Blog
“Do You Have a ‘Marginally Ready’ Child?”
Over the years, I’ve been a bit of a hoarder. Like most things, there are advantages and disadvantages to this habit. One advantage is that I have held on to different journals that were in the dustbins of Temple University’s renowned Reading Clinic, which at one time...
Understanding & Enhancing Comprehension – (Part II)
Last week's post introduced concepts related to reading comprehension. (Enhancing Reading Comprehension: Part I) As previously noted, comprehension is an interactive process. The interaction involves ideas, concepts, images, background experience, fund of knowledge,...
Reading is not a one-directional process. Instead, it activates our prior knowledge, making the process more interactive than previously understood.
Inside Out 2 Helps Kids Label Their Emotions – Is That a Good Thing?
Is it healthy to label emotions, or are we over-clinicalizing childhood?
504 Plans: Avoid Templated Accommodations
504 plans make a lot of accommodations for children that sound good … until the child finds out, and has other thoughts about it.
Balanced Literacy vs. Bottom-Up Methods: Which is Better?
When they are given nonsensical methods that do not work for them, they remain shut-down and discouraged.
Getting a Roadmap – The Stages of Reading Development (Part 2 of 2)
Regardless of whether the child does or does not have a learning disability, the concept is that a child is somewhere on a continuum from the first stage through to the final stages.
Getting a Roadmap – Knowing the Stages
An “old-school” concept not discussed much anymore, but that is still quite relevant has to do with the “Stages of Reading Development.”
“‘The Blind Men & the Elephant'” #Dyslexia
"It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant Though all of them were blind, That each by observation Might satisfy his mind." The above comes from the parable of "The Blind Men and the Elephant." A group of blind men touch an...
“Does Spelling Matter – Part II” (#Dyselxia)
Last week we raised the question of whether spelling matters (,https://shutdownlearner.com/does-spelling-matter-2/), as the issue of struggling spellers is often dismissed since there are a variety of spell check tools available. Almost always, struggling spelling is...
Does Spelling Matter?
Georgia is a lively, spontaneous and friendly 10-year- old student entering the fifth grade. Cognitive testing placed her between the average to above average range for most of the domains assessed. Spelling and writing were a different story for her. Here are some...