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Writing, Math, and Foreign Language: Success with Dyslexia

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Written by Mia DiMartino, Undergraduate student at SUNY Cortland

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a three-part series on how to succeed in college with dyslexia. In this post, Mia shares tips she learned when taking foreign language courses and writing papers in a variety of disciplines. Be sure to check out her posts on dyslexia in general and on college science. You can succeed too if you play to your strengths. Thank you, Mia, for sharing!

Writing: How do you get all the great ideas in your head down on paper when you struggle with grammar and spelling? · Try using dictation on your computer (Mac or Microsoft 365) to avoid having to spend a lot of time correcting spelling errors.

  • Spell check will not always catch your errors. Get someone else to check over your papers for you.
    • Editor’s Note: There are great new tools for checking grammar and spelling that will catch errors that prior tools in word processors might have missed. In Microsoft 365, Microsoft Editor is an AI powered service to improve your writing. Also, the Read&Write toolbar available for all SUNY Cortland students to install on their own device includes CheckIt.
  • You are a great story-teller. Use that to your advantage.

Math: Word problems can hit your difficulty with reading while numbers are easily mixed up.

  • Use highlighters to pick out important information in each question.
  • Create a system of attack for each question and memorize the system.
  • Do plenty of practice problems until you have each concept memorized. Find more in the textbook if you don’t have enough.
  • Check over each problem three times to catch any errors.
  • Putting numbers in a calculator is difficult. Check your numbers three times.
  • Don’t rush. Take it slow.
  • Get one-on-one help from a tutor at the Learning Center.
  • Find a YouTube video for help working through problems.

Foreign Language Classes: You will be one of the best speakers in the class! Reading and writing will be a challenge, though.

  • Memorize spelling using colors that break the word up into chunks.
  • If you make it sound funny, it will help you remember it.
  • Rewrite words in color every day.
  • Memorize what words mean. Write the English meaning under foreign words.
  • Listen to music and watch movies and TV shows in the language you are taking. If it helps, turn on the captions.

Dyslexia and Dyscalculia: How to Succeed in College

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Written by Mia DiMartino, Undergraduate student at SUNY Cortland

Editor’s Note: Senior Mia Dimartino is among SUNY Cortland’s finest students. She spent three years on the varsity Gymnastics team and, as chief of the SUNY Cortland Emergency Medical Services student organization, has often been among the first on the scene of medical emergencies on campus. Mia also has dyslexia and dyscalculia and has succeeded in a challenging pre-medical academic program. This is the first of a series of three blog posts in which Mia shares what she has learned about her own dyslexia and dyscalculia in her academic career.

You are GIFTED and learn differently than others. Use that to your advantage! Dyslexic people have 4 gifts. We call them the MIND gifts.

  • Material Reasoning
  • Interconnected Reasoning
  • Narrative Reasoning
  • Dynamic Reasoning

What does that mean? Learn more in this video about your MIND gifts.

  • YOU ARE SMART! YOU CAN DO THIS!
  • There may be challenges but there are always work-arounds.
  • There are no limits to what you can accomplish.
  • Work on developing your MIND gifts. Play to your strengths and don’t focus on what your weaknesses are.
  • Understanding how your mind works helps you to learn better. Do some research.
  • If you feel down on yourself remind yourself of your gifts that no one else can do!
  • Not everyone will understand how you think and that’s ok!

Resources about dyslexia

Every class is a different challenge. In future posts, Mia will share some tips on how to get through them the dyslexic way.