Author: Margo

Dyslexia – a Gift?

Written by Margo on September 7, 2024. Posted in Other.

I have a diagnosis of dyslexia. I call myself dyslexic and dyspraxic (I discuss this bit elsewhere), because I am proud of what these differences give me. Our program is about finding out the strengths and abilities that dyslexia can offer you or your child and showing you how to access them.

Dyslexia is seen as a learning disability or difficulty. We consider it a difference that has opportunities as well as challenges. It makes it more difficult to acquire fluent word reading and spelling. It often makes it far more difficult to remember and process what you have read. It often makes writing a challenge; it is hard to remember how to write and spell while you’re thinking about the ideas you want to get down on paper. We are not just dyslexic in school. We are dyslexic all day every day, with difficulties with routine tasks, limited working memory capacity, time management, task organization, and planning. But just because you’re dyslexic does not mean you are not intelligent. Schools often judge children by their ability to solely about their ability to read and write. In our experience dyslexics are often successful, not just in all art forms, but everywhere where there’s a need for creative problem solving. It’s been said that some architecture firms would only hire dyslexics, because of their ability to think more globally.

Dyslexia specialists are usually taught that the best ways to teach dyslexics are as follows:

Relevance. It is obviously good to relate to the child’s own interest. We all learn better when we feel that what we are learning about has purpose.

Multi Sensory. Finally getting traction. The idea is that if we learn through all of our senses (commonly visual, auditory and kinesthetic). However, it is important to realize that for many dyslexics, the senses may be bringing in garbled information. We need to know which ones are efficient and which ones are not, to help bring information from those senses properly (more on this below).

Little and Often, which often includes breaking the task down into micro-steps which are taught separately. This acknowledges the fact that dyslexics tire easily and are working harder to achieve the same ends, but it ignores the fact that dyslexics often learn better going from the global to the specifics, rather than from the specifics to the global, like some others.

Modeling, or showing by doing: You show how to do it, then they try to do it, and finally they may understand.

Overlearning, repeating a learning experience again and again and again – often thousands of times – until it becomes second nature. There must be a faster, easier way…

Motivation. Learning for many dyslexics is really hard work. It makes sense that if they are learning what they want to learn they’re more likely to stick the course.

Metacognition. This is the real key to achieving success as a dyslexic. It is essential to know what you know, to understand how you learn more efficiently, and to know how to adapt your learning experience and your environment to support your success.

As someone with dyslexia, I’m convinced there’s more to it.

Finding out how our clients learn best or most efficiently is what we do. We don’t teach subject matter. We specialize in teaching students the art of learning. Our tutoring is tailored to the individual’s differences – the challenges as well as the strengths. Our specialist tutoring draws from our extensive experience with neurodiverse students, including those with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ASD (Autism/Aspergers), and ADD/ADHD.

Specialist Study Skills Tutoring for Dyslexics

Our tutoring approach is not the typical subject-matter tutoring, but focuses on cultivating study skills. Our tutors work with our neurodevelopmental specialists to teach clients of all ages how to learn effectively:

Understand schoolwork in a way that matches how their brain works
Solving the problem in a way that works for them
Constructing an answer in a way that matches what teachers and examiners want to see

As every learner is different and all the labels tend to overlap, it is essential that these methods are customized to each learner. What works for one student may not work for another, so it’s a matter of detective work, involving trial and error to find what will work best for you or your child.

It is important to understand the unique thinking styles that people with dyslexia often possess, rather than change them to be ‘normal’. For example, many people with dyslexia have a talent for what we call ‘pattern thinking’ – the ability to make connections others miss and find innovative ways to solve problems and design more effective work flows. Although dyslexics may struggle to stick to a structure or pattern, they are often good at seeing how it could be improved.

Our specialist study skills tutoring has helped many students significantly improve their grades and life skills, but just relying on tutoring means that tutoring is often needed throughout the course of education. The role of a good teacher is to promote independence. I have succeeded when you no longer need me. The most efficient way to do this is to invite you to participate in our Firm Foundations for Learning program.

Success with Dyslexia Depends on Understanding the Underlying Challenges

Written by Margo on August 21, 2023. Posted in Dyslexia.

What’s getting in the way of your fine brain?

When supporting people with dyslexia, we consider our Neurodevelopmental Program an essential gateway to becoming an independent, successful learner.

Simply put, neurodevelopment means the growth and evolution of the brain’s neural networks, which are so important in learning and information processing.

Our Firm Foundations for Learning program provides neurodevelopmental exercises, which allow your innate gifts to emerge. We start by assessing individual needs and strengths and learning about interests. We watch for clues about sensory and organizational challenges, and then tailor the neurodevelopmental exercises accordingly.

What Our Neurodevelopmental Program Addresses

While every child is unique, and every neurodevelopmental program is customized for the specific person, here are the systems that are most often relevant to clients with dyslexia:

Eye Tracking and Teaming: Can your eyes follow a moving object smoothly? Do they meet at one spot without difficulty?
Dyslexia often comes with challenges in visual processing, and that’s why sometimes people skip or re-read words or lines or even find the words may seem to move or run together. When your eyes are straining, it is hard to concentrate on what you are doing. Studying can be really tiring and that reduces your ability to learn and remember. This strain can be reduced with relaxation techniques and specific playful activities. Eye teaming is not only relevant to academics, but to eye contact and non verbal communication.
Coordination between both sides of the body: Inspired by the work of Judith Bluestone, and having learned from our experience working with clients, we note that rhythmic movements that involve both sides of the body support not only physical coordination but also how you process. Since each side of the brain is responsible for movement in one side of the body, coordinated movement involves communication between the two sides of the brain. The fascinating bit is that this communication also helps with learning: with memory, with organization, with decision making, problem solving, creative thinking, and language processing: comprehension as well as expressive language.
Vestibular System: The vestibular system involves sensors in the inner ears that read the position and movement of the head, as well as the sensors’ connections in the brain. This system impacts much more than balance. The function of the vestibular system supports the eyes, the ears, muscle tone and the sense of movement, and therefore is relevant to anything from posture to reading to auditory processing.

Proprioception, or the sense of body parts, where they are in relation to one another and in the surrounding environment:
Number sense and other elements of math depend very much on learning through our bodies. Even organization and words that describe where things are (over, under, between etc.) are things that we learn through our bodies before we can apply them to other objects. Sentences and words being in the right order also have to do with recognising the structure of your own body.
Auditory processing
Irregularities often get in the way of following instructions, understanding the task, reading and spelling. When we work very gently with hearing tasks that get gradually more complex, we can help make such challenges easier.
Directionality:
Very often people with dyslexia have difficulty sorting out right from left. This can translate to challenges with recognizing and writing certain letters, challenges with maintaining the correct direction in reading, and elements of math.

Again, each individual is unique, so this is intended to provide representative examples. For any given client, we may also find that we need to address other systems to support their development.

The brain has the capacity to form and reorganize synaptic connections, including in response to repeated activities.

This suggests that brain connections can indeed be supported through targeted neurodevelopmental activities.

What makes our approach unique is the combination of neurodevelopment with study skills tutoring. Since we tailor both to meet each client’s needs, we remain flexible in how we apply the two.

We generally recommend that a student start with our neurodevelopmental program. The reason is that we often find that addressing the neurological irregularities first tends to require very little tutoring to follow, if any.

However, some of our clients are very much behind with their academics and need help to catch up. So we adjust the program accordingly. Our goal remains the same: equip our clients with the ability to excel academically and in life.

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