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Comment by mgamache | Hacker News Reader

I am dyslexic. Recently my father reminded me as a child (1st grade) I had this crazy ability to write in mirror image with my right hand while normally with my left. By 3rd grade it was gone (I didn't practice at all). Literally you could hold it up to a mirror and read it (allowing for a child's lettering). Is this common? I've not known anyone else that could do this.

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My grandmother was left-handed in an age when they forced you to learn to write right-handedly instead. As a child she could comfortably write with both hands simultaneously, starting in the centre and working outwards, the left hand writing a mirror image.

My wife (age 37) thinks she's mildly dyslexic. What's the best and most effective way to test that? (if you happen to know)

There is no one test, especially because dyslexia co-occurs with various other neurological differences (ADD/ADHD/dyscalculia/processing disorders, etc.)

I run a startup whose technology is used as an assistive technology for people with dyslexia (and also as a speed-reading aid for non-dyslexic readers). Some reading specialists have suggested that our tool could be used as a litmus test for certain types of reading issues, including dyslexia. For some (not all) people with dyslexia, the first time trying our line-wrapping color gradients is life-changing. (For most people who use it as a speed-reading tool, it's a cool lifehack, but not a quantum leap.)

She can try it by just looking at the demo on our website. [1] Protip: we're going to launch a fully-functional, free, version of our browser plugin later this week. It will require occasional tweeting, but not a Twitter auth or any PII gathering whatsoever.

1: http://www.beelinereader.com

tried it, seemed a bit easier to read. Maybe a nice option would be to adjust background color, font size and line width. Pure black on white especial with long sentences makes it really hard for me to read. That is why most of the time I rather read form my phone than from a printed book.

Thanks for the feedback! We do offer all of these features in our browser plugin. Background color has been configurable since the beginning, and we added the layout and sizing options last month!

The “test” I did (from what I remember it was over 20 years ago) consists of testing just about everything, general knowledge, 3D persecution, maths, verbal reasoning, English etc then aligning all those scores against the national standard and pointing to a marked difference everywhere written English was involved sort of thing.

Also dyslexic and also used to mirror write perfectly, but without knowing I was doing it. Was in the late 70s, prior to dyslexia being widely understood and my teachers had no idea what to do.

me too (~1976) they knew it was something that was not stupid or lazy, but had no clue what was going on. However, most teachers treated me like I was a retard -- Yes ,I am using that word on purpose as it was used for me.

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