Dyslexia

What are the strengths and difficulties experienced by students with dyslexia?

Strengths	Students with dyslexia may have difficulty with.....
Average to above average intelligence	Delayed language development
Creative and strong verbal skills	Learning letters and their sounds (blending and segmenting)
Logical thinker	Organizing written and spoken language
Can easily grasp new concepts when presented orally	Difficulty memorizing and recalling facts
Excellent oral comprehension	Reading quickly enough to comprehend
Artistic or musical	Reading with fluency and automaticity
Solves puzzles and work in 3D	Persisting with and comprehending longer reading assignments
Technological	Spelling
Athletic	Copying words with accuracy
Inclination to think outside of the box	Correctly solving math operations
Understands abstract ideas	Weak decoding skills; slowness in figuring out multi-syllabic words

Not all students who have difficulties with these skills have dyslexia. A f-MRI (functional MRI) is the only way to definitively diagnose dyslexia.  However, dyslexia screeners in reading, language, and writing skills can highlight specific characteristics of dyslexia a student might be experiencing.

What type of reading instruction best serves students with dyslexia?

As students with dyslexia have difficulty with phonological processing and word recognition, effective reading instruction should include

explicit, systematic, cumulative and multi-sensory instruction in:

·      Phonology

·      Sound/Symbol Association

·      Syllable Instruction

·      Morphology

·      Semantics

·      Syntax

Students often  also need explicit instruction in vocabulary and comprehension. 

For more information:  http://eida.org/effective-reading-instruction/

What are some classroom accommodations and supports that can be provided to students with dyslexia?  (as recommended by the Alabama State Dept. of Education)

Accommodations Involving Interactive Instruction

• use explicit teaching procedures
• repeat directions and clarify written instructions
• establish and maintain daily routines
• provide copies of lecture notes
• provide students with graphic organizers
• use step by step instructions
• identify key points or words
• use mnemonic instruction
• emphasize daily reveiw
• make instruction as multi-sensory as possible (involving at least 3 senses)

Accommodations Involving Student Performance

• encourage use of graphic organizers
• place student close to teacher and away from distractions, when possible
• reduce student hand-copying of information
• uses cues to denote important items
• display models of expected student work for projects
• use flexible work times and adjusted assignments, as needed
• encourage note-sharing
• provide additional practice
• arrange handout information from easiest to hardest, when possible

Accommodations Involving Materials

• use technology, such as Chromebooks, particularly its text-to-speech and speech-to-text capabilities
• present a small amount of work at a time
• highlight essential informaiton
• help student locate place in consumable material
• provide additional practice activities
• provide a glossary in content areas
• develop reading guides that emphasize key details and help students determine important information
• allow use of instructional aids (spell checker and Google Calendar, for example)
• some students read better with a light blue, yellow, or green colored background on their Chromebook. Th3 color may help to stabilize the images (words) being processed by the brain.

Talking to Your Child about Dyslexia--A Q&A

What does dyslexia mean?

Dyslexia is a scientific word that means, "trouble with words."  It means your brain is wired in a way that makes it harder to connect sounds and letters for reading and spelling.

Can you cure dyslexia?

No, dyslexia is not a disease, and you can't cure it.  You have it your whole life, but you can learn ways to overcome it.

Does dyslexia mean I am dumb?

No, people with dyslexia are just as smart as everyone else, and many successful people have dyslexia.

Is it ever too late to get help for dyslexia?

No, dyslexic readers can be taught strategies that can be applied throughout their lifetime.  Programs involving multi-sensory strutured language techniques have been shown to help adults as well as children.  Early intervention is better,m but intervention at any time can be effective.

Where can I find additional information about dyslexia?

International Dyslexia Association (IDA): http://www.interdys.org

Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Needs to Know:

https://app.box.com/s/fsxvph0hmseucs0we0jpix1c3qhjo95v

All Kinds of Minds: Understanding Differences in Learning: http://www.allkindsofminds.org

Council for Learning Disabilities (CLD): http://www.cldinternational.org

Learning Ally:  http://www.learningally.org-

Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA): www.LDAAmerica.org

LD Online:  www.ldonline.org

University of Michigan Dyslexia Help:

https://app.box.com/s/fsxvph0hmseucs0we0jpix1c3qhjo95v

Signs and Symptoms:

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/dyslexia/dyslexia-what-youre-seeing

Reading Remedy: http://www.reading-remedy.com/dyslexiawarningsigns.html

Advantanges: http://www.mariannesunderland.com/2012/08/13/10-little-known-advantages-of-dyslexica/

The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity http://dyslexia.yale.edu/Technology.html

"Would you like paper or plasma? That's the question book lovers face now that e-reading has gone mainstream. And, as it turns out, our brains process digital reading very differently."  -Raphael

The line above is a quote from an article on the Public Radio International website (PRI.org). With the movement of "one to one" initiatives, technology in the classroom, and standardized assessments on the computer one must ask themselves is there a difference? 

According to this article, the more we read from a screen the less we use our "deep reading" part of our brains. To access this area, we must read from paper daily. Instructionally thinking, teachers need to make sure there is a balance between integration of technology and the good ol' fashion book and paper approach. 

Read on to find out more behind this research: 
Your paper brain and your Kindle brain...

 "If (7th and 8th grade) teachers, and those who follow, were to require that kind of work 1-2 days per week through 12^th grade, these kids would have 500-1000 pages of pre-college reading experience in those technical subjects alone... "  -Dr. Shanahan

Are we preparing our college bound students for success? The following article touches on why our Literacy Standards across all content areas are so crucial to student success in school and beyond. 

Here is the link to the blog:
Is it fair to expect college bound students to read?

Computer Technology for Students Struggling with Handwriting Skills

Read about computer technology that reads text out loud.

 

 

 

Click here to read article:

http://studyingwithdyslexia.blogspot.com/2015/12/how-to-write-confidently-with-dyslexia.html

What's Going On Inside A Dyslexic Student's Brain?

There’s no such thing as a “normal brain.” In fact, there’s a lot of diversity in how different brains process information — a challenge for educators tasked with teaching a diverse group of learners. Dyslexia is a common variation that affects how kids read, but what’s really going inside the brain of someone affected by it? Kelli Sandman-Hurley’s TED-Ed video explains. 

https://youtu.be/zafiGBrFkRM


http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/09/11/whats-going-on-inside-a-dyslexic-students-brain/

The Six Syllable Types

In English there are 15 vowel phonemes (sounds) but only 5 vowel letters.

 (Okay–7 if you count <y> and <w>). But how does that work– with twice as many vowel sounds to represent as there are letters to represent them!?

For his 1806 dictionary, Daniel Webster figured it out (and changed the spelling of some words to make it work more consistently).  Basically, context predicts the vowel’s letter-sound association.
The syllable type is largely determined by what comes after the vowel in the syllable.  In phonetically regular words, the sound of the vowel is predicted by its syllable type.  More than 90% of English words follow the six-syllable type sound-spelling pattern.
But note this important caveat:  The English language freely absorbs words from other languages, and words with origins other than English do not necessarily follow the syllable types patterns.  Even so, the majority of commonly-used English words follow this pattern,  so it is definitely worth learning the six syllable types.
While the fluent use of these patterns for reading and spelling will require an ongoing commitment to word study, a habit of word analysis will pay enormous dividends in terms of improved spelling and reading and vocabulary growth!

Follow the link to see the 6 syllable types: http://www.lexercise.com/blog

 

 

 

 

Learning Labs at Scottsboro Junior High

“It is virtually impossible to create and sustain over time conditions for productive learning for students when they do not exist for teachers” (pg. 145). Seymour Sarason (1990) from The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform.

This year, Scottsboro Junior High (SJH) has taken on a new positive challenge—Learning Labs. They are using Learning Labs and Lesson Studies to make informed decisions concerning student learning. This in-house professional development model incorporates “learning by doing,” student evidence, and teacher collaboration among the participants.

Their first round with the labs were hosted by two math teachers with a focus on outcome mastery as well as student engagement. The learning lab committee consisted of various content specific teachers (history, ELA, science) and a special education teacher. The student evidence collected was very eye opening. It was also amazing how every teacher involved took something back no matter their content area. This “productive learning” opportunity is proving to be very impactful on our ultimate goal—student achievement.

Here are some guiding principles and pictures of our work:

Guiding Principles for Student-Centered Collaboration

• It’s about student learning.

• Student evidence always informs instructional planning.

• Norms are set and participants are held accountable to the norms.

• Protocols provide a clear structure for the meeting time.

• Ownership is shared among group members.