The Certificate Scam

Lebanon's the country that have suffered from severely civil war, cannot event control a simple teacher manifestation. 

 

The Lebanese educational system have see so many wars and every-time have emerged from the violence of these war largely intact and the government said to us that he cannot event control a bunch of teachers when our school was event able to do the baccalaureate in the war.

“Our children paid the big price for a crises they never wanted.” It's what is happening now.

Student from technical school now cannot event find a job because they still don't own a certificate of they competences, and grades.

Baccalaureate student cannot get scholarship from University because now every student are in the same level, people with excellent score more than 18/20 are at the same level of a student with a 12/20 in the baccalaureate exam, because of the fact that the exams are still not correct.

Student that desire to go study abroad are still in Lebanon waiting that the crises will be resolute, because no university abroad want a student with no certificate and some school ask form more than 15/20 in the baccalaureate result to be student their.

So they are there waiting carefully that their government do something for them or someone do something; just move a finger and help them.

Teacher without event realized it are not touching the right person by doing this because we see clearly that the government doesn't care about our children. They hurt student that have nothing to do with their salary problems.

Student are afraid that no one care about them and that they will have to paid the fault of someone else.

So from all the Student in Lebanon we ask both side to agree on something now and finally correct the exams so that the news generation can get the same chance you have when you were student at their place, a Certificate.

Ed Cooke said that Dyslexia is in an advantage in Memory Learning

Ed Cooke shows how his approach to memory can be helpful for all learners - but especially those, such as most Dyslexics, who think visually.

Most Asked Question

Many parents ask me on my blog, email, or Facebook the same question:

Does my child need to attend a special school for children with dyslexia? & What is available in Lebanon ?

You don't need special school but personally it depends on the school system. A parent needs to find out how much the school really understands dyslexia. How much does the special education / or normal education staff understand it along with their teachers. Then understand what unique aspects make up your child's dyslexia. This can make a difference between a child who is totally turned off by school or one who feels good about school. 

Why Public School isn't good for Dyslexic Child?

1- Public school teachers, principals and staff are well-intentioned, but the system is broken. Most schools don’t have the resources to diagnose and treat dyslexics. Waiting for the school to test and treat your dyslexic child is a “race to the bottom” and an enormous disservice to your language-challenged child.
2 -  Children with dyslexia do not “catch up” without specialized and explicit instruction. Such children don’t “just need a little extra practice” or a tutor; they need a specific type of teaching designed for the unique learning patterns of the dyslexic brain.
3 - Smart dyslexic students often treat every word as a sight word and memorize it, instead of using the word’s structure to decode and understand it. School reading assessments are unlikely to pick this up. Later, when these bright dyslexics are in middle and high school with dramatically increased reading and note taking demands, this memorization strategy will fail them.

 

If you don't want to put them in Special School or Private School there's always the Tutoring alternative.

In Lebanon there's not so many people special in Dyslexia and Dyslexic Child, the most reputated is Dr. Samar Riad Saab - The Owner of Impressive Minds- Psychologist & Specialised in Learning Difficulties. DAVIS® Dyslexia Correction Facilitato.

Website :  http://www.impressiveminds.com/index.php?content=aboutus.html

Now about special School for Dyslexic in Lebanon ?

I'm sorry to announce to you that only one school in Lebanon offer proper alternative to Dyslexic people and this school is in Beirut, and the Tuition is ± $4,000/years so not affordable for everyone.

Sagesse High School (also known as Sagesse High School, Mary Mother of Wisdom).

Website : http://www.sagessehs.edu.lb/default.aspx

Their Special Education Unit serves the needs of students with learning difficulties (Dyslexia, ADD, ADHD). The curriculum is designed to give students the broadest possible education, whilst preparing them to further their education in their chosen college or university in Lebanon and abroad. Students are considered special needs students if they are diagnosed by an approved independent psychologist and the School's psychologist as having one of the following disabilities prior to admission, or if they are referred to the Special Education Unit by a Head of Division at a later stage:

• Students with learning disabilities as defined by Lebanese law including: Dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADD, ADHD, Epilepsy)
• Students identified as slow learners (borderline IQ)
• Students with psychomotor or speech difficulties

[Lebanon] Language Barriers Prevent Syrian Children from Attending School

"I want them to go to school, but it’s so far away. I can’t afford the cost of transport. It’s also difficult because here they speak French or English at school. My children won’t understand anything", explained Dima’s sister.


A critical problem facing Syrian children in Lebanon is that the education system uses French or English as the language of instruction, with Arabic only reserved for language courses and sometimes history lessons. Conversely, in Syria the education system is entirely in Arabic.


A rapid needs assessment carried out by the UN children’s fund in Lebanon (UNICEF) and Save the Children also cited language barriers as the principal obstacle for Syrians in Lebanon. The report found that most Syrians would like their children to learn either French or English as they see it as a “chance for upward mobility”.

In addition, the Lebanese education system is unable to cope with the influx of Syrians across the border. More than 160,000 Syrians are officially registered with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon and a further 71,358 are awaiting registration. This number is increasing rapidly as up to 3,000 Syrians are crossing the borders daily to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.

Lebanon in the top 10 country for the quality of is education

Lebanon have one of the best education systems in Math and Science in the World like The Economic Forum’s 2013 Global Information said so (here).

And when  Senior Fellow Hafez Ghanem in this new podcast about learning in the Arab world says : "That more than half of Arab children are not learning". 

We are one of the most educated country in the Middle East with 44% of University Graduated students.

This is something we must be proud about.

A Video Everyone Should See

When I see the facts like this I realize that the average human life is relatively short.

We know deep down that life is short, and that death will happen to all of us eventually, and yet we are infinitely surprised when it happens to someone we know. It’s like walking up a flight of stairs with a distracted mind, and misjudging the final step. You anticipated there to be one more stair than there is, and so you find yourself off balance for a moment, before your mind shifts back to the present moment and how the world really is.


I see many people being diagnosed with terminal cancer. When they know that they start doing thing without being afraid, they live fully, and I think everyone should live like that. Because you never know when your time is come to live this life.

So LIVE your life TODAY! Don’t ignore death, but don’t be afraid of it either. Be afraid of a life you never lived because you were too afraid to take action. Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside you while you’re still alive. Be brave. Be courageous. Be scared to death, and then take the next step anyway. 

If you had only one days left in your live what would you do ?

Growth Mindset

The Dr.Carol Dweck published an very interesting and important article about a study she make around 373 middle school students.

She ask every student the same and unique simple question: Is intelligence something very basic that can't really change ?

The answer was divided into 2 group :

- The fixed mindset that said no it's cannot change.
- And The malleable mindset that said yes this can change and growth, she call them the Growth Mindset.

And she realize that the first categories the fixed mindset are more worried about looking smart than learning, they don't like to try news think because failing make them look stupid.

In the other case the malleable or the growth mindset are more interested in learning and love to try, event if they do mistake because they think of it as learning. And seem to think that the they next time they will do better and so on.

The Growth mindset was having some attribute that the fixed mindset was not having:
- Effort,
- Using strategies,
- And provided seeking.

Check the full article there:
http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=32124
http://www.mindsetworks.com/webnav/dr-dweck-interviews.aspx

Just a Dream

I'm dreaming of a Lebanon,

and a Middle East,

Where people will take Dyslexia as a real problem,

Where Dyslexic people will be help instead of being called "slow",

And where all people will be able to read and write,

A place where Dyslexic are tell to fight and,

Where society accepted that this is a problem,

Instead of closing the school doors to them,

When people tell them instead or you're stupid,

"Don't feel sorry for yourself. You have a challenge; never quit and we will help you if you want."

Memory Masters and Learning Disabilities

Have you ever hears of these people that can memorize all The Bible or The Dictionary? But what you don't know about them it's that some of them have ADD or Dyslexia and the overcome it with their memory methods. 

 

Let me introduce you to Dominic O Brien he has done what no other man has done before, win The World Memory Championship 8 different times, 2 time in second, and finally 6 times in another before he finally retired from the competition. That means this man memory is one of the most powerful in the world.

Dominic O Brien

But what is event more amazing is that Dominic O Brien is not savant, he is not a genius, and event he was not a good children in school. In fact, as a student he was diagnosed with Dyslexia and Attention Deficiency Disorder (ADD), and had difficulty writing and reading event a simple sentence. But what he did excel at was the skill of visualization and this same skill has been an advantage in his training for the World Memory Championships. He believes that it’s possible that anyone can do what he does, with the proper training and that the human brain can do anything if we train it well.

Dominic now refers to his dyslexic condition in the past tense as though he no longer has it. It is quite obvious that his attention problems have disappeared (you don't get to be World Memory Champion with failing concentration!) - but what about his dyslexia? Dominic is totally convinced that having trained his memory to a remarkable level his mind has evolved to the degree that dyslexia no longer causes him any problems.

He said that people think that ADD and Dyslexia are permanent conditions but that with memory and concentration Dominic appears to have found a way to help sufferers. He says that using the word "cure" is misleading but that what he do with his ADD and Dyslexia to overcome it, is a degree of control so they no longer become debilitating conditions.

And we can also see many other memory masters having learning disabilities such has Gordon Dryden that had ADD and ADHD, and overcome. Like Dominic O Brien do with his Dyslexia and ADD, he do the same with his ADD and ADHD overcome it with his own memory methods.

Gordon Dryden

Did Dominic O Brien and the other Memory Masters  find a long term solution to Dyslexia and other disabilities like ADD ? 

 

We must see the work of scientist and more test, maybe in the future we will learn that we teach memory systems in school to Dyslexic and ADD students to help them overcome and control their learning disabilities.

If you want to know more about Dominic O Brien work you can always watch his interview or read his books.

How can you write with your Dyslexia ? (Tips for Dyslexic Writers)

Many times people ask me:  ''How can you write so well and be dyslexic ?''

The thing they don't understand it's that dyslexic people can read and write just like you with some practice and tips.


So here I give some of my personal tips to helps every Dyslexic writers in the world to write better.


1. Practice,  Practice,  Practice, and Practice reading books and writing;  learn news words,  keep a notebook,  enjoy it and never feel down or discourage when you don't know how to write something just ask and learn.  


2. Plan your writing with Bullets points.


3. Take your time,  it's important to take your time.


4. Content is the most important thing in your writing not your spelling. 


5. Write in different colors,  this can really help you.  Like me I prefer write in  red and blue this is more easy for me to read later.



6. Do some research.


7. Write Note before you put it on paper or on the computer  (bullet point note).


8. Fill your bullets points (pc),  just add more informations.

9. Don't rush, the more you rush the more mistakes you will make (take an hours or more if you want to write something very good).


10. Use technology like Microsoft corrector,  spelling check,  autocorect, detected word,...


11. Use a dyslexic font, there are several available online to buy and download. Find the one that works well for you.  They are fab and finally for me,  at least,  it has stopped the B and the P getting muddled up.


12. Write short, simple sentences.  For me I realize than when a sentence it's too long I just get lost.   So I decided to write simple sentence using subject-verb-object.   And also to keep my paragraph short as well to don't get lost. 


13. Avoid any type of Abbreviation.  Me I just cannot keep track with this when I write and I forgot if WA means weight average or something else.


14. Give your work space, like using one more space after the period.  This will help you keep in track with your essay. 


15. Read at least 4 times each sentences to see if their is a mistakes in it (read it latter not just before you write it, and correct it.  And do it also later.).

  
16. FINALLY NEVER GIVE UP, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING IF YOU WANT IT.

Stop this CAPTCHA verification, I'm not a robot, I'm just dyslexic.

This post is borne of my big frustration against CAPTCHA has dyslexic user. Once against society decided to lock us more out and make a new barrier that made it very more difficult to use web site.

Each time when you want to create an account or just write a comment on site, they want us to verify if we are human or robot using this indecipherable CAPTCHA image.

CAPTCHA is an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”

You have to read the text, then enter the characters you see into a form. Then, and only then, can you complete the transaction, but if you're dyslexic like me and have difficulty to read event normal letter; this job become a difficult one. And some site have limitations time to try to do this and after you get block for all the days; it's happen to my often to be block after 5 times on forums.

CAPTCHAs are meant to prevent robots from spamming or overvoting or whatever it is that computer robots do in their spare time; but what if I'm not a robot but just Dyslexic. Some sites  using CAPTCHA have added an audio option, thinking this will probably makes them feel more good about helping dyslexic or blind people. But really did someone try to do it, those audio CAPTCHAs are far more difficult to do than the textural one, and some of them are just impossible!

I'm not a robot because I'm dyslexic and cannot read this CAPTCHA; Dyslexics are 'Humans'. But I doubt when they invented this they didn't think about it and didn't think this would be one of the more insulting & effective barrier to the dyslexic web user to be tell that because they cannot read this they must not be Humans. And event me sometime I give up on my registration on some web sites because of this, this make them lost many users like me.

Let take an example look at the picture belows, I'm dyslexic and I cannot for the life of god decipher the last image in the graphic, or just figure out whether the second is an U or a V or an I that is so near the first b, nor whether the fourth one is O or Q or an over sized lower case a.

And of course when you fail the first round they give you another one to do like this one bellows. The 3 one is a h or li or a 1i, I cannot figure this out and if you lose this round some site block your account for all the days till tomorrow and you get really frustrated, because they tell you that you failed the test so you're not human.

The problem with this of course, it that why they wanted to create these barriers this is simply unnecessary. This are supposed to be created to detect internet spammers, who use software bots to post advertisements, links to malicious software, or to attempt to launch denial of service attacks on web sites. Not to block dyslexic people from it or blind people.

There is other alternatives like calculus image; these are other tools that web designers can use to trap or trick the spam-bots, without creating barriers for their human users.

For me the difference between a human and a computer is simple, and should not be tested with these CAPTCHA. A computer is a robot or a machine and an human is someone that deserves to be treated with equal chances and some respect.

A petition to sign to stop these CAPTCHA TEST: http://webbism.com/2013/08/05/fighting-to-end-the-reign-of-the-captcha/

How Manga help me with my Dyslexia ?

First of all let me tell you What are manga?

This is stories told using the medium of comic, with a lots of pictures accompanying the text. However, this definition is a little to simplistic. A Manga is a medium of visual storytelling with graphic and pictures, that is originates from Japan. A Manga book is usually slightly thinner, that means that they require reader to start from the back of the book due to Japanese language being read from right to left.

A Manga can be in so many distinctive style, with large text, eyes. An anime is its a film do from a manga and that use the same artistic style.The most popular manga and anime in the world was Pokemon or Dragon Balls. 

Some people assume that manga is only for children because of the success of children's cartoon, like Digimon, and possibly due to the cuteness appearance of some manga characters. This is not the case, people of all ages can read manga, and it covers a wide variety of topics like: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, suspense, detective, horror, sexuality, and business/commerce, among others. Likewise, some other people when they think of comic or manga only think of superhero or geek reading but this is far from the truth, and it's come to same thing has judging all books based on one genre, such as magical or horror.


Let me show you some example of Manga bellows: 

 

Remember Manga are read right to left (This Death Note and Welcome to The NHK)

Now let tell you more about How Manga help me with my Dyslexia ?

If you have read my previous post you all know that being dyslexic means you have problem at reading and with letter.  What is great about Manga is that there is pictures to help me will I'm reading, that really help me has a reader to keep in track with the plot event when I'm struggling with some words and letter. For me the fact that there is less text to read per page make this less hard for me to read with my Dyslexia and allow me to keep focus and also to finish these books much more faster that with normal novel. I remember myself starting reading novel and having so much problems with world, and how the text is little that I totally give up, but with the larger characters and the pictures in Manga this never happen. This help me boost my confidence has a reader, and make me fall in love with the interest of reading books against.

Dyslexic people like me struggle sometime to remember some details of the stories so like me they lost the focus and give up, but because of the pictures and designs in manga this rarely happen. Also the effort of reading some words make it so hard to understand their meaning at the same time. For me, I realize that I have so much better memory with picture than sounds and words. I also have some trouble remembering names but never faces, and place. This means for me book which use pictures are as well more accessible for me to read than the one that only have text.

Finally Mangas, are so much more fun and interesting to read than novel, because most of them are based on popular Anime or TV Shows. I would like to recommend every Dyslexic or People that hate reading to start reading Manga this can give you the like of reading again. 

Some Resources:

1. A Research about how Manga and Comic help Dyslexic: http://design-cu.jp/iasdr2013/papers/1259-1b.pdf
2.  Some free websites to start with Manga: http://www.mangareader.net/ http://beta.mangafox.com/ http://www.mangahere.com/ 
   

I swears I know how to write, but why it's so toughs by hands writing

I realize this society become so addicted to technologies event teachers ask now for our paper research to be print and write in computer. The new generation star to forget how to use a pen and how to write by hands writing or just have a so bad one. And I realized myself too, my hand writing is so bad. So I decided to change it, and practice each days to get a better one.

I fund this great resource online for adult like me that want to get a better hand writing: http://www.nala.ie/sites/default/files/publications/better_handwriting_for_adults.pdf. This resources is very helpful and in one weeks my hands writing star to get better (n.b: with each days 30 min practice). It's will take time but everything can be change and ameliorate if really want it.


This resource is very simple to use with clears exercise and 100% free,t it's only to you to work hard if you want some result and to ameliorated your hand writing like me.

Book Cover

Example of exercises from the Books

I will keep in tracks with my progress this 2 pictures bellows are take one week for each other the first one at the beginning the second after one week; I'm very happy to see some progress and amelioration in my hands writing.

Good Luck everyone, with this great resource !

Dyslexia a word that sound strange, what it's ?

Now let open The Larousse Dictionary and read the definition:

dys·lex·i·a 
disˈleksēə/ 
noun 

1. a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence. 

Yes this is a cleaver definition but this not so specifics and telling you what really Dyslexia is.

First let me tell you a little story.  

John is a young boy, he just started primary school todays. He was so happy to find news friends and to see his class. The second days in school the teacher start teaching alphabetic letter, they all have the homework to know the alphabet. The next days in class John was ask by the teacher to tell her the alphabetic letter he wasn't able and all the other student start to laugh, but John did study. The teacher ask to see his parents and tell them that John need to study and stop doing the clown in class, but John didn't want to be like that. 

John grow up past some class and still hates write, but also he hate reading aloud in class. He's never been good with letter, or reading, and even he seems to have trouble to recognizes the words on page. School's never been his favorite place anyway. He often gets lows self-esteem, laugh at, and discouraged thinking that he's not good enough or smart like the other kids. But John always past his class and he's good in sport and math. He found that he had talent with calculus and equations.

But what everyone doesn't have realize : John, his parents, and his teachers is that John has Dysliexia.

So now let me be more specific and tell you What's Dyslexia ?

A dyslexic person is a person with a learning disability with processing words or numbers. There are several type of learning disabilities; dyslexia is one of them and the term used when people have difficulty learning to read, even they are smart people and motivated to learn.

N.B: Been Dyslexic isn't a disease. It's a condition that you are born with, and it often runs in families. People with it are not slows, stupid or lazy. Most of them have average or above-average intelligence, and they work very hard to overcome this learning problems. 

Now let talk about the signs of Dyslexia so no more children like John didn't know and think they are stupid all their life.

• Learning to read - the child, despite having normal intelligence and receiving proper teaching and parental support, has difficulty learning to read.


• Milestones reached later - the child learns to crawl, walk, talk, throw or catch things, ride a bicycle later than the majority of other kids.


• Speech - apart from being slow to learn to speak, the child commonly mispronounces words, finds rhyming extremely challenging, and does not appear to distinguish between different word sounds.


• Slow at learning sets of data - at school the child takes much longer than the other children to learn the letters of the alphabet and how they are pronounced. There may also be problems remembering the days of the week, months of the year, colors, and some arithmetic tables.


• Coordination - the child may seem clumsier than his or her peers. Catching a ball may be difficult.


• Left and right - the child commonly gets "left" and "right" mixed up.


• Reversal - numbers and letters may be reversed without realizing.


• Spelling - may not follow a pattern of progression seen in other children. The child may learn how to spell a word today, and completely forget the next day. One word may be spelt in a variety of ways on the same page.


• Phonology problems - phonology refers to the speech sounds in a language. If a word has more than two syllables, phonology processing becomes much more difficult. For example, with the word "unfortunately" a person with dyslexia may be able to process the sounds "un" and "ly", but not the ones in between.


• Concentration span - children with dyslexia commonly find it hard to concentrate for long, compared to other children. Many adults with dyslexia say this is because after a few minutes of non-stop struggling, the child is mentally exhausted. A higher number of children with dyslexia also have ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), compared to the rest of the population.


• Sequencing ideas - when a person with dyslexia expresses a sequence of ideas, they may seem illogical for people without the condition.


• Autoimmune conditions - people with dyslexia are more likely to develop immunological problems, such as hay fever, asthma, eczema, and other allergies.

But really what are the cause of Dyslexia ?

There still no real cause of it, you're just born with it or not.

Did there is a treatment to cure Dyslexia ?

No there is no cure to dyslexia but with proper care and education a dyslexic children can do big study and become whatever he/she want doctor, scientific,....

Why did I created Dyslexia Association in Lebanon ?

Dyslexia is an important disabilities in our society. As you may know, according to the United Nation one over five persons in the world are dyslexic and 1 over 3 have a learning disabilities, it's the time for people to know more about it and to be awareness. 

It's the time to start a awareness about Dyslexia!

So there come an idea in my head to create a page and blog to help people understand that Dyslexia is a Way of Thinking and not as a disability & to celebrate the strengths of people with dyslexia.

Dyslexia is the most common reading disability, if you know that more of 20% of the world population are struggling with dyslexia and are untreated this is a shame. In fact the person that write this and created this page and blog is a Dyslexic and a proud one.  

Dyslexia crosses racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines, and with proper instruction and accommodations, they can learn to write and read properly. However, the diagnosis and treatment isn't done in public schools and in private school they see us as slow. Lebanese and MENA country try to doesn't see the problem.

This is to the government and to school to see the problem, and to teachers to adjusted in front of Dyslexic. How we can teach a Dyslexic well if we doesn't know what is Dyslexia and event that the person is Dyslexic ?

Children who cannot read are marginalized and left to struggle and ultimately risk falling completely through the cracks, dropping out of school and facing dismal futures.

With proper identification and intervention, this is preventable. More awareness of and testing for dyslexia, along with remediation for those diagnosed with dyslexia, especially in minority communities, can improve literacy. Considering the struggles and marginalization of many dyslexic children—and those children who remain undiagnosed—and all of our shared vision for a more inclusive and innovative world, it seems natural to reform dyslexia as a civil rights issue.

To conclude, it's because no one see and know about dyslexia that no one reacted  and want to help children having this disabilities. And it's why I create Dyslexia Association in Lebanon ? To awareness people and help them understand this learning disabilities more.