Do you know what dyslexia is?

Evrybody i know thinks im really smart but i have issues with some stuff- dyslexia?

• Im 14 and in 8th grade, and a lot of people tell me im really smart, but im a really slow reader, and i have to reread things multiple times to understand them. ive taken online dyslexia tests and they've said there's a moderate-strong chance i have dyslexia, but im scared and dont know what to do. also, i dont really have much trouble with math or even much with writing. i was the top speller in my class, but i dont know if it's only because ive seen all the words before. i zone out in class a lot, have a really good memory of events and faces but not really of school stuff. a test i didnt study for i got a c+ and it was an essay test- i just didnt even really have a clue what i was writing about. im scared to ask my mom to go get a dyslexia text so i wanted to ask people if it seems like dyslexia before i ask my mom. my friend said a lot of really smart people have had dyslexia like thomas edison and stuff but i ust want to know for sure because its annoying and i read like 2x as slow as most people at the least. i had no developemental issues... yeah please help!

• Answer:

  There is a rumour in the Special Education that people with learning disabilities are actually really, really smart. I've heard it over and over at conferences for those with learning disabilities. Well, it's not true and it is: there is a high proportion of those who seek testing being really academically gifted (high scores on the Stanford-Binet, commonly known as the IQ test) but this is largely like volunteer bias, because these are just the people who come forward willing. Those who aren't academically inclined have learning disabilities too, but are less likely to be noticed. If it is noticeable, it's a complement ;-) I was considered smart but lazy in school... okay, maybe a little now even. I was a top speller and had a brilliant memory for everything I heard in class or if I finally read the material. I was a master at reading the first and last paragraph so they thought I read the whole thing. I knew something was off, but I couldn't get tested until I was in my mid-20s. Turns out my "IQ" is so high I qualify for Mensa, but I am at the second percentile for reading speed. I love and loathe the symmetry of it: top 2% for academic inclination but bottom 2% for reading speed. I made it through university just because I was so good at covering, had excellent reading comprehension and memory, good at just working through. What often happens when you aren't diagnosed is that you can do well and get really far, but then you'll suddenly hit a wall and can't go any further. The "hitting a wall" is a good analogy that they use, because it just really hurts. At the same time, it really hurt having the label: suddenly there was a name for it suddenly I could see how bad I was at all these things, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was graduating and there was no more access to learning strategists or adaptive technologists. When I was finally diagnosed, I cried. And I have said time and time again, at conferences or in mentoring that I wish I had been lucky enough to find out when I was young and could still be shown how to deal, because it is a tough learning curve. I'm still working in it. At the same time, the younger people I've worked with, and the learning strategists/adaptive technologists I was able to work with for the few weeks before I graduated university, think I was the lucky one: the label is not easy. (One even said no client she had who knew young ever developed the love of reading and learning that I did: they just had to do it to get where they want.) They say people treat you differently when you're branded and they sometimes resent your accommodations. Sure, I've been called stupid by a few teachers (crushing!) but never branded as such by everybody, even my peers. I was never told that I had limits (only that I was brilliant and lazy, haha!). It's not right, it's a misunderstanding, but since when has life been fair? There are times when the knowledge makes me see it, and it is painful watching myself struggle or seeing the limits of the label. There are other times where knowing what was wrong gave me permission to go easy on myself, to forgive myself for not being able to be perfect or type as fast as my colleagues or whatever. There are pros and cons to going both ways. Here's what I see: you're smart, you believe you're smart, others believe your smart and there's no doubt about it. Who cares if you read slow? Sometimes it's savouring or improves comprehension. It's not a race. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss, because very rarely are we bothered by what we don't know. However, how much does it bug you? Would an answer, any answer, be better? If the answer is dyslexia, things are going to change. It won't all be for the better, it won't all be for the worse, just different. What if the test doesn't find dyslexia? Remember, that is a possibility. Sometimes there's no learning disability, sometimes people are just slower readers. Are you going to be okay with that answer too? Actually, you're young. You'll probably take whatever decision you make in stride and have a lot of opportunity to work things out for yourself. However, whatever decision you do make, involve your Mom. She's going to have to be involved if you go forward with testing anyway, but you'd be surprised what insight most mothers have in their daughters. If it's not interfering with school, it's probably not a big deal (if it were, you probably would have been tested by now. Probably). Remember that school isn't designed to be the best learning environment or structure for all (and post-secondary,both university and - to a lesser extent- community college, are VERY different in structure), but in ease of delivery and what works (just okay) for most, but not all. The real question is do you need to know for yourself? Does it really drive you crazy? Then maybe you should. But just because you read a little slow? There's way more in life, trust me.