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Dyslexia, and its associated learning differences, is a perceptual condition – it’s that simple.
How many legs do you see in the elephant?
Where does one bear end and the other begin?
The problem is that the dyslexic’s style of perception and their predominantly sensory, big-picture thinking style can cause the learning disabilities associated with dyslexia.
The perceptual condition of the dyslexic works very well for how they function in the physical, 3-dimensional (3-D) world – our reality. However, as soon as the dyslexic is in school, their style of thinking does not work well for recognizing and comprehending flat, 2-dimensional (2-D) symbols and written abstract words.
When flat symbols and abstract words confuse the dyslexic, the dyslexic uses the same kind of multi-sensory thinking that they use to solve physical, 3-dimensional problems. And as they unconsciously alter their sensory perceptions to provide multiple and different viewpoints of the symbols, confusion builds, and they are unable to figure out what the flat symbols mean. The child’s confusion is obvious to a parent who notices that their child stumbles, hesitates, inserts a word, misreads words, skips words, skips lines, or misses a punctuation stop as they read. This child begins to think something is wrong with them and starts to doubt their abilities.
Right now, the dyslexia-targeted market has convinced parents and teachers that the learning problem associated with dyslexia is a problem with phonemic awareness, a derivative of the phonics learning to read methodology and phonics itself. The problem with phonemic awareness and phonics is that they do not address the dyslexic’s 3-D strength of learning. This methodology is a very slow and arduous task that takes a dyslexic through several years of repetitive work and memorization. Specialized phoneme-based training programs usually cost thousands of dollars, and often tens of thousands, to get the desired outcome.
There is a faster, better, and more enjoyable solution for the parent and child. It is pennies on the dollars when compared to traditional dyslexia, learning to read methodologies.
Sky Village – Trail of Spells™ is a digital role-playing edutainment game that enables the 3-dimensional mastery of 300 abstract words and symbols. Abstract words and symbols are the primary culprits causing the dyslexic’s confusion when reading. Resulting in the interrupter reading disability symptoms of an omitted word, inserted word, replaced word, misread word, missed punctuation stop sign, and skip line(s). If you eliminate the interrupter reading disability symptoms, then fluency takes place while reading, and with fluency comes full and complete comprehension. The first-of-its-kind digital role-playing edutainment game is designed to match the thinking and learning style of children in grades K-55.
The Core Difficulty – Abstract (Sight) Words & Symbols
Current research on brain function and learning indicates that most learning disabilities associated with dyslexia result from the child’s inability to find significance, meaning and understanding for flat, 2-dimensional written characters (letters, abstract words, punctuation marks, symbols). (Charles Krebs)
A dyslexic’s learning problems begin when the child is confronted with flat 2-D letters, punctuation marks, andthe many abstract words that can create havoc for this child’s 3-D perceptual thinking style.
Dr. Charles Krebs, a world-famous researcher of how the brain learns, has found that:
“What a word looks like and how its letters can be sounded does not provide enough sensory input for the dyslexic’s brain to process the written words. To understand a symbol, a word, or the sound of words, enough information has to be provided so that it evokes the senses that the child predominantly uses for processing. Sounding out letters of words is insufficient for evoking understanding in a dyslexic child who depends on linking his senses of sight, hearing, feeling and moving in order to think.” (Charles Krebs, 6-23-08 personal document.)
The dyslexic 3-dimensional (3-D) thinking style used for processing information can lead to confusion when they look at flat 2-dimensional (2-D) symbols. They often do not seem to be able to “see” or “write” the letters of words correctly, and they do not seem to be able to blend the sounds of individual letters into words. The main deterrent to their learning to read is the difficulty of recognizing the many common abstract words that have no visual or other sensory associations – these abstract words have been given many names [1].
A few of these abstract words are:
who, what, where, a, and, is, it, at, the, same, every….
All the 2-D upper and lower-case alphabet symbols, 300 abstract words, and punctuation marks make flat images on a page that are very difficult to learn to read.
Sky Village -Trail of Spells™ is A Paradigm Shift In Solving the Dyslexic’s Reading Problem
“When there is a 3-dimensional experience of the meaning of a word at the same time as there is an experience of what the word looks like and what the word sounds like, the visual and auditory symbols of the word can be linked together by a child’s brain to create meaning of the word and the sentence.” (Charles Krebs, 6-23-08, private document)
Sky Village – Trail of Spells provides the solution: The app uses materials that fit and enhance the dyslexic’s 3-D sensory thinking and learning style, and these tools reduce confusion and the stress of learning to read. All this occurs while having the fun of adventures and puzzles, which are designed to reduce stress and enhance non-linear learning. Keep in mind that this is easy work for the child. Heavy drills, memorization, and tedious training are not part of the program and would actually be counterproductive.
Sky Village – Trail of Spells teaches the dyslexic child how to use their own talents and thinking style to learn to read. If the dyslexic cannot experience flat 2-D symbols meaningfully through the senses, the symbols often do not make sense and the dyslexic has great difficulty learning to read. It is that simple! (Bill Allen, Founder of Magical I Am, Inc.)
Sky Village – Trail of Spells teaches while having fun playing a game.
Most parents are surprised and delighted to find that their child has fun while learning to read successfully with Sky Village – Trail of Spells. What really warms the hearts of parents is to see their child’s self-esteem begin to soar as their child realizes that they can learn to read like the other students their age. Obviously, parents love it when they realize the potential of their child becoming an avid reader.
Learn to Read, so you can Read to Learn.™
[1] Popularly used names for abstract words include “sight words, Dolch words, Fry words, stumble words, outlaw words, trigger words, interrupter words, most commonly read words”.