Ask Me Help Desk - A reading nightmare.

All of my life I have had a problem where reading was never a joy.

I'v always had difficulty with reading, spelling and consontration. Now I'm almost 40 and my reading has never really improved since college.

I've struggled with this all of my life, -thank god for spell check, which was not used today- But I'm fairly intelligent, and I've always had to work real hard to read as a child, young adult and adult today.

Can anyone recommend "anything" that could evaluate my reading and help me improve my reading, or even help me speed it up?

Are there any adult schools in New Jersey that could thwart this mighty oak on my back to make tooth picks out of this reading problem?

I've heard of the eyeQ system and others like that are they any good?

MagikPoo -

Holy crap now answers yet? I thought you guys loved me... boo hoo...

If anyone finds suggestions for you... give them to me as well lol

I have the same problem with concentration and therefore takes me a very long time to read, which does not help with such a huge course load in college.
But I just learned that I have to deal with it

I would look up Sylvan Learning Center in your local phone directory, and call them. Although they only do personalised tutoring for k-12 grades, they may know who has adult remedial reading classes or adult tutoring?

Or any local higher education facility too - like a Junior College or a University - they might know too?

If you strike out there, consult your local library as a last resort, surely you have one of those?

Also, you might want to have a chat about this with your family physician too, just in case there is something medical that can be looked into.

Good luck and I am sorry it took so long to get an answer.

Slvan is great. I am a special education teacher so this is right up my alley. It sounds like from the information you gave- you could have an attentional problem. Reading is one of the most, if not the most affected area for attention. Do you struggle with comprehension, factual recall, inferences, etc? If so- I have some great ideas. Can you give me more information on what exactly it is like for you?

I have always heard and it is taught in college classes on education. Reading is not inherit. The more you read the better at language you will be. Reading reinforces our knowledge of spelling, sentax, and vocabulary. Tutoring Centers are good, but if you truly want to help yourself you should make yourself read books. Start with easy stuff like Harry Potter (I know that sounds silly for a grown man, but they are very interesting) If fantacy isn't your genre then there are plenty of historically based novels for lower reading levels. Work your way up gradually. Don't push yourself to hard only do what you can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagikPoo

All of my life i have had a problem where reading was never a joy.

I'v always had difficulty with reading, spelling and consontration. Now i'm almost 40 and my reading has never realy improved since college.

I've struggled with this all of my life, -thank god for spell check, which was not used today- But i'm fairly inteligent, and i've always had to work real hard to read as a child, young adult and adult today.

Can anyone recomend "anything" that could evaluate my reading and help me improve my reading, or even help me speed it up?

Are there any adult schools in New Jersey that could thwart this mighty oak on my back to make tooth picks out of this reading problem?

I've heard of the eyeQ system and others like that are they any good?

MagikPoo -

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In my family, we have first and now second generation of a reading disability. At first my cousin Joey who did not speak until he was four was called retarded by doctors. He did not look or act retarded to any of us kids in the family. We all seemed to understand what he wanted most of the time, and he played with us like any normal kid.

After he entered the school system at five, he was labeled as slow. My Aunt and Uncle were at school very often because of poor academic performances. Finally somewhere along the way before High School they labeled Joey as dyslexic. Joey graduated HS but never learned to read.

One of his brothers, who is about 5 years younger than him was also found to be dyslexic. More procedures were in the school system by that time to help dyslexic students and Louis was not as severely dyslexic as Joey, and he did learn to read, but with some difficulties like you.

My son Lucas, who is now 14, was found to be dyslexic after entering the third grade. Luckily for me I knew our family history and this helped him get tested and diagnosed correctly. He gets extra help in school and is still taking the "Wilson Reading" method with a special reading teacher.

From what I understand Dyslexia is an overall term that is used to say there is a Reading Disability. Not everyone who is Dyslexic has the same reading difficulties. When you are tested it, the results are broken down into different areas that show your particular difficulties.

It sounds like you are probably dyslexic. My son is a great auditory learner, when he likes a subject he can learn so much about it by listening. We get him books on tape at the Library and the book stores. A lot of times I find good books on tape at Church Thrift and Tag sales.

Why don't you call your local public school board or special education board and tell a little bit about your dilemma and see if they can point you in a direction for adults with reading diablilties.

Good Luck - and remember we all have different gifts. As I tell my son - there are things he is good at that other people are not. And he is a smart person. And so are you.

Love, Peace, Happiness and God Bless, Helen O

PS - I always use spell check too, and I believe that I am probably mildly dylexic myself, but in different areas than my son, and as an working adult, I took many writing and reading, including speed reading and organizational classes and seminars that were mandatory through my job that helped me conpensated in areas that I lacked. :-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagikPoo

All of my life i have had a problem where reading was never a joy.

I'v always had difficulty with reading, spelling and consontration. Now i'm almost 40 and my reading has never realy improved since college.

I've struggled with this all of my life, -thank god for spell check, which was not used today- But i'm fairly inteligent, and i've always had to work real hard to read as a child, young adult and adult today.

Can anyone recomend "anything" that could evaluate my reading and help me improve my reading, or even help me speed it up?

Are there any adult schools in New Jersey that could thwart this mighty oak on my back to make tooth picks out of this reading problem?

I've heard of the eyeQ system and others like that are they any good?

MagikPoo -

Check at a community college. I am not a great speller but took a class at the community colelge which helped a lot. Reading only improves with practice. Got tot the local library and talk to the children's librarian about topics you like, start simple with high interest books and set aside time everyday to read and build up to harder material still on topics you like.

You are going to hate me for this but if you want to learn to read better then you have to read a lot of books. Challenge yourself gradually. Select books of various subjects and by different authors. The more that you practice any skill, the better you will get at that skill. Writing is and excellent way to improve your writing. Find out what your current reading level is and work from there. In the city that I live in, the average reading level is eighth grade. Mine is high university. If you want help with this send me an e-mail to [email protected] and I will do what I can to help you. Reading is very important to me and I will help anyone who wants to learn to read better. I can recommend some excellent books and help you progress to higher reading levels over time if I can find out where you started from.

Wow Thanks to everyone who took the challenge to help me with my problem.
I asked this question way back in 2006 today is October 14th 2010 so here is the update.

Soon after asking this question I had a problem with my eyesight was getting worse while I was driving.
So as a young man I went to the eye doctor (Optometrist) for an exam. Here is what transpired.
First off my eyesight was changing, I was becoming short sighted, with a stigmatic right eye. But what I didn't know was I have damage to my right eye to the point where part of my vision is missing, including the center of my retina. Thus causing my right eye to via off or in some cases wobble as my left side of my brain is trying to look at something but can't so it moves the eye around unconsciously in a hope to see the words on a page or to recognize a face.
I didn't find this out until I was 40 years old. This didn't help my angst it just increased it. So now on my next visit to the Doctors I will be inquiring into surgery to hopefully correct these problems which occurred during childhood traumas.
Also what did help was recognition of an attention disorders brought on by disruptions during childhood development, this is in the coping stages. It can be a problem with onset PTSD from War related difficultys yet I have coping skill that help me.
So most of you were right I'd like to thank each and everyone of you over the years and I will be commenting on all of them.

Ian

Hey airbats thanks for your reply I will be contacting you in the future with my new reading glasses. I have answered this very old question I asked way back in 2006.

Dear im1brwfn I asked this question back in 2006 and want to thank you for your help. I took a creative writing class soon after I got glasses and found I have a problem with my right eye. I hope your still reading like I am. Thanks again.
Ian

Hey Mikehelen thanks for your answer I have given an update on this topic from 2006 thanks so much for your help

Ian

Hey everyone this is just an update as to my ocular problems and why it was so darn hard to read. Living in the USA has made it difficult to get insurance to see and eye doctor to find out why I had a problem reading.
I'm a war veteran so I broke down and went to the Veterans Medical Hospital for help. I didn't know I was covered, so I went for an eye exam, at first the doctor was was treating me thought I had MS that's Multiple Sclerosis, so they Cat scanned my entire body which turned out I didn't have MS, then I was asked a bunch of questions. What they fail to tell you if you don't ask the right questions is what was wrong with my eye. Well it turned out after about 2 years later that I have ocular nerve damage, from when I was a child. This causes the eye to move around rapidly looking for the same thing as the left. It made it hard to focus on any one object. So from when I was about 5 years old I was playing soldier on the play ground at my school and I was laying like I just went down and a teacher who didn't see me stepped back and the heal of her shoe went into my eye socket. Little did I know then how it would affect me years later. So what do I do now, well I wear glasses and I think I have some kind of attention issue also. So I see the doc in a few weeks and listen to what he says. Thank you all so very much.