Three Cheers for Good Morning America

There was an amazing segment on Good Morning America this morning. The National Geographic channel is doing a documentary on Ben Kilham and his unique study of bears. This is very interesting but the part that really drew me in was that he attributes his ability to understand the bears to the unique way his brain functions.

Kilham is dyslexic. According to his website, BenKilham.com, he reads at a third grade level. As a child, his dreams of studying animal behavior were crushed. It was much later in his life that he was tested and diagnosed with dyslexia. He also learned that his IQ is among the top 1 percent of the human population!

As soon as he discovered that he was intelligent, he knew that he could do anything. Although the way in which his brain functions did not allow him to be a great reader, it gave him other phenomenal strength that allowed him to succeed wildly in his dream field. He learned to tap into his special abilities and use those to his advantage.

This approach to dyslexia is exactly what I want for my son and his generation. I feel that every child should be allowed to embrace their interests and not let the concept of formal education stand in their way. In our school system, we determine what the child’s weaknesses are and focus on that. I wonder what would happen if we focused on the strengths and allowed the children to soar with their gifts.

ReadingPen Continued

My son was so excited when he got home from school yesterday. We immediately read a book together using the pen. One thing we discovered is that the contrast between the page color and the letters makes a difference. It also needs to be held at the proper angle, but this is not too hard for him. He spent the rest of the night scanning every word he could find. This includes the toothpaste tube – LOL!!

One of the things that I was hoping would happen did. I was concerned that he would “take the easy way out” and just use the pen, not reading at all. What actually has happened is that it is just hard enough to do that it is easier and faster to just read the words he can and only use it when he gets stuck.

Another fun thing is that he was going around last night “discovering” words that he would never try to read on this own. He came into the room I was in so proud of himself saying “Mom, I know how to spell professional.” He had scanned it off one of my magazines.

One of the most exciting things is that he can have some independence when he reads. If he is just reading for fun, not for homework, I don’t care how much he uses the pen. If he is enjoying a book, I am all for it!

Reading Pen

I am very excited today. I just received the ReadingPen that I ordered for my son.
This is a cool, handheld scanner. When you scan over a word, it will pronounce it. I have tried it out on several types of text. So far it seems to be working great. My son is still at school, so we will have to wait to see if it is easy enough for him to use.

Just like most things, I found both positive and negative reviews for the ReadingPen. I look forward to trying it out and writing my personal review for all of you.

Mary Lynne

Seeing is Understanding

My extra help with my son is going well. We have been doing a lot of work with breaking apart two consent sounds. Like so many other things, he understands the concept but needs a lot of practice for it to become automatic.

At home I have found that he needs visual reinforcement. For us this means charts. For example, each nine weeks his teacher gives him a reading goal based on a points system. I determine how many points he needs each week to reach his goal by the end of the nine weeks. As he earns points we color in the chart. If the chart not full by the end of the week, we know we need to catch up. Being able to visually "see" his goal makes it much easier for his to stay on track.

What about you? Do you use charts or anything else that has been effective for you? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

Putting on My Tutor Hat

Starting this week, I will be going to my son’s school once a week for a ½ hour to do some phonic remediation with him. He needs more work in phonics, but his teacher doesn’t have the time or program to do this. He has a wonderful teacher!! She is very aware of what he needs and has worked with me ALL year to be sure that we stay on top of things.

I have decided to use Reading Reflex as a guide. I will probably be adding other bits and pieces depending on what I see as the biggest weaknesses. We will begin working with adjacent consonants, aka blends. He is able to take two sounds and put them together, but has difficulty splitting them up again. For example, he can take “f” and “r” and make “fr”, but he has trouble taking “fr” and breaking it into “f” “r”

I am hoping that this will be something we can do together. Like so many other children, my son behaves very well for other people, but not so great with me. I have told him that if we can not get our work done, I will have to find someone else to come in to do it. He is 7 and still wants his mom to come to school.

Here is where you can get a copy of Reading Reflex if you are interested:

What Are We Teaching?

There was a recent article in the New York Times addressing the fact that a surprisingly high percentage of entrepreneurs in the United States have dyslexia. Is anyone surprised by this? If you truly understand dyslexia, you know that the ability to be a visionary is a common trait among people with dyslexia. I can think of a handful of books that are out there right now written by successful business people. Almost everyone begins with their tale of how horrible school was for them. So how exactly are we preparing our future leaders?

A report, compiled by Julie Logan, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Cass Business School in London, states that 70% of entrepreneurs who said they have dyslexia also reported that they did not succeed in school. Basically what this is saying is that these people succeeded despite their schooling.

I think it is time that we figure out how to foster the strengths of all children! In the US, many classrooms group students by reading ability. Where does our obsession with reading come from? Who came up with the idea that a good reader equals a good student? Why do we have all of these programs to teach the love of reading?

I do not love to read! There I said it. You will very rarely find me reading just for the fun of it. That being said, I read all the time! I read things that interest me. I read things that I can learn something from.

I wonder what would happen if we spent less time trying to convince children that they have to be great readers and more time teaching them to recognize what their individual talents are and how to use those talents. What if we taught children that they don’t have do be good at everything. It is ok to be average in some areas. What if we fostered those talents and taught the interpersonal skills needed to work with each one another to leverage those talents. Would we all rise to the top together?

Great books for Children with Dyslexia

My son and I have been reading a new series of books. They are by Henry Winkler and the main character has dyslexia. His adventures center around how he deals with his weaknesses in school.

I was a little nervous to read these books to m son without reading them to myself first. My son as pretty high self esteem, and I was afraid this would introduce new fears. But, I went ahead and started the first book without previewing it first.

My son LOVES these books. We recently had character day at school. The kids dress up as their favorite book characters. My son went has Hank Zipzer (the main character in the book). When we finished the first book, I had not gotten the second one yet. So my son just wanted to start the first one over again.

I am so thankful to have these fun stories that not only discuss the difficult aspects, but also celebrate the common strengths such as building things, story telling, and the ability to see the whole picture.

I highly recommend these books!