What I Wished Every Parent and Teacher Knew about Dyslexia

Today is Blogging for Kids with Disabilities Day.

What I wished every parent (and teacher) knew about dyslexia and teaching reading.

• Dyslexia is a spectrum disorder
• Dyslexia affects more than reading
• Dyslexia needs to be addressed before the child fails (instead of waiting for failure, as the law now reads)
  
• Dyslexia can and should be screened for as early as kindergarten
• Dyslexia can be ameliorated with specific teaching methods
• Most teachers do not understand the fundamentals of language, because they are not taught in schools of education
• Most teachers do not understand the fundamentals of teaching reading, because they are not taught in the schools of education
• Eye exercises, balance exercises, motion-sickness medication, and tinted lenses or overlays are a waste of time and money
• It is in the child's best interest to get a private psychoeducational evaluation, rather than relying upon the school district.
• It is better to be too aggressive in treating dyslexia rather than taking a wait-and-see attitude.

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from the National Right to Read Foundation
What is Developmentally Appropriate?
Treatment intervention research has shown that appropriate early direct instruction seems to be the best medicine for reading problems. Reading is not developmental or natural, but is learned. Reading disabilities reflect a persistent deficit, rather than a developmental lag in linguistic (phonological) skills and basic reading skills. Children who fall behind at an early age (K and grade 1) fall further and further behind over time. Longitudinal studies show that of the children who are diagnosed as reading disabled in third grade, 74% remain disabled in ninth grade.... These findings contradict the prevalent notion that children will begin to learn to read when they are "ready."

The concept "developmentally appropriate" should not suggest delaying intervention, but using appropriate instructional strategies at an early age—especially in kindergarten. Although we now have the ability to identify children who are at-risk for reading failure, and we now understand some of the instructional conditions that must be considered for teaching, the majority of reading disabilities are not identified until the third grade.
Early Identification and Treatment
The best predictor in K or 1st grade of a future reading disability in grade 3 is a combination of performance on measures of phonemic awareness, rapid naming of letters, numbers, and objects, and print awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to segment words and syllables into constituent sound units, or phonemes. Converging evidence from all the research centers show that deficits in phonemic awareness reflect the core deficit in reading disabilities. These deficits are characterized by difficulties in segmenting syllables and words into constituent sound units called phonemes—in short, there is a difficulty in turning spelling into sounds. Lack of phonemic awareness seems to be a major obstacle for learning to read. This is true for any language, even Chinese. About 2 in 5 children have some level of difficulty with phonemic awareness. For about 1 in 5 children phonemic awareness does not develop or improve over time. These children never catch up but fall further and further behind in reading and in all academic subjects

Examples of phonemic awareness tasks    

• Phoneme deletion: What word would be left if the /k/ sound were taken away from cat?    
• * Word to word matching: Do pen and pipe begin with the same sound?    
• * Blending: What word would we have if you put these sounds together: /s/, /a/, /t/?    
• * Sound isolation: What is the first sound in rose?    
• * Phoneme segmentation: What sounds do you hear in the word hot?    
• * Phoneme counting: How many sounds do you hear in the word cake?    
• * Deleting phonemes: What sound do you hear in meat that is missing in eat?
• Odd word out: What word starts with a different sound: bag, nine, beach, bike?     *
• Sound to word matching: Is there a /k/ in bike?

What should be in a psychoeducational evaluation? 

Margaret Kay has written an article,  Preparation of a Psycho-educational Evaluation Report, that all parents should read. Writing first in the Perspectives (published by The International Dyslexia Association.), and reprinted in the invaluable Wrightslaw, Marianne S. Meyer tells parents What to Expect From an Evaluation

A good evaluation for a leaning disability is not as simple as "having your child tested". First, it requires preparation on your part. You must choose an appropriate professional, provide a clear statement of your (or a teacher's) concerns, and produce records for review. You should be prepared to give a thorough and accurate prenatal, birth, motor, and medical background as well as details about speech/language development, social development, and family history. Finally, you or one or more of the child's teachers may be asked to complete checklists that will profile your child's attentional style. Supplying this information will determine the nature and scope of the evaluation. The process is methodical, and cannot be rushed! So plan ahead, allowing time to collect the necessary information and schedule appointments.

Initially, the term "Matthew Effect" was coined to describe the phenomenon of general decline on tests that measure accumulated verbal learning in children with unremediated reading disabilities. Children who cannot read to learn new information suffer from a lack of exposure to content and their verbal IQ test scores often fall over time. Children with limited reading skills are often placed in low groups in regular education classes, which leads to further educational deprivation. In many cases, the Verbal IQ scores of these children go down over time, rather than remaining stable, as is typically found in the general population.

The rest of the blogging for kids gang:

Bloggers who are already on board:
Sam Crane
Elizabeth Carnell who tells me that its ADHD day
Big Balagan
Tamar
Liz Ditz
Jeannette
Ancarett

Comments

[KDTEACH]

I am gratified to finally find someone to articulate what I have been feeling for a long time. As a Spec, Ed. teacher, I have taken it upon myself to seek out and be trained in systematic, multi-sensory, phonetically based reading programs. I have been trained in Phono-Graphix, Project Read, and Wilson. I am totally frustrated by the inability of many teachers who are teaching reading to primary grade children, but have little or no knowledge about sounds and the correct way to say sounds. While this may be OK for the majority of students, the ones who are struggling will struggle even more. Colleges that prepare primary teachers, must do a better job.

[jason alster]

Hello-from Israel- a movie on natural techniques helping adhd and test anxiety

Dear Parent , educator, student, therapist- thank you for your attention- I would like to mention that a new video/kit from Israel on natural solutions to help ADHD
"Being in Control: Natural Solutions for ADHD, Dyslexia, and Test
Anxiety" ( Video/book/biofeedback kit) by Jason Alster MSc ISBN 9659025130.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9659025130/
and
"BEING IN CONTROL- Natural Techniques For Increasing Your Potential And Creativity For Success In School" ( book as single item)
(ISBN-9659025114)" ( different ISBN)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9659025114/

About Jason Alster
http://www.geocities.com/jasonalster
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ADHD-Dyslexia-Israel/

Do you, your child, or client want to be a better student? Is it hard for you to sit quietly in class and concentrate? Do you have a problem preparing homework? Do you want to pass exams with less pressure? Then this movie/book /kit may be for just for you. Taking the concepts, techniques, and exercises from the original book "BEING IN CONTROL- Natural Techniques For Increasing Your Potential And Creativity For Success In School"
(ISBN-9659025114)" ( different ISBN) and making them come alive with a 40 minute video rendition. The book/ video/ kit portrays in a "roadmap" format topics for improving relaxed concentration for the classroom and when preparing homework -like increasing self confidence; relaxed concentration; seated yoga; creativity; time management; organisation of material; sensory integration; using our senses to relax; biofeedback; games; better cursive handwriting; speed reading; test taking strategies and more. In addition to the CD ROM and book- the kit also includes 2 finger size temperature strips biofeedback monitors used by many biofeedback practitioners for measuring relaxation- stress levels. Produced and edited with Windows Movie Maker 2 and can be played on Windows Media Player.

Also by Jason Alster- Creative Painting For The Young Artist
a book for helping children learn to develop an artistic eye.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9659025122/
( I am also seeking reviewers as well as distributors in association with Amazon.com)

[Kenny]

I am glad that you are promoting awareness about dyslexia and learning differences.
Our school systems often don't individualize the educational planning and may miss many kids with dyslexia and other LDs.