Finding Sanity Dyslexic Edition

ADHD, ADD, Dyslexia, Learning Styles, Learning Disabilities Introduces the mainstream student and educator to the world of the child who struggles academically. The main character discovers her father is dyslexic, as is one of her classmates-- and she tries to make sense of it.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This volume provides a general overview of the history of the relatively common learning disability known as dyslexia, and explores it from a cognitive and neurological point of view. It also offers insights into the phenomena of creativity, and outlines a theory that links dyslexia to the creative process. The book illustrates these ideas with overviews of the lives of five well-known Americans recognized for their creative pursuits; artists Robert Rauschenberg, Chuck Close, and Charles Ray, and writers John Irving and Wendy Wasserstein. All five faced the struggles that accompany dyslexia, and recognized the positive traits afforded by their learning differences, harnessing them to further their creative processes.

Dyslexia was first described by two English physicians, Kerr and Morgan, in 1896. Interestingly, the structural cortical hypothesis initially proposed by Morgan is still held in wide esteem, albeit in slightly modified forms. Despite 80 years of escalating research efforts and mounds of correspond ing statistics, there continues to exist a perplexing diagnostic-therapeutic medical void and riddle in which dyslexics can neither be scientifically distinguished from other slow learners nor medically treated; and patho gnomonic clinical signs remain as elusive as a suitable neurophysiologic conceptualization. This book is the outcome of a IS-year-Iong search for a solution to the riddle characterizing dyslexia. All of my initial attempts at re-exploring the safe old (cortical, psychogenic, etc.) dyslexic paths and ideas led nowhere. Something new was needed. Children and adults were suffering. Educators and parents were bewildered. Answers were needed. The government man dated equal education for the learning disabled. Clinicians were waiting. And traditionalists remained fixated to the theoretical past and blind to the clinical dyslexic reality.

It is really strange to live with the unknown and still know that there is something not right with you. I knew that I was intelligent and came from two families that had no slouches in the brain areas of life. I have strong genes from many generations of doctors, lawyers, inventors, teachers, plumbers, writers, farmers, adventurers, and women who were strong great leaders, and I wondered why I was not living up to the genes that must also be flowing through my veins. It always felt like my life was one step forward and two steps back. I do all right in the arts, but you cannot make it in this life without math and reading. I rarely got a grade higher than an S for satisfactory or a C+. Even with a higher education and the level of a senior administrator before quitting the business world, the feeling that I should be doing better never left my mind and ego until the day many years later that I learned the answer.

This book has been replaced by Treatment of Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence, Fourth Edition, ISBN 978-1-4625-3898-0.

One mom determined to get the best education for her dyslexic son, offers practical tips and advice for other parents navigating the public-school system. Both a rallying cry and an invaluable resource, One in Five details the national education crisis as it impacts the one in five children who have dyslexia. Micki Boas, mother to two dyslexic sons, wrote this book because too many parents feel isolated and defeated in their efforts to secure an equal chance for their children. After fighting the school system for six years to get the correct diagnoses and proper learning assistance for her sons, Boas realized that parents need to hack the system, cutting through the invisible red tape of school funding, IEPs, specialized teacher training, and more. Drawing on insights from over 200 parents, educators, and experts, Boas explains why most children are diagnosed too late to get the help they need, and why the majority of our schools fail to provide the special education programs mandated by law. Most important, through her own story and those of other tireless parents and leaders, she shows what you can do about it. One in Five shares the secrets the “professionals” won’t tell you—but that make all the difference.