Hi, my name’s
Marcus Burns, the author of Picture-That.
I’d just like
to take a moment of your time to introduce myself and explain how and why the
idea of Picture-That came about.
At 13 years old
it was found that I suffered from dyslexia and was a very poor reader, unable to
understand the written word and its spellings on paper. This made many aspects
of life very difficult for me.
Due the lack of
understanding of Dyslexia at the time, I left school at 14 years old and started
work in the building trade as a labourer for my father. I then worked in many
aspects of the construction industry for the next 27 years.
Then, when I
was 40 years old, I was in a serious car accident which prevented me from doing
any physical work within the building trade. I knew that I would not be able to
get work within the only trade I knew. If only I could read & write, I would be
able to use my knowledge to do lighter work in other areas of construction.
I decided to go
back to college and enrol in the Special Needs Department for Reading and
Spelling. Initially I was embarrassed about being there and not being able to
read & write, however, the teachers were so helpful and made me feel at ease,
actually I was glad to be there in order to overcome this thing that had been
hanging over my head for all my life.
During my time
at college I learnt more about dyslexia and poor readers and soon realised
approximately 20%-30% of the population are slow learners, poor readers and
suffer from dyslexia.
While I was at
college, I came up with an idea of breaking down the words that really helped me
with reading and spelling. I felt that if it worked for me, it could work for
anybody having difficulty with the English language.
With the great
help of my partner and co-author, Rebecca Kerton, Picture-That Dictionary came
into being.
I truly hope
you too will benefit from this web-site.
If you do,
please tell your friends.
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