Hang Me at the Hangout

[Aaron Dazer]

Ok I’m on of those who, pops in a few weeks, pop out a few months, types when it comes to writing. My main discouragement, why I don’t do it continually isn’t for lack of ideas. It’s a Spelling thing. I type over 500 words and hit F7 on my computer and it locks up (F7 is spell check in Ms-Word).

Example how bad I am. I spelled month wrong. Anyway moving on I’ve asked for advice on this before and the responses I’ve gotten are practice practice (OMG got that right on first time). I’m by no means an uneducated person nor unintelligent. I’ve struggled with this sense I was in grade school. I run across the occasional person who has the same problem average or above average intelligence but a serious contempt for language and spelling. I’m wondering if there is anyone out there who has had this problem into his or her adult life and fixed it. Or anyone with a Masters in English and psychology, that can steer me in the direction of being the first too.

I’ll be regretting it but, Yes, I’m accepting suggestions from the peanut gallery.

 

[Just-Legal]

Serious question: Have you been tested for dyslexia? I have dyspraxia, the numerical equivalent, and it was a bugger trying to sort numbers out until someone twigged what was wrong

 

[GingerV]

Just-Legal beat me to it....

I'm dyslexic. Not horribly so, but enough that I've been taking heat for my spelling for too many years to want to remember. Didn't get diagnosed until college, and then it all made more sense. I wasn't lazy, it's just that all these letters and little rules didn't make sense to me...so out of self defense I stopped even pretending to care about them. But even if it fits you, diagnosis doesn't solve the problem, just redefines what you're trying to do.

Still, I have to admit, not beating my head against the same wall all the time sure does feel better.

One silly question...do you touch type, or hunt and peck. Cause from what I've experienced, dyslexia makes visual or verbal spelling tougher....but the motor memories aren't touched. That is, I spell better when I type. Sometimes my word substitutions are interesting, and it doesn't help me when I'm editing. But I definately have more right guesses when I'm not THINKING about how to spell a word. Kind of like a stuttering singing, if you follow.

Anyway, something to think about. I'm around if you've got questions.

G

 

[pop_54]

Ok I’m on of those who, pops in a few weeks, pop out a few months, types when it comes to writing. My main discouragement, why I don’t do it continually isn’t for lack of ideas. It’s a Spelling thing. I type over 500 words and hit F7 on my computer and it locks up (F7 is spell check in Ms-Word).

Example how bad I am. I spelled month wrong. Anyway moving on I’ve asked for advice on this before and the responses I’ve gotten are practice practice (OMG got that right on first time). I’m by no means an uneducated person nor unintelligent. I’ve struggled with this sense I was in grade school. I run across the occasional person who has the same problem average or above average intelligence but a serious contempt for language and spelling. I’m wondering if there is anyone out there who has had this problem into his or her adult life and fixed it. Or anyone with a Masters in English and psychology, that can steer me in the direction of being the first too.

I’ll be regretting it but, Yes, I’m accepting suggestions from the peanut gallery.

I don't have problems with spelling normally... what I do have is big fingers and two button typo's are my bug... Like most people I have bad days when my brain locks up and I can't for the life of me remember how to spell a certain word or three... I rarely use Word, Spell / Grammar, on auto... But if this would help do it... it's bloody annoying all those red and green squiggly lines appearing all the time, but it does allow you to correct as you go along.

I suffered with Dyslexia as a kid and it might be a little mild Dyslexia in your case... with my variety of Dyslexia I couldn't string a sentence together while reading, but had little problem writing things down as long as I concentrated... trouble was I couldn't read what to write down This was 1950's England, I was branded a moron because they didn't recognise Dyslexia as a genuine complaint back then... I got over it with the help of an uncle God Rest His Soul... although I still have to concentrate hard sometimes even now.

 

[Aaron Dazer]

Nope not

I've tested and no I’m not. The Issue is more of a Language thing. and what rules? I don't know of any rules.

As far as typing i can type 50 words a minute Transcribing. When I’m typing out of my own head it goes more like 5 10. I’ve been known to hang up on a word for a few minutes looking It up. I’ve mastered samemeaning(I can’t spell that dam word) words that I can spell to use a Thesaurus to get the one I can’t spell but want to use.

to add some info. I never rember names and can't pronouse any of them if it's a new name. I have to hear it many times to get it right.

 

[Weird Harold]

Ok I’m on of those who, pops in a few weeks, pop out a few months, types when it comes to writing. My main discouragement, why I don’t do it continually isn’t for lack of ideas. It’s a Spelling thing.

My head knows how to spell just about anything -- it's my fingers that are stupid. That's why I don't do chat-rooms or IM. Trying to type something in real-time with little or no time to review it for typos is more stress than I need in my life.

I don't worry a great deal about perfect spelling in a casual setting like this forum -- usually if it looks right when I review it, I'll let it go. I only worry about spelling when a typo changes the meaning of what I wanted to say.

The best cure for spelling difficulties is reading -- preferably things where you are reasonable certain that the spelling is generally correct. The more you read, the more your own spelling and grammatical errors will stand out like a bloody thumb when you review your posts for typos and spelling.

One thing that helped my spelling and vocabulary was Readers' Digest -- "Increasing Your Word Power" and "Toward More Picaresque Speech" in particular. Often those features included words that were "trick questions" because the spelling was close to a word that meant something radically different from the right answer. It really helped me to understand the importance of proper spelling on a practical level.

The Issue is more of a Language thing. and what rules? I don't know of any rules.

You can absorb most of the rules by osmosis through reading but if you WANT the specifics, there are several good sites and good books available on the Rules of Grammar. Most universities host a "writing lab" or "online writing center" with a wealth of fairly quick access to any esoteric point of grammar that you might need.

 

[Guest]

Aaron, I have a mild form of dylexia. When I read words are sometimes jumbled, when I write by hand it's worse. I thought with a keyboard for a stylus and a sceen for my tablet it would be different. I was wrong. I don't understand it all but suffice it to say that even with all the years I've been typing my speed and skills have improved very little. It is simply because I have to concentrate on each letter I type or I end up with a page of gibberish. You see my mind mixes up the letters and while I can hit the key much faster than I do, it's unreadable unless I type a few words carefully, then double check what I just typed.

You mentioned you spelled month wrong. I have doubts that you don't know the proper spelling. It's a matter of getting it from thought to page that has you tied up.

It's not a rare thing from what I have been told and there is help. Have yourself checked again for dyslexia. It may be why you have trouble spelling.

 

[yui]

Ok I’m on of those who, pops in a few weeks, pop out a few months, types when it comes to writing. My main discouragement, why I don’t do it continually isn’t for lack of ideas. It’s a Spelling thing. I type over 500 words and hit F7 on my computer and it locks up (F7 is spell check in Ms-Word).

Example how bad I am. I spelled month wrong. Anyway moving on I’ve asked for advice on this before and the responses I’ve gotten are practice practice (OMG got that right on first time). I’m by no means an uneducated person nor unintelligent. I’ve struggled with this sense I was in grade school. I run across the occasional person who has the same problem average or above average intelligence but a serious contempt for language and spelling. I’m wondering if there is anyone out there who has had this problem into his or her adult life and fixed it. Or anyone with a Masters in English and psychology, that can steer me in the direction of being the first too.

I’ll be regretting it but, Yes, I’m accepting suggestions from the peanut gallery.

Hello Aaron Dazer,

You have my sympathy and my complete understanding. I suck at spelling. I am not dumb. I am not dyslexic. I simply suck at spelling.

Vindication - I recently spoke with an elementary educator who teaches grade two. The second grade is when many kids begin successfully putting letters/words/spelling/reading all together. So saying, I know that some people are going to jump in here and say they began reading Shakespeare's "Hamlet" at age 18 months, but I am using second grade as the year when many children move from sight recognition of a word to true reading. This teacher had recently been to an education conference, and basically, a conclusion has been reached that the ability to spell has very little to do with intelligence. Some people just "have it" when it comes to spelling and some people don't. I, like you, am one of those who don't "have it".

I am reasonably intelligent, however; I can not consistently spell "intelligent".

Spell-checking my little misspelled heart out,

Yui ^_^

 

[cantdog]

I won spelling bees, but I know how I did it. It's entirely visual memory. I recognize words by their faces.

If I see or write a misspelled word I can see it's wrong. It doesn't match the visual I have stored for it in memory. In bees, I called up the word and read it off.

Therefore it would apparently be a learnable skill, approached with memory enhancing, the way people learn to keep farleyfiles in their heads. But the world is vast, and so is the English language. There are many hundreds of thousands of faces to learn. I can't keep fact files of people's spouses' names and children's names and jobs and whatnot in my head the way many successful people do; I wasted the gift on spelling. I would work on memory for this, myself. It probably bypasses, like the singing stutterer, the language protocols in the brain, too.


cantdog

 

[OldnotDead]

Hi,

It definitely is not linked to intelligence. My father was an outstanding typist, could do 70+ wpm on a manual typewriter. sometimes broke 100 on an electric. could win competitions where the transcript was copied, but if he had to type from dictation, he lost out on spelling. the only game my mother could beat him at was scrabble because she would catch his misspellings.

He may have had an undiagnosed condition. But he worked at it and told me that he actually got better as he got older.

There IS a memory component to it and drills and flash cards may help. If you want to start, there are lists of 100 most common misspelled words and you could use that to see if some drills help you overcome some of the more common ones.

 

[Aaron Dazer]

Thanks

Thanks for the insight. A few things rang true in what all of you have said. Except the expression of what's in my head to paper. What i'm thinking comes right out correctly. Yes i do the occasional Typo but mostly it's what I’m saying in my head. The fact that your saying 2nd grade is a big part of the development makes a bit of sense. 1 - 3rd grade for me was a hard time, parents got divorced then and I changed about 5 schools in those 3 years. Maybe I missed something. It’s a lot of the basic sight words I do have issues with. I read a fair amount (have my sprits much like my writing.) I am a bit right brained as well. Maybe i should listen to what Nike said. "just do it."