LD news - Early brain scans help identify dyslexia

There seems to be quite a bit of scientific research being published lately on dyslexia.  Here is information on another article recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  Links to more information can be found at the end of the post.

Rhonda & the Bridgeway Team

Scientists are using brain scans to identify dyslexia in children as young as four or five years old – well before most children are typically diagnosed.

In the study, scientists scanned the brains of preschool children while they did a number of tasks, such as trying to decide if two words started with the same sound.  Some of the children had a family history of dyslexia, while others didn’t.  The scientists found that those with a family history had less brain activity in certain regions of the brain. 

This is significant because older children and adults with dyslexia have dysfunction in the same areas of the brain.  Researchers hope their findings will eventually be used to look for signs of dyslexia earlier, when interventions can be put in place before children learn to read.  

Let’s hope this breakthrough leads us to a time when dyslexia or other reading disabilities can be diagnosed and supports put in place before a child begins to struggle.  Imagine saving our kids from the damage to self-esteem that comes from years of feeling different or less intelligent than their peers!

You’ll find an easy to read story with more information on the Reuters website, while the journal abstract is on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website.

Handwriting or typing... or both?

For many students who struggle with handwriting, typing notes and stories on a computer becomes a natural alternative.  But as our guest blogger and occupational therapist Melissa Gibbons writes this week, we need to encourage our kids to keep working on both. 

Enjoy!

Rhonda & the Bridgeway team

By Melissa Gibbons

Hands for Growth Occupational Therapy

I’m often asked “when should the student abandon handwriting and turn to typing instead”? The answer is an emphatic NEVER!

Handwriting and typing should complement each other rather than be considered as “one or the other.” Some students with learning disabilities may never have beautiful and efficient handwriting. That’s OK. But that does not mean that they will never be beautiful and creative writers. Typing is a logical alternative to handwriting for students, as there are fewer mechanical demands. While typing, the letters are a consistent size, they all sit in a row and they don’t crowd each other.

There may come a time when the student depends on typing assignments and notes in order to keep up in school, but there will never be a time when the student never has to hold a pencil again. There will be times in their lives that a computer or smart phone is not available when they need to record information, so they need to have some handwriting skill.

As important as handwriting is, typing has become just as important in our tech-heavy world. Children are often ready to learn the basics of keyboard typing by grade 3. This is when they have automatic recall of the alphabet and can identify letters by sight. This is also when they are ready for the fine motor requirements to use individual fingers for key strikes. There are many different typing instructional programs available, but not all are created equally, nor are they all appropriate for kids. A good program should teach the student about the “home row” keys and two handed keyboarding, and should progress in degree of difficulty. Typing practice should take place every day or every other day to create competence.

So until the day that there is an app that can quickly take the thoughts directly from my mind and print them onto the paper (a scary thought), I will keep advocating for good old fashioned handwriting.

Melissa Gibbons OT Reg (NS)

Occupational Therapist/Owner
Hands For Growth Occupational Therapy
www.handsforgrowth.ca
902-489-1847
Melissa@handsforgrowth.ca

Profile: Annette Jenner, Brain Researcher

We love to share success stories from all kinds of people who have learning disabilities.  We came across this one recently on the Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities website (one of our favourites).  Annette Jenner proves that learning disabilities can be overcome - and that getting an education in an environment where you learn with your true peers is invaluable. 

Rhonda & the Bridgeway Team

Profile: Annette Jenner, Brain Researcher – Smart Kids with LD « Smart Kids With LD

By Juliette Weiland

Annette R. Jenner, Ph.D. is a teacher and brain researcher whose area of expertise is individuals with reading difficulties. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders at Syracuse University, researching how individuals with reading disabilities differ from others. It’s her hope that this work will lead to earlier diagnosis and better educational interventions—both of which Jenner knows something about in ways that make her unique among her peers: Jenner herself has dyslexia and spent many years struggling before finding her pathway to success.

Early Struggles

“In kindergarten, I wrote my whole name backwards,” she recalls. “The teachers said I would grow out of it. In first grade, my reading fell below grade level. They said I would catch up. In second grade, I started special services for reading, writing and language-oriented things. Then, in fifth grade, I was tested and given the label ‘dyslexic.’”

The next few years were marked by a downward spiral, until she hit rock bottom her freshman year in high school. That was when Jenner was put on a non-academic track where she was taught how to fill out job applications for McDonald’s and encouraged by her special education teacher to forego her dreams of college.

Finding Her Way

The summer between her freshman and sophomore years, Jenner took courses at the Forman School in Litchfield, CT, a college prep school for students with learning disabilities. “I arrived on campus a quiet girl without a lot of self-confidence and left eight weeks later a completely different person,” she says. “I had succeeded academically for the first time in my life, and my teachers told me that I could do whatever I set my mind to and that included going to college.”

For her junior year, Jenner left behind her parents and twin sister in Manchester, MA to attend Forman. There she had friends for the first time “who understood what it was like to have the same problems I had.”

Becoming Her Own Advocate

Forman’s curriculum taught Jenner the importance of accepting her disability and talking about it—a lesson she carried with her to Mount Holyoke College. Her first task as a college freshman was to talk to the dean about accommodations, including extra time on tests, the ability to tape lectures and the use of a reader for those textbooks not on tape. “I was always very open and honest about my learning disabilities,” notes Jenner, “always talking to my professors and telling them what I needed on an individual basis. In my four years of college, I only had one professor who gave me a hard time.”

During her post-graduate years at Harvard, which involved more independent work and research, Jenner came to rely on assistive technology, which she continues to do today. She also has someone else read and proofread written work, which she considers a sound writing practice for anyone in academics, especially when submitting a paper for publication—something Jenner does frequently: To date she is listed as a co-author on more than 30 publications and presentations.

Jenner now considers herself a “pretty good” reader, though probably slower than most in a comparable position. “Once you get into a field, you learn the vocabulary and the literature,” she says. “The words become more familiar and easier to read. At this point, I can pick up a neuroscience article and read it probably easier than a complicated novel.” Or say a job application for a minimum-wage job at the local burger joint.

LD news - Auditory processing and the link to dyslexia

When there is scientific news about learning disabilities published, we like to share it with you.  We hope you can, in turn, share this information with others to help us create a better understanding of learning disabilities in our community.

Here's some information on dyslexia and how the brain's ability to process sounds might impact a person's ability to decode and identify what they read.

Here is the press release from the journal Neuron, a division of Cell Press.

Listen up: Abnormality in auditory processing underlies dyslexia

People with dyslexia often struggle with the ability to accurately decode and identify what they read. Although disrupted processing of speech sounds has been implicated in the underlying pathology of dyslexia, the basis of this disruption and how it interferes with reading comprehension has not been fully explained. Now, new research published by Cell Press in the December 22 issue of the journal Neuron finds that a specific abnormality in the processing of auditory signals accounts for the main symptoms of dyslexia.

"It is widely agreed that for a majority of dyslexic children, the main cause is related to a deficit in the processing of speech sounds," explains senior study author, Dr. Anne-Lise Giraud and Franck Ramus from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, France. "It is also well established that there are three main symptoms of this deficit: difficulty paying attention to individual speech sounds, a limited ability to repeat a list of pseudowords or numbers, and a slow performance when asked to name a series of pictures, colors, or numbers as quickly as possible. However, the underlying basis of these symptoms has not been elucidated."

Dr. Giraud and colleagues examined whether an abnormality in the early steps of auditory processing in the brain, called "sampling," is linked with dyslexia by focusing on the idea that an anomaly in the initial processing of phonemes, the smallest units of sound that can be used to make a word, might have a direct impact on the processing of speech.

The researchers found that typical brain processing of auditory rhythms associated with phonemes was disrupted in the left auditory cortex of dyslexics and that this deficit correlated with measures of speech sound processing. Further, dyslexics exhibited an enhanced response to high-frequency rhythms that indirectly interfered with verbal memory. It is possible that this "oversampling" might result in a distortion of the representation of speech sounds.

"Our results suggest that the left auditory cortex of dyslexic people may be less responsive to modulations at very specific frequencies that are optimal for analysis of speech sounds and overly responsive to higher frequencies, which is potentially detrimental to their verbal short-term memory abilities," concludes Dr. Giraud. "Taken together, our data suggest that the auditory cortex of dyslexic individuals is less fine-tuned to the specific needs of speech processing."

In his own words... Sir Ken Robinson talks about The Element

We'll finish our journey through The Element with Sir Ken Robinson next week with a look at the final chapter - Making the Grade - which looks at the role of education in the journey to finding your Element.  For now, we thought we'd let Sir Ken recap his own thoughts on The Element.

Rhonda & the Bridgeway team

Don't forget, you can see Sir Ken Robinson speak in Halifax this April.  Please join us at Emergent Learning: Turning Tides in 21st Century Education on April 23-24, 2012.  Registration is now open.  Passes are available for the two-day conference or keynote speeches.

For love or money? More wisdom from Sir Ken Robinson

So far, Sir Ken Robinson has taught us that finding your Element is finding your passion - and living in it.  It helps to surround yourself with like-minded people, seek out mentors, and have the courage to make the leap.  We know that luck can help, but isn't required, and it's never too late to change the direction of your life.  But should you pursue your passion for love - or money?  Here's our take on Sir Ken's advice from the next chapter of The Element.

Rhonda & the Bridgeway team

What's the difference between and amateur and a professional?  At it's most basic level, a professional earns a living at a craft, while the amateur doesn't.  But as Sir Ken points out, sometimes the word "amateur" suggests the talent behind it is of a lower quality.  He argues an exception - that sometimes, the distinction is about choice, not quality.  Sometimes, someone has a talent for something, but choose not to make a living that way.  By definition, they're amateurs, but not "amateurish".

Sir Ken brings us back to the Latin word that amateur is derived from - amator - which means, "lover, devoted friend or someone who is in avid pursuit of an objective."  They do something because they love it, and have found their Element in something other than their jobs.  He shares examples of the man who studies German literature, but is a performance-level cellist on the side; the car salesman who has a passion for photographing surfers, and has published several of his photos in magazines; and the top-level executives who continue to pursue dreams of becoming musicians by playing in after-hours rock bands.  Whether it's not practical to leave a current job, or a choice they've made, all make time to pursue their passions - and be in their Element - through their amateur pursuits.

Many of us are defined (at least in part) by what we do for a living.  But not everyone is in their Element at work.  Sir Ken says that makes it even more important to find your Element somewhere else.  Why?  It enriches your life.  "Doing the thing you live and that you do well for even a couple of hours a week can make everything else more palatable."  Sometimes, it can lead to a transformation.  Consider Khaled Hosseini, who immigrated to the US and became a doctor.  A good life, but his real passion was for writing.  He began a novel about two boys growing up in Kabul.  The Kite Runner sold more than four million copies.

Sir Ken sees pursuing your passion outside of work as a type of recreation.  It helps bring balance into our lives between making a living and making a life.  "Personal happiness comes as much from the emotional and spiritual fulfillment that this can bring as from the material needs we meet from the work we may have to do."  Discovering the Element won't make us richer (especially if you give up a high-paying job to pursue a less lucrative passion). but it can bring richness to our lives.

Don't forget, you can see Sir Ken Robinson live in Halifax this April.  Visit www.teachingthewaychildrenlearn.com for more information on our conference, Emergent Learning: Turning Tides in 21st Century Education.

More stories of empathy - Rita-Clare Leblanc

Here's another story from Blair of The Empathy Factory on acts of compassion and empathy in our community.  Not directly related to learning disabilities, but inspiring because these acts have nothing to do with academic ability, income or any of the other things society has deemed to be important.  Empathy and compassion are qualities that any of us can possess, and to share those gifts can make all of us feel "normal" "worthwhile" and "important" - simple attributes that our students seek every day.

Rhonda

By Blair J. Ryan 

Empathy is innate; you’re born with it. And though you start using it the minute you come out the womb, empathy is conspicuous in its difficulty to be easily understood. Synonymous with compassion, empathy is loosely defined as the ability to understand and enter into another’s feelings – it’s the thing that makes you cringe when you see a spider crawling up someone else’s arm. For some, however, connecting with their empathy later in life comes very easily. Below you’ll find the first chapter of what I predict to be a long, yet-unwritten book about the philanthropic adventures of one of Halifax’s finest young leaders of social change.

This is The Empathy Report:

RITA-CLARE LEBLANC

Rita-Clare LeBlanc has many of the same needs and desires as other 17 year old girls. She’s admitted to having asked Dear Santa for Lululemon, make-up, Apple accessories, and of course chocolate (not entirely unlike her cohorts), but it was one Christmas gift – less than two years ago – that has defined her early philanthropic endeavors. A gift of $77.12 from her Aunt and Uncle set her on her way.

The gift came with a caveat; Rita-Clare was instructed to take the sum of money, grow it, and do ‘something with it to help others.’ It was direction she took very seriously.

Throughout her life, Rita-Clare has been surrounded by generous and conscientious folks. She cites her mother, Faye, as her greatest inspiration. “I might not tell her enough, but I know how fortunate I was to have her stay home with us throughout Elementary. My sister and I saw a woman with as big a heart as you can imagine. Rarely a day went by when she wasn’t volunteering somewhere,” Rita-Clare said of her introduction to philanthropy.

As proof that the lessons we impart on our children sometimes stick, Rita-Clare took the $77.12, four close friends, and unabashed optimism and started a youth group that she calls MYST (Maritime Youth Standing Together). Their not-so-modest goal in the beginning was to raise enough money to build a school in Mali, Africa.

Lofty? Yup, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

A mere 18 months have elapsed, and MYST has already surpassed their original goal, having raised over $16,000 (which is enough for a school, a music program, a backpack program, and a well). Though it’s been a balancing act, being a grade 11 student , working a part-time job, and trying to save the world with fellow ‘MYSTies’, Rita-Clare still has all of her hair and slew of awards. She was presented with the Lieutenant Governor’s Award this year (at Halifax West) she’s also won a Citizenship Award (Fairview Junior High), but her greatest decoration to-date is having been named one of Youth in Motion’s Top 20 Under Twenty. Sixteen years old at the time, Rita-Clare was the second youngest, and the only Atlantic Canadian to win the prestigious award in 2011.

Because of gentle nudges from her family, $77.12, and a heart filled with empathy, Rita-Clare LeBlanc has set in motion a life-long journey of benevolence and giving. When I asked her if she ever takes time for herself, she replied very seriously, “why yes, I exercise all the time…” after a pause and with a clever grin, she continued, “philanthropy is my sport.” Stay tuned.                                                                  -B.

If you’d like to join MYST in their mission to inspire and help others learn about philanthropy, please visit www.7712.ca, or contact Rita-Clare directly at rita-clare@eastlink.ca.

Author, Blair J. Ryan, is Chief Executive Officer of the Empathy Factory, and can be reached at blair@empathyfactory.com.