Bob Dixon’s sensible help

Bob Dixon, an instructional designer who can run circles around just every other instructional designer whom I know, has initiated a service to which I want to refer readers: instructionalsolutions.blogspot.com. Here’s his explanation:

I’ve been reading posts about dyslexia, reading disabilities, learning disabilities, autism, and such. Many courageous people are fighting battles on large fronts on behalf of students so labeled. Here and there in these discussions, however, I see a relatively specific question about a specific problem a real student is having right now with some specific task. Such questions often get responses that are far too general to address the specific question identified. That seems to me like a small gap in the discussions that could possibly be closed. I’m going to give that a shot, using a blog in a sort of “backward” fashion. I’m hoping that parents, teachers—anyone, really—will post very specific, concrete problems on the blog. If a student is having a severe spelling problem, for example, list what the words should be and what the student wrote. If a students appears to be “dyslexic,” give a sentence and tell exactly what the student says when reading that sentence. If a student doesn’t have a clue about the first step in a simple geometric proof, post the proof and say the student writes absolutely nothing for the first or second step. If the student can’t remember a list of anything, provide the list and describe how the student studies it and what happens. You try the offered solutions and report back on their relative success.