Chapter 8

Al Galaburda is suspicious that the circuits of the brains left hemisphere that do not form allow the brains right-hemisphere circuits to multiply empty synapses. (Synapses are gaps between two nerve cells, where the tip of a nerve fiber almost touches another cell to transmit signals.) Since these do not read they get better at other things. Which might explain the reason people with dyslexia have a distinct ability to "think outside the box", they have a lot of creativity.

Some 80 years ago Samuel Orton presented a hypothesis about the inability of the brain's hemispheres to combine their storied images. Then 50 years later Norman Geschwind wrote a paper defending these findings. Geschwind and Orton had similar findings in their studies and Geschwind listed in his paper 13 conclusions that he and Orton shared:

1. Genetic basis dyslexia
2. Possible structural differences in the brain organization
3. Spatial talents
4. An ability to read upside down or in a mirror
5. Dysgraphia (difficulty writing)
6. Unusual speech
7. Affect and motor findings (Stuttering, ambidexterity, clumsiness, emotional
issues.)
8. Slowness in the acquisition and development of speech and language systems.

Geschwind and Galaburda along with Orton Dyslexia Society set up a brain bank at Beth Israel Hospital which became the place to store a few brains from individuals with dyslexia. Which led to a discovery and continues to be researched today - the findings from right-hemisphere imaging. Most of us the planum temporale (a triangular area on the temporal lobe that is connected to language is larger on the left hemisphere side than the right. It was found that this asymmetry was not true to brains of adults with dyslexia. Their two hemispheres were symmetric because the right hemisphere was larger than usual. Interesting huh!

Individuals that are dyslexic: Thomas Edison, Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Paul Orfalea and Charles Schwab. Thomas Edision was a sickly child and had trouble with reading, he did not attend formal schools. However, Thomas has the largest number of patents given to one person by the U.S. Patent Office one which "lit up the word" (p. 199). Leonardo Da Vinci, an inventor, a painter, a sculptor, a musician, an engineer and scientist, but he had trouble reading and writing. Albert Einstein really didn't speak until he was three years old and he was not the best of students. Individuals with dyslexia tend to be excellent at design and patterns. If a dyslexic person is in the medical field many of them will be found in radiation because of the need to recognize patterns. In engineering and computer technology they will gravitate towards design and patterns. Business, they will tend to focus on high finance or money management hence Paul Orfalea and Charles Schwab.