TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Kelli Sandman-Hurley: What is dyslexia?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Take a memnot to read the following. How was that? Frustrating? Slow? What were those sentences about? They're actually a simulation of the experience of dyslexia, designed to make you decode each word. Those with dyslexia experience that laborious pace every time they read. When most people think of dyslexia, they think of seeing letters and words backwards, like seeing "b" as "d" and vice versa, or they might think people with dyslexia see "saw" as "was". The truth is people with dyslexia see things the same way as everyone else. Dyslexia is caused by a phonological peocnsirsg problem, meaning people affected by it have trouble not with seeing language but with minlputaanig it. For example, if you heard the word cat and then someone asked you, "Remove the 'c'," what word would you have left? At. This can be difficult for those with dyslexia. Given a word in isolation, like fantastic, students with dyslexia need to break the word into parts to read it: fan, tas, tic. Time spent ddenicog makes it hard to keep up with peers and gain sfcniuifet ciompesnheron. Spelling words phonetically, like s-t-i-k for stick and f-r-e-n-s for friends is also common. These difficulties are more widespread and varied than commonly imagined. Dyslexia affects up to one in five people. It occurs on a continuum. One person might have mild dyslexia while the next person has a profound case of it. deslyxia also runs in families. It's common to see one family member who has trouble spelling while another falmiy mbeemr has severe difficulty decoding even one syllable words, like catch. The continuum and diribosttuin of dyslexia suggests a broader pnilpcire to bear in mind as we look at how the brains of those with dyslexia process language. Neurodiversity is the idea that because all our bianrs show differences in srucuttre and function, we shouldn't be so quick to label every deviation from "the norm" as a pathological disorder or dismiss plpeoe lniivg with these variations as "defective." People with neurobiological variations like dyslexia, including such creative and inventive iivilnuadds as piscsao, Muhammad Ali, wopohi Goldberg, Steven Spielberg, and Cher, clearly have every catcapiy to be brilliant and successful in life. So, here's the special way the brains of those with dyslexia work. The brain is divided into two hmprehseies. The left hemisphere is generally in charge of language and, ultimately, reading, while the right typically handles spatial activities. fMRI studies have found that the brains of those with dyslexia rely more on the right hemisphere and frontal lobe than the brains of those without it. This means, when they read a word, it takes a lgoenr trip through their brain and can get deaelyd in the frontal lobe. Because of this neurobiological glitch, they read with more dltifciufy. But those with dyslexia can pahiycslly change their brain and improve their rednaig with an isenvinte, multi-sensory intervention that breaks the lgngaaue down and teaches the reader to decode bsead on syllable types and spelling rules. The brains of those with dyslexia begin using the left hemisphere more efficiently while reading, and their reading improves. The intervention works because it locates dyslexia appropriately as a functional variation in the brian, which, naturally, shows all sorts of variations from one person to another. Neurodiversity emphasizes this spectrum of brain fciountn in all humans and suggetss that to better understand the perspectives of those around us, we should try not only to see the wolrd through their eyes but understand it through their brains.

Open Cloze

Take a ______ to read the following. How was that? Frustrating? Slow? What were those sentences about? They're actually a simulation of the experience of dyslexia, designed to make you decode each word. Those with dyslexia experience that laborious pace every time they read. When most people think of dyslexia, they think of seeing letters and words backwards, like seeing "b" as "d" and vice versa, or they might think people with dyslexia see "saw" as "was". The truth is people with dyslexia see things the same way as everyone else. Dyslexia is caused by a phonological __________ problem, meaning people affected by it have trouble not with seeing language but with ____________ it. For example, if you heard the word cat and then someone asked you, "Remove the 'c'," what word would you have left? At. This can be difficult for those with dyslexia. Given a word in isolation, like fantastic, students with dyslexia need to break the word into parts to read it: fan, tas, tic. Time spent ________ makes it hard to keep up with peers and gain __________ _____________. Spelling words phonetically, like s-t-i-k for stick and f-r-e-n-s for friends is also common. These difficulties are more widespread and varied than commonly imagined. Dyslexia affects up to one in five people. It occurs on a continuum. One person might have mild dyslexia while the next person has a profound case of it. ________ also runs in families. It's common to see one family member who has trouble spelling while another ______ ______ has severe difficulty decoding even one syllable words, like catch. The continuum and ____________ of dyslexia suggests a broader _________ to bear in mind as we look at how the brains of those with dyslexia process language. Neurodiversity is the idea that because all our ______ show differences in _________ and function, we shouldn't be so quick to label every deviation from "the norm" as a pathological disorder or dismiss ______ ______ with these variations as "defective." People with neurobiological variations like dyslexia, including such creative and inventive ___________ as _______, Muhammad Ali, ______ Goldberg, Steven Spielberg, and Cher, clearly have every ________ to be brilliant and successful in life. So, here's the special way the brains of those with dyslexia work. The brain is divided into two ___________. The left hemisphere is generally in charge of language and, ultimately, reading, while the right typically handles spatial activities. fMRI studies have found that the brains of those with dyslexia rely more on the right hemisphere and frontal lobe than the brains of those without it. This means, when they read a word, it takes a ______ trip through their brain and can get _______ in the frontal lobe. Because of this neurobiological glitch, they read with more __________. But those with dyslexia can __________ change their brain and improve their _______ with an _________, multi-sensory intervention that breaks the ________ down and teaches the reader to decode _____ on syllable types and spelling rules. The brains of those with dyslexia begin using the left hemisphere more efficiently while reading, and their reading improves. The intervention works because it locates dyslexia appropriately as a functional variation in the _____, which, naturally, shows all sorts of variations from one person to another. Neurodiversity emphasizes this spectrum of brain ________ in all humans and ________ that to better understand the perspectives of those around us, we should try not only to see the _____ through their eyes but understand it through their brains.

Solution

people
individuals
language
member
brain
processing
decoding
structure
principle
whoopi
living
sufficient
moment
longer
intensive
brains
suggests
hemispheres
function
distribution
world
delayed
physically
comprehension
dyslexia
capacity
based
difficulty
family
picasso
manipulating
reading

Original Text

Take a moment to read the following. How was that? Frustrating? Slow? What were those sentences about? They're actually a simulation of the experience of dyslexia, designed to make you decode each word. Those with dyslexia experience that laborious pace every time they read. When most people think of dyslexia, they think of seeing letters and words backwards, like seeing "b" as "d" and vice versa, or they might think people with dyslexia see "saw" as "was". The truth is people with dyslexia see things the same way as everyone else. Dyslexia is caused by a phonological processing problem, meaning people affected by it have trouble not with seeing language but with manipulating it. For example, if you heard the word cat and then someone asked you, "Remove the 'c'," what word would you have left? At. This can be difficult for those with dyslexia. Given a word in isolation, like fantastic, students with dyslexia need to break the word into parts to read it: fan, tas, tic. Time spent decoding makes it hard to keep up with peers and gain sufficient comprehension. Spelling words phonetically, like s-t-i-k for stick and f-r-e-n-s for friends is also common. These difficulties are more widespread and varied than commonly imagined. Dyslexia affects up to one in five people. It occurs on a continuum. One person might have mild dyslexia while the next person has a profound case of it. Dyslexia also runs in families. It's common to see one family member who has trouble spelling while another family member has severe difficulty decoding even one syllable words, like catch. The continuum and distribution of dyslexia suggests a broader principle to bear in mind as we look at how the brains of those with dyslexia process language. Neurodiversity is the idea that because all our brains show differences in structure and function, we shouldn't be so quick to label every deviation from "the norm" as a pathological disorder or dismiss people living with these variations as "defective." People with neurobiological variations like dyslexia, including such creative and inventive individuals as Picasso, Muhammad Ali, Whoopi Goldberg, Steven Spielberg, and Cher, clearly have every capacity to be brilliant and successful in life. So, here's the special way the brains of those with dyslexia work. The brain is divided into two hemispheres. The left hemisphere is generally in charge of language and, ultimately, reading, while the right typically handles spatial activities. fMRI studies have found that the brains of those with dyslexia rely more on the right hemisphere and frontal lobe than the brains of those without it. This means, when they read a word, it takes a longer trip through their brain and can get delayed in the frontal lobe. Because of this neurobiological glitch, they read with more difficulty. But those with dyslexia can physically change their brain and improve their reading with an intensive, multi-sensory intervention that breaks the language down and teaches the reader to decode based on syllable types and spelling rules. The brains of those with dyslexia begin using the left hemisphere more efficiently while reading, and their reading improves. The intervention works because it locates dyslexia appropriately as a functional variation in the brain, which, naturally, shows all sorts of variations from one person to another. Neurodiversity emphasizes this spectrum of brain function in all humans and suggests that to better understand the perspectives of those around us, we should try not only to see the world through their eyes but understand it through their brains.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
family member	2
left hemisphere	2
frontal lobe	2

Important Words

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