I believe there is more than one type (or cause) of dyslexia. I my case I have difficulty with phonic sounds. I can hear words clearly and I can speak orally with no problem whatsoever. But I cannot identify individual phonemes without great work and practice.
There are two theories that would fit my type of dyslexia. One is that the fast auditory path is not available to me and I must rely on the slow path. As phonemes are of very short duration I do not hear them clearly, but only hear the combinations of several phonemes. The other theory is that there is a lack of connectivity in a particular part of the auditory system and its connection with visual symbols. It is the connection across the brain's midline that is probably at fault.
Although the literature seems to treat these as two separate theories among many, I tend to think in my case they are related. The way I overcame my inability to read and spell was (1) a kind teacher took my though 6 years of previous readers and spellers in my 7th year in school. He used phonetics (which was not used in my first years) and much practice. (2) I spent time learning the words I needed for exams - about equal to the time I took to learn the subject (3) I started learning the history of words as clues to remembering how they were spelt (4) my husband taught me to read in the Russian alphabet to learn sound-visual paris without hang ups with English spelling (5) I did cryptic crosswords and (6) I wrote and wrote and read and read. It felt from the inside like I was forcing a path around a barrier.
I still have problems and other symptoms of the conditions: not distinguishing between clockwise and counterclockwise, not hearing the sutile sounds of foreign languages and other English accents, occasionally a lag between knowing that something was said and hearing it, etc.
I should mention that I was never diagnosed because I am old enough that it was not a named condition when I was growing up. I believe it is inherited as I have relatives with similar problems who have been diagnosed, being young than me. I am left-handed and female. I believe that the stats show that is is rarer in females, but more common in lefties.
I hope this is the sort of information that you want. If you want something more scholarly, please visit my site http://janetsplace.charbonniers.org where there is information under the health pages on dyslexia.
We have recently obtained evidence that a number of people, some with quite interesting backgrounds and areas of expertise, find LessWrong an interesting read but find limited opportunities to contribute.
This post is an invitation to engage, in relative safety but just a little beyond saying "Hi, I'm a lurker". Even that little is appreciated, to be sure, and it's OK for anyone who feels the slightest bit intimidated to remain on the sidelines. However, I'm confident that most readers will find it quite easy to answer at least the first of the following questions:
...and possibly these follow-ups:
Comments like the following, from the "Attention Lurkers" thread, suggest untapped resources:
My own area of professional expertise is computer programming - perhaps one of the common sub-populations here. I'm also a parent, and have been a beneficiary of prenatal diagnosis (toxoplasmosis: turned out not to be a big deal, but it might have been). My curiosity is often engaged by what goes on "behind the scenes" of the professions I interact with as an ordinary citizen.
Yes, I would be quite interested in striking up a conversation about applying the tools discussed here to prenatal diagnosis; or in a conversation about which conceptual tools that I don't know about yet turn out to be useful in dealing with the epistemic or ethical issues in prenatal diagnosis.
Metaphorically, the intent of this post is to provide a marketplace. We already have the "Where are we?" thread, which makes it easier for LessWrongers close to each other to meet up if they want to. ("Welcome to LessWrong" is the place to collect biographical information, but it specifically emphasizes the "rationalist" side of people, rather than their professional knowledge.)
In a similar spirit, please post a comment here offering (or requesting) domain-specific insights. My hunch is, we'll find that even those of us in professions that don't seem related to the topics covered here have more to contribute than they think; my hope is that this comment thread will be a valuable resource in the future.
A secondary intent of this post is to provide newcomers and lurkers with one more place where contributing can be expected to be safe from karma penalties - simply answer one of the questions that probably comes up most often when meeting strangers: "What do you do?". :)
(P.S. If you've read this far and are disappointed with the absence of any jokes about "yet another fundamental question", thank you for your attention, and please accept this apophasis as a consolation gift.)