Do I Have Dyslexia?

I guess anybody who knows me would say "are you kidding?" I read books all the time, did OK in school, etc.

Nonetheless I wonder if I have a type of it that is minor in effect. Looked dyslexia up and can't find a description that matches what I deal with. I'd like to get through my books faster and read more books. Recently I got a little jealous listening to someone talk about how many books he reads in a year - he absolutely dwarfs me but claims to not be a speed-reader.*

Now, I have to figure mostly this is the amount of time he devotes to reading compared to me.

But here it is: my dyslexia symptom goes like this: after reading a page or two, I suddenly realize I have not been listening! I'm not talking about skimming instead of reading, I mean I will read and 'hear' myself go through the words, each word too, but my mind somehow is somewhere else. I create a drone of words, sort of like someone talking in the next room that I have been able to "tune out" - however, to my irritation, this is totally involuntary and unwanted. It is not really affected by the degree of interest I have in the book - perhaps just slightly. So, if I really want to know what was in a couple of paragraphs or a couple of pages when this happens, I have to go back and read again. You can imagine how this slows me down. It is guaranteed to happen every time I read.

The re-reading will absolutely be like reading it for the first time. Does anyone else have this problem?

*the speed reading thing mystifies me but perhaps that is for another thread

I won't say all the time, but certainly often enough that it's common. Sometimes I'm thinking of what I just read while my eyes continue on without my brain; I'm still "reading" it, but like an oral lesson, I'm momentarily disengaged. Sometimes it's the same but I'm thinking of something else entirely, again, a lot like daydreaming during a lecture.

Can't say I've ever found a reason other than a general level of focus, focus which isn't entirely within my control. Sometimes I'm just "on", focus like a laser. Sometimes I'm as scattered as a sawed off. Neither phase is really under my control, it just happens.

As far as I know, I have no learning disabilities. Reckon what you're experiencing is completely typical.

Quote: odiousgambit

after reading a page or two, I suddenly realize I have not been listening!

I think that is a very common problem and not dyslexia related. It happens to me too, which is a major reason I don't reach much. My mind simply races faster than I can read and it seems to need to switch lanes because the book isn't stimulating enough. However, I don't realize it and sit there with a face in a book.

Sometimes I get all my regular daydreaming in while reading.

I'm sure there is some sort of TEDx talk about how to focus. Maybe when I stop getting distracted I'll look around.

I second it here, not dyslexia. There is what we called "cashier dyslexia" or just tired eyes dyslexia, but that is something you usually catch yourself doing and almost always with numbers not letters.

As to "not hearing yourself" I think it happens to us all. But here is a weird thing. I have to read sometimes hundreds of pages to find the lease or well I am looking for. It is not at all anything to hold your mind, I will look for say a recording of 1000/1024. I have to find if that number is anywhere. Hundreds of pages.

What happens is you are looking and looking, then you wonder if you are paying attention. But then it is as if there is some background app in your mind working in the background and you notice it.

I also think it's a matter of focus. If you have anything else on your mind than the book you're reading, your mind (eyes and "forebrain") will go through the mechanics of reading, but it won't absorb into your deeper recesses of comprehension.

Have you ever tried using a short ruler to track your progress down the page? You might find that it focuses your reading to use a physical prompt. It's also a tool for speed-reading, which at its base just has you taking in keywords only and skipping the word-by-word intake that becomes numbing.

Odious, I want to respond to your post but I don't remember what it said.

Get a pane of purple plastic and read thru it for awhile. Problem should disappear.

OG, what you have is a shortened attention span. You caught it from me in North Carolina. Wasn't sure it was contagious....

it's good to know it's common - wow does it slow me down