Potent quote-ables.

Psychologist Martin Seligman has described how a pessimistic mind-set develops, and the problems to which it can lead, in several classic books like ‘The Optimistic Child’ and ‘Authentic Happiness.’ According to Seligman, individuals who encounter repeated failures often begin to experience a sense of powerlessness. This leads them to attribute their problems to factors that are permanent (or unchangeable), pervasive (affecting not only the areas where failures occur but every aspect of life), and personal (or due to some defect within themselves, which they believe to inescapable or even deserving of punishment). This pessimistic interpretive framework then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as demoralization (or even clinical depression) reduces motivation and effort which leads to further failure and an apparent validation of the pessimism.

Fortunately, Seligman has also shown that an optimistic interpretive framework can be taught and learned, so it can replace the pessimistic one. The optimistic interpretive framework attributes failures to factors that are temporary and changeable rather then permanent, specific to a particular tasks rather than pervasive across all areas of a person’s life, and attributable to factors that have nothing to do with an individual’s personal worth.

We’ve found that teaching this optimistic framework to students with dyslexia can help them interpret and deal with their dyslexia-related challenges more in more productive ways. This involves teaching individuals with dyslexia that their challenges are temporary and conquerable (either through the use of remediation, strategies or accommodation), limited to particular functions (which are also accompanied by benefits), and due to specific patterns of brain organization and function rather than to a lack of effort or merit on their part. When they fully grasp the truth of these messages, the results can be transformative.

Students with dyslexia should be encouraged to use the present moment to practice and prepare for the future, rather then wallow in the defeats of the past. They must avoid at all costs dwelling on past failures - which they can do nothing to change - and should instead focus on building skills that will allow them avoid similar mistakes in the future.

- The Dyslexic Advantage