International Dyslexia Conference, Nov 12-15 in San Diego, CA November 29, 2014

Last month, I attended the International Dyslexia Conference in San Diego with my son, Gus who has been dealing with the “gift of dyslexia” since he first was supposed to learn to read.  As he puts it,  if this is a gift then can I exchange it for something else.  Kidding aside, the frustrations that come with a reading disability in an age of high stakes testing and increasing pressure for student performance has been a rocky road to put it mildly.  I got into the profession of teaching because of this “gilt” after working in the field of public health for many years.

As I saw my own child struggle not only to read but to feel successful as a person, I became more and more involved at the social justice fight for education.  Startling, I found out that children just like Gus are 60-70% a part of the juvenile justice system. They start out full of hope as young children but then are not successful in school without the proper interventions or support and slowly begin acting out because they are not “good in school.’  Many children begin to feel worthless because they can not “do school.” Having nothing to do with abilities or intelligence, the school system without realizing the emotional damage it causes fails these children.

One of the most amazing talks I attended at the 2 day family conference was from Drake Duane, MD, PhD who showed results of from a long term study of newborns EEG’s and again of the same brains when they were 8 year olds.  The results were staggering.  As newborns there was brain activity that showed the presence of DYSLEXIA.  Epigenitics also seem to play a role

Maryann Wolf’s book, Proust and the Squid, opened a level of understanding for me that reading is not an evolutionary skill and  over 10% of people regardless of race have some sort of reading disability.  Interestingly enough, in cultures where less phonemes are in their alphabet, dyslexics seem to have an easier time of it.  “How do we learn to read and write?” This ambitious and provocative book offers an impassioned look at reading, its effect on our lives, and explains why it matters so greatly in a digital era.  While it is not evolutionary necessary that a brain can read, the placidity of the brain can learn to read.  Education and direct and targeted intervention actually changes the neural pathways of the brain.  It can aid in those important firing mechanisms that allow a dyslexic to access the ability to do so without the struggle that often results in kids giving up..

Click here to hear a excerpt of this wonderful book:  The Story and Science of the Reading Brain

My goal when I got into teaching was to encourage more flexibility for kids to show their level of success but I soon found out how difficult that is.  Studies show that there are superior visual spatial abilities for kids who are dyslexics.  The hypothesis that left-hemisphere deficits accompany right-hemisphere strengths. A recent joint study from the University of Wisconsin, Harvard Project Zero, Boston College, Brown University Medical School and Newgrange School and Educational Outreach Center.   Click the link to find the study but in the summary, it states that:  This finding suggests that dyslexia is associated with a particular type of visual-spatial talent—enhanced ability to process visual-spatial information globally (holistically) rather than locally (part by part).

There was so much to learn at this conference and I could fill pages with my favorites but I would be amiss if I did not share the practical presentation by Jamie Martin who taught a packed room in real time how to write a research paper using assistive technology.  Please CLICK HERE— to assess his electronic handout or scan one of the bar codes to go directly to what was accomplished with a little brainstorming by the crowd, some online tools and either free or low cost technology.  bit.ly/MSC-handout

LOVE the International Dyslexia Association  — do yourself a favor, and join.  $40 a year will keep you informed and a part of the solutions for those 60% of kids who need to be part of what we all want for our country.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dyslexia – the most common learning disability! August 26, 2012

The Brain is a wonderful and mysterious place.  The brain is more complicated and powerful than the most awesome super computer and in the past 40 years, the field of neuroscience has given us a greater understanding of how the brain works and the amazing way it can renew and repair.  The brain is the most important organ in our body (not that we are having a competition). You need the heart and lungs of course but the brain actually controls everything from motor skills to language to vision, etc etc and of course READING.  Scientist have been able to pinpoint the fact that a child with dyslexia’s brain does not function in the same way of a typical reader though high resolution MRI scans.

Just by looking at these images,  you can imagine that a student with Dyslexia has to work ten times as hard to do the same type of work as a typical child.  Children with dyslexia often complain of headaches and just plain hate reading.  I know first hand, my middle school son has dyslexia.  BUT don’t dispair, this brain is very valuable.   We need this brain.  Usually reading can be very frustrating and needs to be taught very explicitly but the other areas that seem to be more advanced than a typical person include GREAT visual spatial abilities and theoretical thinking.    Famous Dyslexics include Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Richard Branson (the founder of Virgin Airlines), Cher, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Cruise, Leonardo Da Vinci, and even Bill Gates.  Not bad company.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dyslexia is a processing issue in the brain.  Often called developmental reading disorder, it a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols, namely letters, sometimes numbers too.  Dyslexia occurs between 10-20% of the world’s population, it occurs in all languages, although Engligh being one the most complicated languages in terms of irregularities, dyslexia can be especially pronounced.

 

Gus, the Superhero