“It is reprehensible that California is one of 10 states that doesn’t screen for dyslexia,” said Portantino. “The issue isn’t going away. Every year we don’t screen first-graders is another class lost. Shame on us.” Despite some high hopes this past year, a bill for...
How to Survive and Thrive at Parent-Teacher Conferences [Premium]
Some teachers find parent-teacher conferences the most stressful part of their job so it’s best to keep that in mind before you head off to the meeting. I remember we had “good” meetings and “bad”. The good ones seemed so easy – sit back and be presented with student work and positive comments. But there […]
Question: Advice for a Student Who Does Not Want to Disclose in High School
It is very common for people to want to choose whether they want to formally disclose their dyslexia, and to whom. This may change over the years and of course depending on particular contexts. WHY DOES A STUDENT CHOOSE NOT TO DISCLOSE IN HIGH SCHOOL? Some...
Beyond Reading Aloud
Question: How can I tell that students are dyslexic if they're not reading aloud? Last week a high school teacher in my course asked how she might be able to tell that a student may be dyslexic if they don't read out loud in her class. Once a student moves into upper...
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 […]
My Pandemic Hack for Classes
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...
Math: Multiple Representations [Premium]
If you have a lot of ground to cover for the coming school year, consider the use of multiple representations to improve the efficiency of learning. First, as a person who is math-challenged herself and was tasked at one time with tutoring one of our kids with similar math difficulties, I am sympathetic […]
The Way of Resilient Readers: Vocabulary and Morphology [Premium]
There are many informal terms that have come into literature to describe “compensated” dyslexic readers. We coined the term stealth dyslexia to call attention to their pattern on psychometric tests; stealth dyslexics often had this compensated reading pattern where silent reading comprehension was much better than single word reading accuracy or oral fluency. […]
Math Strategies Without Anxiety with Stanford Prof Jo Boaler
If you anticipate working with a student on math this coming year, what approach will you take? Dr. Jo Boaler has tips that can help create a positive atmosphere for learning. https://vimeo.com/163871454 To read the entire handout...
Apps for Productivity and Organization [Premium]
How about apps for productivity and organization? Here are useful ones you can try. ToDoist is a popular to do list that is integrated with email, IFTTT, Dropbox, and Slack. It is free – premium and available on iOS and Android. For some people, free Google Calendar is sufficient. Just remember […]
Managing Information with Concept Maps [Premium]
Although many people may use the terms “concept map” and “mind map” interchangeably, mind maps tend to be simpler, relating information to a central topic, whereas concept maps seek to cover more complex subjects, relating different parts to each other. Concept maps can be used to simplify material because different information can be grouped together […]
Clever Ways To Practice Repeated Reading [Premium]
It was in the late 1970’s that educational researchers began to question the practice of reading aloud different tasks as a way to make children more fluent readers. With this approach, every new day saw new challenges reading aloud for struggling readers so that they failed to gain proficiency, and if anything were more likely […]