For this episode of the TiLT Parenting Podcast, I talk with former teacher, reading specialist, teacher and parent educator, and coach, Heidi Nord about Dyslexia. I know many families are dealing with the challenges of dyslexia and I appreciate how tough it can be for kids with dyslexia to navigate school and their brains’ unique way of interpreting language.
I’m excited to be bringing Heidi on the podcast because not only is she incredibly knowledgeable about dyslexia, but she’s spent many, many years coaching not only children with dyslexia, but teachers and parents. Heidi strongly believes that dyslexia can be an asset—her goal is to help students tap into their potential and increase processing speeds so they can let their true brilliance shine through.
About Heidi: Heidi Nord has been helping students, parents, teachers, and administrators with training in the areas of dyslexia, student success, and mindset development since 2007. Before that, she worked as a teacher and and a reading coach for 16 years, helping hundreds of students and teachers at varying grade levels. Heidi has written four books, including Thought Flipping and Write Right. She helps clients learn easier, grow flexible brain pathways, and generate a positive mindset for success.
THINGS YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:
- What exactly dyslexia and dysgraphia is
- Why dyslexia is being diagnosed late in children, and why that needs to change
- The connection between teachers’ mindset and a child’s ability to thrive in a classroom
- Why it benefits students to devote time focusing on their strengths and not just their deficits
- The many gifts that come with dyslexia and dysgraphia, and how these disorders are seen by many to be an asset
- Heidi’s tips for parents who have a dyslexic child or suspect their child might have dyslexia
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- Heidi Nord’s practice The Brilliant Dyslexic
- Susan Barton: Bright Solutions for Dyslexia
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
- An article about The Pygmalion Effect in Edutopia
- StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath
I loved the podcast, it is so positive and encouraging, really learned a lot. Thank you.
So glad to hear it, Sandra!
Excellent episode! I am really enjoying your podcast and look forward to future topics!
Great to hear, Paula!
Great podcast. I love the awesome reframe of how dyslexia can be an asset. Thanks for highlighting the gifts that come with being differently wired.
“in 5-10 years people are going to be wishing their children were dyslexic.” love this!
I appreciate this both as a parent of a gifted child with dyslexia, and as a special education teacher. Good reminders about the importance of mindset and helping to recognize and encourage strengths vs. weaknesses.
Great episode – wonderful to hear about dyslexia in such a positive light. I really look forward to your podcasts, there is so much useful info and advice – thanks so much!!
Insightful discussion on teacher interactions with students, strengths focus, and thought flipping. Thank you, Heidi and Debbie.
I love every podcast from Tilt! This episode put dyslexia is such a positive light and I was really inspired. As a parent of a dyslexic child, I wanted to comment that when diagnosing dyslexia it is not necessarily verbal/language symptoms such as pronunciation with words. My son had an excellent vocabulary but was unable to decode,read, or spell making it more difficult to detect in the classroom (I call it the silent dyslexic). Parents need to be aware that dyslexia can manifest in many different ways with each individual child. Thank you and I am looking forward to the next episode!
This podcast is right on!!! As a parent of a child who seems to have a lot of the ‘dys’s’ (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia) I am constantly trying to explain to people that we really do believe the way our child experiences the world is unique. We do not view it as a disability at all. I spend a lot of time trying to help parents whose children have been diagnosed as dyslexic to understand what a gift it is. Yes…it means more advocacy and accommodations within the ‘traditional’ education model. But the opportunities are impossible to imagine or measure. I love the simple explanations and power that Heidi gives to this gift!!! Thank you so much for including this topic.
Awesome podcast! My daughter recently got diagnosed at age 7. I’m hopeful the materials you have along with her new tutor can help. And I LOVE looking at it as a strength. That’s actually the way I posed it to her when I told her. She also struggles with emetophobia, so your book would be really helpful!
That’s great Susan! FYI – next week’s episode features another GREAT conversation about dyslexia with Elisheva Schwartz who has a podcast / site called The Dyslexia Quest. So…more to come!