Gift of Dyslexia

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There are 6 Dyslexic Thinking Skills areas.  These are broken into two areas: Specific Skills which relate to the career paths often preferential to dyslexic thinkers; and General Skills which relate to most sorts of education, activities and careers. 

Whilst no two dyslexics are the same, all will have a combination of some of these skills.

SPECIFIC SKILLS

VISUALISING: Interacting with space, senses, physical ideas & new concepts. (75% of dyslexics are above average at Visualising).  

• Moving: physical interpretation & game playing. Examples: Dancer, Musician, Sports player.
• Making: visualising, planning & making. Examples: Engineer, Architect, Craft worker, Programmer, Designer, Chef, Gardener.
• Inventing: exploring possibilities, making connections & inventing. Examples: Scientist, Technologist, Entrepreneur.

IMAGINING: Creating an original piece of work, or giving ideas a new spin (84% of dyslexics are above average at Imagining).                   

• Creating: creating completely original work from your imagination. Examples: Designers, Artists, Composers, Writers.
• Interpreting: using imagination to give ideas a new twist, or bring out a fresh angle. Examples: Actor, Advertiser, PR, Director, Photographer. 

COMMUNICATING: Crafting & conveying clear & engaging messages. (71% of dyslexics are above average at Communicating).                                         

• Explaining: assessing situations/information, & explaining clearly to other people. Examples: Journalist, Marketeer, Politician, Teacher, Campaigner.
• Story-telling: creating vivid & engaging experiences in words, pictures or other media. Examples: Author, Writer, Games Developer, Song Writer, Film Maker.

GENERAL SKILLS

REASONING: Understanding patterns, evaluating possibilities & making decisions.  (84% of dyslexics are above average in Reasoning).                                  

• Simplifying: understanding, taking apart & simplifying complex ideas & concepts.
• Analysing: using logic to decide on strength of an argument or where the truth lies.
• Deciding: interpreting patterns & situations to predict future events & make decisions.           
• Visioning: seeing past detail to gain a strategic (big picture) view of a subject or problem.

CONNECTING: Understanding self; connecting, empathising & influencing others. (80% of dyslexics are above average at Connecting).                                                                        

• Understanding self: recognising & managing own feelings, & understanding how they affect own behaviour and that of others.
• Understanding others: understanding & interpreting the verbal, physical & emotional reactions of other people.
• Influencing: managing, influencing & inspiring constructive emotions in other people. Empathising: sensing, understanding & responding (emotionally and/or practically) to how people feel. 

EXPLORING: being curious & exploring ideas in a constant & energetic way. (84% of dyslexics are above average at Exploring).           

• Learning: having a curiosity for finding out new things and learning new skills.       
• Digging: looking into things in a way that means most is learnt or discovered.  
• Energising: being so passionate about something it gives a buzz and tenacity to learn about it.
• Doing: using new knowledge to achieve a result that surprises & pleases self or others