Inside the Dyslexic Mind: A resource for parents, teachers and dyslexics themselves

In Laughton King’s formulation, a dyslexic person is like a diesel vehicle. They runperfectly if you give them the right fuel, but if you put petrol in the tank(i.e. expect them to learn like every ‘normal’ child in our current educationsystem) they break down. This book is designed to help dyslexic (diesel)thinkers make sense of their lives.
Laughton King shares hisunderstanding of the dyslexic mind from his own lived experience as a dyslexicchild, an angry adolescent, a therapist and eventually an author. When describing what it is like to be dyslexic, he isincludes himself. ‘We think in pictures, we chase words around the pages of books,and we have trouble finding any sensible connection between squiggles on paperand real things they are meant to refer to. And this all happens in perpetualreverse gear. You guessed it, for us, school is not cool, and for most of usthis makes life tough.’ At the heart of this book is a ground-breakingconcept — the diesel/petrolanalogy. As Laughton describes it, a dyslexic person is like a diesel vehicle.They run perfectly if you give them the right fuel, but if you put petrol inthe tank (i.e. expect them to learn like every ’normal’ child in our currenteducation system) they break down. This book helps dyslexic (diesel) thinkersmake sense of their lives, and provides valuable guidance for parents andteachers. There is nothing wrong with the dyslexic child’sbrain. They do not need medication and do not need to be ‘rewired’ nor ‘recalibrated’.Laughton’s message to parents and educators is that once they accept thisprocessing difference and understand the dyslexic style of thinking they canreadily work with these children and help them achieve their own success. This book is a life-changing experience for the huge number of peopledirectly impacted by dyslexia. InLaughton King’s formulation, a dyslexic person is like a diesel vehicle.They run perfectly if you give them the right fuel, but if you put petrol inthe tank (i.e. expect them to learn like every ‘normal’ child in our currenteducation system) they break down. This book helps dyslexic (diesel) thinkersmake sense of their lives, and provides valuable guidance for parents, carersand teachers.