halff@utah-cs.UUCP (Henry M. Halff) (10/30/85)
From doc@cxsea.UUCP (Documentation ) Fri Oct 25 14:08:03 1985 Subject: Re: cognitive-engineering, connectionism, etc. ...really flame-ola Organization: Computer X Inc., Seattle, Washington. > > I've been learning about dyslexia. I know a few people who are dyslexic, > and I've been attempting to devise some exercises for them on a Macintosh > using MacDraw/Paint, as a means of mapping how they process and respond to > visual cues. Has anyone else explored this? Any observations to share? > Well, as something of a cog, I'm pretty sure that there are more kinds of dyslexia than anyone cares to think about. But one approach that struck me as being novel and easy was mentioned to me by someone who just happened to have a PC and a neighbor with a dyslexic child. She said that the child really liked to play with ELIZA, that program that provides a somewhat offensive dialogue based on keyword analysis of the user's (??) input. It struck me that dyslexics might profit from the sort of low level feedback they could get from programs that would let them see their own typing and would respond to it in some interesting fashion. ELIZA is really pretty obnoxious in most implementations, but we have a version that runs on the mac which is customizable in that you can write your own rules for recognizing and responding to the user. I've thought about doing something with it for dyslexics, but I have neither the time nor the dyslexics to work with. Someone else out there in netland might be interested. -- Henry M. Halff Halff Resources, Inc. halff@utah-cs.ARPA 4918 33rd Road, N., Arlington, VA 22207
zwicky@osu-eddie.UUCP (Elizabeth D. Zwicky) (11/02/85)
I am not myself dyslexic, but do suffer some (probably) related difficulties. I am a non-righthanded female with pretty much all of the symptoms of dyslexia except the perceptual problems; I read and write normally. However, I have a good bit of difficulty with right and left. This has a surprising effect on my desires in user-interfaces. Given a totally symmetric user interface, I become hamstrung, due to a tendency to intend to use my right hand, and end up using my left, or vice versa. Not generally a problem, because few things are truly symmetrical, but sometimes people get clever and decide it will be easier that way. Touch-typing, for instance, is as symmetrical as possible. You wouldn't believe what happens if you accidentally type something with left and right reversed; I gave it up and type assymetrically instead - at least that way my mistakes are normal. A few games also work this way (pinball, for instance), which is what really tipped me off. I hadn't realized how much it could get in my way until I was playing games on the Macintosh, one of which used the keyboard - four keys carefully chosen to be symmetrical, and the other of which used the keyboard and the mouse. I stank at the first, which was what I expected, but I was totally amazed when I discovered that I was above average (by a little) at the second. User interfaces have been a sore point for me, since I tend to be a limiting case (I think it's debugged - let Elizabeth play with it. If it runs for her, it'll run for anybody). Would be unfortunate, were it not for the fact that I know a lot of programmers and thus can make it a paying talent.
kay@warwick.UUCP (Kay Dekker) (11/06/85)
In article <703@osu-eddie.UUCP> zwicky@osu-eddie.UUCP (Elizabeth D. Zwicky) writes: >I am not myself dyslexic, but do suffer some (probably) >related difficulties. I am a non-righthanded female with >pretty much all of the symptoms of dyslexia except the >perceptual problems; I read and write normally. However, I >have a good bit of difficulty with right and left. This has a >surprising effect on my desires in user-interfaces. Aha! somebody else has my problem... interesting that having difficulty deciding "which one is left" might be associated with dyslexia: could some kind cog-enger inform the net about the symptoms? I too read and write normally, except that many people consider that I do both much too fast, leading to a) frustration for anyone who is trying to read what I'm reading at the same time (like I've finished both visible sides of a book when they're still on paragraph 1, side 1); b) impatience with slow interfaces; and c) writing as decipherable as a 3-month-old APL program :-) However, I do have appalling difficulties with left/right decisions; often the only way I can do it is by remembering that my right hand is the one with the ring on it. Interfaces that require me to "press the button on the left of the puck" leave me twitching... Curiously enough, I sometimes get mixed-up with up/down too, though rarely. BTW, I'm a 26 year old bisexual English male of English/Dutch/Spanish ancestry: have there been any studies of dyschirality (my own word for my problem - Greek: mishandedness) itself yet? Kay. -- "Be careful: the system is complex and chaotic, though it has many attractive features..." _The Pot-holes of the Yorkshire Moors_ ... mcvax!ukc!warwick!flame!kay
herbie@polaris.UUCP (Herb Chong) (11/09/85)
In article <2348@flame.warwick.UUCP> kay@flame.UUCP (Kay Dekker) writes: >In article <703@osu-eddie.UUCP> zwicky@osu-eddie.UUCP (Elizabeth D. Zwicky) writes: >>I am not myself dyslexic, but do suffer some (probably) >>related difficulties. I am a non-righthanded female with >>pretty much all of the symptoms of dyslexia except the >>perceptual problems; I read and write normally. However, I >>have a good bit of difficulty with right and left. This has a >>surprising effect on my desires in user-interfaces. > >Aha! somebody else has my problem... interesting that having difficulty >deciding "which one is left" might be associated with dyslexia: could some >kind cog-enger inform the net about the symptoms? this was discussed in some detail in net.kids about 3 months ago. the prime cause is having been converted from left-handed to right-handed at some point in life. i don't have an archive of net.kids, but someone might. Herb Chong... I'm still user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble.... VNET,BITNET,NETNORTH,EARN: HERBIE AT YKTVMH UUCP: {allegra|cbosgd|cmcl2|decvax|ihnp4|seismo}!philabs!polaris!herbie CSNET: herbie.yktvmh@ibm-sj.csnet ARPA: herbie.yktvmh.ibm-sj.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa ======================================================================== DISCLAIMER: what you just read was produced by pouring lukewarm tea for 42 seconds onto 9 people chained to 6 Ouiji boards.
cleary@calgary.UUCP (John Cleary) (11/12/85)
> >.... I read and write normally. However, I > >have a good bit of difficulty with right and left. This has a > >surprising effect on my desires in user-interfaces. > > Aha! somebody else has my problem... interesting that having difficulty > deciding "which one is left" might be associated with dyslexia: could some > kind cog-enger inform the net about the symptoms? > > I too read and write normally, except that many people consider that I do > both much too fast, leading to > > BTW, I'm a 26 year old bisexual English male of English/Dutch/Spanish > ancestry: have there been any studies of dyschirality (my own word for > my problem - Greek: mishandedness) itself yet? I too have similar problems. I can never remember which cars to give way to at uncontrolled intersections -- thank heavens most intersections in North America are controlled (not so in New Zealand which is my home country). I also am a fast reader and a reasonable mathematician. Interestingly my mother was completely ambidextrous and my brother had severe reading difficulties (he first learned to read at about age 14 and was then OK). I am right handed when writing however whenever I tackle a new task my choice of left/right handed is random (I iron left hande, play billiards left handed etc.) I recall results that mathematical and programming ability is in general linked to left handedness (e.g. 50% of some mathematics departments are lefthanded) I once did a quick poll of a software company I worked for, it had about 40% of some 70 people left handed. Ther was also something in a recent Science about leftpaws having larger corpus callosii(?sp). Can anyone out there give more definite pointers to literature on this? I agree about human interface difficulties with left right I find great difficulty in making the distinction especially quickly, if this is a trait shared with other computer programmers it seems like a good thing to avoid. I have Irish/Scots ancestry and I am not bisexual. John G. Cleary, Dept. Computer Science, The University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr., N.W. Calgary, Alberta, CANADA T2N 1N4. Ph. (403)220-6087 Usenet: ...{ubc-vision,ihnp4}!alberta!calgary!cleary ...nrl-css!calgary!cleary
zwicky@osu-eddie.UUCP (Elizabeth D. Zwicky) (11/15/85)
Actually, I read what has been described as "Obsc enely fast" myself. The word(s) I use are perfectly existent (according to the OED); I describe myself as ambisinistrous, or ambilaevous, posessed of two left hands. The connection to dyslexia is that dyslexia is highly associated with left-handedness, especially suppressed left-handedness. Most dyslexics find it a near impossibility to tell left from right. I also have the classic dyslexic clumsiness, and reading library of Congress numbers or the like (Any nonsystematic conglomeration of letters and numbers) I produce classis dyslexic error, 6 for 9, or S for 6, H (or A) for 4, and so on.
sher@rochester.UUCP (David Sher) (11/18/85)
I think people would be enlightened by a "discovery" by my father who teaches math at a community college. One of the subjects he teaches is "Nursing Math" whatever that may be. Many of the transformations done by nurses to calculate centigrade to Farenheight and so on are done by lining up two charts. If one chart is put down backwards chaos obviously results. He found that mixing up left and right caused many people to screw up and get confused in this proceedure. To combat this he now draws all his charts going up and down not side to side. He found that just about no one gets up and down confused. (There is probably a substantial evolutionary advantage to knowing which way is up. :-) As a side note I myself can only tell right from left by remembering that my right hand is much stronger and tensing my biceps (at least that is the technique I developed as a child). I am also very good at crashing user interfaces, especially text editors! -David -- -David Sher sher@rochester seismo!rochester!sher