Something's not Right 2nd Edition

In 2004, the Massachusetts branch of the International Dyslexia Association awarded Nancy Lelewer the Alice Garside Award for her outstanding contribution to the field of dyslexia. While acknowledging she shared the same lifetime dedication to the field as past recipients, they noted she, unlike other recipients, was completely self-taught. This was the first year since the award’s inception in 1985 that it had been given to an individual who had never taken an Orton-Gillingham training program or one of its spin-offs. In fact, in the award’s history, Nancy was only the second dyslexic to be chosen. Nancy’s interest in dyslexia grew out of her own struggles with it as a child. As an adult, her awareness of her children’s dyslexia and other learning disabilities served to deepen her interest in the field. To help her children grasp concepts such as taking turns and winning and losing when they were young, Nancy invented nine board games called “Have Fun with Me. Play 1, 2, 3.” Nancy obtained three patents, a trademark, and copyrights for them in hopes of marketing them when her children were older. She also invented and copyrighted a calendar that can help children understand the time of day (morning, afternoon, evening); the day of the week; and the month of the year. Both the games and the calendar were manufactured and marketed by major companies. Nancy has served on three dyslexia boards and spent five years as chairwoman of the board for a school for dyslexic boys. Once her children were grown, she turned her attention to research into the causes of dyslexia. She became a research affiliate at MIT’s Man Vehicle Lab (Center for Space Research) and an associate in neurology at Harvard Medical School. Her work contributed to papers that were published in Cortex and Annals of Dyslexia. Nancy was the US cofounder of a Swedish wheelchair company (Permobil), which she ran for the first three years in the United States. Today, Permobil is the largest computerized wheelchair company in the world. If you wish to find out more about Nancy please check out her webpage www.NancyLelewer.com or email her at [email protected]