Dyslexia predisposes an individual to important abilities along with the well known challenges. These challenges are only one part of a much bigger picture.

✨These strengths arise from some of the same variations in brain structure and function that also cause the challenges. Most definitions of dyslexia focus almost solely on the difficulties that dyslexic people face. The talents associated with this type of learning style should be more widely discussed.

✨The left hemisphere of the brain carefully examines component pieces of objects and ideas. It analyses finer details. The right hemisphere processes large scale, big picture or global features of ideas or objects. Research shows that dyslexic people use the processing centres in their right hemisphere more than non-dyslexics.

The Dyslexic Advantage, by Eide & Eide, is an excellent book that discusses the many strengths that an individual with a dyslexic learning style may have.

https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/book/

Some of the strengths may include:

👍 3D Spatial Reasoning. This helps us to reason about the physical or material world.

👍 Ability to spot connections between different objects, concepts or points of view and to recognise, understand and reason about systems. This offers the ability to reason using a global or top-down perspective. Individuals can become ‘multiple specialists’ who are knowledgeable in several fields.

👍 Ability to construct a connected series of mental scenes from their episodic (personal) memory; many dyslexic individuals are able to store an unusually large proportion of their factual memories in rich episodic forms and many successful writers have faced dyslexic challenges with reading and writing.

👍 Great at solving complex problems and helping to make predictions. Reflective thinkers who can read future opportunities and establish end points

Many GCHQ intelligence officers, use their dyslexic strengths to make them ideal analysts.

Their  strengths include pattern recognition when dealing with big data, seeing the bigger picture when considering complex future scenarios and finding solutions to novel and challenging problems.

It is important for teachers to create learning opportunities that can better nurture the positive differences, while supporting the challenges:

•Create more memorable experiences and narrative journeys

•Link learning to familiar experiences and prior knowledge

•Allow a more exploratory form of learning

•Pre-teaching topics and vocabulary

•Use of assistive technology where appropriate