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I went to school with a good vocabulary for a 5 year old.
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At 7 years old, I spoke with good vocabulary, but could not read or write despite having spent 2 years at school. I couldn't concentrate, play sport, do mental arithmetic.
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At 9 years old, I had extra lessons for reading, but they were not designed for sufferers of Dyslexia. The lessons had little effect.
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At 11 years old, when I moved into secondary school education my reading age was 4 years behind my chronological age. In other words I read like a very slow hesitant 7 year old. My hands and shoulders often used to ache and were sometimes very painful due to my struggle with the mechanics of writing.
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At 13 years old, the remedial English Department admitted there was nothing more they could do for me despite the fact that my reading and spelling ages were still being 4 years behind my chronological age. At my request/instance I returned to the mainstream English class. Although I had been learning French for two years I was unable to speak, write or understand any French.
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At 16 years old, I took my GCSE's with a reading and spelling age of a 12 year old. By this time I had no self esteem and was very disillusioned about life. I could not comprehend how anyone as useless as myself could ever make any meaningful contribution to life.
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Having achieved passes in 6 subjects I went to do an Apprenticeship in Electronic Engineering. Where after about a year I suddenly started to excel and at the end of the second year achieved the highest marks on my part-time NC course (NC = National Certificate).
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At 20 years old, I attained an HNC in Electronic Engineering with distinctions in every subject; my average mark was about 92% (HNC = Higher National Certificate). So I went to university but had to come home after a couple of months - my poor reading and comprehension of the English language caused to fall a long way behind.
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At 23 years old, I returned to university but was defeated after the first year by my dyslexia, or to be more precise, by the tiredness caused by having to work so hard at the trivial tasks such as reading and writing. I completed the first year on-line for a first having done no background reading and without reading the notes I took in lectures until reading them once for my exam revision (In one exam I was awarded 100%!).
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For 4 years I enjoyed myself in an IT department of a large multi-national company doing Web & database design. With much help from family, friends and especially my computer I was able to read and write to a reasonable standard (although I cannot read faster than a I speak).
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I did eventually return to full-time education to study for a Masters Degree in Physics. There was no doubt that my inability to read for long periods, use the library and write quickly were disadvantages. (In many ways I was more disadvantaged in an education environment than I was while working as a Systems Analyst). However my ability to intuitively and creatively solve problems and understand complex concepts was advantageous.
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Having gained a First Class Masters Degree in 'Physics with Cosmology' I was offered the opportunity to stay on at the university and do a PhD... and that is what I am doing at the moment!
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