Do you know??

Do you know that adults can also have dyslexia? Dyslexia in children and adults does not differ too much. Throughout your growing up years, you might have struggled in school and have found it effortful to pick up the English/ foreign language. Furthermore, up till today, you may still be struggling to read and write fluently. Increasingly, you find that this difficulty you are having is affecting your work and social life. The truth is, dyslexia does not come on overnight; all along you have it, it could be that it is too new a term or nobody realised it.

Some signs of adult dyslexia:

• Reading is time consuming & laborious - one rather be read to or chooses to read simple &/ short articles

• Face difficulties with time management & meeting deadlines

• Difficulties with organisation of thoughts, expressing and penning them down

• Difficulties with writing (e.g. taking down notes, write reports/ essays) - makes multiple spelling errors even after proofreading

• One is more of a visual learner and prefers to work on hands-on activities

Here are some of the self-assessment tools. They are NOT diagnostic tests but rather, they provide an insight to assess some areas of difficulties you might be facing:

https://das.org.sg/about-dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia/485-adult-dyslexia.html

https://dyslexiaida.org/dyslexia-test/

https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/dyslexia-test/

How can I manage dyslexia?

1) Get tested & seek for help (it is never too late for intervention)

2) Use technology (e.g. speech-to-text app/ text-to-speech app will help minimise the need to type/ read aloud, use an audio recorder to record important details, make use of auto-correct function when typing)

3) Use maps/ graphics to organise your thoughts (mind maps, graphs, tables, pictures)

4) Have someone to proofread your essays/ reports for you

5) Break huge, complicated tasks into smaller, bite-sized tasks

6) Set reminders on your mobile phone to keep track of meetings/ deadlines/ scheduling

References

Alli, R. A. (2019). Do adults get dyslexia? WebMD. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/adults-dyslexia#2

Dyslexia Advantage. (2018). Dyslexia test. Retrieved from https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/dyslexia-test/

Dyslexia Association Singapore. (2019). Adult dyslexia. Retrieved from https://das.org.sg/about-dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia/485-adult-dyslexia.html

International Dyslexia Association. (2019). Do I have dyslexia? Retrieved from

https://dyslexiaida.org/dyslexia-test/