Dyslexia & Diverse Learning with Prof. Maryanne Wolf (Podcast)

Alt txt: Image of our guest, Prof. Maryanne Wolf, with our cohosts: Dr. Amber Bowen, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Stephanie Kate Judd, Rev. Daniel Parham, Dr. Madison Pierce.

In this episode we’re joined by Professor Maryanne Wolf to discuss Dyslexia. Prof. Wolf is the Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and the author of a number of books, including Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain (published HarperCollins), and Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World (also published by HarperCollins). In our conversation, Prof. Wolf explains to us that reading is an invention, and that the human brain was never intended to read. We have to build a circuit in the brain in order to read; we don’t enter the world equipped to do so. People with Dyslexia, though, have a differently organized brain, with patterns of organization that pre-date our invention of literacy and numeracy. As Prof. Wolf emphasizes, there are advantages that come with these differently organized brains, such as creativity, entrepreneurship, and non-linear thinking. Thus, Dyslexia is something to be understood, rather than overcome. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Amber Bowen, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Stephanie Kate Judd, Rev. Daniel Parham, Dr. Madison Pierce.

Series Disclaimer: We know that this space is fraught, and we don’t speak for every PWD. We may inevitably get some things wrong in this series, but we ask for your patience in advance since we think it’s more important to have the conversation than shy away from it out of fear of saying the wrong thing. At the same time, this is a learning process for all of us, and we want to maintain a posture of learning throughout the series and beyond. Thanks for listening!

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