Learning Differences

I am a passionate plan maker, and had this coming school semester all planed out to the ½ hour, with alternating A weeks and B weeks, depending on when the kids’ various classes and clubs fell. I’m a mock trial coach for Steve L.’s team, starting a Girl Scout troop for Janey and a Chess Club for the boys. We are working on merit badges and belt loops for Scouts in addition to all our regular school work, classes and clubs. Monday was supposed to be the inaugural day of our new schedule, but Ellie had another plan. Plans and activities all have their places, and we are still looking forward to them, but this week as been a reminder of all those things that really matter – health, family and faith. Things that seemed imperative last week suddenly dropped off in the face of more important priorities.

The one thing that we made sure did not fall out, however, was taking Daniel to his new reading tutor. We discovered last month that Daniel is Dyslexic, and he started tutoring this week with a Certified Dyslexic Therapist who is also a Certified Academic Language Therapist (one of only two in the state.)

I had never even considered that Daniel could be dyslexic no matter how many walls we hit with however many reading programs we tried. How could a child so curious, outgoing, creative, deep thinking, and who is great at algebra, possibly have a “learning disability?” When we hit the same wall at the same point the second time through the same reading program that my other children have had great success with, my concussion convinced me to seek some outside help. We had him evaluated at the U of U reading center in the fall, but they couldn’t fit him into their “struggling reader program” until the summer. Not satisfied with that solution we hired a tutor on their recommended list. He liked going and was making some progress, but I was not satisfied that we had found the best solution for Daniel. I had the impression to just ask my girlfriend Denise about dyslexia (her twins, Daniel’s age, are both dyslexic.) I quickly sent off an email asking what the signs of dyslexia were, not thinking anything would come of it. The next morning her answer changed our lives for the better. I knew within minutes that not only the typical struggles of dyslexia applied to Daniel, but also all of the strengths. As I read through the websites she sent, my understanding of my son and how to best help him expanded ten fold. The reason he still could not tie his shoes, tell right from left and struggled telling time after years of coaching, all suddenly made sense. There was no sadness, or anger only relief and gratitude for finding some answers. Being “right-brained” as we explained it to him and his siblings is what makes him the curious, outgoing, creative, deep thinking, kid that he is. How could I wish that away? Yes, it will take him much longer to learn to read and write, but who said it was a race?

Now, I am not a fan of the current political correctness movement. Calling short people “vertically challenged” and saying gay people have “alternative lifestyles” makes me grumpy to say the least. I believe in calling a spade, a spade, so to speak. In the reading and research I have done since that morning of revelation, I have come to understand that dyslexia is not a disability, but a learning difference. Here is a definition I found of the cause of dyslexia.

"Dyslexia is an inherited condition. Researchers have determined that a gene on the short arm of chromosome #6 is responsible for dyslexia. That gene is dominant, making dyslexia highly heritable. It definitely runs in families.

Dyslexia results from a neurological difference; that is, a brain difference. People with dyslexia have a larger right-hemisphere in their brains than those of normal readers. That may be one reason people with dyslexia often have significant strengths in areas controlled by the right-side of the brain, such as artistic, athletic, and mechanical gifts; 3-D visualization ability; musical talent; creative problem solving skills; and intuitive people skills.

In addition to unique brain architecture, people with dyslexia have unusual "wiring". Neurons are found in unusual places in the brain, and are not as neatly ordered as in non-dyslexic brains.
In addition to unique brain architecture and unusual wiring, f/MRI studies have shown that people with dyslexia do not use the same part of their brain when reading as other people. Regular readers consistently use the same part of their brain when they read. People with dyslexia do not use that part of their brain, and there appears to be no consistent part used among dyslexic readers."

Because their brains function differently, many dyslexic people struggle or fail in school with their one-size-fits-all approach to teaching. About 10% of people are dyslexic, but many are undiagnosed, believing themselves dumb or incapable, when what they need is to be taught in a way that their brain can best process the info. Being different doesn’t make you disabled, but it can make you amazing. Here is a short list of people that succeeded because of their dyslexia, not in spite of it. (There are many, many more):

Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven, Babe Ruth, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Charles Schwab, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, Hans C. Anderson, Bill Cosby, Victor Hugo, James Stewart, Ansel Adams, Lewis Carroll, F. Scott Fitzgerald, General Patton, Winston Churchill, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington.

How could you say that any of these influential people were disabled? So by calling dyslexia a “learning difference” or being “right-brained” at our house I’m not trying to minimize the amount of work it will take, on both our parts, for Daniel to succeed at reading and writing. I’m not trying to be cute, in denial or politically correct. I’m just calling a spade, a spade.