There is a long and diverse research history of dyslexia and documenting the auditory processing difficulties associated with dyslexia that hinder phonological awareness. It’s why dyslexic kids will struggle in school when everyone is required to wear a mask. The sounds are muffled, but also if the teacher is masked, then students cannot look at the teachers mouth – as an additional cue to what sound is being made. In a recent study published by Annals of Dyslexia, researchers made an interesting observation: “those children with dyslexia who are better readers attended more to the mouth while presented with a person’s face in a phonologically demanding condition.” More research needs to be done about this issue, be aware of helps like watching a video of […]
Dyslexia: Beyond Decoding
If dyslexic students are struggling to decode words, a program of intensive structured literacy will help – but help with phonological awareness may not be sufficient to help them become fluent readers. Why? Because reading fluency, or the ability to read with “speed, accuracy, and proper expression” is also influenced by other factors such as rapid naming. Recently researchers found that: “most adolescents (with dyslexia) were classified as either naming speed only (about a third of the group) or double deficit when defining impairment using performance thresholds to classify groups.
This may suggest that although early phonological deficits are amenable to remediation, identification of language symbols fails to become automatized in most individuals with dyslexia and may require more targeted intervention.” Their […]My Pandemic Hack for Classes
Shelley Wear, a long-time volunteer on our Dyslexic Advantage editorial team shared these pandemic hacks for her classroom. Thanks Shelley! “The struggle is real to make sure students understand what you are saying with a mask on. I purchased a personal amplifier (small box with microphone headset) and it has been a game changer for my classroom. Students are much more attentive and I believe it has really helped. I am also using a multisensory approach to decoding, teaching Visual Phonics. The paras have overheard students talking about how fun it is when kids are in the hallways and think no one is listening. I am relieved, because I have limited access to middle school materials to teach decoding and a large percentage of my […]
Dyslexia Advocacy: Say Dyslexia 2.0
From Chalkbeat’s story, “NYC plans to screen nearly 200,000 students in the early grades to uncover struggling readers. Then what?” “In a massive bid to gauge reading skills following COVID-related learning disruptions, New York City’s education department is introducing literacy screening for its nearly 200,000 children in kindergarten through second grade… While the education department’s screeners aren’t designed to identify students at risk of having dyslexia, which is the most common learning disability, they are able to identify learning gaps in skills that are often associated with dyslexia, literacy experts say. But many also note that screening alone will not address systemic issues that contribute to widespread literacy deficits across the city, such as uneven curriculum and inadequate teacher training. The success of the […]
Understanding Conceptual vs. Procedural Knowledge in Math [Premium]
With math scores lagging tremendously due to pandemic-related school, many of us may suddenly find ourselves responsible for supervising (if not tutoring) math. If that’s the case, it’s important to keep in mind the big picture of math learning. Of course the issue of conceptual and procedural learning apply to all subjects, not just math, but it especially becomes relevant when problem solving can become complex; symbols and abstractions must be used, and multiple steps for problem solving are necessary. There’s an especially nice description of the differences between conceptual and procedural knowledge in math from Ruthie Sloan’s Teach Math Literacy blog. Many of us learned math only through procedural learning. We didn’t learn “why” we did certain steps like “flip upside-down and multiply,” […]
Reading Fluency for College [Premium]
Recently we were contacted by a student who wanted to improve his reading fluency before attending college. He had completed a full course of “Wilson and Orton-Gillingham” yet his reading was still slow and effortful. He asked, “Is there anything I can do to improve my reading to help me be successful in college?” ANSWER: First of all, good for you for looking ahead and preparing yourself for college. It is possible to get through college with slow effortful reading, but probably only if you’re competent with assistive technology and can listen to all of your books instead of reading them traditionally. Although most colleges and universities are required to make “reasonable accommodations,” schools and individual faculty members can vary, and practical issues – […]
I Never Thought I’d Be Homeschooling… [Premium]
We never thought we would be homeschooling when we started almost 2 decades ago. What our family can say today, is that looking back, we’re so grateful for our entire homeschooling journey – even though initially homeschooling chose us rather than the other way around. Today there are so many reasons to homeschool and ways that homeschooling can also be a good fit for dyslexic students, so take heart in the adventure ahead of you and may the coming year be one good surprise after another. WHY HOMESCHOOLING CAN BE A GOOD MATCH FOR MANY STUDENTS Schooling at an Individual Pace The first reason why homeschooling can be a good match for many students is that traditional schooling can be a […]
Math: Multiple Representations [Premium]
If you have a lot of ground to cover for the coming school year, consider the use of multiple representations to improve the efficiency of learning. First, as a person who is math-challenged herself and was tasked at one time with tutoring one of our kids with similar math difficulties, I am sympathetic to people who are tasked with teaching math. The truth is, I wasn’t good at it myself, so I found myself getting frustrated when my student didn’t understand. I had little flexibility between math representations – and as a result tended to teach math the way I was taught it…rote memory of sequenced steps – which I was to find was the last thing my student should have been trying […]
Dyslexia and Mapping Out the Mind [Premium]
When Dan Pink wrote his book about the world needing more skills of the Conceptual Age, many in the dyslexia community couldn’t help but notice that his list looked a lot like common lists of dyslexic strengths: – Artistry – Inventiveness – Big-picture thinking – Pattern recognition – Empathy The implications for education and careers were straightforward. The goals of education and satisfying work should not be mere mastery of information, but a mastery of concepts that could be used flexibly to solve problems and create things that are new. Pink is not a neuroscientist; he is a popular author and observer of trends. Where are we now in our understanding of “dyslexic thinking”? There are many interesting lines of thought coming together these […]
Foreign Language Learning [Premium]
Q: HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY FLUENCY WITH A SECOND LANGUAGE? Recently, a member of this community asked about how to improve his fluency with a foreign language. He mentioned that he’d been trying to learn for the past 30 years, but only recently started making more progress with the app Yabla because it was visual and didn’t rely on audio alone. Yabla is an interactive video approach to foreign language learning that provides two channels of captions that can be shown or hidden and TV shows, music videos, documentaries, and interviews. A: I can see how Yabla can help with improving speed of listening. The videos provide context and the scenes may make the dialogues more memorable than if they were read […]
The Dyslexia Crisis in Schools
The house is on fire. There is a conflagration of factors coming together that are affecting dyslexic students in public school beyond COVID. COVID certainly has its share of blame and breaking the camel’s back when it comes to providing essential services to dyslexic students. If you have a student in public schools now, get informed and be prepared to advocate and supplement your student’s education if necessary. The San Francisco Examiner recently discussed the devastating consequences for dyslexic students in the midst of the pandemic.
COVID CLASSROOMS – HARD FOR STUDENTS TO HEAR AND SEE With the requirement to distance and wear a mask, it is harder than ever for dyslexic students (who often have auditory, visual and motor imitation difficulties) […]Helping With Homework If You’re Not A Wiz Yourself [Premium]
These are strange times and even if you’re not accustomed to helping with homework (including different types of homework), it may help a lot if you can help. Even pre-pandemic, when parents were surveyed about their helping with homework and trouble lending help, about 50% said they had difficulty… so you’re not alone. There are healthy debates about whether you as a parent should help with homework…and that doesn’t even consider whether a child might be dyslexic, dysgraphic, or dyscalculic, or all three. Helping with homework is not a good idea if the student doesn’t learn how to do the work. Now if a student is drowning, and no one is around to help, then a little help might not seem to be a terrible […]
