Secret # 5 – Is Dyslexia a Sign of Genius? Dyslexia – A Trait of Genius – Secret 5 to Unlock Your Child’s Genius Mind
U – Unique Reading Approach – Structured Literacy (Orton Gillingham) and Music
Number five on how to unlock your child’s genius is the letter “u”, which is stands for “Unique Reading Approach.
We’re doing this so they can read without being overwhelmed, write better paragraphs, speak up, share their ideas, and move to the top of their class in reading. This is so that they will love school and they will love learning. Did you know that music plays a big role in dyslexic kids’ lives?
How many kids do you know love to listen to music while they learn while they study? How many like to listen to music in the background? How many of them like an earbud in their ear? Just move that earbud to the left ear. Many dyslexic people really do excel in theater and arts. Tom Cruise, Henley Henry, and Henry Winkler were some of my favorites in the arts. I have a music app and it’s huge in helping kids learning to read and they learn at an accelerated rate. We see the kids in kindergarten and in preschool who love to move and wiggle and use music, but when they get to first grade, the music goes away and that’s when kids start realizing they’re struggling with learning.
I have a friend who is the director of an arts center in Pomona, it’s called the “dA Center of the Arts”. When people first started learning that I was helping kids with dyslexia and they knew the connection of dyslexia and how kids were very artistic, three people recommended I meet Margaret and we loved our relationship. Margaret is now our fiscal sponsor for our non-profit and she’s so delighted.
I was thinking of all the compliments she gives. Every time Margaret opens her mouth, pearls of wisdom flow out and she’s just so articulate and just such beauty in her words. I have musical friends who can play so many instruments and they have beautiful voices. I have a friend who had a family band and she admitted that she has dyslexia. The music app I developed has 28 spelling exercises and eight sentence groups. Kids are making one to three year games in only six weeks and that’s 30 sessions so that’s reading vocabulary, reading fluency, and/or reading comprehension.
I want to tell you the story of Daniella. She was an 8th grader and a second language learner, and her dad came to us when I had a tutoring program and he said he had tried so many programs but none of them were effective for her. He came to us because Daniella loved music and he thought she would at least cooperate and be agreeable to be in our program. After two weeks, he started seeing a big difference in her behavior and her self-esteem started increasing. After six weeks when I gave him her post-test scores, she had made three-year gains in reading vocabulary, comprehension, and reading fluency and her grandfather started crying
Daniella’s mom was in prison and her grandfather thought she was on that track to be in prison, and he told me that their home used to be a battlefield and now Daniella was getting along with everyone. She was not getting detentions in school, she was doing her homework and turning it in and she was getting along with her peers. He said, “This is really a miracle what are you doing,” and I said, “I’m using music with phonics and it has to be structured literacy and it really works.”
Then he asked me a question that changed my life forever.
Then he asked me a question that changed my life forever. He asked me if I was a doctor. Well, you have to imagine it got my attention because I’ve been trying to share this with schools for years and not getting them to listen. That’s what prompted me to go back to college and get another degree. That’s when I got my doctorate, and it took me seven years to get that doctorate and now I’m bringing this information to you. Music paired with structured literacy to help kids read brings accelerated results. You’ve got to try it.
Mindy is also on our board and featured in the photo here.
Reach out to me. Thanks for listening to tip five. Wait for tip six which is next. Thanks for listening. Bye-bye now.
Learn more about the Orton Gillingham approach.
Click here if you missed Secret #4
Click here to listen to Secret #6
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