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Dysgraphia, drawing, and writing: the right tools

A fellow dysgraphic named Hannah recently commented on my post about dysgraphia and X-Acto knives. She’s a costume designer who struggles with drawing, but manages hand-stitching and cutting without too much difficulty. It got me thinking about how important it is to have the right tools when you’re trying to work around something like dysgraphia.

For instance, I’ve known for years that I write much MUCH better with certain writing implements. I need to use a soft #2 pencil, made of wood and graphite. I can’t use those plastic-y #2 pencils (someone once told me they were called “pressed lead” winking , and mechanical pencils are right out. I need to use a medium tip ball point where the ball rolls fairly easily, but not too easily. The grip needs to be wide, but not too wide; and a lot of those nice refillable pens are too heavy and cause fatigue. Rollerball pens are also right out. When I try to do something as simple as sign a check with those bastards, it looks like a 10-year-old’s attempt at forgery.

As for art, I learned pretty early that certain brushes and certain supports are crucial to working pain-free. I work on supports that are absolutely rigid — found objects made of plastic and metal — because canvas and even board can have too much give, and that kills my hand. As for brushes, I need ones where the bristles aren’t too soft, but aren’t so stiff that they leave brushstrokes where I don’t want them. They also need to be a shape that’s easy to control. My favorites are the Winsor Newton Filberts. Click on the image to check them out.

As for the #16 X-Acto stencil blades that started this whole thing, I still use them, and they’re still great. I tried some of the other blades, and even when they’re sharp and new, they’re just not as easy to handle as the #16’s.

I have dyscalculia, and I find this funny...

I don’t know why, but I love math jokes. I laughed at all the math jokes in Futurama, even though they were written by PhD math geeks and even my husband (who has been known to do math in his sleep. For real) didn’t get most of them. Maybe it’s that whole thing where humor makes a profoundly terrifying subject — like death, or war, or arithmetic — less frightening.

All I know is, I LOL’d at this xkcd comic, even though long division was the single most horribly traumatic “learning” experience of my life:

Dental Health and ADHD Meds

About six months ago I wrote here and at Well-Ordered about a very nasty shock I received at the dentist: a whopping SEVEN $#%^&@ING CAVITIES. Twice as many cavities as I’d had in my adult life thus far. All of them between my teeth.

Getting those filled was no picnic, I assure you.

The culprit, it turned out, was my Vyvanse. ADHD drugs, like many anti-depressants, and many allergy meds, and many athsma medications, can dry out your mouth something serious. Without saliva, your mouth isn’t able to defend itself from teeth-eating bacteria. Teeth-eating bacteria cause cavities.

My dentist assured me that he’d seen this kind of thing before, due to all types of medication, and if I followed his instructions — floss EVERY night, use a prescription-strength high-fluoride toothpaste, and chew high-strength xylitol gum and mints — my teeth would be fine.

And they are! YAY!

If you’ve recently started a new medication, a trip to the dentist is in order. Tell him or her that dry mouth is a side effect of your new med (whether or not you’re consciously aware of feeling dry mouth). They can set you up so you won’t have to go through what I did.

Dyscalculia and the World Cup

One of the lesser known Dyscalculia Happy Fun Features is that we often struggle with sports. We can’t remember rules, or plays, or what side of the field we’re supposed to be on. While it’s been years since my last gym class, THANK THE GODS, I recently encountered this again when watching a World Cup game.

I’m from that generation of kids who grew up playing soccer (I was terrible, thank you). Thanks to us, and to succeeding generations, we are finally able to get the occasional World Cup game on broadcast TV in this country. When I watched the USA v. England game last weekend, I realized that I got the teams horribly confused after the first half. I mean, USA was in dark blue, and England was in white, so you’d think I’d be able to tell the teams apart, but no … Continue reading Dyscalculia and the World Cup

Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Unemployment

I haven’t been posting a lot lately. Partly this is because of the amount of time I’ve had to spend reading job listings, filling out applications, tweaking resumes, and trying to write cover letters that aren’t don’t sound like total BS.

Partly, it’s because I’ve just been too depressed. I feel like if I write about what my life has bee like lately, I’d just be whining, and I should be trying to be chipper and cheerful and all that crap.

But then I realized, this is a blog about adult learning disabilities. Life with adult LD sucks sometimes. And seldom does it suck more than in the area of employment.

So here goes.

Back in March, when my husband was offered his exciting start-up opportunity that involves a significant pay cut, my plan was simple: I’d go back to my previous job, which wasn’t that exciting, but was a decent place to work, and I’d put in a bunch of hours there while looking for something that paid better and was more in line with what I’d actually like to do with my life. Continue reading Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Unemployment

Update from the Job Front

The short version:

I’m still looking.

The long version:

Well …

A few weeks back I wrote a post about taking a math test for a job I applied for. I guess I’ve been so busy tossing resumes into a black hole that I forgot to post that I apparently passed it.

I’m not sure how I managed it, and a big part of me feels like there must be some mistake. It certainly helps that it was multiple choice and we were allowed the use of calculators. I think it also helps that my ADD is under control, so I could focus on mitigating the dyscalculia — carefully matching each number as I put them into the calculator (seriously, I placed the calculator beneath the number as I entered it and looked at each one individually to make sure I didn’t screw it up). Continue reading Update from the Job Front

ADHD, the “paleo” diet, and Nutrition Research = Crazymaking

Last week, I wrote about how I had “virtuously” cut my fat intake, with disastrous results. My trainer/personal therapist told me to eat more fat, especially at lunch. So I decided to give it a try.

I immediately felt better. On the first day. I had more energy, less fatigued, and was not tempted to gorge on cookies in the evening, a bad habit which has bee creeping up on me in the last several weeks. I’ve lost about half of the three or four pounds I gained. Even my seasonal allergies are better, in spite of the evil trees outside my house continuing to bloom shamelessly.

Yesterday my husband rambled across a blog by a PhD named Stephen Guyenet who studies the neurobiology of body fat regulation, and sent me a link to an post on the health benefits of full-fat dairy products. It seems that consuming your dairy products full-fat allows you to metabolize fat-soluble vitamins, such as K2, which protects against heart attack.

Wait, what? Saturated fat PREVENTS heart attack? That can’t be right, can it? This needed further investigation. Continue reading ADHD, the “paleo” diet, and Nutrition Research = Crazymaking

Sometimes, Virtue Is Stupid

I have been informed that my diet does not contain enough fat.

Seriously. I’m an American. Who doesn’t eat enough fat. Obviously I am a commie pinko traitor who hates all that we stand for in this country.

I learned this after complaining to my physical therapist/trainer today that I’m gaining weight. I was frustrated, because I had recently added an extra half-hour of cardio onto my workouts. The extra cardio made me exhausted later in the day unless I ate more, but it seemed like no matter how much I ate, I was always ravenous.

My trainer asked me to describe my diet. Protein, carbs, some fat, and ideally some greens at breakfast. Protein shake and a banana after working out. Low-fat protein, carbs, greens at lunch. A bit of trail mix for a snack. Bean-based vegetable stew for dinner, with a slice of bread, and more greens. Except sometimes I just couldn’t stop eating the damn trail mix.

“That sounds really good,” he said. “But you should try to work a bit more fat in there, especially at lunch. A few slices of avocado should do it.” Continue reading Sometimes, Virtue Is Stupid

Happy Geek Pride Day

Geek Pride Day was May 25. I wrote this post yesterday, and then forgot to hit “publish”. Whaddya want? I have ADD!

As I wrote at Well-Ordered Chaos yesterday, my blogging plans have been laid waste by the goddam flowering olive trees outside my house. They’re trying to kill me, I swear. So please forgive me if this post is a little incoherent.

I wanted to celebrate Geek Pride Day (May 25, which is the anniversary of Star Wars, “Towel Day” in honor of Douglas Adams, and the Glorious 25th in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld) by sending you all over to Wil Wheaton’s blog to check out his post “… A Sort of Homecoming“, in which he talks about his psychological journey from child star to grown-up actor and writer. I think it’s a story that many adults with LD, especially 2E’s, can relate to.

For those of you who aren’t giant nerds, Wil Wheaton played the teenaged Wesley Crusher on StarTrek: The Next Generation when he himself was still a young teenager. Also for those of you who aren’t giant nerds, I will tell you that Wesley was not a well-written character, and many people found him to be annoying. Since this is a science fiction community, there was a small group of fans who avidly and vocally hated the character, and were unable to separate Wil Wheaton as an actor and a person from Wesley Crusher the character he played. Continue reading Happy Geek Pride Day

Uncooperative weather

The weather in my neighborhood is usually fairly predictable. Rain from January through March. Sun in April and May. Fog from June through August. Sun in September and October. Fog or overcast weather in November and December.

Usually, what this means is that I can count on April and May to be my good months. The days get longer, and the sun shines. As I’ve written before, both my depression and my ADD are highly responsive to the amount of sunlight I get. I can usually count on April and May for a better mood, incredible energy, and the ability to really focus on getting things done.

Not so this year. The winter rains just haven’t stopped. California needs the rain, gods know; we’ve had a running drought for a few years now, and all this rain may finally be pulling us out of it. But my own selfish needs are not being met. I’m trying to juggle my online writing, a job search, and an art project that needs to be finished on a deadline. I could use a little help from the sun right about now.

Since it’s already mid-May, I’m afraid that I may not get my sunny Spring this year. We may just get rain, rain, and more rain, until the fog rolls in and covers the land for the summer. This is not a good thing for my brain.

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Important Stuff

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