Ask HN: How can I improve my reading comprehension as a person who has dyslexia? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How can I improve my reading comprehension as a person who has dyslexia?

12 pointsL0in9 comments

A little context to come along with my question.

Since i graduated Greek high school i started reading books. I started wanting and needing to learn and read books. I discovered that history is not just a meaningless course that tortures you with details of the past: names, dates, locations, who f* who, who killed who etc. I discovered the beauty of books and more precises the beauty of words and the meaning behind them.

As a person who has dyslexia school didn't provide me anything other than loathing for the subjects that i truly admire right now. It taught me how to fear learning and not how to learn. That fear, to this day, is still here with me. For instance, right now i want to study for my Digital Design course but every time i think about it my body fills with fear and then i'm searching for something else to procrastinate on (like writing this ASK HN thread).

A while ago, made the decision that, whatever i do with my life, i want learning, reading books and writing to be a fundamental part of my life, of my identity. I can't think how my life would be without them. Like it used to be. I lament about the fact that i lost so many years not reading and learning, instead i've developing social media addiction and crippling fear of even trying anything i want.

I think it really boils down to what works best for you. If you have really bad dyslexia, picking a different font might help when it comes to line tracking. http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/sites/default/files/good_fonts...

One of the hardest things about getting back into reading for me was maintaining my attention. Instant gratification and small dopamine hits from years of youtube and Reddit had burnt my attention span. My solution was to minimize distractions, build a habit, and read something I found interesting. For me, I was recommended the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. I had a slow start. I found book 1 interesting, but felt like I had to force myself to continue for the first ~100 or so pages. It eventually got easier, and I built a ritual.

Listening to music works for me. I now have time set aside before I go to bed, where I use an old iPod and have a cup of tea while reading (with my phone out of reach). This summer I was able to get through “Words of Radiance”, a book from another one of his series, in a week (1000pgs). This took me about 3 years, but I would say it is worth it. The level of satisfaction from finishing a longer story is so much more then the little dopamine hits of a 10 minute YouTube video.

I know the recommendation of “you just have to do it” isn’t that helpful, but it’s the only thing that has really worked for me. The best advice I can give you, is to find the right book for you. I find nonfiction boring, so I avoid it. Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson is a collection of short stories that might be a good intro if you like fiction.

I would characterize my dyslexia as mild, if we see it through a spectrum, from mild to severe. I understand exactly what you are describing on the attention issues. I'm from the generation that grew up with Social media, primarily Facebook and reddit. For instance, i use facebook on and off since the end of primary school. That's a long time and a lot of brain damage.

Over the last two years i got very tired of the modern internet and i decided to use it as a some kind of library with social functions. I struggle to dump facebook over the last two years and i tried various ways. Currently i installed a extension (stayfocusd with the nuclear option enabled) which blocks the access to websites from a defined list. It's the only extension that i haven't find a way to bypass it (yet).

The only useful feature of facebook for me is the event tab, and that because everyone uses it. If it haven't been for it i would deleted the account years ago.

I'm slowing starting to realize how much time i wasted not reading and learning and instead using addicted some SM website. I've been left feeling horrified and wondering how different would my life had been if i was occupied with different stuff during my teenager years. Studying programming or reading literature and let it influence me. But that's a totally different discussion.

You are not alone with then attention issues, all my friends and myself have been or are currently in the same situation. It's easy to get lost and scroll for hours. Longer form content feels like too much of a commitment, but you waste the same amount of time anyways. I would tell myself I cannot waste time on a (probably good) movie, but then watch YouTube for three hours. The time commitment is low, and I was still able to receive enough satisfaction to keep me there, but would leave feeling like my time was wasted.

Waning off was hard. For Reddit/FB/Insta I found the best method was to uninstalling the app and logout online. On iphone you can set time limits of usage, which really helped me. I think I set each to 10 minutes per day. When I decide to watch a movie, I make that the only thing I am doing. No phone. If it becomes boring, I'm willing to watch something else.

Its been easy for me to regress and watch way too much Youtube. I'll occasionally be struck with the thought of "I don't care about this, why am I watching this?". Removing recommendations and comments has helped me (there are extensions, or the select tool in ublock). Building the skill and self control to walk away has been hard, but is what I would consider the goal. I've spent months not going on youtube, but will come back and spend hours

> I've been left feeling horrified and wondering how different would my life had been if i was occupied with different stuff during my teenager years

I think it is great to be self aware of things like this, but try not too get too caught up in the "what if" type train of thought. Its good and healthy to reflect and see how you can do better, but can also be a dangerous way to fall into a rut of self pity.

If you want to chat more over email/signal/matrix, I would be more than happy too. It looks like you are slightly younger then me. I just graduated college.

> If you want to chat more over email/signal/matrix, I would be more than happy too. It looks like you are slightly younger then me. I just graduated college.

Sure! I would liked to.

Shoot me an email hello {at) wesring d0t com

Reading outdoors may help. https://scitechdaily.com/scientific-research-uncovers-benefi... Reading aloud perhaps? https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320377 Perhaps even one of these methods. https://nesslabs.com/improve-memory

If you’re not aware already, there is a font face that is designed to aid people with dyslexia. I’m not dyslexic myself, but this font helps me read ebooks substantially.

https://opendyslexic.org/

Today in HN there's this item which may be helpful titled `Reading Better'. https://fs.blog/reading/

I've changed to audiobooks and text to speech. It's change my learning ability. I no longer have to fight my way through books.

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