Stealth Dyslexia
In Gifted Children
How Dyslexia Presents—
And Often Evades Detection—
In Some Of Our Brightest Students.
Brock Eide M.D. M.A. and Fernette Eide M.D.
MislabeledChild.com

Why Discuss Gifted Dyslexics?
• Exciting Children!
• Misunderstood
• Unnecessary suffering
• Incredible talent left on the table
• Accumulation of lifetime struggle
• Lots of them!
• Need to further explore the link of dyslexia
and talent.

Gifted Dyslexics:
Long Recognized
―In 1896, in the first description of developmental reading
disability in the medical literature, it was noted that a certain
student could not learn to read in spite of ―laborious and
persistent training.‖ However, his headmaster observed that
this student ―would be the smartest lad in the school if the
instruction were entirely oral.‖ The study of reading disability
has frequently considered the often striking inconsistencies
between high intelligence and ability coupled with surprisingly
poor reading and writing skills. However, most research to
date has focused mainly on the obvious problems to be
corrected rather than the hidden potential to be identified and
developed.‖
Thomas G. West, The Abilities Of Those With
Reading Disabilities

Dyslexia and Talent
in Popular Literature
―Roger Scatcherd had also a reputation…He was known as the
best stone-mason in the four counties…As a workman, indeed,
he had a higher repute even than this:he was not only a good
and very quick stone-mason, but he had also a capacity for
turning other men into good stone-masons: he had a gift of
knowing what a man could and should do; and, by degrees, he
taught himself what five, and ten, and twenty—latterly, what a
thousand and two thousand men might accomplish among
them: this, also, he did with very little aid from pen and paper,
with which he was not, and never became, very conversant.‖
Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne

Historical Research On
Dyslexia and Talent
• Edison, Faraday, Patton, etc.
• Schwablearning website
• Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia

Vicious Circle For
Gifted Dyslexics
• When reading—especially reading comprehension—
is obviously impaired, the dyslexia is easier to spot
but the gifts may be missed. [TC]
• When reading comprehension is strong, the gifts
may be identified but the dyslexia will often be
missed, and difficulties attributed to inattention,
underperformance, etc.
• But reading comprehension is a poor indicator of a
dyslexic processing style in many gifted children, as
it was for Michael…

Michael
• 11 y.o. boy from a small Midwestern town.
• Very bright, but had surprising difficulty early
in school learning to read.
• Easily mastered letter names and sounds, but
struggled with decoding.
• In second grade, something ―clicked‖ and silent
reading comprehension skyrocketed.
• In third grade, top reading group in class, and
consistently scored in 90%ile in reading
comprehension tests.
• So, where‘s the problem…?

Michael
Despite strong comprehension of longer passages,
Michael showed:
• Poor word-by-word decoding.
• Impaired oral reading.
• Difficulty reading short succinct sentences like story
problems in math or instructions on tests.
• Severe difficulties with spelling.
• Incredible difficulties with handwriting.
• ―Careless mistakes‖ in math.

Michael
Even writing the alphabet was difficult:
Notice his problems forming cursive f, k, o, q.
On printing, notice awkward forms like a, k, m, n, q, u; the
wandering line; and g substitution for j.
When writing whole sentences, the problem got worse…

Michael
Written
copy
Free
writing
Notice the problems with margins, spacing, spelling, consistent
letter formation, and the use of conventions like capitals and
periods.
Some problems persisted even with keyboarding…

Michael
Story in the 5th Grade,
by keyboard:
―On a planet farfay awaw There was a
youno man by the name of uragoner who
set of for the edges of his planet in surch of
the plantes bengines. His cutter had mot
alwalec peen on This planet.‖
Instead of reflecting his interesting, intelligent, and often humorous
thoughts, Michael‘s writing was much poorer in form and content
than his speech, which made him embarrassed and self-critical…

Michael
A post-it note
Michael attached
to one of his
spelling pre-tests
where he missed
nearly all of the
items.
• By fifth grade, Michael‘s ability to cope was exhausted.
• He repeatedly called self stupid and dumb, and began hitting
himself on his head, saying he deserved to be punished for being
so stupid.
• Gifted dyslexic and private school headmaster J. William
Adams: ―There‘s nothing worse than being told to do
something you can‘t do, then to be asked, ‗Have you really done
your best?‘‖

Michael
The school proposed a
number of explanations for
Michael‘s difficulties:
a) Inattentive and careless,
b) Not trying hard enough, or
c) Unrealistic expectations: too smart to have a disability,
but not smart enough to do any better.
Their bottom line: Because Michael wasn’t actually
failing, he didn’t have a “learning disability” and
didn’t qualify for special help.

Michael
In Reality: Energetic, Painstaking, and REALLY SMART
VIQ 137 PIQ 119
Vocab 17 Obj As 14
Comp 17 Pc Com 13
Simil 16 Pc Arr 13
Arith 16 BD 13
Infor 15 Cod 11
Dig Sp 15 SS 11
Rokenbok
Goal in Life: Engineer

“The Beginning of Wisdom
Is Calling Things
By Their Right Name”:
-- Ancient Chinese Proverb
Michael is a perfect example of why the
kinds of labels we apply to children
matter, and of the truth of the
statement with which we open our
book.

Stealth Challenges: Michael
• In Michael‘s case, the struggle was with what we call
―stealth dyslexia.‖
• Michael was a perfect example of a child with ―stealth
challenges‖—or problems that evade the usual ―radar of
detection.‖
Michael needed help with the way his brain processed sound,
visual, and sensorimotor information, and he needed to learn
how to use his many strengths to overcome his weaknesses.

The Mislabeled Child
Michael shows how learning challenges aren‘t just issues
for children formally identified as needing special
services, but are often present in children who aren‘t
identified as having specific learning challenges, yet
show:
• Underachievement relative to intelligence
• Inattention or apparent carelessness
• Disorganization
• Anxiety, depression, or withdrawal
• Social or behavioral difficulties
To learn to call problems like Michael’s by their right name,
We must understand how dyslexia presents in gifted children.

How Dyslexia Presents in Gifted Children

OUR USUAL
DEFINITION OF GIFTEDNESS:
A talent for creating difficulties
in ways that suggest promise.

Our Study
Our Gifted Clinic Population
• National Referral Population: Early College Entrants,
Stanford EPGY, some Davidson Fellows.
• In-State Often Computer or Engineering Industry Parents
(Microsoft, Boeing in the Seattle WA Area)
• Neurology and Neuropsychology Assessments
• IQ Testing – WPPSI, WISC III, WISC IV, SBLM
• Gifted dyslexics: at least 3 Ceiling scores 16-19 on IQ Subtests
• 15 Children in study.

Gifted Dyslexics
Gifted Student Interests Gifted Non-Dyslexics
100
90 Building
80
70
Reading
Percentage
60
50
40 Writing
30
20
10
0

Surprising Verbal Strengths of Gifted Dyslexics
Gifted Dyslexics
18
16
14
IQ Subtests
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Vocab Inf VCm BD Sim PA Arith PC CD OA DS
Gifted Dyslexics Defy the ―Matthew Effect‖

The Verbal Paradox of Gifted Dyslexics
• Most Linguistic Functions Not Impaired
• Language Strengths: Higher Order Language
• Excellent Verbal Fund of Knowledge & Reasoning
• Many Enjoy Writing or Creating Stories – But
Oral Storytellers or Help with Dictating Stories
Highest: Vocabulary, Information, Verbal Comprehension
Many are Voracious Silent Readers
Some Voracious Book Listeners
―He is almost addicted to having me read to him…‖

The Visual Paradox of Gifted Dyslexics
• Gifted with Spatial Construction, Strong
3D Mental Rotation Abilities
• Strong Visual / Multimodal Imagery
Multimedia
• Yet…Weak Visual 2D Perception / Memory
Mirror Reversal Errors, Errors on Formal Visual Memory Tests
7 yo Ent
Drawing Writing Name in Mayan Glyphs

Paradoxical Performance Weakness of Gifted Dyslexics
18
16
14
12
IQ Subtests
10
8
6
4
2
0
Vocab Inf VCm BD Sim PA Arith PC CD OA DS
Green: Performance Subtests

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
S pe
100
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
llin
g S pe
Re a llin
d A lo g
ud Re a
Wri
dA
te lou
A lp
hab
Wri
te A d
et lph
Non
s
Non abe
ens
e Wo
s en t
rd se
Sen
Wo
ten rd
ce P ho
Cop
y nol
ogy
P ho Sen
nol
ogy t Co
Vis
Vis py
Vig Vig
ilan
ce ilan
Vis ce
Infe Me
ren
ce Re a mo
din ry
Vis gC
Mem om
ory Com p
Li s ple
ten xS
S um
m Pic e nt
Li s
ture
ten Nam
Com
p
Li s
Gifted Dyslexics
ten
Pic S um
ture
Nam Ra p m
Dyslexics, Non-Gifted
id N
Ra p am
id N
am Infe
Re a ren
d ing Li s ce
Com
p ten
Com
Dig
it Spa Dig p
n it S
Com pan
Good
ple
xS
e nt
Good
Impaired
Impaired
High IQ Changes How Dyslexia Presents

SENSITIVE SIGNS (>85%) OF DYSLEXIA
IN OUR SAMPLE OF GIFTED CHILDREN
ON OUR NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EXAM

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Spe
llin
g
Re a
d A lo
ud
Wri
te A lp
hab
et
Non
s en
Sensitive
se Wo
rd
Sen
ten
ce
Cop
y
Pho
nol
og y
Vis
Vig
ilan
ce
Infe
ren
ce
Vis
Mem
ory
Lis
ten
Gifted Dyslexics
S um
m
Lis
ten
Com
Pseudoword Decoding p
Re a
din
g Com
p
Dig
it Spa
n
Spelling, Read Aloud, Write Alphabet,
Com
p le x
Good
Se n
t
Impaired

IMPAIRED WRITTEN ALPHABET:
Surprising Sensitivity
Omissions, substitutions, malformations, reversals, slow,
sequence.
10 y.o. boy
SBLM 172
11 y.o. boy
VIQ 137
16 y.o. boy
SBLM > 150

Lack Of Automaticity In
Written Expression Leads
To A Marked Disparity
Between Written And Oral
Expression
\"Kids stealing cookies, acedants adout to haten. The mother is not
aware. Dads out. The mom is clearly some wer els. shye gona ned a
mop. I think this can be clarafide as adi...\"
16 y.o. gifted male college student, SBLM>150,
grades in most recent semester, A, A, B.

…SAME YOUNG MAN, ORAL DESCRIPTION
\"We've got kids stealing cookies and water overflowing from the sink.
It appears that Dad is not home and the mom is clearly distracted,
and it looks like the kid is about to fall off the stool. This family is
clearly very dysfunctional. It looks like they own a fairly big house.
That driveway stretches on a long way.\"

READ ALOUD
Word and line skips, substitutions, elisions, additions:
• are about to become/will soon be
• poison/poisons, sea/seas, chemicals/chemical,
liquid/liquids
• gave her/gather
• Mary/May
• microscopic/microsoftic
• endangered/elder aged,
• tolerance/tole-ace,
• most of the time their/most of their
Most of these children were not previously identified as
having a reading problem because of strong silent
comprehension.

NONSENSE/PSEUDOWORD READING
• squive: skwerve/squivvey
• kelb: kwelb/kleb
• schnapp: suchkwakannap/sachannap
―I try to memorize what words look like so I
don‘t have to sound them out.‖
--Michael

How Words May Come Out When
―Memorized‖ Without Relation to Sound
\"On a planet farfay awaw There was a youno man by
the name of uragoner who set of for the edges of his
planet in surch of the plantes bengines. His cutter had
mot alwalec peen on This planet.\"
11 y.o. gifted boy with VIQ of 137

FREQUENT ACCOMPANIMENTS OF
DYSLEXIA THAT WERE NOT SENSITIVE
OR RELIABLE IN GIFTED CHILDREN
• Many Common Tests of Phonology*
(e.g., deletion/substitution, sound switching)
*(Nonsense words best, segmentation next best)
• Reading Comprehension: Often in superior range
• Rapid Word Recall and Rapid Naming
• Sentence Copy
• Visual Vigilance
• Visual Memory
• Receptive and Oral Expressive Syntax

What Accounts for these Differences?
First, fewer impairments in recall/retrieval:
• Only 15% gifted children had deficits in rapid picture
naming or rapid verbal recall, versus 50% non-gifted
dyslexics.
• Difficult for children with recall / retrieval deficits to
perform well on IQ tests.

What Accounts for these Differences?
Second, gifted dyslexic children often use strong
working memory abilities and complex cognitive
strategies that allow them to ―outthink‖ the test.
On Tests of phonology, like sound switching tasks
(e.g., pig Latin), sentence copy, and syntax, they
may use strong working memory abilities to
compensate for deficits in sound/auditory processing.

Cognitive Strategies
On tests of reading comprehension gifted children often
score surprisingly well despite problems with decoding
speed and single word accuracy, by using strong working
memory, analytic and inference skills, and outside
knowledge to tease out passage meanings (verbal closure).
• They may often show better comprehension on longer
versus shorter passages, or than on single words.
• Despite strong functional comprehension, they may fail
comprehension tests through misreading the questions
and answers, which generally have little redundancy and
context, rather than misreading the passages.

Common Profile In The Gifted:
Stealth Dyslexia
From Samuel Orton‘s:
Reading, Writing, and Speech Problems in Children (1937)
Based on research done at State Psychopathic Hospital, Iowa City, Iowa

Stealth Dyslexia: Reading
• Adequate or even strong silent reading comprehension—
especially of longer, context-rich passages.
• May struggle to read short, poorly contextual passages (e.g.,
test questions, answers, or instructions).
• Usually residual oral reading deficits (―guess and go‖, word or
line skips), and problems decoding new words (or pseudowords).
e.g., the Gray Oral Reading Test from one of our subjects is typical:
• Rate: 5%
• Fluency: 9%
• Comprehension: 75%

Stealth Dyslexia: Writing
• Poor spelling, though may recognize correctly spelled
words well enough to score adequately on standardized
tests of spelling recognition, and may remember well
enough for spelling tests.
• Usually messy or slow handwriting (cursive often especially hard).
• Each of the children whose writing samples were previously
presented reached at least 6th grade without being
diagnosed with reading problems, or being given help for
a learning disorder.
• Not surprisingly, appropriate educational placement is
often an issue.

Conventional School Often Hard for Gifted Dyslexics
Gifted Dyslexics Gifted Non-Dyslexics
Public School 13% 67%
Priv / Alt School 20% 13%
Homeschool 53% 20%
Community College 13% 0%
Gifted dyslexic children are particularly likely to
struggle in conventional educational settings,
since both the special nature of their gifts and
their challenges often go unrecognized

With Gifted Students Especially, A
Broader And More Dynamic
Understanding Of Dyslexia Is Needed
Dyslexia = Just A Reading Disorder
• For gifted children with dyslexia, reading
comprehension is typically not the biggest challenge.
• The essence of dyslexia is not the functional problem
with reading or spelling, but the variations in brain
organization and sensory and information processing
pathways that underlie these functional problems.
• All truly dyslexic children should have demonstrable
differences in sound and/or visual processing.

Not Just a Reading Problem:
Non-Reading Challenges in Dyslexia
• Handwriting and spelling
• Oral language (retrieval, organization, expression)
• Rote/semantic memory
• Sequencing
• Orientation to time
• Working memory
• Right-left orientation
• Auditory processing (mishearing, background noise)
• Visual processing
• Classroom attention and organization.
• Secondary social and emotional issues (self-esteem,
anxiety, depression, etc.)

The Potential Combinations
Of Strengths And Challenges Are
Unlimited
Each child‘s experience growing up with dyslexia will
be unique, and the teacher must must know how to
to handle that complexity.

How To Think About Gifted
Children With Dyslexia
The Five DyNaMITE
Perspectives
1. Development
2. Neurobiology (―wiring‖)
3. Motivation/Interest
4. Temperament
5. Experience

Development
The Long Course of Brain Development
Age 5
Age 20
Thompson, NIMH

Development
Different Time Course For
Development For Poor Decoders
With Good Language Skills
Weismer, U Wisconsin

Development
Brain Development Differs By IQ
The Higher the IQ, the More Delayed
Executive Function (Prefrontal) Maturation
Then Thicker Brain
Young Gifted Cortices in the Teen
Children Have Years
Thinner Cortices
Before the Age of 10
Giedd, NIMH
Delays may be especially pronounced for children with
sensory processing and motor coordination deficits.

Development
Development May Differ in Different Areas:
Gifted Brains are Often Asynchronous
―...unevenness is the rule among academically gifted
children, while global giftedness...is the exception‖
- Ellen Winner
WISC-III VIQ / PIQ Discrepancies – 18 Points or More
Control Sample 17.0 %
Gifted Sample 54.7 %
Unevenness is More Common with Higher IQ
Sweetland, Port Washington School District

Development
Gifted Dyslexic Children:
Early Elementary Problems
• Sound-symbol/phonics mastery
• Visual fixation and Eye Movement Control
• Letter formation and spelling
• Visual-spatial orientation (letter and figure)
• Rote, sequential, procedural memory
• Attention (Auditory, Visual, Difficult Tasks)
• Unitary Self-Concept

Development
Typical Early Reading Pattern
of Gifted Dyslexics
• May struggle to learn alphabet or sounds.
• Struggle to master phonics and decoding.
• Sudden ―aha!‖ moment (typically between late first
and third grade, but in some even later) that words can
be recognized by sight, with rapid progress thereafter.
• Subsequent neglect of phonics and true decoding
strategies with reliance on context and ―guess-and-go‖.
• Trouble with new words, poorly contextual or
confusingly written (or syntactically dense) passages.

Development
A Frequently Misunderstood
Aspect of Dyslexic Talent and
Development: Spatial Orientation
• By the time they reach adolescence, many dyslexics show
special spatial abilities (reading maps, plans, recognizing
impossible figures, etc.), but early on they are often especially
challenged at these tasks.
• Despite strong interests in building and design, they may
perform poorly on spatial tasks, often due to a tendency to
indiscriminately rotate objects in space.
• This may show up not only as special difficulties with letter
orientation, but in the context of orientation problems with
other visual-spatial tasks as well.

Development
Problems With Letter Orientation
―To dae at camdp wea
had are frst game time.
and artr wea I rot in
my diree. and are giten
rede to tacea nap. dut
de for tacea a nap.‖
Gifted 8 y.o. girl
• Some investigators believe this is due to problems with
binocular fixation and visual instability.
• Others suspect issues with hemispheric dominance or
communication.

Development
These Children Typically Struggle Not
Just To Write, But Also To Recognize,
The Proper Orientation—But Not Sound-Based

Development
Extends To Non-Lexical Tasks

Development
Same Girl, Spatial Rotations

Development
Same Girl, Sentence Copy

Development
Same Girl, Age 7

Development
Dysgraphia: Handwriting Impairments
• May present as very messy, or very slow handwriting.
• Slow handwriting (most common presentation in girls) often goes
unrecognized, and usually presents as difficulty completing work,
poor work output, or work resistance.
• May also present as ―dumbing down‖ of written work
• Often most easily diagnosed in comparison to oral output.
• Writing difficulties often extremely emotionally distressing.

Development
Dysgraphia
Important: Abnormal Grip A Sign of Deeper Problem:
Not Itself the Cause of Handwriting Impairments!
Usually means effort is way up and endurance will be low.

Development
Another Frequent Early Problem:
Rote Memory
• Spelling
• Times Table

Development
Using Color, Picture, and Auditory
Memory in Dyslexia
• Personal/Story Memory
• Picture, Color, Pattern
• Moms always dish up eats
• Maids always ignore dusting

Development
Math Memory
• Multiplication.com
• Multiplication in Minutes
• Addition the Fun Way

Development
Sequence and Time
• Rate, order, sequence, time
• Problems balancing and prioritizing information,
sensory, emotional, and motor signals.
• ―Time-Blindness‖: Tends to come on line the second
decade.
• Slow work output. Poor pacing.
• Especially stressed by timed tests.
• Gets better during adolescence.

Development
Late Elementary
To Middle School
• Spelling and Written Expression
• Oral Expression
• Organization/Attention
• Cynicism/Peer Acceptance
• Spatial abilities often become manifest

Development
Common Change in Spelling
Problems in Gifted Dyslexics
Porter, a very bright 9-year-old boy with a verbal IQ of nearly
140 described the above picture in the following way:
―The bay sole the cookie Jar. the Gul Push the bay.
The mam fooded the hane.‖

Development
Common Change in Spelling
Problems in Gifted Dyslexics
―the Boy is falling down
the gill is reche for the
cockis and the mom let
the wate for wasing the
disis overe flow becas
she is dring the clen
ones.‖
• 10 y.o. female, Johns Hopkins Center for Talented
Youth Talent Search Winner, scored above 80th
percentile for 6th graders in 4th grade on SCAT

Development
Common Change in Spelling
Problems in Gifted Dyslexics
\"I am a Typhoon and I am
on my way to Japan and
gathering spead. I mite be
the Typhoon that destrois
the mongls and their ships
on their second invashon of
Japan.... My stronggest
power is wind wich can
make trumendus waves
that can capsise even the
stronggest mongl ship.\"
11 y.o. boy, VIQ > 130

Development
Language Output Challenges
• Working memory overload (especially for writing).
• Word retrieval challenges.
• Difficulty with expressive syntax.
• Predominantly visual or non-verbal thinking style.

Development
Language Output
Non-Verbal Thinkers
\"The words of the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any
role in my mechanisms of thought. The physical entities which seem to serve as
elements in thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be
voluntarily combined.\"
Albert Einstein
• ―Big picture‖ non-verbal or highly associational imagery is right brain
dominant, and sequential ordering predominantly left brain.
• Non-verbal imagers often grow up to be very creative and innovative
thinkers and writers, but they must learn strategies for mediating the
productive interaction of these two brain regions.

Development
What the Right
and Left Brains
Think When They
See Words
In a partially split brain patient, the printed word ―knight‖ was flashed
in such a way that only one hemisphere at a time could see it.
• When the word flashed only to the left hemisphere, the
patient responded, ―It says ‗knight‘.‖
• When the word was flashed only to the right hemisphere, he
said, ―I have a picture in my mind but I can‘t say it… Two
fighters in a ring. Ancient wearing uniforms and helmets…
on horses trying to knock each other off… Knights?‖
Gazzaniga, Dartmouth

Development
These Children Often
Struggle With
Inter-Hemispheric
Cooperation
Signs of poor hemispheric interaction :
• Mixed cerebral dominance (e.g., hand and eye)
• Ambidexterity or late development of handedness.
• Mixed cerebral representation of functions.
• Left-right confusion.
• Difficulty with tasks involving alternating sides of body.
• Spatial-rotational ability/challenge.
• ―Late-blooming‖ profile.
• Expression can be improved by working in steps or stages.

Development
Family History:
Looking Ahead By Looking Back
Parents of Gifted Dyslexics
(Fathers and Mothers)
Spatial, Mathematical, Personal Communication
Engineering, Computers, Science, Economics 43%
Management, Business, Sales 25%
Other 4%
Pilot, Coach, Artist, Counselor, Veterinarian, Optometrist

Development
Family History: Engineering
• N: 10 yrs old. Dyslexia, dysgraphia, very high
IQ, language output slow, shy. Fascination with
building. Created complex drainage system for
boggy property. Question raised of Asperger
Syndrome. Grandfather…?
• D: 10 yrs old. Dyslexia, dysgraphia, very high
IQ, language output slow, shy. Fascination with
building. Turned backyard into water park.
Father…?

Development
Residual Challenges When
Decoding and Spelling Difficulties
Not Adequately Addressed
• 19 y.o. college sophomore, extremely talented writer,
flamboyantly poor speller. Made writing tutor by
professor. Racked with anxiety by her inability to spell.
• Diane McGinnis: R. who? Philosophy and math.
• New words, pronunciation, spelling, reading to learn.
• MCATs, Medical Boards, and silly mistakes.
• ―Imposter syndrome.‖
• Goal is to keep options open

Development
For Most Children With Dyslexia, the
Theme Song Should Be:
“Ti-i-i-me Is On My Side”
• Misusing the notion of a ―critical period‖ creates a sense of
desperation that‘s ultimately counterproductive. Most children
are not going to irretrievably ―miss the boat‖ and be left on the
dock. Ships keep coming, but undue worry can lead children to
abandon the idea of getting on board.
• Early attention to challenges is important, but avoid undue
anxiety to ―catch up to peers.‖ Dyslexia represents a different
developmental pathway rather than a defect in brain function.
• Alternative, not remediative, education.
• Undue pressure and concern can create adjustment reactions
(anxiety, opposition, aggression, self-doubt) that persist even after
the learning challenges have been mastered.

Perspective 3: Motivation and
Interest
• A child‘s motives, interests, and values can have
enormous influence on his or her learning and behavior.
• Strong interests should be used whenever possible to
enhance motivation, especially when children are
struggling.

Motivation and Interest
Motivation Requires Success
―Now that I can break
the second floor window,
I‘ll try for the third!‖
• Research has clearly shown that when children fail to achieve a
critical ratio of success in a particular activity, motivation
plummets and they simply stop trying. Huge problem for
handwriting, math, reading…
• Too often, struggling children are asked for unmakeable leaps
rather than small steps.

Motivation and Interest
Success Maintains
Motivation
• Challenges must be incremental rather than exponential,
especially for struggling children.
• Mental focus and persistence increase dramatically—even for
children who‘ve been diagnosed with ADHD—when they‘re given
meetable challenges.
• Children with dyslexia must achieve a higher level of attention to
perform the same tasks as other children (think of the difference
in attention required to drive the same stretch of twisty mountain
road on a clear day versus a rainy night—and the difference in
stress and fatigue that result).
• In most children, the desire to achieve mastery is natural; apathy
is learned.

Temperament
Perspective 4: Temperament
• Temperament is a child‘s ―emotional disposition‖; her style,
manner, or ―flavor‖ of responding behaviorally and emotionally
to the world.
• Temperament is part of a child‘s personality, which also includes
humor, intelligence, interests, and talents.

Temperament
What Adds Up to Trouble
The problem is not simply the traits themselves,
but the way the traits interact with the
environment:
Predisposition + Provocation = Response

Temperament
Warning!
• Prolonged failure to deal with mismatches between the child‘s
temperament and the environment (including academic
demands and the expectations of parents, teachers, or the child
him- or herself) can result in the development of behavioral
adjustment reactions.
• These reactions may consist of a fall in self-esteem, aggression,
oppositional behaviors, underachievement, anxiety, depression,
etc.

Temperament
Different melancholic/moody choleric/hot
Temperaments,
Different
sanguine/happy phlegmatic/droopy
Risks
Intensity is often the biggest personal risk:
• Intense introverts: anxiety, depression, withdrawal
• Intense extroverts: anger, opposition, aggression, anti-social
• Sensitive, intense, negative: perfectionistic
But calmer temperaments can also create struggles:
• Calm and introverted children can be passive
• Calm and extroverted can be to happy-go-lucky to struggle.

Perspective 5:
Experience—
The ―Art of
Autobiography‖
• Experience, as we‘ll use the term, is not simply an
objective record of past events, but the child‘s
interpretation of and responses to those events.
• In other words, the record is not biographical, but
autobiographical.
• A child‘s interpretive style plays an enormous role in
determining how he or she responds to experience.

Two Types of Interpretation
Research by Martin Seligman has extensively documented the two
different styles of interpreting experience, especially of failure:
• The pessimistic style attributes failure to factors that are
permanent, pervasive, personal, and that they are powerless
to affect in the future. Often see failure as inevitable, deserved,
or a punishment.
• The optimistic style attributes failure to factors that are temporary,
specific to the particular event rather than permanent or universal.
The optimistic style attributes failure to factors that were present
this time, but which with care can be avoided in the future.
• Optimism is trainable, and invaluable for prolonged effort.

Best Interventions
• Phonics (segmentation, discrimination): the challenge,
getting children to go back
• Reading fluency
• Spelling/Rote Memory
• Accommodations: Keyboard, Write Outloud, Oral
alternatives
• Focus on Strengths: Understand what adult dyslexics
are like; understand the adult job market (Inc., Fast
Company)
• Mentorship programs

Accommodations
The Right Accommodations
Get Kids Into Learning,
Not Out Of It!
• Accommodations are ways to
improve function and increase
achievement, not to avoid it!
• Accommodations can be
enabling and therapeutic!

Accommodations
Dysgraphia
Don‘t treat handwriting as the narrow route
along which all a child‘s work must pass
• Never let handwriting problems prevent progress in other areas!
• Accommodations like written notes, alternative forms of output
(e.g. keyboarding, scribing, oral presentations) can keep children
with dysgraphia learning to their full capacity.
• Practice handwriting as its own separate discipline.
• Don‘t push extended written expression too soon.

Accommodations
Gifted Dyslexic Boy
Before Using
―Write Outloud‖
Software
\"I am a Typhoon and I am on my way to Japan and gathering
spead. I mite be the Typhoon that destrois the mongls and their
ships on their second invashon of Japan.... My stronggest power
is wind wich can make trumendus waves that can capsise the
stronggest mongl ship.\"

Accommodations
Author of ―Mongl Invashon‖ after 2
years of ―Write Outloud‖
With Constant Feedback, Student Internalized Spelling Patterns

When to Suspect Dyslexia
in a Gifted Child
• Dysgraphia with poor spelling in a child with gifted-level oral
language abilities will usually be dyslexic.
• Verbally gifted children nearly always want to read in the
absence of underlying problems.
• If oral reading level or choice of reading materials doesn‘t match
verbal ability or cognitive/interest level, there‘s usually a problem.
• Gifted children with unexpected problems with reading, writing, or
spelling always require a comprehensive evaluation that looks at
auditory, visual, sensory-motor, language, and memory functions,
because appropriate intervention requires accurate assessment.

How To Think About Dyslexia
In Gifted Children:
Alternative, Not Remediative Education
Problem with the remediative education model:
These children aren‘t simply failing to develop along
the ―normal‖ pathway in a way that‘s diseased, disordered, or
delayed: they‘re developing along a different pathway that‘s
normal for them.
This pathway may predispose them to special success in a variety
of adult pursuits, but it typically requires different approaches
to learning to read, write, spell, etc., and different expectations
regarding the time course for acquisition of these skills.

The Mislabeled Child
Brock Eide M.D. M.A. and Fernette Eide M.D.
MislabeledChild.com
“The Mislabeled Child represents a significant step toward a
rethinking of our understanding of struggling children. It…will
enable us to customize education and parenting for children
whose minds work differently from most!‖
--Mel D. Levine, M.D., Author A Mind at a Time
―The best book we have read for a very long time. Highly
recommended.‖ Dyslexia Teacher