Josh Cope’s Dyslexia Life Story – so far…

This dyslexia life story by Josh Cope, Trustee of UK Youth, is a great example of how a young person, determined to succeed in life, pushed his way through the dyslexia pain barrier to come out the other side with a great sense of pride in being dyslexic.

Well done Josh, you are an amazing person and Dyslexic Brian takes his hat off to you

Once you have read this story pay a visit to Josh’s blog: my blog www.joshcope.wordpress.com

Josh Cope’s Dyslexia Life Story – so far…

In school I was told I was slow.  Slow reader. Slower writer. Slow runner. HORRIFIC at playing any Game that involved hand eye coordination. So there wasn’t much to keep me engaged at school. My parents thought I had dyslexia from a young age, but the school, for whatever reason, didn’t test me. My mother would beg the head teacher and in the end I had an hour with a SPLD teacher, but still no test. Then when I reached college things changed, the teachers could see that there was obviously a problem with my reading and writing in particular and at the beginning of the first year of college I was tested and they told me I had dyslexia.

Not only does dyslexia affect your ability to read and write. But one of the biggest problems (I still struggle with) is organisation. As a child with dyslexia you also have to put up with the bullying and Being in such a small secondary school there were little resources available to me. So my parents paid for me to attend the DDAT centre in Cardiff. What a great program!!! They helped so much and I think it’s a program that should be available to everyone.

Since leaving school I have started college and also work for a charity called UK Youth. I could never apply myself to the subjects in school but when I find a topic that excites me I always find ways of expressing my views. Since starting working for UK Youth my confidence has grown dramatically. I feel confident enough to stand up in front of a room filled with CEO’s and fell totally comfortable. As I write this I am on my way to meet Her Royal Highness at an event where I will be giving a talk on youth empowerment.

I wanted to write this blog to tell people, and hopefully inspire other young people to get involved. Last week i managed to meet Pixie Lott (what teenage boy wouldn’t love that).

Learning about what dyslexia is, really help me understand why I face the issues I do and now I feel proud to say I’m dyslexic and I can look at things from an alternative angle. This has prompted me to look at the educational system and how we are failing our young people and how it can be changed.

You can find out more about my views about education reform at my blog www.joshcope.wordpress.com and my twitter Josh_io .

Josh Cope Trustee for UK Youth Director of Shine week (www.shineweek.co.uk)

‘Schools of Dyslexia DOOM’ – Parents of dyslexic children take control!

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(This post has been written in response to a comment made on our Dyslexic Brian Facebook page – click here to read it).

Question:

Is there any way I can make the school understand things about dyslexia?

Answer:

Over the years I have come into contact with loads of parents of dyslexia children. The vast majority of these parents are happy with the levels of dyslexia awareness and support within their children’s schools.

There are thousands of great schools out there that are jam packed with brilliant teacher who know exactly how to support and encourage dyslexic children to learn to read, write and do well at school.

These teachers support dyslexic children to learn without them feeling too much (if any) negative difference between themselves and the other children in the class… These teachers have a knack for assisting dyslexic children to build up their confidence, self-esteem, self-belief, etc… These teachers are able to stimulate the minds of dyslexic children and show them that ‘learning’ is fun and worthwhile… Wow for teachers like this!

However, there are still a few schools that haven’t quite got things right yet when it comes down to dyslexia but who are trying hard and with luck will get there soon. A dyslexic child may struggle so much within a school like this but what we have to remember is that teachers within these schools are doing their best to support dyslexic children with their learning.

And now the BAD NEWS!

Unfortunately there are some ‘Schools of Dyslexia DOOM’ within the system. These schools seem to have a bit of an ‘anti-dyslexia culture’ going on. Some times this may show itself in very subtle ways that you can’t quite put your finger on – but you can feel it nevertheless. Some times it may show itself in the attitudes of the teachers who just don’t believe that dyslexia exists – in which case you will be fighting a loosing battle to get your child the support they deserve.

Some GOOD NEWS!

If you’re child is unlucky enough to be in a school that has a strong ‘anti-dyslexia culture’ then we would suggest that you don’t waist to much time trying to educate the teachers. You might get sucked into a long winded argument that last for years and that might leaves your child feeling that they have caused this to happen – which as we all know will be no good for your child’s self-esteem – BOO to arguing!

Instead spend your time assisting and encouraging your child to learn to read and write whilst having lots of fun. (The fun bit is very important so the more fun the better).

Now for something FUNNY!

Some parents of dyslexic children that I have spoke to have told me that they haven’t got time to spend on supporting their children to read and write. Yet these very same parents spend countless hours each week having verbal punch ups with school teachers in the playground.

And where’s the dyslexic child left in all of this…. feeling pretty low and helpless I suspect?

Some parent of dyslexic children have mentioned to me that they don’t really understand what dyslexia is and that they don’t have the necessary skills to support their children with their learning.

These are very valid concerns and it is understandable that some parents feel this way. However, from my experience as a ‘dyslexic’ dyslexia support tutor, the best placed people to support dyslexic children are parents who have the right attitude about dyslexia.

Ok what is the ‘right attitude’ I can hear some of you asking…

Well in my view the right attitude is a philosophical one – let me explain…

We need to remember that written words are a human invention and that they are quite slippery things to get to grips with especially if you don’t have much of a preference for using them…

Some people (i.e. some dyslexic people) would rather use different tools to express themselves with… for example, talking, painting, drawing, dancing, playing sport, etc…

These people are not broken in anyway – they simply have a natural preference to use non-word type tools…

Now the education system imposes on children the need to use written language as the main means of expression – so when children who have a natural preference for non-word type tools are forced to use written language it simply clashing with this preference.
In a way it’s like forcing a person who has a natural preference to use their left-handed to write using their right hand – this would naturally clash against their preference.

If this person started struggling to write we wouldn’t think they were broken in anyway would we? So why do so many people think that dyslexic people are broken and in need of fixing when all that is going on is that they are being forced to use tools that don’t suit their natural preference?

Reading and writing are just skills that anyone who puts their mind to it can learn to do – dyslexic people are no exception here!

I’m a prime example of this as I was functionally illiterate when I was 18 years old as a result of my dyslexia and yet now I am able to read and write to a good enough standard… I had loads of other dyslexia related issues too that I have overcome as well.

What is my secret – well there isn’t one really. I just realised that I had a natural preference to express myself by talking and that the act of trying to write was simply clashing against my natural preference.

Then I realised that reading and writing are just skills that anyone can learn… I knew a left-handed boy when I was at school that had broken his left arm and so had to learn to write with his non-preferred right hand… it took him a bit of time but he eventually mastered it… I just took the same approach with learning to read and write…

I must admit it was a long road as it took me 13 years to get myself to where most 13 year olds are with reading and writing (I was 31 at the time) and then another 14 years to get to a standard good enough to do write my PhD thesis on the subject of dyslexia… Wow thats a long time… (I’ll be sharing some tips with you in future post that will explain how not to take this long if you’re trying to overcome your dyslexia)

So, to cut this very long post a bit shorter – try seeing your child’s dyslexia in the way I have described and let this come out in your attitude towards them – you’ll be surprised the difference that it might make…

Ok there’s a lot to read and take in here so I’ll say goodbye for now – but I’ll be back soon as Goga and I will do a video showing a few ways to assist your child to learn to read and write whilst having lots of fun

Written by Antonio Farruggia

Dyslexia Support Tutor and Co-founder of Dyslexic Brian Share

Design vs. Dyslexia

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The University of Cincinnati is employing its design research capabilities to create a 21st century electronic toolkit to speed learning for children with dyslexia. UC digital designer Renee Seward describes some of the activities in her electronic toolkit to help children with dyslexia.

4,000 Children Caught Cheating in exams – Immoral or Ingenious?

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One of today’s headlines focused on the 4,000 children who got caught ‘cheating’ in their exams.

The majority of these children were apparently caught using their mobile phones to download answers to their exam questions.

I was so shocked when I heard this – not because I think these children were wrong – quite the opposite, I think they should all be praised and given an award for their ingenuity.

Isn’t it a bit peculiar how, in the twenty-first century, schools test children on the amount of information they can hold in their heads and then regurgitate on demand – when with a couple of clicks on their phones all this information is available to them!

Shouldn’t the schools be testing children on their ability to use electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers to search the World Wide Web for information that will be of use to them within the context of their lives?

It concerns me when I see hundreds of nervous looking children sitting at desks scribbling down pointless facts, figures and formulas that will most likely never surface again from their overloaded brains once they have left school.

Shouldn’t we be seeing lots of confident children sitting, walking or lying down wherever they want to, using a range of electronic devices that they can use to create or access knowledge with?

So, I think the 4,000 children who used their heads and went with the times should be given an award.

There is little doubt in my mind that many of these children, if praised rather than criticised, will go on to be leaders in education and commerce – as they have an innate intelligence to use the best tools available to them to get the job done!

Well done to all 4,000 of them for highlighting how ludicrous our educational system is!

Written by Antonio Farruggia

Co-founder of Dyslexic Brain

Let us know what you think about this topic by posting your comments in the box below – it will be great to read them… or email Antonio at antonio@DyslexicBrian.com

Is the iPad Good or Bad for Dyslexic Children?

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Will the new iPad help or hinder dyslexic children to improve their literacy skills?

This is a good question – a bit of a tricky one to answer – but a good one nevertheless.

At Dyslexic Brian we love any technology that encourages dyslexic children to develop their literacy skills whilst having fun – and we feel that the iPad will do this job nicely.

A great feature on the iPad is its onscreen keypad that looks so, so, sooooo touchable – who wouldn’t want to tap away all day on those gorgeous looking keys?!

We are going to check out if any touch typing tutorial type applications are available for the iPad – we’re guessing that there are – in which case if you’re dyslexic and lucky enough to have an iPad already, then download a touch typing Application and start learning to touch type in style!

[N.B. from Antonio’s experience as a dyslexia support tutor, and from his experience of overcoming his own dyslexia, he has noticed just how quickly dyslexic people start making significant improvements with their spellings once they have learnt to touch type.]

We feel that every opportunity should be taken to encourage dyslexic children to improve their literacy skills using tools that are up to date and relevant within modern society. Why teach children, dyslexic and non-dyslexic alike, to learn to write using pen and paper anyway, when they most probably will never come into contact with these antiquated tools again by the time they leave school?

Shouldn’t we, within the context of the supper charged IT era that we live in, be teaching children to read and write using cutting edge technology (i.e. on iPad’s and/or anything else that is equivalent to it)?

In fact, there have been some suggestions that ‘rather than view the iPad as something between a laptop and a smartphone–something people have potentially little need for–Apple should position its new device as ‘the actual replacement for paper.’  Click here to view source

Unfortunately, we can’t see pen and paper being replaced by advance technology for a very long time to come.

Ok that’s enough of a rant about current educational practices for now!

Let’s get back to the question in hand…

We believe that using an iPad will, without a doubt, help dyslexic children to improve their literacy skills – providing – that they are encouraged to play an equal amount of literacy type games to the fun type games that we are sure the iPad has in store for us.

And, one of the great features of the iPad is the iBook application where you can buy books, read them and then put them away on your very own bookshelf – it looks really good and will hopeful encourage children to read more – well that is if the books aren’t to expensive to download.

All in all we love the iPad and hope, now that we have sang lot’s of praise for it, that Apple will send Dyslexic Brian one in the post tomorrow – please Apple please!!!!!!!

Click here to watch a good video review that we came across on Youtube – its funny!

Fun Brain Website – Great Resource for Dyslexics

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Dyslexic Brian loves this website – and not just because its got the word ‘Brian’ in it

We love it because we think that it’s a great resource for dyslexic people who want to improve their literacy skills whilst playing games…

Click here to check it out… and please let us know what you think of it

Dyslexic Quotes

Post your dyslexic quote in the comments box below…

Lets have some Dyslexic Fun

Here’s a Dyslexic Quote from Dyslexic Brian to get the ball rolling:

“2 d or knot 2 d – that is the question…”

This month I reviewed the book Twilight written by Stephenie Meyer

Smitten or Bitten by Vampire Stories?

Have you ever read a vampire book before, expecting to be cast into a fantasy world of spell binding excitement – only to find it hasn’t exactly met your expectations?

Well, don’t let your past experience put you off!

This is a brilliantly written book that I’m sure will met your ever expectation. It’s a story full of mystical and make-believe creatures that come to life in your mind to scare you out of your wits!! Only joking some of them are quite cute actually.

Twilight is a whole new world of fantasy blended with the classic boy meets girl novel but with a twist. I won’t tell you what the twist is or I’ll spoil the intrigue.

A world were people aren’t what they seem – a world where there’s more to be discovered than meets the eye. Twilight is a gripping and captivating adventure, through and through!

It’s well worth reading and I would rate it as one of the best books I’ve read in this genre

WARNING: Don’t Read Past This Point unless You Want to Know the Story!!!

Twilight is the first book in the saga written by Stephenie Meyer. Written from the perspective of seventeen year old, Bella Swann. Bella, who moves from Sunny Phoenix to a small, showery town named Folks, Washington to live with her dad, soon becomes involved in something beyond her belief. She finds herself deeply attracted to a mysterious boy, later known as Edward Cullen. His inhumane Striking Looks, Pale, cold skin and unbelievable strength causes Bella to become highly inquisitive and she begins to speculate over the identity of Edward. She soon finds out that 17 year old Edward is in fact a vampire and has been one for 109 years! This made me smile when I read it – he must be the oldest 17 year old in town!!

Poor old/young Edward had suffered Spanish influenza and on his death bed was saved by Doctor Carlisle Cullen who made a decision to turn him into a vampire along with many others who were in the same situation. Edward along with all those saved from death make up the “Vegetarian” Cullen family who have, believe it or not, chosen to survive on animal blood only – strange behavior for blood thirsty vampires hey? Well its true – the first of their kind – Veggie Vampires!

Throughout the book you see the struggles and complications Bella and Edward face in their relationship. Not far into the book you see a close bond form between Bella and Edward. However, when the story later develops and everything becomes clear to Bella about who Edward really is things take a turn for the worse. When the rival vampire gang heads into town and one of the locals is killed, it’s not long before they discover someone else to try and get their teeth into him. They come across the Cullen’s who are enjoying a very agile game of base ball when they realize there is a human among them….Bella. Having the rival vampires chasing after Bella, leaves the relationship between Bella and Edwards even more tense than it was before. The romance between them suddenly turns into a desperate struggle to stay alive. At this point of the story Edward feels guilty and blames himself for having put Bella in so much danger. It seems impossible for them to be happy but they are unwilling to give up. Will they ever be able to work this doomed romance out?

Twilight is a relatively easy book to read and the story line was simple to grasp as it’s written in a way that it is incredibly easy to follow and to understand what’s going on. I am happy to recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a book with unexpected twists and turns. Twilight is a book so full of dramatic cliffhangers that will keep you up all night. Oh, and if you like a book with a good ending, then this one is defiantly for you as the story ends with such an unexpected climax.

Twilight is a book you really won’t want to put down!!!

Click here to buy a copy of Twilight

Get your book review published on Dyslexic Brian

If you would like to get your book review published on the Dyslexic Brian website then please send them to me at Nellie@dyslexicbrian.com

Make the Letters Stop Dancing – an Inspirational Dyslexia Life Story

The following  Inspirational Dyslexia Life Story and poem ‘Make the Letters Stop Dancing’ was sent to us by Andrea Boff Sutton, a remarkable woman who has harnessed her ‘dyslexia’ and turned it into an amazing resource.

I hope that you enjoy this poem as much as I did – I’m sure that Andrea’s story will inspire and motivate people – dyslexic and non-dyslexics alike – to further develop the creative abilities of their minds… it certainly has for me!

Thanks once again Andrea,

All the best from Dyslexic Brian

Andrea Boff

Wonderful Dyslexia: Embracing the Wiring of My Mind by Andrea Boff

Throughout my childhood, my grandmother saved all my drawings in a special place in her kitchen. I still have some of them (thanks to her) and they date back to when I was 2 years old.

The point is, I always thought in pictures and in 3-D (even though I only have one working eye). Something in my brain enabled me to “see” space without stereo vision.

Even as there were abilities, there were liabilities. My mom would send me to the store for bread and milk and I would return with eggs and butter (knowing that I was supposed to get some sort of staple) but my memory just would not “hold” on to the ideas. Time was a mystery to me, so I was always late for dinner. I could not tell left from right and drew and “L” and an “R” on my bike handles, jeans, and hands. Simple tasks like “cross referencing” two lists, or organizing my school work was just about impossible and frustrating.

But it was the discipline of drawing that taught me how to think. I had an imaginary pencil and with it I drew imaginary lines in space. I drew houses, and hinges on the doors. By spinning the doors I realized that they created “cylinders” in the air. The planes of the house taught me perspective and geometry. I understood 3 dimensional space. That was the beginning of everything.

Today, I thrive. I am the Director of Experience Design in the Creative Department of a Fortune 100 where I design and build complex web properties. My ability to see in 3-D is tapped every day as I plan the tracks that users take through the web. Once I was afraid to speak of the Dyslexia and now I see it as a design resource in myself and others. Dyslexia has helped me understand that there are powerful differences in the ways human minds are wired and I respect others wiring even as I respect my own. There are many ways a mind can be wired – dyslexia is just one – and they are all very fascinating. I embrace this wiring. I know the pitfalls and the glories of it and that there is so much to learn from a person with a 3-D mind.

Make the Letters Stop Dancing

When my mom first opened books
across my lap for quiet looks
the pictures dazzled at a glance
and every word got up and danced.

The “T” and “H” spun with the “E”
and all for the delight of me
but they would not be still enough
for me to learn to read the stuff.

They would not sit on the line
so I stopped them with my mind
imagining them spatially
I sucked them down with gravity.

They quivered on the sentence shelf
till I could read them all myself -
And when I finished paragraphs
I let them all back up to dance.

Andrea Boff Sutton © 2009

Visit Andrea’s website www.boff.myexpose.com

The Dyslexic Label and Low Self-Esteem

Several years ago I ran a workshop in Birmingham that was aimed at assisting parents of dyslexic children to gain a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding dyslexia.

The workshop was well attended and some of the parents had brought along their children with them as they perhaps thought it would be of benefit for them to meet me – maybe to inspire them to persevere with their efforts to overcome dyslexia – you see, I was functionally illiterate as a child and it took me from the ages of 18 to 31 to learn to read and write to a good enough standard to get myself into university – I’m now finishing off my PhD in education on the subject of dyslexia.

Anyway, returning to the focus of this post, ‘The Dyslexic Label and Low Self-Esteem’, there were twin boys (8 year olds) attending the workshop – one that had been labelled as dyslexic the other who had not. Yet, both brothers showed very similar issues when it came to reading and writing.

However, I noticed a striking difference between the two of them – the twin that had been labelled as dyslexic had very little confidence when it came to his reading and writing abilities. His brother, on the other hand, was extremely confident and was at times – in typical sibling rivalry – mocking his brother for the ‘mistakes’ he was making whilst writing a short story about his dyslexia. This twin was also keen to show off his literacy skills whilst his brother shied away from writing and at times seemed to be somewhat embarrassed when asked to writing something.

Curiously, the father of the twins spoke to his son who had been labelled as dyslexic differently to how he spoke to his son that had not been labelled in this way. For example, I heard him telling the dyslexic twin that his brain was not normal like his brothers and that’s why he needed to have special treatment at school – a sure way to knock a child’s self-esteem! I also noticed how his attitude seemed different to the ‘dyslexic’ twin, it was almost as if had resided himself to the fact that this son would never achieve academically.

Both brothers produced written work on the day along with a couple of drawings that had speech bubbles coming from the characters they had created. At first glance, I couldn’t tell who had produced what – they both spelt words unconventionally, their handwriting was ‘messy’ and in places illegible, and they both appeared to have difficulties expressing themselves on paper to a level that matched, or came somewhere close to, their verbal abilities. The only differentiating factor between the two sets of work was that they had both taken the time to write their names on the top of each piece of paper. On looking at their work I was puzzled why one of the twins had been assessed as dyslexic and the other one had not.

On reflection, I remember thinking how the lives of the twins would most probably go off in quite different directions as a result of one being labelled as dyslexic – this happening despite there being (in my opinion) very little difference between the two of them in terms of their literacy skills.

I remember thinking at the time how the only real difference between the twins was the perception that they held of themselves in relation to their literacy skill. The ‘non-dyslexic’ brother appeared to have high levels of self-esteem and seemed to view himself as more than able to read and write – whist the other brother appeared to have low levels of self-esteem and clearly doubt his reading and writing ability. I speculated that the ‘non-dyslexic’ brother stood a far great chance of improving his literacy skills over the years as he would more than likely engage with written language to a far great extent than his ‘dyslexic’ brother would.

It was during this workshop that it really hit home just how damaging the label of dyslexia can be for some children.

Article by Antonio Farruggia, 11th January, 2010

Here’s to a Prosperous Dyslexic 2,000 & TEN!!!

We would like to wish you a Prosperous Dyslexic 2,000 & TEN – and that you have fun in the New Year overcoming your dyslexia!

We’ve got lots of exciting plans for 2010 that we hope will assist dyslexic people to overcome their dyslexic related difficulties. Here are a few things that are in the pipeline for 2010:

-    We will be delivering another batch of our ‘Parent as Dyslexic Support Coach’ workshops after the great feedback we got from the parents and special needs teachers.

-    We have designed a few competitions for school children that will hopefully help raise people’s awareness towards dyslexia.

-    We have lots of changes that we are going to make to the website such as adding our Famous Friends of Dyslexic Brian Section – we already have a few celebrates that have pledged their support so this section will be a great addition to the website.

-    Towards the end of 2010 we will be publishing Antonio’s PhD thesis online for those of you who are interested in reading Antonio’s research on the subject of dyslexia.

-    We will also be releasing an e-Book towards the end of 2010 that will give the key points from Antonio’s research – and will hopefully be useful for people who are struggling to overcome their dyslexia.

-    And from November 2010 we will be planning our 2012 Dyslexic Brian Backward Walk from John O’Groats to Lands End to raise people’s awareness of dyslexia and also to raise money for Comic Relief.

As you can see we have a busy 2010 ahead of us and we are excited about the new work we will be doing to raise people’s awareness of dyslexia. But, more importantly we are really looking forward to supporting even more people in 2010 than we did during 2009 to overcome their dyslexic related difficulties.

Once again we would like to wish you a Prosperous Dyslexic 2,000 & TEN!!!

Confidence Building in Dyslexic Children

The majority of dyslexic children have come to the conclusion that hey are stupid!

Build Confidence in Dyslexic Children

The Basics

In any school in any week of the year a dyslexic child experiences a huge amount of failure. With sequencing difficulties, any form of writing or math/s is going to present severe problems, and the dyslexic child cannot fail to notice that almost all of the other children are able to do the work which he or she finds so hard. Why can’t he read and spell? He must be dumb, thick, stupid. It’s the conclusion that anyone would reach in similar circumstances, and it badly needs changing before any corrective teaching is going to be effective.

However good our methods with phoneme awareness, finding interesting books and word games are, this basic foundation for each child of a secure self-confidence has got to be addressed before any real progress can be hoped for

The difficulty with dyslexia is that it is not visible. If the child had a broken arm, everyone would be rushing around giving extra consideration. ‘Of course he can’t write – his arm is broken! There’s nothing wrong with his intelligence.’ But no-one ever says ‘Of course he can’t spell – he has inherited a different pattern of brain circuits! There’s nothing wrong with his intelligence.’

Teachers, parents and the dyslexic child himself come to the clear conclusion that he must be slow-witted.

What I am suggesting is a little cognitive therapy by the teacher, if possible in conjunction with the parent! Not as hard as it seems. The assumption in the child’s mind – that he is stupid – is inaccurate, and it needs correcting if he is to re-establish the self-confidence he needs to learn. This is not going to be achieved simply by telling him that he’s as intelligent as the next person. Well-intentioned people have been telling him that for years to no effect. He needs evidence, and he needs to re-construct the picture he has of himself in his own mind. Only in this way can he see his difficulties as a dyslexic learner in the proper context of a person – like anyone else – who has both strengths and weaknesses. Most dyslexic people have great strengths in the areas of physical co-ordination and/or creativity and/or empathy with other people. His strengths may lie in some of these areas, and he will know that lots of other children are weak in exactly these same areas.

The following exercise has a great effect on children, and can be carried out by a parent, or a teacher, or, if at all possible, both together with the child, who needs to be on his own (not in a group situation). Take a sheet of paper and make two columns: in one column put ‘Things I am good at’ and in the other ‘Things that I am not so good at’

• Things that I am good at
• Things that I am not so good at

Take about five or ten minutes of discussion with the child for you to write a list of things that the child is – from an objective point of view – successful at. These will include such skills as swimming, sports, caring for pets, making a collection, dancing, drama, singing, art, painting, drawing, and so on. In the ‘Not so good’ column let the child tell you the things like spelling and writing that he really finds hard. The list will look something like this, depending of course on each child’s interests:

• Things that I am good at
  • swimming
  • diving
  • basketball
  • looking after my rabbits
  • drawing
  • painting
  • collecting stamps
  • getting on well with other children
  • clearing the table
  • making people laugh
  • softball
  • being friendly to grandpa
  • knowing about space and the planets
  • etc.
• Things that I am not so good at
  • spelling
  • reading
  • writing
  • math/s

The evidence is staring the child in the face: there are far more things that he is good at than things he has difficulties with. He can’t possibly be stupid. He is clearly a successful person.

But he may well say that the things he is weak at are the things that matter in life. If you can’t spell, how can you pass exams and get a job? This is the stage at which you have to argue – not tell – and say such things as ‘What do you value people for – because they are good at spelling? Of course not. You value people for all sorts of qualities, especially their ability to be friendly, get on with you, consider your needs, think of other people before themselves and so on. It’s up to you to keep the argument going until the child can really begin to see himself in a new light – as a successful person who just happens to have been born with a small handicap. Like being color-blind. It’s not his fault. It’s not because he doesn’t try hard enough (as, unfortunately, many teachers will have told him).

Seeing himself in a new light can be a turning point for the child – whatever his or her age – and this new-born self-confidence can lay the foundation for the special kind of learning he needs to build up the spelling and writing skills that his fellow pupils find so much easier to acquire.

But it’s not an over-night change, and it needs carefully nurturing over the coming month. The list should be carefully preserved and pinned up at home in the kitchen for all to see. He needs praise, gold stars, credits, and certificates over the coming weeks for things he does in school – of a non-cademic nature – which are commendable: helping a new pupil to settle in, co-operating well in a games session, coming up with a fresh creative idea for art, and so on. The certificates he receives for these valuable activities may be the first he has ever received in his entire school career.

John Bradford
June 2001

Confidence Building in Practice

I began this activity by talking about a new session my learners would be having with me, which is Positive thinking. I modelled on the board my list and the children called out ideas. At the beginning of this activity this particular learner said, ‘I’m not good at anything’.

My reply was ‘Yes you are. You are good at football’. This made him realise that – yes – he can do things. With some discussion he managed to make a list.

Things that I am good at:

• Football
• Running
• Drawing
• Helping my friends

Things that I am not so good at:

• Reading
• Writing stories

At the end of the session he felt quite confident about the things he isn’t so good because I was able to bring to his attention that he can read just not as well as he is wanting to at the moment. We talked about books he had read and group reading activities where he sometimes helps other children with words like they help him.

The following day it was group reading. He put his hand straight up to be the first to read and he read steadily and more readily accepted help from the other children. (S. B-W., Somerset, UK)

Recognizing low self-esteem

A J is the typical 14-year-old boy—great athlete, “cool” with the girls, and loves to clown around when the pressure is on. I believe that underneath that façade what he projects is fear of failure in the eyes of his peers. During class he appears to pay attention but, when he is called upon to answer something that he is unsure of, he pretends not to have heard anything in the past five minutes.

This elicits a classroom response of giggles, especially in English or history. Science is a totally different matter, where he is truly interested, and is the first to answer or ask questions about an experiment. History and English are difficult, so he is frequently forgetting to complete assignments on schedule without constant reminders. He wants his peers to believe that he is just as carefree as everyone else and that school doesn’t offer any extreme challenges. (Lisa Landers, Texas)

Praise for non-academic achievements

Dyslexic children rarely receive certificates, merit points or stars for academic achievements. To compensate for this, non-academic achievements can easily be recognised and rewarded. Examples of such instances include:-

• Helping in class by handing out/collecting in work;
• Demonstrating to rest of class in P.E.;
• Showing good effort (regardless of outcome);
• Keeping desk tidy;
• Being organised with own equipment for lessons;
• Showing kindness to others;
• Willingness to participate in discussions;
• Sitting quietly and attentively;
• Good table manners at lunchtime;
• Helping to put out equipment or tidy up;
• Being polite;
• Setting a good example to younger pupils;
• Willingness to become involved in all aspects of school life (productions, clubs, trips, fundraising activities, etc).

Source: BeingDyslexic

Disability Support at College

Further education at college or sixth form can be a great way to pick up new skills, open up new career options or prepare for higher education. Being disabled or having a specific learning difficulty needn’t limit your choices.

Further education and your prospects

Whether you’re 16 or 60, there’s a huge variety of courses available. Options range from courses covering the basics of reading, writing and numbers to GCSEs and A levels. There are also opportunities to get into work-based learning, through NVQs and apprenticeships.

Having an impairment or a learning difficulty doesn’t have to limit your options. You will need to take care choosing the course and institution that are right for you.

• Qualifications explained

Support at college or sixth form

Colleges and sixth forms have to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ so that disabled people don’t suffer a substantial disadvantage.

They might, for example, provide one-to-one support, a sign language interpreter or copies of documents in other formats.

The type of support available varies, so it’s important to check beforehand.  It’s a good idea to visit the place so you can see what’s available for yourself. The college’s Learning Support Adviser or Special Education Needs Co-ordinator will be able to give you details.

You can also get a copy of the college or school’s Disability Equality Statement. This sets out how it plans to promote equal opportunities for disabled people. You may need support that does not get covered in the Disability Statement. However, the college may be able to provide it, so you need to ask.

• Learning and your rights

Going to a specialist college

If your local college cannot offer a course to suit your disability-related needs, you may be able to get a place at a specialist college. Most of these colleges are independent and cater specifically for students with disabilities or learning difficulties. They are often residential.

Contact your Connexions personal adviser or Connexions Direct if you think this might be an option for you.

You will need to get financial support from the Learning and Skills Council, based on an assessment of your needs. The assessment is carried out by the Connexions service. You can also get advice about the application process from the service.

• Connexions Direct

Getting into further education at 16

Making the transition from school to further education

If you had a statement of special educational needs while at school, you should have a ‘transition plan’ giving details of the support you’ll need once you leave. If you stay on at school to attend sixth form, you’ll continue to get the help set out in your statement.

Your sixth form or college should pay for your learning support. Personal or medical care services will be arranged through your local health authority or social services department.

Your Connexions personal adviser should work with these different agencies to make sure arrangements are in place.

• Your Transition Plan – preparing for the future

Advice on your options after 16

Connexions Direct provides advice on learning, careers and more. If you are disabled or have a learning difficulty, you can get support up to the age of 25.

freephone 0808 001 3219
text phone 08000 968 336

You can also get in touch via email or text message.

• Connexions Direct

• It’s your choice: options after 16 (general education and learning section)

Getting into further education as an adult

See ‘Get learning’ for guidance on getting into further education – whether you’re looking to catch up on something you missed out on at school, or prepare for a higher education course.

• Get learning (education and learning section)

Learning from home

e-learning and distance learning courses let you do all or part of your studying from home. It’s an option worth considering if you have a disability that makes it difficult to get to college.

• e-learning (education and learning section)

Residential training for disabled adults

If you’re unemployed, have the potential to take up work and there’s no suitable training available locally, you may be able to get on a residential training scheme.

There are over 50 vocational courses on offer, and you’ll get an allowance to help with your costs.

• Residential training for disabled adults

Advice on adult learning courses

Contact the Careers Advice service for free, impartial guidance on finding a course.

• freephone 0800 100 900

Depending on your circumstances, you may also be able to get personal, face-to-face advice from your local nextstep service.

• Find personal learning and careers advice (education and learning section)

Claiming benefits while you’re in further education

Disability Living Allowance

Disability Living Allowance could provide financial help if you need personal care or have walking difficulties because of a disability.

Starting a course won’t affect your entitlement.

• Disability Living Allowance

Employment and Support Allowance

If you have a disability and you’re on a low income, you may also be able to claim income-related Employment and Support Allowance while you’re studying.

• Employment and Support Allowance

Incapacity Benefit

Incapacity Benefit is a weekly payment for people who can’t work due to illness or disability. It has been replaced with Employment and Support Allowance for new claimants.

If you’re currently getting Incapacity Benefit, you may be able to carry on claiming it while doing a course.

• Incapacity Benefit

Income Support

If you have a disability and you’re on a low income, you may also be able to claim Income Support while you’re studying.

• Income Support (money, tax and benefits section)

• Premiums for disabled people

More about claiming benefits while you’re studying

For a detailed guide to claiming benefits as a disabled student, see the Skill website.

Directgov has information on other benefits you may be able to claim if you’re a disabled student on a low income – such as Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

• Students and benefits: information from Skill Opens new window

• On a low income (money, tax and benefits section)

The Dyslexia Myth

The Dyslexia Myth (2005) exposes the myths and misconceptions that surround a condition said to affect 10 per cent of the population. The Dyslexia Myth argues that the common understanding of dyslexia is not only false but makes it more difficult to provide the reading help that hundreds of thousands of children desperately need. Drawing on years of intensive academic research on both sides of the Atlantic, The Dyslexia Myth challenges the existence of dyslexia as a separate condition; but in doing so, reveals the scale and pain of true reading disability. The programme examines the chasm between evidence and educational practice and shows that, after hundreds of millions of pounds of investment in the teaching of reading, the number of children encountering serious problems has hardly changed.

Disabled Students’ Allowances – How Much You Can Get

The amount of help available through Disabled Students’ Allowances is based on an assessment of your individual needs – up to a maximum allowance. The different allowances have different limits. This page offers a guide to how much you can get if you are a student from England.

New Brain Findings On Dyslexic Children | by Wendy Leopold

The vast majority of school-aged children can focus on the voice of a teacher amid the cacophony of the typical classroom thanks to a brain that automatically focuses on relevant, predictable and repeating auditory information, according to new research from Northwestern University.

But for children with developmental dyslexia, the teacher’s voice may get lost in the background noise of banging lockers, whispering children, playground screams and scraping chairs, the researchers say. Their study appears in the Nov. 12 issue of Neuron.

Recent scientific studies suggest that children with developmental dyslexia – a neurological disorder affecting reading and spelling skills in 5 to 10 percent of school aged children – have difficulties separating relevant auditory information from competing noise.

The research from Northwestern University’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory not only confirms those findings but presents biological evidence that children who report problems hearing speech in noise also suffer from a measurable neural impairment that adversely affects their ability to make use of regularities in the sound environment.

“The ability to sharpen or fine-tune repeating elements is crucial to hearing speech in noise because it allows for superior ‘tagging’ of voice pitch, an important cue in picking out a particular voice within background noise,” said Nina Kraus, Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences and Neurobiology and director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory.

In the article “Context-dependent encoding in the human auditory brainstem relates to hearing speech-in-noise: Implications for developmental dyslexia,” Kraus and co-investigators Bharath Chandrasekaran, Jane Hornickel, Erika Skoe and Trent Nicol demonstrate that the remarkable ability of the brain to tune into relevant aspects in the soundscape is carried out by an adaptive auditory system that continuously changes its activity based on the demands of context.

Good and poor readers were asked to watch a video while the speech sound “da” was presented to them through an earphone in two different sessions during which the brain’s response to these sounds was continuously measured.

In the first session, “da” was repeated over and over and over again (in what the researchers call a repetitive context). In the second, “da” was presented randomly amid other speech sounds (in what the researchers call a variable context). In an additional session, the researchers performed behavioral tests in which the children were asked to repeat sentences that were presented to them amid increasing degrees of noise.

“Even though the children’s attention was focused on a movie, the auditory system of the good readers ‘tuned in’ to the repeatedly presented speech sound context and sharpened the sound’s encoding. In contrast, poor readers did not show an improvement in encoding with repetition,” said Chandrasekaran, lead author of the study. “We also found that children who had an adaptive auditory system performed better on the behavioral tests that required them to perceive speech in noisy backgrounds.”

The study suggests that in addition to conventional reading and spelling based interventions, poor readers who have difficulties processing information in noisy backgrounds could benefit from the employment of relatively simple strategies, such as placing the child in front of the teacher or using wireless technologies to enhance the sound of a teacher’s voice for an individual student.

Interestingly, the researchers found that dyslexic children showed enhanced brain activity in the variable condition. This may enable dyslexic children to represent their sensory environment in a broader and arguably more creative manner, although at the cost of the ability to exclude irrelevant signals (e.g. noise).

“The study brings us closer to understanding sensory processing in children who experience difficulty excluding irrelevant noise. It provides an objective index that can help in the assessment of children with reading problems,” Kraus says.

For nearly two decades, Kraus has been trying to determine why some children with good hearing have difficulties learning to read and spell while others do not. Early in her work, because the deficits she was exploring related to the complex processes of reading and writing, Kraus studied how the cortex — the part of the brain responsible for thinking –encoded sounds. She and her colleagues now understand that problems associated with the encoding of sound also can occur in lower perceptual structures.

Source: Medical News Today

Dyslexia Workshop Makes a Big Splash!

Despite the heavy rain on Saturday 14^th November 2009, four parents and three children turned up to Dyslexic Brian’s Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach Workshop.

The workshop got off to a bit of a late start due to the rain having caused a build up of traffic in Bristol city centre. Whilst the parents dried off and enjoyed a cup of warm tea the children explored the workshop space – discovered an old trap door, practiced their boxing skills on a couple of punch bags that we have hanging up, and then let loose on a drum kit, which I’m sure could be heard for miles! Goga took photo’s of the children posing on the drum kit and will email these of to them so that the can remember their time at Dyslexic Brian’s office.

The workshop started with Antonio Farruggia giving an overview of the Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach Programme and also a description of the day’s workshop. Then he explained a bit about his past and how he had struggled all of his life with dyslexia until he overcame it when he was 38 years old.

Everyone in the group, including the children, then sketched out their perception of dyslexia – these were shared with the group followed by a very interesting discussion where everyone elaborated further on they way they see dyslexia.

Antonio then shared with us his theory of dyslexia that he arrived at during his ten years of PhD research on the subject of dyslexia. His theory of dyslexia went down well with the group and it seemed to make sense to everyone. However, there were concerns at first that his theory, although being good to assist people to develop a positive mental attitude towards their dyslexia, may leave them falling a bit short when it come to developing practical skill such as reading and writing. To address this Antonio shared a few techniques with the group that are aimed at helping children to develop their writing skills.

The workshop ended with the children presenting Antonio with the pictures that they had draw to explain what dyslexia is and how it affects them.

The children have asked if they can come back as they enjoyed themselves and had fun – so we are now planning to run a follow up workshop in December for this group.

Click here for inforation about the different types of workshop that we run.

www.flickr.com DyslexicBrian’s yslexic Brian’s Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach Workshop photoset

Making Reading Right | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

The Bristol Evening Post , October 31, 2005

Dyslexic academic Antonio Farruggia has made the leap from dunce to doctor. Now he wants to help others overcome the condition which proved such a handicap in his childhood. TOM HENRY reports on the self-help dyslexia website he has set up with his brother.

When he was young, Antonio Farruggia was labeled a dunce by a teacher who placed a cone on his head with a large ‘D’ scrawled on it, and made him stand in a corner for three days.

His crime? To fail to keep up with his class during a reading lesson. While others were forging ahead in the literary stakes, Antonio was still on ‘Peter and Jane’ books. He could barely spell his name and he was ten years old. While still in short trousers he had been written off by an education system which couldn’t understand why he couldn’t understand.

Overcoming the odds: Antonio Farruggia has set up a website to help people with dyslexia

Fast forward 30 years and Birmingham-born Antonio is coming to the end of a PhD study into dyslexia., the condition he suffers from and which was barely recognised in mainstream education until relatively recently.

From dunce to doctor is quite a leap, but it is one which Antonio has been determined to make since he pulled himself back from what was turning into a life of crime and violence – and realised he had more to offer than he ever thought.

Now he wants to share the skills and knowledge he has built up through years of study with other dyslexic people and with his younger brother, Alessandro, he has set up a website to do that. It was called previously: beesthewrongwayround.com [now known as DyslexicBrian.com] and the name will be familiar to dyslexics who are often asked ‘do you get your b’s the wrong way round?’

“It’s also a bit ungrammatical” laughs Antonio.”I think it should be ‘bees the wrong way around’. Typical dyslexic eh? Maybe it’s because i’m from Birmingham. We’d never say ‘around’, always ’round’.

Such technicalities might not matter in the grand scheme of things, but they do to Antonio. He has had to work hard to achieve what many of us take for granted -basic literacy and numeracy – and he’s determined that others should succeed where he once struggled.

The website which Antonio runs from an office in the Fishponds Trading Estate has been in the development stage for about six months and now, in its fourth version it has finally gone live.

Beesthewrongwayround.com is a highly-comprehensive source of information, both for dyslexics and non-dyslexics, and as well as sections detailing his own and other responses to the condition, the website offers paid one-to -one tuition for those who need real-time help and support via means of a webcam.

“We’ve done a test of this method,”says Antonio, “and it’s worked very well indeed. You can be anywhere in the world and if you are dyslexic and struggling with something- an essay or a dissertation or whatever it may be -we can help you. Dyslexic students in the UK can pay for support or tuition using their DSA (Disabled Student’s Allowance) and this is something we’re keen to promote.

“Of course, there’s no substitute for face-to-face tuition in the same room and the website is not going to replace that, but there are many people out there who for one reason or another can’t access the kind of specialist support they need, which is a sham. This is where we come in.”

Antonio knows how it feels to be confronted with what seems an enormous and frightening pool of words. When he was completing his first degree, the worry of writing essay sand dissertations used to cause him to loose sleep.

“I found it very hard to express myself,” he said, “and just couldn’t get my head around simple things like paraphrasing or quotes or references.

“I had a real understanding of the subject I was writing about and i really wanted to express something about it, but couldn’t get it out.”

In his youth Antonio had joined a boxing gym and the coach there became a mentor to hi, encouraging and supporting him through difficult times. Now, Antonio sees himself in that role, coaching and nurturing those people with dyslexia who feel like he did when confronted by words.

“I have a lot of empathy with other dyslexic people,” he said, “because I’ve been through it. And believe me, if I can learn to read and write and study for a PhD, anyone can.”

In addition to running [Dyslexia Support Service], Antonio is also keen to take his skills out on the road. He is looking for a venue, either a school, college, university building or a youth and community centre, in which he could facilitate a discussion group for dyslexic people, students, parents of dyslexic children or anyone else with an interest in the subject. He says there would be no charge for this; it is his way of sharing his knowledge and experience.

He also wants to become involved in the training of dyslexic employees on behalf of companies, and is already working with one company, HL Training in Fishponds, to help train forklift drivers who feel that their levels of literacy and numeracy may act as a barrier when they seek future employment.

“I’d be very keen to work with other training providers or companies to help them deliver a better service to dyslectics,” he said.

[...]

“As the research for my PhD has progressed I’ve become so much more aware of my own dyslexia,” said Antonio, “and I’ve come up with a seven-stage overview of how an individual first becomes aware of their literacy and numeracy difficulties to the stage where they have accepted it and are not frightened to deal with it.

“It’s a long process – it took me more than 20 years -but I’ve got there. And so can others, if they’ve got the determination to do it.”

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

Proud to Be Dyslexic | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

Bristol Evening Post ‘Seven magazine’ 4th April, 2003

Having been branded a dunce at the age of six, Antonio Farruggia left school virtually illiterate. He’s now close to completing a PhD on a subject close to his heart – dyslexia. Tom Henry meets this remarkable man who has embraced dyslexia and made it his great strength.

As names go, Antonio Giuseppe Farruggia is somewhat harder to commit to paper than John Smith. Even as I write it, I’m not entirely sure if I’ve got the Giuseppe right. Is the ‘I’ before the “e”, or the “e” before the “i”?

He laughs about it now, but this is the sort of scenario 38-year-old has had to face ever since he started school. When other kids were clumsily learning to spell their names, Antonio was drawing a blank over his own, and eventually it has to be abbreviated to “Tony” to make it easier for him. When elementary reading lessons began, Antonio could not grasp the differences between the “ch”, “th” and “sh” sounds and he began to fall behind“

The one person who should know is Mr Farruggia himself – but even he, I feel, is not entirely confident. Recently, he was asked to write out his middle name at an office counter, but he just couldn’t remember how to spell it. With a queue of increasingly impatient people behind him, he had to ring his dad to ask him.

That was it from then on,” he says. “When I was 10 I was still on the Peter and Jane books. I just couldn’t get it, and yet when I was about six years old I went to Sicily one summer with my parents and I came back speaking Sicilian. Instead of the school recognising and encouraging me, the teacher folded up a piece of paper into a cone, wrote a ‘D’ for ‘dunce’ on it, put it on my head and made me stand in the corner for three days.

“I was crying and crying, and it was a horrible feeling to know that you’re missing out on what the rest of the class is doing. I fell badly behind after that, and by the time I came to take the exam for secondary school, I had a definite knack for trouble.”

Antonio was dyslexic, of course. He was one of the unlucky generation which the education system failed because his difficulties with reading and writing were not spotted by teachers who considered he was “thick”, “unteachable”, “backward”, “slow”, “remedial” or, in one phrase Antonio vividly remembers, had “bad blood”.

“It was because my dad is Sicilian,” he laughs. “I think they’d been watching too many episodes of the Godfather!”

Nonetheless, leaving school almost illiterate was no laughing matter, his frustration at falling behind resulted in him becoming extremely aggressive. He joined a gang in Birmingham, and violence became a way of life for several years to come until he eventually channeled his energies into boxing, and through a boxing coach who became a sort of mentor, he went on to train other youngsters.

Remarkably, Antonio is now in the middle of exhaustive research for a PhD in the condition which disrupted his early life. He is now able to see that dyslexics are not “handicapped”, but instead have talents, abilities and ways of learning that are different from what we might describe as “normal” and it is this positivity that will eventually lead to him being called “doctor”, not “dunce”.

“After I left school I ended up in the building trade and I moved around the country doing flooring for new Sainsbury’s stores,” he said. “I could get the concept of the design in my mind very easily, and I was able to create come lovely flooring which really gave me confidence.

“I eventually set up in business on my own, but the recession came and I lost a lot of money. I decided to change career and because I’d had experience coaching boxing to youngsters I applied for some youth work jobs. But I needed a qualification and so I applied to a college. The entrance exam I took was scribble, but to my surprise I was offered a place.

At first, Antonio felt like a “fraud”. Although his literacy had improved since school, thanks to his own effort, he still struggled with the written work, and would still misinterpret what he was told. “We did quite a lot of role play,” he said, “and one of the assignments was to act out a scene which involved working in Paris . I had all these images of France going on in my head, but when I was figuring out what I was going to do I looked around the class and everyone else seemed to be doing something different.

Eventually, the penny dropped. “I was supposed to be working in pairs, not Paris! I’d completely misread the instructions.”

Despite such elementary mistakes, Antonio’s determination to succeed saw his marks go up. He passed the course, then went on to take a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in education and community youth work. Now there was no stopping him. Although he wasn’t sure himself, a friend in the world of academia encouraged him to go on a PhD course.

As a result of his research Antonio is now of the opinion that dyslexia is something to be embraced, not overcome. “I’m not broken and I don’t need to be fixed,” he asserts. “I have got confidence in the fact that I have a different way of expression than other people. We can’t all play or read music, for example, and if you cannot so it is accepted and understood. However, we are only taught to read and write in one way, and it’s a case of ‘one-size-fits-all’.“But we are all individuals and we all do things in different ways. A lot of my research is based around the ‘person-centred’ approach to the teaching of dyslexics, which finds out what the child is interested in and teaches skills based around that core interest. “The perception a person holds of their own dyslexia is far more important than what a professional tells them it is. Personally, I’m proud to be dyslexic. It’s something special, something different, and for me it is about exploring that difference and celebrating it.”

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

From Dunce to Degree | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

Birmingham Evening Mail, The Life Mag. 16.04.00 by David Jones

Education experts have made great strides in the teaching of dyslexic children, but understanding of the condition has been a long time coming. Birmingham youth worker Antonio Farruggia tells DAVID JONES how he conquered his dyslexia to gain a degree

“I WAS in my first year at school when I first realised I had difficulty reading. At the age of four, the other kids were already progressing more quickly than I was. The first problem I remember was not being able to tell the difference between ‘ch’, ‘sh’ and ‘th’ when I read them on the page.

Of course, I was too young to say anything and there was very little awareness of dyslexia in those days so I was just left to struggle – and that was just the beginning of my problems… By the time I sat the entrance exam for secondary school, I’d stopped trying altogether. I was messing about all the time and getting into fights. I think a lot of it was out of sheer frustration because, looking back, I know I wasn’t ‘stupid’ at all.

…the prospect of having to read out loud in class would fill me with terror. I would start messing about in the hope that I would get thrown out – anything to avoid having to read. On the few occasions I did have to read to the class, it was a nightmare. I would be okay for a sentence or so then I’d stumble and I would feel myself starting to panic, which just made it worst. Then my vision would go blurry and the words would start jumping around the page. All the time I could hear the other children getting restless or giggling – it was so humiliating

Of course, he teachers went through all the traditional options to try and get me to improve. I was sent to an educational psychologist and it didn’t take long for them to stick me in the remedial group. It didn’t help my reading and writing, but I met an amazing bunch of kids. We were all stuck with this label that we weren’t as cleaver as the other kids but it seemed everyone in that class was good at general knowledge, quizzes and so on. It seems clear now that it wasn’t the kids who were failing – it was the education system that was failing them. Looking back, I reckon there must have been a lot of dyslexic kids in that group, but there just wasn’t enough awareness of dyslexia to realise the type of specialised teaching we needed.

Eventually I left school with no qualifications and very low self-esteem. I was a complete rogue really, always getting into trouble, drifting from one labouring job to another. Fortunately, there was one teacher who took an interest in me in my final year at school and got me into weight-lifting. He suggested that I go along to the Birmingham City Amateur Boxing Club, so I did and I immediately found somewhere that I felt I was wanted. I started going regularly, working out on the weights and helping the youngsters who used the gym. It really gave me a sense of self-worth and the feeling I had something to offer. If it hadn’t been for the club, I could easily have ended up in prison

Since then, I’ve interviewed hundreds of dyslexic people for my research and I’m now doing a part-time PhD looking at the links between crime and dyslexia…

What I really want to do now is set up a support service for dyslexics and their families so that I can use my research to help as many people as possible. I’ve got a real passion for learning now and I want to put that to good use. I don’t know how ‘clever’ I am – I suppose that’s what I’m finding out, and if I can spare anyone else the pain I went through as a youngster whilst I’m at it, then so much the better.”

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

Reading and Writing – Why Dyslexics Love or Loath it!

Over the years I (Antonio Farruggia) have come across dozens of dyslexic people who seem to have a real passion for reading and writing. For many, there appears to be a love affair going on between them and their books and/or story writing.      

This can often shocks people who have little awareness of dyslexia as they assume that reading and writing would be the last things that someone with dyslexia would gain pleasure from doing. And yet, as mentioned, I have come across dozens of dyslexic people who seem to have a real passion for reading and writing.

Equally, over the years I have come across dozens, if not hundreds, of dyslexic people who seem to have a real hatred for reading and writing.

So, why is it that some dyslexic people love written language whilst others seem to really loath it?

Perhaps one of the reasons that many dyslexic people love to read and write might have something to do with the fact that reading and writing are brilliant inventions. For instance, reading can be a great way to stimulate our inner selves whilst writing can be an excellent way to help us express our thinking. So, once a dyslexic person gets to grips with using these inventions it is little wonder that they may fall in love with using them.  

Unfortunately for some dyslexic people they find it hard to overcome the difficulties that they experience with written language and therefore never really get the hang of using it. For these people (and I was once one of them) nothing can be worst that the thought of having to do some reading and writing especially if their literacy skills do not match their level of intelligence. For example, it can be extremely frustrating trying to gain information from a book when your reading age is several years behind your own. And, it can be so humiliating when trying to write something in front of someone when your handwriting is completely unreadable.     

Also, the thought of having to do some reading or writing might, for some dyslexic people, conjure up negative childhood memories. For example, they may have been picked on or made to feel inferior by their peers and/or teachers for having poor literacy skills. So, it’s no surprise then that for these people they may end up loathing reading and writing.  

The question that we are now faced with is why are some dyslexic people able to overcome their difficulties and love reading and writing whilst others find dyslexia an insurmountable obstacle and end up hating reading and writing?    

I hope to throw some light on this question within my PhD thesis. I am currently writing up my findings after spending the past 10 years researching the subject of dyslexia. I will be submitting my thesis to the University of Birmingham in July 2010 and as soon as I have I will publish several posts on the Dyslexic Brian website in order to share my theory of dyslexia and hopefully answer questions about dyslexia like the one mentioned above.

Subscribe to our FREE Dyslexic Brian Newsletter and be first to read posts about Antonio’s research that will explain how to overcome dyslexia. 

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I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee

A HEART-WARMING song about a little boy riding in his father’s digger has become a sudden favourite for Christmas No1 2005. (Click here to watch video)

The track, called The JCB Song, came from nowhere to lead the charge for the festive top spot and will go head to head with the likes of Westlife, G4 and The Pogues. 

It was penned by 27-year-old Luke Concannon and tells how great he felt when he was five and his builder dad picked him up from school in a JCB.

Luke, of Leamington Spa, Warks, struggled in his studies because of dyslexia and says he was often bullied.

The JCB Song celebrates how all his troubles disappeared when he was riding in the cab of the big digger with his father Kieron.

The song and accompanying video — which can be viewed on the internet — has achieved cult status after web users started to spread the word.

The video features of animations of childlike drawings done in crayon on school notebooks.

Luke is one half of double act Nizlopi. He recorded the track with fellow dyslexic John Parker, who has been his best mate since they were 13.

Luke recalls: “My first school was rubbish. The teachers and pupils were real bullies.

 “My grandad and dad are Irish and both builders and my dad used to give me a lift home in his big JCB. He even let me drive it sometimes.

 “I was so proud of him. I thought he was really cool and when we were in the digger I was so happy.

“All that rubbish with school just used to be left behind for a while.”

The song begins: “Well, I’m rumblin’ in this JCB. I’m five years old and my dad’s a giant sitting beside me.”

Luke goes on to compare his hero father to martial arts legend Bruce Lee — whose name he rhymes with JCB — and hard man BA Baracus from TV’s The A-Team.

He also refers to his favourite childhood toys Zoids and Transformers.

Kieron, 51, is very proud of the tribute his son penned for him. 

He says: “It took a while to sink in when he came down and first played it for me. To think something I did with him as a kid had such a lasting effect really moved me.

“People say you must be proud, when they hear the song but it goes way beyond that.

“Anyone who is a parent knows what I’m talking about.”

Kieron has now given up the building business and is helping his son

to set up his own record label, Folk’n Deadly.

He even plays Irish pipes on the track, which will be released on the new label next month [story written in 2005].

Luke and John formed Nizlopi shortly after they first met on the school bus.

The bizarre name for their two-man outfit comes from a former schoolmate of Luke’s — Nina Nizlopi — who he had a crush on.

He says: “I thought her name was amazing. I think she lives in Chicago now but if we get a Christmas No1 I’ll definitely get in touch with her.”

Bookies reckon a festive chart-topper is not out of the question.

The odds against Nizlopi started at 33-1 and have gradually come down. They are now as short as 5-1.

The JCB Song has been dubbed this year’s Mad World.

That was the Tears For Fears number which Gary Jules covered two years ago for the soundtrack to the film Donnie Darko. It surprised everyone by storming to Christmas No1.

The JCB Song is being seen as a quirky but credible alternative to cheesy Christmas ballads. 

Luke says: “There is a lot of really bad music out there and I hope this offers something a little bit different and a little bit more thought-provoking than some of the other stuff.

“There’s a good story behind this track. I hope some people can relate to it and hopefully take some comfort from it.

“I don’t look at dyslexia as something that should hold you back and I hope other people don’t as well.

“I hope when people hear this song it leaves them with a stupid smile on their face. That’s how it’s meant to make people feel.”

Click here to listen to the song.

Story written by Derek Brown in 2005

Dyslexia Inspired Song by Nizlopi

A HEART-WARMING song about a little boy riding in his father’s digger has become a sudden favourite for Christmas No1 2005. (Click here to read the story)

I’m 5 years old and my dad’s a giant sitting beside me.
And the engine rattles my bum like berserk
While we’re singin’ , ‘Don’t forget your shovel if you want to go to work!’

My dad’s probably had a bloody hard day
But he’s been good fun and bubblin’ and jokin’ away
And the procession of cars stuck behind
are gettin’ all impatient and angry, but we dont mind.

An’ we’re holdin’ up the bypass
woah
Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
oh-woah

I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
woah
And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

Oh no

and we pull over to let cars past
And pull off again, speedin’ by the summer green grass
And we’re like giants up here in our big yellow digger
Like zoids, or transformers, or maybe even bigger

And I wanna transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
And eat up all the bullies and the teachers and their pets
And I’ll tell all my mates that my dad’s B.A. Baracus
Only with a JCB and Bruce Lee’s nunchuckas

And We’re holdin’ up the bypass
Woah

Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
Oh whoa

I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
Oh
And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

And we’re holdin’ up the bypass
Oh

Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
Oh whoa
I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
Oh

And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

-

Said I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round

And we’re holdin’ up the bypass
Whoa-Oh

Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
Oh-whoa
And I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
oh-oh

And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

I said

I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his
Aw, I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.

Dyslexia and Tomato Soup Video

Dyslexia, so what is it all about

Short animation explaining the issues of dyslexia.

Malcolm | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

As with many ‘dyslexics’ Malcolm’s experience of the British education system was not a good one. Before being labeled as ‘dyslexic’ Malcolm’s lack of concentration was a concern and a mystery to his parents. At the age of seven his parents paid for him to be assessed at the Dyslexia Institute. In Malcolm’s own words, his life changed from then. Each week Malcolm received lessons to help him overcome dyslexia. He believes that although it meant his parents investing a lot of money in his education each week, it was worth it.

Despite his progress outside of school, Malcolm did not enjoy the school experience. When he started secondary school, he used a laptop to help him keep up with the work load, and to help his teachers to read his work. However being different and even using a laptop meant that Malcolm was bullied.’ Sunday night,’ he says , ‘was hell’ because he dreaded going to school on Monday morning.

At the age of fifteen Malcolm prepared to sit his GCSE’s, he also made a career choice: to use his skills to become a furniture maker. His mother was thold by one of Malcolm’s teachers that he should ‘lower his expectations’. Despite this Malcolm wasn’t deterred he sat his exams and achieved five GCSE’s grade A to C.

Malcolm now attends college full time to learn furniture making. He doesn’t know if this will be his final career choice, but he does know that he is not going to give up. Malcolm’s determination to succeed is an inspiration. Malcolm stresses that anyone with dyslexia dyslexic or parents of dyslexic children shouldn’t t give up, It is worth pushing the the education system, and it is worth investing in your future. Malcolm’s message: ‘If I can do well so can you’.

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

First Overcoming Dyslexia Workshop Gets Thumbs Up

The first of our Overcoming Dyslexia Workshops that we ran on the 3^rd November gets the thumbs up from everyone who took part.

The purpose of the workshops was to explore our perceptions of dyslexia. We did this by carrying out several exercises that Antonio used within the dyslexia support programme that he developed as part of his PhD research.

One of the exercises that we did was a Self-characterisation Sketch (click here to read about this exercise) – this appeared to go down really well and got the ball rolling for a really interesting discussion about how dyslexia can affect people’s lives.

Following this, everyone in the group did an exercise that assisted them to describe their perception of dyslexia. It was so fascinating how each person described their view of dyslexia in such a uniquely individual way – lots of interesting drawing were produced too (see photo).

What’s coming next?

Moving forward, the next workshop that we are running on Monday 9^th November will focus on beginning the process of developing a Super Charged Dyslexia Mindset.

We will be exploring if your current view of dyslexia to discover if it is holding you back from achieving your goals in life. And, if this is the case, we will be assisting you to re-conceptualise your dyslexia in a way that will enable you to liberate yourself from your dyslexia.

If you are interested in attending this workshop then please contact us now to book your FREE place.

Upside Down Reader

Unable to make progress in the usual way, this first grade student made a year’s progress in only one month by holding his books upside down. He now can read both ways, but he does better when he holds the book upside down.

Dyslexic Brian Comments:

There’s a good debate about this video and ‘upside down reading’ on the Being Dyslexic Forum.

>>> Click here to visit this topic on the Being Dyslexic Forum <<<

Overcoming Dyslexia as an Obstacle to Success

Dyslexia Quiz

Match the Famous People’s names to the ‘Obstacles Experienced’:

FAMOUS PERSON	OBSTACLES EXPERIENCED
Jamie Oliver Famous chef and celebrity	Was put in the ‘stupid row’ when at primary school; later, as an unemployed and struggling single parent, wrote on scraps of paper in a local café.
F W Woolworth Famous for founding the ‘Woolworths’ chain of shops	Enjoys writing songs and tried to get into reading but just can’t get into that ‘book thing’.
Richard Branson Famous entrepreneur	Achieved his greatest work after the age of 46, by which time he was completely deaf.
Ludwig van Beethoven A famous composer	Being dyslexic has helped him in the business world – he sees some things more clearly than others.
Alexander Graham Bell Famous for inventing the telephone in 1876	Didn’t speak until he was four and didn’t read until he was seven.  His teacher described him as ‘mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams’.
J K Rowling A famous writer	Was told by his employers at the shop where he worked that he was not good enough to service customers.
Albert Einstein A brilliant physicist	Was told after a meeting with the President, “That’s an amazing invention, but who would want to use one of them?”
Robbie Williams Famous singer	Didn’t do well at school; people thought he was ‘thick’.

Source:

Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach | Level 1

Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach

Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach Programme | Level 1 is made up of:

• 10 two hour long Learning Sessions
• 2 One-to-One sessions with Antonio
• 2 Evaluation Sessions working with your child
• Course work
• Access to Dyslexic Brian’s Online Training Website
• Membership of Dyslexic Brian’s Online Support Forum

Cost: £250*

Please note that we operate an inclusion policy and therefore we offer subsidies to people who are unable to meet the cost of this programme. Please contact us for more information about our inclusion policy.

* The value of this programme if priced for commercial sale would be £1,997.

To book your place on this programme or for more information please contact Antonio Farruggia on +447969789893 or email him at info@DyslexicBrian.com

Dyslexia Awareness Week 2009 – Dyslexic Brian Supporting the Cause!!!

FREE Places on Dyslexia Workshops

To help celebrate this year’s Dyslexia Awareness Week we are running three FREE dyslexia workshops aimed at parents of dyslexic children.

Benefit from:

• A deeper understanding of the dyslexia related issues your child may be experiencing

• Knowing how different theories of dyslexia may be ‘helping’ or ‘hindering’ your child’s progress at school

• Learning several techniques that you can use to assist your child to improve their reading and writing ability

• Finding out the potential benefits of you becoming your child’s own Dyslexia Support Coach

• Evaluating your ability to become a Dyslexia Support Coach to your child

1. Saturday 7th November 2009    2pm – 4pm
2. Saturday 14th November 2009   2pm – 4pm
3. Saturday 21st November 2009   2pm – 4pm

In addition to the workshops we have also been Spreading the WORD about Dyslexia Awareness Week via LIVE Radio Shows, Dyslexia Workshops, and Guest Speaking Events.

Don’t forget to do your bit too – tell the world about dyslexia!!!

To book your FREE place on workshop or for more information please contact Antonio Farruggia on +447969789893 or email him at info@DyslexicBrian.com

Dyslexic man named as top teacher | October 2009

A West Yorkshire teacher who overcame dyslexia to achieve his career dream has been named the most outstanding new teacher in the country.

Edward Vickerman, head of business at The Freeston Business and Enterprise College in Normanton, was given the title at the Teaching Awards in London.

Because of his dyslexia, the 26-year-old said he was sidelined at school and not expected to achieve much.

He was described by a colleague as a “whirlwind” in the classroom.

While working in the hotel industry, Mr Vickerman discovered ways of overcoming his dyslexia and achieved a degree in hotel management, which set him on the road to success.

Invigorated department

He then decided to pursue his dream of becoming a teacher and chose to take a postgraduate teaching qualification.

Colleagues and students said Mr Vickerman was an “inspiration to work with” and had invigorated the department, introducing new courses to match student needs.

Mr Vickerman said he gets round his dyslexia by using new technology in lessons rather than communicating by writing.

The Teaching Awards, founded by Lord Puttnam 11 years ago, are open to every school in the UK and reward excellent teachers, head teachers, teaching assistants, governors and sustainable schools.

Source: BBC published Monday, 26 October 2009

Dyslexic Brian – LIVE Radio Show about Dyslexia

Dyslexic Brian was interviewed by Maf, one of Bristol’s best know DJ’s, on Bristol Community FM.

The interview was on 29^th October 2009 between 2pm and 3pm (UK time)

Antonio ‘Magico’ Farruggia (co-founder of Dyslexic Brian) was explaining Dyslexic Brian’s perspective of dyslexia and sharing lots of tips and tricks that dyslexic people can follow to completely overcome their dyslexia.

It was a show well worth listening to!

All the best and enjoy the show!

Dyslexic Brian & LIVE BCfm Radio Show

Wow!!! The live radio show with the infamous radio presenter Maf from Bristol Community Radio was an amazing experience!

Our co-founder Antonio Farruggia had a great time talking about dyslexia and also having a laugh with Maf.

We are looking forward to getting back on Maf’s show soon.

We’ll keep you posted re Dyslexic Brain’s next radio appearance.

Let us know what you think of the show by sending Dyslexic Brian an email at info@dyslexicbrian.com

National Dyslexia Awareness Week | November 2009

Next week is National Dyslexia Awareness Week, and the question posed by Frewen College, the area’s only specialist a school for dyslexics, is “Just how aware are you of dyslexia?”

Most people think of dyslexia as a problem with reading, spelling, and perhaps comprehension, so assume it cannot be diagnosed until a child is already behind at school. But there are many other symptoms that can alert parents to the possibility in plenty of time to intervene at a much earlier stage.
A spokesman for the school said: “Dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence, and it can be found across all social and economic strata. Many dyslexics have considerable gifts, but if their difficulties are not identified and addressed early enough these strengths can be swamped by failure and self doubt.”

Here are Frewen’s top ten tell-tale signs of dyslexia that are not reading related. If you can ‘tick’ three or more, you need to start digging more deeply.

1. There is a strong genetic element to dyslexia, so if there is any family history of dyslexia or reading difficulties, be particularly alert to other warning signs.
2. Being slow to start talking, and then having trouble pronouncing some letters, especially M’s and N’s, R’s and L’s.
3. Reversing or mixing up sounds in multi-syllable words (favourites include aminal for animal, hekalopter for helicopter, bisgetti for spaghetti, or even nucular for nuclear!).
4. Trouble with tying shoe laces and getting dressed.
5. Co-ordination problems (excessive tripping, falling over, bumping into things, difficulty with catching or kicking a ball, or clapping a simple rhythm).
6. Difficulty undertaking any task that involves a sequence of actions, such as ‘do this, then do that.’
7. Difficulty learning abstract facts, such as days of the week or months of the year.
8. Very slow to learn the names of letters or sounds, or learning the alphabet.
9. May have walked quite early but did not crawl.
10. An unusually high number of ear infections.

Source: Bexhill Observer

DysFest dyslexia awerness week film festival | November 2009

Exploring dyslexia from a f…resh new perspective.

DysFest Is the first dyslexia awerness week film festival which explores the representation and understanding of dyslexia looking at films, technology and art.

Films and workshops highlighting different attitudes to Dyslexia from around the world and showing aspects of the condition will be followed by discussions with filmmakers and leading thinkers in the fields of assistive technology and development psychology.

That’ll take place in London from the 2nd to the 6th of November 2009.

For more information or to reserve your free seat visit http://www.dysfest.org.

More Workshops

From car mechanic to teacher | Dyslexic Inspirational Story

Birmingham Evening Mail published on August 18th 2005

“TEACHING has changed so much over the years,” are the opening words from Paul Reid, a 39 year old from Perry Barr, when you ask him what he thinks of his new career.

“I really struggled when I was at school. It was differrent back then and admitting you had a problem understanding something wasn’t easy.’”

Paul was a car mechanic for 15 years before suffering from arthiritis and decided to change career.

“I loved mechanics so much that I decided that I wanted to teach others how to do it,” he explained.

Paul enrolled on a City and Guilds Further Education Teaching Course at Josiah Mason College in order to acquire the necessary skills and gain a teaching qualification.

Paul decided to go all the way and since completing his course he has progressed on to a Certificate in Education, a university qualification delivered at JMC in partnership with University College Worcester, which will make him a fully qualified full time teacher.

Shortly after embarking on this journey, he was offered a job as a mechanics tutor at Greensprings Training.

To find out more, write to us or come to our  Dyslexia discussion groups.

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

What Does Dyslexia Look Like in a Gifted Child?

Spatial and verbal talent of dyslexic children, social and emotional issues of dyslexia, dysgraphia or writing challenges.

Dyslexia in Gifted Children

Dyslexia doesn’t have to keep a kid down.

Assistive Technology and Training

A common outcome from a Disabled Students’ Allowances needs assessment , is a recommendation for the purchase of specialist equipment (or ‘assistive technology’). It may also include training on how to use this effectively.

Who buys the equipment recommended in my needs assessment report?

You will need to contact your funding body (e.g. Local Authority, Student Finance England or NHS Student Bursaries) to find this out. They may purchase the equipment for you and arrange a delivery date, or they may ask you to buy the equipment yourself and provide them with receipts. Individual funding bodies vary in their approach to this, so you should always ask.

What happens if it is recommended that I need a computer?

When you have a Disabled Students’ Allowances needs assessment, the assessor will recommend the most appropriate solution to overcome any study-related disability difficulties you may have. This is to allow you to have the same level of access to your study as other students.

If your assessor decides that the most appropriate solution is to recommend a computer (either laptop or desktop) they will include this in your report. It is up to your funding body to decide whether they agree to purchase the recommendations made in your assessment report however.

You are strongly advised to keep to the original recommendation made in your report. This will be the best solution to your difficulties and complement any other recommendations made. However, you may be able to negotiate with your funding body about whether you receive a laptop or desktop machine.

How is my need for training identified?

Your need for training is normally agreed as part of your needs assessment. A copy of your assessment report is then sent to your funding body (normally your Local Authority, NHS Grants Unit or Student Finance England). The funding body will then confirm whether they agree to fund the recommendation made for you to have training.

How is my training paid for?

Your training will normally be paid for from your Disabled Students’ Allowances. You will need to arrange payment between your funding body (e.g. Local Authority) and the trainer that is identified in your needs assessment report.

Source: UWE

Learning disabilities, a silent struggle | By Jay Balagna

When Eric Thornley was five years old, he was diagnosed with dyscalculia, a specific learning disability that inhibits a person’s learning of math. Coupled with a speech impediment, he quickly fell behind the other children in his class.

The now-19-year-old history and international affairs major is forced to spend more time studying and working on assignments than the average student.

“I’m not like the typical college student where I sign up for a fraternity and go out and party,” Thornley said. “I have to spend a lot more time on my schoolwork to keep up.”

Thornley is one of more than 400 students at the University of Nevada, Reno with a diagnosed learning disability, according to information from the Disability Resource Center.

Students with learning disabilities make up the second-highest portion served by the Disability Resource Center after psychological disabilities, Mary Zabel, the center’s director, said. The psychological disabilities include attention deficit disorder, accounting for the higher number, Zabel said. UNR’s learning disability rates largely fit with the national trend.

Specific learning disabilities are neurological disorders that affect a person’s ability to learn in various ways. “Learning disability” is an umbrella term used to refer to a number of different disorders, said Christine Cheney, a professor of special education at UNR and the chair of the education specialties department.

Included in the list of learning disabilities are dyscalculia; dyslexia, a reading and language-based disorder and dysgraphia, a writing-based disorder, as well as other, less-common handicaps.

Most people with learning disabilities are given a general diagnosis and not told which disorder they have, Cheney said.

“Generally, in the school system, we don’t tend to break it down and just say people are learning disabled,” she said.

That approach has the advantage of preventing decreased expectations for a student in any specific area, Cheney said. It sometimes expands those decreased expectations to all subjects, though.

“For the most part, people see this as something that can be overcome,” Cheney said. “There is the risk some people will just give up, though.”

Thornley said his learning disability affected him through grade school and into college.

“When I was younger, my first year of grade school was in a special education program which was a little disheartening,” he said.

The next year, Thornley was assigned to a regular classroom but still had to work to succeed in school with his disability.

As the years went by, he began to find himself wondering why he couldn’t achieve the high grades his older sister had earned in the same subjects. As he slowly came to terms with his dyscalculia, he began to realize he would have to start taking more responsibility for his education if he wanted to succeed later in life.

“Lowered expectations can often be a problem (for students with learning disabilities),” Cheney said. “Sometimes families and teachers can help too much and students can kind of get a learned helplessness.”

Those feelings of helplessness keep many students with learning disabilities from college educations, she said.

“There are a lot of capable students out there and the message is getting to them more and more that college is an option,” Cheney, whose son has a learning disability and is a UNR graduate, said.

While Thornley tries to do as much as he can on his own, he still needs help in some areas. His freshman year, he took a year-long Math 120 class offered through the Disability Resource Center. Now that his math requirement is completed, he uses only the alternative testing and note-taking services offered through the center.

The alternative testing is the same test given in the classes, but in a longer allotted time period and in the Disability Resource Center, Thornley said.

Another student in the same class provides the note-taking service by agreeing to take his own notes on carbon-copy paper in exchange for a $100 stipend toward the next semester’s tuition, Zabel said. Note-takers are screened by the Disability Resource Center to make sure their handwriting is legible and they are not on academic probation, she said. The money automatically is reduced from the following semester’s tuition.

Source: The Nevada Sagebrush

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

Dyslexic Friendly Video Email

There’s now a great way for dyslexic people to communicate using video email.  

I came across some great technology called helloWorld that can be used to: 

• Send and receive Audio and Video Emails
• Create Personalised Email Templates
• Broadcasts Live on the Internet
• Store and Manage all of Your Media Online
• Create Video Play Lists for Your Website
• Add Videos to Your Website or Blog

I’ve been using the helloWorld technology for over one year now and have found it so simple to use and dyslexic friendly.

All you have to do is buy a helloWorld email account (it’s similar to a Hotmail or Yahoo account) that costs $9.95 per month (no monthly contract)

Once you have this all you will then need is a webcam to record your video emails with. 

Next you just click on the ‘New’ tab within your helloWorld inbox.

 Then record your video…

 …then press send and off your video goes!

It really is that simple!

Creating a video emails is just so much simpler than having to sit at your computer typing what you want to say – with video you just talk out aloud what’s in your mind.

I’ve been recommending it to all of the dyslexic people that I come into contact with.    

Once you’re all set up and able to send video email then why not send a video email to us to say hi.  

Click here to order your helloWorld account or to receive more information.

Dyslexia & I

What is it like to have dyslexia? Animations & Illustrations

Approaching a career with dyslexia

Say ‘Hi’ to Your Dyslexia

Say ‘Hi’ to Your Dyslexia and explore how it affects your life.

This is a fun workshop full of games and role plays.

The session starts with Antonio telling everyone a bit about himself and how dyslexic affected his life until he learnt how to get rid of all of the difficulties that dyslexia was causing him.

After this you will take part in a game that will help you to explain what your dyslexia means to you and how it affects your life.

Once you have done this, Antonio will explain his theory about dyslexia to you and tell you how he used it to get rid of all of his dyslexia difficulties.

Then it’s your turn to test out his theory by doing a role play that will help you to decide if it will suit you too.

Then you will be set with some fun homework to do before the next workshop beings. The homework will help you to look at your dyslexia in a way that is really positive and that will make you feel proud to be dyslexic.

Back to Workshops

To book your place on this workshop or for more information please contact Antonio Farruggia on:

+44 (0) 79697 89893 or email him at info@DyslexicBrian.com

Say ‘Bye’ to Your Dyslexia Difficulties

Say ‘Bye’ to Your Dyslexia Difficulties by learning how to overcome your dyslexia.

This workshop is full of excitement and challenges.

The session starts with a group role play that describes some of the dyslexia difficulties that the group experiences.

You will help to write the script for this role play so it’s your chance to show off your creative skills or to add a few comical bits to it.

The next thing you will be doing is describe the main dyslexia difficulties you experience and would like to get rid of.

Antonio and the rest of the team will then show you how you can become a ‘self-organised learner’ and find ways to overcome your own dyslexia difficulties.

Then you will be able to do an experiment to see if you can find ways to improve your skills and abilities within an area that has been giving you difficulties, for example, improving your reading and writing skills.

Then Antonio will set you some fun homework to do before the next workshop begins. The homework will help you to try out what you have learnt on start to overcome other dyslexia difficulties.

Back to Workshops

To book your place on this workshop or for more information please contact Antonio Farruggia on:

+44 (0) 79697 89893 or email him at info@DyslexicBrian.com

Join Dyslexic Brian’s Gang

Join Dyslexic Brian’s Gang so that you can share issues and ideas with likeminded people.

This workshop is the full of creativity and innovation.

This session starts with Antonio explaining how important it is for members of the group to try and keep in touch in order to offer support to each other.

As a group we will have a discussion around the types of methods that we could use to keep in touch with each other.

We will have an IT specialist at our dispose that will help us to set up whatever methods of online communication we come up with as a group.

Once we have decided on the way we will keep in touch with each other we will come up with our own Dyslexic Brian Gang Rules. Creating our own Gang Rules is good fun and we can add a few silly rules to have a laugh.

This workshop ends with a Dyslexic Brian Gang Award Ceremony where you will receive a certificate of achievement from Dyslexic Brian himself!

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To book your place on this workshop or for more information please contact Antonio Farruggia on:

+44 (0) 79697 89893 or email him at info@DyslexicBrian.com

Overcoming Dyslexic | Young Peoples Workshops | Aims and Objectives

Aims and Objectives

Aims and Objectives

Here’s an overview of the main aim and objectives for the Young Peoples Workshops that we are currently running in Bristol, UK:

The Aim: To assist dyslexic young people to completely overcome their dyslexia.

Objective One: To coach young people through the process of developing a powerful dyslexic mindset that enables them to reframe their perception of dyslexia in a way that does not restrict their ability to overcome dyslexia completely.

Objective Two: To assist young people to become independent learners by gaining an understanding of the processes and skills needed for them to tackle and overcome their own dyslexia related issues.

Objective Three: To assist young people to design and develop a peer lead support network that provides a platform for the continuation of the learning gained from the workshops.

Disabled Students’ Allowances

Disabled Students’ Allowances provide extra financial help if you have a disability or specific learning difficulty like dyslexia. They are available on top of the standard student finance package and don’t have to be repaid. This page is an introduction to what is available if you live in England.

Who Disabled Students’ Allowances are aimed at

Disabled Students’ Allowances are grants to help meet the extra course costs students can face as a direct result of a disability or specific learning difficulty. They are aimed at helping disabled people to study on an equal basis with other students.

Eligible full-time, part-time and postgraduate students can apply for Disabled Students’ Allowances.

The amount you get doesn’t depend on your household income. Disabled Students’ Allowances are paid on top of the standard student finance package, and don’t have to be paid back.

What they can be used for

Disabled Students’ Allowances can help pay for:

• specialist equipment you need for studying – for example, computer software
• a non-medical helper, such as a note-taker or reader
• extra travel costs you have to pay because of your disability
• other costs – for example, tapes or Braille paper

Eligibility

You can apply if you are doing:

• a full-time course that lasts at least one year (including a distance-learning course)
• a part-time course that lasts at least one year and doesn’t take more than twice as long to complete as an equivalent full-time course (including a distance-learning course)

Checking that you’re eligible for student finance

To apply for financial help through Disabled Students’ Allowances, both you and your course must meet some other conditions. It’s worth checking these before you make your application.  Read Full Article

Source: DirectGov

Overcoming Dyslexia Workshop 1: Exploring Your Dyslexia

Exploring Your Dyslexia

Exploring Your Dyslexia

Many dyslexic people never really take a close look at their own dyslexia and get to know it intimately. If this applies to you then come along to this workshop as it will help you to understand your dyslexia on a deeper level. As a group we will explore what dyslexia is, what causes it, how it impacts on us, and whether it can be cured or not. These are slippery areas to explore but important ones to examine especially if your intention is to overcome your dyslexia completely.

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To book your place on this workshop or for more information please contact Antonio ‘Magico’ Farruggia on +44 (0) 79697 89893 or email him at info@DyslexicBrian.com

Creating a super charged ‘Dyslexic Mindset’

Overcoming Your Dyslexia

Overcoming Dyslexia Workshop 2: Creating a super charged ‘Dyslexic Mindset’

Creating a super charged ‘Dyslexic Mindset’

Creating a super charged ‘Dyslexic Mindset’

Is your current view of dyslexia holding you back from achieving your goals or from excelling in your current career? If yes, then this workshop is for you! It has been specifically designed to help you conceptualise your dyslexia as a phantom condition that has been imposed on you by educational and social forces. We will guide you through the process of re-conceptualised your dyslexia in this liberating way and then assist you to create a super charged ‘Dyslexic Mindset’ that will help you achieve your goals and excel within your career.

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To book your place on this workshop or for more information please contact Antonio ‘Magico’ Farruggia on +44 (0) 79697 89893 or email him at info@DyslexicBrian.com

Exploring Your Dyslexia

Overcoming Your Dyslexia

Overcoming Dyslexia Workshop 3: Overcoming Your Dyslexia

Overcoming Your Dyslexia

Overcoming Your Dyslexia

Difficulties with reading, writing, expressing thought coherently and organisational management are just a few issues that are commonly associated with dyslexia and which can generally limit the potential of dyslexic people. Within this workshop we will assist you to identify and then prioritise the main issues relating to your dyslexia that you wish to overcome. We will then assist you to design and develop your own methods and techniques to overcome these issues which if applied will help you to free yourself completely of dyslexia.

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To book your place on this workshop or for more information please contact Antonio ‘Magico’ Farruggia on +44 (0) 79697 89893 or email him at info@DyslexicBrian.com

Exploring Your Dyslexia

Creating a super charged ‘Dyslexic Mindset’

Dyslexic Brian @ The University of Bristol Freshers’ Fair

Dyslexic Brian went down really well at The University of Bristol Freshers’ Fair. Two of the co-founders of Dyslexic Brian, Goga and Antonio, spent all day telling students about the services that we offer. Goga and Antonio were shattered when they got back to the office but they said it had been worth it due to them having met dozens of positive minded dyslexic and non-dyslexic students. There was a huge interest in November’s dyslexia workshops that are aimed at assisting people to completely overcome their dyslexia. Also, loads of people signed up for our newsletter – we’ll be sending out the newsletters very soon but first Goga and Antonio are sending out a personalised video email to everyone who signed up for it.    Loads of the students we spoke to said that it would be good for us to start a Bristol University Dyslexic Brian Society – we think this is a great idea and we are now looking into setting this up.If we become a society we’re planning to run a free discussion group about dyslexia each month at the Uni – these should be good fun and will hopefully be useful to students who want to increase their awareness and understanding of dyslexia. Check back soon to find out where Dyslexic Brian will be visiting next!  If you’re organising an event and would like Dyslexic Brian to come along then please contact us on info@DyslexicBrian.com or call Antonio on                      079697 89893

Antonio with Owen, President of UBU   Antonio with Ruth and Richard, UBU   University of Bristol

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 1

Explore your dyslexia by doing a self-characterisation sketch

One of the techniques that we use at Dyslexic Brian, to assist the people to overcome their dyslexia, is called a self-characterisation sketch*, (or sketch for short).

(*N.B. a self-characterisation sketch is a technique devised by George A Kelly (1955) and used in personal construct psychology)

We have found that using self-characterisation sketch can be a good way for many people to begin the process of exploring their perception of dyslexia.

There really isn’t anything that difficult about doing a sketch. You simply have to write about yourself as if you were an actor in a play about yourself, your life and your dyslexia. You have to write it though from the third person perspective. This basically means that you write it how you think someone who knows you very intimately and sympathetically might write it. For example, if I (Antonio) was to write one today I would start with something like this,

“Antonio is someone who really struggled with his dyslexia in the past. He found it so hard to understand and make sense of his dyslexia and struggled so much to bring it under control. In fact he spent over seven years focusing on his dyslexia on a daily basis before he was able to fully understand it to the point that he was satisfied with. At this point he was able liberate himself from all of the self-imposed constraints to learning that he has placed on himself over the years. He now wants to help others to understand their dyslexia and to overcome it but in a fraction of the time that it took him to do so. He wants to do this by…”

If you decide to write a sketch about yourself or tape record one if that’s what you prefer, then don’t worry about how long the sketch is, about spellings and grammar, or even where about in your life you begin from. The important thing is that you just start writing about what is significance to you.

In the sketch above that I wrote above, I chose to begin writing from where I am at present. The reason for this is that this is what is important to me at this moment in time. If I had written a sketch, let’s say, before I overcame my dyslexia, then it would have been a very different sketch from the one I wrote above. I most probably would have written something along these lines,

“Antonio hates being dyslexic! He hates not being able to express his thinking in the assignments he has to write at college. He finds it hard to accept that he is dyslexic and wishes that he could get rid of it so that he can get on with his life. He spends hours writing his assignments and never gets the grades that he thinks he deserves…”

What to do with the sketch once you’ve done one

Once you have written a sketch file it away, work on exploring your dyslexia more, and then write another sketch. This might sound a bit of a strange thing to do and perhaps might seem to be a bit of a pointless exercise. However, it is the process of writing a sketch that is important as it gets you to really focus on your dyslexia. As you gain more and more understanding of your dyslexia you will notice that the sketches you write will be completely different from the earlier ones that you wrote. In this sense sketches are a good way of gauging your progress and keeping track of it.

If you feel that you would like coaching through the process of becoming more aware of you dyslexia and want help also to find ways to overcome your dyslexia, contact us for information about  our One-to-One or Online dyslexia support service.

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Instructions)

This exercise has been designed to assist you to reduce some of the negative feelings that you might have towards your dyslexia.

The exercise is made up of seven simple steps – these are outlined below to give you an overview of what it will take to do this exercise:

1) Make a list of all the things about your dyslexia that you feel negative  
     about

2) Prioritise your list

3) Write each heading from your list on separate pieces of paper

4) Explore the negative aspect of each issue

5) Write down how you would like things to be regarding each issue you
     are focusing on

6) Start working out how you would bring about changes to create the
     way you’d ‘ideally’ like things to be

7) Write an action plan and act on it

Click here view the instructions for step one

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step One)

Step one: Make a list of all the things about your dyslexia that you feel negative about (and/or wish to overcome)

Make a list of all the things that you are feeling negative about towards your dyslexia; a few words will do. Don’t worry too much at this stage where you start from as you will prioritise them in the next step of this process. For now simply list all the things that are making you feel negative about your dyslexia. Write down anything that comes into your head!

You don’t have to show this list to anyone so don’t worry about the things you list being silly or trivial. Keep adding to the list until you have run out of anything else to include. (You might prefer to make a list on audio tape or to draw a series of pictures). 

Here’s an example of a list created by Antonio several years ago:

Being dyslexic

Writing letters

Memory problems

Filling in forms

Reading out loud

Going blank

Poor spellings

Click here view the instructions for Step Two

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Two)

Step two: Prioritise your list

The next step is to put the things that you have listed into the order that you feel you would like to tackle them. The simplest way to do this is to number them, as shown in the example:

Being dyslexic (1)

Writing letters (4)

Memory problem (5)

Filling in forms (3)

Reading out loud (2)

Going blank (6)

Poor spellings (7) (Back to top)

Click here view the instructions for Step Three

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Three)

Step three: Write each heading from your list on separate pieces of paper

The next thing to do is write down the first heading from your list on a separate piece of A4 paper, or open a new page on your computer.

You will end up with something that looks like this but obviously with your heading on the page:

Being dyslexic (1)

Click here view the instructions for Step Four

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Four)

Step four: Explore the negative aspect of each issue

The next thing to do is to start exploring the issue you have decided to focus on by looking at why you feel the way you do about it.

A good way of doing this is to write about the issue from the third person perspective, in other words as if someone you know really well was writing about you and the issue being focused on. The reason for doing this is that it will help you not get too bogged down with the negative emotions that may be attached to the issue.

Here is an example of what Antonio would have written several years ago:

Being dyslexic (1)

“Antonio hates being dyslexic. He hates not being the same as other people at college who can write assignments without putting in so much effort. He hates how some of the people on his course treat him differently because of his dyslexia….”

The trick here is to write down as much as you can until you can’t find anything more to write about. When you have finished this move on to the next one and do the same. Do this until you have completed each sheet.

Click here view the instructions for Step Five

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Five)

Step five: Write down how you would like things to be regarding each issue you are focusing on  

The next thing to do is to write down how you would like things to ideally be regarding the issue you are focusing on.

Here’s an example of what Antonio might have written several years ago before he overcame his dyslexia:

“Being dyslexic (1)  

“Antonio would love not to be dyslexic. He would love to be the same as the other students and be able to write assignments without having to spend two weeks on each one.”  

Click here view the instructions for Step Six

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