Pronunciation errors are often a clue that the sounds for certain words aren’t being processed accurately. Middle sounds and certain blends may be especially challenging to hear. Students who don’t hear the sounds correctly are less likely to be accurately filing different sounds associated with words, leading to inaccurate reading aloud and problematic spelling. Many students who successfully get past the basic decoding stage, flounder in this middle stage, never quite making it to fluent reading or accurate spelling. Dyslexic adults who say that their spellcheck can’t find their misspellings often have auditory processing challenges that haven’t been recognized. English Language Learners have a harder time learning sounds that don’t occur or are different in their own language (language interference). Certain curricula such as Lindamood […]
Sight Words / Tricky Words [Premium]
Sight words are words that must be memorized by sight, rather than being sounded out phonetically. Sight words are important to learn because once children are able to read the most common 100 sight words, they can read up to 50% of most children’s literature. Mastery of the top 300 words, gives students access to 75% of what is printed in most children’s literature. It’s especially important for dyslexic students to learn their sight words with multisensory strategies because sight words account for many of the most commonly misspelled words in writing. You may hear sight words referred to by many names, such as Dolch words, Fry words, high frequency, or even Orton-Gillingham red words. The most important thing to know is that these words […]
A Home Run Hit with Humorous Poetry [Premium]
Education Prof Benita Bruster was invited to work with five 4th grade boys identified as struggling readers. When she asked them to suggest a favorite poet, the response was not unexpected “Poetry is dumb”, “Girls like poetry”, etc. When she asked about a favorite musician, she got a rousing response – but then she countered with, “I hate to break it to you, but you all like poetry…lyrics are just poems set to music.” Drawing on some cutting edge academic research (see Turn Your Boys to Readers on page 14), Benita predicted that boys would enjoy poems that were “silly, bizarre, gross, or absurd”. She chose her start with the poem, A Wild Turkey Comments on His Portrait. “Rather than passing out copies of the […]
Could it be GRAMMAR? [Premium]
Hidden grammar difficulties can be common reason why older students with dyslexia hit a plateau with reading, writing, and even testing. The problem is so subtle at times that many difficulties may be missed for years if not for their entire academic careers. One of the reasons that the problem is difficult to detect is that even many standardized tests that are commonly used for assessing the possibility of dyslexia either don’t test for it or they don’t pinpoint the problems that cause the student to struggle. In the early grades, students who have “overcome dyslexia” by the mastery of decoding, may find they hit a plateau as sentences become longer and more complex. In the middle and high school years, unrecognized grammar problems may […]
[PREMIUM] Dyslexia and Job Interviews
Here are some quick tips to consider if you’re on the job hunting trail. Job interviews can be pretty stressful, so prepare (actually, over-prepare) to help the process go as smoothly as possible. 1. Research the Company or Business – Do your homework: use official channels (the company’s website) as well as unofficial channels (former employees, LinkedIn, Glassdoor) to learn as much as possible about the company you want to work for. Does the company seem to value neurodiversity? Do you know of any dyslexic employees or executives there? 2. Prepare for the Interview – If you are new to the workforce and interviewing process, use Google or another search platform to check out sample questions and answers. If your interviewer asks complicated or multi-part […]
JACE NORMAN, aka Henry Danger, Talks Dyslexia
Jace Norman is an entrepreneur and star of Nickolodeon's Henry Danger who has added his name to the list of celebrities who embrace their dyslexic advantage and are taking their message to the world. Jace recently won the Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Male TV Star...
Mind Mapping for Dyslexic Teens
"For many years, I have been homeschooling with my (stealth) dyslexic son, who is now 17. Because of his profile and interests, very few standard approaches have worked, including things like Orton-Gillingham, and speech to text. We have had to make a lot up, and be...
USING STRENGTHS TO FOSTER RESILIENCE
Recently we discovered a wonderful table in an article by Angela Shaw in Exceptional Parent. Angela began her article by talking about the daily challenges that dyslexic students face because of the potential for repeated failure in the classroom. One way to battle...
Dyslexia-friendly Technology [Premium]
Because technology IS such a game changer for everyone – especially dyslexics of all ages – it’s important to be aware of the pros and cons, possibilities as well as limits, and ways in which apps, assistive technology, and gadgets can make school and workplaces better fits for dyslexics of all ages. USE IT If the biggest hurdle to technology is knowing that it exists, the second biggest has to be customizing the software so that it works well for you, and then allowing enough time for mastery. Access to technology is one of the best ways for dyslexic people to level the playing field at school and in the workplace, and fully express their knowledge and expertise. CAUTIONS The American Academy of Pediatrics has […]
DYSLEXIC WRITER: Lisa Wood Shapiro
"I'M GOING TO tell you a secret. It's something almost no one in my professional life knows. I'm dyslexic." Lisa Wood Shapiro is a prolific writer and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who opened her article in Wired with her dyslexia 'confession'! "Given that knowledge,...
COMICS AND DYSLEXIA: A Curious Connection…
"The first book I ever read was a comic book..." "Comics were my lifeline..." "The way I got through college, was comics..." What is it about comics? So many kids and adults over the years have told us how important comics are to their reading. In fact, they...
How Do Math-Talented Dyslexics Do Calculations? [PREMIUM]
Despite the suggestion that dyslexic students who are strong in math use a different approach for doing basic mathematical operations, it’s surprising how little formal research has been done to figure out how math-gifted dyslexic individuals do what they do. At Georgetown University, neuroscience researchers were surprised to find