Dyslexia/Reading & Learning Disabilities

Reading Disability & a Confused Mom: Getting Clear on the Focus

by | Oct 30, 2015 |

There’s a lot in this business that gets me rolling my eyes. Too often when I talk to parents about what is going on with their child, I feel my cranky meter rising.

Take, Patricia, the mom of 7 year old Beth Anne.

Patricia plopped a stack of reports on my desk.

“Since she was 4, we’ve been on this mission to help her,” Patricia said. “She just isn’t making progress in reading and the gap is widening.”
“What have you done,” I asked.

“We first saw an OT (occupational therapist) who identified sensory issues and suggested we get Interactive Metronome Therapy. Then we heard about a person who administered special colored lenses for reading and someone else who suggested a different vision treatment. After that, an audiologist found central auditory processing disorder and recommended that we go to her office for a year of computer treatment to address the “auditory” issues. Then we saw a neurologist who wanted to put her on medication for ADHD. Really, my head is spinning and I don’t know what to do.”

“Has anyone suggested that they teach the child to read,” I asked.

“Not really,” she said. “I keep getting all of these treatment recommendations, but very few have said anything that makes sense regarding reading. I am really feeling overwhelmed by all of this and don’t know what direction to go.”

As I looked over the reports and recommendations, it was clear that Beth Anne needed sensible reading remediation.

If reading is the primary concern, then that should be the target of treatment/remediation.
To hit a tennis ball better, you wouldn’t go for swimming lessons. Why is reading any different? Reading is a skill that can be taught and practiced.

Professionals will see things from the window of their own specialty (e.g., auditory, visual, medical). The more narrow the window, the more narrow the recommendation.

Get clear on what you are remediating and why before you commit a significant amount of time and money.
Takeaway Point

If you are seeking treatment from different professionals, make sure you’re asking the professional exactly what the goals of the treatment are and how the program can deliver these goals.

Make sure you’re comfortable with whether your questions are being answered. Be certain that there is a match between your areas of concern in the program being recommended. Does the program pass the commonsense test? If it does not, you may want to think twice before proceeding.

Adapted: “School Struggles, “ Richard Selznick, Ph.D. (2012, Sentient Publications) www.shutdownlearner.com

Shutting Down Early

by | Oct 9, 2015 |

“It’s getting late early.”  Yogi Berra

Anxiety over your child’s school-based problems can start fairly early.  A mom recently contacted me after reading The Shut-down Learner.

“My son is drowning in school.  You think he could be a shut-down learner?”

When I wrote  The Shut-Down Learner, I was largely envisioning disconnected, shut-down teenagers.  However, as I gave more talks to parents, many of the concerns being raised centered on young children.  This led me to understand that so much of the import of The Shut-Down learner is to determine how we can prevent this shutting down from happening as early as possible.

Cracks in the Foundation can appear very early and can be easily identified by 4 or 5 years of age.  Classic cracks can include weaknesses with identifying letters and their sounds, along with difficulty with language-based tasks, such as rhyming.

When the cracks are ignored, time goes by and typically there is a sense that the issues are widening and getting more significant and difficult to manage.

Targeting letter naming and sound identification with good individualized instruction would be very appropriate if your child has been shown to have some of these cracks in kindergarten.

There is no gain in waiting.

Takeaway point

Start early.  While your child may not be technically shut-down when he is in kindergarten or first grade, acting early is a key factor in heading off later shut-down qualities and further school struggling.

Adapted:  “Schools Struggles,” by Richard Selznick, Ph.D (2012) Sentient Publications

Reading Acquisition: Playing the Notes & the Chords

by | Jun 26, 2015 |

The field of learning disabilities/dyslexia can be overwhelming to parents.  There is so much terminology and confusion out there, much of it is unnecessary.  It is a mission of mine to try and make the obtuse clear, to put things in terms that parents can understand.

Frequently, I use metaphors to explain different concepts to parents.  One of my favorite is that learning to read really isn’t that much different than learning how to play music.  First, you need to learn the notes.  Then you learn some chords and soon you are playing simple pieces of music.  Once you have learned the simple pieces, you can tackle more complex ones.

Is learning to read that much different?

I don’t think so.

First, the child learns the letters, then the sounds that go with the letters.  Once these skils have been internalized, the child can learn basic words (chords), which leads to actual reading (playing the music).

Recently, I went through old files and came upon an article from the NY Times that I saved called:  “How Learning to Read is Like Learning to Play the Piano.”  The article centered on the Windward School, a special private school for dyslexic children in Westchester County, NY.

The article discussed the philosophy of Windward and the difference between the work that they did and more traditional teaching of reading.

“The most important difference,” the article stated,  “is that the school [Windward] views reading and writing not as things that human beings are “naturally wired”  to do, but as acquired skills –like driving or playing the piano – that require structured practice and constant conceptual reinforcement.  Phillis Bertin, director of reading for the Windward’s teacher Training Institute, believes that many children who fall behind are “curriculum disabled” by schools that do not know how to teach them.’

Takeaway Point:

Reading instruction and the acquisition of the skills is not that different than learning any other skill, like playing the piano.  A good instructor will break things down for you and directly teach skills to practice over time until they are mastered.

Now go work on those notes and scales!

 

 

 

Dyslexia Screening & Other Updates

by | Jan 23, 2015 |

Hi Gang:

A little news and updates:

Dyslexia Screening Book Released

I’m excited to announce the release of my new book, “Dyslexia Screening: Essential Concepts For Schools and Parents.” In paperback, the book is available through www.shutdownlearner.com and will soon be available as an e-book on Amazon and Barnes and Nobel.

I’ve had nice comments about the book:

“Dyslexia Screening:  Essential Concepts for Schools & Parents is a perfect compendium that enables educators to take a proactive stance in the early identification and remediation of dyslexia.  Steven G. Feifer, D.Ed., ABSNP – 2009 National School Psychologist of the Year”

“Dyslexia Screening:  Essential Concepts for Schools & Parents really helped our district get a handle on dyslexia – what it is, how to detect it and what to do about it, especially as we needed to implement the new state law.”  Patricia Moulton, M.S.W. Special Education Coordinator, Brooklawn School District”

“I wanted to let you how much I enjoyed your book. I especially appreciated that you point out the qualitative observations that should take place during assessment that can be so incredibly crucial. For example, using marks to show that a student took a long time to decode a word, even if they decoded it correctly was valuable. Your book will be a great resource for teachers/districts who are so reluctant or so nervous to identify struggling students.  Kelli Sandman-Hurley, Ed.D.  Dyslexia Training Institute

School Struggles: Radio Show on The Coffee Klatch Network

I’ve had some great guests on “School Struggles,” on the Coffee Klatch Network. Some of the more recent ones include:

·    Kelli Sandman-Hurley & Tracy Block-Zaretsky, co-founders the Dyslexia Training Institute. The title of the talk was, “Dyslexia Intervention: What Every Parent Should Know.”

·  Susan Zimmerman, author of “7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help your kids Read It and Get It.” We discussed, “Helping Your Kids with Reading Comprehension.”

·  Dr. Ellen Braaten, author of “Bright Kids Who Can’t Keep Up,” spoke in a two-part interview about the effects of processing speed in the classroom and at home.

· Nationally known parenting expert,  John Rosemond, the author of numerous books spoke about his most recent, “Helping Your Child Succeed in School.”

·   Ben Foss, spoke about his book, “The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan: a Blueprint for Renewing Your Child’s Confidence

·   Special education attorney, Dennis McAndews, discussed the development of IEP’s, 504 plans and what parents need to know about these.

Mark the Date:

4/25 The Cooper Learning Center will be hosting their second annual “Facets of Dyslexia” conference. For more information go to: http://www.cooperlearningcenter.org.

“But, Does She Have Dyslexia?”

by | Dec 29, 2014 |

Lauren is an 8 year old child in the first half of the third grade who I recently evaluated, just before the start of her school year. My evaluation found Lauren to be a somewhat inefficient reader, although almost all of the scores obtained on her fell solidly in an average range.

In the conclusion of the report I said something like, “While a formal diagnosis of reading disability (dyslexia) was not offered at this time…” and hedged my bets a bit. I did recommend Orton-based tutoring to help solidify her skills. Fortunately, none of my students has any serious disability requiring NDIS services or other similar support schemes.

I explained the data that I had to Lauren’s parents, but some time afterward they called back with the question that I occasionally dread, “But does she have dyslexia?” The reason I dread the question is I am often unsure. There are kids who fall in a grey zone or they have not had any legitimate intervention to see how they would respond.

In spite of all of the “science” and good work in this field, this assessment process and the “diagnosis” is not an exact science and “dyslexia” is not something that shows up like a broken bone on an x-ray.

Here’s what I said to the mom in a subsequent letter clarifying my positon

Looking to the information derived from the Word Identification subtest of the Woodcock, it is clear from the way in which she responded that Lauren has memorized a fair number of “high-frequency” words. However, once the reading of words goes beyond Lauren’s sight memory, Lauren was seen to have difficulty. For example, words such as the following proved to be challenging for Lauren: hurry, largest, expert, evening and passage.

Similar functioning was noted when Lauren was presented with nonsense words assessing her phonological decoding skills. Particularly noteworthy was the fact that Lauren read many of the nonsense words correctly, but did so very inefficiently. Thus, there was a significant amount of time between the presentation of the word and Lauren’s ultimate response.

In context, from an informal reading inventory, Lauren was observed to read in a choppy and slow manner within a second grade range, although most of the words from that level passage were read accurately and her comprehension was good. The third grade level passage proved to be very challenging and difficult for her.

As I had indicated in my original report, I do believe that Lauren continues to need solidifying of her basic decoding skills and reading fluency to improve her foundation of reading skills. Particularly important would be the development of Lauren’s multisyllabic decoding skill.

My best suggestion would be to continue to provide Lauren with as much targeted instruction focusing on enhancing her core skills. I would then reevaluate her toward the end of the school year with an informal reading inventory, as well as word reading efficiency tasks.

In my estimation from the combined data Lauren does appear to be a “borderline” child in terms of the issue of whether she does maintain a legitimate reading disability. Since reading disability/dyslexia is a spectrum that goes from mild to severe, it is sometimes difficult to know just where the cut-off is in terms of the presence or absence of such a disability. Depending upon how Lauren responds to instructional intervention would add greater information to whether Lauren does, in fact, maintain a learning/reading disability (dyslexia).

After reading the letter that I sent, the mom called back with a follow-up question.

“But, does she have dyslexia?”

 

 

 

Brief Tip: Get Clear on Your Reading Remediation

by | Dec 19, 2014 |

There are essentially two types of reading problems:

Type I: This type refers to the child who has trouble decoding words and reading fluently.  They are typically viewed as “dyslexic.”  Even though they are typically called “dyslexic,” I like to call them “Type I Readers.”

Type II:  This is the other type. These kids are not dyslexic. They can read fluently, but have difficulty understanding what they have read. I don’t have a name for them. This is why I’m calling them, “Type II.”

If you are in the position to be seeking remediation through tutoring or learning therapy, it is important that you get clear on what you are targeting; that is, don’t scattershot you remediation by doing a little of this and a little of facts.

Good testing data should help you get clear on what you need to have emphasized.

Be laser-focused in your approach so you can hit the right target.

 

 

Adapted “School Struggles,”  Richard Selznick, PhD (2012 Sentient Publications).

 

 

Reading Problems: A Brief Primer in Two Acts

by | Nov 21, 2014 |

I often think there is needless complication in the field relative to the varieties of issues that children present. From the perspective of having seen tons of kids over the years, I typically see two essential types of reading problems. Each one requires a different treatment approach.  I call them Type I or Type II Readers.

Type I Readers

Type I Readers are the ones typically referred to as “dyslexic,” as they have difficulty with word decoding, that is the translation of letters and parts of words into their spoken equivalent. They also have reading fluency issues, that is they read very inefficiently.

Years of clinical experience and a tremendous body of research highlights that phonological decoding is a cornerstone skill for adequacy in school. Acquiring the skill is a major goal in the early elementary grades.

The vast majority of children referred for special education assessments have Type I issues.

Type I kids do not respond to typical classroom instructional methods for developing reading, such as literature-based approaches. They need to have the skill of phonological decoding taught directly and systematically with multisensory, language-based approaches. Almost always, these children have associated deficits with spelling and written expression.

Type II Readers

Quite different than Type I readers are ones in this category,  referred to as Type II Readers. These kids decode and read fluently. There is none of the word-reading inefficiencies or oral reading fluency issues common to the first type. They just have trouble understanding what they have read. Similar to Type I, this proiblem can be mild, moderate or more severe.

With Type II, frequently, other language problems are underlying, such as weaknesses with vocabulary. When these children are asked questions about what they read, they often stare blankly with very little understanding. They often miss the details and subtlety of the text and have trouble with higher-order reasoning questions, such as with inferencing and drawing conclusions.

Similar to the Type I child, the Type II children also need to be taught systematically and directly strategies for processing information and comprehending. Training these children to more actively visualize and to create more visual anchors in the way that they may take notes from their reading are good points of instructional emphasis.  There are many other skills that Type II children can be taught.

Takeaway Points:

If you simplify things a bit, you will find that there are two essential types of reading problems. These Types can be a identified with a good assessment. Once you have identified what type of reading problem child has, then this will help guide what to do next in terms of future remediation and instruction.

(Adapted from “The Shut-Down Learner,” Richard Selznick, Ph.D (2009 Sentient Publications) 

 

 

Dyslexia – “We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident”

by | Oct 17, 2014 |

Dyslexia – “We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident”

I am not pretending here to be the Thomas Jefferson of learning disabilities, but to borrow a phrase from that famous document that he authored (you know the one), where it was said “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” here are a few truths of reading disability (dyslexia):

Not All Dyslexic Kids Are Created Equal –  These kids come in all shapes and sizes from all kinds of different family styles.  The issues of concern are on a gradient from mild to more moderate and severe.

Instructional Range Matters –  One of the biggest issues of concern is the fact that these children are swimming in tough waters and given work above their head.  In short, they are often drowning.  Work given (especially homework and independent reading) needs to be within a comfortable instructional range. Do you know your child’s comfortable instructional level?

No One Method of Remediation  –  Research has never supported one particular brand of instruction over another.  There are many good methods that follow the best principles.  These methods typically fall under the umbrella of the Orton-Gillingham based approaches.  There are many of  these Orton-style methods on the market.  As Dr. Jeanne Chall noted, these kids need good “decoding-emphasis work.”

Dyslexia is Largely a “Big Word” Disability –  I would imagine most of you can quickly read this word I made up – “flotenashingly.”  How come you can read that? If you don’t have dyslexia, it’s a piece of cake.  You know how to break words down into their parts.  You’ve internalized “the code.”  Dyslexics haven’t.  Simple as that.

Fluency is Tough to Crack:  I’ve seen kids Orton-ed  to death and their decoding has improved.  Reading fluency (the ability to read smoothly and not laboriously), however, often still lags behind and is extremely difficult to overcome.

Dyslexia is Not a Score – You can have average range scores and still be a very inefficient reader.  The only way to know this would be to listen to the child read on reliable measures of reading.  While scores matter, they do not tell the whole story.  How is the child reading when you listen to him?

“Dyslexia” is Possibly a Misnomer – I know I may be moving into sacrilegious territory here, but in many ways the term “dyslexia” does not describe the problem.  It’s not a “reading problem.”  It’s 99.99% of the time a “reading, spelling and writing problem.”  What should we call that?

Level of Severity Drives Level of Intervention –  For the kids with realtively mild decoding/fluency issues you can probably have them work in a small group (up to four, let’s say) a couple of sessions a week and you would see progress.  For the ones who are more moderate to severe, those kids need remediation much more intensively (preferably one on one) on a daily basis, if possible.

Well, I hope you like your  “Declaration of Dyslexa-pendence.”

Tom

The Commutative Property of Childhood (and Dyslexia)

by | Oct 9, 2014 |

A dad came in this week to talk about his struggling 8 year old, Anna, who just started third grade.  Anna has reading fluency issues, with particular difficulty managing words that are “low frequency.”  Even in this early part of the school year Anna is welling up with tears feeling that she is dumb.  She is starting to break down each night during homework.

A recent worksheet gives us a glimpse into why Anna feels the way she does:

                Find each missing number.  Solve for n.  Identify the property.

1.      6 + 5 = n, 5 + 6 = n

a. n = 11, Commutative Property of Addition

b. n = 11, Associative Property of Addition

c. n =   2,  Commutative Property of Addition

d. n = 24, Associative Property of Addition

2.       4 +  (3 +3)  = n, (4 + 3) + 3 = n

a. n  = 10, Commutative Property of Addition

b. n  = 10, Associative Property of Addition

c. n  =   6,  Associative Property of Addition

d. n  =   7  Commutative Property of Addition

Yeesh!!!

On and on it went –  a  drab, dry slab of problems (about 20 of them), that looked more like a typical 11th grader’s algebra.

This is a far cry from problems such as, “There were twelve ducks on the pond and five flew away.  How many were left?” which is about where I thought beginning struggling third graders were in their development.

Beside the fact that Anna had no ability to read the text above, she had little to no understanding of what the problems meant (neither did I, by the way).  There was a big “-12” at the top of Anna’s page.  That was it.  There was no other feedback – no supportive comments, such as “Let’s go over this together.”  Just a “-12.”

Man, it can be tough out there in child land.

That’s the “commutative property” of childhood.

Dyslexia: It Comes From Some Place

by | Sep 12, 2014 |

A very common question that parents will ask me of their child who is showing signs of dyslexia is “Why?  Where does it come from?”

As suggested in International Dyslexia Association definition of dyslexia it states that it is likely to be of “neurobiological origin.”

Sometimes I will hear parents confusing that term, “neurobiological” with something like “neurological dysfunction” or some type of brain disorder.

I rarely think the child who I evaluated with dyslexia as having a brain disorder.  Rather it seems to be a familial predisposition that is playing out with one or more of the children.

Take George, a successful photographer and videographer running his own company.  People are always amazed by the textures and tones of the work that he produces.  What people don’t know about George is that he has always struggled with reading and writing.  (Since he tends to feel embarrassed about this fact, he usually doesn’t disclose this to too many people.)

When George and his wife Katherine had their first child, Megan, she sailed right along with the early learning activities.  Reading skills unfolded naturally.  Not so, their second child, Robert.   Robert resisted most of the preschool activities that involved reading and in first grade it became quickly apparent that Robert was going to have a much tougher ride learning how to read than the other children in his class.  The school was reluctant to test him so early suggesting that it was only because he was a boy and maybe the parents needed to go for an “ADD” assessment.  They were astonished by the ADD suggestion because Robert didn’t show any of the behavioral features that they thought involved ADD.

They then sought a private opinion. While reviewing the history, George spoke about how hard it was for him as a child, painfully recounting the shame and embarrassment that accompanied all of the school experiences that he remembered (like they were yesterday).

Robert was exactly like he was when he was in school. They struggled in the same areas. They also had very similar strengths in spatial/mechanical thinking.

In other words, it (the dyslexia) comes from some place.  This is something that you can never know 100%, but this type of scenario with George and Robert are extremely common.

As a takeaway point, try and move away from dysfunction/disabiltiy thinking and move more toward “predisposition.”  That type of thinking takes some of the edge off of it.

One more piece of advice, always remember to blame the male side of the gene pool!!!!

 

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