Dystinct Magazine

JALALUDDIN RUMI This quote by Rumi is the verse of wisdom that I'd like to share with you this month. As parents and advocates of children with additional needs, we are familiar with the frustration of working against a system that is poorly designed. We could burn out easily if we get annoyed at every difficult conversation or IEP meeting that seems to head nowhere helpful. I feel like the only mindset that can keep us going and help us pick our battles with the system is to assume that we are being polished into becoming better advocates for our children at every setback. In this issue, I have spoken to Greg Brown, the founder of Activate, a microschool for children with dyslexia in Oregon, USA and Heather Groce, the…

Illustrator Ava Jones Age 10 ADHD & SPD Portland, Oregon, USA Ava Jones is a fun, helpful, adventurous, artistic, and cheerful girl. She loves to read and do art at the library. She also enjoys writing books. When Ava grows up, she wants to be a librarian. She wants to be a librarian because of the calm environment and her love for books. Illustrator Bella Brook Age 11 Dyslexia & ADHD Sydney, Australia Bella is 11 years old and lives in Sydney, Australia. Her favourite things in the world are horses, her dog Tess, and she loves to play oztag. Illustrator Charlie Brummet Age 11 Dyslexia Portland, Oregon, USA Charlie is a very good artist. He likes to draws with a pencil and eraser (black and white). He loves the outdoors and…

WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER.ALLEN F. MORGENSTERN Back in the 1930s, industrial engineer Allen F. Morgenstern coined the nowfamous phrase, “Work smarter, not harder.” Morgenstern had his eye on a puzzling problem: why doesn’t a person’s hard work always produce consistent results? And he was right—it just doesn’t make sense when a person or a team of people works diligently and consistently, yet the results are less than a situation requires. Long story short, Morgenstern came up with a simplification program to optimize productivity by focusing on the most efficient use of a person’s efforts. He taught workers to “work smarter.” What does all this have to do with living with dyslexia or other sensory processing issues? Quite a bit, actually. All dyslexic learners have to work very hard all the…

Tell us a bit about yourself. I am 24 years old. I am from the Rhondda Valleys in South Wales, and I currently work as a casting assistant for a supporting artist agency. I studied Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham and graduated in 2020. I was at the University of Birmingham when I found out that I had dyslexia and dyscalculia. What were some of your struggles at school and university? Academically I struggled with my spelling, grammar, and mispronouncing words. My speed with reading was very slow in English. I always thought that I struggled with spelling and grammar more than my friends during my school years. Despite finding out I was dyslexic later in life, I actually loved English, which is why I think…

There was a knock on my classroom door one morning. One of the children I worked with, a struggling Grade 1 student, had been sent over to show me her morning journal entry. Her 'story' read something like this (my spelling, punctuation, etc.): I like my Mom. I like my Dad. I like my brother. I like my dog. I like my teacher. . . . . . As I flipped back through other pages, I saw the same story over and over and over, without proper letter sizing, spacing, capitalization, punctuation and spelling. What was this child learning? I understand the rationale behind 'just let them write' and, yes, a daily journal is a way to do that. We want children to feel comfortable expressing themselves in print, and…

OUR STORY Activate is a progressive microschool based out of Portland, Oregon, specializing in innovative dyslexia supports. At Activate, we serve both neurodivergent and neurotypical students in 3rd-5th grade. In 2022-2023, we will add 2nd grade, move into a larger space, hire another teacher, and increase enrollment from 13 to 20 students. Our goal is to promote creativity, curiosity, and independence because learning is optimized when these three characteristics are fostered. We do this through an effective balance of self-directed and teacher-directed learning. I began my teaching career as a special education teacher in the Portland Public School (PPS) district. I quickly learned that my masters program didn't adequately prepare me to be an effective literacy teacher, so I pursued Orton Gillingham training. OG is a phonics-based multisensory reading intervention.…