Posted By Chris Abbott Not sure if this helps - I'm dyslexic and I carry out assessments for all staff. The assessments I use are a simple list of questions with a yes no answer. If I get a no in a box I'm expecting a yes in, then I look at that specific case. I have not found any assessments yet that have needed to be different because the person suffers with dyslexia - but you may need to explain the question you're asking in a little more detail, depending on the severity of the condition. My dyslexia affects my ability to spell correctly and retain information and my ability to do complicated calculations without the use of calculator etc - I'm number blind too, so I am unable to add numbers together quickly etc.. (No good at darts then!) Best, Chris

Posted By Chris Abbott It's NOT catching...? Damn.. there goes my plan of infecting everyone!! >:}

Posted By David J Jones Craig, Not sure about pre-dicitive software, however, we have a young lady, not long started with us as a production operator, whose dyslexia is that she reads o.k. but is unable to put pen to paper effectively. When I asked of her about use of a PC at home along with its' spell-checker for "writing" (o.k - typing!) her answer gave me cause for thought - yes she uses spell-checker, and although she is able to read she is sometimes stumped for choice of which of the alternative suggested words which appear on-screen to use. I'd be interested to know more about pre-dictive software. Regards David

Posted By Chris Abbott Hi Craig, I can only comment on my own situation. Firstly, predictive software is quite good, but some of the more fundamental problems with the English language are not so easily predicted. For example - There/Their, Which/Witch, To/Too, Farther/father, your/you're etc I struggle all the time, and use MS-Word or MS-Outlook to type (even this message) and use spell checker. There is training you can do (which I've done) that helps you to recognise the variations in words, and the repetitive words that are constantly miss spelt. Adult education classes helped me to the extent that I write policy documentation now (still have to have it checked you understand, but I'm confident to try it!) Funny thing is... I'm learning French at the moment (hard because most of the time I leave the class-room and forget what I've learnt) but although I may struggle with the pronunciation, I can write the words very well, with a high accuracy! Strange how these things work out! Chris

Posted By Bill Elliott Both my children, now 18 & 21, have dyslexia as does my wife and as a result have had some experience of trying to get over soem of the difficulties dyslexia presents. I have to say I am not a fan of spell check, as others have indicated, too many options are given,and if you have difficulty spelling being given a large choice is not helpful! Nor either is predictive text for similar reasons. However there are things that can be done to make life easier, such as changing the background colour of the DSE screen. Very often black on white is worse for some dyslexics, pastel colours make it a lot easier for some - try it! What is very important though is the individual. Low self esteem is very often associated with some forms of dyslexia in all its variances. A sympathetic ear to the extent of the individuals difficulties is often all that may be necessary. Just how important is it anyway, that EVERY word is spelt right.

Posted By Chris Abbott Nice one Craig! And I agree with the previous poster - changing background colours do indeed make a difference. Also, yellow tinted glasses help when reading large documents. Chris

Posted By Chris Abbott It's true that voice activated writing software has improved dramatically over the past few years, and I think that would be a great advantage for those of us, who can't spell words - although my dyslexia is more prone to getting small easy words spelt incorrectly, and larger words spelt okay. A lot of the time I get my letter confused when typing, so I almost get there, and the spell checker helps me sort them out. One of the tings I did was put into MS-Word the words I commonly get the wrogn <--- way round and words such as Erganomike (Ergonomic) into the "auto-check" function, thus allowing the system to change these words automatically when I type them. If I'm trying to write something by hand, I tend to replace words I can't spell with words I can - but that makes it harder for me to write what I'm thinking. I hear that teachers still tell you to spell the word as it sounds.... "enuff ov that rubish alredee" :) Chris