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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New Ways to Hack Learning [Premium]
Almost every structured literacy program uses letter tiles and flashcards. The reason for this is that there are so many word parts and whole words to learn and the use of tiles and cards can give students visual support as they focus on various letters, letter groups, and their sounds while building up reading fluency. Some students may have difficulty learning with tiles and cards if the lessons or demonstrations proceed too quickly, or if working memory is easily overloaded or motor challenges make hands-on activities more difficult than less kinesthetic ones. Activities like word sorts may also provide a little physical activity that help students stay alert and engaged whereas more passive study may have them drifting off. For college kids and adults, flashcards […]
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Florence Welch + The Machine Singer-Songwriter [Premium]
“Being a creative person and getting older, and wiser, has been an awakening. The older I get, the more self-assured I feel and the more confident I feel in my work and in life.” — Florence Welch Florence Welch is an English singer-songwriter who writes and sings songs that are steeped in folklore and fantasy imagery. She has spoken both about her dyslexia and dyspraxia in various interviews. Florence became a pop star at the age of 21 when she was discovered singing in a club bathroom. She would go on to have Grammy nominations and platinum records, but also had some tumultuous times with heartbreak. One of her breakthrough songs was Ship to Wreck (lyrics), after the breakup of a long term relationship. […]
In Memoriam: Beryl Bennaceraf, Ultrasound Pioneer
“What helped me was realizing that there was silver living, that it wasn’t all negative….in radiology… pictures just speak to me. I can look at a picture and I can see the pattern. I can see things that nobody else can see.” — Beryl Bennaceraf, MD With great sadness, we learned that Dr. Beryl Bennaceraf, a legend in the field of ultrasound medicine passed away. Condolences to husband Peter, their children, and grandchildren. Beryl had generously spoken to Brock and I about her dyslexic journey and the strengths she found in radiology. She helped over 350,000 women over her years in practice, and had legendary spatial expertise that she attributed to her dyslexia. You can learn about Beryl here and here. About her dyslexia, Beryl […]
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On Education with Dr John Lienhard IV [Premium]
“I couldn’t read and write, could barely scrape through school…” — Dr. John Lienhard IV, emeritus mechanical engineering professor, founder of Engines of Our Ingenuity Recently, I had an opportunity to talk with a remarkable polymath (he prefers the word gadfly), John Lienhard IV, an emeritus professor of mechanical engineering. I had come across his podcast episode, Risk and Vocation, where he had said: “We dyslexics make fine engineers and inventors. We do fine in art, computers, theater. Why push your students into the standard prestige programs? They’re the people who’ll shape the material world we live in.” Also, “Real influence flows to people who leave the beaten paths and whose hands touch the material world.” If you’d like to hear my full interview […]
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Question: Keeping Up with Wilson at School [Premium]
Question: I have a third grade student who attends a school that used Wilson Fundations in the earlier grades. The problem is that even though my daughter did some summer work, she’s been having trouble keeping up. She’s dropped down a level from her peers so that she’s just repeating what she had been taught before. There is less stress in the lower group, but would changing her to a different curriculum be a better option? Answer: This is a difficult question to answer specifically. Ideally, someone who really knows your student could give you specific guidance on whether repetition or a new curriculum might be a better move. The Wilson Fundations program is designed for general education classrooms. It (as well as other programs […]
Daily Thinker Fundraiser for Dyslexic Advantage – Thanks Preston!
Recently, we were contacted by a member of this community, Preston Ausbrook, who told us that she has been making The Daily Thinker quote calendars for family and friends since 2018. She asked if she could now donate all profits to Dyslexic Advantage! We were very touched and said yes! They are now for sale in her newly created Etsy store HERE. Preston said the idea for the calendars came from her dad who was a writer had a love of “all things literary” and was able to recall quotes from all different books. Preston said she never became a writer, but loved collecting other people’s words. When she had her own child, she would buy little quote calendars, and they had a regular routine […]
Nature Journaling with John Muir Laws
“I notice, I wonder, it reminds me of” are powerful prompts that lead you to observe more deeply, ask better questions, and make interesting connections.” — John (Jack) Muir Laws This is a great time to get outdoors and draw. Even if you’re a backyard nature watcher, trees and animals may be changing their appearance and tremendous shifts may be happening in migrating birds and other animals. We first got to meet Jack in person at our first Conference on Dyslexia and Talent almost a decade ago. He mesmerized us with his personal story (see video below) and approach to creating a more user-friendly field guide, Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada. Fast forward to today, and Jack has launched an international movement of nature […]
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The Gift of Families [Premium]
This article was inspired by Steven Spielberg's movie, The Fabelmans. It is a look back to his childhood inspirations and a nod to his family. As the pandemic worsened, Spielberg said: “As things got worse and worse, I felt that if I was going to leave anything...
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Brilliant Actress Morfydd Clark [Premium]
“When on stage, I have good concentration. When I don’t find something interesting, I can’t concentrate.” — Morfydd Clark Brilliant, beautiful, and brave actress Morfydd Clark is mesmerizing in Rings of Power as the Elven warrior Galadriel. “I wasn’t great in class and suffered from dyslexia and ADHD; still do. As a result I could never sit in class listening quietly, and my attention would inevitably end up wandering after a short while.” — Morfydd Clark Morfydd had long been a fan of Lord of the Rings because her father had read The Hobbit to her and she had listened to Lord of the Rings on audiobooks. She has said that she felt that her bilingual background helped her relate to Galadriel because Galadriel would think […]
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Dyslexia and Math: Knowing Why [Premium]
It’s been estimated that almost half of dyslexic individuals will also be dyscalculic (Wilson et al., 2014), but dyscalculia is less likely to be assessed or formally identified in school, leaving students to flounder on their own. WHY IS DYSLEXIA COMMONLY ASSOCIATED WITH MATH LD? Experts still debate why there is such significant overlap, but at least one recent study found that spatial difficulties were especially associated with students with dyscalculia or those with both dyslexia and dyscalculia. Besides spatial factors, difficulties in sequencing, trouble with symbols, working memory overload, and rote math fact retrieval are all difficulties commonly seen among dyslexic students and those with dyscalculia. What is not particularly common among dyslexic students is difficulty with math reasoning – in fact for […]
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Dyslexic Advantages in Electrical Engineering [Premium]
A TALE OF TWO STORIES “At the beginning I can remember looking at blackboards or pages of text having no idea what other kids around me were seeing. For me the pages may have well as been blank for all I could glean from them. However I was lucky as when I started my secondary school my teacher spotted that I was having problems. I was tested for dyslexia and found to have a mild form… By the time I left I had poor grades and was told I would not amount to much…” Same person: “I became interested in geeky stuff when I was less than ten years old. I remember being given a toy wind up clock that you could open the back […]
Competence and Confidence in the Early Years
"The more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others." - Erik Erikson In the late 1950's and early 60's, Erik Erikson, Harvard professor of Psychology, proposed 6 stages of psychosocial development that supplanted other theories of...
Great Storytellers
Dyslexic storytellers are among the greatest storytellers who ever lived. They weave their stories in family get-togethers, business meetings, novels, screenplays, and poems, films, illustrations, cartoons, and paintings. When we first began learning more about...
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The Power of the List [Premium]
For many of us, hearing about a new technology, app, or software can result in mixed feelings. We may have hope about better organizing and simplifying our lives, but also have reasonable worry about a difficult learning curve, a complicated interface, or any number of problems that can prevent us from reaping the benefits of whatever thing we are hoping might help. Enter – the simple list. If you have a weak short term or working memory, but great long-term memory and you don’t like reading lots of extra text, then lists may be the perfect productivity tool for you. Putting something down on a list can offload your working memory, but also have the benefits of reinforcing the big picture, while never losing sight […]
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Finding Your Voice [Premium]
Finding one’s voice is an existential issue for many – but for dyslexic folks in particular, it can be a difficult because of the nature of their challenges early in life and, of course, the school business. From a practical perspective, dyslexia can create many obstacles in expression and people may be trapped not being able to reveal the depth of their feeling and understanding. Even when the reading issues get remediated and accommodated and writing gets easier, many will still struggle – and that may drift into the adult years. WHAT TO DO? There’s a saying, “Use it or lose it”, and the dilemma for those who may have some trouble expressing their ideas is that they are more likely to be inhibited about […]
Not Over Hurdles, But Around Them
If you have moderate to severe dyslexia, chances are that you’ve encountered many obstacles on path to higher education and career. The farther one gets in education, the more one can recognize that much of education deals with writing about things rather than doing them. If you can find a program that is more hands-on and real world problem solving, you may have hit the jackpot; if not, you may have heard the lecture that some thing that you want to do is impossible or out of-reach, but it may not be. You may need to find your way around a hurdle and not over it – like others of your peer group. Spiky profile dyslexics may find themselves getting A’s in physics, science, and […]
Reading Beyond Level
Don’t restrict students to decodable readers. It’s a little like trying to feed an elephant one blade of grass at a time. Reading decodable books has an important place in structured literacy programs for dyslexic students, but recently some in the reading community have been calling for “phonics-only” or “phonics-first” and this is not a good idea. Recently Emeritus Literacy Professor Timothy Shanahan from the University of Illinois at Chicago has also called these policies as overreach. From his recent blog post: “The National Reading Panel report (2000) is oft cited as the major support for phonics instruction. We found (I was a member of the panel) that explicit, systematic phonics instruction helped students to become better readers – based on a meta-analysis of […]
Co-founder Brett Kopf’s Journey to Success with Remind and Omella
“…Can I just start off by making a blanket statement that I think dyslexia can be such a gift?” — Brett Kopf Brett Kopf is co-founder of Remind and Omella, two companies that grew out of his interest in solving problems that mission-driven organizations and schools face. Brett’s path from struggling in school and spending almost every day in the principal’s office, to difficulty deciding on a career path in college (agriculture?) seem disconnected to his remarkable success as a business co-founder, but there were signs of his talents even as a child. Brett remember enjoying talking to his principal, and in his job today he likes talking to customers and figuring out what they need and then brainstorming about how what he could […]
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Gifted with Dyslexia Middle School : Move Ahead or Fall Back? [Premium]
Question: My daughter is in middle school and although she’s qualified for advanced programs, I’m not sure whether it is a good idea to keep her in those classes or move her back. What should she do? Answer: For gifted dyslexic students, decisions on whether to move ahead or hold back depends on several factors. STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES First, it’s best to take an honest look at a student’s strengths and challenges. Students with very high conceptual and oral verbal abilities may find it frustrating being placed in classes that have little intellectual challenge or verbally-matched peers. Highly gifted twice-exceptional students may have trouble feeling that they fit in, but poor fits can also contribute significantly to poor self-esteem, behavioral problems, and mood disorders like […]
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Teen with Newly-Diagnosed Dysgraphia: Will It Get Better ? [Premium]
Dysgraphia (writing disability) is commonly seen with dyslexia. It does improve over time and can be improved by different approaches and training depending on the source. Many aspects of dysgraphia remain lifelong, though, and it’s common for adults with dysgraphia to opt to use computers and assistive technology when they have to write extensively for work or pleasure. It’s important to identify dysgraphia whatever the age because students with dysgraphia often need accommodations for routine classroom assignments and classroom and standardized tests. Students will need one and a half to twice the time for tests as well as the option to test orally and reduce the quantity of work. Severely dysgraphic students may need to type with word prediction and word correction software or speech-to-text. […]
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