Greetings everyone! It was wonderful to see such a great turnout for our film screening of The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia. We hope you all found it informative, insightful and inspiring. A bit of Hollywood trivia about this production: It was directed by James Redford who is the son of Robert Redford. Dylan, the first boy who was profiled and who went on to attend Middlbury College, is the son of James Redford and the grandson of Robert Redford! Isn't it amazing that even this prominent family living in affluent Marin County, CA struggled at first to identify dyslexia and find help for their son. Some interesting facts we learned from the movie: reading isn't hard wired into our brains the way spoken language is, as we've only been reading for about 5,000 years! We are born knowing how to speak, but we have to learn to read. Also, non-dyslexic readers use the left side of their brain to read, but dyslexic readers use more of their creative right side, which slows down their processing, but gives them greater insight. And who could forget Sir Richard Branson admitting he didn't know the difference between net and gross earnings until someone recently explained it by drawing a visual picture using a fishing net! After our film screening at LHS, we couldn't help but notice the many antsy kids squirming in their seats during the discussion with Ellen Sugita, Director of Special Education. While this was an important discussion and conversation to start having with Ellen and district reading specialists, we realize that our kids need an evening of their own! We are planning a student panel in early 2016 comprised of dyslexic students from various grades who attend LPS and who will share their experiences, challenges and strategies for success. Stay tuned for more details. The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan: A Blueprint for Renewing Your Child's Confidence and Love of Learning by Ben Foss. This groundbreaking book offers practical strategies for helping your dyslexic child succeed in school and in life, with a three-step approach: 1.) Mapping their strengths and weaknesses to help them overcome their feelings of shame and inadequacy, and creating a powerful program for learning 2.) Coaching your child on self-advocacy and self-awareness and focusing on meaningful and achievable goals 3.) Creating community and working with your school system to access effective resources, as well as understanding and asserting your basic legal rights for your child Ben Foss is a dyslexic and a prominent entrepreneur and activist and the founder of Headstrong Nation, a not-for-profit organization serving the dyslexic community. He invented the Intel Reader, a mobile device that takes photos of text and recites it aloud on the spot. |
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