Wednesday, January 13

Is There Such A Thing As Adult-Onset Dyslexia?

A repost from my old blog, Just Ask Judy on July 16, 2005


What is happening to me?

Lately I cannot type the word "that"; I leave out the "a" every time. I have also noticed that I am transposing letters and numbers; for example, I type the phone number 555-1586, when it really should be 555-1856. Or I type the words "beautiful dreamer", for example, and it comes out "baeutiful draemer".

I am spending more time correcting typing errors than I am in actual post writing. Do any of you have that problem? I hope I am not the only one!

There was an article recently floating around the web purporting that it doesn't really matter if some of the letters in a word are scrambled, since we tend to read the word as a whole and process the meaning anyway. Though it may be true, I spend so much time trying to correct my errors in consideration of my readers. God forbid I should tax your brains any more than absolutely necessary!


Numbers are an entirely different story, however. If I am typing a phone number - or some such important numerical info - it behooves me to type it correctly. Short of proof-reading again and again, I don't know how to cure the problem. Any advice?

Edit: This post has received more on-going comments (40) than any other post on either of my blogs. Apparently, I am not alone with this problem.

19 comments:

LL Cool Joe said...

Isn't nice to know it's not just you?

Granny Annie said...

I worry about spelling and grammar and wonder why. Young people do not even capitalize properly and they never seem to worry about it. However we have more persons in our peer group who do not hesitate to correct us as if our entire generation was made up of school teachers.

G in Berlin said...

I attribute it to my mind outrunning my fingers. As I never learned to touch-type, I'm grateful to just be able to bang out my words. I also think it's probably because the keys on a laptop (inmy case) are far less stiff and widely separated than were those on a typer and tus one can miss hitting a key, hit it at an angle, or just hit them almost at the same time, but in the wrong order. When I look at the mistakes I make, they generally fall into that category. If you type really fast, remember that the Qwerty keyboard was invented to slow typing speed down and is therefore really awkward (as compared to the Dvorak).

Arkansas Patti said...

You are not alone. One word I can not type with out deliberate moves is COMMENT. It always comes out commnet.
I like to think we just think faster than we can type.
Sure wish there was spell checker in the "commnets".

bobbie said...

Oh, you are definitely not alone! Any word beginning with th I definitely know I will type ht, and automatically go to correct it instantly. That's fine, except when I actually have typed it correctly on occasion, and then have to correct the correction.

I think G and Patti are correct. It's the mind outrunning the fingers. I used to type 120 words a minute. Now arthritis has slowed me down and the fingers just can't keep up with the mind.

jaycoles@gmail.com said...

I find that it helps me when I am typing numbers or when I look up a number in the phone book to say it out loud. Then it (usually) comes out right. As to the other I just blame it on typing with my elbows.

Ginnie said...

My spelling and number sequence seem to be OK, What really bugs me is when I can see something in my mind but I can't remember what it's called !!

Susan said...

I call it “Finger Dyslexia”. It only occurs with typing, not handwriting. We're only noticing it now because, with computers and blogs, we are typing much more. Our fingers just get mixed up and seem to have a mind of their own!

Pat said...

No you aren't alone. I have the same with knobs on;)

Joy Des Jardins said...

Hee, hee...yeah this was interesting Judy. We truly are NOT alone. ~Joy

Grannymar said...

Me too!

Star said...

Both myself and my daughter had mentioned this affliction in posts. We prefer to assume that we can't type as fast as we think. I often type THnak uou, instead of Thank you. And distressingly, Stra, instead of Star.

rosemary said...

I do things like type that when it should be than or leave out all of the vowels in a word......numbers i pay a lot of attention to but I am sure I make mistakes. What irritates me most is spell check that won't recognize the error with a "next to" typo like na,e not corrected to name. My post with the most comments was one about my accordion and the title was Momma's got a squeeze box"

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Me too, my dear. Me too...!
OY!
I have had the number dyslexia thing for a long long time....The letters, not so long, but my one-finger typing is getting worse and worse....Spell Check helps---but not for comments...lol!

Looking to the Stars said...

I thought I was the only one. Thank you for sharing, I now know I am not alone :)

sage said...

I think the computer makes us lazy and more lax about our typing and therefore easier to make mistakes because we can correct them... no, you're not alone.

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

I surely understand. My daughter who is an editor is always correcting me. I do not worry about it anymore. Anyone that reads my thoughts - knows what I am trying to say!!!!

Kay Dennison said...

I am guilty, guilty, guilty!!!!

Tracie Nall said...

This is hilarious...I have the same issues!