Factual or declarative memory can also be divided into two major branches. The first branch of factual memory is episodic or personal memory, which we described in detail in chapter 16. This is memory for things as they’ve been personally experienced, or imagined as experiences. Episodic memories are typically recalled as mental scenes that are reconstructed in the mind using bits of past personal experience.
Semantic or impersonal memory, the second branch of factual memory, contains information in a form that’s noncontextual or unrelated to specific experiences. Semantic memories are typically more like abstract definitions than examples.
As we’ve written earlier, in our experience most—but not all—individuals with dyslexia favor episodic over semantic memory. Knowing which form of factual memory a student prefers can greatly help with learning. For example, students with a strong episodic memory often remember facts better when they couch them in story format, whether the stories are real or fanciful (like Blake Charlton using fanciful narratives to represent the periodic table). Individuals with strong episodic memories also tend to remember information better when they think in terms of cases or examples rather than abstract or noncontextual definitions. In contrast, students who favor semantic memory will do best when they can “boil down” specific examples into general principles or underlying themes.
Attention, the fourth system component, is often spoken of as if it were a single function, but it is actually a complex combination of different subsystems. Many students with dyslexia will struggle with some aspects of attention in certain situations, so it’s important for these students to understand how attention works in order to troubleshoot their areas of challenge.
One of the key components of attention is working memory, which we’ve already discussed. Individuals with relatively small working memory capacities (including many individuals with dyslexia) often experience lapses in attention during tasks that place heavy demands upon working memory. What’s actually happening is that they’re experiencing a breakdown in attention because their working memory is being overwhelmed. This type of working memory overload and attention breakdown also occurs often in individuals with procedural memory inefficiencies because they must perform many more tasks than most people using conscious focus and working memory, since these tasks have not yet become automatic.
Other key components of the attention system include sustained attention, or the ability to remain focused on a task for long periods of time, and selective attention, which is the ability to focus on one thing and to resist distractions. Attention is also heavily affected by factors like motivation and interest, temperament (especially resistance to frustration), and difficulties with information input and output.
Understanding attention is important because many students with dyslexia show big differences in their ability to focus on information of different kinds or in different formats or in different settings. By optimizing the form and setting of the learning experience, students with dyslexia can often greatly improve their attention and learning.
When all four of these learning components—input, output, memory, and attention—are optimized in this way, the effect on learning can be truly dramatic. We discuss these learning components and the ways in which they can be optimized in detail in The Mislabeled Child.1
Reading and Writing. Just as no one should go exploring in the wilderness without the necessary supplies, no student with dyslexia should enter college without a fully developed plan for dealing with the inevitable reading and writing requirements. Students with dyslexia should begin to develop this plan in high school, and it should include steps both to build their skills in reading and writing and to familiarize themselves with the accommodations and technologies they’ll need to succeed in college. We’ve discussed reading and writing at length in previous chapters, so we won’t repeat all that information here. However, we strongly encourage all college-bound students with dyslexia to carefully consider that material and make sure they develop the skills and identify the technological assists and other accommodations they’ll need to succeed in college. The students with dyslexia who thrive in college are proactive and head off problems before they occur. Often there won’t be time available to address these challenges in the middle of a busy college term.
Organization and Time Management. Staying organized and using time efficiently are also key components to achieving success in college. Traditional methods of keeping organized and on schedule, like checklists, whiteboards, Day-Timers, and sticky notes, can all be helpful. Even more valuable for many of today’s increasingly “wired” and “plugged-in” students are the newer technologies that provide reminders through computers or cell phones, or desktop timers for computers that help improve time awareness and focus during tasks. Examples of these technologies are listed in Appendix A. Suggestions for other devices can also be found at the Lifehacker website (www.lifehacker.com) or on our website (http://dyslexicadvantage.com).
Peer Support. As students mature, their relationships with friends become an increasingly important source of support and self-esteem. Unfortunately, only a few of the individuals with dyslexia we interviewed received support from other dyslexic individuals during high school or college. Most remembered those years as a time of isolation and loneliness when they felt separated from the “normal” students by their academic struggles and from other individuals with dyslexia because they were “mainstreamed” into regular education classrooms and had no way of identifying each other.
However, one of our interviewees found his life so wonderfully transformed by the supportive community of other students with dyslexia whom he met in college that the chief mission of his life has become extending that support to other students with dyslexia. David Flink described his early years of schooling this way: “As a kid I always remember feeling alone. Until I got diagnosed with dyslexia in fifth grade, I just felt dumb. The words on the pages didn’t make sense to me. Then in fifth grade I was diagnosed, and I started going to a school specifically for kids with learning disabilities.”
While that school taught David how to read and write, after two years he was returned to a general education classroom, where he again felt isolated. That sense of isolation continued until he enrolled as a freshman at Brown University. There his life began to change in a way that he’d never imagined. “Prior to enrolling at Brown, I’d never known anyone else who felt and seemed really smart but who also had a learning disability, because everyone I’d known with learning disabilities had lost so much self-esteem that they didn’t feel smart at all.”
But at Brown, David found an entire community of smart individuals with challenges like dyslexia and ADHD. “When I showed up at Brown, the first week of school the disability office held a meeting for all students with learning disabilities, and at that meeting I met a phenomenal group of people. We immediately bonded and started hanging out together. We quickly realized that one thing we shared was that we’d all been told in one way or another that college wasn’t in the cards for us—yet here we all were. So we created what we jokingly named the ‘LD/ADHD Mafia’ [for “learning disability”/“attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder”]. It was our own version of a ‘secret society,’ and we shared each other’s gifts and skills and supported each other when it came time to ask for accommodations. That community helped us realize that we weren’t broken, but that the system was broken. Embracing my own identity as someone who had a learning difference—and using that identity in a positive way—was huge for me. That was how I first realized that dyslexia could be an advantage.”
David and his friends benefited so much from their community that they began to realize that other students with learning challenges could also benefit from similar communities. From this realization, Project Eye-to-Eye was born. This is a nonprofit organization (www.projecteyetoeye.org) that David cofounded with fellow dyslexic and “Mafia” member Jonathan Mooney. (Jonathan is also coauthor of the wonderful book Learning Outs
ide the Lines, which has become a classic resource for college-bound students with learning challenges.2) It is a mentoring program that pairs college students with learning challenges who’ve successfully learned how to learn with struggling secondary school students, so the older students can come alongside and support with advice and encouragement. As David explained, “We realized that it was important to go back and tell younger students that they can be successful and make it to college, too. When you’re in college, there’s an innate coolness about you for younger kids: you’re only one educational leap above them, and when you actually go to them and say, ‘You could be like us,’ they can actually reach out and touch you and see that you’re real, and that’s incredibly powerful for them. So the experience of going and mentoring these kids and giving them a different message than they were currently receiving was incredibly life changing not only for them but also for us.”
Project Eye-to-Eye has grown rapidly in the years since David and Jonathan established the program. Currently, there are chapters at forty universities and colleges across the nation, with more being added all the time. Even for schools without a chapter, parents, teachers, administrators, and dyslexic students can learn from Project Eye-to-Eye about the importance of building community among students with dyslexia.
Applying to College: Special Considerations for Students with Dyslexia
When students with dyslexia decide to attend college, they should approach this transition with careful planning and strategy. Some of this planning should start as early as middle school. The following points are important to keep in mind.
Choosing the Right College, at the Right Time, for the Right Reasons. Students with dyslexia should choose their college as practically and dispassionately as possible. Each college should be evaluated for the help it can provide in reaching further goals, rather than approached as if getting in and going to that particular school were the goal in itself.
Factors Affecting School Choice. For most students with dyslexia, the margin between success and failure at college is thin, so questions of school prestige, family tradition, or social life should all take a backseat to whether a particular school will provide the necessary supports and services. When applying to schools, students with dyslexia should be honest and open with admissions officers about their needs, and they should also be critical in evaluating the responses they receive. Schools that are good environments for students with dyslexia will have a clear support system in place for these students.
Campus visits are also important to make sure that the reality on the ground matches the website rhetoric. Students with dyslexia should speak directly to staff at the disability resource center and to at least one—and preferably more—student with dyslexia who works with the center.
A good resource center should provide technology supports like text readers or recordings, help in obtaining classroom accommodations, access to notes, assistance with organization, tutors, proofing and correcting papers, advice on scheduling and instructors, and help in making contact with other students with dyslexia. Students with dyslexia should also ask about faculty attitudes toward accommodations (especially in the area of a contemplated major). If a school doesn’t have a consistent and easily demonstrated record of helpfulness in all these areas, look elsewhere. Students with dyslexia almost always have a better experience at less prestigious colleges that show a greater commitment to helping them succeed than at more prestigious schools that are less committed to their support.
Helpful lists of schools with exceptional disabilities services offices are available through the American Educational Guidance Center (www.college-scholarships.com/learning_disabilities.htm). Many students with dyslexia have also found that Loren Pope’s books Colleges That Change Lives and Looking Beyond the Ivy League provide helpful information about schools that are especially nurturing for students who require more personal connection to thrive in their education.3
An additional question for those looking to attend a four-year college is whether to attend a smaller private institution or a larger (typically state-run) university. Each can have advantages and disadvantages for students with dyslexia, and determining which provides the best fit ultimately depends upon the particular needs of the student. However, there are several typical differences that may be helpful to consider.
Larger schools often have fewer standard requirements and more options for fulfilling the requirements they do have. This greater flexibility provides students with more opportunities to select classes and instructors that better meet their needs. Larger schools also typically provide more opportunities for earning credits for independent research or practical projects, and this can allow students to avoid some coursework. Larger schools also tend to feature more courses that are geared toward providing practical career training, and this “real-world” focus can appeal to some students with dyslexia.
Smaller schools, by contrast, often provide a greater sense of community, which means students are less likely to simply become “lost.” Students also typically have more direct interaction with instructors, and class sizes are often smaller. Both factors promote more back-and-forth discussion and person-to-person learning, which many students with dyslexia prefer.
Another important factor that distinguishes many large and small schools is the kinds of tests and assignments they give. Larger schools typically have large classes, which generally means more standardized tests (often multiple choice) and fewer essays or papers. Smaller schools tend to show the opposite pattern, requiring more written work. Either format may be preferred by different students, but knowing which format is the best fit for a particular student can be helpful when selecting a school.
When to Start College. The transition to college may come right after high school, or it may be made later. Because of the late-blooming developmental pattern many individuals with dyslexia follow, some students who’ll eventually thrive in college may not be ready by age eighteen. Students who don’t yet show the focus, drive, or motivation to enter college at eighteen may benefit from a few years off to work, attend part-time classes, serve in the armed forces, travel, or join a service organization before entering college as a full-time student. These experiences often help to focus career plans as well as to develop maturity and character, and many students find that they enjoy and excel at work in the real world more than coursework.
For some students with dyslexia, the transition to college can be gradual rather than all at once. Many students with dyslexia find that taking a full college load right after high school is too much, but a half or three-quarters load is quite doable. Often these students find that a part-time college program that is stretched over six or seven years works quite well for them. Students who are intellectually capable of high-level work but who still struggle with the speed or organization needed for heavy course loads often do well pursuing a part-time college schedule right from the beginning.
A gradual transition from high school to four-year college may also involve taking courses at a junior college. This is an especially good option for students who have difficulty motivating themselves for courses outside their core areas of interest. Junior college allows these students to take the entry-level courses they need outside of their major in settings where the competition and grading may not be as intense and where they can take fewer courses per term. Students with dyslexia also often enjoy taking entry-level or survey-type courses in a less competitive junior college environment because these courses—with their extensive reading lists, broad but shallow approaches, and emphasis on memorizing details rather than mastering big-picture concepts—often stress their weakest skills, putting them at a particular disadvantage to the “A students” who are typically in heavy supply at four-year colleges. Many junior colleges also offer online courses that are easier to balance with work schedules.
Students with dyslexia who still need to improve their academic and organizational skills before attempting a conventional colleg
e program may benefit from attending a junior college that has special programs geared to helping students with dyslexia. The first accredited junior college established specifically to prepare students with dyslexia for advanced schooling was Landmark College in Putney, Vermont (www.landmark.edu). Landmark offers a variety of programs to prepare students with dyslexia and other learning challenges in the basic academic skills that are required for success in higher education, including reading and writing, executive function and organization, self-help skills, and the use of assistive technologies. More than half the students who enroll full-time at Landmark have previously attended other colleges, where they have struggled with their coursework. At Landmark, the focus is on building the skills these students will need to transfer back to a four-year college. Some students attend Landmark for as little as one academic term or for the summer, but many attend programs that extend for as long as two years. Often students earn transferable college credits while at Landmark.4
Another college that focuses exclusively on educating students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities is Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida (www.beaconcollege.edu). Like Landmark, Beacon offers two-year associate in arts degrees, but it also offers four-year bachelor of arts degrees as well.
While some students with dyslexia require extra preparation before attending college, some highly capable dyslexic students may find college to be easier and more interesting than high school, and they thrive with early entry. In general, these students are highly motivated, goal-oriented self-starters with strong self-advocacy skills and good support at home. One of the individuals we interviewed, Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Matthew Schneps, followed this path. He took advantage of a program that let New York City high school juniors matriculate at City College of New York. According to Matt, “That opened the world to me. All of a sudden I went from typical high school testing, where they’re just seeing how well you can memorize things, to people caring about your ideas and how you can put them together; so getting out of the school system was very helpful for me.” Many bright students with dyslexia find college easier than high school because of the greater freedom it offers to focus on areas of strength and avoid areas of weakness. Finally, many colleges provide better disability support services than many high schools, which is obviously an advantage for these students.
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