Blog
“Missed Opportunities for Practicing ‘The Skill of…'”
So much of a child’s world can be framed in an ongoing series of different skills. For example, some kids have the “skill of” saying hello and greeting someone they meet for the first time. Others may have the “skill of” manners in social interactions by saying...
Screens, Distractability & ADHD
"Children surrounded by fast-paced visual stimuli (TV, videos, computer games) at the expense of face-to-face adult modeling, interactive language, reflective problem- solving, creative play, and sustained attention may be expected to arrive at school unprepared for...
“Smarts Draining From the Kid’s Ears”
This week I met a real cute, spunky, spirited 7 year old second grader, Noah, who was having the common struggles with reading, spelling and writing. When asked about three wishes he told me, “to be Superman, to fly, and to be able to teleport.” Once he wrote down his...
The Elements of Good Remedial Instruction for Struggling Readers
Last week we talked about how you need to get clear on what it is you are targeting in any type of remedial situation such as tutoring. Continuing that theme, let’s talk about tutoring/learning therapy for Type I (dyslexic) readers. Typically, it is recommended that...
Know What You Are Targeting
As the landscape of struggling children gets more and more complicated, with parents confused to know where to turn or what to do next, I do my best to simplify things. One area to simplify is the reading remediation your child is receiving. Presuming you have had...
“You Can Observe a Lot By Watching”
Yogi Berra - “You can observe a lot by just watching.” One of my big themes is that in the assessment world there is an overplaying of quantitative data. There is too much “Well, the student is in the ‘average range’,” and therefore gets no service or support. Young...
Assessment: Weighing the “Data”
There are many mythologies out there in the land of struggling children. Many of the mythologies reside in the assessment corner of the universe. One of the problems with both dyslexia (and ADHD, for that matter) assessment is there is no agreed upon test, no gold...
Overplaying the IQ
The following is a letter from nine year old Cassie transcribed from her hand-written letter to a relative: Dear Uncl mic: I had a grate time at the lunch/diner. Wer are you getting mered? Haw are you dowing? I love you . Plese rite back (ar you aksw tell ant emmy to...
Clarifying In-Class Support vs. Direct Instruction
Those of you who have been with me for some time, know that I will often have questions when parents talk to me about their child receiving “in-class support” to address the child’s reading issues. Sure, keeping children as close to their regular class as possible and...
Stage III of Reading: Riding the Bike
In the last two posts I talked about the value of understanding the Stages of Reading. As I noted, knowing where your child is in his/her stage of reading development provides you with a road map as to what you need to focus on with your child at any given time. Like...
More Old School Concepts: The Stages Continued
In my previous blog post, I talked about one of my favorite “old school” concepts still valuable, but not discussed enough – The Stages of Reading development. All children pass through these stages, but some progress more smoothly than others. Children who are...