"I like to tell people I started the company in fifth grade. That's a lie. But, I was diagnosed with a bunch of learning disabilities as a kid and I really struggled in school. I had this teacher that totally changed my life, named Miss Whitefield. My parents were...
Maya was recently interviewed by Scott Simon for NPR and we loved that she pushed back on the phrase "suffer with dyslexia": "SIMON: I have read that your - that you suffer from dyslexia. HAWKE: I wouldn't say suffer. I would say it is, like, one of the great...
![Tips From Hannah: College Junior with a 4.0 [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Hannah-306x250.png)
KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS – SELF-ADVOCATE – Early in group work, let your fellow students know that you’re dyslexic. Say, “I’m dyslexic, so I can’t read or write well, but I’m creative and can come up with ideas.” – Don’t be afraid of asking students to read things for you. You can help more if people read things aloud to you. – Research on RateMyProfessor ahead of time to find teachers that will work with you re: dyslexia. Are there any warning signs? I like choosing professors who like a lot of class participation. ASK FOR SUBSITUTIONS IF YOU NEED THEM When snow days upset the schedule at school, Hannah had to face learning material and putting together an assignment over Thanksgiving break without the help […]
Across the pond, there's an entrepreneur who has a lot of grit and resilience. It might be because he was faced with adversity from day 1, because he was also born with cystic fibrosis and never expected to have a full life span. He is dyslexic, and also faced shaming...
"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...
Dr. Doresa Jennings is the author of an exciting book series that has positive role models for dyslexia and underrepresented minorities, and it's an exciting book with humor and amazing facts. From Doresa's successful Kickstarter: "Middle Grade readers (9-12 year...
![Could you have a Math-Gifted Student? [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/shutterstock_1108861430-Could-you-have-a-math-gifted-student-400x250.jpg)
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: […]
Michael Shainblum is a photographer/filmmaker who specializes in a wide range of photography including night-cap, aerial, travel, adventure and more. Michael: "As a kid, a lot of people would succeed in certain ways that I couldn't. It took me a really long time to...
"What do teachers need to know about teaching math? Strategy over speed, and math thinking over rote memorization." - Stanford Professor Dr Jo Boaler Check out Jo's tips from her new article, Speed and Time Pressure Block Working Memory (below). "I was always deeply...
![Executive Function: What Smart People Do Differently While Learning [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/woman-thinking-our-shutterstock.jpg)
When researchers compared high IQ and average test subjects in a learning paradigm, the results were surprising. In some areas high IQ individuals work less, as might be expected by the idea that higher IQ people have more efficient brains for learning tasks, but in other areas, high IQ brains were working harder. When were high IQ brains working harder? Not prior or during the task, it seems, but when feedback was given and individuals were learning from their mistakes. From Graham et al. : “the Average IQ group failed to produce as much activation during feedback evaluation as did the High IQ group. These group differences are inconsistent with the neural efficiency hypothesis and instead suggest that the High IQ individuals were engaged in […]
Primum non nocere. – Latin Saying (First, do no harm) The Latin Saying Primum non-nocere may not have originated with Hippocrates, however the advice is also like a laser beam focused on the greatest harm that comes from dyslexia unawareness. A few days ago, a colleague sent me an article where Avengers star (Bruce Banner / the Hulk) Mark Ruffalo shared “The nun who was teaching me early on to read was very cruel because of my dyslexia…these teachings of Christ revolved around love and social justice, and then what I was seeing in that community, the way they did business, the way nuns treated children — all of that seemed to be at odds with each other. I lost my faith in that institution when I was very […]
![Breaking Research : Dyslexia in Adolescents and Adults [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Screen-Shot-2019-10-08-at-4.23.50-PM.jpg)
An important paper was published this month from the University of Washington, entitled “Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Assessment for Dyslexia in Adolescents and Young Adults.” The paper is especially important guiding testing professionals who assess teens and adults for dyslexia or see gifted or twice-exceptional students. This paper also takes a more systematic look at the roles of individual factors like working memory and executive function on dyslexia and reading and spelling performance. The data will be helpful in targeting educational interventions and can also guide requests for testing accommodations. There are interesting observations too in that paper that will help with characterizing the strengths that occur among adolescent and adult dyslexics, with implications for twice-exceptional or gifted students with dyslexia. In several areas, adolescent / adult […]
