The Dyslexic Advantage (2 page)

The answer, as revealed in the body of the press release, was that each of these highly successful entrepreneurs also “suffered from dyslexia,” a condition researchers at the school found to predispose individuals with dyslexia quite strongly to entrepreneurial success.

Just how successful are the particular entrepreneurs that they cited? At last count, Sir Richard Branson has a net worth of approximately US$4 billion. Alan Sugar, now Baron (Lord) Sugar of Clapton, has a net worth of US$1.2 billion. Norman Foster, now Baron (Lord) Foster of Thames Bank, has a comparatively smaller fortune of “only” US$400 million—though he does have the consolation of being one of the world's most admired and distinguished architects.

In light of the tremendous success enjoyed by these entrepreneurs, it seems rather odd to describe them as “suffer[ing] from dyslexia.” Yet as almost anyone with dyslexia can tell you, being dyslexic really can involve a great deal of suffering: like the suffering of constantly failing at skills others master with ease; the ridicule of peers and classmates; or exclusion from classes, schools, or careers one would otherwise pursue. These experiences can all involve sufferings of the cruelest sort. Yet it's equally clear when we examine individuals with dyslexia—when we see how they think and what they can do and the often remarkable persons they become—that in many respects “suffering from dyslexia” is suffering of a most unusual kind.

 

This book isn't about dyslexia, but about
the kinds of individuals who are diagnosed with dyslexia
. It's about the kinds of minds they have, the ways they process information, and the things they do especially well. It's not a book about something these individuals
have
. It's about who they
are.

Most books on dyslexia focus on problems with reading and spelling. While these problems are extremely important, they're not the only—or even the most important—things that individuals with dyslexia find critical for their growth, learning, and success.

As experts in neuroscience and learning disabilities, we've worked with hundreds of individuals with dyslexia and their families. In the process we've found that individuals with dyslexia often share a broad range of important cognitive features. Some of these features are learning or processing challenges—like difficulties with reading and spelling, rote math, working memory, or visual and auditory function. But others are important strengths, abilities, and talents; gifts we call the
dyslexic advantage.
While these features differ somewhat from person to person, they also form recognizable patterns—just as the different musical works of Mozart are distinguishable yet recognizably the work of the same composer.

Traditionally, attempts to understand dyslexia have focused almost entirely on problems with reading, spelling, and other academic skills. As a result, little attention has been paid to the things individuals with dyslexia do especially well—particularly once they've become adults. In our opinion, this is a grave mistake. Trying to understand what dyslexia is all about while overlooking the talents that mature individuals with dyslexia characteristically display is like trying to understand what it's like to be a caterpillar while ignoring the fact that caterpillars grow up to be butterflies.

As we'll show you in this book, the brains of individuals with dyslexia aren't defective; they're simply different. These wiring differences often lead to special strengths in processing certain kinds of information, and these strengths typically more than make up for the better-known dyslexic challenges. As we'll show you in this book, by learning how to recognize, nurture, and properly use these strengths, individuals with dyslexia can be helped in their efforts to achieve success and personal fulfillment.

There are two big differences between the traditional view of “dyslexia” and the one we'll present in this book. First, we don't see the reading, spelling, or other academic challenges associated with dyslexia as the result of a “disorder” or a “disease.” Instead, we see these challenges as arising from a different pattern of brain organization—one whose chief aim is to predispose dyslexic individuals to the development of valuable skills. When dyslexia is viewed from this perspective, we can see that the strengths and challenges that accompany it are like two sides of the same neurological coin. In this book, we'll identify these advantages, describe how they can be used, and explain why we believe that they—rather than challenges with reading and spelling—should be seen as dyslexia's true “core features.”

Second, unlike most books on dyslexia this book won't focus solely on making individuals with dyslexia into better readers. Instead, it will focus on helping them become better
at “being dyslexic.”
While reading instruction changes certain brain features, it doesn't change all the things that make dyslexic brains different from nondyslexic ones. However, this is a good thing, because dyslexic brains aren't
supposed
to be like everyone else's. Dyslexic brains have their own kinds of strengths and benefits, and these advantages should be recognized and enjoyed. Our goal is to help individuals with dyslexia recognize these many wonderful advantages, so they can enjoy the full range of benefits that can come from having a dyslexic brain. The first step in achieving this goal is to help them think more broadly about what it really means to “be dyslexic,” by expanding the concept of “dyslexia” so that it no longer means only challenges but also includes important talents.

The best way to broaden our view in this fashion is to look not just at the things that individuals with dyslexia find challenging but also at the kinds of things that they often do especially well. One obvious way to do this is by studying people who've excelled at “being dyslexic.” Most instructional books or DVDs on topics like playing sports or musical instruments, cooking, or speaking foreign languages have one thing in common: they feature expert practitioners sharing and modeling tips and strategies they've personally found useful. Since this is a book about how to excel at “being dyslexic,” we'll share lots of stories, tricks, and pointers from dyslexic individuals who've enjoyed success in their own lives. While not every individual with dyslexia will succeed in precisely the same ways as these talented individuals, anyone with a dyslexic processing style can benefit from their insights and from studying the strategies they've used.

In the early chapters of this book, we'll describe how dyslexic brains differ from nondyslexic ones. Then we'll devote five chapters to each of the four dyslexia-associated strength patterns we've found to be common in individuals with dyslexia. We've called these patterns the
MIND strengths
to make them easy to remember: Material reasoning, Interconnected reasoning, Narrative reasoning, and Dynamic reasoning. These strength patterns are not meant to be rigid or watertight categories but to be helpful ways of thinking about and understanding dyslexic talents. While none of the MIND strengths is exclusive to individuals with dyslexia, each is linked to particular cognitive and structural brain features common in individuals with dyslexia. As you read these chapters, please remember that while individuals with dyslexia share many features in common, each is also unique. Dyslexic processing isn't caused by a single gene, so different individuals with dyslexia will show different patterns of strengths and challenges. Very few will show all the MIND strengths, but essentially all will show some. After discussing the MIND strengths, we'll conclude with several chapters of practical advice describing how individuals with dyslexia can profit from their dyslexic advantages both in school and at work.

We hope that this book will provide a resource and an encouragement for those who haven't yet fully learned the many wonderful advantages that can come from “being dyslexic.”

A Matter of Perspective

A New View of Dyslexia

T
hroughout his school career, Doug struggled with reading and writing. He flunked out of community college twice before he finally gained the skills he needed to earn his college degree. Today he's the president of a highly successful software firm that he founded a decade ago.

When Lindsey was young all her teachers called her slow. Although she worked desperately to learn to read and write, she was one of the last in her school class to master these skills. Recently Lindsey graduated from college, earning the top prize in her school's highly competitive honors program. She's now enrolled in a prestigious graduate program studying psychology.

Pete's elementary school teachers told his parents he was borderline mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed. They also told them that they couldn't teach him to read or write. However, with intensive one-on-one instruction, Pete learned to read and write well enough not only to attend college but also to go on to law school. Pete eventually used his legal training to represent another individual with dyslexia before the Supreme Court, winning her case 9–0 and radically redefining the rights of students with special educational needs.

Doug, Lindsey, and Pete are all dyslexic, and they're also all exceptionally good at what they do. As we'll show you in this book, these facts are neither contradictory nor coincidental. Instead, Doug, Lindsey, and Pete—and millions of individuals with dyslexia just like them—are good at what they do, not
in spite of
their dyslexic processing differences, but
because
of them.

This claim usually provokes surprise and a flurry of questions: “Good because of their dyslexia? Isn't dyslexia a learning disorder? How could a learning disorder make people good at anything?”

The answer is, a learning disorder couldn't—if it were
only
a learning disorder. But that's just our point, and it's the key message of this book. Dyslexia, or the
dyslexic processing style
, isn't just a barrier to learning how to read and spell; it's also a reflection of an entirely different pattern of brain organization and information processing—one that predisposes a person to important abilities along with the well-known challenges. This dual nature is what's so amazing—and confusing—about dyslexia. It's also why individuals with dyslexia can look so different depending upon the perspective from which we view them.

Look first at individuals with dyslexia when they're reading or spelling or performing certain other language or learning tasks. From this perspective they appear to have a learning disorder; and with respect to these tasks, they clearly do. Now look at these same individuals when they're doing
almost anything else
—particularly the kinds of tasks they excel at and enjoy. From this new perspective they not only cease to look disabled but they often appear remarkably skilled or even specially advantaged.

This apparent advantage isn't just a trick of perception—as if their strengths seemed large only in contrast with their weaknesses. There's actually a growing body of evidence supporting the existence of a
dyslexic advantage.
As we'll discuss throughout this book, many studies have shown that the percentage of dyslexic professionals in fields such as engineering, art, and entrepreneurship is over twice the percentage of dyslexic individuals in the general population. Individuals with dyslexia are also among the most eminent and creative persons in a wide variety of fields, like entrepreneur Richard Branson, singer-songwriter John Lennon, paleontologist Jack Horner, financial services pioneer Charles Schwab, inventor Dean Kamen, architect Richard Rogers, attorney David Boies, novelist Vince Flynn, computer pioneer Bill Hewlett, actor Anthony Hopkins, painter Chuck Close, cell phone pioneer Craig McCaw, and filmmaker Bryan Singer.

Importantly, the link between dyslexic processing and special abilities isn't visible only among superachievers. You can prove this for yourself by performing a simple experiment. Next time you run across an unusually good designer, landscaper, mechanic, electrician, carpenter, plumber, radiologist, surgeon, orthodontist, small business owner, computer software or graphics designer, computer networker, photographer, artist, boat captain, airplane pilot, or skilled member of any of the dozens of “dyslexia-rich” fields we'll discuss in this book, ask if that person or anyone in his or her immediate family is dyslexic or had trouble learning to read, write, or spell. We'll bet you dollars for dimes that person will say yes—the connection is just that strong. In fact, many of the most important and perceptive experts in the field of dyslexia have remarked on the link they've seen between dyslexia and talent.

Now, would these connections be possible if dyslexia were
only
a learning disorder? The answer, clearly, is no. So there must be two sides to dyslexia. While dyslexic processing clearly creates challenges with certain academic skills, these challenges are only one piece of a much larger picture. As we'll describe throughout this book, dyslexic processing also predisposes individuals to important abilities in many mental functions, including:

While the precise nature and extent of these abilities varies from person to person, there are enough similarities between these strengths to form a recognizably related set, which can legitimately be referred to as
dyslexia-related abilities
or a
dyslexic advantage.
Ultimately, that's what this book is about: the remarkable abilities that individuals with dyslexia commonly possess—abilities that appear to arise from the same variations in brain structure, function, and development that give rise to dyslexic challenges with literacy, language, and learning.