Jennie Sjursen 0:00
I always knew dyslexia affected my child's learning and progress at school, but I never really considered how it affects just about every area of their life. I feel so foolish for not realising the sooner.
Jennie Sjursen 0:13
I'm Jennie Sjursen, ex special educator turned dyslexia interventionist. It wasn't so long ago that I too, was overwhelmed by balanced literacy versus structured literacy, education speak, and everything in between. Fast forward after many, many hours of self driven education. And you'll see I've built a thriving dyslexia practice helping students from ages six to eight t. My specialties, working with a quote unquote difficult almost always to the student, and breaking down the complexities of dyslexic to everyday language strategies and action steps.
Jennie Sjursen 0:53
When people talk about dyslexia and how it affects someone with it, the focus is almost always on how to fix them at school. People rarely talk about how the effects show up in everyday life. A dyslexic is always dyslexic no matter where they are and what they're doing. Let's take a look at five unexpected ways dyslexia can affect a person.
Jennie Sjursen 1:15
Let's first look at travel. Now I've talked about this before in Episode 24, travelling with a dyslexic child, but we'll look at it a little different this time, and there are some very specific challenges Dyslexics face when travelling outside of their personal area. Maps and signs can be a challenge, the Dyslexic may have trouble quickly and accurately reading signs, maps or timetables, making it difficult to navigate the terminal gate system or a new city. Dyslexia can make it hard to quickly process spoken or written announcements about gait changes, delays or cancellations, raising the possibility of misconnections.
Jennie Sjursen 1:53
Managing travel documents such as passports, tickets and Reservations can be challenging due to difficulties with organisation and reading. My dad came over just last week asking me to help them with the passport renewal process. He had gone to the local agency had multiple copies of the renewal form. He was prepared for mistakes, and the government website up on his laptop, but he was afraid to go any further in case he messed it up. Together, we filled out the form online and I printed it all out for him. Filling out these forms takes more time and energy for someone with dyslexia.
Jennie Sjursen 2:31
Overall booking and planning can be difficult to in the age of booking systems online booking systems filling out the forms and confirmation emails can be time consuming and prone to errors. There's a joke going around the internet that there is a desk in the Salzburg airport in Austria, just for people who messed up and thought they were flying to Australia. And I can imagine many Dyslexics or ADHD years can relate to that.
Jennie Sjursen 2:59
Along with travel comes driving, and it's a whole issue on its own. First, there's the written portion of the exam to pass, which causes a lot of anxiety for many dyslexics. Then there is the reading of road signs, it can be difficult to quickly read and process road signs while driving, especially if the text is small or complex. Think of all those exits where there's an A B or C off ramp and to go off on the right and one goes off to the left. And I just had flashes of the New Jersey Turnpike. As you approach New York in my head.
Jennie Sjursen 3:33
Driving requires a lot of executive function. You have to manage tasks and process information simultaneously. Controlling the vehicle reading roadsides paying attention to others around you, traffic lights, understanding road and vehicle symbols that may pop up along your trip. And spatial awareness. Just how far is the distance between you and the other cars or that stopping point.
Jennie Sjursen 3:58
Now if you live on the water, like I have my whole life, boating has hurdles of its own. My parents had me on a boat by the time I was six months old, and it's just a natural part of my family in life. I never considered that dyslexia might affect voting until I saw the movie true spirit last year. It's based on a true story about a 16 year old girl who did a solo sail around the world. The movie showed how her dyslexia especially when she was stressed could affect her chart reading skills, which in turn would affect her navigation decisions. I had one of those Well, of course moments while I was watching this. So yes, chart interpretations can be difficult, especially when using some of the more complex nautical charts.
Jennie Sjursen 4:44
To properly navigate. You also have to understand coordinates and how to plot those coordinates. Read those charts wrong or confuse the numbers in a coordinate can get you into trouble and fast and on the water there is a Whole new symbol system you have to learn reds, greens, diamonds, circles, squares and marker letters and numbers. Reading the markers wrong can quickly lead to you ending up in areas you do not want to be and or seriously taking off all the other voters around you.
Jennie Sjursen 5:16
So cooking is another life skill that can be affected by dyslexia. Cooking often requires the need to read a recipe which can be complex and involves many steps. It's easy to miss read ingredient list and use the wrong ingredients or the amounts needed. sequencing of steps and the time management also comes into play. Keeping track of the steps and where you are in the steps can be challenging. Then add on top of that you have to understand and manage the cooking times and temperatures. And don't be surprised as some of the food is over under flavoured or cooked. I met my ADHD gets me here to its mean trouble all the time in the kitchen and I do not find it to be an enjoyable experience.
Jennie Sjursen 6:03
And finally, watching shows and movies these days can be incredibly difficult for a dyslexic. At some point almost all of the shows or movies I watch now have subtitles in them actually complained about it recently how I stopped watching some of the shows because I couldn't multitask while watching them anymore. They were forcing me to read the subtitles to keep up. Subtitles also usually move quickly, making it hard to keep up with the action the nuances going on in the show. And if a subtitle is missed or miss read, just like regular reading, it can lead to missing important points or dialogue. Subtitles require a person to simultaneously process information using visual and auditory systems.
Jennie Sjursen 6:47
And tack in the foreign language being spoken doesn't match the patterns and sounds of the text in the subtitle. This can totally throw a dyslexic or just right over the edge.
Jennie Sjursen 7:00
So there were five unexpected ways dyslexia can affect everyday life. Did any of them surprise you? Are there any others that come to mind that I didn't mention? I would love to hear about them.
Jennie Sjursen 7:11
If you have any further questions about dyslexia, please feel free to sneak into my inbox. I'd also love your input. What would you like to hear from me in the future? Is there a topic I haven't covered yet? You really want to learn more about or do you have a pressing need and you're not really sure how to handle it or move forward? Send me a DM on Instagram or drop me an email at Jennie at literacy untangle.com That's jennie at literacy untangled.com I can't wait to hear from you.
Jennie Sjursen 7:38
Until next time. Bye bye I hope you enjoyed this episode of literacy untangled if you love this episode as much as I did, head on over and rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode. If you want to continue the conversation or share your takeaways head on over to our Instagram at literacy untangled and comment on your favourite part. I can't wait to hang out with you again soon. Bye
