I can't work with music in the background, either, and find it very hard talking to anyone if the TV is on, or if the children are being too loud, or if there's too much else going on.

For years I thought I was just plain grumpy but now my youngest son has been diagnosed as dyslexic, and so have I, as have my husband and his father, who have similar difficulties.

Dyslexia is primarily a problem with phonological processing. I'm told that my grumpiness is probably a manifestation of my low-level dyslexia, which prevents me processing internal speech or thought so long as there's a similar thing going on externally, as is my inability to hear or read anything when I attempt to watch a subtitled movie: I can cope with listening to a text, or with reading subtitles, but give me both simultaneously and I can't manage either. And watching my very bright son struggle with his dyslexia, I remember my own struggles to learn to read and write.

It's all complicated by my synaesthesia, which means that many things that I hear have their own particular colour and shape; which adds a whole new level to the sensory overload that I sometimes experience.

My dyslexic son has lately reported to me that letters have colours, which indicates he's got an added problem--and when you consider that he's colourblind, but can see colours through his synaesthesia that he can't see with his vision, it's no wonder the boy is struggling.

There. Far too much information there, don't you think? You shouldn't have got me started!

Everyone is special in their own way and folk who are dyslexic are no different- they are very special- boosting confidence and raising self esteem is a priority in helping anyone who struggles with learning. Dyslexics often struggle with with their spellings and a brilliant dictionary to help anyone of any age who finds spellings tricky is THE ACE SPELLING DICTIONARY by David Moseley. Just bought my last copy from Amazon £2.99- keep giving them away..it really is ace!

As long as I'm not dealing with words, I can listen to the radio (MPR News). So cover design, yes; proofreading, definitely not. My funny thing is that whatever I listen to while doing an activity will get burned into my brain, so that the next time I pick up the project (like knitting or painting, say), I'll remember exactly what I had heard the last time I worked on it.

Congratulations on your grandbaby, Em's mum!