Blog Break

We will be taking a blog break as we travel down to California for the first of our daughter's surgeries. If you would like to send her a card or word of encouragement, visit her Caringbridge.org link at right, and thank you!

Why Dyslexics Make Great Entrepreneurs

Articles in Business Week and NY Times highlight the interesting finding that dyslexia is much more common among successful entrepreneurs than its incidence in the general population. How could successful entrepreneurship be related to dyslexia? Several possibilities come to mind - on some tests of creativity, dyslexics score higher than non-dyslexics, and in many instances, dyslexia seems to associate with strong personal communication skills (strong verbal fund of knowledge, strong personal memory, social perception), good divergent and analytical problem solving skills, in additional personal traits of independent thinking and resilience. Now the question for those of us working with children, can be spot these strengths in children (which may or may not correlate with conventional school-based success) foster their development into successful adults who find careers and niches that fully utilize their gifts?

Business Week Why Dyslexics Make Great Entrepreneurs Excerpt:

"In a study to be published in January, Logan found that 35% of entrepreneurs in the U.S. show signs of dyslexia, compared to 20% in Britain. Logan attributes the gap to a more flexible education system in the U.S., vs. rigid tracking in British schools, and better identification and remediation methods. "Most of the people in our study talked about the role of the mentor and how important that had been," Logan says. "The difference seems to be somebody who believes in you in school."

" In previous work by Logan, look at the differences percentages of dyslexia found. Dyslexics were found among 19.4% Owner-managers vs. 4.5% Corporate managers. Is it any wonder that people who work for themselves and those who work for a corporation may have different needs, instincts, and skill sets?

From NYT Tracing Business Acumen to Dyslexia:

"Entrepreneurs are hands-on people who push a minimum of paper, do lots of stuff orally instead of reading and writing, and delegate authority, all of which suggests a high verbal facility,” Mr. Dennis said."

Rosalie Fink studied the lives of 60 eminent dyslexics, including "Among them were Dr. Baruj Benaccerraf, Nobel laureate in Immunology and Pathology; Professor Ann L. Brown, former Harvard and University of California educational researcher; George Deem, New York City artist, Dr. Florence Haseltine, author of Woman Doctor and Director of the Center for Population Research at the National Institutes of Health; Dr. Robert Knapp, Harvard University oncologist and author of Gynecological Oncology; Professor Ronald W. Davis, Stanford University biochemist; and Professor Sylvia Law, New York University attorney. (Appendix I lists the 60 men and women and their professional positions). These individuals were in the top echelons of their fields." What common threads did these creative and successful individuals share?

Read the summary of Finks' research, Successful Careers: The Secrets of Adults with Dyslexia :

1. Able to Pursue Passionate Interests
2. Mentors
3. Able to Develop Persistence
4. Able to Develop Empathy and Social Relationship Skills
5. Allowed to Take Higher Level Math, Science, and Technology

Fink's take-home points correlate nicely with our studies of young gifted dyslexics here.

Logan Research into Dyslexics 2005 pdf

Vivid Memory of the Past Linked to Imagination of the Future

Washington University scientists have found that the patterns of brain activation seen in vivid recollections of the past are very closely linked to prompted imaginations of the future.

The full length paper is available at the link below. Study subjects had more vivid future projections if the prompts relied on contexts or environments that they were familiar with, and the the activation of brain areas association with autobiographical or personally-experienced memory back this up.

A number of implications come to mind. When a child has trouble imagining themselves in future events or circumstances, is it simply a lack of planning, or could a weakness in their personal memory make it hard for them to visualize what this situation would be like. And on the other end of the continuum, is that why vivid personal learners can be such intractable daydreamers? They can perceive such vivid possibilities of imagined events, that external events may find it hard to compete.

These days, imagination seems to carry little weight in importance as students advance in their K-12 years of education, but this is a mistake. Students may not always know how to use their memories and imaginations well, but efficient applications of both are the essential ingredients for almost all creative and innovative work.

So, if you are feeling a little fatigued by your high energy, vivid, imaginative, dreamy, personal learner, also count your blessings. In other studies, a loss of imagination (in older adults) was seen to be associated decline in personal memory.

Another take-home point, positive, emotionally-touching personal experiences not only impact profoundly on memory; they can have powerful influences on a person's outlook on the future.

Episodic future thought and remembering
Seeing the Future and fMRI
Lack of Imagination in Older Adults Linked to Declining Memory

When Learning Differences are Family Learning Differences

The New York Times has an article, Your Child's Disorder May Be Yours, Too which is currently available with free registration.

Excerpt: "...after Phil and Susan Schwarz received a diagnosis for their son, Jeremy, of high functioning autism, they began to think carefully about their own behaviors and histories.

Mr. Schwarz, a software developer in Framingham, Mass., found in his son’s diagnosis a new language to understand his own life. His sensitivities when growing up to loud noises and bright light, his own diffidence through school, his parents’ and grandparents’ special intellectual skills — all echoed through his and Jeremy’s behavior, like some ancient rhythm.

His son’s diagnosis, Mr. Schwarz said, “provided a frame in which a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated aspects of my own life growing up fit together for the first time.”

Any learning professionals who work with families know that there are many learning differences and disabilities that run in the family. As the saying goes, sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The list of familial learning differences is long and includes attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum / other social disorders, dyslexia, dyscalculia (math disability), writing disability, language disability, auditory processing disorders, conduct disorders, and more. And this doesn't even touch on other traits - intensity, introversion or extraversion, etc. that may color every aspect of a child's life at school and home. Among the families we see in our clinic, we also recognize many more subtle familial conditions such as the strong right hemispheric learners, cinematic or spatial thinkers (often non-verbal), preferences for unitasking, and late blooming profiles of brain development

The positive side of a child's learning inheritance is once recognized, parents may be able to more easily:

1. Anticipate challenges and problem solve patterns of school frustration.
2. Share strategies for overcoming weaknesses - mnemonic tricks, preferences for learning, environments and practical tools for building success.
3. Model examples of success, finding the right mentors, colleagues, work situations
4. Recognize that underperformance is not simply poor effort or misbehavior.
5. See the big picture, recognize and share with their child the positive future that they face.

There are two sides to the issue, though. And if it looks as if your child's difficulties are ones you still experience today, provide the emotional support, but look for a tutor, teacher, or other professional to help out.

Developmental Dyscalculia is a Familial Learning Disorder pdf
Familial Association and Frequency of Learning Disabilities in ADHD Sibling Pair Families Abstract only
ADHD in Girls and Family Risk Abstract
Familial links between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, and bipolar disorder Abstract
Eide Neurolearning Blog: Right Hemispheric Word Finding
Eide NL Blog: Gifted Dyslexic Storytellers
Eide NL Blog: Vivid Visual Thinkers
Eide NL Blog: Spatial, Not Verbal Thinkers
Eide NL Blog: Biology of Late Bloomers
Eide NL Blog: Beyond the Poor Reading Group
Eide NL Blog: Forgetful Learners