Define dyslexia as a valuable thinking skill
Kate Griggs, Dyslexic Thinking expert and CEO and founder of Made By Dyslexia, explains why now is the time to empower Dyslexic Thinking in every school.
- AI is transforming the world, reshaping the jobs we do and the skills we need to do them.
- While AI can support more tasks, it can’t replace the soft skills or power skills that every organization needs.
- These skills are an exact match for Dyslexic Thinking.
- While Dyslexic Thinking is becoming more widely understood and valued in the workplace, more progress needs to be made in education.
This module helps every teacher (and parent or guardian) understand what Dyslexic Thinking is and how easy it is to empower it.
Understand dyslexia today
Dyslexic brains process information differently.
This results in a pattern of strengths and challenges.
Our strengths, known as Dyslexic Thinking skills, are now highly sought after in the workplace. They align with the Top 5 skills the World Economic Forum says are needed to thrive in a world with technological advances and new AI capabilities.
The Top 5 skills highlighted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) are:
- Analytical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Resilience, flexibility, and agility
- Motivation and self-awareness
- Curiosity and life-long learning
In the classroom, the current focus is on supporting dyslexic challenges (and this is vital). But to prepare learners for today’s workplace, we must also nurture dyslexic strengths – because they’re the exact skills every workplace needs, according to the WEF. We must address dyslexia as a whole.
Dyslexic Thinking: An approach to problem solving, assessing information, and learning, often used by people with dyslexia, that involves pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, lateral thinking, and interpersonal communication.
Additional information
- Read the definition of Dyslexic Thinking on Dictionary.com.
- Explore this unit on Dyslexic Challenges.
- Read the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2023 report.
Reflection questions
- How will you adapt and support your learners with dyslexia to recognize and celebrate their valuable Dyslexic Thinking skills? How will you support their challenges?
- How can you help other students recognize strengths among learners with dyslexia?
- How can you plan lessons which help learners develop the Top 5 skills highlighted by the WEF and allow Dyslexic Thinkers to thrive?
Dyslexic Thinking skills
There are seven Dyslexic Thinking archetypes in children. Most people with dyslexia are a combination of a few of these archetypes, rarely all! These are:
- Storytellers
- Makers
- Entertainers
- Movers
- Imaginers
- Questioners
- ‘People’ people
As parents, guardians, and teachers, the key is to help children understand and value their Dyslexic Thinking skills, because when you do, they're unstoppable in whichever field they choose. Four in five successful people with dyslexia attribute their success to their Dyslexic Thinking, including space scientist and communicator, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock. Aderin-Pocock says:
“I wish teachers were aware of the yin and the yang with dyslexia because there are some challenges, the written word, spelling, things like that are more difficult for people with dyslexia but the imagination, the storytelling, the communication, the empathy, all these positives are sometimes neglected. And they are what make us successful.”
When you do spot dyslexic strengths, do your best to nurture them. The strengths of people with dyslexia lead them into jobs they love and lives that are happy and satisfying.
Skill + Practice + Passion = Superpower
Note
Tech tip: Storytelling is a vital Dyslexic Thinking skill; harness this superpower further by using Speaker Coach in PowerPoint or Teams meetings.
Additional information
- Explore seven Dyslexic Thinking types explained in Xtraordinary People (for kids).
- Let HRH Princess Beatrice read Xtraordinary People and explain Dyslexic Thinking to your class.
- Find out more about Dyslexic Thinking in THIS Is Dyslexia (for older children and adults).
- Take the Dyslexic Thinking skills quiz.
Reflection questions
- How many of the Dyslexic Thinking archetypes can you spot in the children you teach?
- Have you misread any Dyslexic Thinking skills in the past? For example: correcting Imaginers who appear to daydream? Or asking Movers to stop fidgeting? How can you use your new awareness and understanding to adapt your teaching practice going forward?
The power of language
Shifting the language from negative to positive is a small step that makes a huge difference in empowering your Dyslexic Thinkers at school and at home.
Three ways to empower your language today:
- Reframe dyslexia as a positive.
- Be positive and empowering when talking about dyslexic challenges.
- Think about how you talk about dyslexia in school and at home.
Positive ways to explain dyslexia:
- Dyslexic brains think differently.
- People with dyslexia are extraordinarily good at certain things.
- The world needs Dyslexic Thinking.
- You may need to work harder, but your imagination is your superpower.
- Many of the world’s brilliant minds had dyslexia.
Additional information
- This unit discusses the Emotional impact of dyslexia.
- Read more about the link between language and the self-esteem of people with dyslexia in THIS Is Dyslexia.
- Listen to the Lessons In Dyslexic Thinking podcast to hear about the power of language with guests like Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, Richard Branson, and Barbara Corcoran plus many more.
Reflection questions
- How will you adapt the language you use to explain Dyslexic Thinking in the classroom?
- How can you work with parents to help them understand the power of language in the home?