T-Bird Anni Rides Again

Well, it’s been a while coming but today I had a 3 hour assessment by an ed psych to establish if I’m just a little slow with reading or if I’m dyslexic.  Would it really surprise anyone if I said it’s the latter?  Probably not.  Would it surprise you though to know that I’m not just a little bit Dyxie as I thought but right up there at the top end of Moderate and headed for Severe?  It sure as anything surprised me, shocked me a bit really. 

I’m in teh bottom 25% for phono-whats-it-called ability, I suspect that I scored that high thanks to being immersed in Jolly **** Phonics and Letterland for the last few years!  Goodness only knows how I would have scored otherwise.

And I’m well below average for my short term memory which was not exactly news to me, I have always had a short term memory on a parr with a goldfish, I just didn’t realise that that was typically a Dyxie trait and assumed it had just attrophied away with lack of excercise!

On the flip side I’m a genius!  No really!  Well, okay then, I’m in the top 6% for some of the bits of the IQ test adn 4% for some others which, if it weren’t for the dyslexia blowing holes in other parts of the test would have given me a much higher "score" than the 115 that I ended up with.   So, not Mensa material just yet but if they ever find a "cure" for my little foibles then you never know!

The upshot of all of it is taht I will at the very least get extra time for my exam (as she is stipulating that that will be essential to my performing anywhere near my abilities) and that she will state that I would feel more comfortable using a PC for it.  She will also recomend that I have a recording device for lectures so i don’t have to take notes and listen at the same time which pretty much means I will get that supplied.

ACtually all that is just an added bonus, the major thing was summed up for me by someone on the OU dyslexia forum.  I posted that I had had my diagnosis confirmed and she said "wellcome home, you’ve been given the final piece of the puzzle"  and you know?  she’s right.  I feel somehow that I fit, like someone gave me a missing bit of the jigsaw and now I can see the picture, I can see who I am.  I never "fitted" with the other not quite so clever kids at school because even though I was constantly labeled thick, I sort of suspected I wasn’t.  I didn’t fit with the bright ones either because I couldnt’ do things the way they did.  When I started work I couldn’t do the interesting, stimulating jobs I wanted to do becuase I didn’t have the qualifications, couldn’t fill out the paperwork properly, got easily distracted midway through doing something, forgot it and started something else and yet the supporting role jobs I was capable of didn’t fit right either, mindless decanting of stuff into pots for the brainiacs to test didn’t really thrill me much.  but now I know the whys I can work on the ways round, and maybe one day, once Aprilia is big enough for me to go back to work I won’t be stacking shelves at Tesco or mopping floors at McD’s I’ll be doing something useful.  No idea what though….

I’ve kept this seperate from what I’ll say about today’s assessment as it’s really more to do with Aprilia than anything else.

Part of today’s assessment was to read "non-sense words" that is random letter combinations that you can sound out but aren’t actual words.  The idea is taht you therefore have to work out how to say it rather than recognising the word straight off, it tests your phono-whats-it-called abilities.

So there I was, labouriously sounding out and working out how it blended together, stumbling over that **** magic E that makes the other vowel a long one and all I could think was that this was Aprilia’s walk through reading.  This was how she probably felt every time I ask her to read simple words that I assume she should be able to read because they are "easy".  But of course, they are only easy to me because I’ve seen them in black and white for years, for her they are non-sense words, random assemblies of letters to be picked over, sounded out, blended and (if she’s lucky) translated into something that is a word.  Suddenly her reluctance to even try seemed so reasonable, so sensible when I looked through her eyes and walked just a little in her shoes and I’m left feeling more and more sure that school would destroy her confidence in seconds and that easing right back on reading for a while and attacking it from diffenent angles is definitely going to be better for her than banging on and on with decoding skills that just don’t seem to be going anywhere yet.

I got an e-mail through from one of the Yahoo groups I’m on today and I think it’s worth passing on.  Our Island Story is a "narative history" of the UK.  You can read it on-line at the Baldwin Project to get a flavour of it.  It’s been available to schools for the cost of postage for a while but now "home schoolers" can have a copy for postage too.  here’s the details. 

We are pleased to announce, having finally had a chance to review

Our policy on distributing Our Island Story to schools that are not

Registered with Local Education Authorities, that we can offer H.E.

Marshall’s sparkling narrative history to parents running home

Schools for their children for the price of £5 all inclusive, which

Is to cover our costs of postage and packing only.

Our Island Story by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall was first published

In 1905. This children’s history of Britain , from the time of the

Romans to the death of Queen Victoria, became an instant classic.

Beautifully written, with the narrative sweep of the best story-

Tellers, Our Island Story went through many editions and remained

One of the most popular one-volume histories of Britain up until its

Final edition in 1953. Leading historians of the present day like

Lady Antonia Fraser and Andrew Roberts have testified to the effect

That this book had on them by igniting a passionate love of history

In young minds through its thrilling narrative.

More details are available here

We hope that many will be interested in taking up this offer on this

Unique account of British history. We would be very grateful if you

Could pass on the details of this offer to any parents that you know

Are eligible and to any home school networks that you are a part of

As we are eager to gain more contact with this burgeoning education

Community.

How to order:

By cheque: please send a cheque for £5 made payable to Civitas along

With an accompanying note that this is for a ‘Our Island Story -

Home School Offer’ with your postal address. A copy of Our Island

Story will be dispatched within a week of our receiving your cheque.

By credit card (VISA or Mastercard):

Email nick.cowen@civitas. Org.UK with subject line "Our Island Story -

Home School offer" with your card number, expiry date, and

Authorisation code if available, full postal address and billing

Address (if different). £5 will be charged to your credit card and a

Copy of Our Island Story will then be dispatched within a week.

Alternatively have the above details to hand and call Civitas on 020

77996677   explaining that you would like to receive a copy of Our

Island Story as part of the home school offer.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Best wishes and many thanks

Nick Cowen

I’ve just placed my order…. that’s another book I can cross off my Amazon Wish List then! 

I have just over 2 hours to go before I set off for my assessment.  Two hours could see 1 load of washing through the machine and another  started off.   Or it could see me finish off the floor in Aprilia’s room (why does it keep dissapearing like that???) Or it could see a huge chunk of sorting out in my room  Or, Or , Or….

But I have no enthusiasm for any of it.  A serious case of "can’t-be-bothered-itis" with the lame excuse of if I start something then I may lose track of time and be late for the assessment

I got quite a bit done yesterday, there has been a confirmed sighting of the carpet in Aprilia’s room, in between fending off the bint next door who drives me nuts some days - her solicitor is lying to her aparently, as is the building control officer at the council who passed the most shoddy bit of building work you have ever seen as okay meaning she is £££££ out of pocket and still has a leaky roof but can’t sue as building control says it’s fine…. and her ex has stopped paying her as her son is now 21 so he’s no longer liable for maintenance so she needs to fill out whole rainforrests worth of paperwork for various benefits non of which she understnads and non of which ask her the questions she thinks they should ask…. I calmly uttered my mantra - go to the CAB with it - and ease her back towards the door….not very Christian maybe but necessary to my sanity some days.

 Sigh, it’s a hard life isn’t it….

Right, off to do something now… no idea what but I’ll feel so guilty if Duke asks what I’ve done today and I can’t think of anything to say!