Interview with dyslexia coach Ameerah Khan

Can you talk a little bit more about yourself? How did you end up as a dyslexia coach?

I did my first degree in Psychology and a Master in Occupational Psychology. I’ve always had curiosity from a very young age about how the mind does work and the role of mental health and emotions.

When I was a child, I used to support my mum who is a teacher, with her teaching business, so I’ve always had a strong inclination towards education. I was really curious about how people learn, what allows them to perform well and to engage with materials.

I think curiosity is key because when you are curious, you’re not trying to change somebody, you’re curious about the person’s personal experience. Dyslexia lends itself to curiosity as it allows us to be curious about what’s going on in the learners’ world and how they engage with materials.

After my degree, I qualified as a psychometrician. Then I realised that where I am best positioned is working with people in a space where I am empowering them. I thrive on relationships and what you do as a coach is building relationships with the people that you support. It’s in that space that the magic happens. I started working as a neurodiversity coach in 2012 while working as an educator at a London University for a while. And now, I run my own practice as a Neurodiversity Coach.

What does be a dyslexia coach imply?

We’re not teaching and we’re not telling people what to do. We don’t come with all the answers. As a coach, I facilitate change in people by helping them to tease out the solutions and answers for themselves, this way the outcome is bespoke and more meaningful to the coachee. There’s a little bit of mentoring with dyslexia; it is such a specialist field. I have a specialism in dyslexia, so there’s a lot of information and knowledge I have that I can present when it feels appropriate and helpful. Coaching helps people to develop strategies that are going to support them and understand how their environment is affecting their dyslexia. It also helps them build awareness and understand where their challenges are as well as making sense of their own life experience and their unique style. We try to build strategies for specific challenges as well, such as listening and taking notes, whereas a dyslexia mentor would be more inclined to teach from their knowledge and experience.

What makes the approach to dyslexia different from children to adults?


We are doing the same thing. Every coach works differently but when I coach, I am trying to understand the person's unique experience, i.e. ‘how do you make sense of your life so far and where is dyslexia in all of this?’. The difference with adults is that there can be a lot more unpack emotionally as there may be a history of challenges at school or at work, or it could be difficulties in their various relationships, including early experiences with their parents. We hold space for wounds and scars, yet I am careful to not offer coaching as a therapy, however many reports coaching to be a therapeutic experience. With adults, it may be required that we take the extra time to really ‘sit with it', whatever ‘it’ may be so that the client can move forward.

 When I coach, the messages are the same with both adults and children. It is about normalising dyslexia as well as acknowledging the differences when comparing to neurotypical learners. It is about curiosity and excitement for the way their brains work. It is about celebrating the real strengths in dyslexia and being compassionate about the challenges and exploring ways to overcome them.

With children, there can be less of a history to unpack (although not always!). There is a slowing down with the coaching. Dyslexia can sometimes affect children’s confidence, particularly if they have received negative reinforcement from their environment or even from their internal dialogue. Young people can be in a development stage where their sense of self and their identity are still a work in progress. Similarly, with adults, I encourage them to form a positive identity about what dyslexia means to them. A great place to start is in highlighting their strengths, for example, “I’ve noticed when you're going to do a project, you are good at being prepared and when you prepare, you excel” or “you’re good at communicating and leading teams, I wonder if that is linked to your dyslexia and how could it be included in your career choices”. We also don’t want to dismiss their challenges because otherwise, it doesn’t prepare them for the future.

 Would you say that adults in that sense are more challenging for you to coach?


I would not say it is more challenging. I love working with both children and adults. It gets challenging when the client does not feel heard, or if they don’t trust you, or even if they are not ready to move forward.  It could be because of their past and I am sure to hold compassion for that.

I think coaching is a challenge, but I love a challenge. Working with adults vs children is a different dance, but they are both really meaningful and there is the potential to make a huge difference with both of them. The most transformative journeys happen when coachees are ready to change. When this is the case, the feedback I get from client’s is that in addition to the effective strategies they are using in their day to day lives and work, their personal lives have improved too. 

 What are the signs of dyslexia in adults?


Dyslexia can only be diagnosed by someone who is sufficiently qualified to provide a diagnostic assessment. It may be a clinical psychologist, a clinical psychologist, chartered occupational psychologist, a psychiatrist or somebody else who is qualified. 

 From my understanding, an assessment maps out the cognitive profile for the individual. Typically, the assessor will look at a variety of cognitive functions such as verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, etc and they will identify where the individual is scoring in these areas. What you would expect to find for neurotypical thinkers is that there are no big differences in the range of their scores, unlike in dyslexia where you would expect to see big differences in the person’s cognitive profile. A dyslexic person could be very good in one area such as perceptual reasoning but may have a much lower score in processing speed. When you provide an assessment for a dyslexic thinker, you are looking for these big differences in cognitive scoring. What you might typically find are strengths in verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning but challenges in processing speed and working memory. However, everyone is different.

A working memory task could be listening and taking notes at the same time which happens within a classroom and where students are required to take notes while the teacher is talking. This task can be quite challenging for many dyslexic learners.

Another thing you might notice is they may not always remember the specific details of a conversation, like the name of the road or the direction that they must take. However, you may see strengths in verbal comprehension, communicating with others or communicating ideas verbally and abstractly.

The only way you can know if you have dyslexia is to have an assessment. However, a lot of people choose not to have one for a range of reasons including not wanting to label themselves and instead be aware that they have some traits often associated with dyslexia. I stress that this is a choice, and it doesn’t affect how effective coaching can be. 

 Isn’t it harder for you to coach people who are not officially assessed as dyslexic?


The coaching is a self-report and client lead process, so no. If a person comes to me with a specific issue or challenge, we address the challenge itself and not ‘dyslexia’. It can help to understand where this challenge may originate from, but it is not required and not always helpful. It is far more powerful to normalise challenges and appreciate we all, neurodiverse or not, have challenges. It is part of being human. 

 How do you help people with dyslexia and can you “fix” it?


Firstly, I would never want to fix it, because “fix” suggests that something is broken. The dyslexic learner is not broken, and the neurodiverse thinker is not broken, what they are is different in some ways. I would acknowledge the challenges that are involved in operating as a neurodiverse thinker in a neurotypical world. We live in a world built to support neurotypicals to flourish, which can put neurodiverse thinkers at a disadvantage. I believe that it is the shared responsibility of society, of our workplaces, schools, parenting models, peer groups to also adjust and change so it is inclusive to neurodiverse thinkers. It is also important that we do that from a space of compassion, of curiosity and without preconceived ideas and judgments that we project onto others. If you are not sure about what is going on with somebody, about what might help or what might not help, the best thing to do is to ask. When you mention “fix”, the first thing that needs to be fixed is our attitude. 

 Coaching does not provide a ‘fix’, life doesn’t tend to have quick-fixes, and quick fixes tend not to work. Instead, what I endeavour to do is to improve the lives of my coachees.  

If dyslexia means having problems in the workplace or that it will affect the mental health or the stress level of the person, we will address that. We will not try to fix it per se. We will address what the challenges are. We can address some of the negative thinking and some of the expectations that have been put on them by others and by themselves. We will try to undo some of the unhealthy habits in order to build in some positive behaviours. 

 If coachees present with challenges around meeting deadlines for example, and this is impacting their ability to maintain employment, we will address this by building their sequencing skills by learning how to break things down into their smaller parts to form a logical sequence of steps. 

 We will help them to build some skills to learn how to plan, prioritise, categorise and organise, so the individual can function in a way that supports their quality of life. We can do that because the brain has the capacity to build new pathways. We can't stop the person from being dyslexic, and I certainly wouldn’t want to! The best way to empower someone is to teach the skills to live a fulfilling life whilst celebrating and engaging their strengths.

 How does society need to adapt?


No two dyslexic persons are the same. If we have a blanket, rigid approach for how educators are to manage dyslexia in the classroom, we will end up discriminating indirectly many students and we may end up creating a new host of challenges. In my opinion, it is important we need to create space for flexibility.

 Some strategies that are found to be helpful when coaching adults in the workplace are: having agendas be sent for meetings two days in advance to allow for processing and preparation time. This can be incredibly helpful for some. Another strategy may be having advanced notice for deadlines and highlighting the urgent nature of certain tasks. 

 A workplace’s physical environment is also really important. There is something known as the “cocktail party effect” where many neurodiverse individuals have heightened sensitivity to their environment and will be much more aware and interrupted by sounds, temperatures, noise, visual disturbance (e.g. colleagues walking past their desk) etc. Therefore, many of my clients have moved their desk at work to a corner, so they have the stimulation they are exposed to. Many benefits from having their back to the door, to minimise visual disturbances of colleagues entering and leaving a room. 

 Open-plan offices present a range of serious challenges which can make work an incredibly stressful experience. Neurodiverse individuals may unwillingly be tuning into irrelevant conversations from across the room due to a reduced capacity to filter information. It can be highly disruptive, affecting concentration and overall performance.

 One thing the organisations can do to support employees is to provide corner desks, the option to work from home or provide a fixed desk (hot desking can produce havoc for the working memory). Many find using noise-cancelling headphones transformative. Some of my clients have found that listening to the right music when working (usually without lyrics, or very familiar songs) dramatically improves concentration. Again, I will highlight, this is not a ‘fix’, and assuming that headphones will magically remove challenges can open up a can of worms. 

 Another helpful strategy is providing relevant information in advance ahead of a meeting to allow the individual to process the information and prepare. Many dyslexic thinkers find being put on the spot can switch on the ‘fight or flight’ mode and disengage their capacity to problem-solve or fully contribute to a task, which feeds into low confidence - don’t do it!!

 Supporting employees (in a non-patronising way) to identify and prioritise important and urgent projects or tasks are simple steps managers can take. My advice is to do this respectfully and allow your employee space to ask questions and clarify information. Most clients I work with prefer this to be done in a 1-1 setting and having a good relationship with their manager; it makes the world of difference. 

Another change is to build positive relationships with employees so they feel comfortable enough to say, “could you repeat that please?”. They may miss parts of instructions or look like they are zoning out, this is very rarely personal and usually an indication of a working memory challenge. Allow room for repetition and questions and give room for them to write down instructions. Be patient, be kind. You will get the most out of them that way and you will have a better chance of retaining them and benefiting from their unique strengths.

 There is also a range of assistive technologies that can be used such as speech to text software and screen tints. Remember, everybody has their preference. An adjustment might work brilliantly for Joe and be a nightmare for Bloggs!

 Some of these adjustments are not necessarily aligned with all corporate goals and destructive ideas of efficiency and productivity. For example, a client may require rest breaks to improve their concentration and some organisations may perceive breaks as wasted time. This line of thinking leans towards presentism, where employees may be physically present at work but not necessarily making a better-quality contribution. I have observed resistance amongst organisations that are not quite ready to hear how adjustments will support the individual and the organisation. It often requires a mindset change within the culture.  My advice to any organisations is to stay curious and open. Speak less and listen more. 

There are also many organisations doing excellent work in supporting dyslexic learners. That is great and they should keep going!

 In a really interesting talk you gave for Bell House back in December, you’ve talked about the concept of interconnected thinking. Could you explain to those who couldn’t attend the talk what is it? This concept is rarely associated with dyslexia in popular opinions. Why do you think that is?

 Interconnected thinking is the ability to perceive relationships between seemingly unrelated concepts. It is the ability to see how phenomena are related to each other either by similarity or association. What the interconnected thinkers will see are links and associations that other people may miss. It means that they are usually excellent at analysis, picking up at things that normal thinkers will miss out.

What we also know is the way the brain of interconnected thinkers may be arranged. Some of their connections in the brain are spaced further apart. If you’re an autistic thinker, the connections will be close together; the typical thinker’s connections are midway and the dyslexic thinker’s ones will be further away. A dyslexic person will draw connections from various parts of the brain. They are picking up on different areas of the brain and bringing them together to form something completely new, something innovative, a different perspective. They’re creating something that I call the ‘macro-level of understanding’. You can also call it a global thinker or a big picture thinker. If you are looking at someone autistic, they will likely be very good at the micro-level of analysis.

 Interconnected thinking lends itself beautifully to innovation, inspiration and leaps in understanding. This is why we should celebrate interconnected thinking; it is truly remarkable! 

 The downside is that it can also be challenging and exhausting to manage. The brain is drawing these new connections, you see things that other people don’t see and you’re not necessarily able to get to the point as quickly as another person. You may feel overwhelmed and tired very easily. There are challenges with interconnected thinking and that’s where strategies around prioritisation and filtering information can help. 

 My belief about why we don’t often associate interconnected thinking with dyslexia is because we are mostly focused on the deficit. We just look at the downside of interconnected thinking with challenges in planning or prioritising for example. Society expects us to be really clear, really concise and strategic. It is quite a masculine way of thinking. Whereas interconnected thinking is very analytical, reflective and curious. As a society we may have a preference or hold on to this more linear thinking, we hold that in higher esteem. We may have neglected or dismissed the strengths of interconnected thinking. We must be compassionate because all strengths come with their challenges and perhaps as a society, we have not been able to hold space for these challenges in an empowering way. As a result, we have systematically thrown the metaphorical baby out of the bathwater. We as a collective, have missed out. 

Hopefully, things are now starting to slowly change.