Health and Psychology

The new box came in the mail.  It's a treatment program for dyslexia based on neuroplasticity theories.  The day I got it, a client called telling me they wanted an assessment because they are "hopelessly dyslexic." It was the second person to use that term this month.  I don't think of anyone as "hopelessly" anything.

I didn't get the program for a specific client, although I think many of my clients would benefit from it. I got it for me, because one of the things it does is to target spelling as well as reading and I suck at spelling.  Maybe for my brother-Chuck who has problems reading.  Maybe for my niece who has multiple strategies to avoid reading. I know a lot of people that struggle with learning disorders.

Most people that have dyslexia give up or struggle with reading.  Most people that can't spell give up, and rely on spell checkers, dictionaries, or hire assistants to edit and proof read.  Most people that have dyscalculia give up or rely on calculators. 

When my spelling problems, speech difficulties  as well as coordination problems surfaced in elementary school, I got assigned to special classes.  Only the speech problems were effectively treated.  The spelling problems remained.  I know I have difficulty with spelling (and had problems speaking) due to hearing loss as a result of ear infections in infancy.  The coordination problems are due to a genetic disorder that didn't get diagnosed until I was in my 40's.

So I opened the box and put one of the first CD's in my computer and set up the two earpieces so my right and left ears would have different inputs and started on one of the exercises.  Not the first one.  About part way into the series.  Just to see what it was like.  In less than 5 minutes I could tell the difference between when to use the letter c or the letter k to spell words with the K sound in them...like cat.

Let me explain the significance.  I gave the commencement address when I graduated from the California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles in 1983.  I explained to the audience that I had expected when I graduated to become smart and to know how to spell because I spelled so badly that cat could just as easily have been written by me as katt.  So in a matter of 5 minutes after opening a new box and reading literally two pages of material I now know that if the letter after that k sound is an e, i, or y, I use a k and for everything else I use a c. 

Almost 30 years later. I suspect that within a few weeks I'll be smart.