The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Smartest People Can't Read...and How They Can Learn, Revised and Expanded Edition Paperback – Illustrated, February 23, 2010

Ron Davis explains both the difficulties faced by people living with dyslexia in a world and school system dominated by English readers and the special gifts that many of them have. Since reading this, I've spoken with several dyslexics who were entirely unaware of their gifts. Well, actually, they were unaware that the rest of us don't have such gifts. These include a musician who learns entire choral scores, including all of the individual parts, while learning the one assigned, several individuals with incredible 3 dimensional spatial understanding, and others who seem to be able to leap to big-picture understandings of concepts while the rest of us are struggling to cope with the details. One day I mentioned Ron Davis's notion of seeing the letter shapes from multiple dimensions to one of these individuals. It sounded crazy to me, but I learned that this person had figured out how to freeze his perspective while reading, as a high school student, without understanding why no teacher had ever suggested that approach. He had no idea that all of us don't see objects from multiple dimensions in just the way Ron Davis described. If a parent or teacher had been aware of this mental behavior 10 years earlier, he'd have been spared a great deal of struggle and self-doubt.Kids with dyslexia in our school systems often learn to see themselves as stupid because reading English is such a challenge. In the schools where I work, I often see kids being called stupid by their peers for this reason. Thanks to this book and a few others, I can make a reasonably persuasive case that they are not stupid at all. Many of them are clearly very intelligent and need help discovering the talents they have, and currently but wrongly assume everyone else also has.From this book and my other reading I've become convinced that dyslexia is not a handicap in the same sense as blindness, deafness, or physical challenges. It is just a different variation in brain circuitry. Humans live in groups. Any group benefits from a diverse array of talents and dyslexia provides a different mix of talents than the more common trait. In ancient communities, people with dyslexia probably were the groups' best leaders, musicians, inventors, and artists. In modern society a dis-proportionally large percentage of the top scientists, musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, and geniuses have dyslexia.Ron Davis's methods may not be the magic bullet that enables every person with dyslexia to learn to read. Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz and The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock & Fernette Eide share other strategies. But this book offers valuable insight into the special gifts that often coincide with this pattern of brain development and insight into at least one way these valuable people may see the world. That alone is good reason for it to be read and re-read by every person with dyslexia and every person who cares about them. Hopefully, there is an audio-book version of it for those who haven't yet beaten the reading challenge.

If you have someone in your life with this disorder, I highly recommend you educate yourself if you are a non-dsylexic person. Our brains see things differently than theirs, but their minds are extremely brilliant, and they deserve to be listened to with the way their brains work. If you love them, help yourself by reading this book.

I bought the previous version of this book more than 8 years ago. I was 21, and although I would've been ashamed to have admitted it then, I hadn't read a single book cover to cover in my 21 years, including school assignments. I had really struggled in school through my entire childhood and teenage years, and nobody really understood why. I failed every English class in high school. I just wasn't able to read, and it was immensely frustrating. I tested very well, and was clearly intelligent. I got deeply involved in computer programming from a very early age, so my intelligence level was high enough. I could write in English just fine. Yet I still struggled. Nobody ever diagnosed me with dyslexia, but this book looked interesting, so I bought it on a whim.By the time I bought this book, I was doing well working in the computer industry, but I never really understood why I couldn't read. Well, to be clear, I could *read* and understand words; I wasn't illiterate by any means, but I found it impossible to get through more than a few pages of text. I had severe reading comprehension problems. My mind would read ahead, wander around, and mis-read things, and I would have to read and re-read the same text many times to really understand it (if I cared enough to learn it, as I did for computer programming).I read this book (slowly and painfully at first, as always), and had a bit of an epiphany. I have applied Mr. Davis's techniques using the "mind's eye", and in the past 8 years I have read literally hundreds of books cover to cover. I now love reading, and pick up a new book at least once a week.I still find myself struggling with my dyslexia if I am too tired, but that's the only time his techniques are not completely automatic. After years of practice, it's entirely automatic. I also (when possible) carefully choose printed books based on their typesetting (and choose the font on my computer carefully), which helps immensely as well -- I never knew that fonts and spacing could make such a difference before reading this book.Mr. Davis's explanations of the differences in the workings of the mind -- the way that dyslexics can comprehend three dimensional objects in a different way than non-dyslexics -- made so much sense to me. I've always had a very high aptitude for science, mechanics, and complex systems. I've had the ability to visualize all sides of three dimensional objects, with no effort, and I've always thought this was perfectly normal. Of course I wouldn't trade that ability, that aptitude, for normal reading. Just thinking of dyslexia as a different way of visualizing rather than a disorder is a huge leap in dealing with it.I know there are a number of negative reviews of this book, claiming that it's pseudoscience, there's no research, or that the techniques seem "silly". Personally, I don't care. The ability to read, to really read and comprehend (and quickly, at that!), has made such an enormous difference in my life that I recommend this book to everyone who will listen. If I had read this book when I was 10 years old rather than 21, I can't imagine how much it would've changed my early years.Please, if you have a child who is struggling through school but you know to be super smart, read this book and *try it*.Very gratefully indebted to Mr. Davis,Jeremy Cole

Very clear and concise on what can be an emotional and confusing subject. Not only does the auther (who is dyslexic) explain the symptoms fo dyslexia but many of the reasons behind those symptoms and the compensating behaviors that dyslexics will adopt in order to "survive" in school. The book then finishes with a series of drills to allieviate some of the more troublesome aspects of dyslexia.Reading and writing are always going to be difficlt for our daughter, but with this book I have gained some insight into how she thinks and how she grapples with the chore that is reading and writing. Just understanding some of the compensating mechanisms that she has adopted to cope with her reading/writing issues has helped us to help her tremendously.Finally, the auther stresses to not suppress or "harm" the tremendous benefits that a dyslexic mind can bring to a host of problem-solving and creative endeavors. The list of dyslexic super-achievers is long and illustrious and it is stems in part from their unique way they view the world and problems. The author stresses that becoming functional in reading and writing is certrainly attainable while retaining the gifts of creativitiy and outside-the-box problem-solving that many dyslexics excell out.Well worth the money and a quick and easy read.