May 4, 2012 | DM News Blog
Happy Friday! In England, a long bank holiday weekend is upon us. Let’s wish the rain away and be happy that it’s May… Did you know: There are two words in the English language that use all of the vowels, in the correct order, and end in the letter...
May 3, 2012 | DM News Blog
I view David Beckham as one of the greatest gifts to all parents. Here is why: 1 I defy anyone not to like him 2 He has undeniable brilliance 3 It is clear he has achieved that through practice You don’t...
May 1, 2012 | DM News Blog
The foundations for successful reading are built well before a child goes to school. If you can get the early years right it will make progress with reading far easier. Here are some tips for achieving that: 1 Baby Talk is Essential. Sometimes you hear criticisms...
Apr 19, 2012 | DM News Blog
This is a big one. It’s that eternal question which has been bandied about for the last 400 years of literacy instruction. Which is the better method for teaching children how to read: phonics or sight-reading? In most parts of the English-speaking world at this...
Apr 13, 2012 | DM News Blog
Kara Tointon is probably best known for being one of the most talented winners of Strictly Come Dancing in recent years, or for her acting on the popular BBC soap Eastenders. What is probably less well-known is the fact that at 27 years old she has the reading age of...
Apr 6, 2012 | DM News Blog
Over the centuries there have been intense debates about how we read, with some pretty crazy ideas at times which you can read about in my book manuscript. For instance, one group followed the theory that ideas are the basic units of communication and are represented...
Mar 30, 2012 | DM News Blog
Thomas Edison, famous for inventing the lightbulb, is said to have had dyslexia. But the lightbulb isn’t all he’s known for. He developed the motion picture camera, the phonograph, an electric car battery and 1,094 other US patents, not to mention a large number in...
Mar 28, 2012 | DM News Blog
Did you know that the first glimmer of Easyread was born in prison? Let me tell you the whole story. When my father retired, around 1990, my mother was quite worried. He’d always enjoyed work and at times we saw precious little of him. Now, she feared, he was...
Mar 26, 2012 | DM News Blog
There are several possible causes of reading difficulty. You can get an overview of them from our website. The essential key to getting a child reading confidently is to be able to identify any underlying cause of difficulty and fix it. One cause of difficulty that...
Mar 23, 2012 | DM News Blog
We believe that most of the children who are labelled dyslexic are just trying to read the wrong way. With the right guidance and support the vast majority of them can learn to read and write perfectly well. Here is a new report by Nadine Gaab with lots of fMRI...
Mar 21, 2012 | DM News Blog
Do you know the Marshmallow Test? It was developed by Walter Mischel in the 1960s and has proved one of the most effective predictors of how well a child will do at school and through adult life. You can see an excellent article on it in the New Yorker:...
Mar 19, 2012 | DM News Blog
As parents we just want our children to have happy lives, whatever that means for each individual. But struggling at school clearly makes that difficult. Any significant difficulty with reading or writing is always going to be a big issue. In addition to that worry,...
Mar 16, 2012 | DM News Blog
To name but a few, famous dyslexic actors of today include Tom Cruise, Orlando Bloom, Keanu Reeves and Keira Knightley. It’s interesting that children and adults with dyslexia often turn to acting. It would seem that the reason often stems from the more lateral...
Mar 5, 2012 | DM News Blog
“So, who is this David Morgan character?”, you may be asking. It’s a question I’ve asked myself at various points, because my life has been quite an unusual ride. In fact, I was an unlikely candidate for becoming a literacy guru at all, since I myself found learning...
Mar 2, 2012 | DM News Blog
Pablo Picasso may be the most recognizable name in the art world of the 20th century. Born in 1881, his artistic ability was noted from a young age, and indeed he would grow up to be a revolutionary in the fine arts. However, despite his obvious talents with a...
Feb 29, 2012 | DM News Blog
Every baby is born with a working ‘full-o-stat’ that tells it when it has had enough to eat. Although it’s true that some babies born of obese mothers can already be showing signs that their ‘full-o-stat’ is already slightly out of true, the majority of babies know...
Feb 24, 2012 | DM News Blog
As you may have noticed, on alternate Fridays we post about famous people with dyslexia and fun facts you may not know relating to literacy, education or reading tips. This one might be good to whip out at a party and show you really know your stuff! Factoid of the...
Feb 20, 2012 | DM News Blog
A article has recently been published exploring learning about learning. It confirms two principles that we know well: 1 Children progress better in an active, play-based learning environment 2 Stress reduces your cerebral activity and therefore your ability to...
Feb 17, 2012 | DM News Blog
Jurassic Park. E.T. Jaws. Indiana Jones. Did you know that the maker of some of the most famous movies of all time struggled to read as a child? In fact, Steven Spielberg wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until he was 59 years old, when he took his daughter for a...
Feb 15, 2012 | DM News Blog
The United States Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that 17% of children aged 2 to 19 years are obese. That’s 12.5 million children in the US. http://heraldnet.com/article/20120123/NEWS01/701239966 We put on weight when the amount of...
