learning Archives

Auditory Processing and Remote and Hybrid Learning

by Dyslexic Advantage Team | Oct 23, 2021 | Accommodations, Being Dyslexic, dyslexia, Education, Modifications, Neurodiversity, Newsletter, School, Strategies, Teaching

“Children with dyslexia often exhibit increased variability in sensory and cognitive aspects of hearing relative to typically developing peers.” – Hornickel et al., 2012 PNAS There is a long research history establishing auditory processing difficulties among children and adults who are dyslexic. What may be confusing to non-scientific people is that auditory processing is not simply “hearing”. It relates to the complex networks in the brain that interpret what sounds are heard.

Auditory processing difficulties in dyslexic people don’t present with abnormalities on simple screening hearing tests; instead, the difficulties present in tests that examine the effect of listening over background noise, for instance, or processing of rapid sounds. The reason it’s important to be aware of this is that auditory processing […]

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Dyslexia: Beyond Decoding

by Dyslexic Advantage Team | Oct 23, 2021 | dyslexia, Learning, Neurodiversity, Newsletter, Reading, Strategies, VIsual

If dyslexic students are struggling to decode words, a program of intensive structured literacy will help – but help with phonological awareness may not be sufficient to help them become fluent readers. Why? Because reading fluency, or the ability to read with “speed, accuracy, and proper expression” is also influenced by other factors such as rapid naming. Recently researchers found that: “most adolescents (with dyslexia) were classified as either naming speed only (about a third of the group) or double deficit when defining impairment using performance thresholds to classify groups.

This may suggest that although early phonological deficits are amenable to remediation, identification of language symbols fails to become automatized in most individuals with dyslexia and may require more targeted intervention.” Their […]

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My Pandemic Hack for Classes

by Dyslexic Advantage Team | Oct 23, 2021 | Accommodations, Being Dyslexic, creativity, dyslexia, Learning, Modifications, Neurodiversity, Newsletter, School, Strategies, Teachers, Teaching

Shelley Wear, a long-time volunteer on our Dyslexic Advantage editorial team shared these pandemic hacks for her classroom. Thanks Shelley! “The struggle is real to make sure students understand what you are saying with a mask on. I purchased a personal amplifier (small box with microphone headset) and it has been a game changer for my classroom. Students are much more attentive and I believe it has really helped. I am also using a multisensory approach to decoding, teaching Visual Phonics. The paras have overheard students talking about how fun it is when kids are in the hallways and think no one is listening. I am relieved, because I have limited access to middle school materials to teach decoding and a large percentage of my […]

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Dyslexia Advocacy: Say Dyslexia 2.0

by Dyslexic Advantage Team | Oct 14, 2021 | Accommodations, Advocacy, Apps, Assessment, Being Dyslexic, College, dyslexia, Dyslexic Advantage Magazine, Education, Learning, Neurodiversity, Newsletter, Strategies, Teachers, Teaching

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 introducing literacy screening for its nearly 200,000 children in kindergarten through second grade… While the education department’s screeners aren’t designed to identify students at risk of having dyslexia, which is the most common learning disability, they are able to identify learning gaps in skills that are often associated with dyslexia, literacy experts say. But many also note that screening alone will not address systemic issues that contribute to widespread literacy deficits across the city, such as uneven curriculum and inadequate teacher training. The success of the […]

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$Understanding Conceptual vs. Procedural Knowledge in Math [Premium]$

Understanding Conceptual vs. Procedural Knowledge in Math [Premium]

by Dyslexic Advantage Team | Oct 14, 2021 | Being Dyslexic, Dyscalculia, dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Learning, Math, Neurodiversity, Premium, Premium Content, Strategies

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,” […]