Conversation recently about flu shots:

[conuly]

Eva: But *why* do we have to get our flu shots?
Me: The flu can be very dangerous for asthmatics and older people, so they need to get flu shots. People close to them should get the flu shot too, just in case it doesn't work on the asthmatic or older person.
Eva: How can the flu be dangerous???
Me: Well, people die every year from the flu, or, more often, from pneumonia.
Eva: But you don't get pee-nomia from the flu!
Me: Well, yes, you *do* get pneumonia from it. Pneumonia affects your breathing -
Eva: And because people with asthma have trouble breathing, pee-nomia is really hard for them!
Me: Right. Eva, you clearly know what word I mean, so let's say it correctly. New. Moan. Ya.
Eva: I know, I know, pneumonia.
Me: Right. With pn, the p is silent.

How does she do it? She really does have trouble spelling, so how does she correctly identify the spelling of an unintuitive word like pneumonia and then use a spelling pronunciation after hearing the correct one? (Does that sentence make sense?) I mean to say, she has trouble going from speech to spelling, so how does she so easily go from spelling to speech? And then why didn't she say the word correctly?

Comments

[andrewducker]

My father is dyslexic - but a voracious reader - it's only speech-to-text he has any issues with (and telling "left" from "right" - although he can do "passenger side" and "driver's side").

[conuly]

Okay, but how did she know that "newmonia" is the same as "peenomia" when she didn't even know how to pronounce it?

[andrewducker]

Because she figured it out while talking to you?

Or you could ask her...

[conuly]

I tried. She just giggled at me.

[siderea]

It sounds like poor Eva is attempting to reason about English, and that is what has her all turned around. You might try engaging her in discussion investigating why she gets wrong what she gets wrong, just like in math, rather than assuming it's a fault of poor memorization; you might find she's derived some imagined rule that is incorrect, or is incorrectly applying one that's mostly right.

[conuly]

I wouldn't've expected her to pronounce pneumonia correctly from reading it. I was just surprised that she matched my pronunciation to her spelling pronunciation with limited context.

Her trouble with spelling has nothing to do with memory. Or, at least, not solely. Not the sort of errors she's making, except that some of them show she clearly is trying to remember what letters to put in, but isn't good at putting them in the right order. More reasoning might be helpful there - thot for thought makes a lot more sense than togth.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

This is something I do as well. I think, deep down, that all words should be pronounced how they're spelled. Obviously, I know that's now how language works but my brain just wants to say all the letters. I also say acronyms as if they're words too.

[ncp.livejournal.com]

It's entirely possible she's trolling you...

[conuly]

Interesting hypothesis. Maybe I should tickle her until she reveals all.