to always get someone else to read them for me.
However, when I progressed into senior management in one of the world’s largest corporations I had to master such problems. So I reverted back to a method my parents had devised for me as a child for seeing numbers — colours! I got my P.A. to use different highlighter pens for different items. Each spreadsheet would be prepared this way, and when I went into a meeting I could then keep up with everyone else. For example the sub-totals were highlighted in pink and the gross amounts in green.
I am neither ashamed nor embarrassed about being dyslexic and dyspraxic, and advised the Board that when reading most documents I used a ruler to follow the text, and certain elements would be colour highlighted.
Over the following weeks however, I noticed that my colleagues were starting to use my colour coding, even in the Finance Department. How kind I thought that people were doing this for me, just in case I needed to be looking at the documents. However, when I brought the matter up at the next Board meeting, all admitted that they had taken up the colour coding because it made their lives so much easier as well.
Memory Statements
My long term memory is great: if you name any date in my life since I was three I will tell you what I was doing and all the colours of the wallpaper in my home at that time. But my short term memory isn’t quite so good. I often lose my mobile etc. To master this, what I do now is say out loud, “putting mobile on kitchen work surface,” and somehow that penetrates my mind and I know exactly where each thing is later when I need them. I have given lots of other people this method, and it nearly always works.
Make Lists
Whenever you need to remember something you want to get or do, use a sheet of paper or notebook to jot it down. None of us remember everything all the time and lists are so useful. For some things you can also start a list and just keep adding to it.
My favourite lists include the one on the back of my door in the kitchen of reminders of vital things for any trip, including purse, mobile phone and adapter, credit cards, etc.
Diaries, Calendars & Wall Planners
Diaries, calendars and planners are great tools for keeping you organised. Discover which method of recording data works best for you. My work and holidays abroad are scheduled about eighteen months in advance, so I have a planner to see quickly where I am going to be and when.
Visual Reminders
Another one of my parents’ strategies was to write down things that I was trying to learn on sheets of paper and put them on the wall. Mine had to be colour-coded, but yours probably won’t need to be.
My multiplication tables were put up opposite my bed, and each night I would look at them. Eventually, these numbers penetrated my mind. You too can use this method - to learn different languages, formulas, etc.
Genevieve Dawid
dyslexia@genevievedawid.com
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