As expected, many students have experienced learning loss because of school changes related to the pandemic. As new cases fall and immunizations rise, school plans begin to take shape. Although some educational reports have tried to take a rosy picture of the pandemic’s effect on education, learning loss appears to be worldwide with the widest losses among lower socioeconomic groups, Blacks and Hispanics, and students with disabilities. The research firm McKinsey & Company found that learning loss during the pandemic average 6.8 months for K-12 students. In order to make up for losses, the report recommended at minimum 50 hours of targeted instruction over a two week period. Many states put waivers on dyslexia screening, teacher training, and intervention requirements due to […]
Surviving and Thriving in Hybrid Classrooms
With the rise in vaccinations, many schools have opened with a hybrid schedule which has some pros and cons for dyslexic students. ONLINE ASSIGNMENTS - GROUP PARTICIPATION and AUDIO The reduction in written assignments since of the start of the pandemic has...
Homeschooling or Modified Schooling?
As vaccines roll out and schools head back for at least part-time in-person learning, many families will be thinking carefully about whether homeschooling will be the best choice for them in the coming year. NOTHING WILL BE PERFECT First off, it's best to be...
Not Falling Behind in MATH
"The studies vary in how severe they gauge the so-called “COVID slide” to be, but all of them found on average, students would lose more ground in math than in reading. Three studies based on NWEA data predicted students could learn half or up to a full year less math...
Crisis Schooling: The Dyslexia Edition [Premium]
Are you going to be homeschooling or perhaps willing to give traditional school a try under the new rules? Teacher mom blogger Heather Ann said this: “You are NOT homeschooling. You are CRISIS schooling. There is a huge difference. You may choose to homeschool after this, but this is not what homeschooling looks like, not even remotely.” I completely agree. If you are schooling, no matter what form, you are crisis schooling and not homeschooling or traditional schooling. Even with all of the protections in place, something is likely to go wrong, whether its activities that can’t be done, or unexpected quarantines because of someone at school or a co-working getting sick. And yet, with all the uncertainties on the horizon, it is possible for […]
How to Avoid Turning into a Zombie with Remote Learning
If you are finding that you or your students are remote learning, not out of choice, but because of the school changes or the pandemic in general, it's still possible to resist having your upcoming school year turn into zombie learning. When our son took an online...
Schooling From Home, Can You Do It?
Like it or not, when Fall rolls around, many of us may need to school from home whether it's our first choice or not. What if your student is dyslexic? Can it possibly work? There are a lot of people who can't see schooling from home working for their student, but...
Surviving College: Gifted Dyslexic Students Share Tips [Premium]
When we had a clinic, some of the best study strategy advice came through talking to our gifted students…especially as we saw them over the course of years. Recently, I noticed a research paper by Reis et al. in Gifted Child Quarterly that had a number of great student insights that I thought would be fun to share. The first surprise I had reading the paper was to learn how many students had wished they had been formally taught study skills. Some were downright critical of the work they had done in LD pullouts in high school. “I will complain to this day about high school and how they don’t teach study skills…This is the first time in my freshman year that I had to […]
The Calm Before School
When it comes to big picture wisdom, one of our favorite people to listen to is Dr. Michael Ryan, who has a life counseling practice in Michigan. He came to our first Dyslexia and Talent Conference, now many years ago and for years we've enjoyed his various letters...
Dyslexia and the NEW SAT [Premium]
The new SAT started March 2016. From the New York Times, “What’s true of the writing section is true of the new SAT in general: There’s much more to read. “The most fundamental change is that there are many, many more words,” said Aaron Golumbfskie, education director for PrepMatters. “If you don’t read well and happily, this test isn’t going to be your friend.” Even the math section will require more reading, with fewer questions based on equations and more word problems. Some prompts will present the same type of real-world situations that the Common Core emphasizes — “The recommended daily calcium intake for a 20-year-old is 1,000 milligrams (mg). One cup of milk contains 299 mg….” Mr. Golumbfskie describes the math section as “tighter […]
Dyslexia and the Illusion of Inclusion – Making Education Fit the Child [Premium]
There’s a viral post circulating on the Internet from a Texas special education professor: “It’s OK to say dyslexia!” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan tweeted shortly before his agency released guidance targeting the needs of the 2.5 million students with a learning disability. But while the government highlights the unique needs of students with learning disabilities, they are seemingly getting lost in misguided policies and practices in the name of educational equity.” What she protests (rightly) is the fact that reading and math scores for 4th and 8th graders have remained stagnant or declining since 2013. Also, in the name of inclusion, students with learning disabilities are being denied appropriate remediation because of a desire to keep them in general education classrooms. For dyslexic students, we respectfully put forth […]