Thomas Armstrong's Blog, page 2

Video #32 – 25 Positive Role Models with Down Syndrome

In this video (#32 in my series on The Power of Neurodiversity) I talk about the stereotypes that neurotypical people have about those with Down syndrome, which holds that they’re limited in what they can accomplish, that perhaps they can work at a sheltered workshop assembling cardboard boxes or bussing dishes at a fast food […]

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Video #31 – Five Strengths of the Intellectually Disabled

In this video I discuss the strengths associated with intellectual disabilities. It is especially important to do this because people with intellectual disabilities have been denegrated for over a century because of the dark history of I.Q. testing in America, wherein eugenically-minded psychologists used words like ”moron” and ”imbecile” to describe these individuals, and where […]

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Video #30 Enriching Social Networks for Dyslexics

In this video, I speak about the loneliness that many people with dyslexia can feel, especially if their reading difficulty hasn’t been identified and they’re not receiving any help or support for it. I discuss the ”masking” that can occur as a result, as a way to hide one’s dyslexia. At such times, it’s important […]

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Video #29 – Environmental Modifications for Dyslexics

In this video (#29 in my series introducing my new book The Power of Neurodiversity), I examine how people with dyslexia can modify text using a word processor such as Microsoft Word to make it easier to read. Most word processing programs have many features that we don’t take full advantage of that could make […]

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Video #28 Assistive Technologies for People with Dyslexia

This video explores a number of ”work-around” tools that can help dyslexics get meaning from text without their actually having to de-code the words (reading is very important, but not the focus of this video). They include: speech-to-text apps, text-to-speech tools, grammar and spell checkers, AI writing aids, notetaking apps and tools (including the Livescribe […]

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Video #27 Positive Career Matches for People with Dyslexia

In this video (#27 in my video series on ”The Power of Neurodiversity,” I talk about the strengths of individuals who’ve been diagnosed with dyslexia and how those strengths can be matched with careers where those gifts would make a good fit. People with dyslexia often have, for example, strong 3-D visual-spatial ability, and so […]

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Video #26: Positive Role Models Who Have Dyslexia

This video features six prominent individuals and one group who have succeeded in their areas of expertise while at the same time showing the signs and symptoms of dyslexia. The list includes: Anderson Cooper, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, Dav Pilkey, Richard Branson, and the cybersecurity decoders of the Government Communication Headquarters in the U.K. In […]

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Video #25: The Evolutionary Advantages of Dyslexia

In this video I explore the big question: why is this disorder [dyslexia] still in the gene pool? One clear reason is that for most of the 300,000 years that humans have been around, reading written words did not exist. There were no remedial reading specialists in prehistoric times! On the other hand, there were […]

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Video #24 The Strengths, Assets, and Advantages of Dyslexics

In this video, #24 in my series introducing my new book (out today!) The Power of Neurodiversity: Unleashing the Advantages of Your Neurodivergent Brain, I focus on several different assets often seen in individuals diagnosed with dyslexia or other language-based learning disabilities. They include mechanical reasoning, an ability and/or propensity to draw, three-dimensional perception, entrepreneurial […]

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The Power of Neurodiversity Is Out Today!

I’m excited to announce that today is the official ”pub date” for my new book The Power of Neurodiversity:  Unleashing the Advantages of Your Neurodivergent Brain (Completely Revised and Updated Second Edition), published by Balance, an imprint of Hachette USA.  It’s virtually a new book from the one I originally wrote back in 2010 (The […]

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