I work with children in grades kindergarten through 5th grade who struggle in school in the areas of reading, handwriting, and math. I'm located in southern San Mateo county, California.
Applications for technologies like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad have expanded options for individuals with dyslexia and learning disabilities. These tools can help with:
reading
spelling
writing
organizational/study skills
increasing self-confidence in the classroom and workplace
The independent research institute SRI International worked with 100 students with reading-based learning disabilities to determine how and when the Intel® Reader, the mobile assistive technology that converts a picture of text to speech, was most effective as an accommodation.
SRI International has worked with government agencies, commercial business and foundations and associations providing award-winning research and development for 60 years.
SRI International found that the Intel Reader had a powerful and significant role in helping students read and answer questions on a passage that was judged as significantly more difficult than the average reading grade level of the students in the study. The improvement was so large that SRI International projected that under certain conditions it can be expected that a student who did not use the Intel Reader for the passage and got 50% of the answers right would have gotten 73% of the answers right using the Intel® Reader.
We were so pleased with the results from SRI International’s testing, we’ve put together five blog posts highlighting the findings and offering suggestions to parents, teachers and administrators who work with students who have reading-based learning disabilities on the best ways to use the Intel Reader as an accommodation in the classroom and to improve the overall performance of students. This is the first post in a five-part series.
Sure, I’ve seen Khan Academy. It’s great! My addition is real state standards correlation (most of what I’ve seen that’s supposedly correlated to Georgia’s math standards is of shallow, if at all, relevance).
I’ve found that in math, my students want me to repeat the same explanation several times until that light bulb comes on. The podcast allows me to put an explanation in a kid’s hands and let him rewind & replay as much as he needs. Build in a little practice, and you have a nice little remediation tool.
Go look at her first post & do leave comments there. Wouldn't it be great if every state had a video library like that? [Cross published at Kitchen Table Math
Technology will change faster than we can teach it. My son studied the
popular programming language C++ in his home-school year; that knowledge
could be economically useless soon. The accelerating pace of technology
means his eventual adult career does not exist yet. Of course it won’t
be taught in school. But technological smartness can be. Here is the
kind of literacy that we tried to impart:
• Every new technology will bite back. The more powerful its gifts, the more powerfully it can be abused. Look for its costs.
• Technologies improve so fast you should postpone getting anything you
need until the last second. Get comfortable with the fact that anything
you buy is already obsolete.
• Before you can master a device, program or invention, it will be superseded; you will always be a beginner. Get good at it.
• Be suspicious of any technology that requires walls. If you can fix it, modify it or hack it yourself, that is a good sign.
• The proper response to a stupid technology is to make a better one,
just as the proper response to a stupid idea is not to outlaw it but to
replace it with a better idea.
• Every technology is biased by its embedded defaults: what does it assume?
• Nobody has any idea of what a new invention will really be good for.
The crucial question is, what happens when everyone has one?
• The older the technology, the more likely it will continue to be useful.
• Find the minimum amount of technology that will maximize your options.
I am particularly taken with you will always be a beginner. Get good at it.
What follows is a short and accurate video explanation of what these two skills, phonological and phonemic awareness are, and why they are essential to reading acquisition. (The speaker is marketing a product that isn't available in the U.S., so I feel it is acceptable to post it here.)
Some children seem to pick up phonological and phonemic awareness without direct instruction. However, a significant percentage do not. Traditionally, these skills have been taught through teacher demonstration plus students' use of paper-and-pencil responses. However, these two skills may be amenable to computer-based training and teaching, even as young as four years old (with more adult support than you would expect later).
What follows is a listing of some of the available programs, together with some reviews. I will begin with the computer-game type programs, then other programs that aren't games but use computer resources to teach the skills, followed by print-only programs.
Note: What Works Clearinghouse evaluates all programs on four domains of reading: alphabetics, reading fluency, comprehension, and general reading achievement. What I'm looking at hear is one sub-set of the alphabetics domain, appropriate for pre-school to late first grade. I don't expect any of the programs to have direct positive effects for overall alphabetics, reading fluencey, comprehension or general reading achievement. The Best Evidence Encyclopedia does not address phonemic and phonological awareness as a stand-alonge category.
Computer-Game Type Programs
Earobics was introduced in 1998, and I believe has had several modifications in the last 12 years. (link to website) (link to a purchase point)
Webber HearBuilder Phonemic Awareness Interactive Software was introduced in (I believe) 2009. While the principles in the program may be research-based, I couldn't find evidence that using this program results in gains for readers (link to website, which is also purchase point)
Reviews
No reviews found, either professional or home-use
Lexia Learning Early Reading (link to developer website.Link to purchase point website). The early reading product was released in 2003. The primary market is schools; the home program is now only supplied by a 3rd party vendor (linked above).
Reviews
no professional reviews or evaluations found specifically for the Early Reading unit
Sound Reading Solutions for Pre-K to 1st Grade "Hop, Skip and Jump" (link to website, which is also purchase point). I believe the basic program began in 1998. It isn't known when the software was developed
Read Right Early Reader Curriculum This is a curriculum and a collection of reading materials, so the program goes beyond phonemic / phonological awareness into early reading
Reviews
No reviews or efficacy research found
This review focuses just on phonemic and phonological awareness only.
I suspect different approaches will be the most effective for different kids
Education Revolution or Ed Rev as it is nicknamed, is a wonderful event
for all families who have a member who has a learning disability. This
is the second annual celebration sponsored by the Parents Education
Network (PEN) . Again, this year, it is located at AT&T Park in San
Francisco. My family went last year and we all had a wonderful time. It
was a special treat to be able to go out on the field and run around
the bases!
Keynote speakers include Dr. Ned Hallowell & Jonathan Mooney.
....
Admission for children and teachers (use school email) are free. Adult
admission is $50. but scholarships are available on line.
At EdRev 2010 , the Club Level of AT&T Park will feature over 100
exhibitors with services and products for the LD community. For a
detailed list click here.
The exhibit hall will be open from 10:30 am - 3:30 pm.
It will be arranged by the vendor's target age range so that the hall
forms a journey from early childhood to career launch, through four
sections:
Starting the Journey (0-5 yrs)
Road Work Ahead (6-12 yrs)
Learning to Take the Wheel (13-18 yrs)
You're in the Driver's Seat (18+)
Confirmed Exhibitors:
1st Voice
Abbey Neuropsychology Clinic
Arbor Bay School
Association of Educational Therapists
Bay Area Parent
Bayhill High School
Bodin, An Educational Consulting Group
BOLD - Bright Options for the Learning Disabled
Books Aloud, Inc.
Books, Inc.
Bookshare
Camp Kodiak
Center for Adaptive Learning
CHADD Northern California
Charles Armstrong School
Children's Health Council
City College of San Francisco (CCSF)
Claro Software Ltd
College Internship Program
College Living Experience
College of Marin - Disabled Students Program
Communication Works
Community Gatepath
Davis and Thronson Associates
Disability Rights Advocates
Disability Rights California
Don Johnston Incorporated
Drew School
Edge Foundation
EdTrainingSF
Everest College
Foothill College Adaptive Learning Division
Freedom Scientific Learning Systems Group
Ginger Software, Inc.
Hope Academy
HumanWare
Immaculate Conception Academy
Institute for Insight and Transformation
Intel Corporation
Jewish Vocational Service
Just Kids Learning Center
Kaplan Tutoring
Kidspace
Landmark College
Leonardsherman.com
Life Development Institute
Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes
Livescribe
Making Math Real
Maplebrook School
McClure Mallory & Baron
Mediated Learning Experience
Mid-Peninsula High School
Mindset Works
Mitchell College
Morrissey-Compton Educational Center, Inc.
Moving Forward Towards Independence
Muskingum University Plus Program
National Stuttering Association/Counseling and Consultation Services by Nina Ghiselli, Psy.D.
NCBIDA
Northern California Learning Disabilities Association
One Smart Kid
Orinda Academy
Parents Helping Parents
Pediatric Developmental Specialists
Pine Hill School - Second Start Program
Quest Therapeutic Camps, Inc.
Raskob Learning Institute and Day School
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
Resource Center for Children, Youth and Families (RCCYF)
Riordan High School
Russell Bede School
San Francisco Public Library
School for Independent Learners
Shelley Haven
SI KID SF
Slingerland Institute for Literacy
SOAR
Sparking Your Genius
SPEECH, Inc.
Mary Morelli
Stanbridge Academy
Star Academy
Sterne School
Student Organizational Services
Study Wizards Tutoring
Support for Families of Children with Disabilities
The HANDLE Institute
The Hearing and Speech Center of Northern California
The Laurel School
The Learning Pyramid
The Listening Center
The Literacy and Language Center
The New High School Project at Chartwell
The Oak Hill School
The Pratt Center
The Reading Clinic
Tutor Corps
Tutorpedia
UC Berkeley
UCSF Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
University of Arizona, SALT Center
University of San Francisco
encourages creative teaching and active learning through the sharing of ideas. This style of teaching aims to engage and energise pupils using hands-on, physical tasks that make teaching and learning fun!
Period or full stop: . throw a short, right-handed punch at the air in front of you. Make the noise, Ha!
Comma , with your right arm bent so that your hand is in front of your face, make a short twisting motion at the wrist to signify the comma shape. Make the noise, Shi!
Question mark : ? separate the curly bit into three cutting movements with the hand: one horizontal left to right, one curved around, and one vertical coming from the bottom of the curved one. Then at the bottom of the shape you have just drawn in the air, bung in a full-stop punch. Make the noises, Shi! Shi! Shi! Ha!
Exclamation mark : !! a long vertical slash, from top to bottom, followed by a full stop. Make the noises, Shiiiiii! Ha!
Quotation marks (speech marks): “ " stand on one leg, extend your arms diagonally to the skies and wiggle your index and middle fingers in an approximation of speech marks. Make the noise, Haeeeee!
Ellipsis: … three punches along a horizontal line. Make the noises, Ha! Ha! Ha!
Parentheses (Brackets)
( ) : using your left hand first, draw a curved convex line in the air;
use your right hand to do the opposite motion for the closing bracket.
Make the noises, Shi! Shi!
Hyphen (not on the list)
Apostrophe: ‘ with your right arm fully extended to the air, wiggle your index finger. Make the noise, Blubalubaluba! (This is the best I can do to approximate the sound you can make with your tongue when you flap it up and down against the inside of your lips.)
Semi-colon: ; do the full-stop punch, then the comma shape directly underneath it. Make the noises, Ha! Shi!
Colon : follow the full-stop punch immediately with one directly beneath it. Make the noises, Ha! Ha!
My thanks to eHow, Dr Diane Sawyer (who is speaking in the film) filmmaker Dimitri LaBarge, and YouTube for making this video available.
Personally, I'm a bit tired of the "famous people who may have had dyslexia". Some years ago I began compiling a list of more every-day people who have had success, whic you can peruse at High Achieving Dyslexics. The list includes authors, school teachers, university professors, and artists.
Dr. Sawyer mentions "assistive and augmentative communications" products. A more updated list might include (for people with dyslexia who are beyond secondary school, or who are in the workplace:
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