Dyslexia Legislation Passed in Ohio!

CONGRATULATIONS to the Central Ohio Branch of the International Dyslexia Association.
Exciting year-end news and critical to the reading success of all children in Ohio.

Charlotte Andrist and company have worked hard to make this a reality.

Watch the Bill pass here (VIDEO) on the Ohio Channel!

One state at a time to A LITERATE NATION!
Dyslexia Legislation Passed in Ohio

By Charlotte G. Andrist, Ph.D., NCSP, President, IDA Central Ohio Branch

House Bills (HB) 96 and 157 were passed by the Ohio Senate with the concurrence of the Ohio House during a late-night, end-of-the-year Statehouse session on December 14; both bills are expected to be signed into law by Governor Kasich before Christmas.  HB 96 (Celeste – D & Brenner – R) has two components.  The law will:  1) place the IDA definition of dyslexia directly into Ohio statute. Current Ohio law lists dyslexia as a specific learning disability, consistent with IDEA 2004, but does not provide a definition of dyslexia; and 2) begin a 3-year pilot program for the early identification and remediation of students at-risk for dyslexia and other phonologically based reading disorders.  HB 157 (Schuring – R & Letson – D) also has two components.  The law will:  1) define a dyslexia specialist as someone who has achieved training consistent with the Level II IDA Knowledge and Practice Standards; and 2) give Educational Service Centers (Ohio’s statewide network of inservice training facilities) and other educational institutions permission to hire a dyslexia specialist to provide professional development in the area of dyslexia for Ohio teachers and administrators. Many thanks to all of those who have worked so diligently to make this dyslexia legislation a reality, including Stephanie Gordan, Martha Chiodi, Pam Kanfer and many others in the Ohio Dyslexia Group.  A special thank-you goes to Janis Mitchell (HB 96) and Rebecca Tolson (HB 157) for the lobbying efforts that got these two legislative initiatives started.

Watch the Bill pass here VIDEO!

Redmond Advocates Social Media to Promote Change to Literacy Laws

At the  62^nd annual conference for the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), held in Chicago in November 2011, renown experts in the field of education, researchers, educators, advocates, parents, and business and political leaders converged to share the latest advances, techniques, and teaching methods targeting dyslexics and learning disabled children. With literacy levels in the U.S. slipping to all-time lows and growing disenchantment with current education policies, the Dyslexia Association is taking a lead role in drafting model language for State Literacy Law changes (www.state-literacy-law.org) and pushing for the passage of the LEARN (Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation) Act.

In a recent press release, IDA executive director Stephen Peregoy emphasized, “The International Dyslexia Association has been tireless in its effort to promote literacy for all students and ensure that all learners receive the support needed to achieve their full potential.” To advance literacy law changes, this year’s conference included a forum on using social media to organize, mobilize, network, and motivate parents and educators to improve U.S. literacy. Scott Douglas Redmond, a business strategist, technology architect, President of Clever Industries, and a dyslexic himself, led a discussion at the IDA conference on using social media in grassroots campaigns.

Scott has numeric dyslexia (dyscalculia) and experienced learning challenges while growing up alternately labeled “gifted” then “handicapped” and identified as either a “dumb kid” or a “smart kid.”

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) defines dyscalculia as representing a range of  disabilities involving math learning with broad variations that can include difficulty learning the meaning of numbers, trouble counting, recognizing numbers, solving basic math problems, and having other math-related challenges. NCLD posts on its website that “LD [Learning Disability] is more than a difference or difficulty with learning — it is a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive, process, store, and respond to information.”

Scott grew up thinking he was dumb, although some things he understood better and more quickly than his peers did. He eventually learned math by creating his own pictorial math process that he now shares with children with numeric dyslexia so they can learn. He attended public and private schools in central California and upstate New York, earned a B.A. degree at San Francisco State college (on the Dean ’s List), and audited classes at Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley. Scott’s experience shows that with appropriate teaching methods, dyslexics can learn successfully. IDA is working to structure state literacy law with language that establishes knowledge and practice standards for teachers of reading to ensure all children become literate by the third grade.

In Scott’s presentation at the IDA conference, he recounted examples where a few individuals influenced thousands and even millions. He cited the Association for Child Support Enforcement, begun in Ohio by a single mother that moved state by state across the country; the Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which started as a small effort that convinced dozens of states to toughen drunk driving laws; and other examples where collective power started with one individual or a few and grew to reach masses. Through effective use of social media, previously isolated and seemingly powerless individuals can connect with like-minded people and create a movement to produce results.  

Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Foresquare are readily available and software tools, like TweetDeck, a desktop application that interfaces with Twitter and other networks, allow users to organize high volume sends, receive tweets, and view profiles in bulk. With one click using contact management websites like iContact, MailChimp, and LISTSERV, a single user at home with a computer can deliver content to hundreds, thousands, or millions using automated mailing lists.

By providing the tools for individuals to mobilize and connect with other people, social media offers knowledge-based support and channels for advancing shared goals.  Redmond has also been instrumental in the construction of two new interactive and educational websites to support these goals:  http://literatenation.org/wordpress/  and http://literatenation.org. 

Scott Redmond challenged the conference attendees to take “tangible steps to use social media to create parent/child partnerships to bring the legislation reform message to every state in America.”

Large-scale change is never easy, but it becomes more manageable and possible with collaboration. Like the printing press and telephone, social media is revolutionizing communication. With the aid of social media, the International Dyslexia Association hopes to start a vibrant national dialogue that will dramatically improve literacy. Are you in?

Taking a “Learning Difference” and Making a Difference

On the surface, Scott Douglas Redmond’s accomplishments look like a tornado of diverse projects—from high tech inventions and patents with science fiction overtones to social and cultural engagements that empower individuals and touch the heart. Rarely does one person exhibit the creative diversity evidenced in Mr. Redmond. He is not just an ordinary guy; he is blessed with a brain that is usually in overdrive, capturing and rearranging bits of data to invent, reinvent, design new applications, and create innovative products.

Redmond has numeric dyslexia (dyscalculia) and is considered 2e Gifted. (Others in the “2e club” include Richard Branson; Charles Schwab; John Chambers, the founder of Cisco and Robin Williams)  He experienced learning challenges while growing up alternately labeled gifted then handicapped and identified as either a smart kid or a dumb kid. The International Dyslexia Association (Fact Sheet #5 — 02/98) states: “To call this a learning disability tends to infer that the person cannot learn. However, with the proper instruction, dyslexics do learn. The key is in using the term ‘learning difference’ rather than ‘disability.’”

Once Scott discovered how to learn in spite of his learning difference, his creative talent exploded. Still, his thoughts sometimes emerge in rapid succession like lightning bolts flashing across the sky. His seemingly unrelated projects nevertheless share a common theme—they are innovative and they do “make a difference.” They address social needs with product solutions that are at least a paradigm shift more advanced than the current solution. For example, Scott led a startup technology company to create a software “app” that enables communication without cellular infrastructure, he established a website to support an anti-bullying campaign, and he motivated parents and educators to use social media to improve literacy.

Software App

Redmond is the Founder and President of Peep Wireless Technology which is responsible for producing a software application (App) for the iPhone that enables peer-to-peer mesh networking—a communication without cellular infrastructure. The App enables the user to send Morse code, voice and image signals to communicate with other users who have installed the same App.

The online IPods news network, Ipodnn.com, reported in June 2011 that Peep Wireless technology was embedded in a new pro-democracy App, Democri-C, for iOS devices. The New York Times (June 12, 2011 article by James Glanz and John Markoff) carried an expansive story titled, U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors, on how the US government was supporting “mesh network technology, which can transform devices like cellphones or personal computers to create an invisible wireless web without a centralized hub.”

The software app is known to have played a role in the democracy uprisings in the Middle East and it could provide critical communication following natural disasters and emergencies that destroy infrastructure. The Peep Wireless team that designed the Democri-C app under Scott Redmond’s direction deserves credit for making a difference by providing alternative ways to promote free speech and reach individuals following natural disasters.

Website to Fight Bullying in Schools

Aiding his support for Anderson Cooper’s 360° Series (on CNN network October 2011) to fight school bullying, Scott Redmond developed a number of websites to provide places where bullied students can talk, report bullying aggression,  get support, and find helpful resources. His website, entitled “Expose the Bully” enables students to share their experiences, expose bullies, and seek help. Bullies maintain their control through intimidation and isolation. If the bullied student can speak up and expose the bully, the bully will lose the crippling control. Anderson Cooper’s series on antibullying drew attention to the emotional damage that bullying causes—damage that resulted in several teen suicides.

Although Redmond’s philanthropic websites are not extraordinary, they join an expanding list of sites that offer hope and an outstretched hand to students who desperately need it. Making a difference, however small, still has merits.

Social Media to Improve Literacy

In another social outreach, Scott Redmond participated on a forum of educators and parents at the annual meeting of The International Dyslexia Association (IDA). In a PR Newswire November 22, 2011, IDA reported “…political leaders and world-renowned experts in the fields of education, advocacy, and business held a groundbreaking forum to address the literacy crisis in the United States.” As part of that forum, Scott led a motivating discussion on the use of social media in grassroots campaigns.

Scott explained how social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Foursquare can magnify one or a few voices and how software tools, like TweetDeck, a desktop application, can allow users to organize, send, and receive messages in high volumes. Additionally, social media provides platforms for individuals scattered across large geographies to reach like-minded individuals to share knowledge, experiences, and resources.

Scott’s presentation was part of a series of speakers helping IDA improve literacy by promoting passage of a Literacy Education for All Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act and for working to pass state literacy laws to provide support, instruction, intervention and professional development for teachers to increase their ability to teach students with learning disabilities. Scott challenged the attendees to take “tangible steps to use social media to create parent/child partnerships to bring the legislation reform message to every state in America.”

Scott Redmond is a dyslexic who used his “learning difference” (aka disability) to overcome technological impediments to cellular communication that occur during disasters and political blackouts; reduce school bullying by creating a website that offers emotional support and confidence building resources; and mobilize a grassroots effort to use social media to improve national and state literacy laws so every student will be able to learn. Blessed with a unique view of the world, Scott strives to make a difference by using the talents that made him different.

For more information go to http://www.exposethebully.net/

Scott Redmond’s Speech at the Chicago Education Conference

 

 

 

 

 

I am Scott Redmond, I am the President of Clever Industries and I am also a policy reform advocate. I have helped provide resources for middle east regime change, national domestic reform movements and a number of social policy programs. I have numeric dyslexia so I appreciate the value of effective education programs. Today I am going to discuss the use of social media in grassroots campaigns.

To begin, let me first recall how The Association for Child Support Enforcement has changed child support laws. First in one state:  Ohio, and then across the country state by state. One Person - a single mother started and drove all that.

A few individuals  formed Mothers Against Drunk Driving and convinced dozens of states to toughen up their drunk driving laws. As a result, the numbers of drunk driving deaths are quantitatively lower.

Families of Alzheimer’s patients working together, through the Alzheimer’s Association, convinced the government to invest extensive resources into research for a cure. That was a few thousand people that got together.

Across America in the not so distant past, women were banned from voting. Millions of people rose up and changed that.

Voices together can move mountains. From a successful effort with one supporter to one with millions we are now able to launch grass-roots efforts with HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF SUPPORTERS.

Many of us think that ordinary individuals can’t make a difference in public policy because it is hard to change laws and policies. But it can be done. It has been done, over and over again in our history, in the face of great obstacles.

Today we are here to discuss refining the scaffolding for our children by bringing those hundreds of millions of people together in a way that each of you can do in your spare time in your home.

A social network is a group of individuals that are connected by a common interest. This room holds a social network.

A social network does not need to use any technology, but when you do use technology, you can expand the ability of the network to accomplish things by over a million times per person.

There are some existing websites that can give you a jumpstart on that outreach, these are some of those:

And here is the power they give you: (See Slide)

There are also tools that can do much of the work for you. One is TweetDeck. This is a desktop application for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn , Google Plus, Foursquare, and other sites. Like other Twitter applications it interfaces with the Twitter software to allow you to organize high volume sends and receive tweets and view profiles in bulk.

Another tool you can use is high volume contact management websites.

This is a very important super tool for managing your media, group and public contacts.

With one click you can deliver deep controlled details to hundreds of thousands or millions of people.

From traditional automated LISTSERV mailing lists, to sophisticated web-based power tools, the socially networked world is yours to lead the charge with.

So, kids started the social media phenomenon but they grew up and now they AND their kids are using it. I want to challenge you to leave here and take tangible steps to use social media to create Parent/child partnerships to bring our legislation reform message to every state in America. Not only are you going to turbo- charge your outreach with social media you are going to work with your kids and your neighbors and their kids to super-turbo-charge this campaign.

In this effort, let’s agree to use the same words in our writings so the message does not get confused. This means that we have to use the same “agreed phrases” in order to avoid concept diffusion. Try to use the phrases and language that you see on the campaign website at:  www.state-literacy-law.org

In conclusion, if you can’t remember all of this just go here:

So there you have it. What questions can I answer?

Dyslexia

What are Scott’s gifted abilities as a result of his Numeric Dyslexia:

• He is able to understand complex ideas and instantly see a vast overview of situations around him.
• He can often see several aspects of a problem at the same time.
• He has been university tested to have an extremely high level of spatial awareness and see three-dimensional objects from every direction, without moving himself around those objects.
• He can use the potential of his brain to change his perceptions and to create new possibilities which allow him to invent and patent numerous solutions to complex problems with ease.
• He is extremely aware of his surroundings and has sharp visual and analytic capabilities.
• While not having a “photographic memory”, he does have a three- dimensional memory and can recall extensive spaces and environments, even in the dark.
• He is more curious than the average demographic.
• He thinks mainly in images instead of words and numbers.
• His thought processing and perception is multidimensional and it uses all his senses.
• He can experience imaginative ideas with crystal clarity to the point that the cognitive visualization provides him with enough detail to construct the concept or item in the real world as if building from a set of physical plans.
• He can instinctively recall the historical trends of the responses of people to various situations and accurately predict the future responses a person might deliver. This is very helpful in diplomatic situations.

Dyslexics that you may know that have gifted skills include Charles Schwab, Richard Branson, The CEO of Cisco, Gavin Newsom, a number of U.S. Presidents, Robin Williams, and many others. The YPO found that a large number of successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic.