Richard Lavoie

I am a  fan of Richard Lavoie. Years ago I went to a conference in Dunedin where he spoke about learning disabilities. He is an excellent speaker and I learned heaps. To my delight I found a serie of videos on You Tube. All educators, people working with children and parents of children with LD, it is worthwhile to watch this. Here is a classic: poker chips

 

Learning disabilities don't exist

Last week I went to a talk about dyslexia and this time I sat straight in my chair because I knew what the person was talking about and it all made perfect sense to me. He said that learning disabilities don't exist and eventhough I think he didn't cover the whole picture, what he said was right and part of the puzzle.

Most people use both part of the brains and you need both to function optimally. Right handed people are predomantly left brained and left handed people right brained.

The functions of the right and left hemisphere are almost opposites, such as

Left......................................Right

Language thinking..................Pictural thinking

Intellect.................................Methaforic

Abstract................................Concrete

Realisme................................Impulsive

Analytic.................................Holistic

Most people have a dominant area. If you are dyslexic you are a predominant right brainer. You don't have to be a left hander but probably one of your decendents was. The more you are on the continuum of the right brain the more likely you are to think in pictures, which is the case of dyslexic children. For many of these children language doesn't make sense . They understand concrete words like horse and tree, because they can form a picture of it. The word hurry actually comes from a cart they used in the mines. Hurry up doesn't mean anything to them so they tend not to listen when parents say hurry up. Therefore they invented the term ODD.

Anyway they are in big trouble. When you are academically good and good in language you are very likely to become a teacher or when you are very academic a professor. These people have set up an education system in their mirrow image, valuing left brainers and down playing right brainers, although unaware of it.

When somebody is 70% right brain and 30% left, they are forced to work their whole life in the 30% area to make it stronger. Engineers and mechanics are often right brained. They have better insight in the technic than anybody but they are forced to write an essay about it, which is a nightmare for them and in practise a mechanic never has to be able to write to be good in his job. Most just drop out of school and some end up in crime.

Girls are equally affected by dyslexia but they mostly go undetected. Because they have several  language areas they can compensate for it. They are however far slower in processing the language.

In this time of vast change we need  creative people and if we ever want to see an Michelangelo again or an Einstein the attitudes have to change and people have to realise that right brainers learn differently instead of being learning disabled.  Maybe some left brainers can't because they have a learning disability in right brain thinking.

I am aware, very aware

photo from here

It is Dyslexia Awareness week. Actuallly it was only a year ago that I, on a day like this,would dive in my pen and throw out all my knowledge (actual, theoretical and whatever) on paper with great passion. This was “normal" for me since 7 years ago. Than I first found out in a horrible way that my son was Dyslexic and dyspraxic, realised my husband was dyslexic, me very dyspraxic etc . Ah well a whole family of.........and ah well mucho problemos signores and signoritas I also Realised now what made me kinda going wrong in my life and went through the whole thing of broken-dreams-and-why-me syndrome dadidadida. So I took the steering wheel and drove the road of knowledge, went to experts, read heaps of books, was in committees, fought with the education system (sorry guys for the blue patches and black eyes) went with my broken-dreams-and why-me syndrome to someone to help me ( and wish I had a problem with it again to repeat that part) wrote articles and than......... Eh my kids grew up and took over the steering wheel They Don’t want to be saved anymore by mum I just sit kind of next to them, next to the drivers seat and scream oooh, aah, watch out, stop Problems are stil there but I only watch and try to keep them on the road. Not bad I’ve kind of time now to look around and see that there is more to see. Now I stepped back I see that they are complete people with not only LD but with a life and interest in art, psychology photography. Yes I am still aware of this awareness week but it is somehow not that important anymore I know that one day I won’t be in that car at all anymore The kids will be driving through life without me and than............................I don’t know. Have to find a new passion, a new life But didn't I found one already Blogging. Me, the one who has dysnomia, which is like (sing it with me) "Words don't come easy to me" started to write poems. Ha and I love it. Paper is patient and I am getting more comfortable in talking to you. You the people who's words flow, including the ones out there, who bulldozed over mine when I tried to get a few out myself,Huh. Ooops sorry but that felt good. Anyway I am starting to get comfortable to get my word out now, so in KB's words "Be Afraid, Be Very afraid" But not for a week because than I won't be here in my Blog. But eh now that I am talking about it here still a song to support dyslexia awareness week

Overload

Obstacles add interest to the flow

I had many obstacles in my life. The biggest one was however to deal with my neurological problems. One problem is that I process sound very slow and that my auditory memory is very bad. I don't remember lots of what I hear. My brain is trained now to pick up keywords when I am listening and mostly I am fine. That is when I talk to one person. In a group of people I totally loose track. When I look TV I put the captions on and realise how much I miss.
I also have problems retrieving words from my memory. Because I can't find the right word quickly I often use simple language. Talking for me is like driving in dense fog. It needs my undivided attention.

You can imagen what an effect this has on my social life. Richard Lavoie, an expert in this area says "some people live in rooms of experience others can never enter.

This is not the only problem. I also have coordination problems and sequencing problems.When I have to strain myself to much with all this I go in overload. This means my brain shuts down and I am not even able to write my name anymore.

As I said I adjusted pretty well and went through some personal growth over the years. I gained some wisdom about what is important and about my strenghth an values and I am now able to live a happy life. Althoug I was always able to make a lot of fun.

The coming week my posts will be about personal growth.

Scientists reconsider autism

Let the champagne flow. As you know I have an big passion for children with LD. One learning disability is autism. I have known and still know some people with Asperger and a few with severe autism. One little girl I know can't talk but I know she understands many things and she is a delight to have around, she has the most incredible laugh I have ever heard. She is a very intuitive girl. Unfortunately I won't see her anymore.

What I always knew is stated in this post for which I received a link from Meggie. Autistic people are far more smarter than everybody ever thought, even the severe ones. They are blocked because of their sensory problems. The good thing is because of modern technology there are able now to communicate to us . So for the ones who are interested check this out. You will be surprised. I had too post this.

Love to all, Marja

Thanks Meggie you made my day.

Why we need to label children

courtesy of google

Imagine you become a gardener and start to give each plant the same amount of water and sun. Most will survive and do well but some will do not well or even die. Than somebody gives you the name of that plant which is not doing well, and you look it up. You find out that this plant needs a whole different treatment. More sun or less water etc. The plant survives because of its label. Yes you say, that's all fine but when you give children a label it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Oh, but does it not when they are labelled stupid, lazy or dumb because they can't do the things in the same way others do, because they learn differently? When we know how to accommodate these children and how to help them they are able to learn and live just like these special plants. Most children with learning disabilities have a gift as well. The are often lateral thinkers, more creative and intuitive. If you focus on how special they are they won't focus on their problems they become proud to wear their label. Some have already discovered these gifts and know how much there skills are needed . A dyslexic engineer told me once that they often prefer engineers who are dyslexic because they are visual thinkers and therefore good in what they do. Microsoft knows that some of their best people have Asperger. They provide health coverage for free therapy for children with autism. Good on ya Microsoft. May others follow, marja

Sensory Integration Dysfunction

Yep a bit of science today. But don't be scared it is not to bad. Ok let's talk Sensory Integration.

When the information from the world comes into our brain through our eyes, ears and touch e.g.. It has to come together in the right place at the right time to form a proper picture of what is happening at this moment. When the information doesn't get integrated properly we don't get a good picture and therefore we can't respond properly. That's how learning disabilities can arise.

If you want a more detailed picture of what happens in the brain read my article Abilities and disabilities, a neurological cause. If you want to know even more read this book. You can read the 25th edition on the Internet. Sensory integration and the child from A. Jean Ayres.


This book is another excellent read. It is written by Sharon Heller PH.D and talks about the symptoms of Sensory Integration dysfunction (DSI); Sensory defensiveness (SD). People with this problem have a low threshold to sensory input en hear things to loud, see things too bright etc. It doesn't only happen in children with learning disabilities. About 15 to 20 % of the population has this problem. It runs in families but it can also be acquired through stress and trauma.

In the latter certain braincells get killed so the brain can't regulate sensory input anymore. For people with SD sounds, sights and/or touch are overwhelming. It exhausts and causes irritability. The emotions are involved because there is a connection between the place were sensory integration occurs (brainstem) and were our feelings are regulated (limbic system).

A child who is tactile defensive can't discriminate between good and bad touch. His fight or flight response goes of straight away when you touch him or her. Usually when somebody touches us a signal goes to the thinking part of the brain (frontal Lobes) which says; oh this is safe go on. In a tactile defensive child the alarm goes of, so it short cuts the thinking brain and goes straight to the limbic system and to the brainstem . He gets aggressive and stressed. It is very exhaustive that's why these people are tired easily. To much exposure to sounds sights etc causes sensory overload. The brain shuts down.

A person with sensory integrative dysfunction is usually a HSP. A highly sensitive person. He is more emotional than normal. Cries easily, gets depressed easily but also laughs easily and can easily attain an euphoria by music, falling in love etc. These people are usually the thinkers in our society. A very excellent positive book about this is written by

Elaine N. Aron Ph.D. The Highly sensitive Person.

If you suspect these problems, don't worry. If you adjust your life (yeh I know) you can live with it quite well. Although it can completely interfere with life when you have it to a high degree. This happens in people with autism. These people often shut down completely


Sometimes we retreat from the world not because we don't like people but because the world overwelms us.

Dysnomia

A learning disability which is relatively unknown is dysnomia. Dysnomia is a word finding problem. Everybody has sometimes that "tip of the tong" feeling when you can't find a word but you know it is somewhere there in your memory. It is therefore also called a memory retrieval problem. People with dysnomia often have an auditory memory problem. They are than not able to remember what they hear Some have a problem with remembering what they see or experience. We have several forms of memory

People with dysnomia are likely to replace even the simplest words with thing. " where is the thing that was just on the thing?" People with dysnomia are also likely to ask you to repeat what you have said so they have extra time to process it and to produce an answer or they use pauses when talking. Children sometimes use another word with a close meaning like fork for spoon or cat for dog.

Speaking is normal an associative activity. It flows. For dysnomics it is however a cognitive task.

It takes all their attention and effort and therefore they can't do talking and something else at the same time. When I am walking on the street talking to somebody I have no idea were I am going. I will walk of line. When I am serving coffee while talking there is a great change I will spill it. "Speaking is like driving in a dense fog, so hard do dysnomic people have to try to concentrate" says Lois Wells n her book "I'm not stupid ,Lazy or dumb; Aspects of specific learning disabilities".

With most people there is a balance between receptive language (the ability to comprehend, retain and integrate knowledge) and expressive language (to put it into words) In people with dysnomia the receptive language is far higher than the expressive language.

The opposite exists as well. (receptive language problem) There are children who have excellent expressive language and very complicated word use, whereas they have hardly any comprehension of what they are saying.

I have dysnomia and it affect my communication, even though most people don't notice the problem. Sometimes they just think that you are quiet. I have adjusted pretty well . The professionals write that you only have a learning disability when it interferes with normal life. In that case you could say I don't have dysnomia anymore.

I have developed coping strategies and I have a box of survival tools; People like to be heard so I am good at listening and reflective listening. I always use the same short stories to tell.  I grasp the essence from what people tell me but I am unable to repeat it. One reason for this is that I am slow in language processing and therefore I miss a lot of the information. Because my short term memory is bad most doesn't get stored or gets stored in the wrong place  and  can't be recalled. I am usually able to describe a word but can't often find the word I want so I replace it with a simple word. You won't notice that.

I am unable to tell joke unless I prepare them. That means I have to learn it by reading it plenty of times.That is because my visual memory is a lot better so I can compensate with it. I learn most words  by reading them but I am a very slow reader. My long term memory is good too although recalling from it doesn't always work

Language flows more easily when writing. When I speak about things I am excited about, than language seems to flow more easily as well . Not only the excitement helps but also because I usually have a lot of knowledge about a  subject I am excited about by reading about it.
I love writing because than I have longer to think, can make extensive use of dictionaries and a thesaurus.
Speaking two languages is an advantage because sometimes I recall a word in Dutch sometimes in English so I can translate them usually online. I use English being my second language often as an excuse to not to appear stupid.

The worst thing is that talking is hard work. I can have a conversation for about 2 hours depending on my contribution and than I get in overload. Suddenly the problem becomes a lot worse because I am tired. In general I start to be unable to think and when I don't retreat for a while I slowly fall apart.
Sometimes I work hard to keep going and at home than I have to go straight to bed to sleep for a  long time.

 I found this poem in the newsletter of the dyspraxia support group which explains dysnomia.

Have you heard of dysnomia?

It sounds so absurd,

When the voice of expression

It cannot be heard.

A paradox by nature

A paradox by name

Two incongruent behaviours

Just try to explain.

When excited and bubbly

Words flow like the tide.

When someone asks you a question

You just want to hide.

The names and the nouns

They play hide and seek,

Mid sentence you stop

Like you're losing the plot

You stutter and stumble

And come to a halt.

You freeze in time,

It's no one's fault

Try to capture the words

In a flash they are gone

The meaning is lost,

The conversation moves on.

So you never express

What you had to say.

Others do not seem to listen

What you try to convey.

So that is dysnomia

Do you understand what I mean?

When the voice of expression,

It cannot be seen.

Like with other learning disabilities, dysnomia can't be cured. It is a life long struggle. Support and understanding is therefore very important and some exercises can help to improve the mind, especially with young people. Here are some exercises you can do with children

• Improve their word finding skills by naming objects and pictures
• Describe something and let the child guess what it is
• Let a child finish your sentence
• Give a category and let the child name objects that belong to that category
• Let the child name opposites
• Ask the child questions so he will have to answer naming something
• Never finish your child's sentences. This increases frustration
• Give clues like; "It sounds like...., It looks like....., It is used to....." etc 

Exercises and working on naming I found on the net

Dysnomia forum

If the problems are very severe contact a speech and language therapist or your physician.

Be aware though that some physicians have minor or no knowledge of learning disabilities.

Be patient and understanding with people with dynomia. 

Last but not least. Dysnomia is only a part of me I am much more than that. I have coped very well after some years I work 3 days a week  in a job I love  Look at my homepage 
Here you can see that I love photography and eventhough I haven't much words I am able to write poetry and more. This is the same with anybody with dysnomia. They have weaknesses but don't forget to focus on their strenght and you might be surprised !!

Relation between ear infections and dyslexia

People with learning disabilities

It's all in the ears

Last week D  had a cold. Nothing to worry about, but when he said that his ears were popping I became a bit nervous. I asked the pharmacist if he could have an ear infection. She said that at age 13 and without any other symptoms this would be highly unlikely. Do you think now I am an overprotective mum. Maybe maybe not.

D  is dyslexic. This is not about flipping letters although it is seen a lot in dyslexics. Most dyslexics have problems with phonological awareness. They don't hear the sounds of letters in a word and therefore they can't blend them together to read a word. The brain compensates for this by using its right site.

D  was 9 when I enrolled him for the Gillon Phonological Awareness Training Programme at the University of Canterbury. After 18 hours of training he improved a whole year in reading. During this training he had 2 hearing tests. On both occasions he had an ear infection with no obvious symptoms at all. I than realised that the same had happened during random hearing tests at school. Later when I met Prof Gillon at the Dyspraxia Support Group, she confirmed that there was a correlation between ear infections and dyslexia.

Rosemary Boon, a psychologist at an early intervention centre wrote that one of the symptoms of an immune system that doesn't work optimally are frequent ear infections. Frequent ear infections are a major cause of Central Auditory Processing disorder (CAPD). She mentioned that 80% of the children tested in their centre didn't hear with enough sensitivity to learn accurately. This cannot be detected by conventional hearing tests because they test only a small range of the hearing scale.

When children have an ear infection, hearing acuity is reduced for up to six to eight weeks after the acute stage of the infection has passed. Dr Tomatis mentioned that when there are frequent ear infections, the little muscles attached to the eardrum get weak. Sound coming in get distorted. Accordingly these mumbled sounds enter the cochlea. Sounds with nearly the same base frequency like D and P, and T and D are difficult to analyse and an auditory processing delay occurs. One of the functions of the vestibular system which is also inside the inner ear is to lead the eye from letter to letter and CAPD can lead to eye tracking problems.

I think auditory processing delay results in sensory integrative dysfunction. If you want to learn about Sensory integration read this. Very simplified you can say when the input isn't right the output isn't right.

To conclude I think that glue ear and ear infections can play a significant role in acquiring learning disabilities. Many will say yeh but that is not scientifically proven. But to quote Edward de Bono "science is based on possibilities not on critical thinking". The good thing however is that people with learning disabilities can develop skills which are more difficult for others. The most important thing is increased awareness so that these people don't get lost.

Hope you hear this, marja

Education in NZ for children with Learning Disabilities GRRR GRRRR

I hear you thinking, ah there she goes again complaining about NZ. Don't get me wrong. NZ is a wonderful country and I met the most amazing people in NZ. One of them is Judy, on the photo next to me. She is the founder and coordinator of the Dyspraxia Support Group. Look at her website to learn about dyspraxia and to see how many good thing they are doing. I was in her committee for a couple of years and learned a lot. Yesterday at the AGM Anna Sterq, Director of the Seabrook McKenzie Centre talked to us about the current situation for children with LD in NZ.

NZ is an egalitarian society. Everybody has to be treated equally, everybody gets the same. Sounds fair he. "NO" says Richard Lavoie "Fairness means that everybody gets what he or she needs." Children with LD don't get here what they need. These children process information slowly. Their reading and/or writing for example is not automatic and therefore takes up all their working memory. Because the decoding (reading) is so laborious they don't get time to focus on comprehension. This is only one of the problems.
Anyway, when teachers would have knowledge about the problems of children with LD they could make accommodations and with extra help they might catch up. Nope, non of this. Children have to be 4 years behind at school before they get help. You might say; but high school students in NZ get a reader/writer to do the reading and writing for them when they have an exam......eh not everybody. Anna told us that the rules are changed. Since November last year only children with an average IQ can get a reader/writer because as they reason (???)"children with a lower ability get an unfair advantage" (when they use a reader/writer)

To put it together; LD effects IQ negatively if these children don't get help. Therefore they might end up scoring below average. At the moment the children who need help the most don't even have a change to access a reader/writer to help them to succeed on an exam. They might as well quit school. This rule is Pure discrimination.
Take care for our children
Love Marja