Dyslexia Institute of Southern New Mexico
Fact Sheet for Dyslexia Institute of Southern New Mexico
I. What is dyslexia?
a. Specific learning disability
b. Neurobiological in origin: A “different” brain that handles many tasks excellently, but does not connect well with reading and written language
c. Average to above average, or even gifted intelligence
d. Greek: dys=not working, lexia= words. Literallly, words (especially written words) are not working
II. Dyslexic strengths:
a. Creative problem solving (Richard Branson)
b. Creative expression (Stephen King)
c. Athletic performance (Muhammed Ali)
d. Scientific discovery…strengths in big-picture concepts, thinking outside the box. (Albert Einstein)
III. Who may have dyslexia?
a. 10-20% of the population
b. People with a close family member with dyslexia.
c. Bright students who are not performing well academically: often attributed to laziness or lack of motivation.
IV. What is dyslexia therapy?
a. A different way of teaching.
b. Multi-sensory: it integrates all of the senses in learning, thus bypassing the blocked neural passageways and forging new connections in the brain.
c. Phonetic: dyslexic individuals usually cannot immediately remember whole words, so they must know the structure of English Language and its component parts.
d. It is not tutoring. It completely changes the individual’s relationship with written language.
e. The programs used at Dyslexia Institute of Southern New Mexico, Inc. were developed at the Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital in Dallas, well researched and very thorough. They take at least 2 years to complete, a huge commitment of time and resources on the part of parents.
V. Why is it important?
a. 80% of students who do not read well by the end of third grade will not finish high school.
b. Illiteracy is a huge predictor of poverty, homelessness and incarceration.
c. Since dyslexic individuals are bright, lack of remediation is an immense waste of talent.
d. Among students who begin therapy before fourth grade, almost all will learn to read and 80% will learn to read well. However, therapy will help at any age. It is not as fast or as effective the later it is started.
VI. What is Dyslexia Institute of Southern New Mexico?
a. Non-profit so that it can meet the needs of students in all segments of the community.
b. Offers scholarships to families who are challenged to meet the high cost of individual therapy.
c. Allows students to start on the basis on a screening so that therapy can begin promptly.
d. Serves people of all ages. Elementary students form the largest part of the student body.
e. Six therapists, about 30 students. Primarily after school sessions so that students do not miss out on their class work.