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I asked you, do you like or dislike swimming?

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You said like.

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Now we got Sarah plus sign swimming.

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I need you to replace the word you just said with the plus sign.

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What's the three-word sentence?

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Sarah likes swimming.

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But that's not what I asked.

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All right, everybody.

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Welcome back to another episode of the Space Tomatoes podcast.

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One of your hosts, Havoc, and our other host.

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I'm Alex. Hello. Welcome.

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And with us today, we have a special guest, Russell Van Brocklin, who is a New York State Senate funded dyslexia researcher.

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Welcome to the show, Russell. Thanks for coming.

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Hi, thanks for having me.

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Awesome. So what got you started in this work?

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What was the impetus behind, hey, I would like to do something with this?

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well it all started back in the late 1990s when i was finishing up college

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it was uh i just wanted to know how laws work not some class i wanted to know

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so i decided to apply for the new york state assembly internship program

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and i was accepted so then i showed up and i said here's my new year here's my

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neuropsychological evaluation i have a first grade reading and writing level and the director

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goes what um he said this this just can't work because honestly what the internship was all about

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is the typical uh member had you had the elected official the chief of staff who was an intern

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probably the year or two before and then the intern they're actually answering phone calls

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taking down messages writing reports filing things and i would just screw that all up seven ways to

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Sunday. So they're freaking out. So they go up to the New York State speaker's office, which tells

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them, listen, you're not going to get rid of this kid because he's dyslexic. We've accepted him.

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So what they did is they took me, they got a committee together of senior people to figure

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out. And what the solution they came up with was rather extreme. A big part of the internship was

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your camaraderie with the other interns. You went to lunch together. You saw each other all the time.

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I got none of that. They physically took me from the legislative office building and moved me way

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across into the New York State Capitol itself and put me in the majority leader's program and

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council's office, which literally ran the assembly day to day. And when I went there, I could see why

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they did it. There were three administrative assistants that could help me with my pathetic

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writing. But the big thing was they had no concept of what to do with an undergrad. They

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have been dealing with graduate students for at least the last 30 years at that point. I mean,

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we're going back to the 60s before they had an undergrad. And what they decided to do was to

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treat me like a graduate student, which is a real staff position. So my issue at that point was

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gambling and anything to deal with the assembly and trying to change the amendment to the New

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York State Constitution kind of went through me. So it was a fantastic internship. For the academic

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portion, I gave a very standard accommodation for me instead of doing a 30-page paper.

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What happened is I did an hours-long presentation and then a very long Q&A session. At the end of all

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that, they recommended 15 credits of A-. So remember, this was the New York State government

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that did all this, not some private company. So then it goes back to the flagship campus of the

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State University of New York system, the State University of New York University Center of

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Buffalo into their political science department, who then review this extensive accommodation

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that I got, all these accommodations, and they said,

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we don't like these, so we're going to lower your grade.

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Guess how much they lowered it.

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A couple grade levels?

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I wouldn't know.

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No, come on.

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If you're going to lower it, you've got to lower it.

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They lowered it from an A- to an F.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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All 15 credits of F.

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And what was the reasoning for that?

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Because the accommodations that they gave me were absolutely extraordinary.

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Okay.

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And they didn't like them.

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And remember who came up with these?

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Their bosses.

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The people that write their checks.

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Right.

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It's called the State University of New York Center at Buffalo.

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Okay?

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the State University of New York Center at Buffalo,

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Political Science Department.

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And the assembly itself came up with these accommodations.

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At that point, I think you have to understand,

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I was rather annoyed.

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Now, because I was in the majority leader's program

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and counsel's office, I was offered all these,

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I could have become a lobbyist,

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I had all these state positions offered me,

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and I turned them all down.

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Because remember, I stayed weekends with these people,

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I did nights.

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I didn't just go home at five.

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I could have.

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I didn't because I wasn't that stupid.

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These internships are essentially extended job interviews.

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So I decided I had to solve dyslexia for everybody.

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So I went to some of my favorite professors and I said, where do I force myself to learn to read and write in graduate school?

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And they said, well, if you like politics, it's obvious.

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Law school.

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So the problem with that is law school, you learn to read and write more than anybody in any graduate program.

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And you get a bonus alternative language as well.

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Exactly.

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So I go up and I audit two law school classes.

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I went to see Professor Warner, who was a dyslectic professor for over 30 years, longer than I was alive by quite a bit at that point.

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And I go and it's my second day of contracts.

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And what they decide to do is they ask you the Socratic method, the Socratic method.

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And what they do in the Socratic method is they tell you, they basically go ahead and ask you these really tough questions.

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and if you can't answer them, which nobody usually can the first couple of days of law school,

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is they ask you questions you can't answer until they embarrass you,

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and then they move on to the next victim.

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They keep doing that until you eventually adopt.

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But when he called on me the second day of contracts,

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my peers, my classmates just get out of sight saying,

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oh, I can't believe they felt pity towards me.

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Glad it wasn't them.

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But as a dyslectic, I didn't respond as another victim.

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I responded as the professor's equal.

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All right.

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Now, I need you to understand that.

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I didn't respond as a student.

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I responded as his equal.

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Everything organized in my head for the first time.

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I could see everything clearly.

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So we're going back and forth together.

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Five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes.

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He throws up his arms after 15 minutes and says, Russell, you couldn't be any more correct.

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In the interest of time, I have to move on to the next case.

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My classmates are shocked.

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They've never heard of anything.

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Professor Warner's never even heard of anything like this.

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I learned to read within a month.

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I learned to write within a couple of years.

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So then I go back to the New York State Senate and I say, I want you to fund my dyslexia research project, which they don't do.

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So what they decided to do is they said, okay, go over to the New York State Education Department.

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Let's see what they have to say.

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Now, this was back when it was run by traditional Republicans, which was quite simple.

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Make the school districts want it, the public schools, and we want better, faster, cheaper.

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Okay?

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So I show up to the Education Department.

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They're trying, because I'm showing up from the majority leader's office in the state Senate.

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And they're saying, oh, how can we get rid of this kid?

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Okay, let's say we want a SUNY distinguished professor in psychology.

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They're top ranked.

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They said, where's this out of?

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I said, Buffalo.

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So I said, go back to Buffalo, get a SUNY distinguished professor in psychology to say there's something here, and we can move forward.

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Without that, you're done.

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So let me go out.

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We got the university center and the biggest college.

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And the psychology is the biggest department in both.

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This is huge.

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No problem.

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Then I found out how rare these distinguished professors are.

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There were two.

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And just so happens the one who gave me that previous evaluation was one.

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Her name was Dr. Hulitska.

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So I show up.

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The state pays for it 20 hours over three days.

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And she essentially says, I've reviewed this kid before.

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Here's what's going on.

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The back part of my brain just doesn't work.

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The front part is massively overactive.

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All right.

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And what she said was we're going from dysfunctional to functional.

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I could go writing-wise from first grade level up to above average of undergrad level on the graduate records exam analytical writing assessment.

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There is absolutely something here.

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So I go back to the education department.

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I plop it on their desk, and they go, okay, we got a huge endorsement from one of our arguably top-living psychologists.

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We have to take this seriously.

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Then they said, you now have to go and connect this to current research.

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I said, okay.

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There was one person available for this in the entire Western New York.

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His name was Professor James Collins.

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He wrote a book called Strategies for Struggling Writers, $1.5 million from the U.S. Education Department as a grant.

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And I went to see him.

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People said, this is going to take you years.

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I didn't have years.

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There was a university-wide competition.

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I got it approved by him in under two weeks.

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Put A plus, which excellent.

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So then I applied for the university-wide competition, got $15,000, tested on a couple of kids at my old high school,

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Averill Park Central School District, right outside of Albany, New York, our state capital.

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Then I went and I asked for the state funding, and I got it for multiple years.

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And what we were trying to do was to make a point.

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So we would go, we limited it to the most motivated, the most intelligent, dyslectic juniors and seniors.

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why I wanted to help kids like me to show what can we do with the elite.

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And honestly, most of those kids were lower middle class.

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I always found my best kids, best results came from that income group.

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So we do that one class period a day for the school year

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and took just a couple of hours to train the teacher,

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not two years like my competition.

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And the kids started off with middle school reading and writing ability.

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Well, at the end, they scored in the 30th to 70th percentile of entering graduate students.

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They all went on to college.

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They all graduated.

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GPA is a 2.5 to 3.6.

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Cost to New York State taxpayers under $900.

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My best competition, let me just finish.

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The best competition that I had at the time was Landmark College.

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They were a transfer college.

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We were 25 times more effective.

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We were cost, our end results, I'm sorry, we were 25 times more efficient, three times more effective for less than 1% of the cost.

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And that's how I got started.

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So that $900, is that for the entirety of the program?

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Yes, that was everything.

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Oh, wow.

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No, that was everything.

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And what that essentially covered is the teacher's time.

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So what we did is we bought the teacher's name was Susan Ford.

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She's an absolute genius.

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And I want everybody to understand she's the best special ed teacher they had.

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All right.

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So that covered her time for class period day for the school years and a few other incidentals.

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how does that $900

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correlate

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to Landmark College

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with other programs

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do other programs spend more than that

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with less results

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yeah so if you want to go

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because I'm applying it to getting kids

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to transfer to a real school

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because most of our kids started off at a community college

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alright

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and the school most of them went to was the State University

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New York Center at Albany which is ranked

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around 125 out of like

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2,300 four-year colleges. And why then at the time, according to the New York Times in 2011

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article, their success rate was 25 to 33%. It was over 50,000 a year for two to three years.

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So it was 150,000 just in tuition. And they had a 25, 33% success rate. We were literally 100%.

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percent. Wow. Now, if you're talking about high schools, that's completely different.

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I'll give you an example of the Windward School in Manhattan. They've had these statistics going

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back decades. They are 98 percent successful. They will take kids. I'm just going to say fourth

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grade and above is the one that I usually tell because kindergarten through third grade, you use

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Yale's resources. It all comes down to the third grade reading and writing test. If you fail it,

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you're in trouble. You have to go to one of these private schools. If you succeed,

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you're okay. And that's because K through three, we learn to read, fourth and above,

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we read to learn. They take four to five years. Back then, they were around 50 grand a year. Now

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they're at 75. And they'll take you for four to five years. And then they'll send you back to

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wherever you came from as educated as any of the best private schools in the country.

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If you got a, you know, that's just tuition.

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So then you have living expenses.

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Do you ever have an extra half million sitting around you get up to select a kid with?

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Yeah, just let me go get under the couch cushions real quick.

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Yeah, just go and grab a baggie.

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Yeah, so literally what I do is I design this.

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So what got interesting is at that point, I went down and I presented in New York City.

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in 2006 at the New York City branch of the International Dyslexia Association.

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And at that point, I thought I did something amazing.

238
00:15:50,340 --> 00:15:51,580
I thought I was finished.

239
00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:53,620
I was wrong.

240
00:15:54,620 --> 00:15:58,960
I had two competing people telling me I'm not even close to being done.

241
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:04,860
I told the professors a couple of the kids scored in the 70th percentile of entering grad students.

242
00:16:05,780 --> 00:16:06,720
And they're in high school.

243
00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:09,300
And the professor says, we don't care.

244
00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:11,800
we want the craft of research.

245
00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:14,100
I was like, the craft of what?

246
00:16:14,660 --> 00:16:16,920
And they said, the craft of research.

247
00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:22,500
It's a book that came out in 1995 from the University of Chicago

248
00:16:22,500 --> 00:16:28,460
that was designed to teach PhD students how to write their doctoral dissertations.

249
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,500
And it's based on context, getting everybody on the same page,

250
00:16:32,500 --> 00:16:37,440
a problem statement that is you can actually do it and people actually care.

251
00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:42,320
So you're actually going to actually solve something that matters and then the actual

252
00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:47,120
solution that's original, which is beyond virtually every paper written in the undergrad

253
00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:59,196
or graduate schools in the United States I like you want me to teach this to grade school kids And they said yes I said okay And then I spoke to the teachers and they said does this work for normal kids

254
00:16:59,796 --> 00:17:01,876
And I said, absolutely not.

255
00:17:02,256 --> 00:17:05,156
And they said, make it work for normal kids and then we'll talk.

256
00:17:06,156 --> 00:17:08,376
And I was like, okay.

257
00:17:08,956 --> 00:17:12,216
Took eight years off before I could come back with a solution.

258
00:17:14,116 --> 00:17:14,556
Wow.

259
00:17:14,796 --> 00:17:15,336
That was fun.

260
00:17:15,596 --> 00:17:16,036
Yeah.

261
00:17:16,036 --> 00:17:19,236
So, do you have something, Alex?

262
00:17:20,116 --> 00:17:23,936
I was just going to say, if we could just take a step back just for a minute.

263
00:17:24,096 --> 00:17:26,196
I don't know that much about dyslexia.

264
00:17:26,656 --> 00:17:31,416
Can we just have a short little introduction as to what it actually is?

265
00:17:31,416 --> 00:17:39,516
Because it doesn't seem to be an intelligence issue or a lack of motivation or a laziness issue.

266
00:17:39,516 --> 00:17:43,776
And on a more personal level, how did you find out that you had that?

267
00:17:43,776 --> 00:17:50,496
I was diagnosed in second grade and I went into this hell called special education in third.

268
00:17:51,856 --> 00:17:54,096
Forced my way out in history.

269
00:17:54,916 --> 00:17:58,636
I had a school board member whose son and I were a year apart.

270
00:17:58,756 --> 00:18:00,956
We got our Eagle Scouts about the same time.

271
00:18:01,936 --> 00:18:06,176
And I said, I need out of this place for history.

272
00:18:06,176 --> 00:18:12,176
So they put me into normal history for eighth grade.

273
00:18:12,276 --> 00:18:13,376
I was told I was going to flunk.

274
00:18:13,776 --> 00:18:15,696
I got perfect hundreds on every test.

275
00:18:15,796 --> 00:18:19,676
I couldn't take notes, so I didn't remember everything the teacher said.

276
00:18:20,136 --> 00:18:22,196
And I got the history award for the best history student.

277
00:18:22,456 --> 00:18:26,456
And then I went all college mainstream in high school.

278
00:18:27,976 --> 00:18:29,696
So what is dyslexia?

279
00:18:29,876 --> 00:18:30,896
It's really simple.

280
00:18:31,396 --> 00:18:32,316
Let's look at science.

281
00:18:32,436 --> 00:18:34,596
This is the best book on dyslexia.

282
00:18:34,596 --> 00:18:35,936
It's called Overcoming Dyslexia.

283
00:18:36,436 --> 00:18:37,976
This happens to be the second edition.

284
00:18:38,316 --> 00:18:41,076
It's by Dr. Sally Shaywitz from Yale.

285
00:18:41,756 --> 00:18:43,416
She's a medical doctor from Yale.

286
00:18:43,776 --> 00:18:44,576
Okay.

287
00:18:45,476 --> 00:18:49,276
This is dyslexia.

288
00:18:49,936 --> 00:18:54,356
Now, do you see how the back part of your brain has this massive neural activity?

289
00:18:55,816 --> 00:18:56,156
Okay.

290
00:18:56,736 --> 00:19:01,296
Now, do you see how the back part of my brain has next to zero?

291
00:19:02,576 --> 00:19:02,956
Mm-hmm.

292
00:19:03,236 --> 00:19:06,536
But the front part of my brain is about two and a half times overactive?

293
00:19:07,796 --> 00:19:08,556
I see that.

294
00:19:08,876 --> 00:19:09,136
Okay.

295
00:19:09,136 --> 00:19:16,696
Okay. So everything that you're really good at, I stick at. Things that you're not the best at,

296
00:19:16,876 --> 00:19:23,736
I excel at. So what's essentially happening is it's not that schools are trying to be hard on

297
00:19:23,736 --> 00:19:28,876
the neurodiverse. I'm going to call dyslectic 5% to 10% of the population. I'm going to call ADD,

298
00:19:28,876 --> 00:19:37,656
ADHD is similar. Neurodiverse populations maxed out at most 20. So 80 plus percent of the school

299
00:19:37,656 --> 00:19:41,656
population, it's not neurodiverse. So they designed it for the back part of the brain.

300
00:19:42,556 --> 00:19:51,196
So if you can imagine when you're teaching, let's say, an English class, everything you do in five,

301
00:19:51,196 --> 00:19:58,396
ten books a semester, and that's the exact opposite of how dyslectics learn. So it's literally

302
00:19:58,396 --> 00:20:04,576
designed for us to fail, not intended to be. So just to give you the best idea of how to actually

303
00:20:04,576 --> 00:20:09,896
do this. So something that your audience can take home tonight and actually have a real effect.

304
00:20:10,156 --> 00:20:16,436
Do any of you know any dyslectic kids now or in the past who were elementary school kids writing

305
00:20:16,436 --> 00:20:20,076
apparently randomly placed misspelled words? Any, either of you two?

306
00:20:21,316 --> 00:20:22,316
Nope, not myself.

307
00:20:23,136 --> 00:20:27,436
Okay. All right. So I'm going to give you the example I typically use. Her name is Sarah.

308
00:20:27,836 --> 00:20:32,276
And when we get done with this, I'm going to describe the front part of the brain and how

309
00:20:32,276 --> 00:20:36,896
to use this because the biggest issue your audience has probably is the kids in elementary

310
00:20:36,896 --> 00:20:41,976
school, they're way behind in the reading, and they're writing randomly placed misspelled words.

311
00:20:42,176 --> 00:20:48,156
This is one of the most important things I can tell you. If you can write it, you can read it.

312
00:20:48,616 --> 00:20:54,556
If you can write it, you can read it. All right, so if we work on writing, the reading will improve.

313
00:20:55,596 --> 00:21:00,596
So the front part of the brain that's two and a half times overactive deals with two things,

314
00:21:00,596 --> 00:21:09,696
word analysis followed by articulation so what we need to do is to pull things from the back part

315
00:21:09,696 --> 00:21:14,996
of the brain the writing where it's supposed to happen and we need to pull it forward because

316
00:21:14,996 --> 00:21:19,176
nothing's going on back here we got to work on where we have two and a half times the neural

317
00:21:19,176 --> 00:21:25,736
activity and the best way i'd like to give an example of this all right you guys are grown men

318
00:21:25,736 --> 00:21:32,656
if you were to have a tug of war with a 13 year old boy average size 13 year old boy

319
00:21:32,656 --> 00:21:40,776
who's gonna win you know i would hope i would win that's awesome okay let's make it younger let's

320
00:21:40,776 --> 00:21:47,116
make we will make a 10 sure you're literally two kids big these days no a kid where you're literally

321
00:21:47,116 --> 00:21:52,736
two and a half times their size right two and a half times there'd be no chance yeah there's just

322
00:21:52,736 --> 00:22:02,536
You could line up 20 of them and you would just go yank, yank, and they're on the floor crying and you're just standing there not even tired because you're two and a half times.

323
00:22:03,196 --> 00:22:17,296
I'm just giving that rather extreme example because we've got to pull it back here where we got nothing going on up here because the realistic example from back here, how much more neural activity you have, it's not like a 10-year-old kid.

324
00:22:17,576 --> 00:22:22,556
It's like a three-year-old because you got way more than two and a half times.

325
00:22:22,556 --> 00:22:25,036
You've got like six, seven times.

326
00:22:26,036 --> 00:22:26,116
Okay.

327
00:22:26,196 --> 00:22:31,616
I mean, they're weighing, you know, if you're 150 pounds, they're weighing like 20.

328
00:22:32,676 --> 00:22:33,116
Okay.

329
00:22:33,236 --> 00:22:34,696
It's more like almost a baby.

330
00:22:34,796 --> 00:22:37,236
I mean, that's the difference that we're looking at.

331
00:22:37,416 --> 00:22:40,636
So we've got to pull that forward through word analysis followed by articulation.

332
00:22:40,756 --> 00:22:41,656
How do we know that?

333
00:22:42,716 --> 00:22:44,876
Because that's what this book tells us.

334
00:22:45,536 --> 00:22:47,656
It's the number one book in the field, Overcoming Dyslexia.

335
00:22:47,656 --> 00:22:54,576
So what we do is I'm going to show you how the student I like to use her example is Sarah.

336
00:22:55,016 --> 00:22:56,596
She's 10 years old at the time.

337
00:22:57,016 --> 00:22:59,056
Her favorite thing in the world is swimming.

338
00:22:59,256 --> 00:23:01,116
That's her speciality, what she loves doing.

339
00:23:01,216 --> 00:23:04,516
She's on the swim team, jumps in the pool every chance she can.

340
00:23:05,576 --> 00:23:05,856
All right.

341
00:23:05,876 --> 00:23:09,756
So what we're going to have you do to teach her, remember, you're doing the teaching.

342
00:23:10,156 --> 00:23:17,176
We're going to have you open up a real laptop with a real keyboard, not an iPad, not an iPhone, and certainly not handwriting.

343
00:23:17,176 --> 00:23:20,376
You're going to type out hero plus sign.

344
00:23:20,876 --> 00:23:22,016
What are we talking about?

345
00:23:22,356 --> 00:23:24,016
And she's going to copy that.

346
00:23:24,396 --> 00:23:25,756
A lot of people freak out.

347
00:23:26,076 --> 00:23:27,596
Kids aren't allowed to copy.

348
00:23:28,196 --> 00:23:29,276
Actually, they are.

349
00:23:29,476 --> 00:23:36,976
Professor James Collins, strategies for struggling writers, default writing strategy of copying.

350
00:23:37,516 --> 00:23:38,636
So she copies that.

351
00:23:38,876 --> 00:23:41,796
And she's going to do that for 10 likes and 10 dislikes.

352
00:23:42,376 --> 00:23:43,936
But let's just go back to the first one.

353
00:23:44,196 --> 00:23:45,116
Hero plus sign.

354
00:23:45,156 --> 00:23:46,016
What are we talking about?

355
00:23:46,376 --> 00:23:48,656
We're going to swap out hero for Sarah.

356
00:23:49,056 --> 00:23:50,736
We got Sarah plus sign.

357
00:23:50,816 --> 00:23:51,776
What are we talking about?

358
00:23:52,136 --> 00:23:56,936
Then we're going to go to a list of 10 things she really likes and 10 things she really hates.

359
00:23:57,136 --> 00:23:58,676
First thing she likes is swimming.

360
00:23:58,996 --> 00:24:00,716
So we got Sarah plus sign.

361
00:24:00,796 --> 00:24:01,736
What are we talking about?

362
00:24:01,976 --> 00:24:03,076
We're going to swap out.

363
00:24:03,136 --> 00:24:04,436
What are we talking about for swimming?

364
00:24:04,636 --> 00:24:06,236
We got Sarah plus sign swimming.

365
00:24:07,256 --> 00:24:08,676
Now, here's my question.

366
00:24:09,216 --> 00:24:15,496
I'm going to try to fool you with two of the simplest questions you will ever be asked.

367
00:24:16,016 --> 00:24:17,256
Do you think I'll be able to do it?

368
00:24:19,756 --> 00:24:20,536
Everything's possible.

369
00:24:21,656 --> 00:24:26,376
Well, if you answer them correctly, this will work.

370
00:24:26,456 --> 00:24:30,556
If not, it won't work and you'll have an epiphany on what dyslexia really is.

371
00:24:30,556 --> 00:24:33,876
And by simplest questions, I mean the simplest ones you'll ever be asked.

372
00:24:34,356 --> 00:24:37,136
So remember, we got Sarah plus sign swimming.

373
00:24:37,916 --> 00:24:41,656
What we need to do is replace the plus sign with a word.

374
00:24:42,016 --> 00:24:42,956
Here's my question.

375
00:24:43,816 --> 00:24:47,176
Does Sarah like or dislike swimming?

376
00:24:48,636 --> 00:24:49,016
Like.

377
00:24:49,696 --> 00:24:50,256
Exactly.

378
00:24:50,476 --> 00:24:51,356
You got it right.

379
00:24:51,436 --> 00:24:53,456
You're better than 70% of people so far.

380
00:24:54,056 --> 00:24:56,036
Now, are you ready for the really hard one?

381
00:24:56,696 --> 00:24:57,156
Absolutely.

382
00:24:57,656 --> 00:24:57,896
Okay.

383
00:24:58,236 --> 00:24:59,636
This trips everybody up.

384
00:25:00,376 --> 00:25:04,176
I asked you, does Sarah like or dislike swimming?

385
00:25:04,276 --> 00:25:04,876
You said like.

386
00:25:05,336 --> 00:25:07,376
Now, we got Sarah plus sign swimming.

387
00:25:07,376 --> 00:25:11,296
I need you to replace the word you just said with the plus sign.

388
00:25:11,296 --> 00:25:13,176
what's the three word sentence

389
00:25:13,176 --> 00:25:15,996
Sarah likes swimming

390
00:25:15,996 --> 00:25:18,296
but that's not what I asked

391
00:25:18,296 --> 00:25:23,796
you said what's the three word sentence

392
00:25:23,796 --> 00:25:25,116
yes

393
00:25:25,116 --> 00:25:26,576
so let's go back

394
00:25:26,576 --> 00:25:29,036
I asked does Sarah like or dislike swimming

395
00:25:29,036 --> 00:25:30,716
you said like which is correct

396
00:25:30,716 --> 00:25:33,076
now you need to go ahead

397
00:25:33,076 --> 00:25:34,716
and replace the plus sign Sarah

398
00:25:34,716 --> 00:25:36,716
plus sign swimming with that word

399
00:25:36,716 --> 00:25:38,956
what's the three word sentence

400
00:25:38,956 --> 00:25:45,176
Sarah words

401
00:25:45,176 --> 00:25:46,756
I don't know

402
00:25:46,756 --> 00:25:49,216
do I have you nice and confused

403
00:25:49,216 --> 00:25:51,336
you do because absolutely one case

404
00:25:51,336 --> 00:25:53,356
I can sit there and if I dissect it

405
00:25:53,356 --> 00:25:55,196
enough you can say replace that

406
00:25:55,196 --> 00:25:56,836
word

407
00:25:56,836 --> 00:25:59,336
replace that with the word

408
00:25:59,336 --> 00:26:01,256
right so you could

409
00:26:01,256 --> 00:26:03,256
theoretically say if you were trying to trick someone

410
00:26:03,256 --> 00:26:05,336
but at the end you know for

411
00:26:05,336 --> 00:26:07,036
for me at least you're

412
00:26:07,036 --> 00:26:07,816
the

413
00:26:07,816 --> 00:26:14,996
the direction I'm hearing and the direction that I'm inclined to give is, you know,

414
00:26:15,096 --> 00:26:16,536
replace the plus sign with likes.

415
00:26:16,716 --> 00:26:21,776
So the three word sentence is Sarah, plus sign is likes, swimming.

416
00:26:22,636 --> 00:26:24,896
Yes, but you still don't see the air.

417
00:26:25,256 --> 00:26:26,516
No, I do not.

418
00:26:27,396 --> 00:26:27,816
Okay.

419
00:26:28,156 --> 00:26:29,616
Are you ready for your epiphany?

420
00:26:29,996 --> 00:26:30,456
Absolutely.

421
00:26:31,076 --> 00:26:31,416
Yes.

422
00:26:31,736 --> 00:26:32,056
Okay.

423
00:26:32,056 --> 00:26:35,696
I asked, does Sarah like or dislike swimming?

424
00:26:35,696 --> 00:26:43,696
You said like, but when you put it into the sentence, you automatically did what virtually every educated person does.

425
00:26:43,836 --> 00:26:46,276
You added an S to make it a proper sentence.

426
00:26:46,996 --> 00:26:48,356
Sarah's dyslectic.

427
00:26:48,836 --> 00:26:53,436
That happens in the back part of her brain, which doesn't work.

428
00:26:54,356 --> 00:26:57,636
So she would say Sarah like swimming.

429
00:26:58,216 --> 00:27:00,016
She doesn't know how to add the S.

430
00:27:01,816 --> 00:27:02,416
Okay.

431
00:27:02,416 --> 00:27:02,976
Okay.

432
00:27:03,416 --> 00:27:05,096
Now, I want you to think about it.

433
00:27:05,096 --> 00:27:11,976
You sit this down with your typical eight-year-old and you show them this like three times, four times max.

434
00:27:12,316 --> 00:27:14,156
They got it forever.

435
00:27:15,036 --> 00:27:18,036
But Sarah has no clue how to add the S.

436
00:27:18,576 --> 00:27:19,816
Now, how do we do that?

437
00:27:19,896 --> 00:27:26,216
Do you remember that, you know, $75,000 school I told you about called the Windward School?

438
00:27:26,336 --> 00:27:27,016
Here's what they do.

439
00:27:27,016 --> 00:27:35,376
They use an Orton-Gillingham multi-structured language approach, which takes two years and $11,000 for people with bachelor's degrees.

440
00:27:36,256 --> 00:27:37,676
Well, what is that?

441
00:27:37,976 --> 00:27:44,696
They're going to use seeing, touching, hearing, the multiple senses to get her to understand how to add yes.

442
00:27:45,436 --> 00:27:46,776
It's complicated as all heck.

443
00:27:46,876 --> 00:27:47,556
It takes forever.

444
00:27:48,496 --> 00:27:52,936
But this is what the millionaires have been using since the 1950s.

445
00:27:53,236 --> 00:27:54,916
It hasn't changed much since then.

446
00:27:55,456 --> 00:27:56,156
All right.

447
00:27:56,156 --> 00:27:59,576
Now, I'm going to show you how to do this really fast.

448
00:28:00,896 --> 00:28:03,996
So we're going to ask Sarah to read what she wrote out loud.

449
00:28:04,236 --> 00:28:05,356
Sarah likes swimming.

450
00:28:05,776 --> 00:28:09,036
I'm going to say, Sarah, does that sound generally correct?

451
00:28:09,276 --> 00:28:10,576
And she's going to say, no.

452
00:28:10,836 --> 00:28:13,176
And I'm going to say, Sarah, fix it.

453
00:28:13,776 --> 00:28:15,096
Sarah likes swimming.

454
00:28:17,096 --> 00:28:17,516
All right.

455
00:28:17,596 --> 00:28:22,096
So we then have her practice that with 10 likes and 10 dislikes.

456
00:28:22,096 --> 00:28:28,256
So you're essentially connecting that gap right there.

457
00:28:28,596 --> 00:28:33,476
And you're boiling it down to the most simple mechanism.

458
00:28:33,476 --> 00:28:46,416
And you're having them identify the problem, which triggers, I would think, some neurodevelopment to occur that says, okay, I can connect this.

459
00:28:46,416 --> 00:28:55,076
as I practice it, it becomes easier that I start to realize the context of this word.

460
00:28:55,836 --> 00:28:57,256
Am I close on that?

461
00:28:57,756 --> 00:28:58,936
Yes, you're getting.

462
00:28:58,996 --> 00:29:04,856
But do you see how like and dislike and what we just did there is a simple form of word analysis?

463
00:29:05,216 --> 00:29:05,676
Absolutely.

464
00:29:06,576 --> 00:29:06,876
Okay.

465
00:29:07,096 --> 00:29:08,516
That's the front part of the brain.

466
00:29:08,616 --> 00:29:11,456
So we're pulling it from back here, nothing going on to the front part.

467
00:29:11,456 --> 00:29:13,736
We got two and a half times the neuroactivity.

468
00:29:13,736 --> 00:29:16,756
Then we're going to go because reason one.

469
00:29:17,376 --> 00:29:21,076
Give me a simple reason why a 10-year-old girl would like swimming.

470
00:29:23,216 --> 00:29:23,936
It's fun.

471
00:29:24,156 --> 00:29:24,676
It's fun.

472
00:29:24,756 --> 00:29:25,976
That's what everybody says.

473
00:29:26,416 --> 00:29:31,356
Now, can you see how the reasons after because are a simple form of articulation?

474
00:29:32,076 --> 00:29:32,496
Absolutely.

475
00:29:33,556 --> 00:29:41,356
So what we're doing is we're pulling the stuff from the back part here where nothing's going on to where we have two and a half times the neural activity up here.

476
00:29:41,356 --> 00:29:45,676
So now that we have Sarah go, Sarah likes swimming.

477
00:29:46,476 --> 00:29:49,656
Can you see how we probably got a whole bunch of misspelled words?

478
00:29:50,396 --> 00:29:50,656
Oh, yeah.

479
00:29:51,436 --> 00:29:51,656
Yeah.

480
00:29:51,756 --> 00:29:52,816
Here's how we fix that.

481
00:29:52,916 --> 00:29:53,996
It's really easy.

482
00:29:54,416 --> 00:30:00,476
What we do is we tell Sarah to read what she wrote out loud, and she's going to – and I'm going to say, Sarah, does that sound generally correct?

483
00:30:00,536 --> 00:30:01,256
I don't care about spelling.

484
00:30:01,796 --> 00:30:03,616
She's going to keep going until it's correct.

485
00:30:04,456 --> 00:30:05,476
Why is that important?

486
00:30:06,236 --> 00:30:10,416
Teachers have a really hard time with horrifically bad grammar.

487
00:30:11,176 --> 00:30:13,856
They're experts at the simple stuff and the medium stuff.

488
00:30:14,116 --> 00:30:16,756
We just took the really bad grammar, the horrible stuff.

489
00:30:16,976 --> 00:30:18,256
It's out the window and fixed.

490
00:30:19,516 --> 00:30:19,856
All right?

491
00:30:19,896 --> 00:30:21,696
Making their job so much easier.

492
00:30:22,176 --> 00:30:25,316
Then here's the big secret, how we correct spelling.

493
00:30:25,736 --> 00:30:31,776
We tell Sarah every time she makes it, she types a misspelled word, she has to retype the entire sentence.

494
00:30:32,176 --> 00:30:34,096
So she says, I'm not going to make that mistake.

495
00:30:34,096 --> 00:30:35,396
I'm not going to make that mistake.

496
00:30:35,636 --> 00:30:38,776
And she keeps doing it for three to 13 times typically.

497
00:30:38,776 --> 00:30:44,016
The more she makes those mistakes, the harder she concentrates.

498
00:30:44,476 --> 00:30:45,696
And that's where the magic happens.

499
00:30:46,636 --> 00:30:52,496
So how do you, okay, so sorry, something just popped into my little brain here.

500
00:30:54,976 --> 00:31:00,976
Just going through this, I can understand, let me say that differently, because I don't understand.

501
00:31:00,976 --> 00:31:13,736
But I can picture myself and kind of empathize, right, in that there's going to be a ton of frustration.

502
00:31:14,116 --> 00:31:17,336
So how do you combat that part of it, right?

503
00:31:17,336 --> 00:31:27,396
I know, you know, if I keep getting something wrong, it starts to really just, you know, it dampens my mood.

504
00:31:27,516 --> 00:31:28,996
Let's put it that way.

505
00:31:28,996 --> 00:31:38,156
But they're not frustrated because what the kids understand now is I explain to them, here's your brain.

506
00:31:38,476 --> 00:31:40,496
We're going from back here to up here.

507
00:31:41,096 --> 00:31:49,876
And the only way for us to get this corrected is brutal, brutal repetition.

508
00:31:50,316 --> 00:31:51,656
But remember what we're doing.

509
00:31:51,716 --> 00:31:56,176
We're talking about things that they really like and things they really dislike.

510
00:31:57,296 --> 00:31:57,776
Okay.

511
00:31:57,776 --> 00:31:58,356
So personal.

512
00:31:58,356 --> 00:31:59,856
Oh, heavy personalization.

513
00:32:00,096 --> 00:32:01,836
It's heavy personal stuff.

514
00:32:01,996 --> 00:32:04,176
So it's related to them.

515
00:32:04,716 --> 00:32:06,636
So they're willing to do the work.

516
00:32:07,736 --> 00:32:12,136
I'll have that cleared up momentarily when we move on to the next step.

517
00:32:12,936 --> 00:32:13,176
Okay?

518
00:32:13,416 --> 00:32:20,176
But what you see here is we have them practice with 10 likes and 10 dislikes until everything is spelled correct.

519
00:32:20,176 --> 00:32:24,276
If it's not, we redo it until everything is spelled correct.

520
00:32:24,796 --> 00:32:28,076
Then reason one and reason two until everything is spelled correct.

521
00:32:28,076 --> 00:32:30,096
Reason one, reason two, and reason three.

522
00:32:30,856 --> 00:32:36,956
What we have now done is we have taken a kid who's writing a bunch of apparently randomly placed misspelled words

523
00:32:36,956 --> 00:32:44,296
and bringing their writing up to the end of second, beginning, third grade level with decent grammar and correct spelling.

524
00:32:44,716 --> 00:32:47,916
So in other words, the teachers can now work with this kid at that level.

525
00:32:48,516 --> 00:32:54,316
And parents can do this at home, not needing a $75,000 school.

526
00:32:54,316 --> 00:32:58,276
because there you have teachers who have two years of additional training

527
00:32:58,276 --> 00:33:02,956
after a bachelor's degree, and it's four to one or five to one.

528
00:33:03,236 --> 00:33:05,856
This is typical 20 to 35 to one.

529
00:33:06,776 --> 00:33:06,996
All right?

530
00:33:07,456 --> 00:33:10,296
So that's step three.

531
00:33:10,296 --> 00:33:15,696
But as you noticed, I can't get these kids to do anything,

532
00:33:15,996 --> 00:33:17,876
and I'm talking nothing.

533
00:33:18,236 --> 00:33:21,356
I can't get them to do any work whatsoever.

534
00:33:21,356 --> 00:33:30,356
And then I had to look back, back into a time when I'm dealing with, when I was in law school,

535
00:33:30,356 --> 00:33:31,356
all right?

536
00:33:31,356 --> 00:33:39,676
And what happened when I was in law school, I remember when I was taking those, the time

537
00:33:39,676 --> 00:33:50,212
with Professor Warner and I just got everything And what I realized was the kid speciality That was the breakthrough That why this is number one in the model So I going to tell

538
00:33:50,212 --> 00:33:56,352
you about my most successful student. Her name is Casey. I never saw anything like this before.

539
00:33:56,672 --> 00:34:03,712
I will never see this again. This is a complete one-off. All right. Casey wanted to start off

540
00:34:03,712 --> 00:34:09,032
with reading. And I tried to say, Casey, I do writing because with those sentences,

541
00:34:09,032 --> 00:34:12,752
If the kid can write it, they can type it, they can read it.

542
00:34:13,792 --> 00:34:14,212
All right?

543
00:34:14,272 --> 00:34:15,092
It's so much easier.

544
00:34:15,152 --> 00:34:17,012
But she's like, no, I want to do reading.

545
00:34:17,112 --> 00:34:19,252
I was like, okay, Casey.

546
00:34:19,452 --> 00:34:24,792
She's 10 years old at the end of fifth grade, reading at the second grade level, writing at the second grade level.

547
00:34:25,212 --> 00:34:26,832
She turned 11 over the summertime.

548
00:34:27,792 --> 00:34:31,332
She was interested in Theodore Roosevelt, so I signed her this little book.

549
00:34:31,332 --> 00:34:39,792
The Rise of Theater Roosevelt by Edmund Morris won the Pulitzer all 900 pages of it.

550
00:34:40,932 --> 00:34:45,792
This is at the 10th grade, first year college level, depending on who you ask.

551
00:34:46,912 --> 00:34:50,252
So I said, OK, Casey, here's how you do the reading.

552
00:34:50,692 --> 00:34:53,932
And it sucks and you're not going to do it.

553
00:34:54,292 --> 00:34:55,532
She said, I'll do it.

554
00:34:55,592 --> 00:34:56,652
I said, yeah, right.

555
00:34:56,992 --> 00:35:01,012
Go work with your mom, you know, 10, 20 minute sessions, a couple of times a week.

556
00:35:01,012 --> 00:35:01,732
It's up to your mom.

557
00:35:02,612 --> 00:35:03,672
I didn't know Casey.

558
00:35:04,672 --> 00:35:14,332
She literally took this ridiculous idea that I gave her, went to her room, and essentially locked herself away for three hours a night for six months.

559
00:35:14,832 --> 00:35:16,412
Most of the days during the summer.

560
00:35:17,692 --> 00:35:27,292
At the end of six months, you could literally turn to that random page and point to this random word.

561
00:35:28,172 --> 00:35:29,572
Okay, let me point to a random word.

562
00:35:30,252 --> 00:35:30,772
There we go.

563
00:35:30,772 --> 00:35:37,192
that random word and she would tell you the dictionary definition verbatim wow wow she jumped

564
00:35:37,192 --> 00:35:46,832
yeah eight grade levels in six months now how much time did i work with her 15 minutes a week

565
00:35:46,832 --> 00:35:56,292
well this was all casey now but that's that's atypical that's i'll never see this again okay

566
00:35:56,292 --> 00:36:04,592
So now, yeah, but the reason why I'm spending all this time is remember we're talking about motivation and can't getting kids to do anything.

567
00:36:05,072 --> 00:36:09,032
So her mom comes back to me and says, is this just for stuff she likes?

568
00:36:09,532 --> 00:36:12,332
And I said, okay, let's try something she hates.

569
00:36:13,212 --> 00:36:20,972
My most popular book, Walt Disney, the triumph of the American imagination, all thousand pages.

570
00:36:22,612 --> 00:36:23,692
Why this book?

571
00:36:23,692 --> 00:36:24,812
This is my most popular.

572
00:36:24,812 --> 00:36:27,732
Have any of you ever been to Disneyland or Disney World?

573
00:36:29,252 --> 00:36:29,772
Yes.

574
00:36:29,992 --> 00:36:31,612
I live in Florida, so I've been here.

575
00:36:31,972 --> 00:36:36,072
You walk into the Magic Kingdom, Main Street, USA.

576
00:36:36,452 --> 00:36:38,032
Do you feel the Disney magic?

577
00:36:38,632 --> 00:36:38,832
No.

578
00:36:40,372 --> 00:36:42,832
When I was younger, not so much these days.

579
00:36:43,012 --> 00:36:45,252
Yeah, but when you were younger, okay?

580
00:36:45,532 --> 00:36:45,832
Sure.

581
00:36:46,132 --> 00:36:48,172
It's based on two universal themes.

582
00:36:48,932 --> 00:36:50,812
One is really easy to find.

583
00:36:50,872 --> 00:36:51,892
The other one is really hard.

584
00:36:52,472 --> 00:36:56,692
Main Street, USA is associated essentially with Marceline, Missouri,

585
00:36:56,692 --> 00:36:58,912
where Walt was between age 5 and age 10,

586
00:36:59,412 --> 00:37:03,152
and he tries to spend the rest of his life trying to get that experience.

587
00:37:04,952 --> 00:37:08,032
That's the most popular book because once kids can learn to read,

588
00:37:08,132 --> 00:37:09,972
they're essentially reading like 17-year-olds,

589
00:37:10,172 --> 00:37:12,012
and their parents take them to Disney World,

590
00:37:12,292 --> 00:37:14,252
where they used to when it used to be affordable.

591
00:37:15,012 --> 00:37:15,752
Some still do.

592
00:37:16,292 --> 00:37:17,412
It gets the kids motivated.

593
00:37:17,412 --> 00:37:23,692
So anyway, it takes normally one to three years for the kids to figure out that second universal thing.

594
00:37:23,832 --> 00:37:24,332
Then the reading.

595
00:37:25,232 --> 00:37:26,612
Casey did it in three months.

596
00:37:27,292 --> 00:37:29,472
Why am I spending all this time on this?

597
00:37:30,272 --> 00:37:31,232
Because it's critical.

598
00:37:31,432 --> 00:37:40,872
The most motivated kid I ever worked with, she dropped in motivation when I asked her from something she loved to something she hated.

599
00:37:41,212 --> 00:37:43,232
Her motivation dropped 50%.

600
00:37:43,232 --> 00:37:48,432
Now, normal kids would drop 75% to 90%.

601
00:37:48,432 --> 00:37:51,172
So I want you to think about this.

602
00:37:51,432 --> 00:37:54,932
You step outside of that speciality.

603
00:37:55,192 --> 00:38:04,172
They're down 75% to 90% of typically what they're giving in school, which is 5 or 10 books a year or whatever the number is, outside their motivation.

604
00:38:04,492 --> 00:38:08,172
And you wonder why you can't get them to do anything.

605
00:38:08,852 --> 00:38:09,932
That's the reason.

606
00:38:11,112 --> 00:38:12,272
Sure, sure.

607
00:38:12,272 --> 00:38:21,312
I would make an argument that that reason applies almost universally.

608
00:38:22,152 --> 00:38:25,672
Now, again, that's kind of what you're saying.

609
00:38:25,792 --> 00:38:31,492
But you're saying the application of that is limited for people with dyslexia.

610
00:38:32,292 --> 00:38:38,892
What I'm saying is if you got a normal kid, okay,

611
00:38:38,892 --> 00:38:53,832
If you look back at your education, if you did two things, if you planned your study habits properly, gave yourself enough time, everything, and then you worked really freaking hard, you were either successful or really successful.

612
00:38:54,212 --> 00:38:58,452
You stopped doing those two things, your success went down the drain.

613
00:38:58,812 --> 00:38:59,292
Make sense?

614
00:38:59,952 --> 00:39:00,592
Yeah, absolutely.

615
00:39:01,692 --> 00:39:05,532
With dyslectics, it's so much worse.

616
00:39:05,532 --> 00:39:11,972
you gen ed kids they have a class they don't like a lot of times the better serious students are

617
00:39:11,972 --> 00:39:16,712
going on to four-year colleges they'll just push through maybe they'll get an a minus or a b plus

618
00:39:16,712 --> 00:39:25,632
but they still get a good grade instead of an a dyslexics forget it so what i found is during the

619
00:39:25,632 --> 00:39:31,292
intervention period until we get them to grade level know what i said until we get them to reading

620
00:39:31,292 --> 00:39:35,592
or writing a grade level, if you step outside their speciality, they're down 75 to 90 percent,

621
00:39:35,692 --> 00:39:40,072
and they're just not going to do anything, especially with kids with ADHD, attention deficit

622
00:39:40,072 --> 00:39:47,552
hyperactivity disorder. They won't do anything outside the speciality. ADD, ADHD, and dyslexic,

623
00:39:47,612 --> 00:39:53,372
the treatment is the same thing. It's just different levels of severity. So what I found is,

624
00:39:53,452 --> 00:39:57,792
again, during the intervention period, we have to focus on their speciality. That's rule number one.

625
00:39:57,792 --> 00:40:05,672
rule number two if I ask a dyslectic this student that if I ask a dyslectic this question

626
00:40:05,672 --> 00:40:11,512
in their speciality do they have ideas flying around their head at light speed but with little

627
00:40:11,512 --> 00:40:18,912
to no organization they're going to say yes so what we have to do is we have to force their brain

628
00:40:18,912 --> 00:40:22,972
to organize itself by using writing as a measurable output let me say that again

629
00:40:22,972 --> 00:40:26,252
So you ask a dyslexic inside the speciality.

630
00:40:26,532 --> 00:40:28,812
Do they have ideas flying around their head at light speed?

631
00:40:28,872 --> 00:40:29,572
They're going to say yes.

632
00:40:29,912 --> 00:40:34,972
So we have to force the brain to organize itself by using writing as a measurable output.

633
00:40:35,812 --> 00:40:37,292
How do we do that?

634
00:40:37,752 --> 00:40:40,432
I want you to think and give me an example of Martin Luther King.

635
00:40:41,452 --> 00:40:47,212
If Bill Gates came to you and said, I'm going to pay you 100 grand, write this research paper.

636
00:40:47,212 --> 00:40:55,892
What effect did Martin Luther King's famous I Have a Dream speech have on the American civil rights movement in the 1960s?

637
00:40:56,472 --> 00:40:58,432
You can just go and start writing it, right?

638
00:40:59,572 --> 00:41:00,032
Probably.

639
00:41:00,732 --> 00:41:01,192
Yeah.

640
00:41:01,292 --> 00:41:02,412
We don't need a good paper.

641
00:41:02,552 --> 00:41:03,972
Just go write something, okay?

642
00:41:04,792 --> 00:41:06,212
Dyslectic, it's like grabbing fog.

643
00:41:07,152 --> 00:41:08,412
There's nothing there.

644
00:41:09,252 --> 00:41:14,212
We have to – because part of our brain is so massively overactive, there's no organization.

645
00:41:14,592 --> 00:41:15,112
It's light speed.

646
00:41:15,112 --> 00:41:34,872
So we have to ask a specific to a general question. What personally compelled Martin Luther King to want to give his famous speech? So what you do is you literally go and find that information in his biography.

647
00:41:34,872 --> 00:41:40,992
that answers the question. That answer gives you another question which you answer, which gives you

648
00:41:40,992 --> 00:41:47,632
a question which you answer. That forces the brain to organize itself by using writing as a measurable

649
00:41:47,632 --> 00:41:55,832
output. So what we do is during the intervention period, we have the kid's speciality from the

650
00:41:55,832 --> 00:42:01,312
specific to the general word analysis followed by articulation. And parents would ask me,

651
00:42:01,312 --> 00:42:07,292
how successful is this? And I could never tell them because none of my hundreds and hundreds of

652
00:42:07,292 --> 00:42:14,792
clients wanted to let the people know. Until December 27th of 2024 when I met Kimberly online

653
00:42:14,792 --> 00:42:22,412
and she said you can use my story. Kimberly is a very religious homeschooling mom and she had her

654
00:42:22,412 --> 00:42:28,712
10-year-old son Reed. She just so happened a few weeks before I started working with her

655
00:42:28,712 --> 00:42:35,932
have paid the state of Ohio $700 to have her kids tested. And just, you know, with her success,

656
00:42:36,492 --> 00:42:43,712
she successfully taught Reed's three brothers and sisters how to read properly, exceptionally well

657
00:42:43,712 --> 00:42:49,532
with traditional methods. But she failed with Reed and she felt horrible about it. She felt

658
00:42:49,532 --> 00:42:57,352
shamed about it. So where was Reed at the start? He was in fifth grade at 10, reading at the 11th

659
00:42:57,352 --> 00:43:04,772
percentile, writing at the fourth percentile. So I gave her a simple curriculum. She worked with

660
00:43:04,772 --> 00:43:10,852
Reed for three 30-minute sessions a week, so about 90 minutes on average. I worked with her for half

661
00:43:10,852 --> 00:43:15,912
an hour a week. Most parents will do two to three 10 to 15-minute sessions a week.

662
00:43:18,012 --> 00:43:21,252
Kimberly did that for five and a half, six months to the end of the school year.

663
00:43:21,252 --> 00:43:26,672
Then we had the post-test, which showed an improvement, which I'm not telling you.

664
00:43:27,172 --> 00:43:30,412
Because over the summer, Reed's friends came to him.

665
00:43:30,492 --> 00:43:37,132
They said, Reed, we want you in public school for social reasons, to be with us in class, at lunch, whatever.

666
00:43:38,052 --> 00:43:41,992
So he went back to public school in the beginning of August.

667
00:43:42,172 --> 00:43:46,432
We're talking eight, eight and a half months later, and he was tested inside a public school.

668
00:43:46,532 --> 00:43:47,192
Much better data.

669
00:43:47,192 --> 00:43:58,252
If he had the same scores he had in December, he would have been placed in special ed away from his friends on happy kid because that's why he's going to public school.

670
00:43:58,652 --> 00:44:00,392
He had a bit of an increase.

671
00:44:00,932 --> 00:44:06,072
His reading went from the 11th percentile to the 64th percentile.

672
00:44:06,532 --> 00:44:10,652
His writing went from the 4th percentile to the 65th.

673
00:44:11,392 --> 00:44:14,812
His grammar jumped to the 97th percentile.

674
00:44:14,812 --> 00:44:22,252
All right. Now, remember what I told you. The Windward School takes four to five years to fix

675
00:44:22,252 --> 00:44:28,432
things. Kimberly did this. Even if you want to go over the summer, call it eight and a half months.

676
00:44:29,752 --> 00:44:34,832
And she did what every parent dreams of. She solved it. What has happened to Reed this last

677
00:44:34,832 --> 00:44:41,192
semester? He's in public school getting primarily A's and B's in normal classes with his friends.

678
00:44:41,192 --> 00:44:48,412
that's how effective this is she literally taught him over seven times faster of what a public school

679
00:44:48,412 --> 00:44:54,512
could in less than half the time and she does not have a college degree in education

680
00:44:54,512 --> 00:45:03,072
so the breakthrough from this really came from kind of almost you know being forced into writing

681
00:45:03,072 --> 00:45:11,852
in that category. So have there been any major breakthroughs that were just completely

682
00:45:11,852 --> 00:45:17,752
unexpected? I mean, that kind of seems like it would be a bit unexpected, but are there any

683
00:45:17,752 --> 00:45:24,532
others that have come along that just like out of the blue? Well, remember, I have to do the

684
00:45:24,532 --> 00:45:33,492
craft of research. Right. The craft of research is how to get these kids ready for their doctoral

685
00:45:33,492 --> 00:45:43,692
level essay. I mean, dissertation. So I've had parents come to me and say, will this work with,

686
00:45:43,692 --> 00:45:51,932
you know, normal kids, really bright, normal kids who want to go on and be successful? And I was

687
00:45:51,932 --> 00:46:01,512
like, well, yes, but I never really ran it through until relatively recently a podcast I was on.

688
00:46:03,132 --> 00:46:10,312
He has his son, his name is Grayson. My permission to tell a story. Grayson is not dyslectic in any way,

689
00:46:10,312 --> 00:46:18,192
shape or form. He's your typical super intelligent kid. He scored in the top one percentile in math

690
00:46:18,192 --> 00:46:22,332
in the top one percentile in science when he's 10 years old in fifth grade.

691
00:46:22,632 --> 00:46:25,712
As you notice, I tend to start working with kids in fifth grade when they're 10.

692
00:46:27,372 --> 00:46:29,312
Grayson has a bit of an ambition.

693
00:46:29,712 --> 00:46:36,392
He wants to work at NASA, okay, as a PhD, and he wants to terraform Mars.

694
00:46:37,172 --> 00:46:41,872
So I said, okay, Grayson, I got to figure out where you're comfortable.

695
00:46:42,532 --> 00:46:45,212
So I use really advanced AI now.

696
00:46:45,212 --> 00:46:50,612
and I said, and it took me a while to build this report, but I said, what I need you to do

697
00:46:50,612 --> 00:46:58,012
is to tell me the history of how Mars was created, but you're only going to use peer-reviewed PhD

698
00:46:58,012 --> 00:47:03,352
level material. So I wrote this big report. And I said, I need you to, eventually you had to lower

699
00:47:03,352 --> 00:47:09,512
the reading level to ninth grade, but the context to 12th grade. Remember, this kid's 10 in fifth

700
00:47:09,512 --> 00:47:16,272
grade. And he said, yeah, that's about comfortable. And what he's interested in is the tallest mountain

701
00:47:16,272 --> 00:47:22,392
on Mars has a base the size of, I think, Arizona, and it's three times higher than Everest. And it

702
00:47:22,392 --> 00:47:27,592
literally breaks the atmosphere. And he's wondering, does that break lead and radiation?

703
00:47:29,352 --> 00:47:36,532
Okay, so that's where we're focusing. What I'm going to do with Grayson is I'm not going to show

704
00:47:36,532 --> 00:47:40,712
them how to do something that's publishable. I'm going to show them how to do things at the

705
00:47:40,712 --> 00:47:48,152
college senior thesis level, which is writing a big paper of like 100, 150 pages and is used to

706
00:47:48,152 --> 00:47:52,972
see if you're ready for a doctorate program. You probably have that done sometime in middle school

707
00:47:52,972 --> 00:48:01,152
and then I'll turn them over to a PhD professor. So the next issue that we have to work on with him

708
00:48:01,152 --> 00:48:07,052
is we have to get him to write advanced body paragraphs.

709
00:48:08,232 --> 00:48:08,472
All right?

710
00:48:08,712 --> 00:48:12,592
So I'm about to show you guys how to do a big part of that right now,

711
00:48:12,672 --> 00:48:16,392
which is really important for advanced stuff.

712
00:48:16,492 --> 00:48:18,492
So how far did you guys go in your education?

713
00:48:20,692 --> 00:48:21,732
I'm just high school.

714
00:48:21,732 --> 00:48:28,052
A couple of colleges, but never completed.

715
00:48:29,112 --> 00:48:29,332
Okay.

716
00:48:29,332 --> 00:48:38,032
So I want you to think about, have you ever noticed that when you were writing in high school, you'd have your topic sentence and then you'd have your data?

717
00:48:38,432 --> 00:48:40,012
The data could be quotes.

718
00:48:40,152 --> 00:48:41,572
It could be actual statistics.

719
00:48:42,092 --> 00:48:46,892
Have you ever noticed between your topic sentence and your data, it didn't flow very well?

720
00:48:51,052 --> 00:48:52,192
Not necessarily.

721
00:48:52,412 --> 00:48:57,752
I actually was fairly good at that particular thing.

722
00:48:57,752 --> 00:49:08,452
I ran into trouble more around – so we had a project one time to write a paper on George Washington.

723
00:49:09,732 --> 00:49:23,352
And so I went to the University of California Irvine Library and started piling through writings on George Washington.

724
00:49:23,352 --> 00:49:36,032
I got sent to the principal's office, even though I did well on the paper, because what I put out was not George Washington, the great man, etc.

725
00:49:36,332 --> 00:49:43,992
It was a story of a womanizing drug addict that had some serious problems, right?

726
00:49:44,512 --> 00:49:47,052
And that's the reality of it, right?

727
00:49:48,072 --> 00:49:52,392
Right, and you had good resources from the university library.

728
00:49:52,392 --> 00:49:59,592
everything, everything. But the focus was apparently, you know, we weren't supposed to be

729
00:49:59,592 --> 00:50:05,432
like negatively writing about these people. We were supposed to be doubting their accomplishments.

730
00:50:06,352 --> 00:50:15,212
And so, yeah, they were, that tended to be what got me in areas of concern more than

731
00:50:15,212 --> 00:50:20,072
my ability to put things together and make them clear and concise.

732
00:50:20,072 --> 00:50:24,972
Well, forget about their ridiculous concerns because they did it the right way.

733
00:50:24,972 --> 00:50:46,488
So I want you to think when you were writing you would have quotes or statistics or something How did you connect the topic sentence to your data where it actually flowed I go backwards Give me the data then let me tell the story around the data rather than let me try and fit this into something

734
00:50:46,488 --> 00:51:02,888
So obviously you're starting out with an idea, you want to reach a conclusion, but I found for me, it's better to allow the conclusion to happen organically because of the fact that the data will support that flow.

735
00:51:03,708 --> 00:51:04,188
Okay.

736
00:51:04,348 --> 00:51:10,448
So essentially what you did is you did a version of adding a warrant to a body paragraph.

737
00:51:10,648 --> 00:51:10,808
Yep.

738
00:51:10,808 --> 00:51:16,068
And just so you know what that is, it's something people outside of a master's degree,

739
00:51:16,208 --> 00:51:17,308
but will have no idea what it is.

740
00:51:17,348 --> 00:51:19,248
It's for PhD students from the craft of research.

741
00:51:19,648 --> 00:51:23,668
And it essentially says you have your topic sentence, you have your data,

742
00:51:23,808 --> 00:51:28,908
you connected it with a how and why question, which is essentially what you did.

743
00:51:28,908 --> 00:51:31,628
You added a story, but they're specifically saying how you do it,

744
00:51:31,828 --> 00:51:34,668
is you answer how and why statement, you try to make it more of a narrative.

745
00:51:35,228 --> 00:51:35,308
Yeah.

746
00:51:36,188 --> 00:51:36,488
Okay?

747
00:51:36,708 --> 00:51:39,808
So you are inadvertently doing what PhDs do.

748
00:51:40,268 --> 00:51:40,608
All right?

749
00:51:40,808 --> 00:51:45,448
So, what I'm trying to say, how do we teach this to kids?

750
00:51:45,508 --> 00:51:49,148
Now, remember, I get the kids to write basic body paragraphs at the end of fifth grade,

751
00:51:49,308 --> 00:51:56,808
like we did with, you know, what we did with the initial student read.

752
00:51:57,028 --> 00:51:59,588
But now, how do we get them to do the really advanced stuff?

753
00:52:00,708 --> 00:52:04,728
So, first thing I'd like to try to use is a universal thing.

754
00:52:05,048 --> 00:52:09,468
So, I always have to go back to a movie review so people understand what I'm trying to say,

755
00:52:09,508 --> 00:52:10,488
because it's kind of complex.

756
00:52:10,808 --> 00:52:16,488
I want one of you to volunteer a movie that you saw in the past that you think is one of the best ever.

757
00:52:16,648 --> 00:52:19,248
You know it intimately and everybody's seen it.

758
00:52:19,528 --> 00:52:20,608
What's the name of that movie?

759
00:52:21,768 --> 00:52:22,968
The Big Lebowski.

760
00:52:22,968 --> 00:52:23,968
You're the movie guy, Havoc.

761
00:52:24,588 --> 00:52:25,228
I'm sorry.

762
00:52:25,348 --> 00:52:26,348
The Big Lebowski.

763
00:52:27,128 --> 00:52:28,268
The Big Lebowski.

764
00:52:28,448 --> 00:52:28,628
Okay.

765
00:52:29,088 --> 00:52:32,628
Now, I want you – this is going to require you to really think.

766
00:52:32,628 --> 00:52:41,828
I want you to reduce The Big Lebowski to one universal theme that best represents the entire movie.

767
00:52:42,008 --> 00:52:42,668
One word.

768
00:52:43,368 --> 00:52:44,128
What is that?

769
00:52:49,368 --> 00:52:50,268
No pressure.

770
00:52:50,448 --> 00:52:52,268
Yeah, I don't know that I could.

771
00:52:52,548 --> 00:52:55,648
I think it's a pretty diverse movie.

772
00:52:56,688 --> 00:53:00,988
Right, but you got to pick one word, one universal theme that you think best represents.

773
00:53:00,988 --> 00:53:03,948
if not the entire movie, a big chunk of it.

774
00:53:08,028 --> 00:53:11,208
Yeah, I'm at a loss.

775
00:53:11,528 --> 00:53:16,528
I don't see how I can boil that particular movie down into a single word.

776
00:53:17,468 --> 00:53:20,868
Pick a chunk of the movie and then give me that in one word.

777
00:53:30,988 --> 00:53:45,628
so i'm gonna go with taoism how's that taoism okay now let's just so everybody knows you

778
00:53:45,628 --> 00:53:53,968
clearly described doing university level research on george washington sure all right i asked you

779
00:53:53,968 --> 00:53:59,608
for one word that represents a chunk of the movie and you had to think for a while absolutely

780
00:53:59,608 --> 00:54:00,608
Okay.

781
00:54:00,988 --> 00:54:20,068
Well, the reason for that is you're asking for an extreme oversimplification of an idea that is far broader than a word could possibly give substance to.

782
00:54:21,068 --> 00:54:21,708
Exactly.

783
00:54:21,708 --> 00:54:33,748
But now I want everybody to understand that when we're talking about word analysis, this sort of thing, the front part of the dyslectic brain, we're two and a half times the neuroactivity.

784
00:54:34,368 --> 00:54:36,128
Now you're playing in my sandbox.

785
00:54:37,088 --> 00:54:39,288
This is where dyslectics excel.

786
00:54:40,268 --> 00:54:40,588
All right.

787
00:54:40,888 --> 00:54:43,068
So why am I doing this?

788
00:54:43,068 --> 00:54:45,748
because if you look back at the Big Lebowski

789
00:54:45,748 --> 00:54:50,828
and you look at these Harvard-educated writers

790
00:54:50,828 --> 00:54:55,148
from journalist school or Yale or Princeton or wherever,

791
00:54:56,108 --> 00:54:58,008
they work for the New York Times and the Washington Post,

792
00:54:58,248 --> 00:55:00,408
what they generally do is they would tell you,

793
00:55:00,408 --> 00:55:02,748
this happened, then this happened, then this happened.

794
00:55:03,008 --> 00:55:04,348
So when you get done reading the review,

795
00:55:04,468 --> 00:55:05,988
you know what happened in the freaking movie.

796
00:55:07,428 --> 00:55:07,768
Okay?

797
00:55:08,508 --> 00:55:11,808
I could have a seventh grader write that.

798
00:55:12,388 --> 00:55:12,608
Right.

799
00:55:12,968 --> 00:55:13,348
All right.

800
00:55:13,448 --> 00:55:14,208
This is pathetic.

801
00:55:14,568 --> 00:55:17,148
And you don't want to see the movie because now they've ruined it.

802
00:55:17,488 --> 00:55:18,348
So here's what you do.

803
00:55:18,348 --> 00:55:26,708
You would go and take that universal theme that you told me and you would say, here's how the actors did with this universal thing.

804
00:55:27,148 --> 00:55:28,628
Here's how the director did.

805
00:55:28,888 --> 00:55:30,268
Here's how the screenwriter did.

806
00:55:30,628 --> 00:55:32,068
And then you review that way.

807
00:55:32,208 --> 00:55:39,028
So people can see what you're trying to say, see if the movie interests them, and if they want to see it, you haven't ruined it.

808
00:55:39,848 --> 00:55:40,728
Does that make sense?

809
00:55:41,008 --> 00:55:41,148
Sure.

810
00:55:41,148 --> 00:55:48,308
but here's why i'm spending all this time on this have you noticed that when you gave that

811
00:55:48,308 --> 00:55:56,688
big universal theme okay that it's really broad and it's horrible trying to focus

812
00:55:56,688 --> 00:56:01,588
with how the actors directors and screenwriter did because it's just so broad and it's hard

813
00:56:01,588 --> 00:56:06,988
does that make sense yeah so what we need to do is get something much more specific

814
00:56:06,988 --> 00:56:13,848
So here's what we do. I'm going to go back to English class. Every story ever written that's

815
00:56:13,848 --> 00:56:20,288
any good, you have a hero. The hero wants to do something. What they want to do is represented by

816
00:56:20,288 --> 00:56:25,988
at least one universal fame. And then you have the ultimate villain, a person or a concept that's

817
00:56:25,988 --> 00:56:29,988
best equipped to try to prevent them from accomplishing their goal. And when you finally

818
00:56:29,988 --> 00:56:36,208
have the resolution, normally in a three-act Shakespearean script or book, it's in the third

819
00:56:36,208 --> 00:56:43,828
that and it builds up the tension through that. Make sense? Sure. Okay. So we have the hero. Hero

820
00:56:43,828 --> 00:56:49,468
wants to do something. We write that out. Maybe you write out a sentence. Maybe you write out a

821
00:56:49,468 --> 00:56:55,128
paragraph, a couple of pages, who knows? For every sentence you write, you pick the most important

822
00:56:55,128 --> 00:57:00,988
word. Then you look at all the most important words that you've had and you pick the best one.

823
00:57:01,668 --> 00:57:05,528
That's your baseline universal thing.

824
00:57:06,468 --> 00:57:15,188
Just like the universal thing you gave me for your movie, it's really broad, and we can't focus it well because it's so broad.

825
00:57:15,448 --> 00:57:18,728
We need to find a word that best matches what's in our head.

826
00:57:19,408 --> 00:57:21,148
So here's how we do that.

827
00:57:21,768 --> 00:57:25,088
We have you go to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary.

828
00:57:25,268 --> 00:57:28,228
This is what we do with the kids, not adults, but the kids.

829
00:57:28,488 --> 00:57:30,848
We find out their definition that they pick.

830
00:57:30,988 --> 00:57:32,288
They type out the word.

831
00:57:32,528 --> 00:57:33,888
They type out the definition.

832
00:57:34,488 --> 00:57:35,488
They type it.

833
00:57:35,648 --> 00:57:36,788
They don't copy and paste.

834
00:57:36,888 --> 00:57:37,748
They don't handwrite it.

835
00:57:37,808 --> 00:57:38,908
It's typed on a real keyboard.

836
00:57:39,468 --> 00:57:41,348
So here's my question for you.

837
00:57:41,588 --> 00:57:47,128
How many times do you have to type out a word and a definition until you know it permanently?

838
00:57:50,408 --> 00:57:51,468
That's going to depend.

839
00:57:52,428 --> 00:57:57,708
For me, that will depend on how important that knowledge is to me.

840
00:57:57,708 --> 00:58:08,128
I have a really good capacity to hold information but purge things that are not, that I don't feel are pertinent or important to me.

841
00:58:08,748 --> 00:58:09,588
Okay, good.

842
00:58:10,048 --> 00:58:12,608
But it's five, ten times some number.

843
00:58:13,148 --> 00:58:23,368
So what I tell the dyslectic kids who can't read, you're going to retype this, that word and that definition, some amount of time, and then you're going to remember it permanently.

844
00:58:23,788 --> 00:58:27,168
Because remember the front part of the brain that deals with word analysis.

845
00:58:27,168 --> 00:58:31,668
How can you deal with word analysis if you don't know exactly what the word means?

846
00:58:32,288 --> 00:58:33,068
You can't.

847
00:58:33,508 --> 00:58:45,628
I do this with sixth graders, and I will literally have them doing this for months until they develop a vocabulary of hundreds of evolved words.

848
00:58:45,628 --> 00:58:57,728
This is important because when they're in high school and they're taking the SATs or ACTs to go to college at 16, the vocabulary section, the verbal section is essentially a vocabulary test.

849
00:58:58,408 --> 00:59:01,148
My kids don't need to remember hundreds of evolved words.

850
00:59:01,348 --> 00:59:02,808
They did it at 11.

851
00:59:03,168 --> 00:59:05,288
They remember 70 to 80 percent of the definition.

852
00:59:06,068 --> 00:59:06,728
That's important.

853
00:59:06,728 --> 00:59:21,728
So then what we do is we typically say we go to the thesaurus, usually thesaurus.com, and you pick five words, ten words, the entire level, multiple levels.

854
00:59:21,928 --> 00:59:23,028
It's up to the teacher and the student.

855
00:59:23,988 --> 00:59:27,668
And for let's say we're doing five, you would type out the word, the synonym.

856
00:59:28,028 --> 00:59:31,848
If you don't know exactly what it means, because remember, you have to do this a certain number of times.

857
00:59:32,028 --> 00:59:36,268
You're going to go over to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, pick your definition, type it out.

858
00:59:36,268 --> 00:59:43,608
not copy and paste type it out all right and i hear parents saying my kids won't do this

859
00:59:43,608 --> 00:59:51,468
well if you're in their speciality they will if you're outside of it they won't it's that simple

860
00:59:51,468 --> 00:59:58,368
so the kid does that and then they pick a word that has that a definition that much better

861
00:59:58,368 --> 01:00:05,708
reflects what's inside their head does that make sense so now it focuses much sharper

862
01:00:05,708 --> 01:00:12,488
And then we use that sharp focus to pick our ultimate villain, a person or a concept.

863
01:00:12,968 --> 01:00:16,408
So now we've got our hero, our universal thing, and our villain.

864
01:00:16,848 --> 01:00:22,508
And we just kind of separate those by plus signs, drop the plus signs, and ask the student, does it sound generally correct?

865
01:00:22,608 --> 01:00:23,648
No, fix it.

866
01:00:24,068 --> 01:00:25,268
Well, we've got a base sentence.

867
01:00:26,168 --> 01:00:29,508
Do you see how that's a rather evolved form of word analysis?

868
01:00:30,248 --> 01:00:30,728
Sure.

869
01:00:31,568 --> 01:00:33,508
We're using the front part of the brain.

870
01:00:33,508 --> 01:00:40,368
so next we have to do an involved form of articulation so then we go because three really

871
01:00:40,368 --> 01:00:48,208
good reasons why three okay because most things we write are a five paragraph essay three body

872
01:00:48,208 --> 01:00:56,228
paragraphs thesis statement conclusion each reason we reduce to a simple universal theme

873
01:00:56,228 --> 01:01:01,028
then we would take that universal theme we would go to the script of the big lebowski

874
01:01:01,028 --> 01:01:07,568
and we would look for one sentence that deals with that universal theme at the beginning of

875
01:01:07,568 --> 01:01:14,288
the script and one at the end. Then we would take those two quotes, put them together,

876
01:01:14,288 --> 01:01:20,188
and then from there come up with our topic sentence. And then we're going to do in a

877
01:01:20,188 --> 01:01:25,088
formal sense of what you just automatically knew what to do. We have to tell a story.

878
01:01:25,088 --> 01:01:32,408
We connect those with one warrant because it's one universal theme that's for both quotes.

879
01:01:32,888 --> 01:01:34,568
We answer a how and why question.

880
01:01:35,448 --> 01:01:38,088
We connect the topic sentence with that.

881
01:01:39,068 --> 01:01:41,088
Now, that's a baseline for our body paragraph.

882
01:01:41,928 --> 01:01:47,568
In the course we teach, we add a lot of stuff in the craft of research, but this is the basics.

883
01:01:48,068 --> 01:01:49,528
Here's the important point.

884
01:01:49,948 --> 01:01:53,128
I have kids doing this in seventh grade when they're 12.

885
01:01:53,888 --> 01:02:01,548
A university professor looking at these paragraphs will go, wow, that kid's using a warrant.

886
01:02:02,008 --> 01:02:03,408
This must be at the college level.

887
01:02:04,928 --> 01:02:06,508
That's generally what happens.

888
01:02:06,508 --> 01:02:13,828
And what's beautiful is these kids typically have older brothers and sisters who are fighting to be valedictorians who aren't dyslectic at all.

889
01:02:14,428 --> 01:02:17,688
So in one example, a 12-year-old boy did this.

890
01:02:18,308 --> 01:02:20,388
University professor was Senate.

891
01:02:20,388 --> 01:02:25,108
and then his senior brother, who's an AP English, fighting to be valedictorian,

892
01:02:25,468 --> 01:02:28,208
who writes much flows better, better word choice.

893
01:02:28,988 --> 01:02:34,088
But his 12-year-old dyslectic kid brother is writing technically more evolved paragraphs.

894
01:02:34,628 --> 01:02:38,008
Because what you did, you actually connected, when you did the story,

895
01:02:38,528 --> 01:02:41,468
your research with your topic sentence in a way that flowed.

896
01:02:42,528 --> 01:02:49,628
So then he's like, my kid brother who's dyslectic is writing technically more evolved paragraphs than me?

897
01:02:49,628 --> 01:02:51,268
I'm the AP English student.

898
01:02:51,368 --> 01:02:51,928
I'm a senior.

899
01:02:52,548 --> 01:02:55,108
And they get real frustrated, and it's beautiful.

900
01:02:57,908 --> 01:02:58,388
Interesting.

901
01:02:59,388 --> 01:02:59,908
All right.

902
01:02:59,908 --> 01:03:07,528
Well, I think it's probably a great place to start wrapping up a little bit here.

903
01:03:07,848 --> 01:03:09,988
And we talked a little bit about this before,

904
01:03:10,088 --> 01:03:14,688
but we like to give all of our guests an opportunity to give a shout-out

905
01:03:14,688 --> 01:03:17,368
to someone that had a major impact in their life

906
01:03:17,368 --> 01:03:19,268
or maybe in other people's lives.

907
01:03:19,628 --> 01:03:25,768
Someone that really, you know, was important to you at some point in your life.

908
01:03:25,888 --> 01:03:29,068
It can be someone, you know, closely personal to you.

909
01:03:29,148 --> 01:03:31,928
It could be a historical figure, anyone you want.

910
01:03:32,928 --> 01:03:36,368
Well, that's Professor James Holmes from SUNY Center at Buffalo.

911
01:03:36,368 --> 01:03:41,088
And I just think he exemplifies what it's like to be dyslectic.

912
01:03:41,928 --> 01:03:46,188
So he didn't start learning to read and to write until fifth grade.

913
01:03:47,188 --> 01:03:50,708
Then he was just doing horrible in high school.

914
01:03:50,988 --> 01:03:53,988
He said there's no way in heck he's going on to college.

915
01:03:54,188 --> 01:03:57,328
He just wouldn't be allowed because he couldn't read or write worth a darn.

916
01:03:57,588 --> 01:04:00,628
So then he entered a science competition as a junior in high school.

917
01:04:00,748 --> 01:04:02,548
This is the 50s when these things mattered.

918
01:04:03,268 --> 01:04:06,308
He won the state of Indiana, and then he got third place in the country.

919
01:04:07,268 --> 01:04:08,948
So now he was allowed to go to college.

920
01:04:08,948 --> 01:04:11,228
Started off with seven majors, ended up with three.

921
01:04:11,228 --> 01:04:25,528
His university president had him interviewed by the second leading economist of the 20th century, which got him the top scholarship at the University of Chicago, which is the best law PhD program in the world for decades.

922
01:04:27,048 --> 01:04:31,448
He stopped counting his rewriting his dissertation at 100.

923
01:04:33,008 --> 01:04:38,028
So he became one of the top 1% of lecturing macroeconomics professors in the world.

924
01:04:38,328 --> 01:04:40,028
And he taught me how to think.

925
01:04:40,688 --> 01:04:43,088
So what he taught me was causality.

926
01:04:43,428 --> 01:04:46,228
You have explained variables you want to explain on top,

927
01:04:46,388 --> 01:04:48,828
and you look at all the different things that can affect them at the bottom,

928
01:04:48,928 --> 01:04:50,268
and you graph them out one by one.

929
01:04:50,908 --> 01:04:54,028
So when I went to law school and I told you how well I did,

930
01:04:54,028 --> 01:05:00,008
I simply applied the explained variables at one level to be the causal at another one,

931
01:05:00,128 --> 01:05:00,968
and I just stacked them.

932
01:05:01,368 --> 01:05:04,048
And all this happened really fast, individual versus the state,

933
01:05:04,228 --> 01:05:06,728
and that's how I could keep up with a professor at his level.

934
01:05:07,568 --> 01:05:09,908
If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today.

935
01:05:10,028 --> 01:05:12,908
And he's still living out, retired out in Buffalo, New York.

936
01:05:12,988 --> 01:05:14,748
He gave up teaching in 2019.

937
01:05:15,668 --> 01:05:18,068
So he's the one that made all this possible for me.

938
01:05:18,968 --> 01:05:19,408
Wonderful.

939
01:05:20,088 --> 01:05:21,328
Awesome shout out there.

940
01:05:22,108 --> 01:05:25,528
Now, where can people find you?

941
01:05:25,648 --> 01:05:26,588
Where can they contribute?

942
01:05:26,968 --> 01:05:30,188
Where can they get involved if they feel so inclined?

943
01:05:31,328 --> 01:05:34,648
Best thing to do is just go to dyslexiaclasses.com.

944
01:05:34,648 --> 01:05:39,268
That's plural with an S, dyslexiaclasses with an S, dot com.

945
01:05:39,268 --> 01:05:43,008
dyslexiaclasses.com. There's a little button there that says download free guide.

946
01:05:43,228 --> 01:05:47,188
Just click on that, answer three questions, get your guide on dyslexia, kind of

947
01:05:47,188 --> 01:05:51,248
what we went over today, but in more detail. Most important thing, set up

948
01:05:51,248 --> 01:05:55,228
a time to speak with me directly. For half an hour, it doesn't cost anything.

949
01:05:55,348 --> 01:05:59,088
I speak to you and your child, find out their speciality, we pick out their book and their

950
01:05:59,088 --> 01:06:02,888
audio book, and we show you how to get started. Awesome. That was great.

951
01:06:03,488 --> 01:06:07,008
Awesome. All right. Well, hey, thank you again for your time.

952
01:06:07,368 --> 01:06:08,728
We really appreciate it.

953
01:06:08,828 --> 01:06:10,128
It's been a great conversation.

954
01:06:10,808 --> 01:06:18,208
Hopefully this will bring some awareness to folks on their parents especially and potentially children.

955
01:06:18,828 --> 01:06:22,048
And who knows, maybe even adults that are struggling with dyslexia.

956
01:06:23,448 --> 01:06:25,088
That would be an awesome thing.

957
01:06:25,908 --> 01:06:28,208
Thank you again for giving us some of your time.

958
01:06:28,508 --> 01:06:31,508
And hey, you know where you can find us.

959
01:06:31,588 --> 01:06:32,888
We're on all the platforms.

960
01:06:33,108 --> 01:06:36,488
YouTube, Spotify, Apple, iHeartRadio, you name it.

961
01:06:36,488 --> 01:06:38,008
If you can find it, you can find it.

962
01:06:38,428 --> 01:06:41,068
We're also now on fountain.fm.

963
01:06:41,508 --> 01:06:42,928
You can find us on Noster.

964
01:06:43,268 --> 01:06:44,408
Look at the last episode.

965
01:06:44,648 --> 01:06:45,808
It was a really good one.

966
01:06:48,128 --> 01:06:53,608
And remember, wherever you are, whenever you're watching this,

967
01:06:54,288 --> 01:06:55,968
have an amazing day.

968
01:06:57,448 --> 01:06:57,988
See you, everybody.

969
01:06:58,648 --> 01:06:59,428
Thanks for stopping by, Russell.

970
01:06:59,428 --> 01:06:59,568
See you. Thank you.

971
01:07:00,068 --> 01:07:00,988
Thanks for having me.

972
01:07:06,488 --> 01:07:13,148
Music

973
01:07:13,148 --> 01:07:19,168
Music

974
01:07:19,168 --> 01:07:21,128
Music

975
01:07:21,128 --> 01:07:25,288
Music

976
01:07:25,288 --> 01:07:29,028
The Style Eaters