🚀 go-pugleaf

.. and it came to pass that Stuart Brady <stuart@bradymill-
no.spam-demon.co.uk> uttered forth:
>This has got me thinking... Is dyslexia something you've just got or you
>haven't got, or are there shades in between? 

There are "grades" or "severity" levels of dyslexia, from simple
word blindness all the way up to seeing letters instead of the
words. Imagine reading German - you can make out some of the
words and are able to write them similarly, but then imagine
Chinese or Egyptian hieroglyphics - these will have to be copied
character by character for those who can't read the language, and
it's pretty easy to drop a character here or there.

>Does it have to affect your
>spelling -- or can it just affect numeracy, for example?

Numerical dyslexia is called "dyspraxia" but this tends to be less
common. Letters tend to lack the natural progression in numbers
and figures, so a fairly nimble mind is able to fill in the gaps for
missing values. It is also realised that parts of mathematics
concern the search for the missing term, so abilities in this area
can overcome initial gaps from the outset.
>
>BTW, I was fairly low down in terms of spelling and numeracy, when I 
>was
>at primary school. I was doing 2nd/3rd year work in the 5th year. I
>understood the work, but I didn't do much because it was so boring. Then
>they moved me up to 5th year work, and I missed all of the stuff in
>between. I'm doing A-Level Maths now, but I still don't know my tables.

You'll be surprised at how useful they are. I drilled my schoolkids
with tables, and they were able to estimate quantities and validate
answers at a glance with some basic knowledge of number
patterns.
-- 
 
"Dungeon" Dave, in anti-harvest mode...

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