How Dyslexia Looks In Adults Explained By Experts

Dyslexia in Adults Over 40: Signs, Symptoms & Support [Hosted by Exceptional Individuals]

Understanding Dyslexia in Later Life
Think dyslexia is just a childhood issue? Think again. This webinar sheds light on how dyslexia evolves from middle age to later life, focusing on symptoms and coping strategies.

Note: Consult a healthcare professional for a formal diagnosis of dyslexia.

Chapters
00:00 - Intro: Dyslexia Over 40
00:30 - About Exceptional Individuals
01:06 - ADHD & Workplace
01:45 - Spotting Dyslexia at 40
03:44 - Emotional Check-In
04:32 - Webinar Goals
06:54 - Defining Dyslexia
08:48 - Your Dyslexia Symptoms
10:14 - Birth Decade & Dyslexia
11:46 - Dyslexia in Adults
13:18 - Changes in Adult Dyslexia
16:43 - Coping Strategies
19:21 - Brief History of Dyslexia
23:07 - Other Influencing Factors
24:48 - Age of Diagnosis
26:27 - Pre-Diagnosis Experience
29:00 - Late-Life Diagnosis
30:35 - Reasons for Late Diagnosis
32:12 - Famous Dyslexic Adults
33:14 - Whoopi Goldberg on Dyslexia
34:23 - What I Wish I Knew
35:46 - Available Support
37:29 - Additional Support Options
39:14 - References
39:25 - Workplace Needs for Dyslexia
40:10 - Q&A
41:27 - Next Steps
41:49 - End

Additional Resources

Connect With Us

Tags
#DyslexiaWebinar #ExceptionalIndividuals #DyslexiaInAdults #DyslexiaAwareness #DyslexiaDiagnosis #DyslexiaSupport #Neurodiversity

[bluenoize]

My name's Telisa and I am Dyslexia. Since I was a child I knew something was wrong with me when it came to spelling, reading out loud, math and writing. I tried so hard, just to get embarrassed in front others. Praying and asking God to make me smarter by giving me a new brain. However at age 49 I accept me just the way I am.

[katrinkarlsdottir]

I was told I was just lazy by my teachers, then that I was just stupid by the education system, then I was diagnosed and soon told I never learn to read in 2nd grade. The "therapy" I was forced to endure (early '70s) was not helpful in any way that I could tell. It gave me low self-esteem and migraine-level headaches. Years later I learned I read better when I speed read and earned a college degree. My arguments with a Psychology Professor about the fact that learning disabilities are real were enlightening. I changed his mind. I read for fun. Spellchecker is a great help in my life.

[brendahelquist]

It was not until my daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia that I saw it in my brother and my dad. I saw how hard it was for my brother and how my father loved audiobooks. I was not diagnosed but I know I have it as I learn more about it… mine is just different then my daughter and my brother. I do love reading kindle with audio book, reading and listening at the same time.

[MarkPattysFabWorld]

I have Dyslexia But my mom did too and she taught Alot about it!

[nicoleleithwood]

😅 I am 33 and realizing that I am dyslexic. My inner child is pissed off and hurt. Ive been crying a lot...because I was punished and bullied for failing spelling tests by teachers and my mother. I also understand my 71 year old father is also dyslexic but I doubt he knows it. We learned to hide our errors to fit in = shame, guilt, depression, anxiety. I love myself though and I feel safe enough to cry now ❤😊 .. and its ok to fuck up letters.. i forgive myself.🎉🎉🎉🎉 I am awesome😋💕

[corm]

I'm 49, and I discovered I have dyslexia when I was 6 or 7 years old. Throughout my school years here in St. Louis, Missouri, I underwent annual testing, and my school provided an Individualized Education Program (IEP) to support my education. It's important to remember that having dyslexia doesn't equate to a lack of intelligence. In my case, despite having dyslexia, I was the first student in my school to be a part of the gifted program for children with above-average IQs and the classes for students with learning disabilities. As an adult with dyslexia, I rely on tools such as Grammarly for all aspects of writing, a speech-to-text tool for words that I have difficulty with their spelling, and OpenDyslexic for Chrome which is an extension, designed to enhance readability for individuals with dyslexia. This extension replaces all fonts on web pages with the OpenDyslexic font, which is tailored to improve readability by giving each letter a unique shape and a heavier bottom to prevent them from appearing jumbled.

[Joy-lmjz]

I didn't have a assessment for Dyslexia until I was in my late 50's! I obviously had learnt to mask and hide 'my differences' what i deemed bad. I didn't understand the school sysem - and it didn't understand me. I went back to adult education 6 years ago, when I discovered my Dyslexia has I was struggling so much. Since the diagnosis, i have become much more accepting and believing of myself. I have stopped putting pressure on myself to 'fit into' other systems which don't suit me - and caused me burn out. I now do me! I a. engaging and embracing those aspects of myself where I am highly skilled- my creativity, problem solving and love of colours! I am now creating my own poetry and photography. It is strange how I was really skilled at spelling at school (I believe now I was pressurising myself to be good, to show I was good at something - and not get picked on) and now I don't stress so much my spelling isn't as good as it once was - and I feel a lot freer! I also feel my confident just being me.

[panamapippi]

I am 67 years old and I have never been diagnosed. Professionally, I am an accountant but I knew something was wrong, I thought I did not deserved this title.

[anathans]

I always thought i was just stupid, back when i was kid i struggled to identify left and right, reading, following instruction, memorizing lyrics, paraphrasing, and always been an imaginative kid. One day when i took an IQ test, i was so struggling memorizing verbal cues even though i really nailed every spacial and numerical questions, so i kinda have a low confidence when it comes to academic performance. But later in life i pretty much deal with it, i was accepted to best the university in my country (best faculty as well), my boss always compliments me because of my problem solving skill and my hard work and i think what differ me to others is how well i can understand problem just by imagining it, so i guess it works pretty well for now. Now im planning to get my master degree but looking back at how poor im doing when it comes to academic, im still unsure whether it is the right option :(

[simonmullins]

I go diagnosed a couple of year ago due having going to collage for care work and had to do English. I grew up in the 70s 80s. And in the bottom sets at school. I thought I was thick and stupid. And going through my adult life I had suspicions. But never tried to get diagnosed until collage. Now I've even diagnosed thing make more sense to me now how I am and the way I act towards writing and reading and my personality

[michellebarbour]

My dyslexia has caused me the most awful and most brilliant moments. I'm 59. Retired from being a senior lecturer in a University because of my dyslexic mistakes . In retrospect, perhaps I should have fought more. Putting the wrong code in a spread sheet is really what I can do remarkably well, repeatedly. Going round a roundabout 3 times because I can't work out which exit to take, has always happened. Teaching inspiring lectures, inclusivity and creating curriculum materials that enable everyone to access and learn, well, I'm good at this BUT jobs don't just need us to be great at one thing. We need to be ok at the parts that our dyslexic brains are absolutely rubbish at doing. If you are struggling in your career, whatever age. Don't run away at 59, like me, join a Union (I did but didn't ask for help..idiot!), join a support group, share how you feel with H.R, before you leave, and if you leave, be sure that you've not left because of shame caused by a couple of mistakes that are meaningless in the whole scheme of things.

[jacquelinedenham]

I was diagnosed at the age of 58. It made me feel so much better. Answered a lot of questions. Why I have had problems doing certain things.

[annamayzing]

I’m 45 and I was diagnosed as a child. They abused me in the education system in the US. I’m still struggling and can’t work. (I have several other diagnoses) I am also having a very difficult time getting on SSI. It sucks.

[dianaarmstrong]

My son could not read at age 12, Despite years of tutoring. We put him in an intensive year of Linda Mood Bell dyslexia training and after a year he read all the Harry Potter books and all the Lord of of the Rings books. He went on to college, although it took him a long time and in the end he had to drop out in the beginning of his senior year because of health problems.
A metaphor for the difference between the standard tutoring and the Linda Mood Bell system is, standard tutoring was just poring more and more buckets of water over his head. He had no way of retaining it. Linda Mood Bell gave him a bucket in which to put the tutoring, a way of retaining what he was taught. If the area of the brain used by normal readers isn’t there, then Continuing to teach to that area of the brain isn’t going to work for dyslexics. You have to teach to the area of the brain that dyslexics must use to learn to read. I’m sure that there are some other methods specifically designed to work for the dyslexic brain, but continuing to teach to an area of the brain that they don’t have just causes frustration and failure and creates serious self esteem problems for these kids, which can cause other serious problems for them down the line.

[gtrheratx]

very helpful video. i am the non-dyslexic learner in a family with my husband, son + daughter who are. it can be challenging + sometimes i feel left out of the club. they have a sea of strengths i admire.

[Jefff]

This answers so much of my childhood as well as my adult life. I needed special Ed in elementary for reading. I no longer needed it when I got to junior high but I was dropped a level in English due to struggling and was put into a reading class. Only kids who needed help had this class. I also remember getting nervous about having to read and follow instructions. I was in Air Force basic training, I kept asking the guy next to me what we had to do, and he was like, "It's in the manual."

[norarhoads]

I am a dyslexic -diagnosed in 8th grade BUT no one told me. I grew up with great extra school help and emotional support which I did not appreciate. For example, in 8th I struggled with geometry math. The next year I was in advanced algebra and thrived. I was taught to speed read which I excelled at, but for high density technical text, I must read slowly and multiple times. I went to art school because I could avoid reading or writing. I learned I was Dyslexic at 30 after reading my high school reports. Three years later, I was accepted MIT as an undergrad. I am published by the National Academy of Science and find it difficult to read papers, I wrote. I cannot read text, out loud. Our son began writing books at the age of three. He was unable to read until the third grade. He said he did not like sounding out words or reading out loud, in school. We gave him magic cards with very advanced complex words. He said he memorized the words. He reads and writes at a high level.

[chelsiejadexx]

I got diagnosed a few days ago (23 years), it was the best thing to have an answer 😊 I have dyslexia 😊

[abdullakc]

I am really bad in memorising stuff also in doing math. Math and programming is really hard for me to understand and gives me headaches... sometimes i feel that other students was better than me in understanding few stuff. Its not necessarily about reading. Maybe in meeting friends and being liked by a girl and start a marriage life... i realised that girls doesn't want me... and i also realised that going to work on time and everyday is so difficult... and i disliked the system of going to school and taking final exams afterwards.. also disliked the work system...i hardly remembered the word dyslexia and that i had it. Reason is that some doctors in sweden diagnosed me with it when i was around 8 years old... so growing up i had forgotten that i even had it... anyhow i quit high school for 4 years making me graduated from university just two years back! Because i found a way to study and found a way that would replace me memorising something.... its by reading the sentence over and over and whej ur in the exambyou just would remwmber that u read the question before
.. therefore u know it's answer! Doctors never teach us this. Schools doest either. I feel that doctors thinks they know everything but infact they do not... U can manage it but the girls you neet will never do that with you. I had the most awful relationship ever which increased my headache and gave me eye problem's and a 2 year depression. F that Japanese girl friend.. i feel that people are different and the world has to acceptbthis fact. We cant just force people to do the same things...

[mandlin]

I’m dyslexic, but I’m 5 years too young for this lol. I was also diagnosed at 12, by lucky my teacher has a friend who’s child was dyslexic and she figured mine out from her friends situation. I was dubbed a “textbook dyslexic by the person who diagnosed me lol. But even in the 90’s and 00’s things for dyslexics still sucked and I had teachers not believe I needed help I was denied my extra lessons and I am now able to mask dyslexia due to the years of practice writing on social media. My dyslexia is deemed severe, couldn’t speak till I was 3 for example. And I don’t think my writing ability got like it is now till the age of 27. I still find habd writing too hard but can just about do it with more errors.

My dad is, profoundly, dyslexic but he’s never been diagnosed. But I mean. He’s textbook just like me. But without the social media impact to learn coping skills in his teens like I did. He’s 64. He bunked off school a lot too, as did his mother my grandma who passed away 2 years ago aged 97. She actually dropped out of school aged 13 stating “it’s completely pointless I don’t see the point”.

Both are clearly bright people, my grans wit was razor sharp. A WW2 girl who still managed to become the manager of a bakery at 14! My dad completed complex construction projects and built computers and programs with no formal education or training in it.

What’s frustrating for all of us is the educational system meant all of our potential was wasted. We all ended up in low paid work because teachers decided we are lazy and low potential. It’s so unfair.