The Dyslexic Advantage

If you are going to read one book on the topic of Dyslexia in the modern age this would be it.

The makes the case with science and research that Dyslexic people are not the ones who have the problem.  The problem is in how we teach dyslexic people.

My interruptions is that God does not play dice with the universe - to get something we all have to give something.  In this case I traded the ability to learn languages for another ability - story.  I won't give it back.

https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/about-us/the-book-the-dyslexic-advantage/

Why I love to talk to parents.

As licensed clinical social worker I have the privilege of interviewing hundreds of parents year about their parenting experience in America. I have noticed how quick and powerful Parent Guilt is in it’s impact on parents lives & children's lives. In my work as a family and child therapist who is particularly interested in how problems move through peoples lives I am uniquely placed to notice how the pathologizing of dyslexia has led to entire generations of children and parents believing that there is something wrong with the child.

There is nothing wrong with a dyslexic child. They are the way that God made them. And to quote Einstein “God does not play dice with universe.”  Your child who is dyslexic it is not broken.  He has traded out some of his ability to learn language or his ability to do some other language base skill in order to gain a superpower. It is your job to find that superpower and to support it's development.

Dyslexic students suffer from a series ideas that exist in modern schooling. They are the canaries in the coal mine of school. Most public schooling in the United States is based on the idea that people learn on an incremental edge and a set average rate. Schools are based around the idea that it is better to teach to the average of the class. Many dyslexic students are “slow” in the first few years of learning to read or write but then exploded later in life into these categories of knowledge

I was once one so myself. I was a student who could not read who could not write in a classroom filled with literate people. It is taken decades for me to recover from that experience. The school and its effort to teach me reading and writing taught me fear, isolation, loneliness and bitterness. Even now 43 years later my heart is heavy to think of the child I was.

I would love the chance to help your family avoid the costly mistakes that my family went through when I was a child.  I coach families nationwide in how to come to terms with the realities of having child with a learning disability.

http://www.ashevilletherapy.net

Brave New World

Dear Reader

I have decided to reopen this blog.  Since I last published here about my experience being a dyslexic person eight years ago.  I have completed my 2nd Master degree in social work, moved to Earthaven Eco-village and become an accomplished social worker.

Currently I have License in Clinical Social Work - a Master in Social Work and a Master's in Environmental Education.  I will continue the rule of know outside editing in this blog and no grammar comments allowed.  DOWN with GRAMMAR POLICE!  Long live the spell checker.

We have a responsibility to the next generation.  We have a responsibility to the people who come after to reach down as they reach up.  It has become clear to me that this blog might be a good way for me to connect with people who want to free them selves and there children from ridged or highly limited educational thinking.

I will be altering the blog to make clear that I coach parents and grandparents by phone in any English speaking county to help the understand how best to come to terms with their dyslexic children.  More about that next week.

All the Best

Eric Wolf LCSW
Earthaven Eco-village
Black Mountain, North Carolina

The Coming Failure of Email

Email has replaced phone calls, letters and Fax's.  Email has become the #1 way that people communicate.  The only problem is that email doesn't work - it's a complete failure as a system - Sooo as you can tell I have a problem with email.  It's just a small issue one that sort of snuck up on me over time.  You see I have to spend a great deal of time just checking mine.

My first email account was a yahoo account - I give this account address to anyone who is really trust worthy might send me spam or in general is not a friend.  My yahoo.com was first opened in 1995 - remember 1995? - I was fooling around with it and yahoo thinks I was born in 2002 - which was a problem when I was single and trying to use there dating services.  but I digress...

My second email address is my professional storytelling address the @ericwolf.org address - this is the email you get if I think you are one of my friends, a serious business contact or someone I actually want to talk to.

The problem with both of these primary account is just that they are primary and full to the prim with stuff I don't really want or at least can't keep track of.  @ericwolf.org account is really four email addresses so you can bring the total count up to 6.  I also feed my five other websites into the so you can add 12 more emails and you get the a lot of emails you can send to me from different random places and still end up in my primary box.  Needless to say I am very careful where I send things with one of those emails.

Then I have all the other emails - I have to have lost count.

1 - ATT in there brilliance decided that to get Internet I must have an email account with them - so presto another email I never check.  Earning my hatred for something else I didnt' want but am forced to have.

2 - Facebook gave me an email with out asking me - corporate person hood anyone - if they were a person I would throttle them...

3 - I had to get a Gmail account - because you can't use certain aspects of Google services without Gmail - though I happy I had a choice.

4 - I have decided to attend graduate school next year - so I have an account there as a student I am required to have one - blah.

5 - I am teaching a class at another university - and surprise I am teaching a class there as well!

6 - Does twitter count  - well they do have direct messaging - that's sorta like email

OK here is the score - 24 separate email addresses and 8 separate places I am required to check every day or a least once a week.  Plus really the yahoo account is almost un-useable because of the HUGE amount of traffic and all the presorting that goes on each day.

That's why I think email is broken or at the very least going to completely fail in the next year. - solve this problem and I give you the world.

Art is Service

Life is not filled with television, radio and internet.  Life is filled with stories spread through television, radio and internet.  Where these medias get in trouble is where they forget that they are meant to be life affirming and life sustaining.   Successful art redeems life bringing joy and laughter to life and is essentially human culture reborn to serve that the current generation.

TV and radio are top down forms of media.  The owner of the media gets to decide what the media will broadcast.  The internet has bias too towards those who can purchase talent or ears.  But the internet has it's own potential to serve a different type of storytelling.  With the rise of the internet the middle class has an media engine to match the TV and radio. 

We are all storytellers - but many of us have forgotten that part of the responsibility of the storyteller is which story to tell.  We are used to being told by the TV what are stories we are part of.  Americans are not used to the telling part of storytelling.  We are learning.  Slowly the giant of the future awakes to find that his chains have become string his cage a ginger house.

There are so may people still who do not have access to the internet - this fabulous tool of free expression.  We are awakening from the age of the TV - we are a wakening into the age of the storyteller.  We begin with the most basic question - not what do we want to consume - but what do we want to create?

A Reccomendation

What does it mean to be dyslexic?  How does being labeled a dyslexic become a label or a shield?  These are some of the questions that this blog tackles with a fresh spin and look.

I would like to suggest the spring pragmatist blog - because it dances around dyslexia and writing so nicely.  Recently the author left a comment on this blog.

I enjoyed reading some of her writing.  I think you would too.

Eric Wolf

http://theaspiringpragmatist.blogspot.com.au/

Questions from the Creative Learners at the Assets School

Hi - Dear Friends from Ms **** Classroom.

I wish I has a the time to answer all your questions by mail - individually – I have created a list of answers to many of the questions that you have sent in your letters -

Please free to share them with others in your school as you wish.

When did you first know you were dyslexic?

What grade where you when you found out your dyslexic?

When I was in 2^nd grade I had fallen so far behind the other students that the school system told my parents they wanted to place me in special education classroom.  My mother who was a Professor of education pulled strings in the school system to keep me in a public school classroom.  My parents had me tested and defined as “dyslexic” by a reading tutor.

How hard was it for you?

Very hard – in 3rd grade I was only kid in my classroom that could not read.

What Grade did you learn to read?

4^th Grade I begun to read with some ability.

What level were you reading in 6^th and 7^th grade?

In 6^th grade I was reading the hardy boys and I read a copy of the hobbit in 7^th grade.  I had reading comprehension and processing scores at the college level by 9^th grade.

Did you not like completing an essay or could you read by then?

I did not write my first essay till 8^th grade – I did not write a well written one till 10^th grade.  My first term paper – 10 pages was in 11^th grade.  Even today I think essays are waste of time and I don’t like writing them.  Having aid that I do believe in writing letters to the editor and letters to politicians.

How was it like being different then the other kids?

Denial is an important part of the human experience.  Denial allows us to pretend that everything is fine when it is not.  It also gets us in trouble because we try to do things that we can’t possibly complete with out tutors or writing consolers.

How old is your sister now?

She is 4 years younger then me – still.   I am 41 – she is 37

What was her favorite birthday party?

No idea…

Did the Birthday Party story really happen?

Yep and one of your legs is longer then the other because I have been pulling your leg.

What did the Cake taste like?

Sorry I didn’t eat it.

What type of Cake was it suppose to be?

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate store bought frosting – lots of store bought frosting.

How do you make such realistic stories?

To make a good tall tale you must start with the truth and build into fantasy.  Have fun with your audience believe that your story helps them and share the joy of the story with them.

Great talking to you.

Eric James Wolf

http://www.ericwolf.org

Telling Tall Tales of Dyslexic New Yorker and When Cats Could Fly...
A link to sample funny video...

Changing the Game

Sometimes technology changes slowly and you can barely see it.  Then there are moments when the tech is seen anew and we realize that the whole world has changed.  The wheel or the printing press.  Today I had one of those moments.  Soon you will to.

American schools have been slow to provide the tools for supporting people with disabilities - but many schools have been quick to supply computers to there classrooms.  Trying to look modern without changing the fundamentals of there internal structure.  Now a group of people have placed all the various programs that make computers tools of access for students.  Basically free open source programs that fundamentally change the rules of the game.  Of course they are cutting at the tree of money that Microsoft and Apple are counting for there supplies.

This is an amazing leap forward - parents acting in there own self interest for the good of there students with out institutional permission or support.  Don't trust me read about it yourself at
http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2011/05/freedom-stick-and-massive-resistance.html

If this had existed when I was in high school - how my world might have been different.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

There are many books about the law of Unintended Consequences.  My favorite is the follow up book too - Time and Again – From Time to Time.  For the dedicated 19^th century enthusiast I would recommend both – but for the rest of us here is the plot point of the book that intrudes me.

Man travels back in time to stop WWI by saving the Titanic.  Man sinks said ship by changing the course of the ship.  Hence the Law of unintended consequence in action.  I have many more from real life… 

What about United States Trains Islamic Extremists to battle evil Soviet Empire… not good ending there either….

Rabbits released in Australia as game animal leads to rabbit invasion…

I could go on and on – humans have been living this story for thousands of years so I am nor surprised to read recently that asking students to lineup in line alphabetically has had unintended consequences that last a whole life time.

I remember fondly they day my 4^th grade teacher had us lineup by last name first – I think it was only once.  Ahh the glory to have a W in your last name!   The authors of this study have discovered that people with letter late in the alphabet were more likely to be quick to seize the first opportunities and people with a, b, c’s are more likely to wait and search for the best opportunity.

I find that I am the fastest eater I know – mostly because in grade school I had 12 minutes to eat my lunch.  I had 12 minutes because it took us 10 minutes to get served and I was always at the end of the line.  Lunch was 50 minutes long – but I wanted to catch the 25 minute group walk out to the recess yard.  Remember when we had recess in grade school? – ahh the good old days?

So today I eat to fast – I really try to eat slowly – but it’s I the bones you know?  Just another reminder of the important and influential role that teachers can have on students with the smallest of decisions.  Choices that last a lifetime.

Read the original report on the paper here...

http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2011/01/26/5909358-how-your-last-name-affects-shopping-decisions#comments

Where the hell are the all the Dyslexic Advocacy Organizations?

I know that many of the readers and followers of this inactive blog - that's a mouthful -  are not particularly interested in following politics - but to quote Howard Zen - "You can't be neutral on a moving train."

Recently I have been following with great interest the recount in Alaska and I am disturb to see that are political system is so willing to dis-enfranchize an entire group of people.  Namely people like me dyslexic folks.   The question arises - is the percentage of rejected write in ballots in Alaska related to the number of people who are dyslexic or other wise can't fully participate in a literate society?

I am going to send this question to Nate Silver of the 538 blog - I am not sure if busy Nate will have time to answer - I hope he gets to it.

Before I go into the logistics of this - here is the situation in short

Lisa M's  whose name I will not even attempt to spell - father lost a governors race to Sarah Palin - Sarah endorsed Lisa M's tea party primary opponent - Guy in checkered shirt.  Guy in checkered shirt (Joe Miller) actually campaigned - Lisa M did not - resulting in a surprise - Lisa M lost primary and Joe Miller received the Republican endorsement - which in Alaska is basically the election.

But it's personal so Lisa M declares herself a write in candidate.  Now that would be hard any way - but she has an impossible name to spell here is it is pasted from else where - Lisa Murkowski

The last federal senate write in candidate who won an election was like decades ago...  Since that time lots has changed about how we view writing and reading - I hope we live in a society that honors those who struggle with literacy and dyslexia.  Unless of course you live in Alaska - as of last week Joe Miller's campaign has been challenging any ballot that is misspelled or even written in script - as opposed to being printed.

Gets us back to the question...  is the percentage of rejected write in ballots in Alaska related to the number of people who are dyslexic or other wise can't fully participate in a literate society?

Many people who have trouble reading choose not participate in voting because they don't want to self identify and feel foolish as non-readers or below par readers.  I found some academic  papers that demonstrate a direct effect between literacy and voting in the States.

The National Institutes of Health says that "About 15 percent to 20 percent of people in the United States have a language-based disability, and of those, most have dyslexia."

Let's assume that the percentage of dyslexic people in the general population is 2% the percentage voting in the election.  Let's say that many of those people have successfully compensated by bringing in one of those rubber bands or a piece of paper with Lisa's name on it.  But let's say that roughly half of those people who are dyslexic - forgot to bring something in writing to copy or other wise are in denial.  I am a big believer in denial. or they did not vote at all.  or had the paper and still miswrote it.

I think it's fair to say that the only natural answer to arrive at is that most of the people having there ballots overturned in Alaska are the literate challenged, the dyslexic and the illiterate.

Luckily for Lisa M - she has attracted enough votes that she does not need to worry about the 8% that are being challenged by Joe Miller - that guy with the checkered shirt.  But in the meantime I have another question - where the hell are the all the dyslexic advocacy organizations?  

Where are all these expensive nonprofits who claim to have my self interest are heart?  


At what point are they going to start actaully representing and protecting the interests of the people they claim to serve?

Guest Post - Dyslexic Professor Duane Smith

This Reader wrote this lovely comment on the last post on the Blog - so with his permission I give you his story as a post so you don't miss it.

After failing the first grade, I was diagnosed with Dyslexia. I failed English in the 10th grade, and algebra a total of five times. By the grace of God, I graduated high school with a 1.9 G.P.A on probation for bad behavior. Following high school, I failed out of three different community colleges. The first class I failed was public speaking. After my third attempt at college, in as many years, I became a car salesman. Selling cars was one of the best learning experiences of my life, however, at the age of 21, I did not posses the discipline to work sixty-plus hours a week for commission. So I quit. Needing to do something, I applied for the Los Angeles Police Department, only to fail the written exam. My father was an LAPD sergeant. A friend of my father had administered and graded the test. Severely humbled and having no other options, I decided to try college a fourth time.

I figured if I was going to be serious about school, I should start by retaking the courses I had failed. During the summer of 1991, I enrolled in a public speaking course at Los Angeles Valley College with Professor Betty Ballew. Professor Ballew not only inspired me to take the class seriously but encouraged me to join the LAVC public speaking team. To this day, I don't know why I agreed to do something extracurricular that was academic...but I did! I joined the LAVC public speaking team, and my life was changed forever. Professor Ballew inspired me to celebrate my strengths, and address my challenges.

I am now a tenured professor of speech at Los Angeles Valley College, where I serve as the Director of the forensics (public speaking team). I am now privileged to regularly participate with and foster countless success stories as I serve the very program that changed my life. On April 15-19th, 2008 the LAVC speech team competed against 74 other community colleges and over 450 of our nation's best speakers and won the Phi Rho Pi national public speaking championship tournament held in St. Charles, Illinois. However, the highlight of the year was a very special student named Marcus Hill. Marcus, a former stutterer, became the most successful competitive speaker in California community college history, as well as, the overall top speaker in the country while at nationals in Illinois. Like my Professor Betty Ballew, I am truly blessed with the privilege of helping students discover their individual strengths while actively negotiating their challenges.

In 1991, a college professor asked me if I was "retarded?". That same year Professor Ballew told me that I had "presence," and asked me to join the speech team. Professor Ballew focused on my strengths, and helped me to acknowledge and confront my challenges.

For several years I have contemplated reaching out to the dyslexic community to share my experiences. If I could encourage others to discover the empowerment that can be discovered by identifying and exploiting one's individual gifts; while at the same time motivating people to address their personal challenges, I would honor the opportunity.

Please forgive any spelling mistakes :)

Sincerely,

Duane Smith
(Taken with Permission from...)
https://publicspeakinglosangeles.net/public-speaking-professor-duane-smith/the-dyslexic-professor/

Dear Reader

If you are dyslexic and have a story to tell you are welcome to share it here... post you potential post below and Iw ill will consider it in due time...

Eric Wolf

Hiatus

Teh Dyslexic Storytellers Blog is on break because of my work with the Art of Storytelling Podcast, the International Storytelling School, Eco Storytelling Retreat and LA Conference with the National Storytelling Festival.  Be back in a few months - please feel free to read by topic in the sidebar in the meantime.

Eric Wolf
PS: A red head on a beach....

Learn to Lie like a Pro with the Host of the Art of Storytelling Show.

Eric Wolf, the host of the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show, is available to be interviewed on or before April 1st, 2010 on how to lie successfully for April Fools' Day.  In 2009 he was interviewed on Fox 45 local News in Dayton, Ohio.  Eric Wolf was a Master of Ceremonies’ at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C 2009 Folk Life Festival.

In his interview he will discuss the advantages of lying and how liars have solid, political, social and psychological reasons for doing so.  He will defend an America tradition that dates back to the founding of America back to Mark Twain, why, even back to the Pilgrims.  He will also demonstrate the art of tall tales and flat lies for the viewing audience.

A successful tale tall or lie uses five storytelling techniques.

1) The lie needs a basis in truth.

2) The story needs to have a spectacular departure from reality.

3) The teller must have a personal body language that supports the lie.

4) The story should contain at least one small, reasonable detail that rings true to the listener.

5) The teller must have a willingness to defend the lie as truth. 

The Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show

The Art of Storytelling Show has had over 127, 000 downloads since it began podcasting in 2007.  Created by Brother Wolf (Eric Wolf) in the spring of 2007, the show brings the best and brightest of the storytelling community to the world stage.  43% of listeners are from outside the United States from over 100 different countries.

The Art of Storytelling Show is the world’s sole interview- format show dedicated to exploring the art and science of storytelling in all its forms. With over a hundred interviews available for listening to online at http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com, this podcast has become the premier resource for understanding and practicing the art of storytelling worldwide.

For more information:

Eric James Wolf

Host of the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show

http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com

(937) 767-8696

The Biggest Step

The writer is the host and producer of the Art of Storytelling Show

The biggest step towards towards success that any dyslexic person, or parent attempting to support a dyslexic student can make is realizing that they don't need to make their focus in life around what sucks.  Life is short and reading and writing are important.   Alright in a literate society reading and writing are really important.  But it is also important to spend time building other life skills, like having a moral compass, playing games, making friends and holding a job.  All skills that can be accomplished by anyone whether or not they can read.

I am not saying that you or your child have to give up your education.  But what if you took a year or two off to try other opportunities?  Taking your kid out of school and locking them up at home while you go to work might not be a good option unless you don't have to work or you have a hundred acre ranch to hang out in.  Working parents can recognize the value in sending your kid to summer camp setting for one month out of the year.

Perhaps your desperate reader loves baseball or tennis?  Whatever the area of their life that allows them to decompress and energize after a long day of not reading in a school setting.  Do not tie their dreams or fun to their school grades or ability to read in any way shape or form.  


Find their success however small and feed them.  Find their dreams and light them on fire.  

In the end building up what has been torn down in our children is a parents job.  In the end we must live with the choices and the personalities are children own.

Why if your dyslexic spying may not be the best career path.

Wired magazine wrote an article on the spy who could not spell.  Makes for an interesting read on the importance of realizing ones limitations.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_hideandseek/

#3 - Break the classwork down into pieces so it won't be too complex for the students to understand.

When knowledge is broken down into little pieces, the information is taken out of context.  This makes the learning process more difficult for the students.  This is not only because the students struggle to comprehend the new information, but they also grapple to relate the material to a familiar context.  Without a sense of place the student has no anchor to relate what they are learning in class to the world outside.  In a very short period of time the student will begin to lose interest in the class work

Brain research has suggested that human beings learn by two basic methods, route learning and map learning.   Route learning is short-term memory and map learning is more permanent long-term learning.  A good example of route learning is when a tourist memorizes instructions to find a house in an unfamiliar neighborhood.  These instructions are only good for one particular task, and the instructions assume that the tourist won't get lost or forget them on the way.  

If that tourist stays in town for a couple days, she might find herself identifying some frequented locations.  This tourist has begun to build her contextual map of the city in which she is visiting.  This map is a part of her long-term memory.   If she decides to stay for a couple of weeks in the same city, exploring it more thoroughly, she might find that her personal map of the city is getting good enough so she does not need to relay on the routes she had memorized for getting around

Teacher guidance is important in the early stages of every student's development, but the teacher has to respect the student’s development of an independent process.  The teacher could allow space for individual interpretations of the information being studied.   

When we learn, we build our map to a level where we can function effectively independently of other sources.   Students develop competence when they are allowed to become independent of teacher guidance and when they are allowed to develop their own maps.  Having the teacher support this process of gaining independence is very important to students.  Sometimes students need someone to hold their hands and sometimes they don't.  A good teacher knows the difference.  

This is post 3 of 12 posts on How to turn a Teacher into a Prison Guard.

Art, Storytelling and Dyslexia

The writer is Eric Wolf Storyteller

Art is not limited by state budgets, the few hours of life apportioned or others acceptance.  The only limitation of art is our desire to embrace art as we know it and to love that expression that calls us into our passion - into our being - into the voice of God.  Of all the arts, storytelling is the most able to thrive despite budgets cuts, institutional ignorance and community apathy.  Storytelling brings people together and serves as a beacon for community healing.

To be an artists is to give yourself over to a creative process that promise no fruit with each effort.  But instead enlightens our lives with a gift that can only be declared - soul.  Art in it's purist form is God's hand in our mortal lives.  A living testament that their is more to our lives then this simple physical frame.  To be an artist is to see the world, not only as it is - but as it can be or will be by our will.

Art makes meaning where there is none, gives power to the powerless, heals wounds long scarred, and above all hold love triumphant for the entire world to see.  Successful art brings people together through compassion, forgiveness and understanding.  Art and storytelling is held and holds community in it's sacred trust.  Art binds the sinews of the mortal world into a tapestry that ancestors hold in their immortal coil.

When we examine what it means to be dyslexic in a modern society we find ourselves looking at an entire class of creative types who are artists by definition.  Though their creative efforts may be far from what society defines as “art”.  They as a group fall in the range of artist by their very necessity of invention. Their inability to fit with the bounds of normality causes them to rush into the worlds of creativity that others will never experience.  Not to say that to be dyslexic is to be born a painter, actor, poet or artist.  Far from that.   Dyslexics make the best storytellers by the requirements of the world bent down upon them.

Storytelling is the refuge of sinners and survivors.  Storytelling is an art long associated with lying and dishonesty.  Oral Narrative is held in disrepute for the same reasons it is so widely successful.  The ease at which storytelling can be adapted and used to support the powerless and the oppressed is the same ease that allows sinners and con artists to bends it to their will.

Review of Learning Outside the Lines

Jonathan Mooney and David Cole have written the student support book I wished I read when I started high school and college and was classified as having a learning disability

This booked is packed full of tricks and twists to get the troubled student to survive the system and all it’s annoying realities.  From how to replace lost notes to how to take notes this book is an A to Z survival guide written by two students who had bee there and done that.  Each author brings a unique perspective to the table with Mr. Mooney talking about Dyslexia and Mr. Cole speaking about ADHD.

As the authors point out students who are categorized with a learning disability are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the college system and get a full college education with out having to sit through another lecture or test.  Many students are unaware of how flexible a liberal arts education can be and in this book we see all the levers and insider tricks laid bare.

Not being interested in attending any more schooling with my MS in Education I was not as interested in backbends and other nifty moves covered in the 2^nd half of the book.  I as a dyslexic survivor of out modern schools system I appreciate the skill set that the authors offer – the one weakness of the book is that the authors don’t spend enough time explaining a students rights and legal recourse under the American with Disabilities Act.

Many students in technical schools and state colleges may find that some of these tricks described in the book are not available to them with out the liberal education focus… but even these students would benefit from a reading of “Learning Outside the Lines” 

The most moving section of the book for me by far was Jonathan Mooney’s autobiography chapter.   I hope that he has published this elsewhere because the story of his early educational experience should be widely distributed.  I cried like a little baby when I read his description of hiding in the bathroom to avoid reading a loud to the class and how he took days off to avoid tests.  Memories I am sure I have buried and long forgotten.  I howled with anger to hear his description of his teachers’ hard line attitude that all the children needed to have the same standards.

These things happened to Jonathan and David in the 80’s when the American with Disabilities Act was in full force.  I went through grade school on the liberal west side of Manhattan with enlightened people who did the same behaviors ten years before.  This book makes me wonder how many teachers continue to belief that all children need to learn the same way.  Growing up in NYC I was not turned off by the language, but I have read that some people are.   My experience working with troubled teenagers is that they know all that language intimately and the idea that they need to be protected form it is insulting to them.

Thank-you Mr. Cole and Mr. Mooney for writing this book.  Required reading for any college bound student who suspects he or she may qualify as a learning disabled student.

10 Best Dyslexia Resources Online in 2010.

This list is up for revision - so if you have better resources to offer let me know.  If on the other hand you want me to sell something for you - please give me money or don't bother me.  I personally find much of what is written about dyslexia is either disingenuous or downright ignorant.  The writing is not meant to empower the students, teacher or parents - merely to placate parents and help maintain an uneasy unholy alliance between schools and government in which a lot of people are gainfully employed and a lot of children willfully ignored.

I started out this list as a simple to do and find myself, here days later, a little pissed off at the state of blogosphere today.  Are we as dyslexics so castrated as to have no voice?  Are we with these few exceptions just lying down and taking it?  What the hell?  I am lucky to have reached these ten - I started out looking for blogs but I had to settle with resources because I couldn't find ten blogs that met my standards for inclusion.

1) Jonathan Mooney's Website

http://www.jonathanmooney.com/

Normally I wouldn't even consider a small site like this for the list, let alone for recommending as resource for parents, let alone top of the list, but the man is a genius.  His book made me cry and I love him for that.  The review will be coming our next week so come back and check it out if you get the chance.  The to go resource for living with dyslexia in the system.

2) The Davis Method

http://www.dyslexia.com/

Look I don't know if it works.  I don't care if it works - what I care about it is that they are trying something and they are by many accounts succeeding - without drugs or expensive therapies - maybe soon I will have a long  conversation with a practitioner of the Davis method.  They don't feel like some other slick outfits that charge thousands of dollars for snake oil, but some nice people trying there best with a difficult deal.  In recognition for their efforts I place them in 2nd.  

3) The Dyslexic Storytellers Blog 

http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Well clearly this blog is the best on the subject. LOL

I still dream of having other dyslexic people join me in writing posts of their experience in modern educational settings or in succeeding with overcoming there dyslexia.  I invite you to help me spread the word.  Here are the rules to submitting a post

a) No corrections by anyone else.

b) No selling or self-promotion of books, etc..

c) All real experience of dyslexic people is welcome here

4) In the Mind's Eye, Dyslexic Renaissance

 http://inthemindseyedyslexicrenaissance.blogspot.com/

Like many blog actually written by a dyslexic person this blog does not post that often.  But the writer is really striking at the underpinnings of the intellectual crusade that terrorizes dyslexic people all over the englishdom.   I found his posts witty and a cleaver counter point to the old and some what out dated thought patterns else where in the blogosphere.  A bright light in another wise dark room.

5) Eide Neurolearning Blog

http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/

Examining the brain and it's relationship dyslexia and other LDS issues.  I enjoy every time I have found myself reading it.

6) Myomancy ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism

http://www.Myomancy.com/

Examining the world of LDS this blog does not publish enough.

7) The Dyslexia in Victoria Blog

http://dyslexiavictoria.wordpress.com/

This blog is a fresh if traditional perspective on dyslexia and learning in Canada.

8) Travel and Photography from the Dyslexic Point of View

http://jaypiddy.com/

I enjoy reading this blog - always surprising and inventive.  Not always on topic but follows the rule that we love here - spelling after content - let not the lack of ability to spell stop us from delivering the message.

9) The Dyslexic Blog 

http://dyslexiaparents.blogspot.com/

Pretty mainstream in its perspective.  But has some fresher thoughts and perspectives of all the different parent resources on dyslexia perspective online.

10) Your suggestion...

There are fifteen wonderful website that are conspicually absent from this list.  They are absent because they represent an orthodox perspective that is based on old world beliefs.   Before you recommend one of them ask yourself;  Does this website validate the idea of school over education?  

Does this website empower dyslexic children?  

Does this website recognize the ability of children to co-create?  

Finally does this website have an inherit self interest in children or dyslexia being a problem that should fixed or solved?  

#2 - Set the regulations for the classroom and be sure that the students follow them.

This is post 2 of series on How not to Teach.


In many modern classrooms it is very easy to forget why the class has come together.  The students are there to learn and the teacher is there to help them learn.  When the teacher becomes obsessed with the process of keeping order in the classroom, the students soon forget why they are in school at all.  The classroom becomes a prison.  In a classroom in which development of independent students is paramount, power is infinite because the emphasis is on empowerment of the student to learn.  It is true that order must be kept in the classroom, but not at the sacrifice of student confidence and faith in themselves..  Empowerment is taught through example,  opportunity and practice.

It is the job of teachers to set up an environment where the students feel a part of a community of learners.  Empowerment, group process and a sense of community must be learned and earned over a period of time by the entire class, including the teacher.  Teachers who see themselves embarking on a venture, in which cooperation is the key, will find that they are participating in a growing, changing, classroom community.  The key word here is community, in a community every one participates in the process of day to day living.  No amount of legislation, dictation or regulation will create a community of learners.  Only a good example and a humble teacher can do that.

This idea of sacrificing individual liberty and learning for the order of the classroom, and by extension the society, comes out of the middle ages when an education was received in monastery from monks.  The monks were into practicing austerity, sacrifice and simplicity.  They also recognized that religions tend to fragment with out a heavy dose of guilt and pain to keep everyone in the same line.  They organized there class rooms like churches with pews and pulpit.  These are all concepts that we don’t really need in the 21st century, but these puritan values remain present still in most classrooms.

This is #2 of 12 Ways to Turn a Teacher into a Prison Guard.