Question: "My work is increasingly requiring writing and I find myself getting in trouble because of mistakes. I have not formally been diagnosed, but am thinking that it might help me do even better at my job. What advice do you have?" Answer:...
Department of Education Issues Letter on IDEA and Private Schools
Under the IDEA or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a free and appropriate public education (or FAPE) is granted to eligible students with disabilities. In schools, a lot of the funding for special education and additional resources is...
Dyslexia and Your IEP
Endrew F. vs. Douglas County School District decision: "The IEP must aim to enable the child to make progress. After all, the essential function of an IEP is to set out a plan for pursuing academic and functional advancement... When all is said and done, a student...
Study Hacking The Paper Driver’s License Test [Premium]
The Washington state driver’s license paper and pencil test can be a difficult one for dyslexic drivers. Having seen some of the sample questions, there’s a lot more number trivia compared to the California test I passed many years ago. Whether you don’t drink alcohol or smoke marijuana, you have to answer specific questions about […]
Recovering from Pandemic Loss
Numbers are starting to trickle in from February testing and the good news is that things are beginning to recover, but younger grades are behind more than older children. The numbers below are all students, without dyslexic students studied separately, but if...
Avoiding the Third Grade Madness
If you're the parent of a third grade child with dyslexia in the public school system, your student may be having an especially difficult time. Some of the struggle might be understandable as classrooms attempt to move past learning to decode to reading to...
If Your Student Can’t Write [Premium]
If your student can’t write, no matter what age – prepare yourself for the long haul because so much of schooling and even many aspects of hiring and work can require writing. When writing is difficult for students with dyslexia, it may be that they are having difficulty converting feelings and images to words, trouble […]
More Free Leveled Texts and Reading Passages [Premium]
The grand-daddy of them all is still probably Readworks, but if you like to change things up with leveled reading, check out News in Levels (alas Newsela is no longer free) or Tween Tribune, run by the Smithsonian. If you do use Readworks, make sure you know about the slider at the bottom of […]
How Families Help [Premium]
Families can really make a difference. Many times, they are the last place to find encouragement or to help find a connection to the next opportunity in life. MARC’S UNCLE Marc shared with me that he grew up in a family that was poor with both parents working full-time to make ends meet. He […]
How Not to Learn to Read aka Death by Worksheets [Premium]
Daniel Shanahan recently recounted his discussion with a principal about his school curriculum. His students were under-performing and he assured Daniel that students were receiving plenty of instruction in phonics and fluency. When he looked at the teacher’s curricular plan, it looked as if plenty of reading instruction was given every day, but his […]
Visual Notes for Understanding: Science [Premium]
Note-taking may be a lifelong difficulty for most dyslexics. In one survey of 17 universities in the United Kingdom (HERE), 78% reported difficulties with taking notes compared to 47% reporting reading difficulties. The reason for note-taking difficulties are several – note-taking requires a great deal of working memory and divided attention, but also there’s the […]
Remediating Late or Resistant Dyslexic Learners [Premium]
Dyslexia legislation has focused on early remediation, but what about older learners who weren’t formally identified until adulthood or ‘resistant’ dyslexic learners who seem a great deal slower than other dyslexic peers at progressing with gold standard structured literacy instruction? LATE-TO-IDENTIFY OR NEVER-REMEDIATED LEARNERS Q: Can older students and adults be remediated for […]