Whether it’s reading the clock, managing workload or taking a little longer to do things, for some of us time can be tricky: here’s the lowdown on time and the dyslexic experience.
Dyslexia and Time Management
‘Time management’ is a phrase that refers to the ability to use one’s time effectively and productively, especially in controlled environments such as work or school. It’s something that many individuals with dyslexia struggle with, which is unfortunate in a world where many still equate good time management skills with ideas of efficiency and dedication to the task at hand.
It may be that an individual with dyslexia struggles with the initial steps of creating a workflow for the allotted time period— sequencing and organisational skills are involved in this kind of task, and when dyslexia is present, these may need a little more time to warm up and formulate. It may also be a case of time-blindness: some people with dyslexia report a poorer concept of the passage of time, as well as weaknesses in working memory that might make recall and task allocation more difficult than it seems for their neurotypical peers.
Whatever the reasons, we aren’t without solutions to try:
Dyslexia and Telling the Time
Clocks can be tricky when dyslexia is on the table: although some dyslexic people don’t seem to find telling the time an issue at all, many find that reading an analogue clock face is difficult even when co-occurring differences like dyscalculia aren’t present. Indeed, struggling with clocks and taking longer to learn how to tell the time is a common early sign that a school-age individual might have dyslexia— one that we might miss more often now that most of us tell the time using our phone.
Some people report that they find digital numerical displays easier, but it can still lead to confusions and misreading… which can cause problems for some individuals with dyslexia. When it comes to setting alarms and getting to places on time, it may be helpful to those with dyslexia if employers and other appointments are able to consider flexible starting times or drop-in sessions on request.
What is ‘Time Debt’ ?
Sometimes, when an individual has dyslexia, they may experience what we call ‘time debt’— a feeling that dyslexia is causing them to lose time out of their day-to-day.
It’s important to recognise that dyslexia often makes things take longer: if you’re a working adult, getting through your inbox might end up taking up half of your morning, because you need to take the reading slower or have to stick to the pace of the screen reader supporting you. This same task might take your colleagues twenty minutes or half an hour, so even though you’re working every minute of that extra time it might have taken you, it feels like time has been taken away from you— a time debt owed by dyslexia to the rest of your day.
If you’re still in education, you might experience similar things with class tasks or even homework… but it can go a little deeper for learners too. In some cases, when individuals have dyslexia in an educational setting, they’ll spend time with support professionals and tutors outside of regular school hours in order to hone their reading skills and receive extra support. This can make children and young people feel like they’re being ‘taxed’ for having dyslexia— that they’re losing time that their peers can spend recreationally.
Time debt can build over a lifetime and lead many people who have dyslexia to feel like they’re spent so much time on things that don’t seem to take their peers half as long, or that they’ve missed out on opportunities because of it. This is why finding support solutions that work is especially important when we’re looking at the worlds of work and education: it’s not only making the work element easier, it’s about opening up recreation time too.
Can procrastination ever be positive?
Procrastination isn’t the right term for what happens when we’re forced to take extra time on tasks due to complications that arise from dyslexia— but it might be a useful one if we shift to a more results-based view of the work we do every day. Sometimes, working at a different pace to our colleagues might be beneficial.
‘Positive Procrastination’ or ‘Structured Procrastination’ is the act of working slower, and consciously pushing tasks until later to allow an individual to focus on present urgent or pressing matters. It can have a huge positive impact on both output and creativity, as well as help us work towards better work/life relationships and help us avoid burnout. It’s not putting tasks off indefinitely, or disengaging from them, but allowing time to align ourselves and time to reflect for better focus and better end product overall. Allowing dyslexic individuals to work at a pace that suits them and helping them to create time structures that work could mimic the productive procrastination effect and lead to better results— and a better working experience for neurodivergent colleagues, too.
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