"Dyslexia is an upgrade. It allows you to do things others can’t. it gives you the unique ability to do things that others cannot. Dyslexia is the ability to recognize patterns and see patterns that other people can’t."
-Kerwin Rae, in The True Gift of Dyslexia
How imperative it is that we magnify these strengths rather than squash them with testing, benchmarks, expectations, and culture. As we focused on awareness, curiosity, intuition, photographic thinking, multisensory, and imagination through art I saw a new Andrew. Whether it was 15-60 minutes of hand-clapping games, writing poems about himself, creating with paint, moving our bodies to music, creating 3-D sculptures, etc. Andrew was able to shine. He was also able to relax, be comfortable in his own skin, and draw on his unique superpowers of intuition, curiosity, and awareness.
In the book The Gift of Dyslexia, Ronald D. Davis explains that “The mental function that causes dyslexia is a gift in the truest sense of the word: a natural ability; a talent.” Listing the following mental functions and possible abilities dyslexics share:
1. They can utilize the brain's ability to alter and create perceptions (the primary ability).
2. They are highly aware of the environment.
3. They are more curious than average.
4. They think mainly in pictures instead of words.
5. They are highly intuitive and insightful.
6. They think and perceive multidimensionally (using all the senses).
7. They can experience thought as reality.
8. They have vivid imaginations.
He explains that “These eight basic abilities, if not suppressed, invalidated or destroyed by parents or the educational process, will result in two characteristics: higher-than-normal intelligence and extraordinary creative abilities. From these the true gift of dyslexia can emerge-the gift of mastery.”