So far, I have been talking about how confusion causes dyslexia and the source of such confusion stems from symbols that dyslexics cannot picture, such as punctuation marks and high frequency words, which impact their decoding, reading fluency and comprehension. Dyslexics also encounter confusion when dealing with math subject (typically with word problems), not because they do not have the skill to do arithmetic but because they struggle to comprehend the questions. You see them re-reading the questions. Frowns start to form, fingers start tapping on the table, they start fidgeting an ..read more

Dyslexia is an alternative way of thinking and learning. Dyslexics have a preference for using pictures or images in their thought process rather than words. This allows them to view the world from many different perspectives and in creative ways. As picture thinkers, dyslexics easily become confused by things that do not make sense to their non-verbal, picture thinking style. They have fewer issues with words whose meaning they can picture, such as “dog”, “rainbow”, “dinosaur” but they often make mistakes with words like “as”, “so”, “just” in their reading. To give an example, a client I w ..read more

Besides punctuation marks (touched on in my earlier post), another source of confusion for dyslexics which impacts their reading comprehension is the common sight words, which makes up about 75% of each page of text. Dyslexics tend to think primarily in pictures and images as opposed to words. They typically get confused by the common sight words because they cannot picture the meaning. When they cannot picture those words, they cannot make sense of what they read. They are merely mouthing the words they see in a text. A way to assess whether they know what they are reading is to get them t ..read more

In my previous post, I wrote about how confusion causes dyslexia. To illustrate further, let’s now look at how confusion with punctuation marks, one of the symbols we encounter in languages, impacts comprehension for dyslexics. Some time back, I worked with an adult dyslexic. She is a good reader and spelling is not an issue, but she struggles to comprehend what she is reading. While she reads fluently, her reading pace was quite fast and she was not aware whenever she made reading mistakes. I then uncovered that she did not have a good understanding of some of the punctuation marks used. P ..read more

There is still a lack of accurate understanding of what dyslexia is. Ron Davis, the creator of the Davis Dyslexia Correction Programme says that “dyslexia is not a complexity. It is a compound of simple factors that can be dealt with step-by-step”. In other words, what you see your child experiencing stems from confusion. Confusion (with words, symbols, environment, etc) is what caused dyslexia. The more confused a dyslexic is, the more the dyslexic symptoms (such as letter reversal, making reading mistakes, especially with the high frequency words like ‘of’, ‘from’, ‘this’, etc) will show ..read more

I first met Kilian, the main character in the book early this year when I provided intervention to him. While observing how I work with Kilian, his mother, Katherine was inspired which led to her writing this children's book to help young children understand their dyslexia. A truly inspirational book borne out of a mother's love for her dyslexic son. It captured the heart of a parent who witnessed her son's struggles with learning difficulties. More than that, it was written to bring hope and encouragement to young children, to help them understand the unique way they think and learn and to ..read more

Ms Christina Tan deferred her daughter Edena Goh's primary education by a year as she could not read or write because of dyslexia. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO Edena Goh was bullied and had low self-esteem over her learning condition, but found that embracing it inspired others​ By any standard, Edena Goh is an accomplished student. She studied triple science in secondary school, was head pre- fect and scored seven points for her O levels. She did it all while being dyslexic. “It’s been a difficult journey,” says the articulate 18-year-old junior college student. Her mother Christina Tan, 51, says h ..read more

​Francis is a Physical Education teacher at Outram Secondary School. He is also the recipient of the President’s Award for Teachers 2020. Francis was instrumental in transforming the school’s water polo team, leading them to the finals in the interschool league in 2011, after their last one 19 years ago. Trained as a Teacher for Special Needs at NIE, Francis suspected he could be dyslexic and was formally diagnosed six months ago. With the diagnosis, things are coming together for him. He now understands his strengths better and what works for those with special education needs. Working with ..read more

The learning process for dyslexics requires active involvement. Quoting Ron Davis, he said “the creative process and the learning process, if not the same thing, are so closely associated that we will never be able to separate them.” Creativity is therefore an essential part of the learning process. If we create something in the form of memorisation, what we have is something memorised. If we create something in the form of understanding, what we have is understanding. Ron said that if you create something, you can own it. If you can own it, you can experience it. If you can experience it ..read more

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