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

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.

Labels as Good - Labels as Bad

Eric Wolf writes on Dyslexic on his Blog

On the last blog post a reader of this blog commented - witch is always nice - hint, hint, wink, wink and nudge, nudge. She wrote a nice note suggesting that it was a mistake to embrace the label of dyslexia that we are not served by embracing labels because we are not our labels we are ourselves. I could not agree more... in fact to me the road too freedom for dyslexic children is in the opposite direction from more time spent learning to read, write or do any schooling at all - but towards a lifestyle where they are able to master their confidence, there faith in themselves and grow up with out ever having to be told day after day that they need to learn harder or faster

While I agree with the thrust of my readers comment - I wonder if we make an error in abandoning the label so quickly. I have spent much of my life running from the label and must examine the consequence of all those actions. Judged with out the label I am ineffective, sloppy and a lazy. Judged with the label I am working hard, highly intelligent and driven. In fact only when I embraced the label did I really find some success in any literate or academic endeavors

If I were blind you would not expect me to abandon my label and take driving lessons. If I had no legs you would not want me ot give up my label and crawl up the stairs. Labels for handicapped people are very helpful they allow others to see what limits exist for us and under what circumstances we are likely to succeed or doomed to failure. Of course we are not our labels - but we have to recognize that the label protects handicapped people from being placed in a situation that is precarious to us.

I clearly can write and read. Many dyslexic people cannot. I clearly can spell to a degree that is rare among dyslexic's. In an academic environment when identify as dyslexic and I call upon the help offered by the handicapped accessibility law. I am allowed certain supports. I can be very successful, but only when I embrace my label. To do other wise in that situation is fool hardy and self-destructive.

Call of a different sort of reform in America’s schools.

I submitted this as a commentary for NPR all things considered – well not this piece – well it was nice of them to consider it. Eric

We need to pull back on testing our students and spend more time on the arts, with a focus on real world communication skills, creative problem solving and people management that businesses will need to have if America is to be successful it the 21st century economy.

The ability to spell or add, are no longer relevant to the success of anyone in a world that includes word processors and spreadsheet programs on every computer. The ability to recall a certain historic date or scientific fact will not decide the fate of any American with Wikipedia one click away. Even the valued alphabetizing skills developed in grade schools across the country, once used in leafing through the Yellow Pages by every American is now obsolete due to google.

There are many skills that are still relevant – skills that become even more important in an economy where any job is just one click away from being outsourced to Indonesia. The capacity of students to: manage people, be creative in the face of conflict or problems, a willingness to set goals and follow them, to speak with truth and passion to an audience of any size and a stubborn willingness to keep trying will lead directly to success in the next generation.

There has long been a growing disconnect between the creative skills used in the arts and business to succeed and the skills that America’s schools teach. It’s time for schools to be based on a 21st century model where creativity, originality, passion and perseverance are the coin of the realm.

One of the key skills that could be developed further in American schools is the use of storytelling. Not the sort of storytelling of sweet little old lady at a library reading a book, a worthy vocation. But the American use of storytelling in every aspect of our lives from successful interviews, to sales, in media and in just normal everyday talk. I have had the pleasure of visiting hundreds of schools around the country as a professional storyteller and I am sorry to report that only one school had any experience with public speaking prior to my arrival. The ability to speak without notes, to as Mark Twain once said – “extemporize” or to just feel comfortable answering question in public, are essential skills to any student’s long term success in life.

It’s time for us to rethink what it means to be in school. When creativity and perseverance is our guiding light the world opens it’s doors to meet us.

Eric Wolf has a M.S. in Education and is the Host and producer of the Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast with over 80+ hour long interviews on how to use storytelling in just about every aspect of school and life. http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com

Fighting for Oxygen - Fighting for Life through Definitions.

In politics and life - definitions define the debate - so the importance of being clear about the language we use in talking about dyslexia can not be over estimated. Recently a nice little professional website http://www.dyslexiaresources.com/ visited my little blog and out of politeness I visited there site. I was disturbed to notice that they used words like symptom and treatment when discussing dyslexia.

A disease has symptoms so that you can recognize when you have it. You can get better when you receive treatment and you can get cured. There is no cure to dyslexia - it is the the way you're built. Dyslexic people can not be cured or improved they are made perfect - the way God made them. The problem is not them the problem is everyone else who has decided that literacy written and read is a sign of intelligence. Dyslexic people are in the same category with people who are born blind or deaf.

If I asked you - How do you know some one is Deaf or Blind. what are the symptoms of there blindness what is the treatment? You would laugh at me. So Dyslexic individuals are in the same boat. Now having said that I do believe that their are things you can do to help the dyslexic in your life have better brain functioning - but those steps would work for everybody. You just see better results in a dyslexic.

A dyslexic who is exposed to the idea that dyslexia is a disease will have a false expectation that they are broken and will someday be cured. Dyslexia is who we are - it is our gift, it is our life and it is a reflection of God's manifestation of love on this planet.

We are born in a time when the role of science and belief that progresses is tied or bound to improvements in technology and engineering. Dyslexia is God's way of throwing a wrench in this plan - for we are all those kids who love art, who love the art of science and engineering - who don't test well - who do test well but can't write. We in short are the exceptions to the rule - well any rule. But in particular we are the exception to the rule that says that human behavior can be controlled, bought or sold.

Misspelling on the rise... Thank God.

This article on Making an Arguement for Misspelling is a great resource. The author touches on some of the reasons that I believe that dyslexia is caused by- or aggravated by the educational institutions we force are students to participate in.

I totally did not see the misspelling in the articles title - till the spell checker pointed it out to me. Did you see it? Laura Fitzpatrick makes a good argument for why in a living languge we should let creative spellers go there own way. Personally I think some discussion of the cost from nervouse or emotionally inscure dyslexics should be included in the calculations. Spelling nazi's beware your days are numbered! Some how I don';t thing the New York Times will stop proofing there paper anytime soon. sigh...

Fasting for the fourth day today….

A health fast – a kidney cleanse using the Dr. Shultz methodology and products. I feel great – but have much less sleep needs. Drink more fluids in the last four days than I normally drink in a week. I appreciate water on a whole new level. Locally we bought this really cool reverse osmosis water filter last month and I no longer have to purchase my distilled water.

Here’s the thing I have been fasting on and off for health, spiritually and general wellness for years. I have fasted on mountain tops, in temples and on NYC street corners. I am have gone with out water for 48 hours (very dangerous) – Food for seven days (not dangerous at all really) and a whole year without eating any wheat, meat or dairy.

A lot of people panic at the thought of not eating. As a trained survivalist I know that food is fairly low down the list. Things like breathing and staying hydrated come first - in fact you really don’t need to eat another bite unless or 3 or 98 for at least thirty to sixty days from right now. Of course fasting can be more nuanced then that – health fats should be carefully considered and then done anyway.

I know that when I fast for health with all the herbal teas and juice flushes that I feel great! My mind and my ability to focus goes up and my need for sleep goes down. I am still dyslexic the basic nerve patterns have not changed, but I am more able to function on a daily level. Best of all I feel really good about life – I have a smile on my face and I am thrilled about what is going on around me.

I did a 30 cleanse last year? Maybe two years ago and it ignited my soul fire to burn so bright and clear. IF you are parent of a child – remember that nobody should be forced to fast – so keep that in mind when planning any radical departure in your current approach to health in your family. We want to have a good time loving our bodies and taking care of ourselves. We don’t want our children to grow up thinking that food is the cause of their problems – though it is true that diet can be a key effect in your child's ability to adapt to their LDS.

Why does God give us Brains that don’t work?

Genetic variability aside. It just seems to me that the brain is one humdinger of an ineffective way to store information. I mean if God had intended us to remember things she would have given us computer plug-in or other physical ways to keep track like say a pad of paper and a pencil - instead of relying on such foolish things as memories.

So what is the brain designed to do – some would say nothing. Cause there is no design involved. But what is the brain capable of handling. Well our brains are excellent at detecting danger and problem solving dangerous situations we can see (bears lions and tigers). Not so good at situations that are out of sight(Global warming and nuclear holocaust). The brain seems to be a very clever way to create new things with out having created the ability to see the consequences of those new things (DDT, Plutonium)

In general our brains seem to be really handy out helping us to survive – but not so useful at storing information. Luckily for us the human race invented writing and then computers to help us with that particular function.

Maybe God felt sorry for us cause we were with out nasty teeth or claws, thick skin or even fur. So she gave us creativity instead cause it would help to balance the scales.

The Time Warp of Dyslexia

Through out my life I have been blessed by the ability to forget what I was just thinking. Some of you will no doubt think that this ability is a curse – a reality that has no silver lining. Well, I am here to tell what a gift it is to be so clever and creative that in every moment I can go wondering off into circles upon circles of new thoughts. I know that this is a gift because I have been to many workshops and seminars where people study how to be in the present moment.

This is not my problem.

My gift is to be always in this moment with out remembering what I was intending to do with it. I am “gifted” with fresh starts inserted randomly into my day. Fresh spellings, fresh ideas or fresh projects all I have to do is change locations and the major overhaul I was working on in the next room is forgotten while I blissfully fold laundry. Dyslexia to me is a statistically likelihood that I will have any ability to tie these moments together. The gift of dyslexia is that I can spend the morning with great focus and concentration on a project only to realize with surprise that I am in fact ten minutes late to another appointment.

I don’t need another workshop to be in the hear and now. My path is the path of all dyslexics – I am a student of the note to the future, the list to do or the five part plan. But here is the catch twenty-two I don’t like to make lists because they constantly interrupt my random flow of ideas. Stop laughing at me – if I can’t remember what I was gong to do, then clearly I am surprised when I look at my list. How dare I limit my startling creativity with a list of things to do!

But the mind is a fragile instrument and starting from scratch every ten minutes is not a good way to run business. So on my good days I give myself a little charity and forgiveness and do what’s on my list.

By the way – I think it’s time for me to start my list for the day.

Item 1) Finish Dyslexic Blog post ---- X
Item 2) Post Dyslexic Blog post ---- X
Item 3) Write the rest fo the list ---

My remidation report - 1985

Hilary K. Waldinger, M.A.
Riverdale, NY. 10463

Remediation Report: Eric James Wolf

Summary

Eric James Wolf is an extremely bright, thoughtful and creative student who demonstrates great capacity in thinking creativity. Understanding mathematical, scientific and historic facts and concepts, and reading literature perceptively. Eric has learning problems which can and are being remediate and which can be compensated for through small adaptive techniques on the part of Eric and his teachers. Eric had made some strong points in writing skills and will continue to do so this year in his tutoring program. Continued practice, motivation, and hard working, and dedicated to improving.

Diagnosis

While highly intelligent, Eric has perceptual difficulties in the areas of visual perception and visual memory. Eric also has problems in language processing, that is, in organizing and sequencing letters, syllables, words and sentences in written and oral presentations.

These perceptual and processing problems are manifest in Erics written work, his difficulties with a foreign language, and his occasional problems in organizing oral presentations. In terms of writing and organizing, these problems are manifest in several specific behaviors.

1st Eric Must and does need to spend much time and effect in organizing himself; his papers, notebooks, books.
2nd Eric has some trouble organizing his essays effectively under time pressure. He needs time to organize these concepts in the expected and clear sequence.
3rd This sequence problem exists in his sentence structure. Sentence fragments or run-ons that appear in class work produced under time limits are not an indication of mental laziness or indifference. Eric merely needs a bit more time to proofread and make corrections for those errors. While Erics sentences structure is steadily improving, Eric cannot yet discriminate between correct or incorrect sequences with 100 percent accuracy.
4th Sequence problems are very obvious in Erics spelling patterns. His reversals and misspellings, are all symptoms of visual perception and processing difficulties. Contributing to his problem is Erics handwriting, witch reveals his processing problems in the motor area. This is not intentional sloppiness or carelessness.

Remediation

Erics learning difficulties can be remediated effectively with appropriate instruction or they can be circumvented with appropriate adaptive techniques for classwork. Currently, an individualized tutorial program has focused on remediating Erics organization problems and his sentence structure. Tutoring has also developed some techniques for organizing essays, answering short answer questions, and writing paragraphs. Eric has made very good progress in using correct sentence structure. We have been working intensively on identifying and using subordinate clauses, identifying subordinate clauses used as sentence fragments, and combing sentences by using subordinate clauses. A successful instructional program for Eric should stress the practices listed below…

1) For teaching language arts or language, a multisensory approach is most successful. Eric needs to hear speak, see and write any new vocabulary word, spelling, grammar, preferably using all these senses in the same lesson. Using all the learning modalities in one lesson reinforces each area of perception.
2) Structured sequential instruction is most effective for learning a language skill. Eric learns best when he is presented with one new skill at a time, through a multisensory approach, and given copious practice in saying, writing, and reading that skill. For example, in learning subordinate clauses and subordinate conjunctions, he was taught one category of conjunction at a time. (e.g. time, then cause the result then condition ). He read, wrote, spoke and heard subordinate clauses suing that one category until he knew each of the subordinating conjunctions automatically. Only when he knew all the conjunctions in a category automatically did we move on to the next.
3) Continual reinforcement and review of previously learned items is crucial because these new language skills are not natural for Eric. For example. Even after moving onto a new category of subordinate clauses, Eric must be given a brief review of the categories previously learned. Each new skill must be built on an old one, which is reviewed and reinforced as that it is not forgotten.
4) In teaching essay writing, Eric must learn a Skelton of the pattern of organization required. Once he has the overall organization delineated for himself, he can express his ideas more fluidly and coherently. Thus, Eric must always prepare an outline for himself, organizing a thesis or topic sentence, his main ideas and his supporting information.
5) When writing a first draft, Eric should skip lines so that he can go back and correct errors in sentence structure or spelling. This would be god practice for in-class essay examines or writing exercises.

There are some adaptive strategies witch Eric can use that will allow him to better demonstrate his true abilities while not giving him any unfair advantage over his classmates. These are listed below

1) When writing an in-class essay or exam, Eric could use a skeleton outline, which does not have any content at all: rather, it is just a visual reminder for him of the overall form an essay should have. IT will just outline the ingredients of the essay – thesis statement, main ideas, and supporting details. Currently, Eric carries such a skeleton in his notebook, which can be used for any and all essays because it has no content. If he could use it, he would write more coherently and produce far better exams and papers.
2) If Eric could carry a spelling dictionary with him to school (such a dictionary shows only the correct spellings of words, no definitions), he could turn in some better work with more accurate spellings. Again, to use this in a testing situation is no extra advantage, because only information in such a dictionary is the correct spelling.
3) In learning gramner, Eric needs more structured practice than do other students. However, Eric will learn and use concept once it is taught to him. Therefore, one method of approaching the problem is to notify Eric’s tutor or parent of the areas covered in the term. The tutoring program can then focus intensively on these skills so that Eric will know them by the end of the term or in time for the unit presentation in class. Another approach might be to engage a student tutor for Eric who can give him extra practice on a skill.
4) For learning vocabulary words, particularly in a foreign language, Eric needs much practice with flashcards, with writing, and listening to tapes or dictation.
5) Eric should be given the opportunity to take essay essay exams on an untimed basis, so that he can have a little extra time to organize his thoughts and make some corrections in mechanics, if this is at all possible. This is not at all necessary for multiple choice or short answer exams where Erics learning difficulties do not hamper him. Perhaps he could just have could just have an extra five minutes a the end of class. If extra time is impossible, perhaps Erics work can be looked at attentively for its content rather then its form (spelling, etc).

April 15, 1985

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Today in 2008 this report seem obvious, but remember when it was written it was, by man by many who read it, considered cutting edge or out side the box thinking. Times change.

Eric Wolf

What causes dyslexia?

Well - my fellow searchers we travel on and I have been reading stuff online again and we all know that everything that appears on the internet must be true...

I read this past controversial issue of whether the cerebellum not properly developed is the key to causing dyslexia. I see a good argument here and I have begun to do more reading on the subject. Here are some older articles on the subject from the world wide web.

This Article is old news from BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/health/343139.stm

On CBS NEWS
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/21/60II/main579220.shtml

The Cerebellum as the Cause of Dyslexia
http://www.myomancy.com/2006/07/the_cerebellum_

Dyslexia and the Cerebellum: The Missing Evidence
http://www.myomancy.com/2007/09/dyslexia-and-the-cerebellum-the-missing-evidence

i have read before of how dyslexic individuals will sometimes during periods of high exercise or athletic feats temporarily lose all signs of dyslexia. I tend to doubt that if I work balance fro ten minutes twice a day for a year that after paying 3 grand for the privilege that I will develop new cerebellum - but what if I took the Chinese herbs and at the same time practiced juggling while balancing on high wire?

You laughed - I'm serious - I mean your talking to some one who has taken over the counter drugs for a whole year because he was told that his spelling might improve. Yes I didi the motion sickness treatment. But i do see a pattern here - balance, hearing, sound and spelling - they all seem to be related.

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I also found this amazing site on the brain and time witch is really cool but the reading is highly advances I know that some of my readers are not as interested in such thick headed and intelligent commentary - but this blog is worth keeping an eye on.
(Long as you don't keep an eye off me of course!)

Tick Tock Talk: The IQ brain clock
http://ticktockbraintalk.blogspot.com/search/label/dyslexia