I just stumbled onto this TEDx talk given by the founder of NoticeAbility. If you are or know a dyslexic person, pay close attention to the list at 2:10 and the stats in minute 8.

Logan got Cs and Ds in high school. This post is for all those kids and all those parents out there still slogging through those rough years, before the afterburners light up, before the nitro flips on. Hang in there. Keep believing. Focus on feeding the flame. Logan just finished his freshman year of college – twice on the Dean’s List. Thank you, SASD, for providing the perfect crucible in which this kid has caught fire.

I think about the student he was in fifth grade and all the kids like him, square pegs in round holes. So much hangs on finding work that fits you, that matches your skills and personality. Keep it up!

His mom and I asked Logan what he wanted for a graduation gift. His answer was this tattoo. He’s got grand ambitions, and he wanted a reminder to keep pursuing them, to ignore distractions, to resist the temptation to be lazy. You can still see the long, pink scar on his right forearm from an old skateboarding accident, but these new permanent marks on his body were added intentionally.

His expression here says everything. What more can I say? What more is there to say? Congratulations, Logan. I love you.

How did this happen? This year, at his new high school in the Quiet Corner of Connecticut, Logan is taking AP Drawing, along with Ceramics and Sculpture, plus all those required academic classes. His drawing teacher pushes him, challenges him, holds him accountable, and he’s developing his talent. (Check out his portfolio at NLoganWinkler.com.) In fact, he got a scholarship to study Industrial Design at the Shintaro Akatsu School Of Design next year, part of the University of Bridgeport. Yeah, college. And this is the kid who almost quit school in fifth grade. The young man who scraped through high school with Cs and Ds until this year. Now he’s on the honor roll. What happened?

Logan explains it in an essay (He writes essays now. Yes!) The EXPLO summer program was a big part of it. The classwork and homework there didn’t require reading and writing, just thinking and doing, so he forgot he was dyslexic. He was a good student, and he enjoyed school! Then he decided he wasn’t going to let the downsides of dyslexia define him anymore. He stopped avoiding the writing assignments at school, and started blitzing them. Creative Writing was his highest grade last fall (thanks to his amazing teacher). Everything snowballed. Now here we are.

In dramatic, fictional stories, everything turns on a dime, a single moment of climax. In real life, it’s a much longer process. Years of just keeping Logan moving forward, muscling through the weeds, has led to this tipping point, when he’s really starting to believe what we’ve been telling him all along: “You can do great things. You can do things that nobody else can do. Do them.”

Finally, like Neo in this clip of The Matrix, “He’s beginning to believe” in his nascent superpowers.

Logan is studying Industrial Design and Architecture at Explo-Yale this summer. He was interviewed regarding his experience: “I got here and I was meeting new people and making friends I kind of had to think, ‘who do I want to be?'” Click here to read his answer.

Logan’s eleventh grade science class is Ecology. This picture was taken during a great lesson on the reptile kingdom. He wasn’t daydreaming and staring out the window while a boa constrictor wrapped around him …and his belt loop.

This cartoon was inspired by the quote:

• Albert Einstein wrote, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” The question I have for you at this point of our journey together is, “What is your genius?”
  • From the self-help book “The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose” by Matthew Kelly, according to QuoteInvestigator.com.

So, what is your child’s genius?