Dyslexia Friendly Ovadya Yaish

I want to share my perspective and what I went through.

each community, each place of worship, each family may have a different vision for what this Milestone will look like and what it means in terms of ceremony and speeches.

for some the community and cultural norms dictate a party with friends yet to others this big day means sharing some words of Torah well finishing the six books of the mishnah.

of course I wanted to have some sort of Celebration with my friends and family. but in my community this big day revolved around the Sabbath morning service. the expectation is that the bar mitzvah boy can recite and read aloud from a Torah scroll with no vowels the entire weekly portion.

my weekly Torah portion was made up of 5313 letters, 1462 words, 118 versus, and 185 lines.

at first glance for somebody who has dyslexia this task seemed unrealistic and insurmountable.

my loving parents explain to me that I won't know what the experience is like or how much I can do and encourage me the focus on one section. For those who may not know the weekly portion is usually broken down into seven parts. A different person from the communities called up and recites the blessings for each of the respective parts, while the bar mitzvah boy reads the portion.

baby steps, I can handle that. And so I ventured to learn the first line of the first portion. Which wasn't easy. But lucky for me I happen to like singing and the trup which helps you read the words out loud in a moledic/song way. next came the vowels I needed to learn the vowels and apply them to that first line. it took a lot of repetition. A lot of listening to that line via audio. But then I got it, one line down 117 to go.

I'm no miracle worker, but it did take hours and a tremendous amount of patience and love from my teachers and my parents.

At the end of the day I did it. But it wasn't simple. I remember finishing the learning of the last two lines the night before my big day.

My parents were ahead of their time when it came to the second big challenge that a bar mitzvah child goes through which is the speech. in order to remove this challenge. my parents free tape to me reading my speech. Or I should actually say saying my speech in my own words with no pressure no glaring eyes to pierce through my thoughts.( that was really dramatic and quite descriptive. Not sure where that came from. But that sounded cool) and then they seamlessly weeds all of my video clips together. And played my speech at my bar mitzvah.

I can't resist sharing one other really neat thing that my parents did with me. In order to send thank you notes the people who were gracious enough to share a gift with me Especially when writing is not easy for me. My father video taped me sharing a customized thank you to each individual who shared in my special day.

for me. This day was a tremendous accomplishment not just for being able to create my own differentiated learning Bar Mitzvah program. Because I was proud of myself taking the baby steps and being okay at every roadblock and every stumbling block to say maybe this is enough. And yes I was able to accomplish 118 versus But I was happy with myself at number 10.

I enjoy challenging myself, I had the resources, I have the time, and I had a creative team behind me. it just worked. but that doesn't mean it's going to work for everyone. And it doesn't mean that the next Bar Mitzvah child if it doesn't work the way they wanted to work shouldn't feel a sense of accomplishment, not about matching expectation of your neighbor or classmates. it's about determining a goal. A realistic goal. And getting it done.( Knowing that even the initial goal may need to be readjusted)


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Hey so today we're going to discuss 3 tips that I've identified that one can you use to learn a new language.

full disclosure, I am not a reading Specialist or a foreign language expert.

I am the guinea pig in this example. I've taken on the task of learning an ancient rarely used language. and I've decided to share my experience in acquiring the skills.

now before you can Venture into a language my perspective you have to have some sort of goal. Are you trying to decipher this language in order to study a primary source, go on a vacation in a place where they speak this language, or something like that.

For me the objective is a matter of my family heritage. My family has lived in Aden four generations,  and Aramaic was one of the three languages used within an our families’ community.

and once you have the purpose identified you never want to get to the Practical side of a language. Most languages that I know of when it comes to the written text, are simply symbols. The words are symbols, the letters could be symbols sentences could be symbols. Do you want to be able to understand what symbol equals what sound.

Then the more advanced version of this is that the symbol also has a meaning. So for example when I write the letter c a k e. For somebody who's going to be learning the English language they would have to understand the sounds of those four letters as they are weaved together. and then one would want to know when you say those four letters as that sound what is the meaning.

but the three tips I wanted to share and today's episode have to do with the next step. The Next Step that I have taking on in learning this language cold Aramaic has to do with steps

1) read. even if you don't know what the symbol means. Reading that symbol out loud is very important. So for example when I'm trying to work on a piece of Aramaic legal text. I'll take a sentence and read it out loud twice.

2) write.  Then after I read that sentence twice I will go through the sentence and write down any words assuming I've been doing this for a while and it's not the first time I'm trying to decipher this language and symbols. I will write down the word I don't understand and its original symbol and then write or find the English word that will help me understand that symbol, word

3)hear. next I will review that sentence and read it out loud a few more times so that I can hear myself reading it. And then hear myself reading it as I explained that sentenced to myself using the  the key words I may not know from step number two.

it goes without saying that the most natural way to learn any language is from immersion being forced to use the words The Sounds in context. To hear it being used.

this is only the beginning of my venture in trying to master this ancient language.

I hope to keep you updated. At some point in the future I'll try to share  what I've been able to accomplish, what challenges I may have faced, and what has worked for me.


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Okay so this episode is a little different. Kind of giving you my personal perspective regarding a new language. And learning a new language.

So what are some of the key steps were key components better part of the learning process when trying to decode or learn or immerse yourself in a language.

In this episode one of the things I discuss is that immersion for somebody like me who is an auditory learner is crucial. To learn a word and hear the word, and then see how that word we're here have that word is applied in context makes all the difference when it comes to my learning.

I've always been a big fan of learning in context.

A funny thing happened when I was doing an IEP assessment or reassessment must have been third grade or something like that. When is part of the assessment that I had always remember sitting in front of about 5 people and somewhere taking notes somewhere asking questions somewhere just observing me different professionals from my school and outside of the school. and I remembered a ask me a series of facts information and words to see what kind of knowledge base I had. and I'll never forget that I think their jaws literally dropped when they asked me the word Zeppelin and I was able to tell them without batting an eyelash oh, yeah that's basically a hot air balloon.( Now of course everybody considers themselves to be smart, but for me that was somewhat of a no-brainer because that's the way that I heard the word being used in a series of books that I read call Babar. they often referred to the hot air balloon as a Zeppelin. That was just my application I'm learning in context.)

so when it comes to learning a new learning a foreign language, from my perspective for some individuals who have dyslexia and have a specific challenge decoding letters into words to create a word, hearing a word in that foreign language being used over and over. Experiencing how that word is used in context. Helps  an auditory learner such as myself take that sound, give it a meaning, thereby having a place or that word as it's used in that foreign language.

As I mentioned I like to challenge myself. and this year I am focused on trying to learn an ancient foreign language called Aramaic. and although I am trying to hear that language being used, and listening to that language being used. It's not the type of  of language that I'm going to hear in use at the grocery store or for that matter most anywhere around the world. that  disadvantage does limit my immersion of this language. But besides for some personal reasons, that's one of the reasons I'm excited to undertake this challenge of learning this far language oh, because the effort here is going to need to be greater from my side, my actions, my active education in order to progress.


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American with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Job Accommodations Network (JAN)


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dyslexia-friendly/support

Key Takeaways

Getting an evaluation can help you or your young-adult child request accommodations in college or at work.

Look for a specialist who has experience assessing adults for dyslexia.

It’s never too late to become a better reader.


SOURCE: https://www.understood.org/


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dyslexia-friendly/support

Key Takeaways

Trouble with word retrieval is a common sign of dyslexia.

Stress makes it harder to find the right word.

Extra time to prepare and reply can make speaking easier for people with dyslexia.


SOURCE: https://www.understood.org/


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dyslexia-friendly/support