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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I was diagnosed with dyslexia at a very young age, placed in programs geared towards helping me understand my capabilities. I have issues spelling, reading, and standardized testing. These programs not only helped me learn, they helped me become who I am today. I have recently graduated from the Rhode Island school of design with a Masters in architecture. I moonlight as a glass blower, and a furniture maker.
Could your guests comment on whether dyslexia can improve when a child enters puberty?
My daughter was diagnosed in 2nd grade, and struggled even with intervention until 6th grade. She then decided she was determined to read her favorite Harry Potter books, then tackled The Hobbit. She's still a slow reader and requires many testing accomodations, but successfully graduated high school and is now a freshman at our local community college, majoring in environmental studies.
Thanks - Cindy Bates, Wirtz VA
Hi Diane...
My son (15) has dyslexia, but was not "officially" diagnosed until 3rd grade. I was told (and tend to agree) that it is difficult to diagnose "officially" until that point b/c many children still reverse letters and have trouble reading up to that age. His teachers tended to "blame" his reading troubles on his ADD or his non-verbal learning disorder (a veritable alphabet soup of other issues--which is common with dyslexics). So, I am concerned about a misdiagnosis too early of kids as well... Dyslexia is rarely all alone... it is usually accompanied by other issues and, therefore, can be difficult for teachers and parents to recognize.
Choice of foreign language: My daughter is/was dyslexic (as far as I know -- we could never get an exact diagnosis) and when it came to studying a foreign language, she had a very difficult time in her French class in middle school. But when she moved into high school she enrolled in Japanese and was very successful. She is now spending her junior year of college in Japan! I think the difficulty with French is logical, given her weakness in processing sound-to-spelling ("phonics" didn't work for her) and the number of letters in French words that are not pronounced. My unscientific theory is that languages where the spelling is mostly "what you see is what you get" are good choices for classroom language learning for dyslexic students. On the other hand, when learning the language by an audio method dyslexic students can be very successful.
Someone please talk about the enormous obstacle to getting dyslexic kids help - medical insurance won't cover therapy claiming that this is a learning problem while the schools do what they can, but can't do as much as is needed, because they shrug and say that the problem is medical.
These kids could use daily after school perceptual and auditory training but the cost is prohibitive to most families ($150 per week with an SLP)...meanwhile, these kids brains mature and wire everyday without the extra stimuli that they need.
I am a former high school English teacher who has worked with students having learning differences and those labeled gifted. My husband Paul also has dyslexia and attention deficit disorder but is gifted--my experience both in teaching and observing my husband absolutely bears witness to the research being discussed. While my husband does reverse numbers, cannot spell, and is a terrible writer, he has a photographic memory, as well as an incredible auditory memory that I would rate at 100% recall. He graduated a semester early from college with a high grade point average.
Research on dyslexia is so necessary for the education system. In elementary school, Paul's teachers said his disability and his gifted learning averaged out. They put him in an "average" class and pulled him out for special needs support, until his mother, an attorney, fought the school system. Paul was then able to attend advanced classes in combination with special needs support. I believe the only reason he achieved college success was due to his mother's efforts to see that he received the education he needed, and indeed, was capable of.
Thank you for raising this valuable topic.
Angela in Arlington, VA
I have experienced wonderful progress with both dyslexic children and adults using the SpellRead Reading Intervention Program.
This is such a difficult issue for me. My daughter was not identified until 5th grade. All we knew was that she could not read. Though we are in one of the richest and highest achieving school districts in the country, I would sit in special education meetings where the teachers/testers would disagree over whether her math skills were above or below average. It took me to ask, which test was administered orally and which were written. The results depended on how the test was administered.
I then spent thousands and thousands of dollars on a private school specializing in learning differences, which in retrospect was a disaster. I now have a very bright 22 year old daughter, who can not figure out how to get through college. I am at a loss, she appears to have given up. I am concerned about her future.
Every day of my school life was misery.
At nineteen I was diagnosed as "dyslexic".
At the age of twenty-nine, I found the real problem by accident through an eye doctor.
One eye aims slightly higher than the other. He prescribed glasses with a very small prism in one lens (1 diopter measurement)...which enables good "eye teaming", allows me to see words without them jumping around on the page. I could never have described my probelm had I not been give this corrective lens. It is a subtle problem that was missed.
I feel certain that many, many children and adults have this same problem ... and continue to get the diagnosis of "dyslexia". The simple eye test must become a part of a standard eye test. This subject is only recently being discussed and hardly at all. Of recent years I have read a few articles, several in the NYTimes, small medical journals.
The disorder is a "vertical misalignment" ... Correcting this alignment is essential for reading. When will we stop calling this --- "dyslexia"?
Elizabeth Richter
(age 64 - artist)
It really is BOTH/AND in terms of recognizing the specific needs these children have in learning to read AND recognizing their strengths. My son received specialized tutoring for 5 years and has reaped great rewards from this... he is a child who has and still does sacrifice time and energy to be successful in school while other children play. I recently read the Dyslexic Advantage and it was liberating at this juncture to read, now that my son has acquired this gateway skill. I feel I am at more liberty to relax a bit and give more focus to his strengths. Much of what the Eides say rings true...my husband is dyslexic is a successful designer for example. By no means, however, do they intend to dilute the need for specialized reading instruction.
I wish sometimes they would also include other learning disorders ex. apraxia
it is so hard to find any information .
To follow up after reading other comments, Paul was diagnosed in elementary school, which I believe was critical for his academic success. He attended an advanced magnet high school, and in college majored in history, which is obviously language-focused. He also became fluent in French and studied abroad. The strength of his memory was critical in his academic success. And he was allowed testing accommodations, which were very helpful. As well, Ritalin did work for him through college.
I believe every person is different, and it is quite difficult to properly assess/diagnose learning differences. That our school system mainstreams students and teaches to the middle does not help.
During the show it was mentioned that dyslexics needs specific directed reading instruction. What exactly do we need to ask for to be implemented at the school? Our son is currently in the reading support group at our public school taught by a reading specialist. He receives reading services twice a week with 7 other students from his class. The progress is poor, but he reads above the 25 th percentile and therefore does not qualify for additional services we are told. Would specific directed reading instruction be provided by a reading specialist (which at least in our area do not seem to be trained for dyslexic challenges), or would it be a special education teacher? Where can we find information on directed reading instruction to pass on to our school?
Thank you for your advise.
I am a dyslexic Attorney.
Many well meaning professionals tell dyslexic children that their future is bleak, to protect them and keep them from feeling disappointed later.
It is time for professionals working with dyslexic individuals to change the dialogue and say – society is JUST starting to create the equipment to measure cognitive ability. More studies are needed on the strengths and stay away from stating that their future is hopeless.
Stating that the child’s future is hopeless is stating something that is unknown. No person can know this about another person’s future.
Dear Barbara you and your daughter may find that the www.dyslexicadvantage.com community is very helpful. There is so much hope and information there.
from
http://georgetown.patch.com/blog_posts/redefining-dyslexia
"These skills and talents have proved enormously beneficial in science and technology, mathematics, the arts, and business. Well-cited examples include the work of Einstein, Jobs, Mandelbrot, Picasso, Cruise, and Branson, but it is crucially important to recognize less well-known and exalted people who aren't headed for everlasting fame.
Some achieve extraordinary recognition and are recognized leaders in their fields. Carol Greider won a Nobel Prize in 2009 in Medicine for her work in molecular biology. Fred Epstein was a pediatric neurosurgeon who pioneered techniques to treat children with severe injuries. Richard Rogers is an architect who has designed buildings all over the world, including the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Diane Swonk is an economist and advisor to the Federal Reserve Board.
Others are living highly successful and productive lives. Melissa Rey won the Discovery Education Young Scientist Award in 2008. Another is Ken Jacobs, a filmmaker, who won a Guggenheim Award and Maya Deren Award of the American Film Institute. Yet another is a former student of mine who has managed to become an excellent reader and writer and who made the "A" Honor Roll list this year at Hardy Middle School! There are millions more like them."
I would like more information on "dyslexia is rarely all alone" and what other issues accompany dyslexia. What other learning disabilities and gifted possibilities are observed/documented? The show, Dr Gilger, mentioned that more science needed to be done. I would like more information on the genetics and current science being done ... on giftedness and learning disabilities.
I am the mother of a 6-year-old dyslexic child. Our daughter received a dyslexia diagnosis from a neurologist at Children's Med. Center in Dallas.
We are advocating within our TX public ISD to obtain appropriate individualized, intensive dyslexia remediation on our daughter’s campus provided by a qualified dyslexia therapist or appropriately-trained teacher. Our advocacy efforts are not going well.
Despite TX being the first state in our country to pass a law in 1986 requiring ISDs to assess and provide appropriate, evidence-based treatment for dyslexic students starting in Kinder, our ISD (like many in TX) initially refused to even test our child for dyslexia until the second grade.
Now, even though our ISD does recognize that she is Dyslexic under Federal 504 law, they refuse to provide her with an age-appropriate dyslexia treatment program under TX law. Based on our research, there are MANY ISDs in TX (and other states) which are not in compliance with state laws requiring them to provide dyslexia remediation to students.
The TX law here http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/SOTWDocs/ED/htm/ED.38.htm is under the "Safe Schools: Health and Safety" section of the state's education code. The Dyslexia rules exist alongside rules for sexual abuse, bacterial meningitis and drug use on campuses. TX lawmakers placed the dyslexia rules in this section because they were concerned about the emotional and behavioral effects on students who do not receive dyslexia treatment on their school campuses. This is not just an education issue – it’s a children’s health issue.
Many orgs, such as the Child Mind Institute http://www.childmind.org/ in NYC, are working to raise awareness about how children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities can also have emotional health problems and mental illness, especially if they do not receive proper remediation at an early age.
For more, please visit www.DifferentDoodles.com and www.READRS.org
Lyn Pollard
I have three dyslexic children, two with ADHD. Luckily, the first one was easily diagnosed because he couldn't sit still for a minute and had trouble focusing. But, he could multi-task and was extremely bright, though learning his letters/numbers wasn't happening. I thought he was reading at an early age, because he was memorizing all the books I was reading him. Of course, it turned out he really wasn't reading, he was listening and looking at the pictures to echo the words. Thanks to him, the teachers at my children's pre-school were on guard for the other two to be dyslexic, which they were. It was been a long road to get them all through school. We struggled to pay for a private school for dyslexic students for all three of them. When they graduated from this school after 8th grade, they all chose to go to a difficult high school, where we needed to bring in tutors for certain subjects.
What saved my kids in school was having the outlet and focus of sports. They needed to focus seriously on something that they loved and excelled at. To me, that was the key to their getting through school. I would recommend, if you have dyslexic kids, to find a passion and circle their academic life around it as much as possible. You will also need to be on top of everything that has to do with school. And the whole meds thing, is a nightmare. For some kids it works (my third), for others it doesn't (my first). It is not an easy road, but if you stay focused on what works for them, the teachers that bond with them, good tutors, good doctors that understand ADHD mixed with dyslexia, you might get lucky like we did and get three amazingly hardworking, funny, fun, creative, energetic, determined young people. Good Luck!
Very good show. But too bad the experts need more studies and that anecdotal evidence isn't enough for them to agree it is a difference, not a disability.
Ask any dyslexic - they can think in three dimensional pictures.
I myself think in words. I ace tests and i.q. tests, because there are not enough spatial reasoning questions to lower my scores significantly. So by cultural standards I am not disabled, but ask anyone who knows me - my inability to visualize and my nearly non-existent visual memory handicap me in other ways.
Reading is a late invention. If I were going to be lost in the woods with one other person and I had to choose between a dyslexic and another reader like me, I would choose the dyslexic any day.
My husband and our three children have all struggled with dyslexia, and they all have found successful careers. As your guest today noted is often the case, my husband has an exceptional talent for envisioning three-dimensional spaces. He is an architect.
As each child started elementary school, it quickly became apparent that each of them had inherited his/her father's dyslexia. We enlisted the help of every educational therapist or tutor that we could find, but twenty years ago, not much was known about dyslexia. There was a lot of misinformation about the condition; most people incorrectly thought that it was a visual perception issue. In fact, it is a language processing variant. We wasted a lot of time and money on programs that didn't work. The worst toll, however, was on the children's perception of themselves; they thought that they were stupid and that nothing would ever work. We finally happened on the LINDAMOOD-BELL program which (in my opinion) worked miracles! It was language based, systematic, intensive, and client-centered. Just what the doctor ordered!
Long story short: All three children have graduated from college and have found successful careers that they love. The child whose learning diabilities were the most severe has her master's degree, and is a licensed pediatric occupational therapist. The other two have executive managerial postions in large international corporations. It was a long haul, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Hi Diane,
Your show was wonderful and we greatly enjoyed it. The parents who comments raised many very valid points that parents need knowledge so they can be advocates and they need a screening tool. A conference is coming up March 2 and 3 in Riverside CA that covers these very points - Light Up Your Lobes. The speakers will cover how the brain works, reading issues, what parents can do, nonverbal learning disabilities, and executive functioning (this is the missing link that derails academic success and involves planning, organization of thoughts, organization of materials, goal-direction and much more!). For more information, parents and teachers may contact www.dyslexia-ca.org
Thank you.
Regina Richards, Past President, Inland Empire Branch of IDA
I have been able to perserver in higher education even though I almost didn't graduate from high school. I am a licensed DC (even though I had to persever in taking my first part of board exams 3 times because I couldn't read the tests questions fast enough to get through the whole test in the alloted time period), I also graduated as a MD but was un able to pass the 1st part of the medical board exam because of the same reason mentioned above (I read to slow and thus don't read the test questions fast enough to get through all seven tests given in the same day). When I asked for special provisions ( which was increased time to take the seperate tests) the medical board said I had to have documentation from my early public education school days (some 25-30 years before) that I in fact had a learning disability (dyslexic) dated back then. I am not sure if they even had dyslexic in the vocabulary let alone a diagnoses. They certainly didn't have Attention Deficit Disorder (which I probably have as well). My point is they need to have relavant adult testing as well as children testing. The medical boards also need to change there learning disability qualifications for special testing as well. We are probably losing alot of highly qualified people (doctors) because they are slow readers. One should not have to be a fast reader to be a doctor. Slow reading skills does not mean one isn't highly intelligent and should not limit one in the choosing of there occupation. Which it does in the health fields (such as nursing and different type doctors, etc. Todays program was informative however i wished they talked more on what can be done to help learning disability children and also were to go for the screening. of which can probably be found on the internet. I am glad they talked about the genetic componet of dyslexic seeing I have a five year old that I now will take steps to have tested.
I am the wife of a successful dyslexic psychologist, mother of 3 successful dyslexic sons and have been a private tutor for dyslexic students for 18 years. I use The Wilson Reading System with tremendous results. Thank you for having this very informative show on today. So much still needs to be addressed with dyslexic students. Hopefully the more we know the more we can help these amazing individuals!
Ask for Orton Gillingham. It's a start. A reading program designed for dyslexics.
I am very interested in the "Compensation" aspect of living with dyslexia. I was diagnosed with learning disabilities including Dyslexia at the age of 16. I am now a candidate for a masters in ceramics from Ohio University. I struggled through a large part of my undergraduate still thinking that I was disabled, that I didn't fit into the way things were done. It was in my mid-twenties when I started to apply my compensation tools in all aspects. Reading and writing became easier, but are still difficult. I use learning tools that work for me. I reflect on my past and identify where I retain information and where my mind checks out.
Thank you so much talking about this issue.
Paige Wright
thewrightclay.com
Due to that fact that early intervention makes a remarkable difference for dyslexic children I would suggest the following red flags for parents to look for before entering kindergarden:
1) Family history of dyslexia
2) Speech problems
3) Delayed language development
4)searching for words when communicating
5)difficulty learning color and shape names; alphabet and number names
6) every preschooler in speech,language and/or occupational therapy should be screened
Upon entering school:
all of the above plus:
1) slow rate in learning sound/letter relationships
2)not keeping up with class expectations
3)inability to retain spelling words
4) taking an unusual time doing homework/painful for child and family to complete homework
5)not wanting to go to school
6)child feeling stupid
as a parent understanding that the window of opportunity gets very narrow after the second grade. trusting your parental instinct. look for a professional, preferably a speech and language pathologist that can evaluate language development, word retrieval, phonemic awareness, vocabulary and has experience both diagnosing and treating children with language and literacy problems. An intervention program should be science based following the levels of instruction for phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and comprehension. go to workshops and conventions sponsored by the International Dyslexia Association. Go to their website interdys.org. read the book Overcoming Dyslexia, by Sally Shaywitz. Read The Dyslexic Advantage by today's guest.
B. Inbar
Speech and Language Pathologist
Sarasota, Florida
I am 62yrs and have spent my life trying to understand my learning differences and difficulties. I have self researched dyslexia, ADD, autism, my partial left hand/ right brainness, cerebral dominance confusion, IQ, etc. as possible links, and I have developed theories that cry to be tested.
I am incredibly curious about this, not just for me but for future generations as it seems to run in my family.
I wonder if there is any clinical research studies that I, as an adult could be helpful. Test can be made on children, but children often don't know, understand, or can verbalize what is going on in their minds. I can. I was one of those children who was not diagnosed. I have years of insight and I can be a wealth of information.
Could someone contact me with information regarding this via my email address, PLEASE?? And many thanx, in advance. carynvz@gmail.com
Parents need education about dyslexia to best advocate for their children. Reading Dr. Shaywitz's book Overcoming Dyslexia saved my two dyslexic children from being over looked in the public school system. Extended time is crucial to allow students to "show what they know." It has been an ongoing battle starting in kindergarten when I was told "Don't worry, Jeff’s a bright “A” student, a left-handed boy.” When my daughter Laura was in third grade, the principal told me "Don't worry...she'll out grow dyslexia with maturity." I bought copies of Dr Shaywitz’s book for the libraries of my children’s schools and continue to share copies with parents who struggle with this learning disability.
Education empowers the parent to be their children’s best advocate and request the accommodations needed for their students to be more successful. Accommodations level the academic playground.
Look for the small red flags early on! I remember reading with my children and seeing a multisyllabic word or name, and we made up our own since often I couldn't pronounce the words either! In hindsight, our brains were not able to properly encode and decode the words. My reading and research taught me that I also have dyslexia. No wonder I was a poor speller, slow reader, and foreign languages were all but impossible!
I agree there are gifts associated with dyslexia. My daughter has precocious spatial skills and perspective which we observed early on in her drawings. In first grade she did a standard work sheet writing the letter “v” over and over. On the back, she had drawn an amazing colorful picture of a Playmobil Dragon toy with incredible detail from memory. The teacher wrote on her paper: “Laura, spend any extra time checking over your paper, rather than drawing on the back.” I treasure this work sheet as it represents my talented daughter’s creativity and imagination as well as the teacher’s lack of appreciation for the gifts that come with dyslexia.
Hi Diane,
I would like to thank you for presenting a show that attempted to cover the strengths of the dyslexic brain. As a dyslexic adult who spent k through 12th grade in special education being told how my brain was defective, the strengths model of dyslexia makes so much sense. To have ended up attending an Ivy League School, to operate and own a successful small consulting firm and teaching at the university level, lead me to think the model I grew up under was grossly incorrect. Good thing I did not listen to the stats from The National Center on Learning Disabilities, I might have ended up as the 20%. By the way, you can get by as a poor or nonreader with technology, reading is not the end all and be all; heck you maybe be able to attend a top university and own your own company too.
I am very happy that at least the dialog has made somewhat of a shift towards a strengths based model, even though current weaknesses model frequently crept in to the discusion. I was greatly disappointed that there were not any adult dyslexics on the panel. Would you ever have a show about women's issues presented only by men? Of course you would not. Maybe, in the eyes of many experts dyslexics are still seen as defective and not worthy of sharing their stories. Or maybe, the experts are afriad that if successful dyslexics shared their stories that it would end up subverting the dominate paradyme of viewing dyslexia as disabling condition not one that bears many desirable attributes. Agian thank you for opening such a dialog that I hope continues.