Overwhelmed by amount of new words when reading

[benbt]

Recently I have been trying to look up more words I don’t know when reading. I keep a note on my phone where I can jot down words I don’t know. Later I use a paper dictionary to search words and write them up by hand. I have found reading and writing on paper helps with retention. I am trying to get into a habit of doing this 15 minutes a day. It is quite laborious though and does make me a bit tired. What have you found that helps?

[Giosang]

That can be a bit of a laborious process -a labour of love - you either enjoy the process, or you hate it because it is about rote learning -most dyslexic people don't enjoy rote learning at all.

I really like using the dictionary in my Kindle because it means you don't interrupt your reading as much as you do when you look up words in a conventional dictionary. It has an instant dictionary and when you highlight a word on your screen it instantly takes you to the meaning and then stores the words you look up so you can look at them later when you've got time. It also has flashcards to help you to memorise the new words. Loads of Kindle books are free - almost all the classics are -so once you've bought the device you can read for free. It's a good investment also because you can use light and fonts that make reading easier.

Another thing to do is have your new words on a list and use them when you're on your own - speak them out loud and put them in a sentence so you get used to using them. That helps with retaining them.

Another good way is to read something short but difficult and then learn the words and re-read it with the words in your memory this time. That helps to fix them.

Write words on Post-Its with the meaning on the back - stick them up so you see them and check them quickly if you can't remember the meaning.

Revisiting the words -they can fade after a while. So you have to repeat the process with the same words. That's true for everyone, not just dyslexics - these are the same techniques someone learning a foreign language uses, and we all know how long it takes to learn a new language!

These things are hard work, especially for dyslexic people, but they do work.

Hope this helps.

[benbt in reply to Giosang]

Thanks Giosang certainly a lot of ideas to try out.

[Giosang in reply to benbt]