Academic Remediation

8 Hints for Helping Your Child With Pre-Reading Skills « Bob Books for Beginning Readers

8 Hints for Helping Your Child With Pre-Reading Skills « Bob Books for Beginning Readers.

8 Hints for Helping Your Child With Pre-Reading Skills Your child’s first steps into reading depend on foundational, pre-reading skills. Simple skills, such as recognizing shapes (differentiating between a circle and a triangle is the first step in telling an O and an A apart), sorting (learning to categorize the shapes), patterns (helping kids identify letter patterns and later to decode words) and sequencing (understanding story flow) are important milestones in your child’s journey as an emerging reader. Here are a few games and activities you can do with your child to build his or her pre-reading skills.

You Need /r/ /ee/ /d/ to Read - News Features & Releases

You Need /r/ /ee/ /d/ to Read - News Features & Releases.

But, she adds, that doesn't mean learning to read should be rushed, as has increasingly been the case with competitive parents in the United States, where it's not uncommon for preschoolers to begin the formal reading process. In contrast, in place like Finland, students don't start learning to read until the age of seven, says Thomson, and then it takes only about three months to learn. "In the United States [where we start earlier]," she says, "it takes two-plus years."

And it certainly can't happen, no matter what age, by just using a bunch of flash cards, as guaranteed by popular your-baby-can-read TV ads. Children really do need guided instruction when their brains are ready for the task. As Wolf says, each of the neural networks and systems that a reading brain connects to first needs to be fully developed, and developed in a certain order. Otherwise, an emerging reader will struggle and become frustrated with reading, and at best, only memorize. This development is affected by something called myelin -- a fatty sheath coating the axons, the primary transmission lines for the nervous system. The more myelin around the axon, the faster the nerve cells work. Although each sensory and motor region is myelinated before a person turns five -- the visual nerves myelinate by six months, for example -- the regions in the brain that support reading, such as the angular gyrus, which supports language comprehension, doesn't myelinate until at least five years old, and often more slowly in boys.

So while parents and caregivers should support and nurture these systems through fun, pre-reading exercises such as making up rhymes, singing, and playing with language, they shouldn't feel that it is a reflection of their caregiving skills if their child hasn't mastered learning to read independently by the time the fifth birthday party rolls around. It's a process.

As Mason points out, "We're all, in some sense, continuing to develop our reading skills. If you gave me a book on astrophysics, I'd be sounding it out, too."

Listen to this interview, 2/22/11: What Is Dyslexia and How Do We Assess It?

What is Dyslexia and How Do We Assess It 2/22/2011 - The Family Coach | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio.

What is Dyslexia and how do we assess Language Processing Disorders? Speech pathologist Stacy Fretheim of the Wellington-Alexander Center is here with us today to discuss the signs and symptoms of dyslexia. She'll speak to how we assess dyslexia and how children can be helped when they have reading issues. If you have a child who is having difficulty learning to read this is the show for you. www.wellingtonalexandercenter.com

Teaching writing. Teaching argument. - Linda Vasu: Lateral Thinking

Teaching writing. Teaching argument. - Linda Vasu: Lateral Thinking. I had read an article in the NCTE English Journal "Teaching Argument for Critical Thinking and Writing: An Introduction" by University of Chicago's George Hillocks in which he describes teaching students the basic elements of argument by using Treat's picture books. This exercise provided the perfect background for inquiry and expository writing. Most students are skilled descriptive writers by 10th grade. But ask them to write an essay, and they freeze.

Read the post -- has some fascinating ideas and links.

Improving Reading Comprehension in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Improving Reading Comprehension in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Finally! I am pleased that Emily Iland, the author of the recently released book, Drawing a Blank: Improving Reading Comprehension for Readers on the Autism Spectrum, has addressed the issue of hidden reading comprehension problems in some children on the autism spectrum.

http://www.aapcpublishing.net/book/view/593/drawing-a-blank-improving-comprehension-for-readers-on-the-autism-spectrum

From the Files: Learning Disability: Limiting Label or Helpful To The Student?

Originally published at I Speak of Dreams 2007

Doug Noon has a discussion at Borderlands, In Names We Trust,  on the advantages and disadvantages of labelling, specifically labelling kids as "learning disabled".  The comments are fascinating (I don't mean mine; I mean the other teachers').

I agree strongly with this statement:

How we talk about disability has a powerful influence oh how we think about it.

I am not sure I agree with this statement:

If we work from a deficit starting point, we constantly have to scale down, simplify, and accommodate.

I agree strongly with this statement

If, instead, we look at the situation as affording us an opportunity to restructure lessons with multiple entry points and an array of options for meeting objectives, we can begin to see how differentiating instruction would be beneficial to all students. The “disabled” student might also be viewed as a “creative” learner. Many students who are not LD also enjoy learning in a variety of ways.

I think it is very helpful for a student with learning disabilities to understand what his or her areas of deficit are, especially as the child matures.

From the Files: Resources to Fight Homework Overload

Originally published at I Speak of Dreams November 2008

On the whole, I'm opposed to homework below 4th grade, with a few exceptions.  Children should be reading for pleasure every day, which is a form of homework.  Children need lots of practice in gaining math mastery, so a few math problems in an area they've already mastered are useful.

Sarah Bennett's Stop Homework blog has a lot of resources for parents.  There's an interview with her at Stan Goldberg's Senior Dad (there are a lot of good resources there).

Recently, she wrote

I just watched the DVD of the Fall, 2008, Stressed Out Students conference, with keynote speeches by David Elkind, author of The Hurried Child and The Power of Play, Dr. Ken Ginsburg, author of A Parent’s Guide to Building Resilience in Children and Teens, Dr. Madeline Levine, author of The Price of Privilege, and Denise Clark Pope, author of Doing School. There are also 3 student speakers–2 highschoolers, and one college sophomore.

Here is the order form for the DVD: Download SOS_Stressed_Out_Students_DVD-order.pdf.  It's $4.00 and would make a wonderful addition to a school library or as the starting point for a parents' group discussion about school stress.

Thinking About Cursive | The Principal of Change

Thinking About Cursive | The Principal of Change. The argument to this is that if we have a keyboard in front of us, the speed of typing will essentially be a lot quicker than cursive handwriting. In my position, I use cursive for two things: writing cards and signing cheques. I am also guessing that many writers use a keyboard instead of cursive handwriting, and their job is WRITING!

The problem with this point of view is (in my opinion) twofold:

1. There's a long way between 3rd grade and the adult world, where the adult gets to choose his or her form of written output

2. If you can only keyboard, not produce acceptable handwritten output, you are always dependent upon a device powered by electricity.

IEP Goals And Objectives: Are These Any Good? | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

IEP Goals And Objectives: Are These Any Good? | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities.

To develop IEP goals (and, in some states and situations, objectives) that are meaningful, measurable, and manageable, requires a preliminary step that too many IEP Teams rush though: Writing a quality Present Levels section (“present levels of academic achievement and functional performance”) of the IEP. This section forms the basis and justification for all goals and objectives. In turn, the goals and objectives form the basis for all services and placements.

Because goals and objectives are so critical to obtaining the services your child needs, and to monitoring his progress, it’s critical to understand the flaws that characterize so many goals and objectives. Below are some of my comments, slightly edited, from two brief evaluations I did of a third grader’s IEP. The name is fictionalized and I have the parent’s permission to use the materials.

What Do Good Parents and Good Schools Have in Common?

What Do Good Parents and Good Schools Have in Common?.

The fundamental difference between the two schools is also at the core of the debate aroused by Amy Chua: the exercise of adult authority in the lives of children. People are talking, writing, blogging and tweeting about it so much because we are in the middle of a cultural shift and searching for a new way. Americans don’t want to be authoritarian anymore, …but what? We’re supposed to just let kids do their own thing? That kind of sixties-liberal crap was bankrupt long ago. To prepare our children for a harsh, demanding, competitive world, …well, I don’t know, but at least Amy Chua has a point. You have to make demands, push them to practice, have high expectations, say “No” a lot, and….well how can you have responsibility without control? But the opposite of something bad (like authoritarianism) is often something worse.

Much Ado About ADHD-Research: Is there a Misrepresentation of ADHD in Scientific Journals? « Laika s MedLibLog

Much Ado About ADHD-Research: Is there a Misrepresentation of ADHD in Scientific Journals? « Laika s MedLibLog.

With Iaonnides as an editor, a new PLOS-one paper has recently been published on the topic 1 . The authors Gonon, Bezard and Boraud state that there is often a huge gap between neurobiological facts and firm conclusions stated by the media. They suggest that the misrepresentation often starts in the scientific papers, and is echoed by the media.

Although this article has already been reviewed by another researchblogger Hadas Shema , I would like to give my own views on this paper Gonon et al found 3 types of misrepresentation.

* 1. Internal inconsistencies between results and claimed conclusions . In a non-systematic review of 360 ADHD articles Gonon et al. 1 found two studies with “obvious” discrepancies between results and claimed conclusions. One paper claimed that dopamine is depressed in the brain of ADHD patient. Mitigations were only mentioned in the results section and of course only the positive message was resonated by the media without further questioning any alternative explanation in this case a high baseline dopamine tone . The other paper 3 claimed that treatment with stimulant medications was associated with more favorite long-term school outcomes. However the average reading score and the school drop-outs did not differ significantly between treatment and control group. The newspapers also trumpeted that ”ADHD drugs help boost children’s grades” .

2. Fact Omission To quantify fact omission in the scientific literature, Gonon et al systematically searched for ADHD articles mentioning the the D4 dopamine receptor DRD4 gene. Among the 117 primary human studies with actual data like odds ratios , 74 articles state in their summary that alleles of the DRD4 genes are significantly associated with ADHD but only 19 summaries mentioned that the risk was small. Fact omission was even more preponderant in articles, that only cite studies about DRD4. Not surprisingly, 82% of the media articles didn’t report that the DRD4 only confers a small risk either. In accordance with Ioannidis findings 2 Gonon et al found that the most robust effects were reported in initial studies: odds-ratios decreased from 2.4 in the oldest study in 1996 to 1.27 in the most recent meta-analysis.

3. Extrapolating basic and pre-clinical findings to new therapeutic prospects Animal ADHD models have their limitations because investigations based on mouse behavior cannot capture the ADHD complexity. Analysis of all ADHD-related studies in mice showed that 23% of the conclusions were overstated. The frequency of this overstatement was positively related with the impact factor of the journal.

Are You Thinking of Sending Your teen to a "Struggling Teen Program"?

LD Resources » Blog Archive » An Elephant in the LD Room.

It turns out that there are hundreds of schools that have sprung up in the US and abroad, which are designed to address the emotional development of teens and to a lesser extent, younger kids. These schools, some with a more medical or clinical approach, some with less, have been around for a while now.

It’s only recently that they’ve begun to wake up to the specific needs of kids with specific learning disabilities. In addition, there are scores of “therapeutic wilderness programs” that are relatively short-term and high impact, that strive to, and purport to, having a knowledge base and sensitivity to kids with LD.

My own perception is that a few handful of these programs and schools are superior and that the gap between who they say the serve, what they say they deliver and what they actually deliver, is pretty small. Others are only talking that talk. Recovery and lives are at stake. Due diligence is in order.

ScienceDirect - NeuroImage : Mental number line training in children with developmental dyscalculia

ScienceDirect - NeuroImage : Mental number line training in children with developmental dyscalculia.

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a specific learning disability that affects the acquisition of mathematical skills in children with normal intelligence and age-appropriate school education (prevalence 3-6%). One essential step in the development of mathematical understanding is the formation and automated access to a spatial representation of numbers. Many children with DD show a deficient development of such a mental number line. The present study aimed to develop a computer-based training program to improve the construction and access to the mental number line. Sixteen children with DD aged 8–10 years and 16 matched control children completed the 5-week computer training. All children played the game 15 minutes a day for 5 days a week. The efficiency of the training was evaluated by means of neuropsychological tests and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a number line task. In general, children with and without DD showed a benefit from the training indicated by (a) improved spatial representation of numbers and (b) the number of correctly solved arithmetical problems. Regarding group differences in brain activation, children with DD showed less activation in bilateral parietal regions, which reflects neuronal dysfunction in pivotal regions for number processing. Both groups showed reduced recruitment of relevant brain regions for number processing after the training which can be attributed to automatization of cognitive processes necessary for mathematical reasoning. Moreover, results point to a partial remediation of deficient brain activation in dyscalculics after consolidation of acquired and refined number representation. To conclude, the present study represents the first attempt to evaluate a custom-designed training program in a group of dyscalculic children and results indicate that the training leads to an improved spatial representation of the mental number line and a modulation of neural activation, which both facilitate processing of numerical tasks.

Research Initiative by the International Dyslexia Association Needs Your Support

cross posted at I Speak of Dreams

This should be exciting news for anyone interested in reading acquisition, school success --even the achievement gap.

There are two needs here:

1. Additional sources of funding
2. Researchers with a background of evaluating reading instruction

The International Dyslexia Association will be awarding multiple $20,000 grants to evaluate the effectiveness of multi-sensory, structured, language instruction (MSL). While MSL has had decades of success, there has been very little replicated research to point to. 

As Carolyn D. Cowen wrote in IDA’s Multisensory Research Grant Program: A Bold and Challenging Initiative  Download CCowanMSIInitiativePDF

In this era of evidence-based instruction, citing clinical intuition and testimony may not suffice, even when authoritative and compelling. We risk criticism of the sort directed at whole-language and other unfounded or discredited approaches. Worse, without evidence of efficacy, we risk the wellbeing of students with dyslexia who might not receive instruction they need (a point that rests on the premise that the multisensory component is indeed vital for these students). Lack of scientific evidence can be misconstrued, particularly as public-education policy makers, leaders, and teachers struggle to implement daunting federal regulations while juggling formidable competing priorities. In this pressure-cooker climate, unsubstantiated practices risk being overlooked, if not dismissed outright....

... IDA has launched a bold and challenging research initiative. Its purpose is to shed light—via vigorous scientific investigation—on the value of the multisensory component in MSL reading instruction, particularly for students with dyslexia. The immediate goal of this competitive grant program is to fund replicable studies with promise for stimulating research on a larger scale.

As far as the first need is concerned -- funding:

Gifts in any amount will be appreciated deeply. Donations can be made by calling or emailing Kristi Bowman, IDA Director of Development at 410-296-0232 x402 or [email protected]

You can also give online through the secure portal at https://www.interdys.org/olssecure/donation.aspx

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is a 501(c)3 organization.  Donations are fully tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.  Guidestar's report on IDA is here.

The second need is for qualified research proposals. (Note: the grant program will not fund studies that investigate multisensory components of a particular program or approach, commercial or otherwise.) Interested parties  should read the  guidelines on IDA’s website: http://www.interdys.org/IDAResearchGrantGuidelines.htm.

I'm excited by this and plan to support the fundraising effort.  If your family has been affected by dyslexia, I hope you will too.

 

Also see John Wills Lloyd's post at Spedpro

 

Enrichment Programs in High School

The Edge of International High School Programs in Canada | Our Kids Blog.

There are three well-recognized, internationally based options available

 * Advanced Placement (AP) .-- a set of 28 advanced- or university-level courses (curriculum and teacher support) that schools can select from and offer in any given year.

* The International Baccalaureate (IB) www.ibo.org  IB is comprised of a set of three programs, the most popular being the final Diploma Programme that’s taught in the last two years of secondary school. These students study six courses, at least one from each of five distinct groupings, in addition to completing an extended essay, a course on the theory of knowledge, and a community service component.

* University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) www.cie.org.uk. CIE is in fact the largest international program worldwide. It is patterned on the British O and A levels qualification system. Similar to IB, CIE offers four programs covering students aged five to 19. In their final two years, students study for the Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) requiring six credit courses chosen from three groups, allowing flexibility and focus.