"It wasn't until I became a college professor myself that a friend and fellow teacher figured out that I had dyslexia... I go out in the world and learn through experience, such as talking to astrophysicists and neuroscientists in their laboratories." - Rebecca...
Dyslexia and Mapping Out the Mind [Premium]
When Dan Pink wrote his book about the world needing more skills of the Conceptual Age, many in the dyslexia community couldn’t help but notice that his list looked a lot like common lists of dyslexic strengths: – Artistry – Inventiveness – Big-picture thinking – Pattern recognition – Empathy The implications for education and careers were straightforward. The goals of education and satisfying work should not be mere mastery of information, but a mastery of concepts that could be used flexibly to solve problems and create things that are new. Pink is not a neuroscientist; he is a popular author and observer of trends. Where are we now in our understanding of “dyslexic thinking”? There are many interesting lines of thought coming together these […]
The Late Bloom [Premium]
The cognitive profile associated with dyslexia is the quintessential “late blooming” profile. There can be a lot of stress and angst that comes with late blooming, but the good news is that the bloom is a gift when it arrives. Here are some facts that are helpful to know about late blooming and dyslexia:
1. DYSLEXIC DEVELOPMENT AND READING: DELAYED AT FIRST, SPURTING AHEAD LATER In the figure below, look at the spurt in reading comprehension that takes place especially after the 4th grade. Between the 4th and 8th grade, the “poor decoders” (dyslexic readers with weak phonology) actually improved faster than typical readers. This improvement was very different from poor comprehenders (poor readers with more pervasive language difficulties) who hit a plateau […]Steven Erickson LEGO Master Season Two!
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...
Dyslexic Strengths: Nonverbal Super Powers [Premium]
“Did you see how their finance person rolled her eyes when the marketing guy was talking?” she’d observe. “They’re just not on the same page.” Or she might explain why the no’s they heard on various proposals could mean different things…” Michael Wheeler, from The Art of Negotiation about Erin Egan At one of our Conferences on Dyslexia and Innovation, Erin Egan, at that time, one of Dyslexic Advantage’s Board members, spoke about her experiences with dyslexia. If you only heard about her struggles, you’d miss that she was a leading negotiator for such powerhouse companies as Microsoft and Airbus. From Michael Wheeler again: “It’s as if Erin has social sonar, a way of seeing the interpersonal cross-currents below the surface and the forces […]
Extraordinary Artist: Vincent [Premium]
“When you have dyslexia and you don’t know that’s what it is, you assume you’re not intelligent — and your self-confidence is taken away.” – Vincent Fantauzzo Vincent grew up in a crowded public housing flat with his mother and four siblings. He left school at 13, barely able to read and write, and got mixed up in street fights and general delinquency. “I spent my life hiding and hustling, feeling ashamed, not being good enough, not being smart enough and pretending to be someone I wasn’t…” – Vincent Fantauzzo While he was in school, Vincent remembered wanting to get kicked out of class rather than stand up and read aloud. He wondered why other students could read and he could not. “You can be dyslexic […]
How a 13-Year Old Dyslexic Girl Helped Save Britain: Hazel Hill
"My mother was partially dyslexic, and she had terrible trouble spelling. This got her into trouble as she was obviously highly intelligent, so teachers thought she was naughty and lazy. I think when she did mathematics, she had none of these problems, which is why it...
Dyslexic MIND Strengths… for Kids!
Q: What can you tell me about MIND strengths and dyslexia? A: MIND-Strengths was a concept that we developed in our 2011 book, The Dyslexic Advantage. Both the book and the concept had their origin in our observations that dyslexic people not only shared certain kinds...
DYSLEXIC CHOREOGRAPHERS: Touching Others Through Dance
It's mesmerizing and powerful...Charlotte Edmond's choreographed underwater ballet that was meant to convey the experience of being depressed and at the same time overcome the stigma that exists about mental illness. >>>WATCH VIDEO BELOW This remarkable...
Could you have a Math-Gifted Student? [Premium]
It’s really not easy to tell. “Some mathematically gifted students do not demonstrate outstanding academic achievement, display enthusiasm towards school mathematics programs, or obtain top grades in their mathematics classes. It is important to know that there are such students, because their abilities in mathematics are easily overlooked by teachers and parents. In Bloom’s 1984 study, 6 out of 20 world-class mathematicians reported problems in learning to read. Correspondingly, Colangelo, Assouline, Kerr, Huesman, and Johnson studied 34 inventors and found that, in spite of their mathematical strengths, most of them reported weaknesses in writing and verbal areas and more than half described themselves as low achievers in school who failed in at least on subject.” – A. Al-Hroub, University of Cambridge From Rotigel and Fello: […]
[PREMIUM] Verbalizers and Verbally-Gifted Dyslexics
Not all dyslexics are “visualizers.” In our survey, about 7% did not agree with the statement that they primarily processed information in a nonverbal way. Strong verbalizer dyslexics may need to talk about issues in order to understand and remember them. Even if they learn from pictures or experiences, they have a running commentary in their head about what they are seeing and experiencing. Compared to visualizers, they have an easier time retrieving words and may perform better in language-heavy academics. SOME STRONG VERBALIZERS DON’T HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE VISUAL IMAGES
Some of these students may have little or no “picture” memory, meaning that they struggle taking a mental snapshot of what they see. In the younger grades, they may especially struggle […]The Mislabeled Dyslexic Student [PREMIUM]
“In the course of the 11 years of the family genetics project, many parents whose children had superior or very superior verbal reasoning shared with the research team how difficult it was to convince educators that their child had a learning disability. Frequently they reported being told that their child was bright and the problem was just a matter of motivation and their child not being willing to work hard. “ – Drs. Virginia Berninger and Robert Abbott, 2013 If you have the means to get IQ testing for your student for dyslexia, do it. The biggest reason is that it’s very common to underestimate intelligence in the setting of dyslexia. This sad fact can lead in gross underestimations and inappropriate classroom placements Giftedness can […]
