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...
![Understanding Conceptual vs. Procedural Knowledge in Math [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/conceptual-math-400x250.png)
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]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Reading-Fluency-2-400x250.jpg)
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]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/I-Never-Thought-Id-Be-Homeschooling-2-400x250.png)
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]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Math-Multiple-Representations-2-400x250.jpg)
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]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Dyslexia-and-Mapping-out-the-Dyslexic-Mind-1-400x250.png)
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 […]
With all the continued upheaval due the pandemic, here's some advice for trying to keep the big picture of the coming school year. DYSLEXIC DEVELOPMENT HAS ITS OWN TIME TABLE There can be a very late bloom for a lot of the younger years for dyslexics - so don't...
This pandemic is battle of endurance - for mind as well as body. There is nothing that is certain...except for uncertainty. For many of us that includes what work, education, or free time will look like. As dreadful as all that seems, I do know that some members of...
![Helping With Homework If You’re Not A Wiz Yourself [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Help-with-homework-2-400x250.jpg)
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 […]
![Dyslexia and Social Studies [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-07-at-6.15.03-PM-400x250.png)
Many dyslexic students are natural storytellers and may even have a passion for history and analyzing various aspects of society and social change. As a subject Social Studies can be difficult for dyslexic students, so the question is how to build on strengths, but bypass challenges due to extensive reading and writing demands, and rote memorization. Dyslexic Strengths in Social Studies: Strengths in Social Studies may reflect all 4 of the dyslexic MIND strengths: spatial strengths in geography or movement of people, Interconnected reasoning strengths may allow students to see complex events from multiple perspectives and through multiple lenses. Narrative intelligence may help them immerse themselves in stories of the past and analyze decisions of different people experiencing different events. Dynamic reasoning strengths […]
![Finding the Word: Tip of the Tongue [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-31-at-3.08.59-PM-400x250.png)
What is Tip of the Tongue? It’s trouble coming up with a word for something when you know what it is. It’s common for people of any age to have occasional “tip of the tongue” moments, but it also gets more common as we age (mid 60’s and older especially) and more common if you’re dyslexic. As researchers increasingly probe why tip of the tongue word retrieval happens, it’s relationship to dyslexia becomes increasingly clear…it’s because that type of word retrieval is associated with phonological representations of a word. The brain does not just file the word in one file folder. There is a location for the meaning of words, the sound of words, and the visual structure of words. It’s the filing […]
![Interconnected Multisensory Learning [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Interconnected-2-400x250.jpg)
“My mind isn’t a train track. It’s like a web browser with lots of hyperlinks…” – Honors College Student with Dyslexia What is interconnected multisensory learning? INTERCONNECTED MULTISENSORY LEARNING Part of the educational challenges of growing up with dyslexia is learning how to harness the tremendous power that comes with interconnected and multisensory learning. On the advantage side, dyslexic learners are rich experiential and incidental learners. Remember that research study from Sweden and Georgetown University? “The Developmental Dyslexia group was not only not impaired at the task, but actually showed superior recognition memory (emphasis, ours), as compared to the control children. These findings complement previous reports of enhanced cognition in other domains (e.g., visuo-spatial processing) in DD. Possible underlying mechanisms for the observed […]
