dysTalk Speech Dyslexia - Dyslexia - Forum - dysTalk

Hello!

I gather that this site is about learning difficulties in CHILDREN so maybe this wont be relevant. A friend of my son (23, Dyslexic) asked whether it was possible that he might have dyslexia - but only in speaking rather than reading or writing. He says that he finds it very hard to transfer his thoughts into coherent sentences.

This came as a big surprise as the boy in question got a good degree recently from Bristol University. He said that's exactly it: no problems at all with written English, real difficulties with the spoken word.

Does anyone know anything about this, or has heard of a similar situation in others?

03/09/2008 19:28:34
Caroline

My 9 year old son is dyslexic. I have just been to his parents evening and his teacher told me that she sometimes finds his speech difficult to understand. This was mentioned to me in the past so I referred him to a speech and language therapist who couldn't understand why he was hard to understand because, after a long time testing him, his speech was perfectly clear?! This remained a complete mystery to me as well. I am beginning to wonder if it is when he has to think hard about something that he is finding it difficult to transfer his thoughts into clear speech. I am wondering whether or not this is a common problem for people with dyslexia. I haven't heard very much about the subject.

17/10/2008 19:51:46
Michelle Key

Lots of dyslexic and dyspraxic children have speech difficulties which reflect problems in organising their thoughts, words and speech movements so as to effectively reflect their thoughts. Sometimes, as Caroline suggests (message3/9/08) it can affet one modality more than another so that it may be hard to turn the words into speech more than the thoughts into words. Many speech therapists only test speech output in single words and sentences, which is not always enought to show up problems in spoken langauge formulation in less formal settings. My advice is to try again and see if you can find a therapist who WILL consider such problems.

27/10/2008 14:02:10
Lesley

I've just come across this as well. Problems with speech as well on top of the more usual dyslexia issues (spelling/reading etc.) Would a speech and language therapist be the best person to see?

23/06/2009 15:48:56
Kat

I was doing a lot of research on dyslexia lately. I'm 23 years old, I got a 3D Animation Degree and I have a 140 IQ. I'm very good at physics, math, computer science, Photography and Film, and I'm also very good doing whatever I want to do. I do a lot of research very often because I feel the necessity learning more and more. Today I heard a conversation about dyslexia and decided to do research on that. It seems I have about 15 symptoms of this condition, but the one I find more troublesome is that I find very difficult to explain what I'm thinking to other people. My way of thinking is very weird... When I think, I just know I'm thinking something because I feel that my brain is busy and I only see colored images in my thoughts. If someone asks me ''what are you thinking about??'' I just respond ''I don't know, I know I'm thinking something, but I just don;t know what it is'' and when my brain is done thinking.... the result is delivered to me as knowledge... It's like some knowledge just appear on my memory magically... and if someone ask me ''how do you know'' I have to respond ''I just know''. There have been a couple times when I had to give a speech in public... and it was very embarrassing that I was very confident about what I was going to say, but at the moment of speaking, I couldn't make finished sentences, I couldn't find proper words to explain myself.

Most of the time I avoid talking to people in person or by phone, I prefer to talk to people by a messaging software or e-mail, because that way, I have enough time to think my words out and say exactly what I want to say.

21/09/2009 10:39:30
Jess M.

hi! I am 43yrs old. I have been finding myself saying a word, although meaning another, quite often. Not sure if I am noticing it more or has the pattern increased with time. I say train instead of plane, but realise it instantly in most cases and correct myself. But I feel strange as I sometimes say words that I dont even think are in my sub-conscience. Please advice...is this something to worry about? How can I get my thought-speech connect back?!

14/06/2010 18:16:06
shyam gupta

Hi everyone,

My name is Jo and I am 44 and dyslexic. I have an odd form of dyslexia which affects things like my 'working memory' and speech. I have great trouble remembering peples' names even though I have worked with them for a good period of time. My speech problems depends on how nervous I am at the time but usually includes swapping the correct word I want to say with one with the same or similar sound but different meaning and includes some interesting nonsense words (I have made up some quite fun new words on occassions) in friendly company this isn't a problem but in more official company or with people who are somewhat impatient or critical of others generally I can easily find myself becoming embarrased or, at worst bullied and this has affected my working environment I'm afraid.

I love to read and enjoy writing but speaking can become very difficult! I find one word or a short sentence written on numbered cue cards helps enormously if I have ever had to speak to a group, and honesty is a really good idea from the start ie tell the group that you are dyslexic and work in a different way so if anyone is not understanding what is being said please put up their hand and let me know as sometimes I do not realise that something I have said is not coming across clearly, etc. Keeping speech focused to the point is often very difficult for me as I very easily go off on tangents, good friends can be very supportive by gently letting me know that I have gone off the point and reminding me what the original conversation point was (often i have become mixed up in my own speech and gone completely blank as to the original point of the conversation !) This can obviously be highly frustrating and leave you feeling anything from banging your head against the nearest wall in shear frustration to getting nastily depressed and questioning your own sanity - its often difficult to gauge if the difficulty is getting worse ie am I getting early dementia etc? The answer to this is no doubt NO it is just that memory is needed to sense whether change is happening inthe level of difficulties over time and memory regarding dyslexia and the sometimes accompanying difficulties of speech , recall and type of memory called 'working memory' do not help to assess your own difficulties, an honest friend or partner will be able to feed back to you if they feel your difficulties are worsening.

For myself stress plays a major part in both speech and memory difficulties - even to the point of causing severe stuttering and stamering on very rare occassions. The Adult Dyslexic Association were extremely helpfull in the past with explaining to me what a Dyslexic Crisis was and I recommend all dyslexics and their pals to look into this when considering the effects and multiple variations of difficulties that dyslexia can cause. My best advice is to try to find positive people who will understand and give you time to speak will help you get back on track with your thoughts if you drift of the subject or keep pronouncing words in a weird way or saying words that you did not intend and, if you give them permission and guidance, will help you with verbally offering up the word you can't recall when you get stuck and remind you of the initial point when you stray. I know this will not help for situations like job interviews etc but on a positive note our friends and family will be the main people we communicate with and not a job interview panel. If possible manouvering into the type of work / group of colleagues who will be understanding and supportive rather than critical and patronising is a really good idea even though it may take several attempts to end up in a positive work situation. Remember always dyslexic is never ever stupid and often an added benefit to a group or situation due to a dyslexics different approach to problems and different way of thinking. Keep a list of famous dyslexics to hand - helpful when feeling particularly blue !

Go for it ! Jo McIntyre

23/06/2010 10:07:23
Jo McIntyre

reading,writing,speaking,listening,problem for dyslexia just poor point

19/01/2011 21:11:54
khaldia

hi

My name is Evie, i'm 15 years old. My problem with speech seems to have occured only in the last 5 years or so. I find it particularly difficult to speak my thoughts clearly, and end up only half finishing sentences or missing out words. I commonly switch the first letter of a phrases around, for example 'tea pot' i will say 'pea tot' this tends to happen a lot more when i am concentrating or thinking hard. I recently started to muddle up my left from my right, at first i thought it was just because i was tired and due to pressures from school, but the majority of my mock exams are over now, and it seems to be getting worse. Since a young age i have always had difficulty with my spelling and especially when under pressure, i will spell the most simple words incorrect for example 'untill' i will add an extra 'l' to the end. And when reading, i find i have to re-read texts at least 3 or 4 times in class before i can understand them and whats going on. Only now are my problems becoming noticibly worse and i am beginning to become fustrated with myself as i cant seem to controll it anymore, my speech is becoming increasingly worse, sometimes i have to repeat things several times before i say things the way i want with the right words. Is there anything i can do to reduce this and help me get better?

05/02/2011 16:15:34
Evie Hughes

i find that i often say the opposite of what i want to say. i say hot instead of cold, tall instead of short, big instead of small, dark instead of bright, etc.....

i have no idea whats going on. i find its probably more frequent when i am tired. i also can say the wrong name quite easily. anyone got any ideas? xxxx

18/03/2011 03:11:26
ROBERTO

I'm 16, almost 17 and I have great difficultly expressing my emotions in sentences. If someone comes to me and asks for advice or something, I find it so hard to properly express what I want to say, I know what I need to say, but I can't pick out certain words in the sentence that I want to use. But, if someone asks me it over the computer (IM or text) then I am able to fully express and help them to the extent I want. I also do a thing where I reply in my head, rather than speak. I'll say ''humm, yeah.'' alot but in my head, I'm having a full blowen conversation. I dont know if this is all related to speech dislexia, but I've had great difficultly expressing myself speech wise, especially since I've been a teen. Might just be me, I'm not sure! haha

31/03/2011 20:32:19
Alex

Hello my name is bronwen peoppel call me broni :D i am 13 years old me and my older sister are bothe dyslecsik i have been bullyed alot frew my life i am in year 8 at the moment i am going in to year 9 soon but i cant rember things i revise them go over and over thenm but they nevver go in and i always have bad results :/

i want to no how i can or could keep these in side y hed rather then out so i acshally will get some where in life cuz i really dont wanna end up as a bin lady :/

23/05/2011 21:35:07
bronwen

I am 34 years old. I was diagnosed having dislexia when I was in grade school. Now that I'm no longer in grade school and raising my own children I am noticing a lot of dislexic symptoms more and more often. More so then I noticed in school. I can't speak clearly, I say thing backwards or just the opposite of what I'm meaning. Will this ever go away? Will it ever get better?

21/06/2011 20:57:59
Brandie

What about President George W. Bush? He often misspoke. I have the same difficulty. Often calling people by a name that starts the same,etc. I often don't realize the mistake, but my husband always does. It's not just getting older ( I'm 60) I have noticed this all my life. I am a Reading teacher so this is doubly embarrassing for me.

13/08/2011 16:16:47
Janet

It has been so enlightening to read this for me. I have since I remembered swopped words, make up new words like fush instead of soup, shelders instead of wind shield wipers and good albarn habarn instead of Good Will Hunting. I often can't find the right word. I read a lot and can write really easily, just finished a Master degree where I needed to write a lot. I can even speak publicly, I suppose because I'm quite the extrovert. This hasn't caused a major problem when it comes to profession or school but some days it seems I can not get a whole sentence out correctly. I'm real hoot in my family and amongst friends but I have always thought this to be very strange and is this can be quite annoying and amusing. Is this speech dyslexia? I ask as I have been reading a lot about dyslexia and I can not find myself in the descriptions but I wonder if I have mild form. Does anyone have a clue? or can tell how I can find out?

Thanks a lot Kristin

14/08/2011 22:46:47
Kristin

this is so cool! I thought these problems were only in my world but my support worker said to research this and it just feels so good to know that it is an actual problem and that i'm not completely broken!!! my problems are not always related to stress, and not only to speech as i find it really hard to understand when people are speakingtome i only pick out parts of the conversation andunless i take notes i usually have a very distorted understandingof what has been said. I spent most of my time isolated as I thought that i just spoke a different language or that everyone was just messing with my head!!! could anyone give meinformation about any therapy that they know of or ways of dealing with this problemor even howtoget a therapist toconsider this

14/09/2011 17:00:48
seth

I'm 46 and have speech dyslexia. I've had it since I was a kid. I can read and write just fine, but occasionally the syllables of my words will get reversed. For example, I have peech sylxdexia. I will swap the letters of wo tirds. This is only when I speak and does increase if I am pressured to speak quickly or I'll get a mental block if I feel intimidated and will have difficulty finding the right word. I am a pastor of a church and preach three times a week. I use notes part of the time, but can also go impromptu. Usually once a week, at least a couple words will get garbled and I'll have to straighten them out. I hope this helps someone. You're not alone.

26/09/2011 09:04:17
Greg Leonard

all these posts - suggest APD auditory processing disorder - dont they ?

03/10/2011 22:20:28
Ali

I have what seems to be the same issue. I know what I want to say but can never really get it out (from my thoughts to my lips). I'm 34 y/o male with engineering degree. Math, logic, and engineering has always seemed natural to me. I can get on with text and email OK. But when speaking to people it is at a point where it is almost ''hard work'' and i just want to avoid social interaction at all. This is proving difficult in a society where working in groups and social interaction on the job is key.

26/11/2011 05:05:29
F!yingf0rk

Auditory processing disorder , thank you for some insight ali. I too am feeling stressed by these types of problems. My friends find it odd that I can type a blazing 115 words per minute, I can speed read entire 800 page books in part of a day, and I'm great at science and math... but I sound almost comically unintelligent or challenged when speaking. Probably more so than what these people are describing. It's very exasperating and I wish I could just spit out the words the way I can type them. It's like the second I begin to speak the wrong words constantly come out, or my train of thought just stops. It feels like my brain is shorting even around family I live with and speak to every day... and it absolutely does not happen when typing... not one bit.

28/11/2011 18:49:49
Bry

I'm another of these for whom dyslexia is mostly about audio processing. I can read like a scanner, always could, though I've always struggled with sums and writing, but it's the spoken word that gives me trouble. When I was young my parents had my hearing tested, but I could hear just fine, only sometimes the words didn't make sense. And I used to start a sentence over and over because it wasn't coming out right.

All this was a real handicap, not just practically but to my self-respect, because I didn't have any reason for it except I must be stupid. (Even though I got a science degree and write books and design jewellery and run my own business...) I grew up feeling there was something everyone understood but me, and I had to fake it so they wouldn't know I didn't understand.

And then one day a therapist said ''Are you dyslexic?'' and a big light went on in my head and things made sense.

Jess M, I think I know what you mean about thinking. I feel as if ''me'' is the bit that thinks in words, but all the really clever thinking is done somewhere I can't see by another bit that thinks in pictures. I ask a question, and the answer comes back as an image or a string of images, and I have no idea where it came from.

Evie, I wonder if the famous Doctor Spooner was audio dyslexic?

05/01/2012 22:33:07
Runesmith