Week of June 27, 2001

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As many as 1 in 7 American children are affected to some degree by dyslexia, which disables language skills but often bestows special abilities in the visual and spatial realm. This program explores what dyslexia is, and what it is not, with guests including author and producer Stephen J. Cannell, Thomas Viall of the International Dyslexia Association, Yale researcher Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Toronto entrepreneur Jay Mandarino, author Thomas G. West, virtual reality pioneer Daniel Sandin, children's author Jeanne Betancourt and her daughter, filmmaker Nicole Betancourt.

The program begins with commentary from host Dr. Fred Goodwin, who observes that advances in neuroscience have made it clear that dyslexia is a wiring glitch in the brain, and that it is wrong to assume that dyslexic children are stupid or slow.

Next, we hear from children's author Jeanne Betancourt, who reads a selection from My Name is Brain Brian, the story of a young boy with dyslexia who struggles for acceptance and achievement. She begins by reading about Brian's nightmare: he is pursued by giant gray rocks, which he later realizes are letters of the alphabet.

Ms. Betancourt, who is joined in the discussion by her daughter, Nicole, explains that the dream was actually her daughter's dream, and that Nicole was the inspiration for the book. Both Jeanne and Nicole Betancourt have dyslexia. Nicole, grown now and an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker in New York, says that she is still uncomfortable in libraries or any other place where things are arranged in an order that makes no logical sense to her. She says she has to figure out the logic behind things to learn them, and says that she believes that as a result, she learns things more thoroughly than most.

Jeanne Betancourt's more than 60 books include the beloved "Pony Pals Series" which feature the adventures of three girls and their ponies. One of the three girls, Anna, is dyslexic, and her dyslexia is mentioned in every book. Click here to view a clip from Nicole Betancourt's award-winning documentary film "Before You Go."

 

Dr. Goodwin is joined next by three guests with different perspectives on dyslexia: Dr. Sally Shaywitz is a professor of pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine, and co-director, with her husband, of the Yale Center for the Study of Learning and Attention. Tom Viall is executive director of the International Dyslexia Association, a membership organization that promotes the study and treatment of dyslexia. Jay Mandarino, who has dyslexia, is the founder and owner of C.J. Graphics, a large printing and bookbinding company located in Toronto. He's active in philanthropic and civic affairs and volunteers as an auctioneer for charity events. He also has dyslexia.

To begin, Viall observes that while most people believe dyslexia is simply reversing letters, "nothing could be farther from the truth." Shaywitz agrees, and points out the "dyslexia paradox:" people with dyslexia can be very intelligent, but still have great difficulty reading. Mandarino says that when he was in grade school, his parents were told that the best he could hope to achieve in life was a job as a gas station attendant. Instead, he managed to graduate from college at the top of his class, and today owns and operates a multi-million-dollar printing and publishing company. While reading is still difficult, he finds that he quickly picks up even complicated tasks when instruction comes through demonstration.

Shaywitz says that brain scans now allow researchers to view the disruption that occurs in the brain when a person with dyslexia is trying to read. She says that the problem seems to be in the person's ability to pull written words apart into sounds, an essential step in reading. Magnetic imaging shows the "glitch" occurs between the occipital and parietal lobes of the brain, she says. Dyslexia has a strong genetic link, she observes, often passed from generation to generation.

The work Sally and Bennett Shaywitz are doing at Yale is particularly important, Viall says, to validating dyslexia as a medical condition, since many schools in the U.S. still don't acknowledge it. Instead, school officials tend to lump all learning disabilities into one "special ed" group with little regard for a dyslexic child's brightness or other abilities.

Dr. Goodwin takes a call from Cindy, in Texas, who wants to know what she can do at home to help her 10-year-old son with dyslexia. Both Mandarino and Viall suggest that she find something at which her son can excel, perhaps martial arts, sports or computers, as the inability to read can be extremely detrimental to a child's self-esteem. They also suggest that she continue to work closely with him on his schoolwork and reading, and make it clear that she understands that the work is difficult. Remember, says Viall, that achieving a "B" or "C" may require twice the effort that it would for another child.

Discussing treatment, Shaywitz talks about research indicating that it is particularly effective for a parent or teacher to have a child read out loud, going back over the material afterward to correct pronunciation in a supportive and compassionate way. Dyslexic children who try to read silently will silently repeat their mistakes over and over, she says. Mandarino said picture books helped him learn to read. Early detection of dyslexia is critical, Viall says, because studies now show that intervening by the third or fourth grade can make a huge difference in the effectiveness and speed of learning techniques. An accommodation as simple as a tape recorder in class can be an immense help with schoolwork, he says, noting that there are many other good technologies available now to assist dyslexic children.

Another caller, Dean from upstate New York, says that both he and his son have dyslexia, and asks whether the panelists believe that dyslexics have to be over-achievers to get by. Viall replies that the condition is really a life-long struggle, but observes that dyslexic people seem unusually gifted in spatial and visual skills and fields. Art, computers and design appear to be areas in which dyslexic people often excel, he says. Shaywitz adds that research supports the ideas that people with dyslexia are more creative, and speculates that they are using the areas of the brain other people use for reading for their creative endeavors. The group briefly discusses the possibility that advances in the neurobiology of dyslexia may eventually identify a target for medication that would treat the condition. Viall observes that there are "deep philosophical issues" about that, with many arguing that dyslexia is not a learning disorder, but a difference in learning style, and as much of a gift as a disability.

Next, Dr. Goodwin welcomes writer and producer Stephen J. Cannell, who created such hit TV series as "The Rockford Files," "Hunter" and "The A Team." He's written several best-selling novels, mostly thrillers, the most recent of which isThe Devil's Workshop. Cannell explains that he was diagnosed as dyslexic in his 30s, along with his daughter, who was in sixth grade and having trouble reading. He says that he was put back three grades in school and eventually graduated two years behind his class, but remained resolved to become a writer nonetheless. He recounted how his parents and teachers kept telling him that he just wasn't trying hard enough. His father, a self-made millionaire, was also dyslexic, a fact that he kept secret for much of Cannell's childhood. Cannell has recently started speaking publicly about his dyslexia hoping to encourage changes in thinking about the condition. He urges pediatricians to take time to ask about a child's schoolwork, observing that children now have access to many resources if they are diagnosed as dyslexic early-on.

Last, Dr. Goodwin explores the link between dyslexia and creativity with Thomas G. West and Daniel J. Sandin. West is the author of In the Mind's Eye: Visual Thinkers, Gifted People with Learning Diffivulties, Computer Imaging, and the Ironies of Creativity the 1997 book that one reviewer observed, "turns one's thinking upside down" about dyslexia. An author based in Washington, D.C., West studies and writes about visualization, and is a regular columnist in Computer Graphics magazine. Daniel J. Sandin is director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a professor in the university's School of Art and Design. He is a pioneer in virtual reality development, and co- invented the "CAVE" system of projected virtual reality image. His artwork has been exhibited at museums around the world, and is included in the inaugural collection of video art at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Both West and Sandin have dyslexia.

West says his research for the book found that dyslexic people are often highly visual, able to quickly process and integrate high-quality visual and spatial information. Society is shifting, he says, with far more call for that sort of skill than for more mechanical tasks like reading and writing. Both West and Sandin say that people with dyslexia seem to problem-solve in unusual ways, perhaps working from the inside out or from the back to the front. Sandin, who says he still cannot spell or do arithmetic, talks about developing the CAVE virtual reality system, which uses rear projection screens instead of a headset and knows where you are by generating your position in the room. It is a visual simulator completely matched to the human visual perceptual capability, he says. West says the dyslexic person may well be at the fore as the technological revolution continues, with their ability to process information and data and depict visually creating "a whole new literacy."

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