Dylexia, spell check, sentances etc.

[littlewoman]

It should be noted that whilst Window based internet browsers usually have spell checks android devices do not. (I'm not sure about iPhones etc.)
A lot of phones and tablets do not have a spell check, they have predictive text which is designed to make your typing faster by giving possible words from the first few letters you type. As a spell check its very bad because once you have typed a number of letters so that it has no choices of words, it doesn't show you any. So you have no idea whether you have typed the word wrong, or its just the only option you have using the letters you have so far. To use it as a spell check you would have to type the first few letters (hoping you got them right) and then pick from the list. This causes 2 problems for dyslexics. Firstly, its not always easy to read the words and pick the right one as some words look very similar and most dyslexics' coping strategy for reading is to look at the general shape of the word and the context it is in the sentence to decipher it. Secondly, stopping typing and looking up the word all the time breaks your train of thought. As dyslexics have poor short term memory, this is very disruptive. It should also be noted that it isn't always easy for dyslexics to spot the difference between two "words" that look very similar, our brain often jumbles letters and numbers up or merges them together, so even if shown the correct spelling we often can't see the difference between that and what we have written.

The bit below should explain where to use commas and full stops. This is not my work, I found it on a dyslexia forum. Credit due to someone called Bubblewrap Princess.

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A sentence is made up of things called clauses. This sounds complicated, but they are like topics, or subjects. A simple sentence will have one clause, a complex sentence will use several. This is why you use commas in lists, as each item in the list is a separate topic, or action. Sometimes not using a comma, or putting it in the wrong place, can totally change the meaning of something as a result.

My favorite example of this is from the book 'Eats, Shoots, and Leaves', which is a book about grammar. The way the comma has been used makes it sound like someone has eaten, shot someone, and left, but it's supposed to be part of a sentence about a panda who 'eats shoots and leaves'. I can highly recommend this book if grammar is something you are struggling with.

So a simple sentence would be:

John kicked the ball.

Only one thing is happening in this sentence, but if something else happens:

John kicked the ball, sending it into the net.

You need a comma to separate the two actions/clauses.

It can be rewritten as:

John kicked the ball and sent it into the net.

Or

John kicked the ball, and sent in into the net.

Both are grammatically correct, though these days people are taught to use a comma before 'and' if you have two clauses like this. There are cases where you should avoid this as in the example with the panda's diet. If you are writing a story you can use or not use a comma here to change the tone or pace of the story.

So, where do you use a comma, and when do you need a new sentence?

A sentence includes an action or event, or several actions and events.

It rained.

Is a complete sentence.This is not a full sentence:

A lot.

Nothing is happening between the capital letter at the start, and the full stop at the end.

It rained a lot.

Or

It rained, a lot.

These work as sentences.

Where it gets tricky is where you have lots of actions taking place, or several topics. You now need to know what a dependent clause is. This is part of a sentence, that couldn't be a sentence on it's own. It's a topic or action that relys on other parts of the sentence to make sense.

John kicked the ball. Sending it into the net.

This is incorrect, because 'Sending it into the net' isn't a sentence in it's own right. You could not say this on it's own and be understood. It only makes sense as a part of something bigger. It's a separate action to the ball being kicked, though, so you separate the clauses with a comma. You can also use commas in the place of brackets, in some cases, but it's best to keep things simple for now.

 

[rhea]

Thanks for starting this LW as I was going to start a similar thread after I picked someone up on their spelling and they came back with the reply "I am dyslexic". This reply has been used by others on here and although I do empathise with the difficulties that people have that even the most advanced spell check cannot help with, especially punctuation, I feel sometimes that with the technology we have today basic mistakes can "almost" be eliminated.

Problems with words that sound the same but have different meanings such as "there and their" or "brought and bought" will always out fox basic spell checkers. However typed words that are just wrong and have no meaning or the use of a little "i" in the middle of a sentence should remain highlighted by any spell check until you press the send button.

One thing I do not understand is on all forums I use, spell check doesn't work in the title nor are you allowed to edit it?

It should be noted that whilst Window based internet browsers usually have spell checks android devices do not.

There are lots of spell checks apps for android and only involve the use of copy/paste.

 

[littlewoman]

Tell me the names of some Android spell checks then, and I'll download one.
I suspect spell checks don't work in some fields as they're thought to not normally contain real words, you wouldn't put on in a field for email address for instance. However, I would have thought it should work in a title field. You often can't edit titles due to people maliciously changing titles, putting one title until there's a few posts then changing it to a different subject. (There's some odd people out there.)

I can't really explain, why some people use no capitals or full stops at all, except to say that people with dyslexia on the worse end of the spectrum find it very hard to write so have to use more brain power on just getting the words down. This is made worse by so much of the text we read these days, not being professionally written, especially texting. So they get used to seeing things written like that and think its OK. It also seems that some teachers will just write someone off if they're dyslexic and not try to get them to write properly. Dyslexia is a disability, and it can't be cured. You can use coping strategies to help with some things, and more effort will help with others. But some things can't be overcome. However, if you are going to succeed as a dyslexic you have to accept that you have to make lots of effort to get written work right and not become a victim to your dyslexia or expect others to just accept a poor standard of writing.

For the non-dyslexics, all I can say is that we have to put a lot more effort into writing than you do, so try to understand, that whether or not someone says they're dyslexic, we need to understand that we all have our strengths and weaknesses and just because someone's written work isn't good doesn't mean they're thick or might not be good in other ways. That said, I only ask that you make some allowances, not completely ignore people's shortcomings.

 

[rhea]

Tell me the names of some Android spell checks then, and I'll download one.

You could put "spell check" into play apps. I have https://play.google.com/store/apps/...xLDEsImNvbS5hbmRyb2lkc3guY2hlY2tzcGVsbGluZyJd

I can't really explain, why some people use no capitals or full stops at all, .

I don't think I was asking you to explain that as it is not just a problem for those with dyslexia and basic spell checkers are not that reliable.

I was talking more about why some people ignore spell check when it indicates no such word exists or that a little "i" on its own is incorrect but I think you clearly answered that with the quote below that a certainly agree with and understand is not always easy.

However, if you are going to succeed as a dyslexic you have to accept that you have to make lots of effort to get written work right and not become a victim to your dyslexia or expect others to just accept a poor standard of writing.

 

[db1]

Its not just spelling and punctuation. There's when sentences how they normally should be, don't make sense, change some of the words around and it makes sense.

Plus when copying / re-typing numbers and words, the numbers and letters are in the wrong sequence however when you read them back, they seem to be in the right sequence. As in you read them as they should be even though they aren't.

Although spell check will pick up on words with letter in the wrong sequence and sometimes grammatical errors in sentences, because it already makes sense to you its sometimes hard to understand what its trying to point out to you.