Dyslexia Explored

Welcome to another inspiring episode of the Dyslexia Explored, where we delve into dyslexia and social entrepreneurship. We are thrilled to host our special guests, Shelley Gregory-Jones from Allia, a prominent fund dedicated to social entrepreneurship, and Marina Pritchard, the program coordinator fostering social entrepreneurship at Allia. Join us as we unravel the nexus between dyslexia, entrepreneurship, and the strides Allia is making to create a nurturing and empowering environment for dyslexic individuals venturing into the world of entrepreneurship. 

In this enlightening conversation, we will be uncovering the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Allia, discussing the varied programs aimed at helping entrepreneurs overcome their growth barriers, and understand how these initiatives are designed with accessibility and inclusivity at the forefront. Learn how Allia is prioritizing the dyslexic community by creating an atmosphere where neurodiverse founders can unlock their potentials and thrive. This episode is sure to be an eye-opener for anyone interested in understanding how the entrepreneurial world can be tailored to accommodate the unique abilities of dyslexics.

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Welcome to a fresh episode of Dyslexia Explored, where our host, Darius Namdaran, engages in a riveting conversation with multi-talented Sarah Ann Macklin. Together, they navigate the intriguing interplay between dyslexia and diet, challenging you to reconsider the impacts of dyslexia on everyday life.

In the spotlight is Sarah Ann's captivating journey: from discovering her dyslexia at 23 to her present work as a model, nutritionist, and successful podcaster. She opens up about her mental health organization, the Be Well Collective, and her top-rated European Health podcast, "Live Well Be Well".

🎙️ Welcome to a brand new episode of Dyslexia Explored, where we delve into the fascinating world of dyslexia and its impact on everyday lives. Today, our host Darius Namdaran is thrilled to introduce Rebecca Kamen, a former professor, visiting scholar, and artist in residence at the University of Pennsylvania. Once seen as "not college material," Rebecca has transformed her narrative into one of immense success, spending over 35 years in sculpture and design, and bridging the worlds of art and science to understand the human mind.

In this compelling episode, Rebecca walks us through her early years before the discovery of her dyslexia, a time when her curiosity and supportive environment laid the foundation for her future endeavors. Get ready for an inspiring journey of defying stereotypes, embracing learning differences, and the influential power of curiosity. Listen to how Rebecca juggles her diverse interests - a common trait amongst individuals with dyslexia, and get a glimpse of her innovative work. This episode promises to motivate budding artists, curious scientists, and parents who are keen to foster their children's talents and passions. 🎙️

Welcome to Dyslexia Explored, the podcast that delves into the fascinating world of dyslexia and the inspiring stories of those who've overcome their struggles. In this episode, we sit down with Matt Bird, a dyslexic entrepreneur who went from feeling "stupid" at school to achieving incredible success in his adult life. Matt has written 19 books, built multiple businesses, and runs a global foundation called Neighbor, which helps churches love their neighbors in communities.

Have you ever experienced rejection? It's not a pleasant feeling, but our guest for today has persevered despite being rejected by publishers 95 times. Join us this week as we discuss determination and dyslexia with Abi Elphinstone, the author of The Dream Snatcher Series and The Unmapped Chronicles.

Abi grew up in Scotland, spending her weekends building dens in the woods, hiding in treehouses, and exploring the highlands. Despite being labeled as "unteachable" and "prone to spasmodic outbursts of silliness" by her headteacher, she pushed through school and earned an English degree at Bristol University. After teaching English in Africa, Berkshire, and London, she now spends her time building dens and hiding in treehouses - both in reality and through her books.

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This week, we'll learn more about the benefits of webbing and mind mapping for children with specialized learning needs. During my recent conversation with a multisensory coach, she shared how she tutors children with dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning disabilities, which, interestingly, is a lot similar to my approach.

Our guest for this week runs a reading coaching service called EBL Coaching, which tutors over 2000 people across multiple locations in the United States. Dr. Emily Levy has got a master's degree in special education, and a doctorate in general education, and has been in the world of remediating reading and writing and special education for the last 20-plus years.

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If you’ve ever tried teaching your child to read, you’ll know that it's not as easy as it looks, especially for a child with a learning difference. I had a great conversation with Nora Chahbazi, the founder of Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction or EBLI. She has been training and coaching teachers, parents, and educators for over 20 years to help them teach students how to read.

Nora shares her experience of how EBLI started and what made her pursue the field. Her daughter was having trouble reading but the school didn’t think it was anything unusual. She began researching ways to help her child and found a revolutionary book that really made a difference for her child. Shortly after, Nora founded EBLI and now, they have trained thousands of teachers from around the world.

Nora also sheds light on the different approaches to teaching reading, like balance literacy and phonics-based, and where her approach falls into the mix.

Do you constantly receive ideas and inspiration from various sources? Do you start countless hobbies or artistic pursuits with crazy ideas on a whim? You might be hypercreative.

I had a very interesting conversation with Karen Daniels about hypercreativity. Karen has a Masters's degree in Education Psychology. She has also written 9 books of both fiction and non-fiction. She does content writing and ghostwriting for all sorts of people. She also teaches Martial Arts apart from being a full-time mum.

In the episode, Karen talked about the difference between hypercreativity and creativity, her being a writer and her journey through her creative path. She also shared about the limit of creativity and how to make the most out of it.

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This week, I sat down with Avi Warshavsky, the Founder and CEO of MindCET. They gather groups of entrepreneurs in an incubator environment and help them establish their businesses. He’s also the founder of Global Education Technology Startups Awards or GESAwards, one of the biggest awarding bodies for Ed-Tech Startups in the world. He is also the father of 5 children and 4 of them have dyslexia.

Avi Warshavsky shared his background on how he came to be in the startup world and how his father’s dyslexia helped him observe his children’s dyslexia. Avi also talked about closing the gap with dyslexia and the future of technology in terms of assisting dyslexia.

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Ash Voisine was a business and entrepreneurship graduate but when a teacher of her child admitted that they can’t help the child, she decided to homeschool her kids. She looked for other ways to teach with programs like the Orton-Gillingham system. She’s now finishing her master’s degree in special education.

This week, we talked to Ash Voisine about how she found out she’s dyslexic when she was studying to be an Orton-Gillingham tutor for her children. She also talked about the IEP and the red tape parents may encounter when fighting for their child's rights at school. Listen to her story now.

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Children with dyslexia often have brilliant and incredible stories to share in their heads but always struggle to get them out and put them into words. A lot of the time, their imagination and creativity go beyond what was required in the question and they get so overwhelmed halfway that they ended up leaving it unfinished. Going off-topic is a common occurrence and the lack of cohesiveness forces the teachers to mark it as failed.

It’s in every exam in the world they ask students to “Write a Short Story”. It sounds easy but for a child with dyslexia, it’s not. We, dyslexics, have no shortage of mind-bending theories and hyper-realistic worlds to share but how to share it is the problem. How do you make sure you have a beginning, middle, and end in your story? How do you make sure your teachers get what you wanted to say? And most importantly, how do you finish the story on time?

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GCSE English - Story Star (Nov 24 at 730pm)