“If somebody asked me if I could live my life again without dyslexia, I would say no, because you recognise things and you do things differently to the way everybody else does, and that gets you to the front of the queue. You see things which are very obvious to you. I’m very practical and visual – that’s what I’m drawn to. And you find ways around challenges and it gives you a different perspective on life.” — Matt Baker of Our Farm in the Dales In the United Kingdom, research has suggested that one in ten people are dyslexic, but besides being over-represented in schools of engineering and art design, dyslexia is also found more commonly in agricultural students (one in five). […]
Processing Speed and Dyslexia [Premium]
Why isn’t there a “diagnosis” of processing speed impairment? For practical reasons, a label or diagnosis can help justify the need for extended time accommodations, reduce the quantity of homework, or similar requests. Without a formal diagnostic code, medical or educational professionals may also be more likely to overlook the need for accommodations… something that can have negative effects on grades and standardized test scores. Processing speed is also a curious phenomenon in the setting of dyslexia because speed is not typically slow for everything but rather certain types of activities that place especially heavy demands on reading, writing, and rote memory. If students are only partially remediated, they will be a great deal slower, needing extra time to decode text as well as integrate information. […]
New to Dyslexia [Premium]
More people are finding out that they’re dyslexic, so it seemed like a good time to write a big picture of dyslexia for new members. DYSLEXIC STRENGTHS First of all, there seem to be intrinsic strengths associated with dyslexia and not simply weaknesses or impairments. Understanding the strengths and positive differences can help people navigate through the most difficult periods of schooling and life. We discuss dyslexic MIND strengths in more detail in our book, The Dyslexic Advantage, but briefly, these strengths include reasoning through materials and physical experiences, reasoning through the interconnection of ideas and knowledge, storytelling, and reasoning through visualizations and mental simulations. Dyslexic learning may conflict with conventional classroom instruction because traditional teaching may emphasize passive learning and rote memorization over […]
What Should We Do This Summer?
Summer is usually a great time for dyslexic students – out of the daily grind of school. Hopefully the pandemic truly is easing and more activities are returning to normal. TAKE A BREAK Students have been working hard and under stress these past months, so make sure they have a chance to really have some time for rest and recovery. How long that break might be depends on how tired or stressed they may be as the school year comes to a close. Having unscheduled time can do some good things – encourage some students to finally pick up a book of their choosing and begin to read, start a new hobby or return to one, or deepen relationships with family and friends. [gspeech […]
PTSD and Dyslexia
“This study identified that emotional trauma took place in all participants, and this resulted in many having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder manifestations as a result of returning to school for their own children. Participants still noted anger and resentment as adults towards their childhood teachers…” — Neil Alexander-Passe In Neil’s study of PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder in dyslexic adults in the United Kingdom, he found that all experienced emotional trauma in their time in the public school system and over half (64%) experienced PTSD or school avoidance symptoms when re-entering schools as parents, resulting in anxiety with many stating that they felt powerless as a child. PTSD symptoms occurred in the same frequency whether or not adults had achieved advanced degrees.
From […]Henry Winkler: Find the Very Best for You
“There is an emotional component to the learning challenged,” says Winkler, whose parents called him “dumb dog” for his failures. “You don’t have a sense of self because you’re not keeping up with everybody… you feel terrible about yourself.” — Henry Winkler Henry Winkler seems to be everywhere. He seems to be having the time of his life and giving generously of his life lessons and hopes for the future. He’s currently in the 3rd season of HBO’s Barry, in an Emmy Award-winning role of a drama teacher, but he also finds every opportunity to share his life lessons about dyslexia and finding the very best for yourself.
In a lovely interview in the New York Times, Henry shared how he fell […]Pausing while Writing [Premium]
There are many reasons why students may pause while writing, but more if students are also dyslexic. Those who remember their thoughts and experiences as nonverbal sensations will need extra steps to put their knowledge and understanding into words. Dysgraphic students will have difficulty writing and those with small working memories, may overload with all the work required for getting ideas in their head down on the page. A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE WRITING PROCESS When Brock and I were testing students, our battery for comprehensive testing included the timed writing of the lower case alphabet, sentence and symbol copy (the latter from the Coding subtests of the WISC), sentence combining, spelling test, descriptive writing of a picture, then 10 minute writing […]
Grit and Resilience [Premium]
“The worst problem any dyslexic has to face is not reading, writing, or even spelling, but a lack of understanding…” — The Reality of Dyslexia Grit is the ability to persevere in the face of setbacks, challenges, pain, and adversity. Resilience is similar, but different in the sense it describes an ability to “bounce back” from difficulties. Both, as it turns out, are important for the achievement of long-term goals and mental well-being. When students in dyslexia specialty schools were studied over the course of years, researchers found that grit and resilience scores increased over time in these schools – and that correlated with lower levels of anxiety and depression and improved academic performance. Want to assess your grit? Click here —> GRIT SCALE […]
Rogue Hero: Mastermind of the Special Air Service, David Stirling [Premium]
“The boy Stirling is quite mad, quite, quite mad. However, in a war there is often a place for mad people.” — General Bernard Montgomery A recent documentary on the founding of the British Special Air Service mentioned that the unconventional mastermind was, in fact, dyslexic. David Stirling has a very non-linear and unpredictable start to his adult life. He started at Cambridge, but was thrown out in his first year because of a variety of poor performances and vices including gambling. He tried to make his way as an architect, then artist, then became interested in the possibility of becoming a mountaineer and reservist in the Scots Guards. David was in America working as a cowboy when the World War II began. He […]
Poor Outcomes for Reading Recovery [Premium]
“Initial gains from first-grade intervention didn’t last and kids performed worse in third and fourth grade…” Over 2 million students in the US have been taught reading with based Reading Recovery, a short term intervention program that uses pull-out one-to-one tutoring to first grade students. It was one of the few programs supported by the What Works Clearing House to improve general achievement (see report here – link goes to a public google drive which contains the report). However, new data suggests that at long-term following, students who received Reading Recovery performed worse than their peers by the 3rd and 4th grades: The researchers at the University of Delaware gave possible reasons for negative results: Of note, Reading Recovery had received $55 […]
A Dyslexic’s Guide to Writing [Premium]
“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 […]
Taming the Monkey Mind [Premium]
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 […]
