Yes, thank you! I was planning on posting the replies myself as well, but this is considerably more than anyone else has responded and I would be more than happy to link to a blog post, or post just this response under your name on my blog (ivory.idyll.org/blog/). If you post it somewhere could you send me the link?
Thanks!! best, --titus On Fri, Apr 07, 2017 at 10:16:35AM -0700, Steve Haddock wrote: > Thank you Joanna for those great insights. This seems worth posting as a blog > entry...! > -Steve > > ----- q???b ----- > > > > On Apr 7, 2017, at 08:10, Joanna Leng <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Hello, > > > > I am dyslexic! :-) > > > > Dyslexia is a polymorphic condition that affects more than just reading and > > writing and is thought to be caused by poor short term memory, where short > > term memory is the length of time it takes to turn a key in a lock or less. > > A common analogy is the CPU is good but the buffering on I/O is not good > > enough to keep up with the CPU. For example it would be like having > > a keyboard or scanner with a buffering system that mixed up input or output > > and sometimes lost characters. This would also make it difficult to rapidly > > change from reading to writing and explains why doing things like reading, > > writing, listening, speaking and transcribing at the same time are more > > difficult for a dyslexic than a non-dyslexic. I think this can make > > software carpentry a difficult way for a dyslexic to learn how to write > > programs as it requires multi-tasking a variety of activities that are > > separately quite hard for a dyslexic but which are rapidly changed to and > > from. > > > > On top of this nearly half dyslexics have another condition, visual stress > > that 10% of non-dyslexics also have. People with this condition do not > > handle the high contrast of a white background with black text well. There > > are indeed fonts that are considered good for dyslexics, they tend to be > > similar to the Arial and Helvetica fonts but they have very slightly more > > spacing between the letters. > > > > In my opinion dyslexics benefit from spending more time setting up their > > environment and understanding/documenting what they have done. Setting up > > an environment means getting everything so that it is working technically > > as it should as well as setting up fonts and background colours on their > > preferences. They will be slow to read and so configure the system on their > > own, especially if programming is new and they do not understand the > > vocabulary. If they have to do this at the start of a course they may well > > fail to ever catch up with the class. I think they would benefit from being > > offered help the day or week before to set up their environment. > > > > Dyslexic are also more likely, especially initially, to like text editors > > that open up in their own window rather than one that takes over their > > shell. They are unlekely to remember ho to spell things that are in the > > shell and will have to keep on opening and closing the text editor to get > > the sytax and spelling right. This will disrupt learning. > > > > A dyslexic will have to repeat and practice more than a non-dyslexic, they > > are less capable of surface learning and will need to deep learn. This will > > take time and they may prefer to work at their own speed and repeat > > concepts and exercises. It may be good to have a summary of what you will > > learn at the beginning, then exercises and then another summary at the end. > > There is a fair amount of evidence that some dyslexics are not good at > > multiple choice exercises so self-assessments which have multiple choices > > are not good. > > > > Having one consistent reference text book for an entire programming > > language maybe helpful as this lays out all parts of the language in one > > place so that the learner can go back and identify areas they do not know > > over the first few years of using that language and so gradually fill in > > the gaps. I have seen some short programs that are the length of a page in > > a text book that can be used to document the main parts of syntax used in a > > language. These are good reference for the main syntax and functionality of > > a language. The classic example program is a program where the user inputs > > a radius and the program uses a function or class to calculate the area of > > the circle with that radius. > > > > A dyslexic will probably benefit from being able to ask lots of questions > > and chatting about programming - social learning. They should try to get > > one or more technical mentors who they can go to with niggling questions. > > > > I hope this helps > > Joanna > > > >> On 04/04/2017 15:46, Neal Davis wrote: > >> I don't have experience with this. > >> > >> With that caveat in mind, I am aware that some work has been done towards > >> dyslexic-friendly typefaces, such as http://opendyslexic.org/. These > >> weight the font deliberately to increase recognizability. This is worth > >> trying with coding to see if it helps, at least anecdotally for now. > >> > >> Sincerely, > >> Neal Davis > >> Teaching Assistant Professor · Department of Computer Science > >> 2229 Siebel Center · 201 North Goodwin Avenue, MC-258 · Urbana, IL > >> 61801-2302 > >> 217·244·4181 > >> > >> 2017-04-03 8:20 GMT-05:00 C. Titus Brown <[email protected]>: > >>> Hi all, > >>> > >>> at the JGI User Meeting two weeks ago, I met someone who wanted some > >>> advice and/or lessons on learning to code while dyslexic. Any resources > >>> or opinions would be welcome - I don???t know that I???ve heard it > >>> discussed by any of the Carpentry folk or in the context of lesson > >>> design. Curious! > >>> > >>> (E-mail me privately if you???d like a summary of what I find.) > >>> > >>> thanks, > >>> ???titus > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Discuss mailing list > >>> [email protected] > >>> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Discuss mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss -- C. Titus Brown, [email protected] _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss
