The Dyslexic Brain
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-02-15/dyslexic-brain
For kids with dyslexia, learning to read can be tough going. The disorder afflicts an estimated 15% of Americans. Dyslexics typically have trouble associating letters with sounds and words. Many learn to work around the challenge, but there’s an intriguing new twist: some who work with dyslexics believe that the disability may also confer certain advantages. Specifically, anecdotal evidence suggests that dyslexics have sharper peripheral and three dimensional vision. Please join us to talk about the special challenges and possible advantages for people with dyslexia.
Guests
Dr. Brock Eide
clinician and co-author with Dr. Fernette Eide of "The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain"
Laura Kaloi
National Center for Learning Disabilities
Jeffrey Gilger
professor, School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts
University of California, Merced
Guinevere Eden
director, Center for the Study of Learning
professor, Department of Pediatrics
Georgetown University Medical Center
Program Highlights
People with dyslexia often have trouble reading, spelling and other academic skills, challenges that can be clear disadvantages. But Doctors Brock and Fernette Eide argue dyslexics often have particular abilities as well. Their new book on the subject is titled "The Dyslexic Advantage."
What Is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability that affects an individual's ability to read, write, and spell, as well as other activities that require our brain to process information. It affects nearly 2 million school age children in public schools in the U.S. It's estimated that up to 15 million people, including adults, are dyslexic. There are sometimes some very early warning signs that a child may be developing dyslexia, like when a toddler isn't gaining early speaking skills at the appropriate rate, Kaloi said. Intensive early intervention could help a child gain the speaking skills they need.
Is Dyslexia Heritable?
There are micro differences in the brains of dyslexic people, Eden said, and it is now known it is a heritable disorder. This doesn't mean that the environment isn't also important, Gilger said. But in families where any one individual has dyslexia, the odds that it will appear again in that family go up anywhere from four to ten times over the base rate, Gilger said. Researchers are beginning to be able to identify some of the genes that might be involved.
Advantages To The Dyslexic Brain
Eide and colleagues found four basic advantages that dyslexic people have in common, and they use the acronym "MIND" to represent them. "M" is for material, or spatial, reasoning; "I" is for interconnected reasoning, which allows the ability to see connections between objects and concepts and to fit these into a big picture; "N" stands for "narrative reasoning," the tendency to understand factual information as cases or examples rather than in the abstract; and "D" stands for "dynamic reasoning," or the ability to use remembered information to make predictions about processes that change over time. Kaloi believes that teachers need more resources to help them harness some of these strengths in dyslexic students. The dropout rate among dyslexics, she said, is currently about 20 percent.
A Caller's Perspective: "It's Not That You Can't Learn. You Just Learn Differently"
A caller named Ben talked about his own experiences as a dyslexic and said that people often think of dyslexia as a problem where people "reverse their letters." "It's not just about reversing letters. It's really about the acquisition of reading, which is something we created," he said. Kaloi responded by emphasizing again that teachers need to develop a better understanding of how dyslexic students learn. "You don't do what we call 'drill and kill' with kids with dyslexia," she said, "where they just get the worksheets and the same stuff over and over....we have to have a different approach for these students and how they learn," she said.
You can read the full transcript here.
Comments
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These are excellent points the Eides make:
"It’s a huge mistake to regard a dyslexic child as if his or her brain is trying to follow the same pathway of development as all the other kids but is simply doing a bad job of it."
“The other big misconception is that dyslexia is fundamentally a learning disorder which is accompanied only by problems, rather than a different pattern of processing that can bring tremendous strengths in addition to the well-known challenges.”
Speaking in a Lexercise Live Broadcast last week, Pulitzer prize winning, dyslexic poet Philip Schultz made these points so cogently: http://blog.lexercise.com/2012/02/live-broadcast-29-my-dyslexia/
But still, there are HUGE barriers for parents who suspect their child may be dyslexic. For one thing, getting a clear diagnosis can be daunting. Public school learning disability services are often not just inadequate but painfully so, as Prof. Ruth Colker points out: http://blog.lexercise.com/2012/01/live-broadcast-28-the-learning-disabil...
Our solution is to bring these services to families in their homes, using web-based technology to create a partnership between the clinician, the child and the parent (and teachers, too, if they are willing).
The goal is to make language processing easier and more automatic so learning can be joyful.
Thanks for all your consistently excellent broadcast journalism, Diane!
Sandie Barrie Blackley, MA/CCC
Speech-Language Pathologist
ASHA Fellow
Co-founder, www.Lexercise.com
Hi Diane. My son has been diagnosed with Dyslexia. We just read "The Gift of Dyslexia" by Ronald Davis. We plan to try the Davis Dyslexia Correction method this summer with a licensed provider. Does your guest have any experience or ideas regarding this method of correction?
Thanks,
Charles
Can you discuss how a diagnosis is made in a school age child?
Would typical testing for learning disability that a school would do reveal dyslexia?
I would like to hear more about the Dynamic reasoning strength of dyslexics. I've read _The Dyslexic Advantage_ and learned a lot from it. The Dynamic reasoning seems the most intriguing strength of dyslexia, sio I'd like to hear more about it.
As a past president of the Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan, and an active volunteer, my only concern about making such positive assertions about dyslexia (one of a range of learning (dis)abilities) is that many people struggle throughout life to access a world that uses a narrow definition of "access to text" as a gatekeeper to educational, social, and economic opportunity. Lest we oversell the "talent" side of dyslexia, we need to make sure that we also work to remove the barriers that often shut people with dyslexia out of opportunity.
Many are judged to be "less" because they are unable to read in the conventional sense: using their eyes to decode print on the page. Assistive technologies help, but are still considered by many to be "cheating".
Still other people evidence learning disabilities in other areas of processing, for instance in the area of numbers and mathematics. We are still in our infancy in research on learning disabilities that affect mathematics. The increasing, lock-step requirements for earning diplomas (the "Common Core Curriculum") offer insurmountable barriers for those with learning disabilities, despite their great potential to contribute in their areas of strength.
With our President's new emphasis on the employment of more people with disabilities, we need to remember that many of the barriers to learning and employment are narrow definitions of ability, and general inflexibility about how people with learning disabilities can gain access when "conventional" ways of participation exclude them.
Kathleen Kosobud, past president, LDA of Michigan
As a past president of the Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan, and an active volunteer, my only concern about making such positive assertions about dyslexia (one of a range of learning (dis)abilities) is that many people struggle throughout life to access a world that uses a narrow definition of "access to text" as a gatekeeper to educational, social, and economic opportunity. Lest we oversell the "talent" side of dyslexia, we need to make sure that we also work to remove the barriers that often shut people with dyslexia out of opportunity.
Many are judged to be "less" because they are unable to read in the conventional sense: using their eyes to decode print on the page. Assistive technologies help, but are still considered by many to be "cheating".
Still other people evidence learning disabilities in other areas of processing, for instance in the area of numbers and mathematics. We are still in our infancy in research on learning disabilities that affect mathematics. The increasing, lock-step requirements for earning diplomas (the "Common Core Curriculum") offer insurmountable barriers for those with learning disabilities, despite their great potential to contribute in their areas of strength.
With our President's new emphasis on the employment of more people with disabilities, we need to remember that many of the barriers to learning and employment are narrow definitions of ability, and general inflexibility about how people with learning disabilities can gain access when "conventional" ways of participation exclude them.
Kathleen Kosobud, past president, LDA of Michigan
I am a 56-year-old dyslexic. For most of my life I have been a model maker by profession. Because dyslexia gives an advantage in interpreting three-dimensional objects, my profession has a higher than average number of dyslexics in it. I highly recommend the book gift of dyslexia.
Sometime around 6th grade, I learned to overcome my reading disability. I continue to have problems with spelling and remembering numbers over 5 digits long.
Hi- great show! Could you mention also dyscalculia?
I am 58 and when I was in 4th grade I was failing spelling. If I did not pass my last test, I would be held back a grade. I made a small cheat sheet and still failed the test. Dyslexica at that time was not on the school's radar. I told my mother about the cheat sheet and the failing grade. From that point on, she worked with me to memorize each word for each test. I did not realize until I was an adult that I was dyslexic.
My son is currently going through the Barton learning process through a private certified teacher. My public school system would not recognize this condition. My question, is it necessary to get a "diagnosis" for dyslexia? Will it have negative affects later in life with specific acceptance into schools, programs, jobs?
Hello, my son was never diagnosed as dyslexic, but always struggled in school. He has an amazing sense of direction, and is an amazing musician, playing the drums by ear. He can hear a song once, and duplicate it on the drums. He barely made it through HS, and dropped out of college after his first semister. He does work in a low level job, but writes his own music, and can quote almost any line from any movie by his favorite directors.
Thank you for this show
Susan
Hi Diane,
I love your show. My daughter is ADHD but when tested by the school counselor stated that she wasn't Dyslexic but scoring show a slight boarder line. She has always struggled with her reading. We constantly have to do repetition of her sounds. She has progressed well but it has been work. Her b's and d's were always transposed. She was always great at substituting words in a sentence that fit well and if you didn't know how that sentence actually read, you would think she was correct.
I have a friend with dyslexia who is an extremely intelligent engineer and does seem to have fabulous spacial relations and directional sense - I notice (what I think it is) her dyslexia affect her much more in verbal communication/information sharing i.e. she has a very hard time with play on words, etc. She has 'warned' me against seeing David Sederis live (who I adore) because she does not find him funny in person but does find his books funny - I on the other hand LOVE to listen to him and enjoy hearing his voice in my head when i read his books - I use a lot of play on words, word replacement, etc. in my day to day speach and I also talk quite fast and I see her having trouble with both of those things and so do sometimes modify my normal speech patterns with her when I manage to think of it. It is also very intersting in some cases when we both listen to someone speak and take totally different things away from the conversation, again, not sure if this is the dyslexic brain - but I want to learn to be more open to her interpretations. The book sounds like an enlightening take on this issue.
Many "aha!" moments wash over me listening to this conversation.
In the early 1960s my teacher told my mother that she should just accept that as a student I was "slow." Mom wasn't having any of it and they did lots of tests, finally diagnosing dyslexia. It wasn't until several years later I had some therapy (learning learning tricks to remember spelling rules, etc.).
I have to use examples to explain to people how things work. I love map and compass work (in forestry, in mountain climbing, as a driver finding my way to places I once visited years before, I can find my way back without a map, etc. - all before GPS, which I still don't use.)
I'm good with language and I love to read, but I read very slowly. In school I always did best in classes where the core content was delivered via lecture. If I had to read a lot I didn't do well, so my grades showed me as a very average student. I prefer recorded books and I, like an example given earlier in the program, tend to take my clues from conversation rather than from written materials in meetings.
Thanks for this program!
Maggie in Fort Worth
Hello Diane,
I am so happy to hear that you are covering Dyslexia. I myself was diagnosed with a Left Right Reversal in 2nd grade after my mom took it upon herself to get help for me. Growing up in the 70's if you were not severely showing signs of Dyslexia the schools where I grew up would not test you. But I struggled in school, and as a consequence I did not have an easy time of it.
In regards to some of the areas that were discussed that people with Dyslexia excel in, I am very good at spacial tasks. My husband cannot pack our car for trips as he always can never find enough room. I always find room and keep a clearance for visual room over the back seat while driving. I love mapping and directions. Also I am an Artist. I have a degree in 2-D studies with a concentration in Computer Art.
We have two daughters and I am constantly watching for any signs that they are Dyslexic, as it seems to be a family trait. I really hope that they are not Dyslexic as I do not want them to struggle like I do on a daily basis.
Thank you!
Tina Jones
Frederick, MD
Please ask your guests to talk about what science has to say about what works for dyslexia !
I am a mom of a dyslexic child. I have her in a private school that works with these types of issues and the head of her school told me to get her a professional diagnosis, how do I go about doing that? And also Does the Georgetown University medical center specialize in these issues because I can bring my daughter there? I have been trying to call but cannot get through
Chastity
Is there any connection between Asperger's and dyslexia? I have been reading a lot about people who are considered "right brain" processors, and wondered if dyslexics fit that profile as well. My 8 1/2 year old daughter still struggles with reading, has been diagnosed with Asperger's, and fits all the characteristics of a strongly right brained thinker. She was screened for dyslexia by the school district during a battery of tests two years ago, and they said this was not an issue for her, but from everything I'm hearing I suspect it would be worth testing again.
Dyslexia is such a broad term and so ill defined that it is meaningless in terms of telling us what is wrong and what can be done about it. A BBC news story quote: "Professor Julian Elliott, from Durham University, said the term was an "emotional construct", not a scientific one and that experts could not agree on a definition of dyslexia or on how to treat it. " (September 2005) It has been my clinical experience as a mental health counselor to encounter a wide variety of individuals who have been diagnosed as "dyslexic". They tend to have symptoms that are divergent and contradictory across individuals.
Lexercise.com has a free screening test on its website.
The free screening test on the Lexercise website can be given by a parent or teacher and takes just a few minutes.
As a parent of two adopted Russian dyslexic children as well as being a former teacher who has used the Orton-Gillingham method of reading instruction with learning challenged children, I can tell you that ALL children have a special gift. The most important thing a parent of a learning challenged child can do is find that gift and encourage the heck out of it. There are multiple kinds of intelligences...not all of them fit neatly into those 8-hour a day requirements that schools make on children. The biggest downside I saw in learning challenged children was their frustration and sadness that they couldn't do what so many other of their classmates were doing. When parents encouraged their children's special gifts, be they physical prowess, interpersonal relationships, or artistic pursuits, the children maintained their sense of self-worth.
Dyslexic children often feel "stupid" because reading comes so hard for them. They need to be told often that they learn differently from their peers, not that they cannot learn at all.
Diane,
Could you discuss the different degrees of dyslexia? My daughter is considered to have a "de-coding problem".
By the way, even in an affluent school system diagnosis and help through the school system is HORRIBLE. I have paid for all diagnosis and help.
I LOVE my Dyslexia! My brain is very special in the way that it functions. I find that I cannot retain specific facts as well as my peers but when it comes to solving a problem I am miles ahead. In fact, I have built my business on solving others problems. I struggle with spelling and always have. When I was a child I was placed in classes with children with downs syndrome. I was written off as stupid or incapable. High school and college were a real struggle for me. I didn’t graduate college. I didn’t understand learning impractical information to develop skills. The process took too long for me. Now I am a successful small business owner and share a meeting room with many MBA’s and other college grads. I don’t struggle at all to keep up. Most of the time I am light years ahead of everyone else trying to solve the same the problem. I wish I hadn’t been forced to sit in a class room in high school and college. I could have learned so much more if I had been allowed to learn in the world.
Dyslexia is a gift! I am so glad someone else finally thinks so. Thank you!
Thank you for this fascinating show. Please ask your guests to discuss why they know about dyscalculia
Thank you for having this important broadcast. Please announce that the Northern Ohio Branch of the International Dyslexia Association will be hosting their 24th Annual Dyslexia Symposium to be held in Aurora OH on March 9, 2012. Keynote Speaker is Gordon Sherman. Contact information: www.nobida.org or 216 556-0883.
Lori Josephson
Advisory Board Member
NOB/IDA
I have both a dyslexic brother and a dyslexic daughter whose lives demonstrate what an enormous difference an appropriately trained teacher can make. My brother was kept behind twice in school because of his reading problems and still has difficulties reading. My daughter was fortunate enough to have had a 1st grade teacher with special training in reading disorders who took it upon herself to tutor my daughter over the summer after 1st grade. My daughter's reading scores jumped from 14th to 99th % ile within the year, and she is now a tenured professor of Creative Writing.
I have dyslexia. Your guests are right on with my own experience.
In early school; teachers thought I was a great reader, but I was not reading, I was memorizing the words as shapes. It was not long before I fell far behind and could not get the right help. School was a punishment for me until I got to higher levels where I could excel in engineering drafting and other non-reading subjects where I easily won academic prizes.
Isn't the ability to decode visual symbols (letters, Chinese characters, etc) a form of synesthesia? And those who can do it easily have
eulexia? It's no surprise that 'dyslexia' is common, since until recently only a few people in most cultures needed to read, so others (who didn't) would have other abilities.
One of my friends, studying for ministry, realized at 30 she had dyslexia. I asked her what was useful about it. She said instantly "I think faster than other people, because I don't use words, I think in images."
Thanks for a great show.
Stephen Kahler
Qoute from Wikipedia article on Dyslexia: "In recent years there has been significant debate on the categorization of dyslexia. In particular, Elliot and Gibbs argue that "attempts to distinguish between categories of 'dyslexia' and 'poor reader' or 'reading disabled' are scientifically unsupportable, arbitrary and thus potentially discriminatory".[Elliott, Julian G.; Gibbs, Simon (2008). "Does Dyslexia Exist?". Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42 (3–4): 475–491]
While acknowledging that reading disability is a valid scientific curiosity, and that "seeking greater understanding of the relationship between visual symbols and spoken language is crucial" and that while there was "potential of genetics and neuroscience for guiding assessment and educational practice at some stage in the future", they conclude that "there is a mistaken belief that current knowledge in these fields is sufficient to justify a category of dyslexia as a subset of those who encounter reading difficulties".