What Reading Speed Has to Do With Leadership: Nothing
Many leaders succeed because of their dyslexia, not in spite of it. President Trump stirred up a hornet’s nest when he suggested that Governor...
Storytelling as a Dyslexic Strength
Storytelling is not simply a language skill. It is a form of reasoning. Recognizing these strengths helps shift how we think about writing instruction and creative expression.
Rethinking Auditory-Only Phonemic Awareness Training for Reading in the Early Grades Does Not Work
A new study reported on in Education Week found that a widely-used phonemic awareness program (the oral-only Heggerty curriculum) did not improve gains in word reading or oral reading fluency, although it did significantly improve phonemic awareness skills.
Free Back To School Reading Apps
Some of the most common free apps that dyslexic students use for school.
Beyond Behavior: Attention, Working Memory, or Something Else?
The problem with trying to diagnose with behavioral checklists is that behavior can result from many different sources. If you have a 3rd grader...
Math Difficulties Common with Dyslexia
Although the pace of research into dyslexia beyond reading proceeds very slowly, there is some welcome recent research into some of the...
![Dyslexia and Math: Understanding Decimals [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/decimals-fractions-shutterstock-400x250.jpg.webp)
Dyslexia and Math: Understanding Decimals [Premium]
WHY DECIMALS ARE HARD There are many confusing aspects to decimals that are helpful to recognize when helping students. Contrary to working with whole numbers, longer sequences of numbers are not larger than shorter ones. For instance, with whole numbers, 245 is greater than 2, but .0245 is smaller than 2. For math processes involving decimals, multiplying by a decimal number between 0 and 1 is also opposite to what one might be used to. After learning that multiplication is equal groups or repeated addition, multiplying 0.3 x 0.4 = 0.12, a number that is smaller than 0.3 or 0.4. Similarly, dividing by a decimal can result in a number that is bigger than what we started out with, which can seem even more confusing. […]
![Expressive Language Difficulties & Dyslexia? [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/speech-bubbles-303206_640-pixabay-Expressive-Language-Difficulties-Dyslexia-400x250.png.webp)
Expressive Language Difficulties & Dyslexia? [Premium]
Perhaps because dyslexia is already woefully under-identified in today’s schools, the expressive language aspects of dyslexia have taken a back seat in the schools as well as by researchers. Yet, on a daily basis, it may be helpful for dyslexic children and adults to know that expressive difficulties they may indeed be associated with dyslexia. In fact, knowledge about oral expressive language difficulties and dyslexia dates back at least to Samuel Orton in 1925. For those who would like to read more about this point from speech language pathologists, read HERE. A typical pattern is for preschoolers to have some mild noticeable difficulties in speech intelligibility. Error patterns may be corrected and a student is discharged from speech therapy. By the time a student reaches […]
PUTTING A NAME ON IT: Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia
The school year begins and then there's a lull. The first days of excitement and change are past and now teachers are trying to figure out their students and students are trying to figure out their teachers. Now is a good time for students to talk to their teachers...
Dyslexics Thinkers to Meet the Demands of the Future
CNBC had a welcome article about how important dyslexic employees are for increasing demands for creative thinking, design, and leadership. Their review was based on the Ernst and Young research paper The Value of Dyslexia. Excerpt: "dyslexic individuals have...
Dyslexia and the Undercover Billionaire
"Take chances. Take risks. Don't be afraid of what's around the corner. Embrace it." - Glenn Stearns New on Discovery Channel is an 8-part series based on a real-life wager. Glenn Stearns is a super successful billionaire who overcame life hurdles like growing up in...
Why Printed is Better Than E-Books – College Students
Dr. Jean-Luc Velay was kind enough to share his paper called E-book reading hinders aspects of long-text comprehension for adults with dyslexia. The paper's an important read as there is substantial evidence that reading on a screen and reading a printed book is not...
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Becoming More Resilient [Premium]
In one recent study of gifted students with LDs, the most common characteristic was FRUSTRATION. Gifted dyslexics and dyslexic students in general are more frustrated than lower IQ peers with low reading achievement and it is easy to see why. Despite high intelligence and creativity, they may have little opportunity to showcase their strengths and have trouble with the most basic building blocks of education – reading, writing, and math. Strengths that may potentially help their situation include things such an ability to reflection on oneself (metacognition), ability to problem solving, and strong verbal comprehension skills. 1. Talk to Yourself in the Third Person Talking to yourself by your name instead of saying “I ” or “you” has been shown to have more powerful positive […]
![READING FLUENCY: Phrase Cueing [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/phrase-craze-3-400x250.jpg.webp)
READING FLUENCY: Phrase Cueing [Premium]
Once students have made significant progress with single word decoding, reading fluency practice can be rolled into reading practice with phrase cueing. HERE is a nice review of reading fluency approaches that includes a discussion of phrased reading. Phrase scooping or cueing involved the drawing of scoops underneath groups of words that go together in parts of a phrase. Combining scooped words with choral reading or echo reading can help students get practice with both reading and listening for phrases. Intervention Central has a Phrase Cued Text Generator, but it’s so-so. It’s better to break sentences into 3-6 word phrases to increase the ease of reading. From Steve Peha, check out the example below: Of course these shorter phrases also help with reading on a […]
INTERVIEW: Dr. Brock Eide & the Neurolearning Dyslexia App
After writing The Dyslexic Advantage and co-founding this non-profit, why did you decide to create this innovative dyslexia screening app? After 20 years working in this field it's become clear that the biggest problem facing dyslexic people is access. That includes...
Chat with Jack Churchill, Winston’s Great Grandson & Co-Founder of SCANNING PENS
Jack Churchill, Winston Churchill's great grandson also graciously took time out his busy schedule to talk with us about his wonderful scanning pens that are now taking the dyslexia world by storm. Scanning Pens is also one of Dyslexic Advantage newest sponsors - so...
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MATH: The Problem of Showing Work [Premium]
If you live in a Common Core state and your student attends public school chances are they frequently are asked to “show their work”. There can be significant challenges for dyslexic students showing work because to do so requires a great deal of verbal working memory, word retrieval, executive function, and writing, all tasks that can overload each other. As with many curricula, the intentions and logic behind some of the choices seem reasonable; but also like many programs, the implementation has significant flaws so that students can become trapped in the process. Students must conform to a curriculum or fail rather than a curriculum being designed to meet the needs of students. For instance, math teachers Katherine Beals and Garry Garelick reviewed some of […]
![In Their Own Words: Gifted Dyslexic Students in High School and University [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/naassom-azevedo-Q_Sei-TqSlc-unsplash_In-their-own-words-400x250.jpg.webp)
In Their Own Words: Gifted Dyslexic Students in High School and University [Premium]
A research project recently interviewed gifted dyslexic students in high school and college and asked them about the ways they did and didn’t learn best. WHAT DIDN’T WORK – SCHOOL Copying Copying things over and over didn’t help with memorization. Reading Aloud Reading aloud in class was unhelpful and stressful. Reading Silently Class time to read silently wasn’t helpful because there weren’t easy ways to look up words and then students would lose their place. Reading with a Ruler Reading with a ruler didn’t help comprehension for one student,, but underlining with a pencil or highlighter did. Taking Away Extra Time Taking away extra time was very unhelpful. One teacher gave the student a watch to put on her desk, but the problem wasn’t being […]
Cultivating a LOVE of Reading
Q: Can my student fall in love with reading? A: Yes it's possible. The Cult of Pedagogy explored this topic from an opposite point of view, but the challenge is a formidable one, especially if a reader is dyslexic. GOOD THINGS TO DO Allow kids time to read for...
Amazing Tom Holland
Tom was a gymnast before becoming Spiderman and even flipped into and out of his audition for Spiderman: Homecoming. Tom's dyslexia was identifed at the age of 7 which led his parents to enroll him in a private school. He's occasionally been hounded on social media...
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Welcome to the Real World: Landing Your First Job [Premium]
For entrepreneurs, their first jobs may have been of their own making in elementary school, but for the rest, the first real jobs are when school is finally over. Compared to the volumes of resources available for school children, the advice and resources for the newly employed or newly job hunting, information is scarce. FOR JOB HUNTERS: 1. CONSIDER YOUR STRENGTHS AND LOOK FOR A GOOD JOB MATCH Ask for others’ opinions if you’re too self-critical. Don’t be afraid of aiming high. Jobs where you will be valued and where you can use your creativity and problem solving on a daily basis will not only be more enjoyable, but also be suited to your strengths. 2. LEARN YOUR TECHNOLOGY Now’s the time to get up […]
Women in STEM: Kim Mann
Kim Mann is a software architect, and she might not have found her career path if a 9th grade geometry teacher hadn't decided to allow Kim to solve problems her own way. Up until this point, Kim had always been penalized for using her own ways of solving a problem...
Don’t Judge Me on My Spelling – Richard Branson
"It’s fascinating how much we judge others on their ability to spell – when in reality most of the time this has little effect on our ability to do our work effectively. If you get an email that no one else will see apart from you and the recipient, does it matter...
![Could you have a Math-Gifted Student? [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/shutterstock_1108861430-Could-you-have-a-math-gifted-student-400x250.jpg.webp)
Could you have a Math-Gifted Student? [Premium]
It’s really not easy to tell. “Some mathematically gifted students do not demonstrate outstanding academic achievement, display enthusiasm towards school mathematics programs, or obtain top grades in their mathematics classes. It is important to know that there are such students, because their abilities in mathematics are easily overlooked by teachers and parents. In Bloom’s 1984 study, 6 out of 20 world-class mathematicians reported problems in learning to read. Correspondingly, Colangelo, Assouline, Kerr, Huesman, and Johnson studied 34 inventors and found that, in spite of their mathematical strengths, most of them reported weaknesses in writing and verbal areas and more than half described themselves as low achievers in school who failed in at least on subject.” – A. Al-Hroub, University of Cambridge From Rotigel and Fello: […]
Surviving and Thriving Without College
Just over 1/3 of the U.S. adult population has a 4-year college degree, but as tuition rates skyrocket, many dyslexic families with young people might reasonably ask - "Is it worth it?" or even "Do I even want it?". Even if we know in theory that we want our children...
Don’t Let Working Memory Prevent Math Learning
We don't spend enough time thinking about how much working memory overload could be impact in learning. In math, the issue is especially dire. CALCULATIONS In the early grades, working memory overload can occur when basic math facts can't be learned to the point of...
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