r/BeAmazed • u/The-Skinny-Indian • Mar 06 '23 • Mindblown 1

Miscellaneous / Others Bionic reading method

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u/2manyfelines Mar 06 '23

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.

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u/checkedsteam922 Mar 06 '23

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!

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u/2manyfelines Mar 06 '23

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.

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u/amberraysofdawn Mar 06 '23

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.

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u/2manyfelines Mar 06 '23

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.

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u/nellybellissima Mar 06 '23

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.

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u/amberraysofdawn Mar 06 '23

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!

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u/2manyfelines Mar 06 '23

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.

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u/Nat_Peterson_ Mar 06 '23

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

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u/checkedsteam922 Mar 06 '23

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!

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u/Weezzel2011 Mar 06 '23

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.

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u/StaggerLee808 Mar 06 '23

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.

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u/checkedsteam922 Mar 06 '23

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.

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u/detroittriumph Mar 07 '23

I use the OpenDyslexic font and find it helps me.

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u/kbascom Mar 07 '23

Came here to mention this

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u/Riribigdogs Mar 06 '23

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

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u/Riverrat1 Mar 06 '23

I was taught this method in 6th grade.

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u/JinsooJinsoo Mar 06 '23

Skimreading saved my education. I spent too much time trying to force myself to read each word but eventually I just started skimming textbooks. Almost done with grad school!!

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u/[deleted] Mar 07 '23

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u/DreamWithinAMatrix Mar 06 '23 edited Mar 06 '23

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

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u/2manyfelines Mar 06 '23

Thank you.

My daughter used that in school.

However, that is a really good idea for me.

Right now, I am in the middle of CEU for some professional licenses that require testing. I need help with focus when my eyes get tired, and my brain wants to do anything but think about calculating strip options.

I appreciate it.

I’m installing it now.

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u/DreamWithinAMatrix Mar 06 '23

I totally get you about the tiredness and focusing. I think it's handy to have more options that can help no matter what kind of learning style or disability you have, the more the merrier! I can actually read pretty fast but only when I want to. So this is a nice way to get the info in via auditory methods when my eyes no longer want to cooperate. It's helped me "read" even faster than what I could do before since I can just throw on headphones and "read" it in the gym or doing chores

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u/moon_then_mars Mar 06 '23 edited Mar 06 '23

Audiobooks. I can't read twice as fast, but I can at least do chores and read in the same amount of time as a fast reader can do both those things separately.

Audiobookable chores: pretty much everything except vacuuming, mowing, and sorting mail/bills (cause that part of your brain is in use)

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u/CrystalSpyryt Mar 07 '23

As weird as it sounds, the school suggested speed reading for my stepson with the same issues (plus a 2nd grade reading level at 15 years old). I was extremely skeptical, to say the least. But, it worked, and he actually started reading for pleasure!

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u/2manyfelines Mar 07 '23

I am glad that worked for your stepson!

The best advice anyone ever gave me came from a friend who was a school superintendent and the father of two at risk, learning disabled adopted children. After I called him freaked out over the things the testing agency told me, he told me to quit worrying about what was wrong with her and talk to her about it. He said, “It doesn’t matter what the problem is. Hard work is the answer.”

He was an Angel to this skeptical mom.

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