Dyslexia IS a gift, It is NOT a disability

[Betty Blue]

So what do you think of the non-gifted people with dyslexia?

Well, i have yet to meet any but i am sure they still have abilities which should be nurtured just like everyone else.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

Many successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic. They have a great ability to focus on the most important aspects of a business, and brush aside details that bog down everyday ESTJ type managers.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of all the Virgin companies, has talked a lot about his dyslexia, can't tell the difference between gross profit and net profit. Guy who started Kinko's, CEO of Cisco, Charles Schwab the stock broker all claim to have it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/business/worldbusiness/05iht-dyslexia.4.8602036.html

 

[runvardh]

OP... your posting sometimes doesn't help those of us with a less acute version of dyslexia.

Regardless of how smart I am it is still a bitch when I have to look over a phone number 4-9 times just to make sure I have it locked correctly; especially when part of my job requires me to confirm several dozen of them in a day. It also produces a 5 page wall when it comes to reading a book before I start to enjoy the actual story, while dry reading only holds till my interest is lost.

In my daily life, it is naught but a disability and it's only thanks to my intelligence and memory that I can function.

 

[thisGuy]

OP:
you'll love this movie...get it with english subtitles...its exactly what you are talking about

Taare Zameen Par - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

this topic has already been posted with about ad(h)d many times on this board

conclusion: these 'disabilities' only limit your learning. once you got the shit down pat, you are gonna be a stom

i just cant get over how much my parents must have done and lived with for me to be able to get into the school i got into....too bad i regularly fuck up here

 

[thisGuy]

OP:
you'll love this movie...get it with english subtitles...its exactly what you are talking about

Taare Zameen Par - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

this topic has already been posted with about ad(h)d many times on this board

conclusion: these 'disabilities' only limit your learning. once you got the shit down pat, you are gonna be a stom

i just cant get over how much my parents must have done and lived with for me to be able to get into the school i got into....too bad i regularly fuck up here

 

[Betty Blue]

OP... your posting sometimes doesn't help those of us with a less acute version of dyslexia.

Regardless of how smart I am it is still a bitch when I have to look over a phone number 4-9 times just to make sure I have it locked correctly; especially when part of my job requires me to confirm several dozen of them in a day. It also produces a 5 page wall when it comes to reading a book before I start to enjoy the actual story, while dry reading only holds till my interest is lost.

In my daily life, it is naught but a disability and it's only thanks to my intelligence and memory that I can function.

I do not play down the difficulties people with dyslexia encouter on a daily basis and how frustrating it must be. I positively reinforce what you are saying about that.
I do not think it matters what level/severity of dyslexia you may have. The level/severity of dyslexia correlates to the amount of disorientation you have. And i fully believe that it is possible to control this whilst still retaining all the things that make it a gift.
The fact that you are telling me you are intelligent is reassuring. I'm certainly not doubting that fact.
If you thought there was a way of being able to focus on words/letter/numbers so that it is not difficult to read/write/remember things, how would you feel about that?
Thats the point i am trying to make.

 

[Betty Blue]

OP:
you'll love this movie...get it with english subtitles...its exactly what you are talking about

Taare Zameen Par - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

this topic has already been posted with about ad(h)d many times on this board

conclusion: these 'disabilities' only limit your learning. once you got the shit down pat, you are gonna be a stom

i just cant get over how much my parents must have done and lived with for me to be able to get into the school i got into....too bad i regularly fuck up here

Thank you for that link!
I'll be watching the film, i read about the plot from the link and it looks very interesting.

I hav'nt seen the threads about ADHD but it dosn't surprise me in the least. I read an interesting book about the crystal children and it also mentioned ADHD in there.

What school did you go to? Do you have Dyslexia? ADHD?
I know that having both ADHD and Dyslexia combined is very common.

 

[Windigo]

Thank you for starting this post. I am currently beginning the quest to understand dyslexia because my 7 year old daughter has it. It has taken a LOT of effort to get help for it and mostly I am finding coping skills on the internet, not through the school system.

I taught 5th grade and had an extremely bright boy in my class who had thankfully been diagnosed early, so working with his reading coach helped me understand it better and learn to teach outside the box. The interesting thing is that dyslexics benefit from multi-sensory teaching techniques that actually help the entire class as well since we all remember better when learning through different styles even the ones that are not our strengths.

Traditional elementary teaching relies heavily on visual learning which is often where the dyslexic struggles to bring in information accurately. Many dyslexics do better in college where the focus switches to more auditory style. My daughter has amazing social intelligence (at age two she started dumping the sand from her shoes in the trash can without being told or modeled) and self-confidence. She is also gifted with perfect pitch and loves to sing and play instruments.

Her father who is also dyslexic is a gifted mechanic and immediately understands how to fix things that make most men swear. He has found his niche as a trouble shooter for an electronics firm and he loves everything about his job but the paper work! He also has this amazing way of seeing things in 3D in his head so once he's been someplace he never forgets how to get there (although figuring it out from a map is harder for him). I appreciate his amazing genius with 3D and he relies on me to pay bills, and read through legal documents so we make a great team. I also love to read out loud to him at night while he plays his video games.

When I began researching this I read that dyslexia is not a problem in societies where they write right to left or top to bottom because the brain naturally perceives symbolism from right to left (Unfortuately, I didn't bookmark so I don't have a name to back up this speculation). The article said also that dyslexics are gifted at hands on skills that were more important in hunter/gatherer and agricultural societies so I agree that it is a gift/handicap based on societal norms.

So in the meantime, I have a lot of work cut out for me to help my daughter learn to read which is difficult, but luckily she loves stories and is very imaginative so she loves books. I just hope that school will not destroy her amazing self-confidence and the moment it threatens it--I'm homeschooling!

 

[runvardh]

I do not play down the difficulties people with dyslexia encouter on a daily basis and how frustrating it must be. I positively reinforce what you are saying about that.
I do not think it matters what level/severity of dyslexia you may have. The level/severity of dyslexia correlates to the amount of disorientation you have. And i fully believe that it is possible to control this whilst still retaining all the things that make it a gift.
The fact that you are telling me you are intelligent is reassuring. I'm certainly not doubting that fact.
If you thought there was a way of being able to focus on words/letter/numbers so that it is not difficult to read/write/remember things, how would you feel about that?
Thats the point i am trying to make.

Well, it's nice that it's not extreme, but it's bad enough that it stacks with my other issues in ways that seem to only give me problems. I memorize words by their general shapes through photographic memory. It still messes up from good old human error, but it's functional enough that I don't have to spend time focusing on each letter all the time - only when it come up against new words or strange graphical representations of ones I know.

My lack of ability to speed read though is frustrating for things I want to just get done and over with, since I have the added fun of attention deficit. Every time my father talks about finishing a book in a day I feel like drilling him in the face as the same book takes me months to get through - then again, it's because of him that I am both able to read and have a slight dislike for it. If there were a better way that what I employ now that would work I'd cry.

 

[Betty Blue]

Well, it's nice that it's not extreme, but it's bad enough that it stacks with my other issues in ways that seem to only give me problems. I memorize words by their general shapes through photographic memory. It still messes up from good old human error, but it's functional enough that I don't have to spend time focusing on each letter all the time - only when it come up against new words or strange graphical representations of ones I know.

My lack of ability to speed read though is frustrating for things I want to just get done and over with, since I have the added fun of attention deficit. Every time my father talks about finishing a book in a day I feel like drilling him in the face as the same book takes me months to get through - then again, it's because of him that I am both able to read and have a slight dislike for it. If there were a better way that what I employ now that would work I'd cry.

It sounds like you use a couple of the strategies based on your strengths intuitively but please read "The gift of Dyslexia". You don't even need to buy it, you can go to your local library, they should have a copy.
It's not expensive to buy but people always feel like someone is trying to con them when they are told to buy a book.
It's not a mammoth book either so won't take forever to read. It would just be good to get a different perspective if your up for it.

 

[Betty Blue]

Thank you for starting this post. I am currently beginning the quest to understand dyslexia because my 7 year old daughter has it. It has taken a LOT of effort to get help for it and mostly I am finding coping skills on the internet, not through the school system.

The schooling system leaves much to be admired in this area. If she has a good school then it is likely she will find it easier. Personally i had to really fight hard to get my son into a school where they actually understood what is happening with him. The nightmares i could tell you about! The SENCO for his old school refused to believe he even had dyslexia until i produced the report.

I taught 5th grade and had an extremely bright boy in my class who had thankfully been diagnosed early, so working with his reading coach helped me understand it better and learn to teach outside the box. The interesting thing is that dyslexics benefit from multi-sensory teaching techniques that actually help the entire class as well since we all remember better when learning through different styles even the ones that are not our strengths.

YES! Multisensory teaching benefits all children as it combines all learning styles.

Traditional elementary teaching relies heavily on visual learning which is often where the dyslexic struggles to bring in information accurately. Many dyslexics do better in college where the focus switches to more auditory style. My daughter has amazing social intelligence (at age two she started dumping the sand from her shoes in the trash can without being told or modeled) and self-confidence. She is also gifted with perfect pitch and loves to sing and play instruments.

Yes again! it's really good to hear from someone with a similiar experience as a parent. I'm so glad you can see her strengths, and i'm sure you will push for the best for her. Co-incedently my son also had the sweetest little singing voice, his nursery teacher said he sounded like an angel.

Her father who is also dyslexic is a gifted mechanic and immediately understands how to fix things that make most men swear. He has found his niche as a trouble shooter for an electronics firm and he loves everything about his job but the paper work! He also has this amazing way of seeing things in 3D in his head so once he's been someplace he never forgets how to get there (although figuring it out from a map is harder for him). I appreciate his amazing genius with 3D and he relies on me to pay bills, and read through legal documents so we make a great team. I also love to read out loud to him at night while he plays his video games.

Yes the thinking in 3d is an amazing ability! Have you asked your daughter if she thinks like this?

When I began researching this I read that dyslexia is not a problem in societies where they write right to left or top to bottom because the brain naturally perceives symbolism from right to left (Unfortuately, I didn't bookmark so I don't have a name to back up this speculation). The article said also that dyslexics are gifted at hands on skills that were more important in hunter/gatherer and agricultural societies so I agree that it is a gift/handicap based on societal norms.

Yes, it is also less of a problem in other countries with languages that are spelt how they sound-like spanish.

So in the meantime, I have a lot of work cut out for me to help my daughter learn to read which is difficult, but luckily she loves stories and is very imaginative so she loves books. I just hope that school will not destroy her amazing self-confidence and the moment it threatens it--I'm homeschooling!

I had to take my son out of school for 5 months to rebuild his confidence after all the damage that was created, his 1-2-1 worker actually used to sit next to him bonking him on the head with rolled up paper when he wasn't concentrating!
I have found a program that is working for us, it is expensive to get in the facilatator (1 week intensive) but it is also possible to buy the materials and do it at home yourself and you can phone them for support.

 

[Betty Blue]

Many successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic. They have a great ability to focus on the most important aspects of a business, and brush aside details that bog down everyday ESTJ type managers.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of all the Virgin companies, has talked a lot about his dyslexia, can't tell the difference between gross profit and net profit. Guy who started Kinko's, CEO of Cisco, Charles Schwab the stock broker all claim to have it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/business/worldbusiness/05iht-dyslexia.4.8602036.html

I absolutely agree with all of the above. Although Richard Branson does now know the difference between net and gross.
There are many many famous people with dyslexia. There are some controvertial claims too. For example it is widely debated weather Einstein was dyslexic. From many of his quotes regarding imagination and education i'd say there is a strong case it's possible.

 

[Falcarius]

While it is true it it is not unusual for someone with Dyslexia to have special talents in certain areas, it it probably in spite of Dyslexia not because of Dyslexia

For example, Falcarius highly doubts his special talent of failing electronics class because he keeps wiring the circuits backwards to be a gift. Nor does Falcarius consider his quite rare ability to see pages of books randomly change colour, while words fall off the edge of pages when he reads, to be some major gift.

 

[runvardh]

It sounds like you use a couple of the strategies based on your strengths intuitively but please read "The gift of Dyslexia". You don't even need to buy it, you can go to your local library, they should have a copy.
It's not expensive to buy but people always feel like someone is trying to con them when they are told to buy a book.
It's not a mammoth book either so won't take forever to read. It would just be good to get a different perspective if your up for it.

I suppose I'll go take a look then. My intelligence and memory, though, are very common in my family so sorry if I still see this as more of a problem than a gift.

 

[Laurie]

While it is true it it is not unusual for someone with Dyslexia to have special talents in certain areas, it it probably in spite of Dyslexia not because of Dyslexia

For example, Falcarius highly doubts his special talent of failing electronics class because he keeps wiring the circuits backwards to be a gift. Nor does Falcarius consider his quite rare ability to see pages of books randomly change colour, while words fall off the edge of pages when he reads, to be some major gift.

Exactly. Circuits probably aren't going to be redone any time soon to make it easier on dyslexics in circuits class. Did you ever pass the class?

 

[Betty Blue]

While it is true it it is not unusual for someone with Dyslexia to have special talents in certain areas, it it probably in spite of Dyslexia not because of Dyslexia

I'd say there are definate traits that individuals with dyslexia share that are fantastic abilities. I'd also say that it is because of their dyslexia not inspite of it.

For example, Falcarius highly doubts his special talent of failing electronics class because he keeps wiring the circuits backwards to be a gift. Nor does Falcarius consider his quite rare ability to see pages of books randomly change colour, while words fall off the edge of pages when he reads, to be some major gift.

It's commonly referred to as disorientation, it can be addressed too. The plus side is you do have great abilities. Like the art btw

 

[Laurie]

This is a very strange thread. I'm going to have to tell my sister with dyslexia that she is apparently "gifted" and has great abilities in art. I'm not sure she knows either of these things! She will be happy to find out in her 30s!

 

[Betty Blue]

This is a very strange thread. I'm going to have to tell my sister with dyslexia that she is apparently "gifted" and has great abilities in art. I'm not sure she knows either of these things! She will be happy to find out in her 30s!

hmmm...

 

[Windigo]

I had to take my son out of school for 5 months to rebuild his confidence after all the damage that was created, his 1-2-1 worker actually used to sit next to him bonking him on the head with rolled up paper when he wasn't concentrating!
I have found a program that is working for us, it is expensive to get in the facilatator (1 week intensive) but it is also possible to buy the materials and do it at home yourself and you can phone them for support.

I can't believe his reading coach bonked him!!! As a teacher, I know that performance stress is the number one way to turn off a child's ability to learn a concept! I can't believe that was allowed! When my children got squirrelly we would go out side on a poetry quest or sometimes I would just have them play a five minute game of silent speed ball to flush the stress.

I would love to know the name of the program you are using. I actually started the book The Gift of Dyslexia about a year ago but didn't finish it. It was definitely a refreshing way of looking at Dyslexia.

Thanks for your support. I would love to hear more stories about your son and what did and didn't work for him.

While it is true it it is not unusual for someone with Dyslexia to have special talents in certain areas, it it probably in spite of Dyslexia not because of Dyslexia

For example, Falcarius highly doubts his special talent of failing electronics class because he keeps wiring the circuits backwards to be a gift. Nor does Falcarius consider his quite rare ability to see pages of books randomly change colour, while words fall off the edge of pages when he reads, to be some major gift.

Have you tried using colored cellophane pages? Sometimes the frequencies from fluorescent lights causes the brain to be confused with the contrast of black on white or other complementary color schemes (sort of like those optical illusion designs). I have noticed that colored cellophane helps stop the words from dancing for a lot of students. Everyone is different on what color works best for them though a lot of people find blue effective.

 

[Windigo]

This is a very strange thread. I'm going to have to tell my sister with dyslexia that she is apparently "gifted" and has great abilities in art. I'm not sure she knows either of these things! She will be happy to find out in her 30s!

Your sister may be "gifted" without realizing she is, or because she has no interest in a certain area. My step daughter is also dyslexic and although she doesn't feel she has any special ability in traditional art because she doesn't have the gift for line that her non-dyslexic sister has, she IS very gifted in composition and color design. This has manifested itself more in 3D design such as her bedroom decor and floral design. If you asked her however, she would say she's not gifted in art, even though many art teachers have told her she is.