Saturday, July 16, 2005

Is There Such A Thing As Adult-Onset Dyslexia?

Edit below!
What is happening to me?

Lately I cannot type the word "that"; I leave out the "a" every time. I have also noticed that I am transposing letters and numbers; for example, I type the phone number 555-1586, when it really should be 555-1856. Or I type the words "beautiful dreamer", for example, and it comes out "baeutiful draemer".

I am spending more time correcting typing errors than I am in actual post writing. Do any of you have that problem? I hope I am not the only one!

There was an article recently floating around the web purporting that it doesn't really matter if some of the letters in a word are scrambled, since we tend to read the word as a whole and process the meaning anyway. Though it may be true, I spend so much time trying to correct my errors in consideration of my readers. God forbid I should tax your brains any more than absolutely necessary!


Numbers are an entirely different story, however. If I am typing a phone number - or some such important numerical info - it behooves me to type it correctly. Short of proof-reading again and again, I don't know how to cure the problem. Any advice?
I feel so much better now tht I know many of you have the same problem - or a smmilar one. I have always been a good speller too, but a typist, I am not! See, I told ya'! I read that addition as perfect, until I hit publish, and then I saw the errors. LOL

51 comments:

Jamie Dawn said...

Maybe there's a mysterious new syndrome going around where you are. It might be called Switch-Itis. The cure might be powerful electric shock treatments.

Anonymous said...

I have no advice for you, I've been doing that my whole life.

It can be fun when you call the wrong person, you never know who you'll meet next.

As long as I can give people my own number correctly, I don't worry too much about it.

and Michele sent me.

amarkonmywall said...

Oh, HEll, yes! Someday I'm going to do a post with nothing but the word reversals I've typed in a day. Am I bothered that there are nothing but summer reruns on? No. I either forgot or fell asleep through every one so it's all new to me.

Anonymous said...

"It's a damn poor mind who can only think of one way to spell a word." Andrew Jackson...and he became president. I can't comment too much because I've always been that way.

carmilevy said...

I tend to mix things up when I'm working too quickly. If I slow things down and give myself more time to complete a task, I tend to stumble less often.

Beyond that, don't lose sleep over it. Your message is pretty clear from my perspective.

Dropped in from Michele's (again).

Tabor said...

While I have never been a good speller, relying on phonetics, I have noticed that I do make spelling and typing mistakes more often in the last year or so. I actually think it has to do with ageing...but not as a serious problem. I also let my mind get ahead of my fingers and find I have to correct them missing links in phrases as well.

Anonymous said...

It has become such a problem with me that I have resorted to checking everything I write with two different spell checkers and still, those don't correct language so I still come off looking like the Dufuss I actually am. There are some things one cannot cover up. May as well allow what will be to be.

Panthergirl said...

I think it's more of a "typing fast" problem than dyslexia. I type incredibly fast but can't tell you how many time I've typed my name (Marian) as "Marina"!

Here by way of Michele this morning...

Weary Hag said...

I've noticed there are certain words that my fingers just don't want to type correctly. Not sure if it's a matter of thinking ahead of your fingers or fingers working ahead of your thoughts... or if, like someone else said, we tend to type quickly in our rushed world and it takes its toll. No matter what, Ide reed ure riting evin if it wer awl dun fonetikly. *wink*

(ps... ever play phonetic scrabble? mind bending ... but quite the challenge)

Minerva said...

No late onset dyslexia that I know of...but I think it is a case of mind getting ahead of fingers... and yes, I do remember the examples how we read the beginning and the ends of words, and the middles don't matter...

I think also, with this kind of thing, that the more one notices it, the more it happens? Just relax...we all read you for the content...not the spellings..*grin*

Minerva

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, Judy. We all do it. I do all sorts of goofy typos and even forget my phone number and zip code. Sometimes our minds may be preoccupied subconsciously with an idea and items of immediate attention that are common to us take a back seat.
Yuo aer nto getntig Azlheimres!

lucylocket said...

It happens to me a lot. I leave off the last letters of words. Even though I proof each post, I don't see the errors until I see it published. My last post was entitled, "DIY"; I typed "DYI". Once an employer caught a typo in a letter and remarked that I had misspelled a word. I said, "I know how to spell the word; I'm just a rotten typist."

OldHorsetailSnake said...

The ONLY way to get numbers rights is to slow way down and use just one finger, being careful to touch the right number each time. It delays things, but it works. Of corse I am sch and xcellnt tpist I don wory about ths stuf.

Anonymous said...

Michele sent me

If it's normally a typing problem there is a thing where the brain sends the signals in the correct order but some fingers can reach the keys faster than the others and you wind up with things like teh instead of the even though the signals were sent in the correct order. Or it could be you just like seeing if we can figure out what you were saying.

poopie said...

I have the exact same problem, with numbers. I think it's 'cuz I don't see too well ;)

Anonymous said...

I REALLY wish there was a spell checker for commenting! I realize that I am hopelessly lost without it! As a matter of fact, I made a boo boo on my comment over at Michele's before I came here. Check it out! lol

Anonymous said...

Thank god for spell check, that's all I can say. I could read at a college level in fifth grade, but I have never been able to spell well and I continually make errors as I type. I am used to correcting the majority as I go. I've already made and corrected 6 errors (make that 9) in this comment alone.

I am a Communication Specialist who constantly messes up spelling "Communication" and a diabetic who continually writes "insuling" when I mean "insulin". Don't worry; we all do it!

Badaunt said...

I think this is a typing problem rather than a spelling problem (or dyslexia). I do it all the time when I type, but not when I'm writing by hand.

Annoyingly, two words I almost always mistype are 'studnet' and 'eduaction.'

Raehan said...

I can't get spellcheck to work on blogger, so I have TONS of errors on every post. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to worry too much about it.

Anonymous said...

same exact thing is happening to me. am 63, always a good speller and good in math and articulate. now i am more or less falling apart. reversing numbers/letters/even ideas...

there is a slight vibration on a monitor that are like tv. yall reckon we have essentially been nose to nose with a tv screen effect for the last 15yrs?

or eating too many twinkies?

it's very depressing. i just hope i turn out to be a cheerful ole senile lady instead of one of those mean spitting ones...

defectly (now SEE: this was supposed to be 'dejectedly'!)

carole

Brat said...

Did any of you have dyslexia start right after you took an SSRI (drugs like Prozac, Paxil, etc)? If so, I would like to hear from you.

Brattycakes

Unknown said...

I take Paxil CR and work in a doctor's office. I constantly transpose numbers now. I never did this before I took Paxil. I thought I was getting Alzheimers
disease. Glad to see someone else is affected same way as I. I have to check and double check phone numbers on messages I give to doctor. I feel so stupid when I transpose letters or numbers.

I also find myself not being able to think of a word and substitute the word "thing". Example: I put the mail on the think (not being able to think of the word table)
It is not typing fast--I truly believe it is the Paxil, but it is better than being anxious all the time or crying for no apparent reason!
Sue

Anonymous said...

Glad to know I'm not the only one -- I have been researching dyspraxia to see if that could be it. Spetember. Studnet. Ladnscpae. I was alsways a fast sloppy writer but I never trasnposed (typing and writing) until my forties. No drugs to blame tho.

arcticnurse said...

mI am right up there thwi you all.
we are TON alone!
kristi

arcticnurse said...

this is a scary premise.is it too much SSRI or too much pesticied or too much tv or ... not normal aging
i think not.
thanks fro this forum
kristi

Anonymous said...

You're not alone. I have noticed the same thing as I have aged. I never had any kind of Dyslexia as a child or as an adult. I only type with 2 fingers, so it's not a matter of getting ahead of my thinking. My doctor says he doesn't know what it is, can't treat it and doesn't believe it to be of significance to refer me to a neurologist.

Anonymous said...

Me too. My spell checker catches most of them. Part of the problem is
key pressure. Computer keys depress too easily so that if you brush
an adjacent key it often prints. I would like to see a keyboard with
adjustable key pressure. There was once typewriters with that
feature. Is it too difficult to design into a modern keyboard?

Anonymous said...

I have never done this until about a year ago, and am getting progressively worse. It has nothing to do with typing or the keyboard, rushing, or being preoccupied...I do it when I hand write also. I also have trouble finding words sometimes like the above poster, I also just say "thing". I'm not on any meds. It is really not at all normal or cool or fun to find yourself breaking down in the most basic and elementary functions of life.

Sandy A. said...

I am grateful to the person who posted here on 8/05/09, as I have the same malady. I have had this for a few months now, maybe a year. I am 73 years old, and I thought it might be dementia, except that I am very smart and fast in all other things. It mostly occurs in handwriting, when I think I am writing clearly, but then I look and the writing is either illegible or misspelled. Sometimes I can actually watch my fingers do the wrong thing. It is very upsetting to me. I can help it by printing my handwriting, but that slows me down terribly. Does anyone know anything about this? Thanks. Sandy A.

Unknown said...

I expereince a similar phenomenon. It's gradually gotten worse for about two years. Typing and hand writing. Have seen a neurologist & had an MRI - to no avail.

For me it started soon after moving into a house next to a railway line - sleeping about 8m from 1500V DC wires, and some higher voltage ones higher up. Sleep has also been poorer during this time - at first waking about 15 minutes before the first train each day (maybe a change in current when the train starts at the end of the line??). Maybe magnetic fields are relevant. Maybe sleep deprivation.

Sometimes transpose numbers, sometimes transpose letters, sometimes comletely wrong vowels at the vwel place in words, sometimes b/d/p substitutions, sometimes missed words or letters as if jumping ahaeda. Sometimes I notice myself thinking the letters one by one, but stiil do it wrong.

I corrected 3-4 things as I noticed them in this post, but left oterhs for example.

BOb (Frequently Bbo)

dorigen said...

Hi there,

For those playing the SSRI card, I'm in agreement!

I had a bout of anxiety back in college and I had a bad reaction to every SSRI i tried. It was at that point that i started transposing numbers, writing words backwards, and noticed a slowness to my thinking (was sharp as a tack before).

I definitely think they damaged me in some way. It's been over 6 years since I've taken any and I don't have anxiety anymore, but i still get this.

Sandy A. said...

What is SSRI? Is it a medicine? I had anesthesia for some surgery I had in March, and after that it felt as if my memory had been erased. A nurse told me that was a common experience in surgery patients, but I forgot to ask her if it ever goes away. I appreciate your feedback, but no jokes please, as I don't find this condition funny. Thanks. Sandy A.

kenju said...

Sandy, thanks for the visit. I hope you get rid of that problem soon. Here is a link to tell you what SSRI's are:

http://www.google.com/search?q=ssri+antidepressants&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3RNFA_enUS275US276&aq=t

Or just search SSRI on google.

Colleen said...

I don't take any meds. In the last year I have gotten increasing worse at switching letters around when I type and I spend a great deal of time doing corrections. Many of the things I type throughout the day are the same things over and over. Even if I slow down it happens. It is affecting my work performance immensely and I am very concern for my job security. I spend all day in front of a computer and recently was transferred to a different building because the installation of 3x the amount of fluorescent lights in the workspace in combination of no outside light, caused me migraines, dizziness, and vomiting. I am only 45 years old. I graduated with a bachelor in 2007 and didn't have these issues during the 4 years I was in college and working full-time in combination.

Anonymous said...

I think there is a link to SSRI's (only a matter of opinion) but I was treated with these a couple of years ago and was on them for several months. Since that time, I have noticed a definite decline in my spelling and grammar. I have always been very good at both these subjects and have found it disturbing that at the age of 31,(these symptoms started in my late 20's) my brain doesn't seem to be functioning as fully as it used to. I have also been researching a disorder called Pyrrole Disorder as it lists dyslexia (or reading difficulties - another thing I was always very good at) as one of it's symptoms.

Zoe said...

You are not the only one! It happens to me ALL THE TIME. I dunno if I've always been that way, but I it is annoying as hell! I just don't realise I made a spelling mistake until it's too late! The worst mistake I've ever made that I wrote rubber dick instead of rubber duck. Though I always double check my spelling things like this happen to me all the time. Also I get bad marks at school due to this.

Unknown said...

Reassuring to read some comments, but I'm also worried as I spend enormous amounts of time at work correcting my typos. Transposing letters while typing is getting worse and it's very frustrating. I'm 59 years old, I need to work to 66, but if this "thing" progresses as it has this past year I will not be employable. K.M.

Michele said...

I am 48, and started doing this a few years ago... I do it all the time!!!! Have never had an issue with this before, but I have also noticed my vision has become so much worse- so dont know if the two are related, but you are not alone.

Peter said...

That was a walk down memory lane Judy, comments from FTS and oldhorsetailsnake and a lot of other familiar names.

wbarry51 said...

Welcome to 50!
Normal Progression of age I'm afraid
(had to fix 2 words)

Anonymous said...

I've had reversal of letters and numbers ever since the traumatic sudden death of my husband and resulting PTSD like symptoms of flashbacks and short-term memory loss. It isn't chronic, but I always have to be careful as I don't know when it will sneak up on me. I've noticed a pattern of it being worse when I feel stressed. Just now doing some research on it 18 years after initial onset. Check out www.ibiblio.org/rcip//dyslexia.html

Mrs. Curious

Unknown said...

I knew that if I typed this question on Google there would be others with the same problem. I spend more time backspacing at work on letters and numbers that are reversed. If I type the word for example "
engineer" it will come out "egnineer". I am 64 years old and this has just really started happening at work. I believe that my mind is going faster than my fingers can type, and I can type about 55 WPM.

Unknown said...

Hi there...
I have this problem also when typing only, which started in my mid forties, and now at 51 yrs old, I am noticing it is beginning to happen with my handwriting as well, which leaves me a bit more concerned than I was with the other.

Unknown said...

I'm not sure if my post went thru so will say again, this problem has progressed to the written word for me now, which worries me all the more. Thanks for the website Anonymous...www.ibiblio.org/rcip//dyslexia.html
helpful

Unknown said...

I have the same problem, especially the transposing of letters. I'm a journalist, so it's especially vexing. I usually realize it right away and correct it, but it does take up a lot of time.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
East Texas Girl said...

So I am not the only person typing too slowly for my brain speed. For me it seems to be a combination of age, thinking ahead of what I am doing, and possibly less muscle control as I age. Found this forum while trying to figure out if I was going wacko or not.

Unknown said...

Hi

Ive read most of the posts and definately have the "letter Reversing" issue - the only difference is that I am 58!

My father has dementia and Im wondering if there could be a chance its developing in me.

Any ideas?

Thanks for any help you can shed on this.

Unknown said...

Did you ever get anywhere with this. I'm almost 65 and have never transposed letters before. the last 6 months it seems to be getting worse. I type fast, always have, but have the problem repeatedly. Multiple times in a day if I spend much time at the computer. Not a problem with hitting the wrong key anymore often than usual I think, just transposition. Would like to know if you found it getting worse since the original postings were a number of years ago and how old you were / are. Thanks

Kayola said...

Do anyone call out a number in their head but copy another instead?
My job includes copying numbers and each day I make a mistake.

Kayola said...

Do anyone look at a number in their head but copy the last number wrong even while saying the number? Example: I am reading the # 67891 but write 67892. My job includes copying #"s and I am always making mistakes.