(***This blog is a revision of an earlier post.)
Understanding dyslexia is challenging, primarily because of the deeply embedded mythologies that we hold. Chief among them is “the reversal thing.”
To illustrate, try this experiment. With any friend or relative ask them, “What do you know of dyslexia?” With pretty good certainty I predict you will get the, “Isn’t that when,” response, as in “Isn’t that when you read upside down and backward?”
It happens every time.
Not sure how we all got so hypnotized to believe that mythology, but of the last 100 or so dyslexic kids I evaluated, not one of them showed any sign of reading upside down or backward.
A few years back when I was doing my School Struggles podcast series as a part of The CoffeeKlatch Network I had the honor of interviewing James (Jamie) Redford, a documentary filmmaker, who had directed the award winning film, “The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia.”
The interview centered on the struggles that Jamie and his wife, Kyle, had gone through in helping their son overcome his struggles with dyslexia.
James was warm, accessible and a pleasure to interview. I remember thinking at some point in the interview that I felt like I was talking with an old friend over a cup of coffee.
Sadly, James passed away in October of 2020 at the age of 58 from complications related to liver cancer.
In this replay of the interview, we think of Jamie and thank him for fighting the good fight.
Here is the interview:
Jamie Redford Interview: Rethinking Dyslexia
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