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Avoiding the Third Grade Madness [Premium]

If you’re the parent of a third grade child with dyslexia in the public school system, your student may be having an especially difficult time.   Some of the struggle might be understandable as classrooms attempt to move past learning to decode to reading to learn (see post Dyslexia and the Third Grade Wall), but there are additional pressures placed on students due to reading loss from the pandemic in addition to institutional pressures to get students “reading by the third grade.”   RESEARCH ABOUT READING AND THE THIRD GRADE One of the compelling forces behind the pressure for 3rd graders has been a report by the Anne Casey Foundation titled, Early Warning: Why Reading by the End of the Third Grade Matters (learn more […]

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Creativity and Dyslexia

“Individuals with dyslexia significantly outperformed controls in creativity scores in adult samples…” – Majeed et al., 2021   In the past year, there have been two more studies to add to the creativity research literature on dyslexia. The first, a meta-analysis of 14 studies found clear patterns of stronger creativity among dyslexic adult subjects compared to non-dyslexics, but non-significant differences among children or adolescents. The studies included a variety of creativity tasks and measures. Unfortunately, that paper offers little speculation about why that difference might exist, but with recent theories about the role of executive function and attention systems in creativity, it may be that the stronger performances on creativity tasks are only seen on a group basis after executive function abilities have matured. [gspeech […]

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Complementary Cognition

” …our current education and work environments are often not designed to make the most of dyslexia associated thinking, we hope this research provides a starting point for further exploration of the economic, cultural and social benefits the whole of society can gain from the unique abilities of people with dyslexia.” – Nick Posford, CEO, British Dyslexia Association about Dr. Helen Taylor’s theory of complementary cognition.   Since dyslexia may be present in as many as 17% of the general population, many have questioned why such a high incidence exists. One provocative answer to this question comes from Dr. Helen Taylor, the first author on a paper about Complementary Cognition, a theory that proposes that brain-based differences that exist among groups of individuals like dyslexic […]

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Auto-Correct in Foreign Languages: Installing Additional Keyboards [Premium]

This morning, I was interviewing a dyslexic physician, Andrew Newman (we’ll share his full story in another issue) and he happened to mention when he was working through Duolingo foreign language learning app that a pop-up occurred and asked him whether he might want to install a foreign language keyboard to help with spelling in Italian. He had been racing through all the auditory and spoken parts of lessons, but was continually penalized for spelling in the written parts and not able to advance. Installing the Italian keyboard, auto-corrected his spelling and grammar in Italian, so now he’s able keep on learning without his dyslexia getting in the way. Over the years, we often found ourselves writing for or talking to schools to provide appropriate […]

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Working through Higher Math [Premium]

  “An algebra equation should have a physical meaning to it, and have good real world examples…” — Gary McGregor, PhD   Gary McGregor has a lot to say when it comes to math because he survived dropping out of high school, knowing only the basics of math calculation (adding and subtracting, but not fractions) before he enrolled in Junior College determined to learn all the math he would need to become a mechanical engineer. Not only did he succeed in that goal, but he also became an expert higher mathematician and now publishes papers involving complex math. So how did he get from A to Z?   MATH FROM MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES Gary was fortunate to learn from a math teacher in junior college who […]

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From High School Drop-Out to VP of Engineering [Premium]

There are some people who are so insightful into their cognitive processes that talking to them is pure gold. Gary MacGregor is one of those people – he’s a VP of an electronic device company and recent PhD recipient from the University of Texas at Austin. He has a remarkable story and has been very generous in sharing what he has learned. Gary: “I’m a high school dropout. My parents were high school dropouts. I’m the first male in the family to go to college.” When Gary dropped out of school, he took a job working an oil refinery – a lucrative career for a person without a high school diploma. While he was working 12 hour shifts 84 hours a week, he would exercise […]

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If Your Student Can’t Write [Premium]

If your student can’t write, no matter what age – prepare yourself for the long haul because so much of schooling and even many aspects of hiring and work can require writing. When writing is difficult for students with dyslexia, it may be that they are having difficulty converting feelings and images to words, trouble retrieving words, or putting them in the correct order, then writing them down with correct spelling and grammar. A significant proportion of dyslexic students will also have dyspraxia, so have trouble with sequencing and fine motor control required for handwriting automaticity. Any added difficulties may also swamp working memory, causing students to get lost in what they want to say. For many dyslexic people, dysgraphia will present a greater problem […]

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More Free Leveled Texts and Reading Passages [Premium]

The grand-daddy of them all is still probably Readworks, but if you like to change things up with lTween Tribune, run by the Smithsonian. As usual, be aware that news can be susceptible to political bias. If you do use Readworks, make sure you know about the slider at the bottom of the left sidebar that can help students select the correct reading level. If your students are assigned to conduct research on the internet, but may struggle with reading text they find due to their reading level, have them install Rewordify to reword difficult words or phrases or activate their browsers text-to speech. If you’re looking for a few short reading passages for reading fluency practice, you can download the free assortment at Think […]

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How Families Help [Premium]

Families can really make a difference. Many times, they are the last place to find encouragement or to help find a connection to the next opportunity in life.   MARC’S UNCLE Marc shared with me that he grew up in a family that was poor with both parents working full-time to make ends meet. He had been an unexpected baby and an additional financial burden to the family. When he grew up, he recalled being a “clumsy kid” who wasn’t successful in sports like his older brother. His brother and his father connected through sports, but Marc had a harder time seeing ahead to his future because he wasn’t good in sports in addition to his problems in school. Fortunately, though there was an uncle […]

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Math Strategies Instead of Drill [Premium]

In the many years Brock and I spent testing and listening to dyslexic students at every level of education, we often heard first hand accounts of how they learned how to tackle difficult subjects and bypass school-related challenges. As research studies bear out (for instance, see Kirby’s study of dyslexic university students), many dyslexic students in higher education have arrived at where they are because they are deep learners, savvy about how they learn best, and strategic in how they approach school.   Brain-Based Reasons Why Math Strategies Are Better for Dyslexics Than Drill But there is also neurobiological evidence that supports why strategies may be a superior route for dyslexic learning compared to drill or simple repetition. By now, anyone who knows about brain […]

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How Not to Learn to Read aka Death by Worksheets [Premium]

Daniel Shanahan recently recounted his discussion with a principal about his school curriculum. His students were under-performing and he assured Daniel that students were receiving plenty of instruction in phonics and fluency.   When he looked at the teacher’s curricular plan, it looked as if plenty of reading instruction was given every day, but his impression changed once he began visiting classes. Daniel: “Much of the instructional time wasn’t used for instruction at all. The teachers spent a big chunk of time on “sustained silent reading” and they read to the children quite a bit, too. All the classrooms had multiple reading groups. That meant that the boys and girls did a lot of worksheets to keep them quiet while the others were reading with […]

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Marlon Brando, Dyslexia, and Method Acting [Premium]

There’s a new book out this year on method acting, and it mentions Marlon Brando, his mercurial temperament, his dyslexia, and his method acting. Apparently he had ambivalent feelings about taking one of the leading roles in A Streetcar Named Desire, and he was told to show up at the playwright’s (Tennessee Williams’) house in order to clinch the deal. After hitchhiking to Provincetown, he found Williams and his friends in the dark, occasionally getting up to go to the bathroom in the woods. Apparently, a fuse had blown and a toilet was broken and neither Williams nor any of his artist friends knew how to fix either. Brando immediately made an impression, fixing both, then reading for the lead character, Stanley Kowalski. Needless to […]

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