Question: Can the Strengths of Dyslexia Be Affected or Minimized by ADHD?

Question: Can the Strengths of Dyslexia Be Affected or Minimized by ADHD?

by | Jun 18, 2023 | , , , , ,

  This question came through our webinar last month and I thought we could respond to it in more detail in our newsletter. There can be a high degree of overlap between individuals diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Both dyslexia and ADHD can run in families and both can be associated with creativity, giftedness, and lower working memory. Dyslexia is usually identified through a “clinical diagnosis” with a professional looking at gaps between certain measures of IQ – like verbal reasoning and comprehension, and lower than expected single word or pseudoword reading (fake words that need to be sounded out and so reflect phonological awareness), naming speed, oral reading accuracy and speed, spelling, and impaired automaticity with writing by hand. An entire book can be […]

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Managing Test Anxiety

Managing Test Anxiety

by | May 18, 2023 | , , , , , ,

  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, […]

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Dyslexia in Popular Culture… Great or Cringe-Worthy?

Dyslexia in Popular Culture… Great or Cringe-Worthy?

by | May 12, 2023 | , , , , , , , , ,

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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Unanimous Supreme Court Decision for Students with Disabilities

Unanimous Supreme Court Decision for Students with Disabilities

by | May 6, 2023 | , , , , , , ,

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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Reading Mode: How to Make Web Pages Easier to Read

Reading Mode: How to Make Web Pages Easier to Read

by | May 6, 2023 | , , , , , ,

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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Not Broken Movie: Interview with Gifted Filmmaker Lauren Havel

Not Broken Movie: Interview with Gifted Filmmaker Lauren Havel

by | Apr 19, 2023 | , , , , , , , , ,

“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 […]

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Dyslexic Advantage Travels to England

Dyslexic Advantage Travels to England

by | Apr 19, 2023 | , , , , , ,

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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The Karina Eide Young Writers Awards 2023

The Karina Eide Young Writers Awards 2023

by | Apr 5, 2023 | , , , , , ,

Congratulations Karina Eide Young Writer Award Winners 2023! Read the creative entries here!   Bookmark Please login to bookmark ClosePlease login to access.

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Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) Help Dyslexics? [Free Registration]

Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) Help Dyslexics? [Free Registration]

by | Feb 28, 2023 | , , , , ,

  It’s very clear that AI or Artificial Intelligence-informed software can be extremely useful in many ways for dyslexic students as well as adults. If you haven’t tried any of these programs before, you’re in for a surprise. There are also downsides to the technology (see our article, The Fight Against Robots) but AI is already embedded in many programs including Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant, and also programs like Grammarly and WordTune. Many of the best text-to-speech programs are using AI. So it’s here and the applications are immense. STUDENTS A student in New Zealand recently spoke anonymously about their use of AI for written assignments in college. They rationalized that it was like writing with Grammarly, which in the paid version […]

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The Benefits of Reading Together

The Benefits of Reading Together

by | Feb 11, 2023 | , , , , ,

It doesn’t replace early identification, remediation, and support, but reading at home supported the long term reading success of children with a positive family history of dyslexia. The study is interesting one because it followed children for 13 years! The youngest children were age 2, and by the conclusion of the study, the oldest were 23. Researchers compared various reading and language skills as well as conducting detailed interviews of family practices. READ TOGETHER What was interesting is that early shared reading with family members (from the age of 2) was associated with the development of strong vocabulary. Strong vocabulary in turn had positive protective effect on reading comprehension in adolescence. Another finding was that reading vocabulary and reading fluency at 8 years among students […]

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On Writing: A Guest Post

On Writing: A Guest Post

by | Feb 4, 2023 | , , , , , ,

Recently, a bilingual teacher in my Dyslexia for Teachers class shared his experiences being a dyslexic writing in both English and Chinese. With his permission, I am sharing some of his reflections: “Under an educational system that attaches great importance to writing abilities, I have been subjected to countless criticisms and reproaches. I should have given up or avoided writing early on, but for a community college teacher who encouraged me, saying that my articles were imaginative and beautiful. That’s why I was determined to continue to study and write.” — Jason Jason’s post: “I love writing a lot, but it is always tricky for me. I used to have too many ideas and didn’t know how to start. Retrieving words and spelling are always […]

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Where Classroom Reading Fluency Practice Can Go Wrong

Where Classroom Reading Fluency Practice Can Go Wrong

by | Jan 8, 2023 | , , , , , , , , ,

Reading fluency is defined as an ability to read texts with accuracy, a good rate, and good expression (sometimes the latter two are referred to as automaticity and prosody). Strong reading fluency is a goal that all children should have on their path to becoming independent readers, but reading fluency practice is not sufficient to remediate dyslexic students. Students must reach a certain level of decoding before reading fluency can be meaningfully assessed. Decoding is the process of translating printed words into speech.   READING FLUENCY PRACTICE IS NOT SUFFICIENT FOR DYSLEXIC STUDENTS STILL WORKING TO DECODE The idea that simply exposing students to reading quality texts and modeling fluent reading would be sufficient for an overwhelming majority of students is a failed theory that […]

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