Academic Remediation

10 things parents should unlearn… « What Ed Said

I agree with this list.  Caught via Dana Sweir Huff's Facebook feed.

10 things parents should unlearn… « What Ed Said.

10 things I think (some) parents should unlearn… 

1.  Learning is best measured by a letter or a number.  
2. Product is more important than process and progress.  
3. Children need to be protected from any kind of failure.  
4. The internet  is dangerous for children.  
5.  Parents and teachers should discuss students without the learner present.
6. Homework is an essential part of learning.  
7. The school is responsible for the child’s entire education.  
8. Your child’s perspective is the only one.  
9. Learning looks the same as when you went to school.  
10. Focus on (and fix) your child’s shortcomings, rather than their successes. 

I won’t elaborate at the moment, as I’d rather have your input. As a teacher and/or a parent, which ones do you agree with? Disagree? Challenge? Question?

Dyslexia: A Hidden Disability

This short video is an infomercial for the Westmark School, but it is excellently done, and I recommend it to parents and middle-school and above dyslexic students.

Westmark School inspires students with language-based learning differences who possess academic potential and personal promise to build on their strengths and prepare for a successful college experience.

"Dyslexia: A Hidden Disability," produced by the Kennedy/Marshall Company, is an excellent documentary on adults and children who have dyslexia and the doctors and educators who are working to make a difference in their lives. It features interviews with Steven Spielberg, Charles Schwab, Whoopi Goldberg, Sally Shaywitz, and Craig Watkinson.

 

A short video on improving handwriting after the cursive stage

Kate Gladstone offers a service called "Handwriting Repair".  This video has  some of her suggestions  for improving legibility and speed.  (Warning: you may wish to turn the sound down, or off.  I found the music to be too loud for my tastes.)

 

If you would like to see more of Kate's suggestions, please go to http://handwritingrepair.info/

Sally Shaywitz on dyslexia and assistive technology

Once upon a time, there was the organization called Recording for the Blind.  Later, they added dyslexia, and became Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFBD). 

A few years ago, their leadership realized that the name didn't really describe what the organization does.  The leadership selected "Learning Ally" as the 21st century title.

Learning Ally's National Board member Sally E. Shaywitz, M.D. is a co-founder of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, and has devoted her career to better understanding and helping children and adults who are dyslexic. In this brief video interview, she shares insights on the power of assistive technology, audiobooks and accommodations for people with dyslexia.

This short video talk (3 min 44 secs) by Sally Shaywitz discusses the value of recorded books, especially for young learners, and the organization's value.

Interview with Sally Shaywitz on Dyslexia, New Treatments

In this short interview (8 min 13 sec) Dr. Shaywitz discusses what dyslexia is, some famous contemporary  dyslexics and  how spoken language is affected in dyslexia.

Visualizing the Dyslexic Brain

This short video (1 min 46 seconds) from New Zealand is one of the most informative ones I've seen.

The video segment was posted by the artist who created the 3-D images.

Pat Smith: Don't punish the kids because they can't read | The Columbus Dispatch

This article covers the way that teachers, school districts, and parents who are failing to service the 1/3 of students who need more structured, direct instruction to become fluent readers.  Ohio evidently has a new policy of retaining 3rd graders who are not reading at grade level.

Pat Smith: Don't punish the kids because they can't read | The Columbus Dispatch.

To improve the teaching of reading, we’re now going to flunk third-graders that districts haven’t taught to read. Somehow, this latest magic bullet seems aimed more at the victims than the culprits. Why not target instead:

Best Font For Dyslexia?

The "san serif is better" seems to be an item of faith in the UK. I'm not aware of similar biases in the US.

Best Font For Dyslexia.

Many dyslexic and non-dyslexic people find that the readability of a piece of text varies depending upon the font (type face or type style) used. Sans-serif fonts are generally preferred by dyslexic people because Serif fonts, with their ‘ticks’ and ‘tails’ at the end of most strokes tend to obscure the shapes of letters e.g.Times New Roman.

Dealing with Dyslexia: An Interview with Susan Barton

HSLDA | Dealing with Dyslexia: An Interview with Susan Barton.

Susan Barton: Yes there are, because the warning signs of dyslexia start showing up as early as age 1. Watch for children who do not speak on schedule, who are not saying 5–10 simple one-syllable words by about 12 months old. Listen for children who, when they start to say the longer, multi-syllable words, get the sounds out of sequence and say things like: aminal, bisketti, hangabird, heckalopter, hopspital, and can’t say certain words like cinnamon. Look for the children who have repeated ear infections, over and over and over, and may have had tubes put in, or multiple tubes put in; the children who are constantly confused between words like left and right, before and after, yesterday and tomorrow, the directionality words; children who have not established a dominant hand by the time they’re 4 years old; children who have difficulty learning to tie their shoes, have trouble memorizing things like the letters in their name, their address, their phone number, and most importantly, children who cannot create words that rhyme, or tell which words rhyme or do not rhyme by the time they are 4 years old.