I'm sharing about a story that's personal and it's actually about someone that's inspired by someone that I love deeply, my husband, Ben. And someday I really, really hope that he shares his full story because it's not mine to tell. But what I can share is how watching someone you love navigate the world with a brain that works a little bit differently, kind of shifts the way that you view on what learning is. And especially being a teacher, I can relate to this because I've seen it in so many different types of students that I have worked with.
So this is a story, it's actually a book, and it's for every kid who feels like their brain just isn't doing what it's supposed to. And for every teacher or parent who wants them to realize that your brain isn't broken, it's just built differently. Welcome to Denny Talks, a guiding conversation to living life to the fullest. Join us for inspiring discussions on entrepreneurship, small business tips, and seizing the opportunities. Subscribe now for concise, motivating episodes that encourage you to chase your dreams.
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So I wrote this book and it's called Ben vs. the Alphabet. okay, this is kind of special because I wanted this book to be a surprise. My thought process behind all of it was that I had this idea and I wanted to bring this to life and I wanted to present him. In my head, I was gonna have everything done and I was gonna like, look Ben, I made a book. And it's done. And then I realized like, wow, writing a book, this is gonna be my second book that I'm writing.
The first one Ben and did together, so I was like, okay, it turned out so good. I need someone to be able to bounce ideas off of, and I need him, I need him. So I actually shared with him, was like, hey, I've been actually working on something, and I have all the chapters done. I just, I need your feedback, and I've integrated a lot of different types of things inside this book that have to do with Ben and his real life. It's like, it's obviously the main character, his name is Ben, and it has a.
teacher in there named Miss Eddie and that is based off of his grandma and he absolutely adores her adored her and has her brother in it John and just a couple of different types of features inside there that I've kind of like woven into it but mostly it's based off of Ben and it's gonna be a series of how Ben navigates how his brain works differently than a lot of other people's and how maybe
you would be able to find yourself in one of these characters. And so it's gonna have a multiple series. This one is about Ben versus the alphabet. Another book is gonna be Ben versus, and then it's gonna be about math. Another one is gonna be about other, blah, blah, all these other things, okay? Gotta stay tuned for it. Can't give away all the details yet. So I can definitely see how frustrating, exhausting and how isolating it can feel when you're trying to learn, but nothing clicks.
The letters blur, the words flip. feels like there's a secret that everybody knows about, but you're just stuck trying to crack this code. So Ben versus the alphabet tells the story of a boy who's really funny, he's creative, he's determined, but reading feels like he's running through a maze blindfolded. And just as he's about to give up, this teacher, Miss Eddie, helps him see that being different isn't bad, and it's actually a superpower. Dun, dun, dun, okay.
As underlining, the main message is about dyslexia. So let's break that down. Dyslexia is a learning difference. And that affects how a person reads, writes, spells, and it has nothing to do exactly with intelligence. It has to do with how the brain processes language, like letters and sounds. Those are a little different. So kids with dyslexia, they might mix up words like the B and the D, or was and saw. They struggle with spelling. They read really slowly. I shouldn't say really slowly, more slowly.
They get tired pretty quickly because their brain is trying to do all these flips and tricks, okay? It's having a hard time sounding out unfamiliar words. They forget the steps or the directions more easily. But here's the thing though, those same kids are often like really incredible and creative. They think outside the box. They're empathetic. They shine in other ways that you just might not see on a traditional test. So that's kind of like the underlining message and that I want to...
It's gonna be at the back of the book on like resources of how we can help and what it is just to kind of educate a little bit. But then inside the book, I'm hoping that the students realize like, okay, I see that in my classroom all the time from another student or I have that and they can relate to it. But it's funny, it's kind of like I really want it to be a book that's gonna be mixed between Captain Underpants, Junior B. Jones, Dog Man, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Ivy and Bean.
those, that's the type of book that I want to write. And that feels like a really scary dream to like say out loud, especially on a public platform like this, you know? Anyways, that's kind of the thought process. So now I want to go ahead and talk with you a little bit about that dyslexia and how you can help. So whether you're a teacher, a parent, or someone who has seen or loved someone with dyslexia, these are some tools that I've seen that are really wonderful. You can use multiple senses, such as like touching.
letter tiles, 3D letters, or tracing. That really helps hearing it, saying the letters out loud while they're writing it. You can add in physical movements, like clapping the syllables, using body movement, and then seeing things, using colored overlays and visual cues. Definitely embrace technology. We have so many different tools out there now. You can use text-to-speech tools, audiobooks, reading aloud, podcasts, et cetera.
I really want you to focus on keeping things simple. So as you know, if you have a student who's on an IUP or a 504, you're already seeing things maybe broken down a little bit into smaller chunks. So focusing on like three to four spelling words at a time and maybe even breaking up your list into that. So when your student comes home, when your child comes home from the week, instead of looking at the first like, I don't know, 15 words for the whole week, maybe you're just focusing on like Monday, Tuesday, you're doing like three words. And then the next part of
of the week you're focusing on the next three to four words and then gradually growing up into being longer for the full list. Okay. So breaking down reading into like smaller chunks using games or like memory tricks to help you remember or review things. Definitely giving choices. Either they can respond in a drawing or a video or an audio file, helping them build or act things out. These are great ways to still understand where your students is getting that.
that understanding the knowledge, they just can't read it out loud or write things down, okay? Building those confidence, that's really what I want this whole book to be about, is just encouraging people to be able to find and celebrate small wins. Even as an adult, you want to celebrate those small wins, like, woohoo, I did this, I, I don't know, it could be something super small, right? And you want to celebrate that, and I know your students want to do that too. Encouraging your students through this thing, like, this is how I learn, and everybody learns differently, but this is what works best for me.
encouraging those verbiage to be able to reciprocate back into them is really going to help them be their own advocate. So for my fellow teachers, I would recommend using fonts that are specific for dyslexia. The one that I'm going to specifically use in my book is going to be called Open Dyslexic, using your font sizes that are 12 or larger and then aligning your text all the way to the left. So that's how this entire book is going to roll, which is a little bit different to some of these books I've seen.
where maybe they're centered aligned or they're kind of offset a little bit. So the formatting of this book was kind of challenging because everything is lined up on the left. Definitely. Okay. At the end of the day, it's just a place for your students to be able to grow from. And let's talk about the strengths. I'm going back into my husband, actually, the real Ben, the one that is not the child in the book.
But I want you to think about, I don't think about necessarily what he struggled with. I think of this as more of like a resilience and his creativity and his heart, his ability to like figure things out in a unique way. And then being able to, now that I see him as a teacher, he's a construction teacher at this Career Tech that we're both at. He is able to relate to these students who struggle, especially with like reading a tape measure.
Like he's able to like find creative ways that he can connect with these students. like that just, I want you to just kind of keep that into perspective that no matter the type of struggle that you may be going through, you're gonna come out on the other end and you're gonna allow yourself to be able to connect with your students, your kids, someone that in another unique way and you're gonna be able to offer that resilient path that you were able to go through and hopefully help those people along the way.
So I hope you stay on the lookout for Ben vs. the Alphabet because it's going to be hitting the shelves soon. It's filled with lots of humor and heart, secret missions, everyday school moments that are going to be turned into victories. I hope this reminds kids and grownups that being different is not less, but it's truly powerful. So if you've got a kid or student or loved one who's wired differently, you're not alone and you're not broken. These are the good days, friends, so I hope you find that every kind of brain feel at home in your classroom.