dysTalk Music And Dyslexia A Study - Dyslexia - Forum - dysTalk

Hi I am new to the board so if I am posting this in the wrong section then could someone move it!

I am currently studying for a MA in music education and am writing my dissertation on the subject of Music and Dyslexia. Mainly looking at how exactly music can help people with dyslexia.

What I am looking for is any stories of how music have helped people who suffer from dyslexia. For example has playing an instrument given you more confidence in other subjects that you previously struggled with or simple given you the oppoutunity to socialise with people that you may not have socialised with before?

It would be very interesting to hear from teachers and parents on the subject to see what teaching stratergies (if any) are implemented within schools.

Thanks for your time I hope I get a good response!

21/07/2010 16:12:32
SamChinn (Member)

I am extremely dyslexic more so than anyone I know. But music I seemed to have gravitated towards a very young age there wasn't any instrument that I couldn't seem to play or learn how to. I could understand how I could be so ignorant in one area and so bright and another. Being dyslexic and now 58 years old I managed to turn out okay even though I was successful with a few of my bands I've figured out quickly that being a musician might pay my bills but not leave me with much left over to live the good life. In spite of being dyslexic I seem to also have a great mind for business and have started several. I also became a author writing a book on something I know well on dyslexia also I am a inventor and also carry the title of producer for a TV show as well. Parents just because your child can read or write does not mean a death sentence. There is life after dyslexia. A matter-of-fact many are millionaire primarily because of their ability or one should say gift as a lateral thinker. Lateral thinkers think out of the box and are exceptionally creative which can open up a world of opportunities as it did for myself. I love sharing my story that fascinates people and brings much help to parents with a child that they are extremely concerned about wondering how they are going to make a living for themselves. I have made more money than most people I know from using my creative side has been my ticket out. Please check out my story at dyslexiabook.org if you can't afford nine dollars just e-mail me and I will send it to you.

Give your child a head start

14/09/2010 07:54:13
clifford scamara

Hi,

I use music as a stimulus in my art work to create images I construct in my mind. I suppose it is more so the lyrical associations that I make that fuels this, taken from the music; rather than the music itself. Nonetheless I believe music is a huge actor in my inspiration for creativity.

04/02/2012 00:56:57
Kate

By age six I could instantly list the local radio's Top Ten List, without ever consciously trying to memorize it. Till this day, 50 years later I can usually identify a top tune from forty years ago on hearing the first note (or sound) from the original hit. But I cannot ever maintain the lyrics of of any tune precisely, with the exception of religious hymns I've song my entire life. I finally convinced my parents to allow me to quite piano lessons when I was nine. I simply could never master any of it. It wasn't till college I understood pitch and key--although I noted the difference immediately in hearing them. Today, although I have never managed to play any instrument, although I continue to toy with tin whistles, recorders and harmonicas, I do sing a great deal. Everyday, not a trained voice, but people find my singing pleasant and easy on the ear. I sing at work, at church (which is always acapella)driving, tunes from long ago come to mind--I begin, something on the radio. (BUT, I do not sing along when at a live performance--I'd like to, but it's rude.) I do love classical music, although I only occasionally vocalize--usually I can play note for note the recording in my head--unlike song lyrics which I retain only partial recall--and I can consciously will the play button on something like Moonlight Sonata, Barber's A. for Strings, Bach's hymns, the intro to Stairway to Heaven, the orchestration of Wasted Time. Music help me to socialize, at least with those who like music--and in my teens and 20's music was extremely popular. Today it allow me to converse, and enjoy a pleasant relationship with a co-worker 35 yrs. younger than me, I am not 'pigeon holed' by my age because I continue to listen to whatever music is popular at the moment. (No form or style is bad. But within a style only a few or truly great. Pieces that as I listen I briefly cease self awareness and somehow am transformed into the music--an intensity of absorption and attention that parallels dozing off and awakening without being aware I'd fallen asleep. Music also is a mood stabilizer. I can utilize to maintain a mood, or choose a certain piece to break me from an unpleasant emotion into a new one. And which music I choose has a very predictable effect. Pete Townsend's music is the reason I've never taken street drugs, although growing up I perceived they would benefit me, and I grew up in the great drug culture that began in the 60's. (Today my physician prescribes them to me, and they do help--but they will never hold their own against Townsend's 'Bargain' or 'Quadrophenia.' Music also created, or developed the feelings of empathy and an understanding that allowed me to see the emotional state of the person in front of me, even when I couldn't discern the words spoken. I was actually diagnosed at age six with dyslexia, which was quite unusual in 1960 in the deep south of America. Until age nine only my parents and siblings could comprehend my speech, but like those who stutter, when singing people could follow what I was saying. I hear sounds very well, but over the past five years am aware that I am having trouble once I receive the phoneme in piecing them together to come up with the write word. I ask them to repeat and tell them I do not hear very well. That of course isn't exactly the case. I heard, but could not decode. I spare them of burdensome scientific precision. So . . to go to the chorus . . ''but if it weren't for music, then I would not get through''. [I would NOT exchange my passion for music in order to obtain freedom from the cluster of neural problems frequently labeled Dyslexia, or its' twin ADD. Thanks for the chance to finally tell someone about this link. I have always seen them as having a single origin, Passion for Music, and a Mind that races to fast, has no brakes, with a very loose steering wheel--that crashes a good deal but somehow holds together adequately to pull it out of the ditch or off the sidewalk and speed away. (I confess it was fun to finally write out in words what I've often wanted to explain to people, but the wise know that only those with the same unique illnesses enjoy discussing the finer nuances of such a fascinating aliment. Ken Klein, USA

04/02/2012 04:36:27
Kenneth Klein