Now Back to Storytelling for children and adults...

Years ago I started my fairy tale line Fairytales Forever as Fairy tales for Single Parents.  These stories a rose out of my work with inner city children in New York City.  Many of whom are growing up in single parent household.  This seven CD set touches on issues of interest to modern children through recasting the fairytales of old.  I am planning on finishing this set next spring.  You can read more about the Fairy Tales forever series at http://www.fairytalesforever.com/

Sean Buvala is working the other end of this market brilliantly with his new e-book Daddy Teller.  Which you can read all about at http://daddyteller.com/.  What I really like about Sean's work - with out having read it  - is that he is empowering fathers everywhere to use storytelling role model there children.  How else could you get the most bang for your very limited time with your children?

You could take my free e-course on Zen and the Art of storytelling in Seven Simple Steps, but that would still leave gaping holes in your knowledge of how to use storytelling with children as a dad. (or a mom) The fact is that knowing how to perform and knowing how to be present with your children are vastly different skill sets.  

12 workshops I wish were at the International Dyslexia Association Conference this year...

Here are the 12 workshops that would serve the attendees - if they happened upon them at this weeks IDA conference.

1. Statistical relationships in early age bedside home reading and dyslexic student reading later in life.
2. How to guide to storytelling in the home.  Learning reading through desire.
3. An interview with a dyslexic lawyer, doctor, teacher, fisherman and fireman.
4. An open discussion with 3 parents who raised dyslexic children.
5. The relationship between diet and the brain of your child.
6. How to get students to care about reading when school has kicked the shit out of them.
7. Un-schooling the school were no one has a label.
8. My Waldorf schooled dyslexic child - the good, the bad and the lovely.
9. An examination of self interest - money and the role it plays in school settings. 
10. Chinese lessons on dyslexia; using the herbs of the east.
11. When Dog let's you down.  Discussions on God and dyslexia.
12. I feel...  How to listen to your teenage Dyslexic. 

I would love to find one of these workshops at the conference.

If you saw one this past week please let me know right a way.  ;-)

Wish I was at the International Dyslexia Association Conference this week... not really.

The International Dyslexia Association(IDA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, scientific, and educational organization dedicated to the study and treatment of the learning disability, dyslexia as well as related language-based learning differences.  Click the link to go to there website.

If your a long time reader you will see right away that my approach and the associations to dyslexia is in direct conflict.  Reading through the conference brochure I am struck by how many of the workshops are about getting dyslexic children to mainstream as quickly as possible.  These are children with a completely disconnected learning style form the the style of teaching that is used in modern schools.

Basically it's the word "treatment" that bothers me.  I am not sick - I do not need a doctor or therapist because of my dyslexia.  Though you may argue with me successfully that after attending public and private school as dyslexic person I may be in need of a therapist to rebuild my self confidence.  There is nothing wrong with me - I just think different then 80% of every one else.  I am not broken, but me and my kind have existed for a long time and will exist for years to come.

Maybe dyslexic children are the canaries in the coal mine- demonstrating to us and to our whole society that the modern model of schooling is broken and in need of reform.
For my next post I will propose 12 workshops I wish were at the International Dyslexia Association Confer

Dyslexia is more then not spelling.

Sometimes it is difficult for people to understand that dyslexia is more then just having difficulty with reading, grammar and spelling.  If only that were the case, dyslexia is a struggle with literate world that insists on treating everyone like they can fill out forms by hand.  For many people, dyslexia also effects their audio recognition and more importantly precognition of events.  In other words time is particularly difficult concept for many people who are dyslexic.

Both the movement of time and planning the use of time can be very difficult for dyslexic children and adults.  As a professional storyteller I have struggled for years with stage timing and how to be aware of the time on stage without breaking contact with the audience.

Another reality that many dyslexic children and adults face is shame and other emotional baggage related to their struggle to function in a literate society.  A society that does not seem to recognize best effort or tried really hard, but only recognizes spelled everything correctly.

"Scary Stories are good for your children," says host of the Art of Storytelling Show.

Eric James Wolf, professional storyteller and host of the Art of Storytelling Show, is available for print, radio and television interviews to speak on how scary stories can be used to teach important life skills to children.

Scary stories and ghost stories have been used for thousand of years to gather interest in young people towards learning a new subject. Eric Wolf says “From ghost stories to strangers giving your child candy; scary stories have been used to help young people identify danger in the world.” Useful scary stories and ghost stories are based on truth, teach valuable skills and leave the audience feeling empowered against the villain or evil of the story.

Eric Wolf host and producer of the Art of Storytelling Show with over 100,000 downloads to date is the longest running, most successful show ever produced dedicated solely to perfecting the art of storytelling.

For more information: http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/category/scary-storytelling/

The Definition of Success for Dyslexic students.

Recently I was asked to present at a conference on my success as a dyslexic person.  I don't feel particularly succesful.  I have the same amount of frineds as everybody I know, maybe less.  I am married and I am a sucesful step parent.  I have a business that is not really the runaway success I want it to be (yet).  But when I turn off my fairly well developed mind of the critic.  (and where did I develop this idea of the critic you may ask? - don't get me started.)

I find that I am very succesful.  I live in my dream house to my dream woman.  I have my dream job and I work really hard at it with some very specatcular results.  If not the spectacular fiscal success - I have developed some substainsial results - and I am looking forward to even more in the coming months.

In every measure of the word success - I can say that I am successful.  I set goals and I accomplish them - I have setbacks and move past them.  I am a functioanl dyslexic person.  Except that is not really the term I would use - I am really a functional whole person.  I am something that I was never taught in school.  Somehting that is not in the curiculm.  A sum of the whole l that is harder to find then then the numbers.

I am a human being.  Dyslexia is just a term to help the world understand and forgive my limitations of my humanity.

No Computer Allowed....

I had to go to court to support a friend and I discovered a sign that blew me away - no computers or electronic devices allowed.  Can you believe it?  In defense of the need for privacy the court has gone to far I think.  How are people with out decent handwriting to function?  What if I had wanted to take notes?  Or if I had needed to demonstrate to the court some evidence of some sort or other that is on my computer.

I probably would have needed to bear the $$$ of printing - trust it to government to be the last refuge of the luddite.  All hands raised for the courts.  Truth, justice and paper only please.  From an evidence stand point I think the computer and electronic documentation too easily changed.  Not that paper is any more solid really.

The assumption is that all attendees can write and then read a sentence in notes.  But times are changing and many people keep notes on there laptop or even blueberry - expect of course in the Court system.

Ten Rules for Faking it...

Again my readers inspire me...  I have not set foot inside a english classroom in years or discussed current remedial reading teaching techniques since 2000, But I can rest assured that this basic tenet of teaching has not changed in the last ten years.

Don't teach the student how to cheat, fake it or get by.  Instead make them slog through the material, because it's honest and necessary

What other handicapped group is forced to submit too such a rule?  Are blind people forced to live with out canes because it makes them more honest.   Children with glasses forced to live without them to be more real?

I wonder how many of teachers teach kids how to fake it?  I mean at what point do we look a child in the eye and say; "Well you are 3 years behind the learning curve here are ten survival strategies that might be useful for you to know."

Maybe this did happen to me - I just don't remember it.  But I don't think so.  This is a big problem in modern education - people who have consistently failed to learn to read should be taught basic survival strategies.

Lets go through them here...


1) Lie - Well this was the hardest one for me and probably the biggest lesson.  The powerless always have the right to lie to the powerful and who is less powerful then a student who can't read in a modern classroom.

2) Cheat - I am still not a fan of cheating cause I grew up a good kid.  But I do believe in getting help from my friends on homework - I believe in many places that is called cheating.  I just call it group support.  Hint - you have to use your own handwriting if you can.

3) If all else fails just don't respond.  A raised eyebrow may just prompt the answer to appear.  Silence is the best defense of the cornered.


4) Sit strategically - The front row is great for hearing the teacher.  But if the teacher likes to pick people out during class.  Sit in the back behind the biggest kid you can find.

5) Get your homework done early - But think about not completing certain tasks tactically.  Remember certain tasks take a huge amount of energy others much less.  Weigh your options and choose not to take some.  A captain of sinking ship can't save everything.

6) Books on tape are at the library and librarians are willing to find them for you - need I say more?

7) Pick a day of the week and never do any reading and writing on that day - ever.

8) Don't Cheat on Tests - This is fairly important rule - I have never met a test cheater who didn't get caught - of course I also did fairly well on non essay tests without cheating.

9) The goal is too pass - getting an A is great - but man a C- is just as satisfying when your working your ass off

10) Dear Reader - What rule do you think should be inserted here?

a) Send out an SOS and Ask for Help - admit to the adults who are kind and trustworthy that you need their assistance.

b) Laugh more - need I say more?

c) Stop the Blame Game - Blind people don's feel guilty for not being able to see - they might get frustrated sometimes - but they don't blame themselves for not being able to see...

Storytelling

Functional Illiteracy

While everybody learning to read is a worthwhile goal.  Yea Reading!   I question the timing of the goal in educational settings and I question the value of forced literacy given the digital age we live in.  But I wanted to examine the intense pressure we place on individuals who for whatever reason can't read and the underlying realties faced by people who are illiterate in a society that is based on the power of the written word.

I mention this because my hand writing is pretty much illegable - and that's if I am focused and really working hard.  Forget reading a note from me if I am busy or in a hurry.  Reading for me is a well won prize - but not when I am doing something else like say driving.  Many a time have I been lost from not being able to read the road signs because the driving needed to be focused on.  I prefer to have a navigator and I avoid a cell phones in the car like the plague...  I have always been convinced that they are too much of a distraction.

Literacy for me is based on two things desire and access to successful readers.  Numerous studies have demonstrated that successful young readers are more likely to have parents who read books in the house.   Children copy what they are exposed too and we know that.   We recognize that literacy in the United Sates is no longer in question.  The question is how will be behave towards those who can not or will not be taught to read or write.


I am a big fan of literacy campaigns and giving books away as much as the next fellow...  But can we get over any shame or embarrassment at being unable to read or write.  Maybe we could just assume that if some one can't write - it's not from a lack of trying.  That if some one can't read - it's not for want of desire.  Let us treat those left behind in the literacy wars as battlefield casualties.   Exempt form the needs of service they are the handicapped few who can with distinction serve our country or our people in other ways without the need to ever pickup a book, fill out a form or test.

How do I know if I am dyslexic?

How indeed... Dyslexia as a word is only as useful as you relate to Institue teaching and institutional learning.  The term forces institutions to bend their rules on apply tests to students so that a dyslexic person can succeed.  Get more time on tests, access to a typewriter, a spell checker during written tests or oral examinations.  Creating a level playing field for the dyslexic student.

A dyslexic person who is working in a private setting can normally pass successfully without revealing themselves.  Though on occasion they may be embarrassed – usually other people will not connect this with dyslexia.

I have even heard of people who could not read passing in the public for years.  I would ask you if you are asking this question - How do I know if I am dyslexic?

Does it matter?

I mean really if you are not currently in school then it probably does not matter.  If on the other hand you are in school, current law is pretty clear.  Every student in the United States and United Kingdom has the right to be tested for learning disabilities and their teaching plan changed to fit their basic needs so they can succeeded.

So if you are in school you should already know the answer - if not - then does it really matter?

Good Day Bad Day

One of the most difficult things to explain to people who are not dyslexic is that learning disabilities are not constant. LDS is not like lighting a room where you can just say that the effect is set or controllable.

People ask me - can you spell, or what is your reading like? Most days it’s just like yours is my answer. After eight years of basic English and with the help of constantly writing new posts for this blog I have improved my style and writing comfort in the last year. Still I have bad days and good days.

Spelling is relative – grammar extra credit. Getting back to the point here – so if dyslexia is biological state and changes from one day to the next in relative effects. What happens when a dyslexic student goes in for a test o a bad day? If the student has the ability to change the test date – nothing will happen. If the school system is not flexible then the student suffers through a hard day.

The Importance of Family.

Just so you know this blog has certain rules that explain why I don't have any one proof these blog posts... Dyslexia

When I was still in school back in the early 80’s the psychological pressures on me were immense. I was struggling just to get up in the morning and as a young 13 year old I was also trying my best to forge a new identity separate from my parents. I honestly did not know much and I thought I knew all I ever needed to know about the world. I thought that this is the way of the world.

The emotional bedrock of my teenage years was that I could take for granted that my parents loved and accepted me. I can remember no occasion where they dressed me down or chewed me out because of my bad grades or failure to be academically successful. Both of my parents struggled with feelings of guilt, but they both refused to pass off or express these feelings at me. My parents understood that the last thing a dyslexic child needs is to be yelled at because of bad grades.

I can not stress enough the importance of supportive home life. I am talking about regular meals and at least one parent present at all times in the house. I am not talking about faking a marriage so that both parents can live in the same house. I am talking about the parent who has the child checking in everyday with homework and other school work. Most importantly knowing where the child is at all times. This creates a sense of safety for the child that can not be over estimated. Dyslexic children struggle with issues of safety. School is not safe so it becomes very important that home be safe. By safe I mean predictable, scheduled and comfortable.

Good Luck. As a parent I can only tell you that parental guilt is not really helpful unless it inspires action so cut it out ok?

Left or Right of Dyslexia

Make sure you take the time to read the rest of my posts on my dyslexic blog.

Yesterday I got lost for five minutes. My directions said turn left at the second light and I got to the first traffic light (it was red) and during that two minutes of sitting there and thinking about storytelling and the world; I discovered that I could not remember witch light I was at – the first one or the second one. So I turned left and after a few minutes realized something was up and drove into a gas station to get directions.

This experience is a classic dyslexic moment. Two lefts – take the 2nd left no problem with left was that? 2nd left? Right? HA. In this case the answer was not that important my 20-year-old daughter had to wait for a few more minutes at the airport. But I can think of a lot of situations where it does matter a great deal to not get confused as to the correct choice. So I slide away from jobs or responsibilities that place too much weight on one decision. EMT or Surgeon come to mind for me.

There are many dyslexic people who hold positions like these and they have developed coping mechanisms that they can trust. Part of what happens is the newness of the choice creates the opportunity for confusion. I would not be confused at the traffic lights in my town of Yellow Springs Ohio. There are five total. This particular set of directions was important and time was a factor. Pressure is the other side of this equation. A little bit of pressure increases the chance a dyslexic person will make a language related mistake not less.

Maybe I should add cross-country taxi driver to my list – but GPS systems make a great compensation method if I can just get over my pride and joy of figuring it out for myself.

To read more about my work as a storyteller please check out my main website click here storytelling.

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.

Nuts in Bolts of being Dyslexic

Recently I had a classic dyslexic experience.
For the past five months my phone service has been telling that it has messages.

As a dyslexic person I have tendency to switch the audio recognition of sounds, colors or other stimulus. Red means green, black is white, t is h or yes means no. While the more obvious red and green analogy is rare for me these days. I have been known on a once every five years occasion to go through a red light. (That could be an interesting PHD for some one; Dyslexia and traffic accidents – anyone?)

Usually for me dyslexia means that I have to dumb down what I say to write – or - I have to use words of simpler variety in order to communicate effectively.

When I read - My optimum communication style is the first person spoken narrative.
When I speak it - Communication is easy for me by word of mouth using stories.
When I write it - Storytelling works the best.

That little exercise made my head hurt - Back to the phone service.

The phone company sent me a signal (when I pick up my phone the dial tone - stutters or blinks.)
I, as dyslexic person, reversed the meaning of the stimulus. For the past 5 months I have been thinking that no one - has left me a message. Think about that - not a week not a month for the last five months I was convinced that none of my calls were returned.

I mean really; how is that possible? You could think - well Eric is an idiot. I had tests - and I'm not really. So there is another explanation. Well - many dyslexic people have memory issues. They fail to connect past language related events with present ones with current ones. Dyslexic children struggle with issues of time and time management. The long and the short of it is – I didn’t notice that more then a week had gone by with out getting a message.

Not to forget that dyslexic people have lower self esteem then other populations. So it is onlly natural for a dyslexic person to think that on one called them. ☹ Did I mention the 60 messages waiting for me in my voice mail?

The Gift of Story

While not writing for this Dyslexic Blog I have a career as a storyteller I am currently attending the Talk Story Conference in Waikiki Hawaii and yesterday I went out and volunteered for my friend Jeff Gere who set up the conference and works for the Honolulu parks and recreation department. A bunch of us storyteller went off and told stories at various camps and parks programs just for fun. I forget how much I enjoy just telling stories to children – that as an artist I get so wrapped up in the passionate desire that storytelling and the arts in general get accepted – no – get embraced that I forget the simple joy that is one person telling to an audience of children who are so thrilled to listen. When the audience is so jazzed to see you - you get jazzed to be with them and suddenly it's like your flying. Not work - just the joy of storytelling.

The Value of Childhood

Recently a fellow storyteller Bill Harley wrote a blog post on the reality of childhood and how over protective human society has become.  Read his post on “Is childhood more dangerous now?” 

I would suggest that as the average age of our society has risen and as our society has become less spiritual, less community oriented and more individual, cynical and isolated.  We have become more afraid of death.  Death is no longer seen as natural – but instead is the elephant in the room.  Any accident any encounter with the unknown becomes an opportunity for death to stalk us or our family.  All great lies have a gleam of truth and death really is stalking all of us.  The good news that life just wouldn’t be the same with out it.  Death gives sweetness to life it forces us to face our fears it forces us to live.  We know that at some time in the future we will die and we better get our act together and do the best we can in this life because someday with or with out warning the clock will stop.

But we have denied death to our children.  Not in the sense that we have prevented it – but in the sense that we have separated it from out children’s lives.  We have bubble wrapped death in pink ribbons and video games where death means you get another life just like the one you had – isn’t that nice?

But the cool thing about the post that Bill wrote is that he is talking about a problem that has been going on for a long time – the invasion and the capitalization of children’s lives to they point were they have no time to 1) be themselves 2) be around children only spaces and 3) make there own mistakes.

But there is a whole different level to this conversation. Today much of the natural world in America as it was experienced in the 30’s 40’s and 50’s has been paved over to develop suburban housing. We have built a world were many children just don’t have the space to explore – they don’t have the excess to the opportunity.

We have built a world with out wood lots, streams or fields. This lack of access prevents the question did you play in the woods today? from even arising.

I (my family) live in the vale, a 13 family land trusted community on 37 acres of woods and fields.  We have given up real-estate speculation and gained the knowledge that our children spent time growing up building dams unsupervised in the local stream or rope swinging off a 20 foot drop or sneaking up on skunks.   Or a hundred other activates that they survived unscathed form and I never heard about.   These experiences gave them fortitude and a strength of character that can’t be duplicated by camp or school.

Why Doubt sucks.

or The physiological and psychological realities of being Dyslexic.

Thanks for reading this blog for more blog posts check out the rest of my work at http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

 I am sitting in a classroom in 3rd grade.  My heart rate is high I am in fight or flight mode.  I can feel my pulse beating behind my ears.  The room seems hot – I can’t help but look around the room for a place to hide.  Maybe if I slouched down in my chair I could avoid being picked out by the teacher.  I can not read.  I am the only non-reader in my class and I know it.  I am a shamed.  I wait all day for recess and pray it does not rain.

I am sitting in beginning Spanish in 7^th grade.  I have no idea what is going on in the classroom.  I work hard at night to catch up, but I slip further and further behind.  My body does not know that I am sitting in a classroom in the best junior-high in Manhattan.  Instead my body believes that it is walking across the African safari with a lion behind every bush.  I am preparing to fight or run for my life.

The teacher addresses me in Spanish and I freeze.   A useful response to a lion or a leopard, but not to a Spanish teacher.

I am sitting in basic biology in college.  I keep notes religiously.  I can’t read half of them or figure out what they mean.  When I use the text book I find the new words overwhelming.  I test on reading compression tests better then my peers, but here where the words are too many, too new and complex I find it difficult to associate the words on the page with the words that are spoken in the lectures.  I enjoy the lectures and discussions, but during labs and exams years of training kick in an I turn into a adrenaline junkie who looks like bumbling fool.

Dyslexic individuals have millions of years of biology working against them as they attempt to work there way through the literate world.  As I have written before in this blog the biggest block to the success of a dyslexic person is the realization that success starts outside of the fields that dyslexic students are weakest in.  As human being’s we need to build on previous success and previous triumphs in order to build into our weakness.  The disadvantage that dyslexic people start with such a handicap they need to create other areas of success to hold them over whether is theater, sports, math, science, fantasy, or relationships.  Before suffering the trials and tribulations of dyslexia it is important that students have some touch stone of success.

Thanks for reading this blog for more blog posts check out the rest of my work at http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Laughter is the best medicine...

The Onion who never covers anything seriously has covered teaching disabilities ;-)

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_increasing_number_of?utm_source=a-section

The Definition of Education

Eric Wolf is a storyteller whose work can be viewed on ericwolf.org.

Words are tempting to use and take for granted.   To explore the root of words is too explore their common usage and their hidden meaning.  In the industrial revolution the schools were used to bring a rural and disparate population into the modern industrial world.

Dyslexic individuals have through there inability to function successfully in school settings demonstrated the hidden agenda of schools.  Modern schools are creating a uniform and generic cultural norm that is useful to a government that seems more interested in creating a population that is willing to follow orders then create solutions.  Dyslexic students are revolutionaries not because they want to be – but because they must be to survive.

I have written here before on the importance of growing children who maintain there ability to be creative in the 21^st century where creativity is the coin of the realm.  But first let us exam in what the current idea of education is based on.  Here is the current uusage fo the word education on…

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/education

Usage: Education, properly a drawing forth, implies not so much the communication of knowledge as the discipline of the intellect, the establishment of the principles, and the regulation of the heart. Instruction is that part of education which furnishes the mind with knowledge. Teaching is the same, being simply more familiar. It is also applied to practice; as, teaching to speak a language; teaching a dog to do tricks. Training is a department of education in which the chief element is exercise or practice for the purpose of imparting facility in any physical or mental operation. Breeding commonly relates to the manners and outward conduct.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.  (Bold is by me.)

--------------------

If education is about tempering the heart and ruling the emotions of the individual… if education is about getting the mind in top shape at the expense of every other aspect of the soul’s journey through life, from the emotional maturity of the students, to the flexibility of the body then perhaps it is time we admitted that the current model – the current ideal of education is completely off the track for what we want for our children.

How do we build a world where education is no longer seen as what is done to you, but instead education is what a student does to themselves because there desire and hunger for knowledge is so great.  If point of Education is temper the passions of the heart and the creativity of the soul.  Then perhaps it is time time less children were educated - the world may indeed improve.