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?
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
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!
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!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Poor Handwriting is a Symptom of Dyslexia
My family comes from a long line of people with poor handwriting. My family laughs about how we have all had poor handwriting for generations. We also have said with pride that we come from a long line of “math people”. So it was no surprise when my son at 5 years old figured out the concept of multiplication while asking questions in the car. However, he could not write a sentence using proper spacing. It would just be a long line of letters and the reader had to figure out were to separate them.
Fast forward to second grade and his handwriting is still terrible. But now we are moving on to cursive. Wait! What is this! The letters are sitting on the line and the short letters lightly touch the dotted line! The tall letters go all the way to the top line!! It is a master piece. I show this to my mom who says in shock, “he wrote that?” My answer was (after I double checked), “it has his name on it”
Of course now I am confused and need to do some research. I like to understand the reason behind things. I don’t want to only know that poor handwriting is a symptom of dyslexia, but I want to know why.
So I still have more research to do, but so far I have found that it has something to do with the continuousness of cursive. The less he has to pick up his pencil and then put it back down in the correct place the better. If anyone can explain it in a more professional way, I would love to hear it!!!
Three cheers for cursive!
Fast forward to second grade and his handwriting is still terrible. But now we are moving on to cursive. Wait! What is this! The letters are sitting on the line and the short letters lightly touch the dotted line! The tall letters go all the way to the top line!! It is a master piece. I show this to my mom who says in shock, “he wrote that?” My answer was (after I double checked), “it has his name on it”
Of course now I am confused and need to do some research. I like to understand the reason behind things. I don’t want to only know that poor handwriting is a symptom of dyslexia, but I want to know why.
So I still have more research to do, but so far I have found that it has something to do with the continuousness of cursive. The less he has to pick up his pencil and then put it back down in the correct place the better. If anyone can explain it in a more professional way, I would love to hear it!!!
Three cheers for cursive!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
More Proof
In case anyone wasn’t sure how happy I have been with the results of trying the Feingold diet, I have more proof.
Yesterday was the “Fall Feast” at my son’s school. The teacher had a cute activity for the kids to do. They each had a cooking that they would decorate as a turkey. Of course this involved candy corn, frosting, and a gel decorative frosting. Of course, this involved artificial colors and who knows what else.
I allowed my son to have it because, well let’s face it, I am a push over. By that afternoon and into this morning he was extremely grumpy and whiny. Now that over 24 hours have past, he is doing great again.
Before we started this diet, I would have never thought my son would be sensitive to artificial colors and flavors. Now I am absolutely convinced that we both are. The Feingold diet is not new. I wish I had known about it much earlier.
For those of us in the States, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I keep telling everyone that this diet really isn’t that difficult to do. As proof of that, we are having almost everything we had last year with very few adjustments.
The hardest thing for me has been becoming more aware of what we are eating. As long as you are paying attention, there are so many options and choices out there.
I challenge everyone to think about what their child eats in one day. Are there easy alternatives you could provide? I promise the answer is yes and I encourage everyone to give it a try.
Yesterday was the “Fall Feast” at my son’s school. The teacher had a cute activity for the kids to do. They each had a cooking that they would decorate as a turkey. Of course this involved candy corn, frosting, and a gel decorative frosting. Of course, this involved artificial colors and who knows what else.
I allowed my son to have it because, well let’s face it, I am a push over. By that afternoon and into this morning he was extremely grumpy and whiny. Now that over 24 hours have past, he is doing great again.
Before we started this diet, I would have never thought my son would be sensitive to artificial colors and flavors. Now I am absolutely convinced that we both are. The Feingold diet is not new. I wish I had known about it much earlier.
For those of us in the States, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I keep telling everyone that this diet really isn’t that difficult to do. As proof of that, we are having almost everything we had last year with very few adjustments.
The hardest thing for me has been becoming more aware of what we are eating. As long as you are paying attention, there are so many options and choices out there.
I challenge everyone to think about what their child eats in one day. Are there easy alternatives you could provide? I promise the answer is yes and I encourage everyone to give it a try.
Monday, November 19, 2007
From Skeptic to Believer
Ever since we began the Feingold diet, I have been watching my son’s dyslexia symptoms. I saw improvements and was very happy from the first day. But today I am a total believer.
Over the weekend we attended two hockey games. We have had season tickets for many years. I allowed my son to pick one “illegal” food per game. Over the weekend, we also had to study for a spelling retest. Boy did I pay for letting him have that food.
Once we got to about word number 6, he was done, he could not even focus on what word he was trying to spell. We practiced a few more times before I took him to my mom’s house for a sleep over. I went back to eat dinner with them and worked some more with him on his words. He was doing ok, but not great.
My mom had him practice his words the next morning. She said he did great! She said “You have to keep him on that diet. It is like a miracle. As soon as that stuff was out of his system, he did fine”
So it is official. Feingold has two new huge fans. Thank you!!
Over the weekend we attended two hockey games. We have had season tickets for many years. I allowed my son to pick one “illegal” food per game. Over the weekend, we also had to study for a spelling retest. Boy did I pay for letting him have that food.
Once we got to about word number 6, he was done, he could not even focus on what word he was trying to spell. We practiced a few more times before I took him to my mom’s house for a sleep over. I went back to eat dinner with them and worked some more with him on his words. He was doing ok, but not great.
My mom had him practice his words the next morning. She said he did great! She said “You have to keep him on that diet. It is like a miracle. As soon as that stuff was out of his system, he did fine”
So it is official. Feingold has two new huge fans. Thank you!!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Dyslexia Symptoms and Spelling
I have really been focusing a lot on our diet lately, so I though it was time that I get back to how we are dealing with our dyslexia symptoms.
We have seen a really big improvement in his spelling grades. I think our time at Lindamood Bell really helped him learn to hear each sound. We also have made a point to practice his words every night.
On Monday, I write the words on note cards. He reads then all first. Then we go through and spell them all. He doesn’t have to get the right and we only do each word once.
On Tuesday, we just spell the words. Each word that he gets correct (without help) goes into one pile and each word that he misses go in another.
On Wednesday, we only practice the words he missed the night before.
On Thursday we practice them all including doing the ones he has trouble with more than once. Friday is the test.
This has worked very well for us. One of the main things I had to learn was that he needs to spell them out loud. I spell by seeing if the word “looks right”. So last year I made him write the words to practice because I thought that would help him. I was WRONG. LOL
We all know that everyone learns in different ways. Finding the right learning style for your child is not always easy. I hope that share what works for us may help someone else.
Let us know what your strategy is by leaving a comment.
We have seen a really big improvement in his spelling grades. I think our time at Lindamood Bell really helped him learn to hear each sound. We also have made a point to practice his words every night.
On Monday, I write the words on note cards. He reads then all first. Then we go through and spell them all. He doesn’t have to get the right and we only do each word once.
On Tuesday, we just spell the words. Each word that he gets correct (without help) goes into one pile and each word that he misses go in another.
On Wednesday, we only practice the words he missed the night before.
On Thursday we practice them all including doing the ones he has trouble with more than once. Friday is the test.
This has worked very well for us. One of the main things I had to learn was that he needs to spell them out loud. I spell by seeing if the word “looks right”. So last year I made him write the words to practice because I thought that would help him. I was WRONG. LOL
We all know that everyone learns in different ways. Finding the right learning style for your child is not always easy. I hope that share what works for us may help someone else.
Let us know what your strategy is by leaving a comment.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Unexpected Benefits
I have spent a lot of time talking about the changes and improvements I have seen with my son and his dyslexia symptoms. However, I am leaving out a big piece of information.
I am also following the Feingold diet and I am seeing huge benefits.
Here is a little about my background. Now that I am aware of the symptoms of ADD, I can see them in myself for as far back as I can remember. I can’t keep a space clutter free to save my life. I was/am always losing things. I get hyper-focused on something and can’t pull away from it. There are too many more to list.
So I knew going into the Feingold Diet, it could benefit myself as well. What I didn’t expect was what has become the greatest benefit for me thus far.
For many years I have had a very hard time with my sleep schedule. I would get to bed around 11pm and not be able to fall asleep until 2am. Of course I would wake up tired. I was always tired. It didn’t matter if I slept all day and night, I would wake up dragging.
Well, since we started the Feingold Diet, I can sleep!!! I get in bed at 11pm and I am asleep by 11:30pm. This is huge for me!! I even wake up feeling rested. I can tell this is going to be something I stick with.
We have a lot of approved “junk” food right now because I don’t want my son to feel too deprived as we get used to what we can and can not have. So we have ice cream, cookies, chips, all of which I am eating too. With one eye opened, I got on the scale about a week into the diet. I had lost 4lbs. Wow! Not at all what I expected. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, this trend did not continue. LOL
Even if we mess up here and there, I truly believe for us, this is a new way of life. I have not found it difficult to do at all. I have found all of our food in my regular grocery store. I do have to learn to buy different brands, but that is no big deal. I do have to cook more which is not my favorite thing to do, but every recipe we have tried we have both loved.
If anyone is thinking about trying it, I would recommend giving the Feingold Diet a whirl. Even if it doesn’t do anything for you, it certainly will not hurt!
Let me know if you are or have tried it by leaving a comment. ;-)
I am also following the Feingold diet and I am seeing huge benefits.
Here is a little about my background. Now that I am aware of the symptoms of ADD, I can see them in myself for as far back as I can remember. I can’t keep a space clutter free to save my life. I was/am always losing things. I get hyper-focused on something and can’t pull away from it. There are too many more to list.
So I knew going into the Feingold Diet, it could benefit myself as well. What I didn’t expect was what has become the greatest benefit for me thus far.
For many years I have had a very hard time with my sleep schedule. I would get to bed around 11pm and not be able to fall asleep until 2am. Of course I would wake up tired. I was always tired. It didn’t matter if I slept all day and night, I would wake up dragging.
Well, since we started the Feingold Diet, I can sleep!!! I get in bed at 11pm and I am asleep by 11:30pm. This is huge for me!! I even wake up feeling rested. I can tell this is going to be something I stick with.
We have a lot of approved “junk” food right now because I don’t want my son to feel too deprived as we get used to what we can and can not have. So we have ice cream, cookies, chips, all of which I am eating too. With one eye opened, I got on the scale about a week into the diet. I had lost 4lbs. Wow! Not at all what I expected. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, this trend did not continue. LOL
Even if we mess up here and there, I truly believe for us, this is a new way of life. I have not found it difficult to do at all. I have found all of our food in my regular grocery store. I do have to learn to buy different brands, but that is no big deal. I do have to cook more which is not my favorite thing to do, but every recipe we have tried we have both loved.
If anyone is thinking about trying it, I would recommend giving the Feingold Diet a whirl. Even if it doesn’t do anything for you, it certainly will not hurt!
Let me know if you are or have tried it by leaving a comment. ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)