"The book begins by describing the strengths and weaknesses of creative thinkers who have dyslexia. It outlines the reasons that they may struggle in science and gives examples of specific areas of the school science curriculum that are often very challenging for...
![Why Many Dyslexics Thrive in Technology [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Technology-Careers-400x250.png.webp)
In every year that we’ve had our college scholarships program, technology majors have been among the winners. Dyslexic innovators are also often tech innovators themselves or innovators at the boundaries of technology and people. But why is this? There are many reasons, but certainly one central reason is that technology is a particularly adept at compensating for the greatest challenges that dyslexics face, while requiring the strengths that creative human problem solvers bring. The net result is a dyslexic innovator who can solve real human needs, while recognizing how they must leverage their own strengths. Thomas G. West, author of In the Mind’s Eye: Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics, and the Rise of Technology, has lamented the fact that much of the education today […]
Congratulations to Steven Erickson and his brother Mark who won a coveted spot on the second season of Lego Masters to compete for $100,000. Steven and his brother Mark have long been known to the LEGO community. You can find Steven HERE. I have...
As Chief Technology Evangelist and VP of Strategy at Digital Ocean, John Edgar helped grow the company from #1000 to #2 cloud provider in the world (second only to Amazon). How did he do it and how did he arrive at the top of his profession in technology, after leaving high school feeling as if he could never get accepted as a computer science major? Look at John’s references on LinkedIn today and you’ll see some impressive recommendations from tech industry leaders. For example: “In the year that John and I worked together at DigitalOcean, he transformed from growing the tech evangelism team from nascent to one of the company’s most critical and lucrative marketing channels, to a self driven one man fixer who successfully […]
![Starting from the Positive Side of Dyslexia [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Starting-From-The-Positive-Side-Of-Dyslexia-400x250.png)
Last week I had a chance to talk with Aillie McKeever of the Schwab Learning Center at Stanford. In 2019, before COVID pandemic had fully taken hold here in the US, Stanford’s Schwab Center had decided to prioritize strengths in their approach to each and every student. They announced a “paradigm shift” to a strength’s based model of education. Every student would have a folder with a strengths section included in their assessment. Neurolearning shared its MIND Strengths Questionnaire with the center to examine the impact on students there. From Aillie: “In 2019, the MIND Strengths questions were included in this interview for every new student. Doing this seems to amplify students’ recognition of their strengths. As Learning Specialists leading the interviews, we noticed that […]
![The Double Whammy: Dyscalculia and Dysgraphia [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dysgraphia-and-Dyscalculia-400x250.png)
What happens when a student has both dyscalculia and dysgraphia? Be prepared for an educational path that has a timing of its own. Dysgraphia often accompanies dyslexia, but dyscalculia too. If you or your student has two or three out of these 3 “d’s” be prepared for a challenging course and a need for individualization for many years. The most typical presentation for dyscalculia relates to students who have trouble mastering the sequence of numbers and recall of basic math facts. When dysgraphia gets added to the mix, you can imagine how it may swamp working memory, causing students to lose track when they work through math problems. In a very real sense having both dyscalculia and dysgraphia also robs students of being able to […]
![Dyslexia and Bilingualism [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dyslexia-and-Bilingualism-400x250.png)
There are many bilingual or multilingual families who are also navigating a path through dyslexia. Bilingual students with dyslexia usually have similar problems in both languages, but some languages are “easier” to learn if the phonology and spelling are more predictable. So functionally, it is possible for a student to appear dyslexic in one language, but not so dyslexic in another. The focus of this article, is not whether a student should elect to learn a second language, and if so, when, but rather what challenges and potential benefits that bilingual dyslexic students do have to look forward to if they ultimately master two languages and also have their dyslexia remediated. LATER BLOOMING If dyslexic students as a group are considered late blooming in general […]
![Quick or Slow Remediation? [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-18-400x250.png)
The learning challenges of dyslexia can be very mild or quite severe, but the severity of challenges are not the sole determination of whether remediation will be quick or slow. Once we visited an elite private school for dyslexia on the East Coast. Their aim to get students through their program in 2 years, in part, was successful. The school had solid training of its teachers and great resources, but the program was not unlike other structured literacy programs. Why was it that they could get students through so fast with their programs? Part of the answer was the strict criteria they had for student admission. With a long waitlist for spots, they had decided to accept to their program only students who had strong […]
![Algebra: What Students See and What Mathematicians See [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Algebra-1-400x250.png)
Ben Orlin is the author of Math with Bad Drawings and Change is the only Constant: The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World. Besides have a good sense of humor, Ben is good at recognizing the differences in the way students and mathematicians see math problems. Take for example, the math problem, What is 7 x 11 x 13. What goes through your mind when you see a problem like that? I reach for my calculator, or might try 7 x 11 first, then look for a pen a paper, but what Ben suggests is that mathematicians imagine this. The following examples Ben shared about Algebra had me laughing aloud: The mathematician’s simplification involves recognizing a pattern. But […]
![Writing: Elaboration [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2020-01-02-at-9.39.30-PM-400x250.png)
If you were to compare dyslexic and non-dyslexic university students in writing, it’s usually the case, that on average, dyslexic students write fewer words and fewer words that are polysyllabic. The reasons are several; slowness with word retrieval, writing, and spelling, organizational challenges, and working memory overload are likely contributors. Because multisyllabic words are more challenging phonemically, not only are they harder to recognize and remember while reading, but also they are harder to spell. THE BIG PICTURE OF ELABORATION The big picture of elaboration is that you want writers to fall in love with words, whether it’s a beautiful passage evoking imagery, or funny turn of phrase, or incisive argument. Students who are the easiest to cultivate as great writers are those who […]
![Clever Ways To Practice Repeated Reading [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Repeated-Reading-400x250.png)
It was in the late 1970’s that educational researchers began to question the practice of reading aloud different tasks as a way to make children more fluent readers. With this approach, every new day saw new challenges reading aloud for struggling readers so that they failed to gain proficiency, and if anything were more likely to develop a dislike or avoidance of reading. What actually showed greater success with reading fluency, was giving students repeated practice with the same passage. The general approach is to have a student or teacher pick a passage (a quote, poem, excerpt from a poem) that is 50-300 words long. The teacher or partner reads it aloud, then the student (echo reading). The goal is to have the student read […]
![Dyslexia and Perfectionism [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-06-07-at-9.42.35-AM-400x250.png)
For many, college is a “perfect storm” for personal stress. Reading and writing workloads may be astronomical, student and family expectations are high, and many students for the first time may be without personal and academic supports that allowed them to enter college in the first place. College is the time when students could find their organizational and time management abilities stretched beyond their ability to cope. There are surprisingly few studies looking at coping strategies for dyslexic students in college or universities. Recently, in the United Kingdom, researchers discovered that unhealthy patterns of perfectionism may negatively impact students’ well-being and the likelihood to reach out for help. Perfectionism is now thought to be a common personality disposition characterized by the making of high personal […]
