Dyslexia and Creativity
An innovative continuing professional development workshop provided by the Lighthouse in Glasgow is showing that, in an increasingly image-based world, being dyslexic can actually be a positive advantage.
When you consider that some research has shown that there may be a correlation between young offenders and dyslexia, it's hard to see how there might be any positive aspects to a condition that can make learning to read and write so difficult.
These days, however, people with dyslexia are discovering that, in an increasingly image-based world, their so-called disability can prove to be an advantage. It has even been claimed that one of the UK's most successful advertising agencies deliberately employs dyslexics because they think in such a visual, multi-dimensional way.
Now the Lighthouse in Glasgow - Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and The City - is offering workshops for continuing professional development that demonstrate how learning the 'dyslexic way' can be a positive experience for teachers and all pupils.
'Dyslexia and Creativity' is a one-day session developed by Anne Cunningham who had noticed that a high percentage of staff at the Lighthouse were - like herself - dyslexic.
We already run design and architecture workshops for teachers and, as Professional Development Officer at the Lighthouse, I saw that we are uniquely placed to offer a course that focused not on how dyslexia disables kids in the classroom but on how it can be used to their advantage.
When people talk about dyslexia, it's usually in terms of failure and not being able to do things. But there is much that I and other dyslexics can do that other people struggle with. For instance, we're often good with 3D and visual and spatial comprehension, and as we are approaching a problem differently dyslexia can help with creative problem solving, which is why people working in teams like having us around.
So the 'Dyslexia and Creativity' workshops are about how to get around that learning difficulty that dyslexics have. We're saying to teachers: 'Come to the Lighthouse and we'll show you something that works for dyslexics.'
Anne Cunningham, Education Projects Officer, The Lighthouse
Anne revealed that, at university, she 'found ways around' her dyslexia by actually building models of her essays. 'It was a way of organising my thoughts' she explained 'and once I'd 'built' my essay, I could write it.' At primary school, she was so good at interpreting the pictures in her reading books that it was some time before the teacher realised she had a serious problem with words.
Generally speaking, said Anne 'We've found dyslexics can't work things out by reading instructions' and because the Lighthouse workshops are aimed at 'getting teachers to do it 'our way' for a day' (that is, the dyslexic way), the sessions are activity-based rather than information-based. Said Anne:
The teachers are split up into teams and given a design brief to work on, where they have to solve a problem that requires a visual or 3D outcome - such as making a model of something. It's fun and it's challenging and the best thing is, although many teachers start out not being confident about working in 3D or visually, once they've tried it they start to realise the potential of learning - and teaching - that way.
The workshop kicks off with a screening of the award-winning, 20-minute video 'Dyslexia - the Unwrapped Gift' which explores the condition from a new angle, one where the teenagers involved in its making maintain that people who don't have dyslexia are missing out. According to them, dyslexia is a 'gift'.
. . . dyslexic people are visual, multi-dimensional thinkers. [Dyslexics] are intuitive and highly creative, and excel at hands-on learning. Because we think in pictures, it is sometimes hard for us to understand letters, numbers, symbols and written words. We can learn to read, write and study effectively when we use methods geared to our unique learning style.
Teachers who take part in a Lighthouse 'Dyslexia and Creativity' course also get to meet and talk with a panel of dyslexic people successfully employed in the creative industries, to find out how they think and learn. They include Anne Cunningham's colleague, Ali Bell, who has recently been working on a project with dyslexic primary school pupils from Rosepark Tutorial Centre in Glasgow.
Ali wasn't surprised at how well the kids handled video cameras and laptop computers and according to her, they benefited from coming to the Lighthouse, where 'being dyslexic isn't a problem'. Despite having dyslexia herself (the kind which 'makes words wobble'), Ali, who is an art school graduate and also has a degree in marketing, explained that she was so used to working with non-dyslexic pupils at the Lighthouse, she had to readjust her teaching methods for the dyslexia project.
I had to remind myself that the kids from Rosepark would learn in the same kinds of ways that I did.
Ali Bell, Education Co-ordinator, The Lighthouse
As a result of the project, the centre will be using video work as a learning aid.
So far, more than 120 professionals have taken part in the 'Dyslexia and Creativity' courses. They include all of Glasgow's Support for Learning teachers as well as classroom teachers from primary, secondary and further education sectors in Falkirk and Aberdeenshire.
'All of them have found the workshops immensely beneficial,' said Anne, who believes that because the average class will have at least one dyslexic pupil in it, every teacher would benefit from a day at the Lighthouse.
The Lighthouse - Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and The City - contains a Charles Rennie Mackintosh interpretation centre and a dedicated education floor which includes workshop and gallery space, a computer laboratory, and the 'Wee People's City'. The centre's vision is to develop the links between art, design and architecture, seeing these as interconnected social, educational, economic and cultural issues of concern to everyone.
The Lighthouse
11 Mitchell Lane
Glasgow G1 3LX
Tel: 0141 221 6362
E-mail: anne.cunningham@thelighthouse.co.uk
Website: www.thelighthouse.co.uk
Original text by Deedee Cuddihy. Deedee is a freelance journalist based in Glasgow.