Reflections on Dyslexia, Reading, and the Origins of
CogniLens

When I began my apprenticeship at the Reading Clinic, Alice was responsible for my training. Like the new waiter in a restaurant, I followed and observed a skilled Education Therapist for an extended period of time. Alice determined when I was ready to see my first student.

It was a warm summer morning, when I went to meet Pauli. Alice had tested him and was there to introduce him to me and to guide my first day. He was a small 6-year-old who was having significant difficulty learning to read. Alice brought him to my studio in the clinic. Pauli was wearing a cowboy hat, had 6 shooters holstered on each side of his waist, a plastic sword tucked into his belt, and a compass in his hand. Alice winked at me and said, “Pauli has come prepared to defend himself, and if need be, to find his way home.” She knew how frightened he was and was cueing me to be aware of that as I worked with him.

I have encountered many Paulis in my subsequent years of teaching, tutoring and testing. Most of the students have invisible protection shields and conceal their weapons, but the anguish, frustration, defeat and fear is always palpable if you look for it.

Alice guided me through that first intimidating day with Pauli, and as we later reviewed how the tutoring session went, she pointed out that most of the time I was teaching beyond Pauli’s level of understanding. She advised me to “Backup, backup until you see the gleam in his eye that lets you know he’s got it. Then you will know where to begin.”

Years later, when I was teaching Masters students in Education, Alice’s words were still being heard as I told my graduate Education Therapy students that there is a great temptation when a child says, “I don’t get it” to respond with a rapid, confident, “Sure you can. This is easy. Just let me show you.” And then when the student’s eyes gloss over, think to oneself, “If she would just focus and listen… she could get it!” Were it that simple, the student would have learned it. I explained to them, As Alice had to me, so many years before, that it is precisely in those moments that backing up until you see the “gleam in the eye” is what is needed. Pauli was struggling to learn to read and backing up far enough to find that “gleam in his eye” was a real challenge.

The remarkable development of the written symbol to communicate verbal information is predicated on our ability to see particular configurations, to associate them with the world of sound, and to remember that association. It is a complex activity developed late in human history, but of immeasurable significance in the migration of the human spirit. At the simplest, but often most pleasurable, reading brings the storyteller into our presence whenever we want them. The more complex contributions are in effect in nearly everything we eat, drink, wear, drive, reside in, communicate with, recreate with, etc., and text is the medium of disinformation at its most potent. Learning to read is essential to full participation in our society, so Pauli’s struggle, as that of Charlie Williams, was a critical struggle.

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A note on the formatting:

The increased spacing between words in alternating sections is intentional. It is used to make the contrast visible between standard text spacing and a more widely spaced reading environment.

For some dyslexic and struggling readers, additional space between words can help separate visual information, reduce crowding, and make it easier to track text across a line. The difference between the two formats is meant to show how even a simple adjustment to the appearance of text can change the reading experience. As with the other formatting examples, increased word spacing will not benefit every reader. The goal is to demonstrate that reading environments can be adjusted to better match individual perceptual needs.