Because clay has a memory : conversations about dyslexia, ceramics and success

A qualitative interview methodology that retells the life stories of seven highly successful dyslexic ceramic artists is used in this thesis to explore relationships between compensating for the learning disability dyslexia and career choice for seven highly successful dyslexic ceramists. Disturbed by the apparently random nature of educational interventions and by the attitudes of many experts towards children with learning disabilities, I intend to bring into better focus why some dyslexics have succeeded and what might be done to support dyslexic compensation. I argue both that most students, not only those with learning disabilities, are under-served by the current structure and offerings in public schools and that appropriate teaching practice for dyslexics is good for all students. Three major factors emerged in dyslexic compensation: (1) The caring support and guidance of adults, both teachers and parents who promote 'authentic' success, (2) the value of good teaching practice with an emphasis on problem-finding, multi-sensory and contextualized knowledge, and (3) the learner's passionate interest in a field tolerant of learning differences that at the lower levels is both accessible to those with reading difficulties, but also offers important opportunities for expression and exploration of thought and feeling, and the meaning of experience. For the artists who participated in this study, ceramics was the field that offered, at all levels of study and practice, important opportunities for authentic success, while also gradually demanding improved research skills. The artists' interest in ceramics supported, guided and encouraged their reading practice. The more they learned from their practical experience of ceramics, the more they were able to learn from texts because of a slow build up of contextualized vocabulary and content knowledg