Related to the issue of digital portfolios is project-based learning. On the opposite page, there are quick reviews between learning through projects and true project-based learning or PBL. With PBL, the students assume a central role in the direction of the project and the end goal is to publish the project to the real world and not fill in checklists and answer to questions designed by a teacher. As it turns out, project-based learning is often a great fit for developing dyslexic MIND strengths (Material Reasoning, Interconnected Reasoning, Narrative Reasoning, Dynamic Reasoning) and as Kyle mentioned is a good fit for deep big picture thinkers who have the potential to ask good questions and see problems from multiple perspectives. Project-based learning also puts the focus […]
Sneaky Ways to Help with the Dyslexia-Related Long Word Challenges [Premium]
It’s not your imagination – it’s much harder for most children and adults with dyslexia to learn long words – and it has nothing to do with intelligence. The sneaky reason is that for most dyslexic people, learning a random sequence of sounds puts more demands on those phonological processing pathways in the brain that once made it hard to learn to read. It’s good to be aware of this difficulty and also know that it has no relationship to things like creative insight or problem solving ability, which might be sky high. It does mean that for certain subjects – like science vocabulary, geography place names, long people and place names in literature, and foreign languages, extra care and time may be necessary to […]
“LIKE” Terms in Algebra Don’t Let Words Get in the Way
Many students get confused about "like" terms in Math, but it's not their fault. The terminology is confusing. Purple Math has a nice page on this post. In Algebra, "like terms" refers to terms that have the exact same variable raised to the same power. WATCH YOUTUBE...
Community Q & A: What Program We Can Use for Weak Vocabulary [Premium]
Q: My 15 year old daughter was recently found to be severely dyslexic. Her public high school has set her to enroll her in an online high school because her local school can’t meet her needs. We’ve been told that her vocabulary is weak. What program would you recommend? A. The answer to your question may depend on what structured literacy program she begins and what ways she learns best. Most structured literacy programs have a vocabulary component which is interwoven with phonemic awareness instruction in the forms of multisensory practice and books based on vocabulary and letter / letter-blend instruction that they’ve received. Because non-dyslexic students acquire words as they read, over time if she doesn’t listen to audiobooks regularly, her gap in word […]
Learning Doubles to Boost Math Facts Fluency
Learning doubles math facts can help with number flexibility. After learning how to count and "count on", doubles may be the next skill to learn. Origo Education has a nice post about how to introduce and practice doubling facts with students. First, students look for...
Reversals and How to Help [Premium]
"The ability to recognize objects from various view-points has advantages in perceiving one's environment, allowing one to identify a potential threat from many different views...(however) this trait of the object recognition system is disadvantageous for reading...."...
MAKE GOOGLE DOCS WORK FOR YOU
Every operating system has its text to speech, but many people like Google Docs' Voice Typing system for its simplicity. Like many text to speech programs, you still need to speak the punctuation, like saying, "comma', or "period." Some errors do occur, but the system...
Unleash Dyslexic Writing with Dr. Nicole Swedberg [Premium]
In step-by-step fashion, learn how to unleash the dyslexic writing talent of students through Dr. Nicole Swedberg’s idea of Mini-Writes. In her talk, Dr. Swedberg talks about short writing assignments can help students master small achievable goals. She describes how she can take a student through the writing process in 1-3 sessions. Some strategies include using wordless picture books, a word bank, and afterwards a routine involving spellcheck and finally use of text-to-speech for each sentence. Other topics include strategies for overcoming a report meltdown and strategies for note taking using assistive technology. Dr. Nicole Swedberg has generously donated this 20-minute webinar on Teaching Writing to LD Kids as a fundraiser to support the programs here at Dyslexic Advantage and we are very grateful.  […]
Teaching Common Core Academic Vocabulary to Students with Dyslexia [Premium]
Academic Vocabulary are words that usually appear in higher educational settings or advanced texts rather than everyday conversational speech. Before the Common Core, most language arts programs had little emphasis on explicit teaching of academic words, but direct instruction is often very important for students with dyslexia because it contributes significantly to test performance and reading comprehension of complex texts. In addition, lack of mastery of complex vocabulary can hold students back from pursuing advanced degrees and success in academic vocabulary text-heavy STEM careers like science and engineering. Why Academic Vocabulary May Be Hard for Dyslexic Students to Learn There are several reasons why dyslexic students may have greater difficulty with academic vocabulary: – many academic words are long and hard to read – many academic words […]
Strategies for Addressing Math Mistakes [Premium]
Working memory mistakes in math include mistakes such as losing place in problems, errors due to missed steps or key information, calculation errors like near-misses or reversed digits, directional errors, or procedural errors like errors of grouping or carrying. In the video below, teacher Leah Alcala shares how she decided to change how she graded math mistakes in her class. Instead of putting a grade, she highlights mistakes and then gives examples of mistakes and the correct answers in class. Students have a chance to retake their test and better their final scores. This clever approach takes advantage of memory as well as intrinsic motivation and boosts what students learn in math by the time they complete her class. Working memory is such a common […]
[PREMIUM] The Auditory Friendly Classroom
ENVIRONMENT – Reduce background noise as much as possible (carpeted, tennis balls on chair legs, closed doors) – Preferential seating for students – away from doors, windows, noisy heaters, overhead projectors, pencil sharpeners, noisy classmates – Allow students to wear musicians earplugs while doing quiet work. – FM Speaker or Headset  FOR STUDENTS – Sit at the front of the room with a good view of the teacher. – Request a classroom note-taker and or ask whether you can record classes. – Many students don’t realize how much they may miss by ear alone. – Choose seats away from noise sources like open doors, noisy classmates, heaters, or overhead projectors. – Use an FM speaker or headset which is known to improve classroom learning […]
Doing Math : Inchworms vs. Grasshoppers [Premium]
‘If a child does not learn the way you teach then teach him the way he learns.’ Two American school teachers noticed that their students tended to prefer one of the two ways their teachers explained math. The inchworm style was part-to-whole, dutifully performing incremental step-by-step pencil work, following the solving of math problems more like a recipe than an intuitive leap. The grasshopper, on the other hand, was the big picture leaper, more likely to subtitute numbers (rounding up or down), use mental math strategies, working backwards from an example solved question. What strategy to most dyslexic students prefer?  The answer  seems to vary. In UK research (Chinn et al., 2001), dyslexic inchworms seemed to outnumber grasshoppers, but Miles and Miles (also in the […]
