Creativity Abounds with Trans Siberian Orchestra and Dyslexic Thinkers
My son, Kevin, works for Trans Siberian Orchestra, so when the winter tour rolled into town this weekend, I got to see both Kevin and the show!
TSO puts on a spectacular show. Having a bit of an inside track on how things work there, it is abundantly clear that it takes all kinds of talents and abilities to pull it off! Only brilliantly creative minds could have conceived such a show.
Some of the most creative individuals I have ever met were profoundly dyslexic. The out-of-the box, visual-spatial thinking style that can make learning to read so challenging is often exactly the type of thinking that fosters new ideas and creative, artistic talents.
One of our new students, a dyslexic 11-year old, can make such vivid mental images that her mind often transports her to a magical land of rainbows and unicorns. Unfortunately, this makes it hard for her to be mentally present to focus on her teacher or her work.
Another student, 8 years old and dyslexic, could not read or speak clearly when we met her, but she was able to draw and paint with astounding maturity.
Both of the girls, though very creative and talented, have experienced frustration and failure at school.
In spite of good intelligence and strengths in many other areas, dyslexic students can be completely confused or overwhelmed by print. They know they should be able to read and spell, but it simply eludes them no matter how hard they try.
It is traditionally believed that if you are dyslexic, you just have to live with it and find ways around it. It astounds me that this is still the common belief, when the research proving differently has been out there for over 30 years.
Students with dyslexia can learn to process the sounds in words in order to make sense out of phonics, and can gain control over their letter confusion and visual disorientation. We’ve seen it thousands of times and so many of our previously dyslexic students are now college graduates and successful adults.
But what of their talents? If we eliminate the dyslexia, will our students lose their creative abilities?
The answer is, “No.” What they will lose is the frustration of being smart but unable to perform as expected. The “disability” part of dyslexia can change while leaving the creative talents intact.
If you or your child struggle with dyslexia, learning, or attention challenges, things can change! While there are no simple, overnight solutions, dyslexia and most learning and attention challenges can be dramatically improved or completely corrected through developing the weak underlying skills that are causing the student to struggle and remediating the affected academic areas. Need to know more??
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“Helping smart but struggling students dramatically improve or completely correct their learning and attention challenges by developing the underlying learning skills that are not supporting the learner well enough.”
We serve children and adults with diagnosed or undiagnosed learning and attention challenges including learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADHD, auditory processing disorders, and autism spectrum disorders.
Jill Stowell, M.S.
Author: At Wit’s End A Parent’s Guide to Ending the Struggle Tears, and Turmoil of Learning Disabilities
Founder and Executive Director – Stowell Learning Centers
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