The Gift of "Dyslexic Thinking"

A study conducted in Great Britain examined potential cognitive gifts of neurodivergent, or 2e people possess.  It found, in fact dyslexic thinkers are our future.  

In the context of the study, We are not talking about a reading disorder, but rather a way of interacting with the world.

Dictionary.com defines dyslexic thinking as, "“…an approach to problem-solving, assessing information and learning often used by people with dyslexia that involves pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, lateral thinking and interpersonal communications” 

Dyslexic thinkers  possess the innate ability to see the big picture, to have the big ideas that will become the most valuable commodity in our future. 

The idea of dyslexic thinking has become accepted by many industries and businesses as a strength and certainly not as a disabling condition.  LinkedIn has included the term as an option for people to mark as a strength.

Here is a link to a report on the study: https://www.madebydyslexia.org/MBD-Intelligence-5.0-Report.pdf

And here is information on strategies for 2e learners: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1185416.pdf

Summary

The episode redefines dyslexia as "dyslexic thinking," a cognitive profile with strengths like pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, and lateral thinking. A study by Made by Dyslexia, supported by Microsoft and LinkedIn, links these traits to skills demanded in the AI era. Advances in AI are reducing the impact of traditional weaknesses such as slow processing speed, making dyslexic strengths more valuable.

Key takeaway

Redefining Dyslexia as Dyslexic Thinking

Dyslexic thinking reframes dyslexia from a reading disorder to a cognitive profile with valuable strengths.

The concept is defined as an approach involving pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, lateral thinking, and interpersonal communication, first recognized by dictionary.com. 

The study "Dyslexic Thinking 5.0" by Made by Dyslexia, involving Microsoft, LinkedIn, and GCHQ, focuses on strengths associated with dyslexia rather than deficits. 

Cognitive Profile of Dyslexic Thinkers

Dyslexic thinkers often display a "spiky" IQ profile with high visual-spatial skills and lower processing speed or working memory.

Such individuals may struggle with fluent reading but excel at complex puzzles, Lego, or visual instructions. 

Lateral thinking, defined as indirect and creative problem-solving, is a key strength, synonymous with "thinking outside the box". (Host quoting Wikipedia)

Relevance of Dyslexic Thinking in the AI Era

AI technologies are reducing the need for traditional literacy and arithmetic skills, making dyslexic strengths more prominent.

Examples include advanced text readers and reading pens, as well as AI-generated meeting notes that organize information and action steps

The host notes that processing speed and working memory become less of a disability and more of a minor annoyance in an AI-assisted environment. 

Thanks to Soundimage.org for the free access to the AI generated music used in this podcast (https://soundimage.org/) 

Transcript

There has begun to be a re-framing of what dyslexia means that goes beyond a reading disorder to encompass a much wider range of traits, many of which are essential in our changed environment, due to AI.

For this podcast, I am using a study that was conducted by an organization called Made by Dyslexia, a charity in Great Britain. 

The study is called Dyslexic Thinking 5.0 (a new school of thought…) A number of organizations including Microsoft, LinkedIn and GCHQ, which is British Intelligence, were involved.

The purpose was to look at dyslexia not as a disabling condition but widening the view to include what strengths may be associated with it. And further, they equated those strengths with the most in-demand skills that are and will be most important in the coming decades.

In the context of this study the term dyslexic thinking can be thought of as an umbrella idea that encompasses terms such as twice exceptional or 2e, oe neurodivergent.  In fact, a dyslexic thinker can be a fluent reader and a highly competent user of language!  It’s a cognitive profile that defies many prior labels.    

The study used as a premise that dyslexic thinkers’ neurological profiles are much more complex and nuanced that had been thought previously.  

Let’s look for a minute at who and what is driving this idea of dyslexic thinking.  

There has been a movement, primarily from tech companies, to better quantify and define the range of skills that dyslexics bring to a work environment.

For instance, Dictionary.com became the first to include “dyslexic thinking” as a definable term.  Their definition is, “…an approach to problem-solving, assessing information and learning often used by people with dyslexia that involves pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, lateral thinking and interpersonal communications”.

A good way to illustrate what this means is to look at the actual learning profiles that are described as dyslexic thinking.  This is a person who is often referred to as having a “spiky profile” on IQ and other assessments.

IQ related areas like processing speed, verbal comprehension and working memory control the speed and accuracy with which a person responds to their environment.  Dyslexic thinkers may have lower than average scores in one or more of these cognitive areas.  

But strong visual spatial skills are very common in dyslexic thinkers. Scores that are in the top percentiles in visual spatial skills is often accompanied by low processing speeds or working memory.

This creates a profile where a student may struggle to become a fluent reader, but is solving complex puzzles, or is a Lego champ, or can look at a design or visual instruction and get it right away.

One of the major strengths that this profile exhibits is in the definition, “pattern recognition, spatial reasoning and lateral thinking.”

Lateral thinking can be a significant skill for dyslexic thinkers.  Here’s the definition from Wikipedia, “,,,a manner of solving problems using an indirect and creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. (This is) synonymous to thinking outside the box…”

In other words, dyslexic thinkers are big thinkers who see things in potentially novel and constructive ways.

Conversely, a linear thinker usually has consistent IQ scores over the range of skills tested. 

How this fits in with AI is that it will alleviate the need for dyslexic thinkers to have to be fluent readers, or accurate note takers, or good at arithmetic.  Processing speeds and all the rest becomes much less important, more of an annoyance than a disability.

A good example is the improvement in text readers and reading pens over the past few years. What was once a toy for children now is a sophisticated piece of technology.

AI generated notes from meetings is another example.  They organize the information from the meeting, has action steps and lots of other helpful features for people who have problems reading, processing and organizational weaknesses.

Dyslexic thinking is just another example of twice exceptional people having gifts that we are now discovering the value of.