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Are you supporting a child with dyslexia? Then this infographic from Prof. Amanda Kirby will give you a better understanding of how being a dyslexic thinker works as you consider the wider world of Neurodiversity.
I have said in the past that it is problematic to think of dyslexia as a particular condition with specific symptoms as no two people with dyslexia will have the same needs or strengths and weaknesses.
In fact, for each person with dyslexia they will have aspects of a bunch of conditions, to a greater or lesser extent, that all form a family of conditions called ‘Neurodiversity’.
Let me give you an example, when my daughter had a dyslexia assessment, I read her report and was convinced that I was dyslexic as we both showed similar signs. When I eventually took part in my own diagnostic assessment, it turned out that whilst dyslexia is a part of my cognitive profile, actually the bulk of my ‘signs’ were more associated with ADHD/ADD. So from a diagnostic assessment perspective, my daughter and myself were shown to think quite differently even though we may have had similar academic challenges at school. So this experience showed me that it is quite possibly inaccurate to assume that someone is dyslexic or has ADHD, i.e make a judgement on how they think, because whilst they may share similar presentations, the root cause may be different. That said, increasingly, I believe that it is more helpful to consider the challenges from the perspective of a term called ‘Neurodiversity’.
Neuro - Think
Diversity - Difference
The term, Neurodiversity, acknowledges that people with a typical diagnosis of dyslexia, ADHD, DCD, ASD etc are different thinkers and that their cognitive profile will be a mixture of the conditions recognised to be within this umbrella term.
Why I think that this is useful, is that we can then start to be less confused with labels for our children and be more focused on an individuals strengths, weaknesses and needs, especially within education.
Recently on LinkedIn, Professor Amanda Kirby shared a lovely info-graphic that really helps with explain this way of thinking so for example, if a child does have a dyslexia diagnosis but somehow also seems to display signs of ADHD then this model is more helpful than the labels involved.
Prof Amanda Kirby wrote:
“Neurodiversity is not Autism- but the term is sometimes being used interchangeably.
It represents our cognitive diversity.
Remember that we have billions of neurons connecting in our brains in different ways.
We are complex. The picture below does not represent all the interactions that in reality take place. This results in co-occurrence and complex interactions and variability of expression.
As Sun Tzu, in The Art of War said:
“There are not more than five primary colours, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen.
There are not more than five cardinal tastes, yet combinations of them yield more flavours than can ever be tasted.””
With her post she posted the following info-graphic.
Info-graphic from Prof Amanda Kirby & Do-IT Profiler.
This info-graphic also shows just how important it is that we recognise the ‘traits’ seen commonly in neurodiverse people and not seek to label so much as to support the traits aka the needs.
I hope that you have found this useful. What are your thoughts? Please comment below or on social media.
John Hicks is a Cambridge, UK based Parenting and Neurodiversity coach who works with young people, adults and parents to understand and address the emotional needs that arise as a result of experiencing dyslexia. John regularly supports clients with issues surrounding confidence, self-esteem and parenting.
Want to know more? Click the button to contact John.
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