A Dyslexic’s Guide to Writing [Premium]

A Dyslexic’s Guide to Writing [Premium]

by | Jun 12, 2022 | , , ,

“We have so many tools to take care of the spelling, but not the tools to bring a fresh and new perspective to the world. Focus on your voice and your message, and the rest will follow.” — Tess Gadd Tess Gadd is an interface designer based in Cape Town who also writes a popular blog on Medium. She shared three strategies she uses to overcome challenges with writing. 1. PROOFREADING TOOLS “Enter Grammarly. I have been using the pro version for a year now, and it has made such a difference to my writing. Not only does it pick up mistakes, but it is also improves my ability to edit and proofread my own work.” 2. READING TOP TO BOTTOM AND BOTTOM TOP “When […]

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Taming the Monkey Mind [Premium]

Taming the Monkey Mind [Premium]

by | Jun 4, 2022 | , , , , , ,

The idea of having a “monkey mind”, jumping around from one thought to another, dates back centuries. It’s a term that can be applied to restless poorly controlled thought. We are all susceptible to “monkey mind” when our minds are excited, stressed, worried, or tired, but for some, the monkey mind is a frequent state of mind and learning to control it and harness its powers is an important life task. Many dyslexic strengths – like curiosity, imagination, multi-perspective thinking, can also lead to maladaptive behaviors – like susceptibility to distraction or trouble persisting at particular goals – depending what is demanded at the time. What is becoming increasingly clear as scientist make progress in understanding how creative minds work – is that creativity at […]

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Managing Too Much Information in Math with Card Sorts and Categories [Premium]

Managing Too Much Information in Math with Card Sorts and Categories [Premium]

by | Jun 4, 2022 | , , , , , , ,

Too often math classes start off with a lot of math problem-solving that can result in students in getting lost. Sometimes the problem is that math explanations overload working memory; other times, students struggle because they can’t listen for understanding at the same time they are trying to take notes, leaving them to figure out what was being taught in math after they get home.   THE SEA OF MATH PROBLEMS Often students may find themselves in a sea of math problems. They may have followed the reasoning when concepts were first introduced, but quickly find themselves drowning in dozens and dozens of problems that confuse them in terms of the different ways they are solved.   CARD SORTS FOR MATH EXAMPLES AND NEW VOCABULARY […]

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How to Not Go Crazy from Fractions and Decimals [Premium]

How to Not Go Crazy from Fractions and Decimals [Premium]

by | May 27, 2022 | , , , , ,

Fractions and decimals can drive a lot of us crazy. After learning “big” or “long numbers” are larger, suddenly fractions and decimals come along to flip these assumptions upside-down. For dyslexic students, care must be taken at the first step of understanding the equivalences among the different representations of fractions and decimals before moving onto calculations.   WHY STUDENTS MAY STRUGGLE WITH FRACTIONS AND DECIMALS Creative Maths has a nice summary of why decimals are so difficult. An excerpt: “Without zero, 2001 and 201 and 21 would all look the same! From early on we recognize that longer numbers represent larger quantities. We know that a salary with lots of zeroes is better than one with only a few. $1000000 is more than $200 even […]

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Free Reading Resources for Teens [Premium]

Free Reading Resources for Teens [Premium]

by | May 24, 2022 | , , , , ,

It can be difficult to find free reading resources for middle and high school readers, but the non-profit SERP (Strategic Education Research Partnership) has a free engaging downloadable curriculum. The printed materials can also be purchased for classrooms.   They launched STARI curriculum for Tier II to address “gaps in fluency, decoding, stamina, and comprehension.” It is definitely not sufficient to be used as a primary curriculum for dyslexic students, but each lesson module includes 3 levels of fluency passages and each lesson includes multimodal resources like pictures and audio interviews in addition to text. Check out all of the STARI resources HERE. Here are examples from a unit on disasters:   One interesting part of this curriculum is the scaffolding of debate. For instance: […]

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Novelist Natasha Solomons

Novelist Natasha Solomons

by | May 15, 2022 | , , , , , , , , ,

“Books are my refuge, but I had to overcome dyslexia to write the stories I was bursting to tell.” — Natasha Solomons   Natasha is a lifelong storyteller, but it took a lot of persistence and resilience to get those stories out. As a child, she listened to stories incessantly and her grandfather (also dyslexic) had the foresight to pass on his antique writing desk to her when she was just 10 years “to help her with ambition of becoming a writer.” It would be nearly 20 years later, but Natasha would write a novel at that writing desk that would earn a six-figure advance. Currently she is the author of 8 novels. She recently wrote a poignant article for The Guardian. An excerpt: “…stories […]

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Study Hacking The Paper Driver’s License Test [Premium]

Study Hacking The Paper Driver’s License Test [Premium]

by | May 8, 2022 | , , , , , ,

  The Washington state driver’s license paper and pencil test can be a difficult one for dyslexic drivers. Having seen some of the sample questions, there’s a lot more number trivia compared to the California test I passed many years ago. Whether you don’t drink alcohol or smoke marijuana, you have to answer specific questions about how long it takes for the body to recover from a drink or smoking, but also answer detailed questions about how many days you have before reporting the sales of a vehicle to the Department of Licensing (5 days). With many similar questions and answers, the pass rate is 80% (what a nightmare!).   ‘STICKY’ MEMORY CAN INTERFERE WITH ROTE STUDY FOR DRIVER’S TEST How to study for this […]

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Reading and Learning are About Thinking [Premium]

Reading and Learning are About Thinking [Premium]

by | May 8, 2022 | , , , , , , , , ,

“Then a strange thing happened. The more I started thinking about what we were studying, the easier it was to remember the facts. Facts began to stick in my head — and I didn’t even have to try to make it happen…” — Don Johnston, CEO   After using Don Johnston’s assistive technology with our kids when they were growing up, it was such a pleasure for us to meet Don Johnston himself for the first time a few weeks ago. We hadn’t known that he is dyslexic and before we met, he shared his autobiography (for kids), Building Wings. The book is available in e-book form HERE and otherwise through Amazon. Like many dyslexic adults, Don vividly remembers events from his childhood and school […]

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Non-Reading Ways to Recognize Dyslexia [Premium]

Non-Reading Ways to Recognize Dyslexia [Premium]

by | May 8, 2022 | , , , , , ,

Last month, I was surprised when one of the teachers in our Dyslexia for Teachers course said that a writing sample couldn’t lead anyone to suspect a student had dyslexia because dyslexia was a reading disorder. Of course, that statement is wrong.     KNOWING MORE THAN THEY CAN EASILY SHOW BY TESTS OR WRITING Perhaps the most common way that dyslexic students come to the notice of their teachers is by unevenness in their abilities or what some refer to as a “spiky profile.” They may have strong reasoning abilities and make thoughtful observations and comments during class, but their written work may may be far lower than their knowledge from trouble getting their ideas on the page, the need for extended time, and […]

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