wonderingmom
Active Member
I don’t want to wear you all out, but your responses to my first post were so helpful that I thought I’d stick my neck out again and see if anyone could help me with this one...
My 15-yr-old son, who I believe is on the spectrum, is also dyslexic. I’ve known this since he was little and struggling with learning to read, but I’ve recently read The Dyslexic Advantage (a good book that strikes me as based on pretty solid evidence...), and now I realize that certain other of his learning issues that have long confused me - and that didn’t fit well into any standard learning disability category - make complete sense when viewed from the perspective of dyslexia.
The book explains that problems like sequential/procedural memory and difficulty processing 2-d symbols - both of which make reading and writing difficult - also affect other areas such as math-learning; also that in addition to struggling with *written* language, dyslexics can also have difficulty putting thoughts into words. Both of these apply to my son, and since he’s quite strong with math concepts and with certain aspects of language, I’ve been puzzled by some of the things that are really difficult for him. It’s been discouraging too that, even though he’s become a very proficient reader, he still gets bogged down by the reading and writing aspects even in subjects like science, where I would expect him to excel.
What I found especially interesting when I read the book (although it’s probably not surprising to people here) is that often the same people who have difficulties with reading, writing, and procedural memory generally, have especially strong nonverbal/spatial skills - apparently the same aspects of brain functioning account for both. And since my son is quite strong in nonverbal skills, I now feel like I might have a sort of unified way of understanding his confusing collection of abilities and difficulties.
For one, I can understand better now why he is so intensely miserable when it comes to any sort of academic experience where there is the possibility that he might be assessed. I think on some level he realizes that he’s smart, but he’s completely intimidated by classes that involve sitting and listening to a lecture and then demonstrating comprehension in the form of a written response that meets the teacher’s precise specifications. Since we homeschool, we’ve been able to avoid loading up on classes like that, but now that he’s of high-school age, I’m really out of my depth in math and sciences, and I would be so relieved to find a teacher or two in those areas who can recognize his abilities, understand his way of processing, and teach him in a way that isn’t so...verbal. Do such people exist?
I have also wondered, since I am so language-oriented and so lacking in the area of nonverbal skills... My husband’s field is space science, so obviously he’s strong in nonverbal skills; but he’s hard pressed to correctly hang a towel rack in the bathroom. So there must be different kinds of nonverbal intelligence, because I’m assuming if he can’t hang a towel rack he’s not the kind of person who would make a good engineer or mechanic. Can anyone make sense of this for me?
Thanks so much for reading... I’d be grateful for any advice, ideas, or even just musings.
My 15-yr-old son, who I believe is on the spectrum, is also dyslexic. I’ve known this since he was little and struggling with learning to read, but I’ve recently read The Dyslexic Advantage (a good book that strikes me as based on pretty solid evidence...), and now I realize that certain other of his learning issues that have long confused me - and that didn’t fit well into any standard learning disability category - make complete sense when viewed from the perspective of dyslexia.
The book explains that problems like sequential/procedural memory and difficulty processing 2-d symbols - both of which make reading and writing difficult - also affect other areas such as math-learning; also that in addition to struggling with *written* language, dyslexics can also have difficulty putting thoughts into words. Both of these apply to my son, and since he’s quite strong with math concepts and with certain aspects of language, I’ve been puzzled by some of the things that are really difficult for him. It’s been discouraging too that, even though he’s become a very proficient reader, he still gets bogged down by the reading and writing aspects even in subjects like science, where I would expect him to excel.
What I found especially interesting when I read the book (although it’s probably not surprising to people here) is that often the same people who have difficulties with reading, writing, and procedural memory generally, have especially strong nonverbal/spatial skills - apparently the same aspects of brain functioning account for both. And since my son is quite strong in nonverbal skills, I now feel like I might have a sort of unified way of understanding his confusing collection of abilities and difficulties.
For one, I can understand better now why he is so intensely miserable when it comes to any sort of academic experience where there is the possibility that he might be assessed. I think on some level he realizes that he’s smart, but he’s completely intimidated by classes that involve sitting and listening to a lecture and then demonstrating comprehension in the form of a written response that meets the teacher’s precise specifications. Since we homeschool, we’ve been able to avoid loading up on classes like that, but now that he’s of high-school age, I’m really out of my depth in math and sciences, and I would be so relieved to find a teacher or two in those areas who can recognize his abilities, understand his way of processing, and teach him in a way that isn’t so...verbal. Do such people exist?
I have also wondered, since I am so language-oriented and so lacking in the area of nonverbal skills... My husband’s field is space science, so obviously he’s strong in nonverbal skills; but he’s hard pressed to correctly hang a towel rack in the bathroom. So there must be different kinds of nonverbal intelligence, because I’m assuming if he can’t hang a towel rack he’s not the kind of person who would make a good engineer or mechanic. Can anyone make sense of this for me?
Thanks so much for reading... I’d be grateful for any advice, ideas, or even just musings.