Study Tools For A Dyslexic Could Be Useful For Others Too

Going back to school was a difficult decision to make for one basic reason.  I’ve always loved to learn, but school was a difficult time for me.  I equated education and the process of formally learning things with working hard for no real result.  The reason was because I worked harder than most other students and rarely did better than Cs on assignments.  And it wasn’t because I didn’t know the material.  Once I got into college I was tutoring other students in classes I was failing because I knew the material better than them, and they were getting As and Bs.

The reason why was quite simple.  I didn’t learn the way they did, and I don’t test well.  I have serious test anxiety, and I could easily spend most of my time just trying to find a way to get the reading done.  Once you add in homework and required projects all my time was used up.  It wasn’t uncommon for me to stay up well past 4 in the morning just trying to get everything I needed to do done.  Even with that work I still couldn’t count on doing well. 

This was before reading software for computers or at least ones that were affordable and really user friendly.  What was then Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic sent text books on for track cassette tapes and you needed a special tape player to listen to them.  I still have mine for nostalgic reasons.  The problem was that many of my books simply weren’t available because it takes time to have a book read.  I still remember going around to people to try and get someone to read a chapter here and there. 

This isn’t even including the fight to prove I deserved to be in the classes, having teachers who actively worked to try and fail me, or the constant feeling like every time I didn’t do better than everyone else I was just proving that I didn’t deserve to be there.  This isn’t just in College.  In fact, I felt these issues more in High school than any other time.  There was always this persistent feeling like the truth was the people who didn’t want me in the classes were right.  I was stupid.  After all, only stupid people can’t spell.

Making the decision to go back to school felt like volunteering for that kind of life.  I loved to learn, but I hated how education made me feel.  Because of this, the way I went back to school was a bit backwards.  I didn’t investigate accreditations, and I barely even looked at if the schools offered the degree I wanted.  I investigated the disabilities offices.  I looked into their policies and how they worked with students with learning disabilities.  IPFW (Indiana University Perdue University of Fort Wayne) won.  I was registered with the disabilities office before I was enrolled as a student.  It was only after that that I even started organizing my transcripts and my IEP.

I took my first two classes in the summer and this started my routine on how I studied.  I had been using the dragon reading software for a while to read the news, but I found out that there was a more versatile reading software known as natural reader.  Recordings for the blind was now Learning Ally and designated themselves as offering read books for people with disabilities that effect reading.  That includes being blind, having Dyslexia, or any other disability that would make reading functionally useless for learning. 

I knew from past experience that the most difficult thing for me to do was keep up with the reading, so I’ve made it my goal every semester to have most or ideally all the assigned books read before the first day of school.  For clarity’s sake it is good to note that when I say read I am talking about listening to the text books on audio.  I tend to think of the terms listen and read as interchangeable.  Of cores that isn’t the only time I read the chapters, but after that I really only need to remind myself of what I’ve already heard. 

Another tool I use for my studies is making a study list.  In theory it is like flash cards.  Functionally it works the same way.  I, or more likely my mom or dad type up the vocabulary.  If I have a PDF of the file for accommodations and it has a glossary with definitions I just copy and paste that.  Then I have the list set up with a blank space, then the next line has the vocabulary word or phrase, and the third has the definition either blanked out using white for the color, or if it’s too long I change the font to WP BoxDrawing, which if you look for on you word font list you won’t be able to read because it is just a bunch of straight lines.  However, Natural reader can still read it, so after I guess the answer I select the unreadable text and hit play.  It is a little like always having someone to do flashcards with. 

I usually have a master list that I copy off of to study from in a different file.  The blank space is for me to put some sort of notation that I got it right.  How I do this part is just kind of my own way of keeping me honest.  In the short run getting them all wrong gets a study session done fast, but in the long run I could wind up getting all vocabulary done before it ever comes up in class.  I go down the list trying to get half way through.  If I get it right that word gets an * in the blank space.  If I get it wrong and it already had an * I delete that * and move onto the next.  If I get the next word right it gets the* and the word I got wrong goes to the bottom.  In essence every word I get wrong loses an * ever word I get right gets one.  If I get a string of words wrong until I get to the middle, I’m done.  If on the way I get one right the ones who either didn’t get an * or had there’s deleted gets moved to the bottom and the list of words right gets longer.  Every time I start I do so at the top.  Every time I get one right it gets a star until it has three stars and then the word is deleted because I know it. 

Long convoluted and complicated, but it works.  I usually start working on vocabulary before the class starts during the 3 week break, and I do a whole text book at a time.  The reason is because I can then discard words I either already learned or learned so easily that I don’t need to worry about it.  That just leaves the ones that are a real struggle, and with any luck I’ll have them down before they ever come up. 

I tend to type everything on my computer even if it isn’t required because I have access to spellcheck.  This doesn’t just make things easier for me, but makes me look even more prepared to the teacher.  I also have horrific handwriting and this way the teachers don’t have to try and read it.  I’ve noticed over the years that hearing my work read back to me using the reading software for editing not only helps me ketch words that are spelled similar but have very different meanings like follow and fallow.  But hearing the words read helps me ketch when a sentence is running long, or when a comma is needed not for grammar, but function.  I write at a higher level than I can spell or read so it helps me keep from getting too simplistic in wording.  I’ve also learned that if spellcheck doesn’t know the word I mean or it’s not an actual English word like khaki, google will know. 

My philosophy in school work is that the only way to keep from falling behind is to make sure I am always ahead of the class.  I may walk into class and find that we aren’t even covering 3 of the chapters I read, but that is still just fine.  No one was ever hurt by reading too much.  I’ve also listened to an entire book and then had the teacher never assign any reading of the book.  Again, that’s fine.  The instructor selected the book for a reason.  It likely does have the information as the instructor wants it learned, but they are simply not one’s for required reading.  It is still helpful to have already heard what it is you are about to learn before it is taught. 

My philosophy on class organization is a bit backwards in some ways.  It can seem overly intensive to try and grapple all the vocabulary or all the reading at once, but as words are deleted, and as you read the information without the stress of an upcoming test you can see the progress in a very different way.  The study list is narrowed down to just the terms you really have trouble with.  The things that aren’t an issue are set aside.  You can stop reading and maul over concepts in a way you just can’t do when you’re on a real time constraint.  After all, if you don’t meet your set goal at this time you haven’t hurt yourself, just helped yourself a bit less than expected.

The final thing is almost incidental, but is really useful.  I’m not a good note taker.  I don’t even write outlines for papers because of it.  Because of this I use a method that I’ve heard a teacher call the lowest form of note taking.  If it were the only thing done I’d agree.  Because of a poorly understood aspect of my dyslexia I don’t like yellow highlights.  I’ve always used alternative colors in the multi-pack.  Because of this I came up with a kind of color coded system.  It’s different for every book, but what I’ll do is have one color for definitions, and the definition is highlighted too, one color for Quotes, if those are important to the class, another for where graphs and charts in the book are referred to in the text (they usually have some sort of number and letter system for organization, so it really is nothing to highlight the 5-2 or whatever), and another color for names or dates if they mean something to the class.  What this does is make it really easy to look back in the book for something so I know what needs to be read to make something make sense.  Just so you know you can change the color of an adobi highlight as well. 

In many ways being learning disabled isn’t about what one can’t do, but how we do things differently.  Our brains function differently, and we have to suit the world to this.  In the process we find ways of learning and just getting work done, that I believe could be useful to people who don’t have learning disabilities.  Even if you read just fine hearing vocabulary words could be useful.  If you have test anxiety making sure you have as much work done before class has even started can leave more time for review.  In this you can become as confidant in the material as possible and be more relaxed for tests. 

I know that the adobi files for text books aren’t exactly common.  I doubt it ever will be simply because what I have could easily be plagiarized.  People such as me tend to be hypervigilant against doing that simply because we’ve spent most our lives being accused of not actually doing the work we offer, so I don’t think they worry about that so much, but if there is a way you can get an audio format of a book it can be so useful.  Playing a video game can become study time.  Driving in a car can become study time.  Making dinner, picking up the house, putting dishes away, can all become a time you review or study.  This could be invaluable to a working parent. 

What is for me simply the only way I can fit all I need to do into a day could become how someone else is able to do their school work and make time for other things.  In that I welcome you to experiment with my tools.  If something works grate.  If it works but only with a change to better suit your needs, even better.  We all learn differently, and we all use different tools.  I hope some of you find my tools useful. 

For those who think that they or a child would qualify for Learning Ally you can contact them at 1 (800) 221-4792, or you can go to http://teacherally.learningally.org/.  You can also find in the upper right hand corner of the page a place to make a tax deductible donation to help countless thousands of children and adults with a variety of reading disabilities to get the education they deserve.