What Reading Speed Has to Do With Leadership: Nothing
Many leaders succeed because of their dyslexia, not in spite of it. President Trump stirred up a hornet’s nest when he suggested that Governor...
Storytelling as a Dyslexic Strength
Storytelling is not simply a language skill. It is a form of reasoning. Recognizing these strengths helps shift how we think about writing instruction and creative expression.
Rethinking Auditory-Only Phonemic Awareness Training for Reading in the Early Grades Does Not Work
A new study reported on in Education Week found that a widely-used phonemic awareness program (the oral-only Heggerty curriculum) did not improve gains in word reading or oral reading fluency, although it did significantly improve phonemic awareness skills.
Free Back To School Reading Apps
Some of the most common free apps that dyslexic students use for school.
Beyond Behavior: Attention, Working Memory, or Something Else?
The problem with trying to diagnose with behavioral checklists is that behavior can result from many different sources. If you have a 3rd grader...
Math Difficulties Common with Dyslexia
Although the pace of research into dyslexia beyond reading proceeds very slowly, there is some welcome recent research into some of the...
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Dyslexia and the Foreign Language Dilemma [Premium]
What to do? Many select colleges require two years of foreign language taken in high school, while telling potential applicants that they prefer four years. Sally Shaywitz of Yale University has said: “…Considering the profound impact dyslexia has on both spoken and written language acquisition, and from both an educational and a scientific perspective, it makes little to no sense to impose a foreign language requirement on students who are dyslexic and, indeed, is counterproductive to the aims of a liberal education in the 21st century.” In a previous article (Dropping Out Because of Foreign Language), we had described how a Harvard psychologist in the 1970s, Kenneth Dinklage had found that the students at risk for having to drop out of college because […]
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Legendary Filmmaker David Lean [Premium]
Sir David Lean CBE was an Academy Award-winning filmmaker who inspired fellow dyslexic filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Joe Wright. David was initially recognized as a “dud” at school, prone to excessive daydreaming. Later he would credit his passion for filmmaking with the gift (from an uncle) of a Brownie box camera at the age of 10. David was considered “dim” especially when compared to his younger brother. He left school at 18 for work, but was bored when he tried apprenticing at his father’s accountancy firm. David’s aunt urged him to find a job that he could love. He was spending every evening at the movie house, so taking her advice to heart, he quit trying to work as an account apprentice, and […]
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What’s the Point of the Dyslexic Mind? with Dr Brock Eide [Premium]
This webinar was rescheduled from a planned presentation at Cambridge University. Although dyslexia has traditionally been defined in negative and narrow terms, these definitions are poorly matched to the breadth of research on dyslexic children and adults. Here the Eides present their case that dyslexia should not be defined solely as a defect or deficiency, but rather as a cognitive specialization – that prioritizes episodic cognition. Bookmark Please login to bookmark ClosePlease login to access.
Managing Test Anxiety
It’s that time of year again – either time for standardized tests or end of year exams. Test anxiety includes a variety of physical and emotional symptoms that include feelings of nervousness and hopelessness, fear, self-doubt, irritability, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, stomach pains, and headaches. Among elementary school children, standardized tests cause greater feelings of anxiety than routine classroom tests, and students with dyslexia may experience the stress and anxiety more acutely. Reference THE DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF TESTING FOR DYSLEXIC STUDENTS Testing can be a double-edge sword for dyslexic students – because a test result may determine whether a student needs additional support, tutoring, accommodations, or even access to assistive technology. But testing may also inform decisions about holding back students, […]
Chat with Tristan Morris: Audiobook Narrator for The Dyslexic Advantage
Our updated 2023 version of The Dyslexic Advantage is available in audiobook from places like Amazon / Audible, and Brock and I enjoyed hearing Tristan's narration, so we reached out to him for this interview. Brock listens to books at a high speed of playback and he...
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What I Know Now About Learning a Foreign Language [Premium]
When I came across a remarkable article titled, “Dyslexia and Learning a Foreign Language: A Personal Experience,” I knew that I wanted to talk to the author. Charlann had the unique perspective of being both dyslexic and a speech language pathologist. She dodged the college level foreign language requirement by getting a bachelor’s degree in speech and theater and master’s degree in speech language pathology. “I no longer tell the truth about how long I have studied French because people cannot comprehend how I could have studied (for seven years) and…still struggle so severely with spoken and written language. I could not fluently retrieve basic structures or pronunciation patterns to communicate my thoughts in classroom discussions, so I tended to speak in sentence fragments […]
Dyslexia in Popular Culture… Great or Cringe-Worthy?
With so much dyslexia in creative communities, it’s not surprising that more authors and screenwriters are including dyslexic characters in their works. The strength side is appearing more commonly, but is it great or will it make you cringe? The answer is, probably a little bit of both. First the GREAT – dyslexia has been in entertainment news lately as Kelly Clarkson has been sharing her interest in dyslexia after her 8 year old daughter was found to be dyslexic. In the YouTube clip below, Kelly asks Captain America Anthony Mackie about the latest script for his Avengers movie and he shares how he must log onto a site to read the top secret material. He has to read under the supervision of an intern […]
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Curiosity-Driven Learning [Premium]
Unanimous Supreme Court Decision for Students with Disabilities
In a unanimous Supreme Court decision in the case of Miguel Perez vs. Sturgis Public Schools, the courts ruled that students aren’t required to exhaust the IDEA procedures before seeking relief (for instance money damages) under the ADA. The case involved a deaf student who for 12 years was denied reasonable accommodations (a sign language interpreter) so that he could adequately learn and comprehend others around him. Apparently, there was even another deaf student at the school, but they could not communicate with each other. From Wrightslaw: For twelve years, the school district passed Miguel Luna from grade to grade. The district inflated his grades to As and Bs so he made the honor roll. Miguel Luna did not learn how to read or write. […]
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Teaching the Schwa [Premium]
What is the schwa? The schwa sound is the most common sound in English and symbolized by the upside-down e in International Phonetic Alphabet and is pronounced like “uh” in words like “the”. It’s a maddening sound because it’s not really associated with any specific letter of the alphabet…and that affects spelling as well as reading aloud. Sarah’s Snippets Literacy Nest has a nice series of post on teaching the schwa. Emily recommends starting with “a” words like “alike”, “panda”, “soda”, or “Alaska” that say “uh” instead of the long a sound. Add a little kinesthetic action like thumping the table to make recognizing the schwa more memorable. Students may need to master stressed and unstressed syllables first; The Call […]
Reading Mode: How to Make Web Pages Easier to Read
Do you find it easier to read webpages that aren’t cluttered? If so, you’re not alone. Popups and even photos can be distracting. Many browser reading modes offer customizations like font size, color, and sometimes character and line spacing. Typically, many dyslexic children and adults prefer slight increases in default font size, slight increases in character spacing, and double line spacing between paragraphs. After having their Reader Mode hidden for years, Google launched it officially in March, making it available on Google Chrome and Chromebooks. Here is how it works: Lifehacker has a helpful article on How to use Reader View for how to access Reader View on Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft’s Immersive Reader. For example, on Safari, there is a tiny page […]
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Highly Gifted with Dyslexia (It may not look like what you think!) [Premium]
A recent article caught my eye on CNBC. It was titled, 5 Signs Your Kid is ‘Highly Gifted’ According to Neuroscience Experts – ‘They’re Not Always Well-Behaved. From the article – the five signs: – asynchronous development – emotional depth and sensitivity at a young age – existential questioning – unique interests or a mature sense of humor – underachievement at school The author is from the Davidson Institute, a charity supporting profoundly gifted students (99.9th percentile). Davidson Scholars can be twice-exceptional (gifted with LD) which includes gifted students with dyslexia. Years ago when we had an international practice testing dyslexic students, we saw many gifted dyslexic students through the Davidson Institute. The definitions of highly and profoundly gifted may vary depending on what tests […]
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Math: Teaching with Physical Materials [Premium]
Almost half of all dyslexic student may have math disabilities (Wilcutt et al.2013), but math disabilities or dyscalculia are rarely recognized in public or private schools in the US. All the more important for tutors, teachers, and parents to be aware of dyslexia-related differences in learning better ways of helping information ‘stick’. One helpful example for how to support math for dyslexic students comes from the Sagonaska Demonstration School. They have completely embraced multisensory learning and have considered how reading and writing challenges can affect the way students learn and show their work. Third Space Learning has nice graphics about this approach. Briefly, it involves introducing new math concepts with physical materials, then switching to the use of drawings (representations) to work […]
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Been There Done That College Advice From Fellow Dyslexics [Premium]
We love the movement of dyslexic post-grads sharing their studying tips. Check out some of these words of wisdom if you’re college-bound, in college, or planning to return to higher education. In general, things are much better than they were decades ago, but you can still encounter hurdles that may make it difficult to complete your degree. If you need additional inspiration, here is a master’s student in architecture writing his 10,000 word dissertation. Over the years, we’ve seen many students stopped at the dissertation stage – or at least stalled. Dissertation requirements are different, so the video below is not intended to be a guide for all – but at least a way to see how important organization is […]
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Dyslexia and College [Premium]
It’s becoming increasingly common for dyslexic students to attend college, university and graduate school; some careers require these degrees. IS IT EASIER TO ATTEND COLLEGE? Compared to past decades, it is generally easier for dyslexic students to attend college because more colleges and universities have specifically designated academic support centers and tutors to help manage school loads successfully. Institutions of higher education aren’t allowed to discriminate against students (learn more about ADA regulations here); therefore, teachers and departments try to tread carefully once students disclose their dyslexia and request specific accommodations. That said, there are still wide differences between schools that are well-informed and support their students. See our survey results for the Best and Worst Colleges for Dyslexia FINDING THE SCHOOL THAT […]
Not Broken Movie: Interview with Gifted Filmmaker Lauren Havel
“In 2018, just after I turned thirteen, my mom signed me up for a film camp at a local private school. The moment I picked up a camera, I felt like I never wanted to put it down!” — Lauren Havel Recently, I had the chance to talk with an amazing young filmmaker, Lauren Havel of Lauren Grace Studios. Watch and like it on YouTube (below) or Amazon Prime. Here’s how Lauren describes her movie, Not Broken: “Young Winter Knight is profoundly dyslexic and equally artistic. Despair sets in as she finds herself defined not by her talents but by her disabilities. As her dyslexia begins to impact virtually every area of her life, she becomes convinced that she’s hopelessly broken. Until, that is, she […]
Dyslexic Advantage Travels to England
In a whirlwind trip, Brock met up with Dr. Helen Taylor of the University of Strathclyde and Cambridge University (Dyslexia as an Evolutionary Advantage) to speak at GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) – the United Kingdom’s Code and Cypher School, Imperial College (Britain’s MIT)’s Celebration of Neurodiversity in STEM (below), the Dyslexia Show 2023, and many colleagues and experts that we have know for years through their works and research, but never had a chance to meet in person. Dyslexia in the United Kingdom is very different from Dyslexia in United States. I think it’s fair to say that dyslexic strengths are more widely researched and recognized at all levels of education (from early grades through higher education) as well as at work. Here is the […]
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English Language Learners and Dyslexia [Premium]
Question: An English language learner recently joined my dyslexia classroom. She seems to be having more difficulty progressing on our standard curriculum. Do you have any suggestions or advice? When trying to understand why a new English Language Learner (ELL or English as a Second Language) student in your class isn’t making progress with peers, individual as well as more general second language-related factors can be contributing to the discrepancy. Whenever a particular student seems to be having trouble showing progress with a curriculum, individual factors, such as their vision or hearing (including chronic ear infections, for instance) interfering with their learning should be considered. Beyond this, questions about speed of instruction, working memory, long-term memory, the number of repetitions needed to progress should be […]
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Working Memory, Attention, and Learning [Premium]
“When we act on sensory inputs we call it ‘attention,’ but there’s a similar mechanism that can act on the thoughts we hold in mind.” — Timothy Buschman, Princeton University For the past 70 years, psychologists, researchers, teachers have focused intently on the implications of attention to learning, but working memory, a type of short-term memory that seems equally important — if not more significant — to general cognitive processes has received far less consideration. There are several implications for most dyslexic individuals because what many may attribute to attention or attention deficit may actually be due to activities involving working memory. IS IT INATTENTION OR WORKING MEMORY OVERLOAD? A student is struggling in math class. He is watching the teacher write on the board […]
The Karina Eide Young Writers Awards 2023
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OSPI STEM Course – STEM for Diverse Learners
Dyslexia and Gifted: Course for Psychologists
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