[PREMIUM] Big Picture and Dyspraxia

[PREMIUM] Big Picture and Dyspraxia

by | May 7, 2018 | , , , , ,

The good news about dyspraxia is that there are many positive strategies that can significantly improve functioning. #1. SELF-AWARENESS – Self-awareness is the most important tool of children and adults with dyspraxia. There are many everyday classroom and real world tasks that can be extremely difficult or even impossible for a person with dyspraxia. Without being aware that something being asked of you is impossible, it’s easy to slide into negative thinking and self-deprecating behaviors which can pull you away from things that could actually help, like self-advocacy, technology, or training. #2. COORDINATION AND STRENGTH TRAINING – Coordination and motor strength are highly trainable, so it’s important to recognize that there’s a lot one can do to improve symptoms of dyspraxia. A common mistake is […]

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Processing Speed & Writing [PREMIUM]

Processing Speed & Writing [PREMIUM]

by | Feb 28, 2018 | , , , , , ,

Question: I know my son’s processing speed is slow from his testing, but how slow should his speed on something like writing take? My son has slow processing speed, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and a loose attention control system – but how long should it take him to write a 5 paragraph academic paper… after which the paper still needs revisions? It takes him hours to complete assignments.  This is a great question…but of course, the answer depends on a lot of individual factors regarding your student. When essay or paper writing takes so long, it’s good to try to troubleshoot ways to make the process quicker. If the delay occurs at the beginning, before any ‘writing’ occurs, then maybe he doesn’t have a template in which […]

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[PREMIUM] Gifted with ADHD: How We Asked for Extended Time & a Better Schedule

[PREMIUM] Gifted with ADHD: How We Asked for Extended Time & a Better Schedule

by | Feb 16, 2018 | , , , , , , , ,

The road to advocacy has many twists and turns so if your student has moderate to severe difficulties with processing speed, be prepared to be nimble and responsive to challenges that arise. In our previous newsletter, we mentioned some of the advocacy that Laura and her son John took on his path as a 2E (gifted, dyslexic, dysgraphic, and ADD) high school student. Here are some additional problems that arose and ways Laura and John responded: PROBLEM: LOW GRADES WHEN DENIED ACCOMMODATIONS D’s in AP English Class (no accommodations for tests) although a strong score on the AP exam. Although John’s dyslexia has been identified since elementary school, the school suggested he no longer needed accommodations. SOLUTION: ACCOMMODATIONS Laura and John appealed the zeroes given […]

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The Remediated Student – WHAT TO EXPECT [PREMIUM]

The Remediated Student – WHAT TO EXPECT [PREMIUM]

by | Feb 1, 2018 | , , , , , , , ,

For the overwhelming majority of dyslexics, early intervention helps with the decoding step of reading. Usually 2-3 months of intervention is enough to see a measurable  difference, and at least in our experience, 1-3 years to bring most children from failing their grade to being able to keep up in diverse subjects at grade-level with appropriate accommodations and sometimes modifications in place. What Should a Teacher Expect with a Remediated Student? Remediated students can vary a great deal depending on whether they are gifted, dysgraphic, dyspraxic, dyscalculic, have attention or working memory difficulties, or English as a Second Language. In general, though, students who have successfully been remediated are able to decode text on grade-level, but may still have slow and inaccurate reading, difficulty reading aloud, […]

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Positive Strategies for College [PREMIUM]

Positive Strategies for College [PREMIUM]

by | Jan 8, 2018 | , , , , , , , , ,

In a recent research study (abstract only) of dyslexic students at college, the following strategies were mentioned: 1. Go to Lecture and Just Listen. It was common for students to be unable to listen and note-take at the same. Face-to-face lectures were preferred to recorded lectures because audio quality was sometimes bad, and some students need to see the teacher’s face and his or her gestures to fully comprehend what was being said. Request a Note-Taker Early. One student said at times a note-taker had to be requested several weeks in advance (!). Record Notes with the One Note or Audionote App. 2. Prepare for Lecture. For classes where teachers make Powerpoints available before lecture, download and print so notes can be written on them […]

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Dyslexia-FRIENDLY Foreign language Instruction [PREMIUM]

Dyslexia-FRIENDLY Foreign language Instruction [PREMIUM]

by | Jan 4, 2018 | , , , , , , , , ,

Because dyslexia has significant challenges that make foreign language learning difficult (e.g. impaired phonemic awareness, limitations on auditory verbal working memory, weak rule-based memory and syntax, etc.), many students request and are granted foreign language waivers. That being said, there are many students who can do well at foreign language learning, and alternative classrooms should be considered in order to help more students achieve proficiency in a second language. From Dr. Jonathan Arries: “Studies suggest that students with LDs may experience difficulties with the following tasks: 1) imitation and differentiation of vowel sounds 2) orthography 3) vocabulary acquisition 4) comprehension and memory of spoken instructions 5)reading comprehension passages 6) comprehension of written instructions 7) application of grammar rules taught inductively….Javoarsky, Sparks, and Ganschow indicate some […]

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[PREMIUM] DYSLEXIA AND MATH: Error Analysis

[PREMIUM] DYSLEXIA AND MATH: Error Analysis

by | Jan 1, 2018 | , , , , , , , ,

Some 60% of dyslexic students have problems with math (10% excel at math). Reasons for math difficulties include math facts retrieval, difficulty remembering formula and multi-stepped procedures, sequencing issues, symbol confusion, and difficulty with the language of math. These problems, in addition to timed tests and impossible-to-complete homework assignments, contribute to math anxiety and frustration. In a collaborative study from the University of Houstin, University of Texas, and Vanderbilt University (Raghubar et al., 2009), researchers looked at the different categories of math mistakes in 3rd and 4th grade children with or without math and reading disabilities. On the following page, look at the 4 types of math errors that they examined. Studies of this type are valuable because they also identify which types of errors are […]

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[PREMIUM] TEST-TAKING: DYSLEXIA and MULTIPLE CHOICE

[PREMIUM] TEST-TAKING: DYSLEXIA and MULTIPLE CHOICE

by | Dec 27, 2017 | , , , , , , , , , , , ,

At the secondary and university level, many students with dyslexia may prefer short answer questions to multiple choice. There are many reasons why the multiple choice question format may not be a good estimator of a student’s knowledge. It is very common for the questions and choice answers to be ambiguous. From Biochemical Education: “Writing good multiple choice questions is hard, a fact not appreciated by all teachers and examiners. There is a tendency to use imprecise terms, and even when apparently precise terms such as always and never are used (for example in true/false type tests), it seems that not everyone agrees these are indeed absolutes….In a survey of medical examiners, Holsgrove and Elzubeir found that of 63 respondents, 51 considered that always means […]

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[PREMIUM] Don’t Require COPYING From the Board

[PREMIUM] Don’t Require COPYING From the Board

by | Dec 13, 2017 | , , , , , , , , , , ,

DON’T REQUIRE COPYING FROM THE BOARD Dr. Kirkby: “Copying text…is psychologically complex. It involves a series of sequential visual and cognitive processes, which must be co-ordinated: these include visual encoding, mental representation, an written production.” Long after students have begun to crack the code of reading, note-taking and copying from the board remain very difficult if not impossible for some students. Note-taking from lecture adds the additional challenging of listening to words, translating them into a visual representation, then retrieving these images and motor sequences to get them down on a page. Moderate to severe dysgraphia is not uncommon among dyslexic students. For these students, not only will copying from the board be impossible, but also significant modifications (decreased written work) and accommodations (extended time, […]

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[PREMIUM] Reading and Spelling: When Sights and Sounds Don’t Match

[PREMIUM] Reading and Spelling: When Sights and Sounds Don’t Match

by | Dec 8, 2017 | , , , , , , , , , ,

TRICKY WORDS: WHEN SIGHTS AND SOUNDS DON’T MATCH Spotlight: Inflectional Suffixes Because many dyslexic students don’t have a visual imprint of words, there are common spelling or pronunciation errors that occur when word endings seem to vary. In most cases, being explicitly taught the different patterns can reduce a great deal of distress later. The technical term “inflectional suffixes” refers to word endings that change a word to make it grammatically correct, but don’t fundamentally change the meaning or the class of words that they are. For example, in the following sentences, the suffixes are shown in red: The dog barks. The dog barked. The endings may reflect whether a noun is singular or plural (e.g. dog or dogs) or whether the action is happening […]

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