Dyslexia Matters | Motivational speaker

Dyslexia Matters

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• Public figure
• Personal coach
• Educational consultant
• Motivational speaker

25.01.2022 Recently, somebody asked me why I do the work that I do, and this was my answer Every time I hear about an adult with dyslexia who has given up on their dreams because they believe their dyslexia is what’s holding them back. Or the ones who are too ashamed to reach out for help because they fear that people will judge them. Or the ones who play small, or hide under the radar, never reaching their potential. I just want to shout out from the rooftops Yes, you can!! I know... you can!! I believe in YOU!! Because I know that when you follow your passion, have a bit of self-confidence, and take action - anything is really possible!! I know, because I have been there and done that too. My job is to believe in you, dear dyslexic, until you can believe in yourself... and then I get to experience the joy of watching you fly! And that is why I love, love, love what I do

20.01.2022 If you want your child to be good at mathematics, it’s important and #natural that they begin by counting on their fingers. A mother called me to report that... her 5-year-old daughter had come home from school crying because her teacher had not allowed her to count on her fingers. This is not an isolated event. Schools regularly ban finger use in classrooms or communicate to students that they are ‘babyish’ for following their #instinct to make representations with their fingers when engaging in mathematics. This is despite compelling areas of #neuroscience that show the importance of a part of our #brain that sees fingers, well beyond the time and age that people use their fingers to count. Neuroscientists often debate why finger knowledge predicts mathematics achievement, but they clearly agree on one thing: It does. And that knowledge is critical. As Brian Butterworth, a leading researcher in this area, has written, if students aren’t learning about numbers through thinking about their fingers, numbers will never have a normal representation in the brain. In fact, the quality of the 6-year-old’s finger representation was a better predictor of future performance on mathematics tests than their scores on tests of cognitive processing. In a study published last year, the researchers Ilaria Berteletti and James R. Booth analysed a specific region of our brain that is dedicated to the perception and representation of fingers known as the somatosensory finger area. Remarkably, brain researchers know that we see a representation of our fingers in our brains, even when we do not use fingers in a calculation. The researchers found that when 8-to-13-year-olds were given complex subtraction problems, the #somatosensory finger area lit up, even though the students did not use their fingers. This finger-representation area was, according to their study, also engaged to a greater extent with more complex problems that involved higher numbers and more manipulation. Other researchers have found that the better students’ knowledge of their fingers was in the first grade, the higher they scored on number comparison and estimation in the second grade. Even university students’ finger perception predicted their calculation scores. One of the recommendations of the neuroscientists conducting these important studies is that schools focus on finger discriminationnot only on number counting via their fingers but also on helping students distinguish between those fingers. Still, schools typically pay little if any attention to finger discrimination, and few curriculums encourage this kind of mathematical work. Instead, many teachers have been led to believe that finger use is useless and something to be abandoned as quickly as possible. Finger research is part of a larger group of studies on cognition and the brain showing the importance of visual engagement with mathematics. Our brains are made up of distributed networks, and when we handle knowledge, different areas of the brain communicate with each other. When we work on mathematics, in particular, brain activity is distributed among many different networks, which include areas within the ventral and dorsal pathways, both of which are visual. Neuroimaging has shown that even when people work on a number calculation, such as 12 x 25, with symbolic digits (12 and 25) our mathematical thinking is grounded in visual processing. And people who are not strong visual thinkers probably need visual thinking more than anyone. Everyone uses visual pathways when we work on mathematics. The problem is it has been presented, for decades, as a subject of numbers and symbols, ignoring the potential of visual methods for transforming students’ mathematics experiences and developing important brain pathways. To engage students in productive visual thinking, they should be asked, at regular intervals, how they see mathematical ideas, and to draw what they see. They can be given activities with visual questions and they can be asked to provide visual solutions to questions. Such activities not only offer deep engagement, new understandings, and visual-brain activity, but they show students that mathematics can be an open and beautiful subject, rather than fixed, closed and impenetrable. ( Look in comments below to download free PDFs of such activities). Stopping students from using their fingers when they count could, according to brain research, be akin to halting their mathematical development. Fingers are probably one of our most useful visual aids, and the finger area of our brain is used well into adulthood. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4360562/ https://carleton.ca//wp-content/uploads/CSS07_pp740-penner https://www.theatlantic.com//why-kids-should-use-t/478053/ #neurochild #brainscience #abstractintelligence #mathematicalintelligence

18.01.2022 Please support this amazing project creating an interesting, informative, professional video about Dyslexia. Many of the team working on this are dyslexics themselves and they want to get the word out that dyslexia isn't good or bad, it's just different! I love it! ... https://www.kickstarter.com///creative-dyslexia-the-video

18.01.2022 It's common sense. All learners learn best when engaged with they're learning. For children with Dyslexia, however, it is a critical component. Built with ...that in mind, the Davis programs make learning easy by tapping into the natural creative/imaginative learning style that accompanies Dyslexia and other related learning challenges. Our mentally and physically engaging techniques foster self-created understanding with multi-sensory, hands-on techniques that make learning FUN and permanent. What could be better? The best way to know if your child could benefit from a different way of learning is to contact one our licensed providers. https://www.davismethod.org/ Skip the rote memorization and drilling on weakness...learning doesn't have to be so hard! #thereareotheroptions Follow us on Instagram! @davisdyslexia #dyslexia #davisdyslexia #davismethods #dyslexiaawarenessmonth #dyslexiaawarenessweek #dyslexiaawareness #rondavis #thegiftofdyslexia #thegiftoflearning #dowhatworks #experientiallearning

18.01.2022 Fantastic story about turning your challenges into strengths - it's all about mindset!

17.01.2022 Inherent in Dyslexia is gifted way of thinking - a mental function that gives rise to higher than normal levels of creativity, intuition, ingenuity, imagination..., and empathy. This truly special aspect of Dyslexia can lead to wonderful talents if allowed to bloom. Unfortunately, in many case, this unique way of thinking can also cause difficulties with reading, writing, spelling, math, and attention/focus . These external difficulties can quickly become the predominant focus...overshadowing the positive internal aspects of the same mental function. (Let that sink in.) #doubleedgedsword The gift and the problem appear to be separate, when, in actuality, they are one in the same - just opposite sides of the coin. Our network of Davis facilitators KNOW how to bridge the gift and the difficulties...allowing dyslexic individuals to correct their own challenges USING their gifts! #97%successrate Contact a facilitator near you and find out how! https://www.davismethod.org/ Follow us on Instagram! @davisdyslexia #thedavisdifference #dyslexia #davisdyslexia #davismethods #dyslexiaawarenessmonth #dyslexiaawarenessweek #dyslexiaawareness #rondavis #thegiftofdyslexia #thegiftoflearning #dowhatworks

17.01.2022 I was asked recently what is my epic vision for the world, this is what I said: Some people say "Dyslexia is a hidden disability". Actually, it's not really a disability, but it is hidden. My vision is that all dyslexics will no longer feel shame, stigma, judgement and misunderstanding from others. #epicvision

15.01.2022 Congratulations, Callan! Such great work that you do in New Zealand

05.01.2022 Important information on why rite learning, so prevalent in our educational institutions, is a particular ordeal for dyslexics. We need to teach the way all students learn; seeking to allow them to develop true and deep knowledge and understanding.

05.01.2022 This live was done a while ago, but was posted on my other page which is about to be merged with this one, so I wanted to transfer it over to this page

03.01.2022 You may have heard of some of the famous dyslexics like Albert Einstein, Richard Branson, Thomas Eddison, Whoopi Goldberg, and many more, but I have struggled f...or many years to find famous Australian dyslexics, until now. Vincent Fantauzzo is a talented and gifted artist who had a rough start in life with undiagnosed dyslexia, dropping out of school, turning to petty crime, and at the time he thought he had no future. But through his amazing artwork, he has turned his life around and has won many awards and prizes for his work, and recognition for his portraits of many well -known Australians including Julia Gillard, the first female prime minister of Australia. He describes his dyslexia as a superpower and a gift, which allows him to see the world from a unique perspective. #adultdyslexia #dyslexiasuperpower #dyslexiamatters #dyslexiamattersforadults #vincentfantauzzo #thegiftofdyslexia #australianstory https://iview.abc.net.au//australian-story/series/2019/vid

02.01.2022 This is a great visual explanation :-)