Neurodiversity

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Neurodiversity

• Dr Ross Cooper
• London South Bank University

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Neurodiversity
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Keynote speech?
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language?

• of deficit?
• Campensino!
• of empowerment?
• Neurotypical?
• Are some more equal than others?

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Paradigm shift
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Focus
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A social model of dyslexia

• We challenge the deficit models of dyslexia in
  favour of a social model that maintains that we
  are not disabled by our dyslexia, but by the
  expectations of the world we live in. There is
  nothing wrong with being dyslexic per se.
• We would argue that dyslexia is an experience
  that arises out of natural human diversity on the
  one hand and a world on the other where the early
  learning of literacy, and good personal
  organisation and working memory is mistakenly
  used as a marker of intelligence. The problem
  here is seeing difference incorrectly as
  deficit.
• Ross Cooper, 2006

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Exploring deficit model
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metaphor
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How?

• does the water get in?
• can we stop it?
• can we work out how serious the problem is?
• can we measure it?

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medication or repair

• What can we do to fix the problem?
• How meaningful is this to the learner? What are
  they learning?

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Rain??

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Difference?
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Why?

• What have all the deficit theories got in common?
• Phonological deficit
• Visual processing deficit
• Automaticity deficit
• Working memory deficit.
• SEQUENCING

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What is the Difference? The need to see patterns
and overall meaning
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Pre-conditions for self taught reading

• Frequent exposure to many kinds of books
• Motivated to figure out reading for themselves
• Request the same books over and over increasing
  the predictability of text
• Available readers who answer childrens many
  questions about stories in books
• Dolores Durkin, Columbia University reported in
  Read Right, Dee Tadlock and Rhonda Stone

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A 5th pre-condition?

• Having a strong desire to bring meaning to text.
• (or see patterns and overall meaning)

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Scanning text to get to meaning

• It dseont mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in
  a word are prseetend. The olny iprmoatnt tihng
  is taht frist and lsat ltteres are at the rhgit
  pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can
  slitl raed it wouthit mcuh porbelm.

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Research question?Who are the self-taught
readers

• Anecdotally 18 out of 19 I have talked to have
  dyslexia in the family and characteristic
  dyslexic traits.
• But many think both holistically and verbally!

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Comparing Cognitive style of Dyslexics with
Non-dyslexics
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Progression to university?

• Dyslexics at New College Southampton were less
  likely to think visually than non dyslexics!
• Whats stopping the visual dyslexics from getting
  there? Assessment through memory? Lack of visual
  meaning/purpose?
• In a factor analysis, extreme preference for
  thinking visually of verbally accounted for 47
  of the variance in achievement.

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Focus shift

• from the brain to the barriers

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agents and agencies of oppression
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Ideology of deficit

• difference deficit
• DSA (legislation)
• schooling
• workplace
• family

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What is needed for meaningful learning?

• Feeling valued
• High interest active learning
• The big picture before the detail
• Visual and verbal concepts
• Multisensory learning environments to enable
  meaningful experiences (not just to support a
  deficit memory)
• Meaningful feedback about what you are doing well
  and how to do it better.
• Being allowed to move while learning

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memorise

• E U C P I
• R T I G B

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• BIG PICTURE

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agents and agencies of oppression
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Setting our own agenda
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To find out more.

• www.outsider.co-uk.com
• www.lsbu.ac.uk/lluplus