In search of a unicorn….(but found a push-me-pull-you instead)
Recently I accidentally started down the road (roller-coaster is a more accurate description) of a tech start-up founder. My nephew, labelled with ADHD and dyslexia, was struggling at school in South Africa. Actually they didn’t identify his needs quite this specifically.
Meanwhile, I had some friends working in SEN (Special Education Needs) but they were all here in the UK. Since specialised teaching in S.A. is not as current as the UK, there was little support. I searched for a decent live tutoring platform but they were fairly one-dimensional and could not maintain his attention.
After observing the way he interacted with his devices and how switching from one to another and back again retained his attention for hours, I found a developer to create a platform taking advantage of this. So Syncroni was born: a more engaging live tutoring/ training platform for seamless switching between devices during a live lesson online. And it worked. By allowing the tutor to push different elements between devices to refocus a learner’s attention, the retention levels improved.
I realised this could help others like him, so we actively started developing the platform. Here’s the rub: while I am someone who does all I can to help others, I am rubbish at asking for help myself. So after two years, an extended mortgage and maxed credit cards, we have self-funded a rough demo prototype as far as possible.
As the bank balance dwindled I sought advice on raising investment. The more I spoke to people, the more I heard about the need to generate income through a customer base. The word ‘pivot’ came up. Go after a commercial application of the platform, they said, rather than the looooooong cycle that education would need.
I was torn. Do I continue down the road of creating a product that improves specific learner outcomes or adapt the platform for a more commercially attractive offering? Follow the dream or the money? Pushed one way, pulled back again……
A couple of weeks ago I discovered Doug Scott (original article) and linkybrains. I realised that I’d always been drawn to such personalities and identified with most of Chris Tottman’s indicators in “What are the indicators of a linky brain”. I especially related to “21. Often heard saying ‘Isn’t it obvious”, ‘its simple really’, “well if you look at it likes this”, “if you see what I mean” — followed by an eery silence unless really successful at which point people just enthuse about your genius when privately being concerned about yours or their sanity “Chris Tottman (Click here)
The more my ‘maturity highlights’ develop, the more I see too many linkybrain friends struggling through a life of conformity to the social programming. Like ripe fruit, we’re squashed into adopting the ‘correct’ way of thinking by a limited and outdated show-your-workings-else-get-no-credit education system.
Alex Dunson in his article: My Linky Brain. Why Did Nobody Tell Me? says: “I am a total non-linear Linky. All I ever do is connect things — dots…people, things, ideas, opportunities”.(click here)
Why are such thinkers not applauded and encouraged, instead of labelled as dreamers? All too often the adult linkybrain struggles with emotional traumas caused in part by society’s need for everyone to fit the same mould.
My co-founder and I want to promote TheLearningDifference.org, encouraging parents to celebrate their kid’s abilities to make connections that the rest may miss. Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s Long Earth series introduces The Next as a new evolution of the human race. With superior mental acumen, they are originally persecuted by the “sleepwalkers” who just cannot understand them; yet it is they who save humanity with their alternative way of thinking.
Here’s a call to all linkybrains: How do we ensure that our kids who are also linkybrains (but labelled with learning differences) are encouraged to make possibly world-changing connections? And to celebrate their evolutionary difference?
P.s. I just saw this post by Justin Cale after writing this post: Commonalities In People With ADHD and Linkybrains — Justin Cale — Medium