Learn to Love Listening ft. Cliff Weitzman, Dyslexic Founder and CEO of Speechify
Jan 27, 2024
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Cliff Weitzman, dyslexic founder and CEO of Speechify, shares his journey growing up dyslexic, learning English through audiobooks, and falling in love with listening. He discusses the impact of love and confidence, dyslexia diagnosis and interventions, experiences after high school, and tips to support dyslexic individuals like teaching effective listening skills and self-advocacy.
Develop strong listening skills through audiobooks to improve reading comprehension and speed, and learn touch typing at a fast speed to alleviate writing challenges.
Unconditional love and support from parents or caregivers is crucial for children with dyslexia, as it helps develop self-worth, confidence, and the ability to self-advocate.
Deep dives
Importance of Listening and Typing Skills
One of the key pieces of advice for individuals with dyslexia is to develop strong listening and typing skills. Listening to audiobooks can help improve reading comprehension and speed. Progressive overload, where individuals gradually increase their listening speed, can help improve listening abilities. In addition, learning touch typing at a fast speed can greatly alleviate writing challenges. Combined with text-to-speech apps like Speechify, individuals can listen to and comprehend texts faster, allowing them to achieve academic success.
Unconditional Love and Self-Advocacy
Unconditional love from parents or caregivers is crucial for children with dyslexia. Being loved and supported helps develop a strong sense of self-worth and confidence. Additionally, teaching children how to advocate for themselves empowers them to stand up for their rights and express their needs. Encouraging children to self-advocate from a young age helps them develop resilience and assertiveness, which are valuable skills throughout their lives.
Importance of Speed and Self-Development
Speed plays a significant role in managing dyslexia. Teaching children how to listen at faster speeds through regular practice can enhance their information processing capabilities. Similarly, developing touch typing skills above 100 words per minute can significantly aid written expression. Moreover, fostering a growth mindset where children embrace challenges and strive for self-improvement can enable them to overcome difficulties associated with dyslexia. By instilling a sense of resilience and adaptability, children can develop into successful individuals.
Entrepreneurial Potential and Dyslexia
Dyslexia is associated with both high rates of incarceration and a disproportionate number of millionaires and billionaires. Encouraging children with dyslexia to develop resilience through overcoming challenges can manifest in entrepreneurial success later in life. The ability to bounce back from failure and embrace self-belief enables individuals with dyslexia to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship and other fields effectively. By reframing dyslexia as an opportunity for growth, children can harness their unique abilities and unlock their full potential.
In this installment of our Dyslexic Voices series, Cliff Weitzman, founder and CEO of Speechify (https://speechify.com/), tells us about his experiences growing up dyslexic, and shares his advice for how to succeed as a dyslexic child and adult.
Here is his bio:
Cliff Weitzman is super dyslexic and couldn't figure out how to read in 1st to 4th grade. He learned English by listening to Harry Potter audiobooks when he was 13 and fell in love with listening. He listens to 2 audiobooks a week and has done so for more than 15 years. When he studied renewable energy engineering at Brown University he found his books didn't have audiobooks so he built a text to speech system that could read out anything to him.
Today SpeechifyAI is the largest speech AI platform in the world over 25 million users and over 100 engineers. Speechify has been the #1 app in its Apple and Google AppStore categories for 4 years. and has the largest collection of dyslexic users using it for dyslexia of any product in the world. What OpenAI does for text Speechify does for speech. The team started developing AI models in 2016 for speech synthesis, NLP, & computer vision. Today, they make the most realistic human sounding AI voices in the world.
Dyslexia Journey has conversations and explorations to help you support the dyslexic child in your life. Content includes approaches, tips, and interviews with a range of guests from psychologists to educators to people with dyslexia. Increase your understanding and connection with your child as you help them embrace their uniqueness and thrive on this challenging journey!
Send us your questions, comments, and guest suggestions to parentingdyslexiajourney@gmail.com
Also check out our YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/@ParentingDyslexiaJourney
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