I also have trouble with writing. I have great thoughts in my head, but it is so hard to get them on paper. I struggle to answer essay questions and writing reports is very painful. I usually just put down as little as possible, just to get it done. I know this will not get me good grades, but it was way too frustrating. Actually, I am telling my mom my thoughts now and she is typing my blog for me. Last summer, I tried the Dragon Speaking program. It is voice activated software that turned out to be the perfect answer for me. It took a while to set it up to recognize my voice and it is still not perfect, but what a difference it has made in my writing. I handed in a report to my teacher that I did using this program. She could not believe that I did it. I had written 5 paragraphs, which was the longest story in my class. It still had alot of grammar and punctuation errors, because that is very hard for me to do also. My school was so supportive and actually looked into me using the program to take the writing part of my state tests. It didn't work out last year, but it is possible that I could use it this year. The chance to actually do well on the state tests did not seem possible. I would recommend this program, or one like it to anyone that has trouble writing down their ideas. It lets you be who you really are. I am still not close to considering a job as a writer, but I don't dread writing assignments any more.

I have known I have dyslexia since I was 6 year old. My parents always told me that I was lucky, because I was in a great crowd with Albert Einstein and Walt Disney who both had dyslexia. When I was small, I would get taken out of my class for help with reading, but I didn't care because alot of kids left the room for special help. I learned to read using the Stephenson program with a private tutor. My parents thought I was going to be fine after I finished. I can't spell, so I would memorize all of my words for tests and the words I knew for reading. I never told anyone, because I thought that was what you were supposed to do. As I got older, it got harder to keep up, but I just kept trying. Sometimes it was really hard, but I was always able to figure out what the story was about. Last November, my parents wanted to make sure everything was still good for me and had me privately tested for two very long days. The results came back - I couldn't read. The therapist figured me out. She tested me on nonsense words and I had no clue. Now I am using the Wilson program in school. I did it for three months before school ended. I know it is working, because I sounded out a word for the first time in my life.