DYSLEXIA IN STATE EXAMS

BOY-WONDER

Is it just me or are the Dept of Education the most uneducated people on the planet when it comes to Dyslexia???

Jug-A-Lug

off hand i know 4 people who have dyslexia that i have known since JC/LC and they were all allowed to do aural exams for all subjects which is VERY fair.

As far as i know you can request an aural exam as long as you do it early enough.
ie. 9am monday morning exam begins "im sorry i cant read this its all gibberish, im dyslexic and i wish to do aural exams"
reply "im sorry but the final date for requesting an aural exam is xx/xx/xx!"

so fill out those forms early kids

Magwitch

I suffer (hate that word) from (mild) Dyslexia but I did hear that allowances are made by the board in exams, which makes sence considering it is quite wide-spread.

When I was in school (primary) there was not even a facility for those that could not understand written language, I was good at art and copied letters and whole words until I was 12 when a program was introduced which spotted that I could not read or write. Since those days things have improved no end.

bonkey

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Magwitch:
I suffer (hate that word) from (mild) Dyslexia but I did hear that allowances are made by the board in exams, which makes sence considering it is quite wide-spread.
</font>

I know this is a bit off-topic, but if you hate the word "suffer" to describe your condition, what would you prefer?

There's a thread up at the mo about people getting insulted, which is bordering on being about political correctness, so I was just curious.

jc

red_ice

To be honest, what can the government do to help this area of discomfort?
If they open up a special school, its discrimination, if they dont its lack of facilities....
Im not Dyslexic, but my spelling is up my **** , and i dont feel comfortable when people joke about it, but thats off the topic.
As far as doing a "Special" exam goes, is that not degrading? its like "Roll call time people, where is such and such a person" and the reply is "Hes at his Special exam sir" and every one makes a joke about it. So there is a catch 22 from what i can see...
And i feel its a touchy area to work on

Red.

BOY-WONDER

Well its just that in my own experience the Dept of Education are totally unhelpful and the PR work they do about Grants, help in exams etc are total bullsheet. None of my Dyslexic friends EVER got any special consideration in state exams and im not talking about the 60's either. Im talking 90's.

solo1

I remember a friend of mine in college who had it so bad he couldn't spell his own name. In UCC they had special people to write down the dictated exams, which would have been the ideal solution, except for on the day of the exam, the girl writing th e stuff down was discovered to be dyslexic also. Don't ask me how that happened.

Probably the same set of processes that involved calling it 'dyslexia'.

Chaos-Engine

I have Dyslexia... I discovered it just after my Junior cert mocks

I was told for yrs that i was stupid and lazy and humiliated in-front of my class.
However i am far from stupid i have a average IQ level of 138... this is well above average... However my spelling and reading r at the level of a 12(i am 18)... I had to fight hard to get recognised by the department as i was able to write(like everyone else but i was still saverly disadvantaged in comparision).. I eventually got Exemte from irish and that was it
no Spelling allowances, NOTHING....

I just sat my LC this summer.... At start of each Answer book i wrote the following

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
I am Dyslexic and therefore should be given special consideration in spelling and syntax
</font>

I hope that they will take it seriously and sent the scripts to an examinor that understands dyslexia because your average teacher thinks its some sort of rare Disability...
I know 4 dyslexics.... 2 r natural geniuses... Lets let ppl know about it
the system really isn't fair and need to be changed

P.S
If anyone would like some help on what do do and where to get tested for dyslexia i would be glad to help Email or ICQ me

---

---

"Information is Ammunition"
Choas Engine
ICQ: 34896460
Email: choas@netshop.ie

---

[This message has been edited by Chaos-Engine (edited 17-07-2001).]

solo1

How on earth do you manage to type in your username? I don't mean to be hurtful or anything, but I'm just curious. Do you cut and paste or what?

havok*

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Magwitch:

I was good at art and copied letters and whole words until I was 12 when a program was introduced which spotted that I could not read or write.</font>

I've Heard there's a huge number of artists (including myself) that suffer from mild dyslexia. Have read up abit on it afiak the most logical/scientific reason i've seen for it was this (summed up version)

Its mainly to do with brain usage, or more to the point which side of the brain the person is used to using more. The majority of ppl rely on the left (logical) side of the brain more often, which is also used for reading, spelling ect. Artist's rely on the right (creative) side of the brain more, this (apperently) effects the effectiveness of the left.
Also, for example if a programmer was to look @ a Word, he's looking @ the structure of the word in relitive terms, while an artist is looking more @ how its sitting, the font ect (this is all subconscious btw)
The brain works on oppisites, left controls the right and vise versa.
Not supprising then that a much larger percentage of left handed ppl are effected by dyslexia then right handed ppl (50% of artists are leftys)

Thankfully due to my job it does'nt really get in the way of my work.
Still very annoying tho having to reread stuff over again and my spellings Soooooo bad (as i'm sure u can see )

[This message has been edited by havok* (edited 18-07-2001).]

BOY-WONDER

Originally posted by Chaos-Engine:
I have Dyslexia... I discovered it just after my Junior cert mocks

MY REPLY:
At last someone who agrees with me!!! Its a crazy situation to be put in. Like you Im above average intellliegence yet I doubt it'll show on my results in August.( I did the LC this year)
Let us know how you got on!! ATB

BOY-WONDER

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Chaos-Engine:
Lets let ppl know about it
the system really isn't fair and need to be changed
</font>

I Think the only thing to do is to publicly humilate the Government and Dept of Education to get the help and support we deserve.

Im constantly bombarding Woods' e-mail address with Info!!! God help the webmaster dealing with it!!!

---

JustHalf

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by havok*:
Also, for example if a programmer was to look @ a Word, he's looking @ the structure of the word in relitive terms, while an artist is looking more @ how its sitting, the font ect (this is all subconscious btw)
The brain works on oppisites, left controls the right and vise versa.</font>

I hope you're not drawing the conclusion that artist and programmer are two distinct entities - I'm both.

Magwitch

Same here JustHalf- A Math teacher once asked my class was Math a science or an Art, he insisted it was an art. I agree.