hey thats Christmas over with

Hello there blog readers hope you all had a great Christmas. I have been taking a little time away from everything dyslexia for the past couple of weeks. I will probably not start getting back into the dyslexia swing of things until after the new year. I am just exhausted and need to take a step back from it all.

We had a great first Christmas in out new home. Had the family round for dinner Christmas day. Totally stress free it was too apart from the fact my wife was ill that is. Nothing serious just a bug that knocked her out  bit. There are many reasons why I like Christmas. One of the main ones being everything closes down for that one day a year. Apart from a few little corner shops that is and the emergency services. One day in the year that is not a 24 / 7 full on day.

We had my wife' s parents here for Christmas dinner as well as Layla, Charmaine and Lesley here for Christmas. I especially enjoyed watching Layla opening all here Christmas presents. She is four years old and totally believes in Father Christmas ahhh the innocence of child hood. She left a carrot out for Rudolph as well as a mince pie and glass of milk for Santa.

Gawd when I was a kid I used to listen to the older people and their pessimism about life, the universe and everything and think to myself I will never be like that when I get older. Gawd now I am 55 and exactly like them lol. Nahhhh not really you cannot be involved with dyslexia and be pessimistic lol.
 
We have been lucky here in Fife and have escaped the extremes of weather experience in other parts of the country. It can't have been much of a Christmas for anyone affected by the weather.

My thoughts go out to all the people affected by austerity and government cuts. The injustice of this whole austerity thing is just crazy. The local supermarket has been collecting food in a shopping trolley for the past few weeks to give to the food banks here. Charities have been collecting toys to give to kids as well. Its a sobering thought to know how little some people have in this time of plenty for the few. Things are happening in this country that I never thought in my wildest dreams could ever happen.

Have to take some time here to thank everyone who sent us cards and gave us Christmas presents. I had a bit of a Nintendo Christmas lol. Got the new Zelda and Layton games for my 3DS as well as one of those new Wii U consoles with the new Zelda game included. My good mother in law and father in law gave me a bottle of asbach brandy. I am not much of a drinker of spirits but I do love a drop of asbach. Have to blame my father in law for that as he introduced me to asbach lol. If any of you out there a brandy drinkers I heartily recommend you try it.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all the directors and volunteers involved with Dyslexia Pathways CiC and the Unique Dyslexic project. You help and support is very much needed and appreciated.

A few more days and 2014 will be here. Blimey I have just gotten used to writing 2013 dates and now I will have to try and forget them and get used to writing 2014 dates lol.

I am dyslexic and very happy to be so

“I am not someone with dyslexia. I am dyslexic. Were I not dyslexic, I would not be me.” Cooper (2009)

I am dyslexic therefore I am me ( #IAmDyslexic 😎😎😎 )

News up dates

Well as far as dyslexia support goes at both universities its all very positive. Lots of positive feedback from students, lots of very happy students in fact. This is the last week of work until after Christmas and the new year. Here's hoping I will be just as busy in the new year.

The Unique Dyslexic project is, "doing away", as they say here in Scotland. I think it means going ok. For me personally its all taking more time that I anticipated. 

The Unique Facebook page has over 100 members. I am trying to encourage members to share their stories and creative works. I have posted a few bits of my own in the form of music and photographs. The project is open to anyone of any ability who would like a place to share their work in a supportive and positive place. Mind you I have always been an impatient individual sigh.

The Unique website is still not moving along. I have contacted the web developer, oh must be over a month ago now,   and still not heard anything from them. I have some funding to develop the website further its a question of how and who is going to do it. If I can get it up and running it will give me some time to learn Word Press or find a volunteer to act web master. I have completed my web brief so its all ready to move forward.

Once the Uni work stops for the break next week I will have time to concentrate on moving the Unique Dyslexic Project  forward. From next week I will be going about in Fife talking to organisations in Fife about the project, making people aware of what its about and getting people involved. Organisations such as Fife college, Youth 1st and FEAT etc. The plan is to put together a small team of volunteers to help push the project forward. 

I am going to try and put together a podcast of my blogs over the next couple of weeks. Its to try and make my rather long blogs more accessible. Have to see how I do in front of an camera lol.

Things stay the same?

Way back in 2005 when I was running the dyslexia department in a college in London. I run a number of open dyslexia surgeries for students and staff wanting to find out more about dyslexia. As it turned out a large number of staff took up the offer and came to the surgeries.  

Some just want some advice on ways to support their dyslexic student s more effectively. But others came because they either knew they were dyslexic or suspected they were dyslexic. 

All had some concerns that being dyslexic would hinder their career prospects and nearly all had not disclosed they were dyslexic.

As a result of this I put together a proposal for a new dyslexia focused project called Breaking down the barriers of dyslexia. 

The basic idea was to provide free dyslexia screening and assessment to staff at the college as well as provide training in dyslexia friendly work strategies.   

I managed to get a fifty thousand poundgrant from the Learning and Skills Council for the project.  The project itself went very well. We had a target to provide 8 free dyslexia assessments and in the end we provided 23.

However, at the end of the project despite how well it went 99% of those assessed still did not want their bosses to know they were dyslexic.

Eight years later and things do not appear to have changed much.

I was talking with a degree student yesterday who I had been providing dyslexia support over the last semester.  A very bright student as well. He was expressing an interest in becoming a teacher but felt that it was not possible for him to become a teacher because of his dyslexia. 

He was expressing his concerns about telling any prospective employers about his dyslexia. That if he did it would adversely affect his job and career prospects. He would be a great teacher as well in my opinion

There is far too much focus on dyslexia as a negative condition that adversely impacts on our abilities to succeed academically and in the work place. Let’s face it what employer wants to take on a dyslexic who can't spell, has poor memory, a brain that does not work properly, who can't read well etc. 

This is what the average person in the street believes dyslexia to be. Very few mention any of the positives of dyslexia at all. So it is not surprising many dyslexics keep it a secret, including teachers.

For every positive single article on dyslexia there and 20 or more negative ones. If we are ever to change people's attitudes and perceptions about dyslexia we need dyslexic teachers in classroom who are positive about being dyslexic and can act as role models and mentors to dyslexic children.

alone

I was working with one of my dyslexic uni students yesterday. It was not a very easy session for him or myself. He is struggling with his course work and his work load had gotten on top of him quite a lot. He is obviously a very bright student and knows his subject very well but his issues with confidence and motivation were causing him great anxiety. All he knew was he had this big ball of stuff in his head that he knew this work needed to be done and when it had to be completed by but the ball was impenetrable to him.  

So we sat down together, worked out what needed to be done and by when. We then started to break each assignment down into its constituent parts and put together timelines to plot out what needed to be done and set some goals for the next couple of weeks. We opened out this ball of stuff in his head and mapped out different routes to enable him to get to his destination of assignments completed.

Of course he still has to get on with his work and his issues with motivation will still be there but because we had spent a little time doing this mapping out exercise he now felt he could tackle his work. He said because he had kept everything in his head the problems with his work just appeared so huge and undo-able. I gave him my e-mail and said he could contact me to discuss his progress if he felt he wanted to.

During this session he told me he had never really talked to anyone about being dyslexic not his parents or his friends. He told me he didn't understand his dyslexia or what his dyslexia report said about him. He basically felt quite alone with his struggles with his dyslexia. In fact this was the first time he had discussed anything to do with dyslexia with anyone else. I wonder how many other dyslexics there experience these same issues.

So much time, some much money spent on so much research, and still so little is understood about dyslexia by so many.....including the so called experts sigh

Here is another question for you all

If you could sum up dyslexia in 8 single positive words what would those 8 words be?

Off the top of my head mine would be:

Creative
Determined
Empathic
Lateral
Inventive
Curious
Innovative
Imaginative

What would yours be?

What does the word dyslexia mean to you?

Some time ago I ask a question on Facebook and that question was: "What does the word dyslexia mean to you?" Here are some of the responses I got.

Have to say a big thanks to Sangay Glass for her help with this.


Raymond Alexander
 when I see the word Dyslexia, I immediately think of dysfunction in reading, and being "disorganized"....and wonder if that isn't why we find adjectives in the wrong places in our writing at times...why we can also type words backwards perfectly without realizing it


Gloria Allendorfer Anderson
What comes to my mind is my husband's troubles with it. I don't let him in the checkbook. It appears as a learning disability in that he can't put letters in order to make words. All the letters are there, just not in the right order. I've ...lived with this for almost 47 years and it has been a struggle to handle every single piece of paperwork that has ever come through our hands, unless it's a simple form of some sort that he can handle. He's dangerous on a computer because he misinterprets what he reads. Sounds like complaints, but this is just the way it is.


Glory Lennon

 I always thought it was when the brain sees letters in the wrong order. That must make it virtually impossible to function in a word-dominated world. Completely disheartening too for those who suffer from it.

Mike L Williams

For me, Dyslexia means seeing things in the wrong order or backwards. Letters could be backwards or written backwards. Letters in a word may be mixed up such as "backwrads" instead of "backwards". A person with dyslexia might write "doat" instead of "boat".

Mona Gallagher
yes, for a great many years I associated dyslexia with reading...my son had it. Now I know there's more to it.

Amanda Dcosta

when I think of dyslexia - I connect it with the character of a genius who's IQ is way above average man. While they have a learning disability when it comes to reading and studying skills, they are very creative and have a much better visual perception of things. They are prone to more nightmares because of their heightened imaginative powers, while at the same time they can also be able to see a much bigger picture because of their creativity which compensates for drawbacks.

 Dyslexics are generally slower at desk jobs (there are exceptions) but are good with manual work. On the other hand, they excel at arts with much more aptitude than one who is majoring in that field. (arts). I see them as very artistic and creative people. Drawbacks on the one hand while a heightened perception of select gifts on the other.

 
 Azteclord    21. Mar at 10:17  Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe

Kiazishiru    21. Mar at 10:23

This has been called out to be fake. I can't read stuff like that, I only know what this says because this same stuff keeps popping up every now and then on the places I frequent.

For me a word does exist of letters in one combination, every time you switch a letter I will see it as a different word.

Jongoff    22. Mar at 02:35

 I've done the same with different words, and it is still legible to most people who read it.

 Twisted    22. Mar at 03:33 

I know a couple of very bright people who are dyslexic and who struggle to cope with emails and spelling issues. It tends to push them into different areas so they avoid dealing with the written word and doing other things instead. For example, one is a manager and tends to try to speak to people directly rather than send emails, so she has a reputation as a great influencer with excellent interpersonal skills.

Personally I think there's a high perceptual element to dyslexia, in that people who are dyslexic find it harder to recognise patterns. There must be a compensation for this somewhere in the brain, in the same way that blind braille readers show more activity in MRI scans when touching something with their braille-reading finger than sighted people who cannot read braille.

This is also interesting: www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200310/dyslexia-and-comprehen

Rmp    22. Mar at 11:45 

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe

That's just freaky that I was able to read that effortlessly... 

Janie    24. Mar at 16:34 

word blindness

 Dlandersen   1. Apr at 23:28 

Many people have overcome dyslexia and gone on to do remarkable things, both past and present. Here is a link to a list of famous individuals all purported to have dyslexia. Don't know if that helps in your research but I've always found it interesting and inspiring.

www.dyslexia.com/famous.htm

Flick    Yesterday at 04:57

 My son was diagnosed as dyslexic at university. He'd coped until he was 16 - with help from us - as we didn't realise his problems were anything more than normal education issues. He learnt to read with no difficulty but his attention span was poor. Not all dyslexics have problems with reading. There are so many different learning difficulties lumped together as dyselxia, it's hard to give a definition. My son did the tests - where you have to repeat sequences of numbers, forward and back etc and he couldn't do it. Funnily I can't either which makes me suspect I might have some elements of the problem too. Once his teachers started to give lessons more in the form of lectures, he started to fail. He couldn't sort out the information fast enough to make notes. So when I looked at his books - they started off great and then he was doodling by the end of a paragraph. I helped him at school, by typing his notes up. (called interferring parent syndrome - oh dear) but at university I couldn't help and he wanted to leave almost immediately. But being diagnosed and told he had a recognised problem made such a difference. He was allowed to use a laptop in his exams, given more time etc and though he didn't make use of a lot of the software such as voice recognition, he did stay and finish his degree.

I'm upset that it was missed as an issue when he was younger. Signs were there and I compensated for them when I should have sought help. I did actually speak to a school psychologist at one point but he told me I was the problem not my son. Lovely. But part of it is my fault for not seeing that the problems were actual problems. i just thought he was a typical boy.

Midevil 11. Mar at 09:25

Due to a head injury, I show mild signs of dyslexia when I'm tired. I read words in the wrong order, spell them out of order, and my speech jumbles words. I also will simply stop in mid-sentence, drawing a blank, but I don't think that's anything to do with the dyslexia.

Fun4all 11. Mar at 09:50

I can't help but think of an old, politically-incorrect LOL:

Did you hear about the new group called DAM

Mothers Against Dyslexia

Seriously, I have encountered a few dyslexics who make me think of the stereotypical "absent minded professor" type. Extremely brilliant, but oddly finding a great challenge in certain activities that many of us consider extremely simple.

Also, dyslexia has long existed, but it has only recently has it become socially possible to mention that you are dyslexic without being treated like you had a mental illness or were a moron.

just a wef random thoughts

Turtlesoup 11. Mar at 09:58

dyslexia runs in my family. my brother had a lot of trouble learning to read because of it, but it's something that can be coped with. He now even enjoys reading.

It only bothers me when I'm tired or not paying attention; I'll mix up numbers or mix up my words in a sentence when I talk. Really mild in my case, so it's hardly noticeable.

I don't know how it can be called an ability. It makes clear communication difficult, so it's at least an obstacle, in some cases a disability. I'd consider it more difficult than something like stuttering, because, while stuttering gets in the way of what you're trying to say, dyslexia can get in the way of the information you take in, too.

And it can sometimes be overused as an "excuse." My brother tried to pull that when he didn't want to read something.

My favorite (non-dyslexic) mix-up story is when my husband was signing the bill for a meal and he subtracted the tip from the total instead of adding it.

That, and a little girl calling satan santa. She may or may not have been dyslexic.

Txhilljack 11. Mar at 10:17

I have been told that I in the UK would be diagnosed with mild dyslexia in addition to dyspraxia. I struggle with the inverted Peter Principal in job searching my boxing website in the words of Masters nuero diverse type displays some dyslexic in addition to dyspraxic quirks. In terms of the disability I have no clue what it would be like to have organizational skills to be easy.

In terms of dealing with a disability even in Tales of the Dead Armadillo Ace the protagonist is only dimly aware that other people do not struggle with the things he does he can not fathom the non nuero diverse world.

Birdlady 11. Mar at 14:33

In my family, there's dyslexia from one side and ADD from the other - lots of engineer/math types and artists and other right brain careers, including drunks on the ADD side.

I have an uncle who is classically dyslexic, reverses the letters (which is actually not quite what's going on, according to my ADD/dyslexic sister who studied it, more that the orientation of the letter is irrelevant, and "b" looks like "d," "p," and "q") and who has difficulty reading - he's very, very bright, but did terribly in school. I think this is what most people think of when they hear the word.

In the '80s, "dyslexia" was used as a catch-all word for all kinds of learning disabilities, including ADD. My sister says she reverses letters, but she has the focusing difficulties of ADD (and the temper) and she has a sort of "input/output" problem, it's hard for her to take in information that she hears verbally - she used to have terrible trouble with voice-overs in movies and tv programs. Her mental processing is top notch, and once she learned how to deal with these problems, she graduated magna cum laude from an Ivy league college, but she also barely graduated high school before she was diagnosed.

A classic way to find a bright dyslexic or ADD kid is when they don't perform well in a classroom, but do well on standardized exams, btw.

Kiazishiru  11. Mar at 15:00

I did very bad in standardized exams, too short of an attention span... Any test longer than 45 minutes/an hour will be of less quality then an 30 minute test.

I am mildly dyslectic in dutch but barely in English, which might or might not have to do with me learning English only at a later time when I had already had time to deal with how I learn words.

My boyfriend is severely dyslectic but mainly because he sees in images and not words, which means that he'll mess up all sorts of things, though it has been getting better from time to time.

Birdlady 11. Mar at 16:38

My sister could arrange for untimed tests once she proved she was dyslexic, but yes, she had trouble, too. It's the focusing problems with ADD.

On the good side, I'm not ADD, but I have some tendencies that way, and I invariably befriend people who are ADD or dyslexic - they are so much fun and creative.

Pennycandy 11. Mar at 17:59
 My dyslexic daughter's comment. I asked her if she told her honors student boyfriend about her dyslexia. She said,"No." I asked, "Doesn't he question why you're in pull out classes for reading?" She said, "I'd rather. tell people I'm lazy." Sad

Birdlady 11. Mar at 18:10

This is back from the 80s, so I HOPE this isn't the case anymore, but a lot of people considered dyslexia a real stigma for some reason.

Or worse, when my then 20-year-old sister attended a school for dyslexics, she met another gal in her 20s who was only just diagnosed. This girl had two brothers who were dyslexic who were diagnosed as kids, but her family just thought, well, she's a girl, she's just stupid.

Mammamaia  11. Mar at 20:45

to me it means the dyslexic person does not see writing and numbers the way the rest of us do... in my daughters case, lines of math numbers 'slid' out of place, so the solution was to use graph paper for her math work... worked like a charm...

spelling and other word/writing issues seem to be harder to manage, though... and i don't know how that's dealt with...

i would definitely consider it a 'disability' and can't see how it could be considered an 'ability'...

Larkenrye  11. Mar at 22:56

My friend once told me had our teacher wrote everything on the board backward and/or upside down, she could still read it perfectly fine. She really has a great grasp of the English language, and of math.

Other languages were much harder, though. To someone who's had to work to get as good as she is at English (she was placed in a special program based on repetition and a reward/punishment system in elementary school), it makes sense that she'd have to work harder to learn even more rules of spelling and the like.

Another thing that comes to mind is the joke "Dyslexics untie."

Having dyslexia by no means that you can't have a good grasp of language in all its forms. But it did take this friend much longer to learn things than other people, at least initially (partially because she was diagnosed late). For her, I don't think it's turned out to be much of a disability—instead, she's developed much better techniques that will help her later in her school career. She knows how to study, knows how to ask questions, and gets very good grades. Even better, she knows what she needs to do to get work done. Overall, I'd say her dyslexia has made her an even more confident person than she might have been without it.

I guess the disability/ability thing also has a lot to do with a person's outlook on life.

Birdlady 12. Mar at 00:26

Just remembered about a good friend of mine who was diagnosed by a neighbor as dyslexic in elementary school, so she got help early on. She's a voracious reader now, so, once she had the right instruction on how to deal with it, it didn't slow her down. But to this day, unless she thinks about it, she will write each word perfectly backwards. I've seen her do it - she'll be talking while writing, and then she'll go "tsk" and shake her head and wave at the computer screen, and there will be this sentence, all the words in the right order, but each word typed in reverse.

 
I don't hold much with pc talk, but my experience with dyslexics really leads me to call it "differently abled" - if you approach it with the right teaching methods, it's fine, it just needs different methods than the standard more left-brained teaching techniques (this does depend on the severity of it, I agree). Dyslexics need more instruction on how to organize things, but they wind up being the most organized people I know - they kind of have to be. My friend above will line up her paper clips in her drawer. They are naturally unstructured people, and thus have to impose structure heavily, but that's a good survival skill a lot of us need to have. I lean this way myself; if I don't rigorously impose a structure on my time, I can daydream the whole day away.

Txhilljack 12. Mar at 13:24

One thing many learning disabled people suffer with is what I call the inverted Peter Principal....in the job market the tasks of entry level work is where their weaknesses stick out like a 747 on airport full of Cessna 172s. Their formidable strengths are underutlized.

Luke 12. Mar at 15:58

"Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac? He stayed up all night wondering if there really is a dog."

Inversion is what I think of. I know a guy who has it and had to work with him, so I have a basic understanding. From what little I know, it's not just about seeing things backwards or out of order, but also about flipping things around in your head.

Marysipe 13. Mar at 21:22

I'm dyslexic with a heavy auditory component. I can't understand people who mumble and I have a lot of trouble with other languages, because the sounds combined with whatever sound is nearby. If my brain doesn't already know how the sounds are supposed to be ordered, I can't distinguish between one word and the next. It shows in my typing, too. I'll be writing and find that I've typed "shaft" when I meant to type "she asked," or "hand" when I meant to type "he and," because I fix on certain sounds and the rest doesn't always get spelled out in my head before I move on to the next word.

I also tend to drop the endings off my words. I'll type "she jump," or "he was run" instead of "she jumped" or "he was running." I often confuse and reverse numbers and letters, but it's not just because of their shapes. For instance, I confuse "6" with "8" instead of "9" because both six and eight are even. That's actually more when I have to read aloud or when I'm trying to say a series of numbers or spell a word. Although sometimes I'll look at a word and if I'm not concentrating I'll fixate on one or two letters and substitute a different word with those letters. I have to focus on one thing at a time in order to get it right, and so I suck at multitasking and I get really annoyed if someone breaks my concentration.

I've had to work really hard to get where I am in regards to spelling, grammar and composition. I don't know if I'd call dyslexia a disability. I mean, it can be a challenge, absolutely. And maybe people who have it worse than I have a reason to feel like it is. I think that my dyslexia made me push even harder to get things right (Typed "write." I do that all the time.), but I hardly think it's my place to tell someone that they're not disabled when they're frustrated and having trouble learning or doing something. Coping strategies are out there and they help a lot of people, but what works for me isn't necessarily going to work for anyone else. I think it's important to take each person on a case-by-case basis. (Typed "business" because I got distracted.) Just my 2 cents.

Edited to add: I just noticed that when posting a thread in my private forum last night, I reversed two words. *facepalms* I hate when I don't catch these things.
r Kukkee

Being dyslexia positive

 

 

UNIQUE DYSLEXIC: BEING DYSLEXIA POSITIVE

There are many dyslexics out there who have never been assessed as being dyslexic. They may have been told by a teacher or friend they may be dyslexic. Or have a family member who has already been assessed as being dyslexic. But have never had the opportunity to find out more about it.

You do not need to have been assessed as being dyslexic to get involved with the Unique Dyslexic project.

The Unique Dyslexic project will be holding a number of creative workshops over the next 8 months for anyone wanting to explore their creative talents or just to find out more about being creative. They are there for anyone of any ability to access. But most of all the workshops are about having fun and meeting with other dyslexics. If you live in Fife or near Fife you are welcome to come along and have fun. There will be between 12 to 15 places available for each workshop.

The first workshop will focus on painting and drawing and will be taking place very soon.  Other workshops will focus on other creative activities such as photography, music, creative writing and poetry.

Anyone wanting to come along to any of these workshops, or find out more about the Unique Dyslexic project or book a place on one of our workshops please visit our Facebook page:  

http://www.facebook.com/groups/unique.dyslexic/

Or e-mail me at stephen.mccue@dyslexiapathways.co.uk

We can also organise a workshop for any organisation wanting to get involved with supporting dyslexic clients.

You are also invited to share your creative endeavours on the Unique Dyslexic Facebook page now. This is an invitation to any of one of any ability who would like to share their creative talents in a supportive and friendly environment.

We at Dyslexia Pathways do not believe dyslexia to be a disability. It is society that disables dyslexics. This disabling begins at school where we are not taught in ways that enable us to access the learning that takes place in the classroom. As a result schools still fail far too many dyslexic kids. If you were one of those kids and over the age of 16 you are welcome to come along to any of the Unique Dyslexic workshops.

Free dyslexia screening using Quickscan is available to anyone attending any of the workshops.

 

Unique Dyslexic is a Dyslexia Pathways project

 

 

 

 

 

Just a very short one this time lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUR CREATIVITY SHOWS US, DYSLEXIC AND NON DYSLEXIC ALIKE, THE LIMITS OF LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF SELF EXPRESSION

Dyslexia Pathways updates

Had a pleasant surprise today when I logged on to my blog this morning. I have had just over 5000 page views. Yes I know in the grand scheme of things its not very many. I have just read that someone got 350.000 page views in one month alone but hey I am happy to have reached over 5000.

I am working with a lot of dyslexic university students at the moment and am fully booked up with my dyslexia support work. I am having to drop a days paid dyslexia support work though to give me time to work on the Unique Dyslexic project. 

I just bumped into a student  I was supporting last year this morning. He attained a first degree and is now studying for his masters degree. Always good to hear how students I have supported are getting on.

Due to the issues I have been experiencing with the Unique Dyslexic website I have set up a new Unique Dyslexic Facebook page until the web site has been sorted out. Here is the link to the Unique Dyslexic Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/unique.dyslexic/

Anyone wanting to join please just send me a request to join. Also any creative dyslexic is welcome to share their creative work on the Unique Dyslexic Facebook page. You do not have to be a professional artist or writer to get involved. Unique Dyslexic is open to anyone of any ability who would like a forum to share their work. So if you are a dyslexic artist, writer, photographer, graphic designer or poet please feel free to share your work on the Unique page. 

Anyone who has any hints ant tips they would like to share with others please post them their. Please feel free to share the work of any artist or painter or photographer you are a fan of as well.

You might also like to share your stories and experiences, your joys and struggles, of being dyslexic. 

Unique Dyslexic is all about creating a hub / community for all things dyslexic and creative.

I am now in the process of writing a job description for a volunteer with some experience of using Word Press to assist me with the Unique website. I don't know what it is about Word Press but I cannot get my head around it at all. I think its because its all lists and flicking back and fourth between screens I find difficult. Not very dyslexia friendly sigh. I have used Dreamweaver and Contribute web packages and managed them pretty well but Word Press seems to me to be a different kettle of fish altogether.

I think the main problem was I was to ambitious and needed to have put together a clearer web brief. Something which I am doing now. I also allocated a budget for the Unique site in the Investing in Ideas budget.

With regard to my Dyslexia Pathways website I am going to Digital Fife to totally rebuild it using their software.

http://www.digitalfife.com/

This is totally dyslexia unrelated now. I was walking in Dundee high street the other morning and they were putting and the Christmas decoration in the street. I then just by chance looked up in the sky and saw flocks of geese flying in their v formation migrating for the winter. Interesting juxtaposition between Christmas coming and geese going lol. I should carry a camera round with me lol. 

The work of a Unique Dyslexic dyslexic artisit Vince Low

 

Here is some of the work of artist and illustrator Vince Low, from Kuala Lumpur. Vince creates artistic order from the chaos of pen lines to produce stunning portraits of famous faces.

 

 

 

 

Some excellent unique artwork from a Unique Dyslexic

But you don't have to be a professional artist to get involved in Unique Dyslexic just interested in being creative. Please share you work or share you thoughts and ideas on the Unique Dyslexic Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/unique.dyslexic/

To all you unique dyslexics out there

 

BE DYSLEXIA POSITIVE

 

A very brilliant dyslexic said:

 

"I have no special talents, I am only passionately

curious"

 

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take

 

you everywhere.”

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.

 

Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the

 

world.”
 

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for

 

tomorrow.”

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten

 

everything he learned in school.”

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” 

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal

 

education.”

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
 

“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most

 

beautiful gift.”
 

“Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.”

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my     

Imagination.”

This person was Albert Einstein a truly Unique Dyslexic.

Like many dyslexics Albert did not do well at school. Albert himself hated school. His teachers called him stupid and slow. Which just goes to show how wrong teachers can be.

To all dyslexics out there never forget you are a Unique Dyslexic too

 

Steve Dyslexia McCue's Blog: some early morning muses

Steve Dyslexia McCue's Blog: some early morning muses: Woke up at 5am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. It appears that my body clock means I am firing all on thrusters at this ung...

some early morning muses

Woke up at 5am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. It appears that my body clock means I am firing all on thrusters at this time of the day lol.

 It is all to easy to blame teachers for all the problems in our education system when it comes to meeting the needs of dyslexic or disabled kids. The main issues are:

Teacher training which has little to nothing about teaching and kids with a disability or and other learning difference.

Government policy which dictates what and how our children are taught at school. The government also dictates schools have to teach to achieve targets through testing rather than teaching kids to learn.

The cost of sending teachers off to specialist training courses is very high and you then have to add into the mix the fact that another teacher has to be brought in to cover for the teacher on training.

Also parents get exasperated every time there is a teacher training day. As a teacher you cannot win.

Mind you I am not saying there are not any bad teachers what so ever. But the vast majority of teachers want to do their best for those they are teaching.

Here is how most teachers got their training in inclusion back in the day.

I did my PGCE in Inclusive Education way back in 1995. We spent half a day at training in specialised subject groups and the other half a day in mixed groups of trainee teachers doing teacher training math or English and other subject areas.

The idea being we inclusion trainee teachers had to trickle down our training in inclusion to the other trainee teachers.

Difficult to do when there are only two of you in each group of around 60 people. But you can imagine how difficult it was. But I guess it was better than nothing.

I was one of those kids who gave up on school. I basically just stopped attending when I was 14. Ohhh I went and did the subjects I enjoyed like art and music but the rest I just stopped going. I wasn't because I was not bright enough the fact I now have a master degree shows that I am. Even then you do not need a degree to be intelligent. I think we too readily define intelligence by IQ and by academic qualifications.  

But I just couldn't do exams at all because my hand writing was just to slow and messy. Remember we are talking mid 70s here so there was no computers around.

I could moan about the school teachers, about the issues with my dad because he just thought I was stupid but I no longer do that. It does nothing to change the situation as it is now and wastes a lot of negative energy.

At 14 I got a job with a tree surgeon company and earned a bit of cash from that. Mind you I was only 14 and you were not supposed to work until you were 16 back then. I went from dead end job to dead end job for a while. However, became a musician a creative talent I blame my dyslexia for lol. Enjoyed that tremendously.

I now feel that without the struggles I experienced at school and with my dad I might not have had the determination to prove them all wrong when I returned to education at age 35. I might never have become and inclusion teacher and dyslexia specialist. I might never have had the opportunity to work with other dyslexics struggling like I once did.

Looking back on it now I would not change one thing at all because all those life experiences made me the person I am now.