Welcome, Lexic Minds Community!

In this edition, you will find the following resourceful topics:

• Spotlight: Literacy Tutoring Insights: Tools and Tips for Success with Holly Hefferan

• Trivia: Which brain chemical is often found at lower levels in people with ADHD?

• Tools & Tips: SpellBetter

• Featured Videos:

  • For Professionals: Great minds don’t think alike – Neurodiversity at work

  • For Parents: Understanding ADHD (Ages 2-6)

• Podcast: Got ADHD? There’s a chance you got dyslexia too

Literacy Tutoring Insights: Tools and Tips for Success with Holly Hefferan

We’re excited to kickstart 2025 with a very special episode of the Lexic Minds Podcast featuring Holly Heffran, an experienced literacy specialist.

Holly has dedicated over 15 years to supporting students with dyslexia and other literacy challenges. Holly opened up about her journey from public education to private tutoring, where she helps learners of all ages succeed by using brain-based techniques for individual needs.

✨ Session’s Highlights ✨

• Parental Involvement:
  “Parents may need a place to say: ‘My child is wonderful. My child is great, but they have a challenging time when it comes to x, y, and z.’”

• Confidence Building:
  “It’s affirming to say: ‘Okay, all right. This is not unusual; it’s just how we operate, and you know that’s actually a superpower too’.”

• Tools for Literacy:
  “Anytime I can incorporate movement and games I’m all about it. Sometimes, we’ll just use little poppets which the kids love but can become a tool for multisensory teaching, and how many sounds you hear in a word.”

• Finding the Best Tutor:

  “You found the right program or person or materials, but there’s gonna be fluctuations. We’re human, and it’s important to have someone on your side, hopefully a team that can navigate you through.”

Check out the full session now on YouTube and Spotify for useful insights and inspiration!

At Lexic Minds, we’re on a mission to create a supportive community, sharing stories and resources to empower neurodivergent individuals and their families. 💙

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Tools and Tips

Spell Better

Spell Better helps dyslexic writers by improving their typing and word selection experience. Its features are designed with neurodivergent learners in mind. Read why:

• Hear While You Type: Word prediction and typing come with audio support, letting you hear words and sentences as you type or select them. Had you heard of something like this before? We hadn’t!

• Dyslexia-Friendly Fonts: Includes specially designed fonts for readability, plus tools to support low vision.

• Smart Spell Check: Detects and corrects errors commonly made by those with dyslexia or dysgraphia.

• Text-to-Speech: Highlights each word as it reads aloud, helping focus and comprehension.

• Rich Writing Options: Add pictures and use rich text formatting for a more dynamic writing experience.

We invite you to try the “Hear while you type” function!

Picture from spellbetterapp.com

Featured Videos

Podcast

Mind Bites

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