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Over the past few weeks, I have been sharing – and busting – some common myths regarding learning differences such as dyslexia, ADD/ADHD and autism. This week’s myth: Myth #3: “My dyslexic child just needs to concentrate more.”
Disorientation is the opposite to being focused. When someone is disoriented, they will not be ‘present’, and will be experiencing inaccurate perception. Can you imagine how difficult it must be to stay focused when your brain is constantly wanting to disorientate because you are confused about a word? So many words cause confusion for dyslexic leaners. Any abstract word has the potential to do so, because they are not able to create a picture for it. It is easy for a picture-thinking dyslexic person to picture a tyrannosaurus rex, therefore even though the word seems difficult, it tends not to trip a dyslexic reader up. It is not so easy to picture a ‘the’, a 'was' or a 'put' - these are the types of words that cause disorientation.
Making a dyslexic person concentrate doesn’t work. In fact in my experience all it seems to do is cause stress, headaches, tummy aches and meltdowns.
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Over the next few weeks, I am going to be sharing – and busting – some common myths regarding learning differences such as dyslexia, ADD/ADHD and autism. Myth #2: “We need to make autistic people learn how to act normally.”
Every person is exquisitiely unique. Autism is just one way of being uniquely human.
Prizant encourages parents, educators and clinicians to consider “autistic” behaviours (such as hand-flapping, rocking, and spinning) as strategies to manage in a world that feels chaotic and overwhelming.
Eye contact is another area in which autistic individuals do not ‘conform’ to the expected normal behjaviour – at least not in the Western world. Should we insist on autistic people making eye contact? My answer is simple. No. I don’t believe we should.
A person’s eyes can convey a lot of emotion, and taking in all of that information can feel overwhelming. Some people describe the feeling as being very intense – like looking into a very bright light. Others say eye contact hurts them, makes them feel uncomfortable and confuses them. However it feels, it can contribute to overstimulation and overload of the brain. #2. It can be difficult to make eye contact and listen to someone at the same time. Avoiding eye contact allows them to take away the huge amount of rapid info coming at them (from facial expressions and eye contact), which can alleviate the pressure on their brain and allow the person to process and to follow along a lot better than if forced to make eye contact. So next time the issue of eye contact comes up, consider this question that Ametyst puts to us: ”Would you like me to make sustained eye contact so that you feel more comfortable, or would you like me to hear, understand and remember what you say?”
One of the unique things about the Davis Autism Approach®, the thing that makes it different to any other therapy or programme, is that Ron Davis really understands autism from the within. And his programme truly reaches to the core of an autistic individual. The Davis Autism Approach® programme bridges the gap between the autistic world and this big world beyond, and embraces both worlds so that they are able to work in harmony.” Here is what her gorgeous autistic son had to say about the Davis Autism Approach:  Over the next few weeks, I am going to be sharing – and busting – some common myths regarding learning differences such as dyslexia, ADD/ADHD and autism. Myth #1: Dyslexia is a learning disability.
People with dyslexia generally learn things easily when they are taught in a way that works for them – which is visual and hands-on. What they do tend to experience is some isolated challenges when it comes to the written word (and sometimes numbers). So when talking to your child about dyslexia, let them know that their brain learns in a different way, which brings many gifts that other people don’t have. Instead of calling it a learning disability, you could tell them they have a learning difference – or even a learning preference (as let’s face it – they do prefer to learn in a certain way – just not the way a lot of schools want them to!) You could also spend time looking at some famous, successful people who have succeeded because of their dyslexic thinking style. This often does wonders for a child’s self esteem, to know that they are in the company of some great achievers. For more information on dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, autism and other learning differences, drop me an email at melanie@optimumlearning.co.nz. I’d love to hear from you 🙂  |
AuthorMelanie Curry is a Davis® Archives
January 2018
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Contact Melanie Curry 021 367 669 melanie@optimumlearning.co.nz |
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Davis® and Davis Autism Approach® are trademarks of Ronald D. Davis. Commercial use of these trademarks to identify educational, instructional, or therapeutic services requires licensing by the trademark owner.
Professional services described as Davis™ , Davis Dyslexia Correction®, Davis Davis Symbol Mastery™, Davis Orientation Counselling™, Davis Math Mastery™, Davis Attention Mastery™, Dyslexia the Gift™ and Gift of Dyslexia™ may only be provided by persons who are employed by a licensed Davis Specialist, or who are trained and licensed as Davis Facilitators by Davis Dyslexia Association International.