The outlook for the fall semester remains unpredictable. What does it mean for this community? The situation about the pandemic remains very fluid as does the state of public and private schools at all levels, therefore complex and individualized decisions are being made at homes all across the country. Many colleges and universities, secondary schools, and households are experiencing considerable financial stress leading many to decide to take a gap year or semester, or scale back on educational plans. On the one hand, some college counselors have suggested aiming high for their college choices because college entrance exams are waived and students may be more likely to get into their ‘reach’ choices because of lots of other students choosing to stay closer to home or […]
Surviving College: Gifted Dyslexic Students Share Tips [Premium]
When we had a clinic, some of the best study strategy advice came through talking to our gifted students…especially as we saw them over the course of years. Recently, I noticed a research paper by Reis et al. in Gifted Child Quarterly that had a number of great student insights that I thought would be fun to share. The first surprise I had reading the paper was to learn how many students had wished they had been formally taught study skills. Some were downright critical of the work they had done in LD pullouts in high school. “I will complain to this day about high school and how they don’t teach study skills…This is the first time in my freshman year that I had to […]
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 […]
Breaking Research : Dyslexia in Adolescents and Adults [Premium]
An important paper was published this month from the University of Washington, entitled “Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Assessment for Dyslexia in Adolescents and Young Adults.” The paper is especially important guiding testing professionals who assess teens and adults for dyslexia or see gifted or twice-exceptional students. This paper also takes a more systematic look at the roles of individual factors like working memory and executive function on dyslexia and reading and spelling performance. The data will be helpful in targeting educational interventions and can also guide requests for testing accommodations. There are interesting observations too in that paper that will help with characterizing the strengths that occur among adolescent and adult dyslexics, with implications for twice-exceptional or gifted students with dyslexia. In several areas, adolescent / adult […]
Dyslexia and Accommodations – ADA Guidelines for School and Work
The US Department of Justice just released final regulations regarding the implementation of the American for Disabilities Act. "These rules clarify and refine issues that have arisen over the past 20 years and contain new and updated requirements." Direct link to the...
Dyslexia and College – Are You Ready? [Premium]
Dyslexia at College Crash Course Strategies for Success in College, Grad School and Medical School Tips from a Science Major at College In the following videos, check out these helpful strategies, tips, and tricks about course selection, sending your documentation and request for accommodations to the learning center / disability office, understanding the most common accommodations, and how to be strategic about your school life. If you have any questions, ask away in the comments and we’ll answer them. Dyslexic Advantage | Dyslexia at College Crash Course from Dyslexic Advantage on Vimeo. Download HERE [/wcm_restrict]
DROPPING OUT BECAUSE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE [Premium]
At Harvard University in the 1970s, a clinical psychologist made a startling discovery. Intending to study the emotional problems that caused students at one of the world’s elite universities to drop out of school to drop out, he found out instead that the most common reason students dropped out of their degree programs was that they were unable to satisfy Harvard’s foreign language requirement. “Dinklage described three groups of students who were otherwise, bright, gifted, and highly motivated, but who remained unsuccessful in the foreign language classroom. He reported that these students were not helped by merely improving study habits or by adjusting to postsecondary demands.” The 1st group of students demonstrated problems in written language that were most apparent in “the student’s reading […]
WHEN A UNIVERSITY IS DYSLEXIA-UNFRIENDLY [Premium]
Despite recent advances in dyslexia-friendly policies and statements in K-12 and higher education, reports of dyslexia-unfriendly and discriminatory practices are more common than anyone would like to mention. At the university level, rarely is there any education for faculty and staff about the needs of dyslexic and LD students on campus, so it should not be surprising that many professors will not understand why accommodations are necessary for dyslexic students. They may actively discourage students from obtaining such accommodations although it is against federal law. As we have recently reported, US Department of Justice regulations requires that private colleges give “Considerable weight to the documentation of past accommodations, modifications, or auxiliary aids or services received in similar situations” and not require additional burdensome re-testing. […]
Bridging the Gap to Reading Long Words [Premium]
In our last post, we wrote about the 3rd grade gap or wall. Dyslexic students typically get through the hard slog of phonemic awareness and then parents and teachers breathe a sigh of relief. Many times, the extra work fades away and students are integrated back into their usual classroom routine. All seems well, but a problem may remain. Reading remains effortful and the complexity of the text goes up. Students may not be able to keep up. With little extra help and too little time to complete assignments, the “guess and go” approach may dominate the reading strategy so that the gap between peers increases. A large part of the problem may be that students have not effective strategy to read long words. These problems can come […]
[Premium] Thriving: Pick Classes Like a Pro
Whether it’s high school or college, picking your classes can make a tremendous difference in your school experience and grades. Many of the general strategies given to college freshman often apply, but some additional tips can be helpful if you’re dyslexic.
Karina Eide Memorial Scholarship 2016 Winners – Meet Brian and Charles
Here are two more winners of Dyslexic Advantage's Karina Eide Memorial Scholarship 2016. Brian is an undergraduate at Cornell University who unbeknownst to us, we had been acquainted with because of his excellent assistive technology blog,...
New Research: Brain Scans Predict Cognitive Performance [Premium]
“This suggests that individual differences in many cognitive tasks are a stable trait marker.” There’s a new Oxford research study circulating through scientific communities and around the world. From Science (Task-free MRI predicts individual differences in brain activity during task performance), Tavor and collegues applied machine-learning principles to test subjects in a “resting state” to see how they could predict their performances on various cognitive tasks. What was the result? They could predict subject’s responses in 46 out of 47 tasks (and maybe there’s a reason why the 47th one didn’t work…it involved more subcortical activity). Tasks included responses to mental math, sentence and story processing, but also higher order problem solving, social perception, and working memory. The data have a lot of ramifications in […]