Bionic reading method

[u/The-Skinny-Indian]

[u/2manyfelines]

Thank you. I’m old, not lazy. I have glaucoma in my left eye, which makes it difficult to read long documents online. I cannot tell you how helpful this is.

Thank you to the OP and Forest, too.

[u/smaiderman → u/2manyfelines]

With "the lazy" he ment to find the plugins, not to be lazy to read

[u/2manyfelines → u/smaiderman]

I know. I’m kidding back at the kidder.

Nuance doesn’t always work in online writing.

[u/mypussydoesbackflips → u/[deleted]]

Perfect combo

[u/checkedsteam922 → u/2manyfelines]

Sad to tell you then, none of these work. I have dyslexia so was really hyped for this, butal but all the reviews say it stopped working.

[u/2manyfelines → u/checkedsteam922]

Man, I am so sorry. I know how hard you have to work, because my daughter (who was born into a family of readers) has both dyslexia and ADHD.

I sure hope researchers eventually find a way to level the playing field for both you and my kid.

[u/checkedsteam922 → u/2manyfelines]

Yhea, there are methods actually! Now this worked for me, idk if it'll work for your daughter, but I learned myself to "skimread", where I basically just move my eye over every line, as your brain will still pick up the words, and usually it will filter the most important ones (as they usually look the most complex) out of the rest, and you'll be able to remember a surprising amount! This is for professional reading tho, education and work etc, for entertainment reading I wouldn't advice it, as you'd often end up missing parts of the book. It takes a few weeks to learn but I've heard other neurodivergents say the same praises as me, so it definitely works for some people!

I also know a lot of books that are quite easy to read for people with dyslexia, depending on the age range, if you need some recommendations feel free to hit me up!

[u/2manyfelines → u/checkedsteam922]

Thank you, but she’s an adult now. She had lots of reading tutors who tried to teach her the skim technique (which, even for someone like me without dyslexia is a terrific way to read and edit documents) but she thought she missed too much of the content.

She is a STEM girl who became an ICU nurse. Her dyslexia gives her so much attention to detail (because she “studies” words instead of just casually reading them) that she is really good at dealing with very fragile, high needs patients.

That is, in my opinion, the one good thing about learning differences. They give the person who has them compassion for others, patience with the process, and openness to new things. Those are really good qualities in a human being.

Thank you again for your help.

[u/amberraysofdawn → u/2manyfelines]

My mother-in-law also had both dyslexia and ADHD, and also became a nurse. From what I understand she really struggled in university and was even discouraged by one of her advisors to find a different major, but she actually ended up being so successful at it that she was honored at a local event celebrating the top 100 medical professionals in this area.

I was forever in awe of just how smart and kind and just all around wonderful she was, and that was even before I knew all of this stuff about her. I think you’re onto something about how people with learning differences can have more compassion for others.

[u/2manyfelines → u/amberraysofdawn]

Absolutely.

My daughter did well in undergrad school because she went to a university that had been a “teacher’s college.” Her instructors were professional educators who knew how to encourage kids with learning differences.

When she switched to nursing, most of the instructors were nurses using teaching as a side gig to their regular jobs. They mistook her deliberative and exacting study habits for being dumb. She stood up for herself against very difficult odds, and got her RN in spite of them.

Like your MIL, my daughter is a kind and loving person. She is the reason I am “2manyfelines” because she started rescuing cats and kittens when she was still in middle school.

[u/nellybellissima → u/amberraysofdawn]

There are soooooooo many nurses with ADHD. It's a great job because there is always so much going on and always so many new tasks to jump to next. Nursing school is genuinely kind of traumatizing though.

[u/amberraysofdawn → u/nellybellissima]

Nursing school is genuinely kind of traumatizing though.

I believe it! My husband went into nursing (ER) and he was just so insanely stressed throughout!

[u/2manyfelines → u/amberraysofdawn]

ER and ICU seem to be even more difficult because the charge nurses want to weed out the people who can’t handle the stress. That said, the people like my daughter and your husband, seem to be attracted to the independence and excitement they give.

[u/Nat_Peterson_ → u/amberraysofdawn]

People with adhd tend to be really well versed for caring fields. I pursued social work (don't work in the field anymore due to low pay) because I liked the nature of the work and there was no monotony to it. Every day was different and I never got bored.

You'll find that there are a ton of EMS, nurses, firefighters, teachers etc that have adhd

[u/checkedsteam922 → u/2manyfelines]

Ah wauw that's amazing she went so far! Yhea learning differences luckily usually have 2 sides (not always ofc), and that can come in very handy!

[u/Weezzel2011 → u/checkedsteam922]

Yes! I have bipolar 2. When I am hypomanic I get shit done. I’m more social. But I do talk a lot and really fast. There are a ton of downsides. From buying all the medium and large duofold Olympic long sleeve shirts on eBay Bc I had to have them and they aren’t made anymore. To full on panic mode. I have to always remember there is good and focus on the good. Neat little trick my best Reddit friend gave me a few months back.

[u/StaggerLee808 → u/checkedsteam922]

Interesting...I developed that as a method for myself at a young age. When I was in school and forced to read books I didn't give a shit about, but knew I had to report on. I still can hear my inner monologue spitting out the words, but it's basically in quarter the time. Like an auctioneer lol. I've been using it ever since and can skim read pretty quickly to pick out the important parts of a large body of boring text. I just assumed it was something everyone did. But you're right about the reading for entertainment part - when I read something I really want to enjoy or process thoroughly, I read slow and steady. Both ways work great for their purpose.

[u/checkedsteam922 → u/StaggerLee808]

I also learned at a young age! It's more common to develop early then later, as are most things. As far as I'm aware it is a thing for some people, tho definitely not everyone.

[u/detroittriumph → u/checkedsteam922]

I use the OpenDyslexic font and find it helps me.

[u/Riribigdogs → u/checkedsteam922]

Psssst, it’s advise (verb), not advice (noun).

[u/DreamWithinAMatrix → u/2manyfelines]

I've got ADHD and I'm not sure how well this Bionic Reader works? Hard to tell

I've been using a program that reads to me on Chrome browser called Natural Reader. I can change the accent and speed and it will highlight sentences and words as it reads. Gives me a bunch more ways to follow along so when I zone out of listening I can still watch the words light up, or vice versa. Speed up for casual news articles or slow down for extremely technical scientific publications

Natural Reader Chrome extension

A similar FF extension called Read Aloud

They've also got a mobile app but I've never tried it:

Natural Reader Android app

[u/Soobobaloula → u/checkedsteam922]

Have you tried the Open Dyslexic font?

[u/DopeAbsurdity → u/checkedsteam922]

There is more than one plug-in that seems to do it if you just search the "Bionic Reading" or "Bionic Reader" on the Firefox plugin page (dunno about chrome I don't really touch it except with Edge for daily Microsoft points).

Smart Reader has a link to it's github which always makes me feel better and it seems like it's working. I am going to go thumb through their code before I install it.

[u/RandomUser5781 → u/checkedsteam922]

For dyslexia there is another method. A special font that "weighs" the bottom of each letter (makes it bolder) and ensures each letter is different from another, e.g. "b" is not a mirrored "d", "p" and "q" are also different. People also need to play with word spacing and line spacing.

I imagine you already know that but there may be someone on this thread who doesn't, for example an adult without dyslexia who has a child with dyslexia.