I HAVE A MALE RELATIVE IN HIS LATE 20'S WITH SEVERE DYSGRAPHIA AND
DYSLEXIA.  HE CAN READ NOW, BUT ONLY IN A VERY MECHANICAL WAY.  IT'S
DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO ABSORB OR FEEL ANY EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT TO WHAT
HE READS.  HE LEARNS EVERYTHING AUDITORIALLY.  HE'S VERY SMART, BUT HE
CAN BARELY WRITE ANYTHING.  HE CANNOT SPELL AND HAS NO ABILITY AT ALL
WITH SENTENCE STRUCTURE, GRAMMAR OR PUNCTUATION.  HIS WHOLE FAMILY ARE
TEACHERS, AND ONE WAS A READING SPECIALIST.  NO ONE WAS ABLE TO HELP. 
HE IS LEFT-HANDED, ALSO. IS THERE ANY NEW TECHNIQUE THAT I COULD USE
TO ASSIST HIM?  I AM CURRENTLY HELPING HIM STUDY WORK-RELATED
MATERIAL, BUT IT IS DIFFICULT.  HE FEELS EMBARRASSED ABOUT HIS
SITUATION AND HAS TO BLUFF, FAKE & COVER HIS PROBLEM CONSTANTLY.  I AM
NOT SURE WHAT CATEGORY TO SELECT FOR THIS QUESTION:  HEALTH? 
REFERENCE-EDUCATION?  TEACHING-RESEARCH?  IT'S NEUROLOGICAL, BUT IT'S
EDUCATIONAL, TOO.

Hello izzy54-ga,

I'm sure someone will respond to your question. It might help in the
future to not use upper case. This gives the impression that you're
SHOUTING and some researchers shy away from customers who seem
agitated or overwrought.

Best wishes for you and your friend.

~ czh ~

I fully sympathize with his position. I'm mildly dislexic, and know
how difficulty it is, and can imagine how hard it must be for him. For
me, I find a read very slowly. Perhaps he can actually read out loud
more. It may seem odd now, but historically, reading silently wasn't
always the norm. It may be that you- or someone else- may just have to
read everything aloud to him. I've seen ads for hand held scanners
that speak the scanned text outloud, and that may help. As for
writing, that remains a problem. Learn to love the spell checker is
about the best that can be done now. The speech to text software still
is not all that great (and belive me, I've tried them all!). Having
someone who can take down dictation is really the only other option.

Also, faking and bluffing is not necessary. Its not his fault that he
has a problem reading and spelling. You wouldnt make fun of a blind
person if they couldnt read a sign, would you. Lots of famous people
were dislexic too, and maybe reading about them could offer some
encouragment/ practice as well.

Try audio books. They can help with the emotional distance to
literature problem, and get him perhaps a little more interested in
reading.

I'm curious about his other abilities. Does he do well with math?
Painting? Singing?

I remember seeing somewhere that there was a study that looked at the
use of colored lenses in helping dislexics to read. Maybe a researcher
can riff off that.

There is a UK institute, who you could probably e-mail for more recent information.
http://www.dyslexia-inst.org.uk/

You could try
http://www.dorecenters.com/
I know nothing about them, however.

I am a school principal in No. California.  Our school has several
students that has similar challenges as your relative.  We have found
a program that has shown strong success in addressing the challenges
he faces.  The program is called "The Barton Program".  It can be
taught at home once the adult doing the training passes a phonics
hearing and pronunciation test.  You can find out more information at

http://www.bartonreading.com/sbarton.html

Good luck and hopes this can help!

sfprin61