2 Learning through preview and context
The dyslexic brain has ‘the ability to perceive relationships like analogies, metaphors, paradoxes, similarities, differences, implications, gaps and imbalances’ (Eide and Eide, 2011, p. 5) and ‘unite all kinds of information about a particular object or thought into a single global or big picture view’ (ibid, p. 84). This means that dyslexic individuals excel at seeing the overall picture and understanding complex relationships.
Big picture thinking
Big picture thinking, having a preview or overview, and getting the gist or essence of a topic and the context, are important techniques for dyslexic learners. They’re generally less good at rote learning and often find it more difficult to hold information in the memory without links or associations. They need to see relevance and connections to other things, and will need to know the deeper underlying principles and context in order to understand fully. Many dyslexic learners find multiple choice exams very difficult for this reason – there is no context. Turning information into a story, or visualising an image with context, or embedding it into a scene or episode, can make memorisation much more achievable. When you get a preview or ‘big picture’ of a task, topic, text, lesson or lecture, the details will fit together much more easily.
Right brain thinking
Dyslexic people are generally good at ‘right brain’ thinking, using their creative, visual skills, and this can enable them to see relationships and interactions that neurotypical students may find more difficult. Some dyslexic learners have good spatial skills and an ability to visualise in 3-D, allowing them to create and manipulate images mentally.
Interconnected reasoning
Other dyslexic people are good at interconnected reasoning, identifying remote connections and unrelated meanings. They need to link learning to what they already know or experiences they’ve had, and form stories, thereby getting a preview, overview or big picture perspective. Before engaging with new learning, they may find it useful to receive key points, vocabulary and concepts, abstracts or summaries. This way, the boundaries of the task are more clear, and the details make sense and slot into the ‘big picture’ more quickly and easily. This builds on the natural ability of dyslexic learners for detecting similarities, analogies, paradoxes, homophones, rhymes, and seeing a problem from more than one perspective. Schools could shape the learning structure for all pupils along these lines based on a top-down approach – these methods would make learning easier for all pupils and students (not just the dyslexic ones) and create a truly inclusive learning environment, where no learner feels out of place (Eide and Eide, 2023).