Maybe you know how to use your Siri or Google's digital assistant, but do you know how to get all your screens including e-books read to you? For iPhones: Depending on your latest update, some of these settings may look a little different - but Accessibility from your...
Question: Keeping Up with Wilson at School [Premium]
Question: I have a third grade student who attends a school that used Wilson Fundations in the earlier grades. The problem is that even though my daughter did some summer work, she’s been having trouble keeping up. She’s dropped down a level from her peers so that she’s just repeating what she had been taught […]
Where Classroom Reading Fluency Practice Can Go Wrong
Reading fluency is defined as an ability to read texts with accuracy, a good rate, and good expression (sometimes the latter two are referred to as automaticity and prosody). Strong reading fluency is a goal that all children should have on their path to becoming...
Reading Beyond Level
Don't restrict students to decodable readers. It's a little like trying to feed an elephant one blade of grass at a time. Reading decodable books has an important place in structured literacy programs for dyslexic students, but recently some in the reading...
Weak Studies Challenge Orton-Gillingham Intervention
After all the hard work increasing dyslexia awareness and passing laws to improve teacher training (some of the efforts just beginning), one small paper has attracted some attention in the media, attempting to push back against the benefits of...
Language Teaching and Dyslexia: What About Exceptions to the Rules?
The English language is especially difficult to learn if you are dyslexic - because about half of its words are not predictable by simple rules. So what to do? WORD FAMILIES Learning similar words in similar groups can be motivating for students because they learn...
Question: What about Dyslexia and Reading Comprehension? [Premium]
Q: WHAT ABOUT DYSLEXIA AND READING COMPREHENSION? Answer: For many older and certainly remediated dyslexic people silent reading comprehension may be strong and unimpaired. Students who still struggle significantly with decoding will obviously have trouble with reading comprehension, as might be expected. But after the intensive work of decoding is overcome, reading comprehension weaknesses may […]
Beyond Reading Aloud
Question: How can I tell that students are dyslexic if they're not reading aloud? Last week a high school teacher in my course asked how she might be able to tell that a student may be dyslexic if they don't read out loud in her class. Once a student moves into upper...
Reading for Pleasure: Storyline Online & Learning Ally
If you're hoping to find ways to get your students reading independently for fun this summer, check out some of the wonderful resources available through Storyline Online and Learning Ally. STORYLINE ONLINE First, Storyline Online: It's a free resource where...
Processing Speed and Dyslexia [Premium]
Why isn’t there a “diagnosis” of processing speed impairment? For practical reasons, a label or diagnosis can help justify the need for extended time accommodations, reduce the quantity of homework, or similar requests. Without a formal diagnostic code, medical or educational professionals may also be more likely to overlook the need for accommodations… something that […]
New to Dyslexia [Premium]
More people are finding out that they’re dyslexic, so it seemed like a good time to write a big picture of dyslexia for new members. DYSLEXIC STRENGTHS First of all, there seem to be intrinsic strengths associated with dyslexia and not simply weaknesses or impairments. Understanding the strengths and positive differences can help people […]
Poor Outcomes for Reading Recovery [Premium]
“Initial gains from first-grade intervention didn’t last and kids performed worse in third and fourth grade…” Over 2 million students in the US have been taught reading with based Reading Recovery, a short term intervention program that uses pull-out one-to-one tutoring to first grade students. It was one of the few programs supported by […]