1. Dyslexia-Friendly Workplace
‘’Equality of opportunity is an equal opportunity to prove unequal talents’’. Viscount Samuel
Louise Ward, Director
Canadian Dyslexia Centre
290 Picton ave., Ottawa, ON K1Z 8P8

2. What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia results from a different brain organization, which may cause a problem with reading, writing, spelling and/or speaking, despite average or superior intelligence, traditional reading instruction and socio-cultural opportunity. It is genetically inherited and its cause is biological.

3. Dyslexic versus Control
Dyslexic Example
Control Example
Left Anterior
Left Anterior

4. Causes of Dyslexia
Dyslexia is genetically inherited, and its cause is biological.

5. Causes of Dyslexia
The brain of a persons with dyslexia works five times harder than other peoples’ brains.

6. Causes of Dyslexia
Dyslexia can cause “letters and words appear to move around, jump over each other, blur and reverse themselves”.

7. Talents of Dyslexics
Often, a person with dyslexia will also have special abilities and talents associated with superior visual-spatial skills.
These abilities, contrasted with deficits in basic skills, make dyslexia confusing for employers.

8. "Dyslexics are overrepresented in the top ranks of people who are unusually insightful, who bring a new perspective, who think out of the box," Sally Shaywitz, Yale C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\FORTUNE - Overcoming Dyslexia.htm

9. Talents Albert Einstein Great intuition; Adapt easily to changes;
Sees patterns quickly;
Thinks and perceive in 3-D;
A lively imagination;
Creative;
Sees the big picture instantly;
Usually very ambitious and persistent;
Superior reasoning;
Does not follow the crowd.

10. Famous People
Bill Gates
“Often you have to rely on intuition”

11. Famous People William Butler Yeats
Willie was sent to lessons in spelling and grammar, but he never learned to spell. To the end of his life he produced highly idiosyncratic versions of words.-
Biographer A. Norman Jeffares  

12. Famous People Albert Einstein
He told me that his teachers reported that he was mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in his foolish dreams.-
Hans Albert Einstein, on his father,

13. Famous People Agatha Christie
I, myself, was always recognized as the "slow one" in the family. It was quite true, and I knew it and accepted it. Writing and spelling were always terribly difficult for me. My letters were without originality. I was an extraordinarily bad speller and have remained so until this day.-

14. Famous People Thomas Edison
My teachers say I'm addled my father thought I was stupid, and I almost decided I must be a dunce. 

15. Reading Slow rate of reading Blurring and distortion of words
Th is co ourse wil lst riv etoeq pst ud ent swi the bas ic crit ical t hin kingan d es sa ywri thig sk il ls.

16. Reading difficulties:
Misreading of words which are visually similar:
was-saw, speak-break
Misreading multisyllabic words:
philosophical, inheritance, interference
Omitting connecting words:
at, is where, who, over, under ect

17. 4 5 p b q d Lack of paragraph concept
Inadequate or missing punctuation
Mixing up sounds in multisyllabic words
Reversal of letters and/or numbers
4 5
p b q d

18. Small print below 12 point font
Poor quality photocopies
On white paper

19. “While most persons with dyslexia are articulate, some may have speech difficulties”
Expressing ideas clearly when speaking
Not finishing sentences
Finding the right word when speaking

20. - Speaking: speaking clearly during interviews or oral examinations
speaking on a specific subject within a time limit or interview
In his mind’s eye he could see the white sheets of paper on which he had written his sermon. Then suddenly the thing happened--the terrible thing he had feared. The words disappeared! In panic he searched his mind only to find it blank - the rest of the sermon - the works he had tried so hard to memorize - was gone, gone!

21. Understanding negative sentences
Which one was not there?
What aspect cannot be inherited?

22. - importance-impotence, brown-drown - cursing-cruising, erotic-exotic
Spelling
Misspelling visually similar words that are not picked up by a spellchecker:
- importance-impotence, brown-drown
- cursing-cruising, erotic-exotic
Numerous erasure and/or cross-outs which make written work very messy
Mixed up and/or omits letters or words

23. - familiar, femilliar, fammilliar, femmeliar
Spelling
May take up to 2000 times or more to remember how to spell a word, compared to the maximum of 14 times needed by a non-dyslexic. Many famous writers never mastered spelling.
Writes the same words differently in the same passage
- familiar, femilliar, fammilliar, femmeliar
‘It's a…. poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word. ‘
- Andrew Jackson

24. Listening In a noisy room Screening out important information
Sensitivity to some sounds, such as: speaker’s phone, hand clapping in a theatre etc

25. Math Memorizing multiplication tables Reversing numbers
Losing place in long division
Reading difficulties may cause problems understanding written problems

26. Organization Skills
Forgetting appointments
Forgetting work at home or office
Miscalculating time needed for tasks
Getting lost in an unfamiliar building (sometimes in a familiar building as well)
Getting mixed up between left-right, west-east, up-down
Inability to organize desk
“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, just what does an empty desk mean?”
Source Unknown

27. Note-taking Inability to read own writing Taking notes while listening
Writing fast enough to copy from board

28. Writing Expressing ideas clearly in writing
Difficulty planning and organizing essays
Immature writing
Poor sentence structure

29. Common physical problems often seen in dyslexic persons and affecting work environment:
Migraine headache caused by fluorescent lighting, noise or weather
Extreme stress during testing situations
Feeling of being overwhelmed when a large amount of writing is required
Motion sickness affecting the ability to use elevators, escalators, driving, etc.
Sensitivity to perfumes, strong deodorant or chemicals

30. Language Training Orton-Gillingham based methodology
Phoneme awareness cat = /k/ /a/ /t/
Sound-symbol relationship

31. HELP! HELP!
If someone spends 3 months in language training and then you find out he/she was dyslexic, then shame on you
‘’I am entirely certain that twenty years from now we will look back at education as it is practiced in most schools today and wonder that we could have tolerated anything so primitive. ‘’
John W. Gardner

32. Dyslexia-Friendly Testing
Extended time
Careful with demand speech
Know the difference between mispronunciations and dyslexic mistakes
Avoid negative sentences
Allow spelling mistakes
Allow ‘’fishing’’ for words

33. Dyslexia-Friendly Workplace
Full-spectrum lighting
Chromogens lens/colored overlays
Coloured paper
Noise-masking
Mind-mapping
Wordsmith
An understanding ‘’Boss’’

34. ‘’To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men’’
‘’To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men’’ Abraham Lincoln