Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia

(Reclaimed from Bubblews. Several of the "Bubbles" I posted last year have moved to this site and been posted on the date when they originally appeared, in 2014. The remaining Bubbles that migrate over here will be posted as if they were new, with an explanation of when and where they were previously published: i.e. this post originally appeared on 2/18/14.)



This one goes out to Almost2 , who commented on this post: 
www.bubblews.com/news/2313877-eeek-a-glitch


that my slow writing is due to "dyslexia, not dysphagia... but I'm sure your mistake is due to the dyslexia too so don't worry too much about it."

Dyslexia (brain glitches while reading), dysphasia (while speaking), dysgraphia (while writing), and dyscalculia (while processing numbers), are obviously related learning challenges. (Dysphagia would be difficulty in swallowing food, which is probably unrelated to these things.) Some professionals do refer to all of them as dyslexia. I don't find that useful because I don't noticeably have dyslexia. I was the child prodigy who sounded out the words and read medical journals aloud at age four (don't ask me what they were about). But I do tend to say things like "white as a crow" if I talk fast, and write them, or even more often type things like "hwtie as a corw," if I try to write fast...and I make similar stupid mistakes when doing arithmetic at any speed. 
More severe conditions--alexia, aphasia, etc.--that completely prevent people from reading, speaking, or whatever are caused by severe brain injuries. Logically it seems as if minor impairments that make it just a little harder to read, speak, etc., than it might otherwise have been, might be caused by minor brain injuries. They don't go away, but those of us who got through school without special help have obviously developed ways to work around them and don't need a great deal of special consideration in adult life, except when offering excuses for doing things slowly.

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