It’s often told to parents that a “Five Finger Rule” can help you choose whether a book is at the right reading level for a student. The rule states that if a student misses five or more words, it may be too hard, no words and it might be too easy, and three words and it’s ‘just right’. The problem for dyslexic students is that the “Five Finger Rule” may prevent them accessing print information at their intellectual level and if reading aloud is the guide for the rule, then it’s possible they may never be granted access to higher level books even if they are university professors! In fact, pioneering work by Rosalie Fink (see research paper below for Premium members), showed that accomplished […]
Divide and Conquer: Working Memory Hacks [Premium]
“Divida et Impera.” – Julius Caesar There’s an old military strategy of Divide and Conquer that’s been in operation even before Julius Caesar’s Divida et Impera (Divide and Rule), and it turns out divide and conquer can be helpful if you’re dyslexic too. Recently, we were asked by a professional colleague about the most common cognitive pattern we see in dyslexic individuals. Verbal reasoning and not uncommonly spatial reasoning are high, but working memory and processing speed are slow. How could it be, she asked that fund of knowledge and reasoning ability are so high though working memory is much lower or even quite low? The reason there is no tight connection between these cognitive groups is that working memory is not an index of total memory (for […]
