In our one of our Premium magazine issue, we wrote about the scientific basis of late blooming and why dyslexics students - and gifted dyslexic students in particular are likely to be this way. Shelley Wear, a long-time Dyslexic Advantage volunteer and teacher of...
Q: I am an Language Arts Teacher. How Should I Give Feedback About Spelling for Dyslexic Students?
Great question. The degree of accommodations and or modifications should be individualized. SPELLCHECK Severely dyslexic students may need to dictate written work or keyboard work using spelling check. One favorite teacher of ours told us that she had a breakthrough...
How to Help a Dyslexic Student in a General Education Classroom
From the Connecticut Longitudinal Study, up to 1 in 6 students are dyslexic, but only a minority of these students will be found in special education classrooms. What does this mean for regular classroom teachers? 1. Get Basic Facts about Dyslexia - Dyslexic students...
Response to Intervention RTI Hurts Students with Dyslexia
RTI or Response To Intervention is currently the dominant approach to reading instruction in public schools across the United States (over 70% of school districts), but in a just-released progress report funded by the Department of Education from the Institute of...
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 […]
Your Brain on Math Anxiety [Premium]
This is your brain with math anxiety. In children as young as 7 years old, researchers found that activation in areas such as the amygdala and hippocampus were seen in children who had high math anxiety. The amydala and hippocampus are areas of the brain associated with fear condition and negative emotions. The children were given simple and complex arithmetic problems and asked to determine whether the answers given were right or wrong. The children in the high and low anxiety group were matched for IQ, working memory, reading and math performance, and general trait anxiety. As a double burden, the high math anxiety group (HMA) in the figure showed lower brain fMRI activation in areas associated with math processing. So anxiety could be acting […]
What is Dyscalculia? – Fast Facts [Premium]
“There is nothing in the IDEA that would prohibit the use of the terms dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia in IDEA evaluation, eligibility determinations, or IEP documents.” – Michael Yudin, Department of Education “Dyscalculia is not assessed in our schools.” – school professional Fast Facts about Dyscalculia What Is Dyscalculia? Dyscalculia is usually defined as a difficulty with calculations or arithmetic skills that is not explained by low intelligence or inadequate schooling. How Common? 3-10% of people, 40% of dyslexics What Ages? Dyscalculia is lifelong, although many helpful strategies can improve math achievement. When adults with dyscalculia have calculator accommodations, they can perform at high levels in even mathematics-intense disciplines. From We Are Teachers How Do You Assess Dyscalculia? Typically dyscalculia is assessed by calculating the […]
The Teacher Who Didn’t Know How to Read
If you haven't heard John Corcoran's story, it's a great one. He became a teacher, never knowing how to read, getting by through good social skills, athletic ability, and cheating with the help of friends. He even taught for 17 years (showing more films and visuals...
Early Screeners
Early screeners are beginning to appear more often in the early grades of elementary school because dyslexia advocates are winning legislative battles across the country. WHAT DO LITERACY SCREENERS DO? The benefit of early universal screening is that the...
[PREMIUM] Letter for Teachers
As the school year starts, it’s time to open up the word processing program and get to work on a letter for your student’s teachers. Letters should be customized for the particular class, subject, grade, and student’s needs. Here’s a nice example from Trish: “You have our son, *** in your second period AP Lang class. I wanted to give you a heads up that he has an IEP with accommodations. He has been professionally diagnosed by licensed psychologists as intellectually gifted, with dyslexia and dysgraphia. Dyslexia is often referred to as an invisible disability, and ____ has in the past had either his intelligence or his disabilities underestimated, as they can camouflage each other. He is an extremely hard worker, tries hard to overcome […]
[PREMIUM] What is Dyslexia? – Fast Facts for Teachers
THE MOST COMMON LEARNING DIFFERENCE Dyslexia is the most common learning difference, seen in up to 15-20% of the population. Dyslexia tends to run in families, but it can vary a great deal from family member to family member. IT’S NOT JUST READING Reading challenges are a central feature of dyslexia, but dyslexia-related brain differences have been detected in children before they are reading age and with appropriate intervention, reading improves significantly. There are learning strengths also associated with dyslexia that are helpful to know for educational reasons as well as future careers. FAST FACTS FOR TEACHERS #1. Dyslexic students are smart. Dyslexic students have average or higher than average intelligence. Are they receiving adequate challenge and opportunity in their daily work? Could you be […]
SELF-ADVOCACY: Common Accommodations and Modifications
KNOW! One of the first steps in advocacy is knowing which accommodations and or modifications you need. ASK! Here's a nice list from the state of CT. There's a reason this article is filed under "Self-Advocacy". Students should be aware that they...