Last week I attended the Learning Disabilities Association of Washington meeting and listened to Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide, authors of The Dyslexic Advantage, a book about the often unrecognized strengths that people with dyslexia may have. Some of the strengths the Eides identified are "advanced abilities in Material Reasoning, Interconnected Reasoning, Narrative or Story-Based Reasoning, and Dynamic Reasoning, a type of reasoning associated with forecasting". I was thinking of my own experience with many folks with dyslexia who have problems with 2D images like reading or decoding graphics but can easily comprehend complex 3D structures. In other words, they might not be able to read, but they could build things and understand depth and space in ways that my poor brain will never be able to do! Of course, that is a generalization. Not all people with dyslexia have those strengths, but the Eides research suggests that many do. And it makes sense that no one would notice this: 3D abilities aren't really used all that much in grade school. As parents, we think our children's ability to build with blocks is amazing, but in school, it's reading and paperwork that counts. All that 2D stuff! If you think about the long-haul, though, don't we live in a 3D world, too? Isn't being able to park a car in a small space, or construct a bridge or visualize a chemical bond pretty valuable skills? (Ones that many of us excellent readers don't have, by the way!) If you are interested in finding out more about the Dyslexic Advantage or LDAWA, links are provided below!
Learning Disabilities Association of Washington-http://www.ldawa.org
Dyslexic Advantage-http://dyslexicadvantage.com
Learning Disabilities Association of Washington-http://www.ldawa.org
Dyslexic Advantage-http://dyslexicadvantage.com
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