In today's episode, Cheri engages in a profound conversation with Russell Van Brocklen, a dyslexia specialist from Westlake, New York. Russell shares his unique journey of overcoming dyslexia and details his innovative approach, known as the Writing Method, which has significantly improved the writing skills of high school students with dyslexia. Dive into a discussion that spans from personal struggles to groundbreaking research, providing listeners with an in-depth understanding of dyslexia, dysgraphia, and related conditions. This episode is a must-listen for educators, parents, and anyone interested in the neurobiology of learning disabilities.

Bio: Russell combined the brain research in Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz with the three default writing strategies in Strategies for Struggling Writers by James Collins while in graduate school.  As a result, his initial research program was funded by the New York State Senate and is owned by the SUNY Research Foundation.

He found that motivated high school students with dyslexia increased their writing skills by 7 to 8-grade levels in one academic year. His approach is called The Writing Method.

Russell presented at The Everyone Reading Conference in Manhattan in 2006 and from 2014 to 2019.  He also presented in November 2018 at a conference by The Learning Disability Association of NJ.

Notable Quote:
"What we're going to do is we're going to force the brain to organize itself, by using writing as a measurable output. Again, we're going to force the brain to organize itself by using writing as a measurable output."

https://dyslexiaclasses.com/