Great Article: The Upside of Dyslexia

As many of you know, Dyslexia isn't a new disorder, there have been evidence of "word blindness" documented centuries ago.  But his news you may find very surprising!  The latest findings on dyslexia are leading to a new way of looking at the condition: not just as an impediment, but as an advantage, especially in certain artistic and scientific fields. According to the full article found at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/the-upside-of-dyslexia.html?_r=1&ref=dyslexia. I'm sure each of you already heard enough about dyslexia being a complex disorder, and there is much that is still not understood about it. But did have you heard a series of ingenious experiments have shown that many people with dyslexia possess distinctive perceptual abilities? For example, scientists have produced a growing collection of evidence that people with dyslexia have sharper peripheral vision than others. Two scientists names Mr. Geiger and Mr. Lettvin at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that in an experiment when a mechanical shutter, called a tachistoscope, was used to flash a row of letters, typical readers identified the letters in the middle of the row with greater accuracy. Those with dyslexia triumphed, however, when asked to identify letters located in the row’s outer reaches.  This isn't the only study that shows individuals with dyslexia having an advantage in absorbing the "visual gist" as scientists call it.  I highly encourage each of you to see the full article, it truly is amazing!  We will go over this in class so please make sure you are familiar with it. If you woud like to read more on this topic, or are sceptic here is a scholarly article with supporting evidence: http://cbcl.mit.edu/people/geiger/vision_res_2004.pdf.