Dyslexia: Gift or Disability?
A Gift???
Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci were dyslexic. Many artists,
architects, and famous CEOs are dyslexic. So what's the connection?
Most people will tell you that dyslexia involves some kind of
perceptual distortion, though opinions differ as to what kind. The
perceptual distortion can lead to learning disabilities, but it can
also lead to creativity and artistic ability.
It can be turned off!
The distortions can be turned off, if you know how. A severely
dyslexic man named Ron Davis discovered how (and immediately went and
read Treasure Island in one day), and has started the Davis Dyslexia Association
International to spread the word and teach the technique. I know his method works; I've
used it on myself, and I'm currently teaching the one-week program
(yes, one week) that he developed. Here is a summary.
Yes, a Gift!
"I have had the luxury of free access to the computer..."
- A recent client, formerly computer-phobic
When the dyslexic ability is brought under conscious control, and the confusions that led to the learning disability are turned off, dyslexics can show their full potential. Here are three stories of people I've worked with. They've gained multiple grade levels, and skills they never would have thought possible. They certainly know they're gifted!
I recently contacted thirteen people that I've worked with over the past eighteen months, most for one week only. Twelve have seen major improvement, and eleven attribute that directly to the program.
Previous Approaches: Dyslexia as Disability.
There is much valid and
valuable work out there (as well as a lot of snake oil). But it seems
that everyone has a different opinion about what kind of
learning disability it is. Here are a few examples of research, past
and present:
- People at Scientific
Learning think dyslexia is mainly about problems perceiving sound.
They have kids listen to and identify speech sounds.
- Gadi Geiger at MIT has had success improving dyslexics' reading
by training them to scan words correctly (treating it as a visual
problem).
- Carl Delacato did some work (now unpopular) linking dyslexia to
movement problems, and treating it with specific patterns of movement.
The more I learn about the work that's being done, the more I'm
reminded of the poem about the blind men
and the elephant!
What if everyone is right?
The standard question when faced with a difference of opinion is,
"Which one is right?" But there's so much careful work, leading to
good results--it doesn't make sense to decide that nine-tenths of it
has to be wrong. Is there a way to look at dyslexia as a jigsaw
puzzle, with each researcher holding a separate piece? I believe
there is.
The picture on the puzzle box
The fact that the perceptual distortions can be turned on and off, at
will, in minutes, is a crucial clue. It means that dyslexia is
not a structural problem in the brain; structural problems
don't go away and come back like that. Dyslexia is functional and
variable. So why assume that it only affects one sensory pathway?
If it affects both sight and hearing, then Geiger and the SciLearn
people could both be right. And if it also affects kinesthetic or
motor pathways, then Delacato might even be right!
So why does everyone get good results?
Although most dyslexics aren't aware of it, their dyslexia
(perceptual distortion) probably isn't constant--it may become
stronger when they try to read (which is a problem) or when they do
art (in which case it's often useful). The common thread of the three
treatments is this: they all require the dyslexia to be turned off in
order to do the task successfully. Therefore, as a dyslexic does the
repetitive, low-stress task (listening, looking at text, or crawling),
they slowly learn to keep their dyslexia turned off most of the
time.
Some final thoughts
Although Ron Davis' method of turning off the perceptual distortions
is very powerful, it's only half of his program. The other half
involves resolving the confusion that dyslexics tend to associate with
certain words and other symbols (for more details, check out the DDAI web page). If this isn't
done, the confusion piles up and the learning disability returns; this
may be why some other programs cause only temporary improvement.
I have lots of theories and unanswered questions about the mechanisms
of dyslexia. Since they're more speculative, and this page is getting
too long already, I've put them on a separate page.
Although there are several good programs out there, the Davis method
is the fastest one I've heard of (there is significant homework after
the one-week program, but there's also major improvement during the
week). It's also the only one that gives dyslexics conscious control
over whether to use their dyslexia at any given moment. And it's the only one I know of that presents dyslexia as a skill to be mastered, rather than a problem to be overcome. This is not sugarcoating: dyslexia is truly based on an ability that sometimes causes problems, and this fact becomes obvious to the clients. Improved self-esteem, firmly based in achievement, is the usual result of the program.