My Top 5 TED Talks For Parenting Dyslexia
Anyone else able to spend hours watching TED talks? I go into a time warp anytime I get on that site. It’s a great way to hear innovative ideas, challenge your thinking, and learn anything. In case you aren’t a fanatic like me, here is a list of my top 5 dyslexia TED talks. This list will give you a glimpse of parenting dyslexia in real life. While these talks aren’t all directly related to dyslexia, they will give you an understanding of what neurodiversity means and how to be a great parent for your dyslexic child. Binge watch them all now, or save and come back when you have more time.
Better yet, watch these talks with your child to help them get a grasp on what dyslexia means for them. Talks one, two, and five on the list are great for children. Talks three and four are more focused on parenting and could be less interesting for your kiddo. Parenting dyslexia is a battle to become an expert in dyslexia, as well as keeping your parent-child relationship thriving. These dyslexia TED talks could be great conversation starters for you and your child.
TED Talk #1: Understanding Dyslexia
This is a quick four minute slide show video that gives some of the neuroscience facts behind how the dyslexic brain works.
TED Talk #2: Understanding Brain Hemisphere Function
Interestingly, I first watched this talk about 10 years ago when I went through my yoga therapy training. I’ve watched it several times over the years. Brain science has always fascinated me. I have always loved learning about the differences in our brains. Kind of ironic now. This is a talk that can really help you understand what it’s like to live from a different hemisphere. Keep in mind, the dyslexic brain is a right dominant brain structure as you listen. It can help you understand why our dyslexic children have a hard time with details, love to daydream, and can create new ideas with ease. Also, her description of dialing the phone number is how I imagine it could be for dyslexic children with letters. Bonus: you get to see a real human brain in the video!
TED Talk #3: Raising Entrepreneurs
We know that around 35% percent of entrepreneurs identify as dyslexic. I find this talk interesting because he describes his experience struggling in school and how his mind always saw ways to run businesses. If you have a child who has a business mind, or you want your child to develop that skill, you’ll find the tips in here helpful and inspiring.
TED Talk #4: Raising Successful Children
I love this talk. It is such an important message on raising children who are whole beings and not just statistics on paper. This is a talk for all parents and entertaining as well as inspiring. “My job is to support them in becoming their glorious selves.” I think this quote from her should be our mission as parents.
TED Talk #5: Learning from Children
An 11-year-old delivers an inspiring, impactful talk on looking at children for all they have to offer and not just as “childish” as she refers to it. Let this talk be a real inspiration for the child who is great at public speaking and wishes to be on a stage. Children are the future, but we have to allow them to do it their way.
There you have my list of favorite dyslexia TED talks. What did you think? Did you learn anything? Were you inspired? I think getting children listening to appropriate TED talks is such a great way to show a variety of topics, inspire big thinking, and show them what’s possible. Also, it’s great that talks are mostly under 20 minutes and easily fit into a car ride, cooking dinner, and an evening stroll. Make a playlist that you find appropriate for your children and let them find what interests them. It could be really fascinating to see what sparks inside of them.
Bonus Dyslexia TED talk: Understanding Working Memory
In this blog post about memory strategies for dyslexic children, I included a TED talk explaining working memory. As we know, children with dyslexia and ADHD struggle with working memory or executive functioning. Read the post and check out the talk to learn more about working memory.
