The Church Of Scientology And Dyslexia
John Travolta, Tom Cruise and other Hollywood celebrities have attributed the Church of Scientology with correcting their dyslexia reading problems. How did the church do it? I am not nor have I ever been a member of the Church of Scientology. I have read excerpts of L. Ron Hubbard’s books and other Church of Scientology courses, but that does not make me an authority on the church. In today’s society, the Church of Scientology seems to be frowned upon by most theologians and academics. So why are Cruise, Travolta and others adamant about the church’s successes with dyslexia and their methods of “healing”? The Church of Scientology is very secretive, but future writers need to address what, when, where, and how this was accomplished with not only the Hollywood stars, but also other church members. Approximately 10 years ago I did some digging and here’s what I discovered:
It was not a spiritual transformation that took place within Cruise, Travolta and others. They simply went through an intensive academic study program called the Super Literacy Course. In my opinion, this 3-D program/multi-sensory course was the pioneer in correcting reading and writing disabilities. Of course, many an academic and learning disability expert would disagree with me.
The Super Literacy Course was the first reading disability program to zero-in on and correct reading disability symptoms. When reading aloud, if the reader hesitated, inserted a word, omitted a word, replaced a word, or skipped a line, he or she was to then focus on the particular word that caused the confusion and unwanted stimuli and learn three basic aspects of the word: what it looks like, what it sounds like, and what it means. The primary 3-D medium that the Super Literacy Course used to resolve unwanted confusion was sculpture’s clay. So, there’s nothing mystical about healing dyslexia. It was a simple and basic educational course that was used to remediate reading disability symptoms associated with words and symbols in the English language.
The Super Literacy Course has been updated and changed several times in the last two decades. What is available today is a watered-down version of that course. Instead of pursuing the Church of Scientology and trying to track down the original version of this course, I would recommend that one pursue a 3-D program whose first and foremost priority is to master abstract words and symbols. This is the key to removing over 90% of the reading disability symptoms associated with dyslexia or any 3-D learner issues.
