I’m not a kid anymore, but I can only assume today’s parents are telling their kids “Facebook will rot yer brains.” In fact, the opposite might be true, according to a teeny, tiny little study from England. Especially for kids with dyslexia. Yes, Owen Barden of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University recently published a paper that says, contrary to what you might assume, that Facebook use can actually help kids who struggle with dyslexia overcome their literary challenges in a number of ways.
Ever see one of your Facebook friends freak out over an incorrect you’re/your situation? Sometimes people on the Internet are jerks. Which is why, on a list of potential learning tools for people with dyslexia, Facebook might not be the most obvious pick. The platform encourages users to write posts about themselves for their friends or the general public, something that sounds pretty intimidating for someone with an unconventional relationship to the written word. People can be brutal to their Facebook friends when it comes to grammar slipups and spelling mistakes. On top of that, it’s oftentimes a gateway to procrastination, not an assistive technology. For parents and educators who want to help young people with dyslexia, Facebook can look like more of a distraction than a potentially powerful tool.
