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“‘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...
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...
Old School Concept: Know the Stages of Reading Development
There are three "old school" concepts in education and psychology that I think still apply, which I hope to discuss over the next few weeks. Probably a day does not go by in my professional practice where I am applying these concepts with the kids I have been asked to...
Instructional Ranges: Essential Information
I had the pleasure of recently meeting with the faculty of the Center School, in Abington, Pennsylvania. A school specializing in children with learning disabilities, we reviewed a number of evaluations that had been conducted on children prior to their admission to...