Dyslexia/Reading & Learning Disabilities

Language Overload: “Daddy’s Tied Up in Traffic”

by | Jul 25, 2014 |

Many struggling kids have considerable trouble with facets of the language that many of us take for granted.

Take Allison, age 8. One night Allison was told by her mother that her father was, “tied up in traffic.” Allison burst into tears. “Why is daddy being tied up?” she sobbed.

It took her mother some time to explain to Allison that her father wasn’t actually being tied up and that this was an expression – a way of getting one’s point across with words that show picture images.

So many kids have difficulty with the subtle and not-so-subtle aspects of language. Kids like Allison can be easily overloaded with too many words hitting them at once and having no place in their “mental closet” to store such words or expressions. That’s why I’m glad that there sites online such as the Effortless English Club that can help people (kids and adults) learn to speak English properly.

The effect of having difficulty with metaphorical language usually appears with reading comprehension or mathematic word problems. Such difficulty also becomes apparent with inferencing, reading between the lines, and drawing conclusions.

We use language very freely, and quite often it just “washes over the child’s head.” Is it any wonder that so many shut-down learner children appear distracted and zoned out in class?

They are literally “language overloaded.”

More often than not this “zoning out” results in the often repeated recommendation to parents that says, “We can’t diagnose, but don’t you think the child to be checked out for ADD?”

The meta-message of the recommendation is that the child needs to be on medication. Sadly, when most of these children land in the neurologist’s office they leave with a prescription based on the symptoms that were given.  The language processing variables are rarely considered.

So,  if your child is not “steering her boat” or is “wandering in the desert aimlessly,” or “spinning her wheels in the mud,” consider that perhaps you are overwhelming your child with too much language and too many metaphors.  It’s just too much.

Takeaway Point

Is your child someone who has trouble with too much language?   Does she seem confused when you use figurative language? As adults, there are so many phrases that we take for granted, but that go over a child’s head resulting  in confusion or inattentiveness.

Take nothing for granted with the language that you use. You may want to target the child’s skill in this area by having a figurative example of the week. For example, while driving along you may want to say something like, “You know we can kill two birds with one stone by going to the store.” Without overdoing it (often done by parents), try to elicit from what the expression might mean and whether the child has any idea of its meaning.

Before you know it she will have many more “tools in her tool chest” to draw upon as her experience with figurative language or other forms of language increase.

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

For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – contact@shutdownlearner.com.

To receive free Dyslexia Infographics and updates, go to: www.shutdownlearner.com.

“My Child is in Early Stage I of Reading Development: What Do I Do?”

by | Jul 7, 2014 |

Stage I of reading development (Google, Jeanne Chall) typically corresponds to the end of kindergarten through the end of first grade. This is the first major “learning to read” stage. Your child usually starts Stage I when they can do the following:

  • Recognize all upper and lower case letters automatically (in isolation when randomly presented).
  • Knows the appropriate sounds associated with the letters.
  • Knows a handful of high frequency words (i.e., sight words)
I think of this stage as one where the child is just learning how to ride a bike. Just as in learning to ride a bike, the child will be wobbly for quite some time. She may start to fall off, but you are there for support. If you aren’t sure how to tackle this yourself then it might be a good idea to consider enrolling your child into a preschool brentwood ca or something similar to get some professional help with developing your childs reading development.
However, avoid putting too much pressure on your child when it comes to reading or learning new things. Children take their own sweet time acclimating to new situations. The reason is it is quite evident that children who have had very strict parents or who have gone through a lot of things like abuse in any manner in their childhood tend to be depressed. They are not able to focus on anything. If you notice any of these symptoms in your child, you can choose to refer a pediatric therapist from Kinspire or any other pediatric developmental health care who might be able to help your child to deal with their anxiety at such a young age.
Anyway, to help children progress in this stage, the following tips should prove helpful:
  • Practice a lot of sight words (see next handout). There are lists that help organize the high frequency words
  • Expose child to words that follow consistent patterns. Initially, words that are one syllable and have a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern (e.g., set, got, fit) should be used.
  • Stay away from multisyllabic words in Stage I (e.g., words like largest, porcupine, calendar would not be appropriate), unless the word is taught as a sight word.(e.g., a word like little or summer),
  • Read material that controls for the type of words in the text. Lots of early Dr. Seuss, for example is very good (e.g., Cat in the Hat).
  • Let your child read easy material (for her) out loud to you about 10 minutes or so per night.
  • Keep it light and fun. Watch any tension leaking in to the reading aloud session. Your job is to help boost confidence at this point.
If the teacher gives out worksheets (or reading) that are above your child’s level, politely talk to the teacher and tell her that working at frustration level is not appropriate.

A Few Problems With the ‘D’ Word: That’s Right – “Dyslexia”

by | Jun 6, 2014 |

One of the problems with the word “dyslexia” is the rampant confusion that goes along with the it.  If you ask anyone you know what they understand about dyslexia, I would predict that almost without exception, you will get something like, “Isn’t that when you read upside down and backward…or you reverse all those letters.”

Another misconception is the what I call the “broken bone” concept.  That is, dyslexia is viewed like a broken bone that can be pulled up on some objective x-ray with an objective determination that can be made as to whether the child does or does not have it.

Recently, dyslexia as a concept exploded in the state of New Jersey.  Whereas the term before was sort of like Voldemort  from Harry Potter (“He who shall remain nameless.”), now everyone is dyslexia focused.    I get a lot of, “So, Doc, tell it to me straight – does he have it?”

I try to do the best I can to educate people and help shake out certain misguided notions long held as truth.

I will say things like:

“Reading difficulty is a continuum, from mild, moderate to more severe.   It’s hard to say if these children who have just a little bit of reading difficulty are really dyslexic.”

“It’s not like a broken bone…there  is no X-Ray that tells us, “yes the person has it” or “no, he does not.  It’s the weighing of a lot of different  variables to come up with a reasonable conclusion.”

“Dyslexia is mostly tied into parental predisposition.  So if one or the other parent struggled with reading, spelling and writing, chances are pretty good one of the children will also show signs of struggling.”

“Really, it (dyslexia) represents difficulty identifying words accurately and fluently.  Very little has to do with the reversals.”

No matter what, though, it’s very hard to shake the perception at the heart of people’s thinking regarding reversal and the upside down view of things.

It’s tough to shake these concepts from peoples’ mental tree.

 

Lifting Dyslexic Weights

by | May 30, 2014 |

A mom came in this week to talk about young Caroline, age 7, a second grader.    The mom had a stack of material to show me.  There was the math worksheet filled with word problems with the red 34% at the top of the page, with all kinds of ‘X’ marks throughout.

Benchmark reading assessments were also in the stack, suggesting various comprehension problems (although I wasn’t so sure the issue was “comprehension”).  Then there were the pages and pages of writing samples.  Spelling problems were everywhere.  There were no complete sentences. Teacher comment such as, “needs to follow directions,” and  “needs to pay attention,” were sprinkled on different samples.

Caroline did not have an attention problem.

The problem was that she couldn’t handle the work being given to her.  The work was clearly at Caroline’s frustration level.

There are three levels to pay attention to when it comes to reading/writing.  These levels  include the following:

Independent level: the level where it is easy for the child and no assistance is needed to perform the task. Think of lifting weights. This would be the level that is easy and very doable-no sweat.  (“I can lift those weights, no problem.”)

Instructional level: the level that is somewhat challenging, but pretty manageable. Within this range the child can mostly perform the task, but needs a degree of assistance. With the weightlifting analogy, the child can handle the weights fairly well, but starts to get winded after some repetitions.  (“I can lift these mostly, but they may be a tiny bit difficult.”)

Frustration level: within this level the work is simply too hard. The weights are too much to lift – no can do. (“Wow…you want me to lift those???  No way.”)

Caroline was being asked to lift weights that were too hard for her on a regular basis.

Becoming increasingly frustrated, Caroline was also showing signs of increased anxiety.  “She dreads going to school in the morning,“ said her mother.  “It’s such a shame.  She used to bound into school.”

No one likes to do things that are frustrating and overwhelmingly difficult.  You might try once or twice to lift the heavy weights, but soon you just stop.  It’s too much.

What’s the answer?  Certainly providing Caroline with good, remedial instruction will be essential.  But in the day-to-day of school, the material being given to Caroline needs to be monitored.

Seven year old’s should not be dreading school, nor feeling overwhelming stress.

If the weights are too hard to lift, then they need to be lightened up.

 

 

Tag:  dyslexia, learning disbality, frustration

What’s the One Thing Struggling Kids Need?

by | Mar 28, 2014 |

Kids who are struggling feel like they are constantly running up hill while the other kids are on an easy downward slope.   

In this day and age of Student Growth Percentiles, Common Core and PARCC testing what is the one thing that the struggling kids need above all?

They need people to be patient with them, to ease up on all of the pressure.

Sometimes they get burned out with it all.

Turn down the heat this weekend.

Take your kid out for an ice cream cone.

In the Head & Out of the Head Factors

by | Feb 28, 2014 |

When parents come in to talk about their kids and why they are struggling there are the common list of factors that are usually discussed.  Some of these include:

  • Poor phonemic awareness
  • Limited decoding skills
  • Weak fluency
  • Family predisposition toward dyslexia and/or ADHD
  • Weak attention skills
  • Weak sustained mental effort/executive functioning
  • Weak language processing skills

The list can go on easily with at least 50 more cognitive (“in the head”) variables contributing to school struggling.

We tend to focus on those factors.  We medicate, remediate and accommodate these.  Sometimes we over-focus on them.

What about the “out of the head” variables?  These are important too.

Out of the head variables include the dreadful parade of worksheets given to the kids who can’t handle them.  They also include the school’s being required to adhere to a curriculum (Common Core) that seems to be sucking the joy out of education by teaching reading in a robotic fashion with little attention paid toward literature and the sheer joy of exploring new ideas.

Data drives all.  

“Come on, kid. It’s time to get in line with the program.  We have to chart Student Growth Objectives or we will get slammed.” 

Love of learning?  Who can quantify that?  That’s so yesterday.

All of this data driven education is fine for the 60%, the ones who are on what I call the “smooth road.”  They can handle virtually all of what is given to them whether it is stultifying or not. 

For the rest, the ones on the “rougher road,” just remember it’s not all in their head.

Updates From Dr. Selznick & Shut-Down Learner

by | Dec 20, 2013 |

Dyslexia Teleseminar:

Do you have questions about dyslexia/reading disabilities?  Of course you do!  Then join me for an open-forum teleseminar.    

Bring your questions for an open chat and dialogue. 

The seminar is free and is scheduled for 1/13 @ 7:30 p.m. (est). 

Here’s the link to register:

https://shutdownlearner.com/news-and-updates/2013/12/teleseminar-down-to-earth-dyslexia

Hope to see you “In the Room.”

 

Recent Radio Interviews:

I am excited to share with you recent radio interviews that I conducted with exciting  guests on topics related to learning disabilities, dyslexia & ADHD:

  • James Redford:  Director,  “The Big Picture:  Rethinking Dyslexia”

I interviewed James Redford, director and producer of the movie:  The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia.  Mr. Redford was a great guest discussing his family’s journey to help his son overcome his struggles with dyslexia:

https://shutdownlearner.com/news-and-updates/2013/12/interview-with-james-redford-the-big-picture-rethinking-dyslexia

 

  • Dr. Betty Osman:  Psychologist & Author:  “No One to Play With:  The Social Side of Learning Disabilities”

In this interview Dr. Osman and I talk about the relationship between learning disabilities and social problems.  She has many insights and offers much wisdom.

https://shutdownlearner.com/inthemedia/2013/12/no-one-to-play-with-the-social-side-of-learning-disabilities

 

 

I would like to wish all of my friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year

A Frantic Mom: A Small, One Act Play

by | Dec 13, 2013 |

The Mom:

(Coming in to the office for the first time sounding very frantic.)

“Maybe I am overstressed, but I am starting to lose it. I have three kids.  The first two were on what you called the ‘smooth’ road.’  They started out in kindergarten fine, learned their sight words and then everything started to come together.  They never had any problems.”

“Then, my third came along, and maybe it’s because we don’t pay attention to her as much as we did the other two, but something just isn’t right.  I know she’s only in first grade, but the stuff they put on the walls for back to school night, really freaked us out.  Kayla’s work was nowhere near what the others were doing…not even the boys.”

“Not only that, but she hates reading.  I know the school wants her to read 20 minutes every night, but it is such an ordeal. It always turns into a screaming match.  It’s like a nightly ritual where we all end up screaming at each other.”

“The school keeps giving this code-message – have you had the neurologist see her yet?  I know the code.  That’s code for 'Don’t you think she should be on medication.'  A neurologist?  Why?  I’m really at a loss here.   I think the kid should be tested to see if she has any signs of a learning disability or dyslexia.  She needs help.  I'm not rushing to put her on medication.  The pediatrician gives me the impression that he thinks I'm crazy and he keeps telling us she will grow out of it. ” 

“What do you think?”

Me:

“Trust your gut.  Listen to yourself.  Get her tested. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. ”

The Stress Over Dyslexia

by | Nov 7, 2013 |

The stress over dyslexia (reading disability) goes on.

Two recent examples seen recently exemplify the issues.

As part of a larger assessment, seventh grader, Justin, read this little piece of text to me, The orchestra leader tried to organize the musicians. Instead, Justin read, The ostrich leader tried to organize the musicians.

It took him a couple of sentences later until Justin stopped and said, Wait, that doesnt make sense. Whats an ostrich leader? After a little time, he went back in the text and corrected himself, a very inefficient process. Ultimately, he answered the comprehension question about the passage correctly, in fact he was able to derive a score that placed him in the dreaded average range, thereby leading the school to conclude that he, comprehends fine, so whats the problem? Well if it came to Justin wanting to enlist in the military, if he was to take the ASVAB Paragraph Comprehension Test, he could actually fail, leaving him to be unable to take the apllication further to get into a military position. Justin would, however, benefit greatly from an ASVAB Paragraph Comprehension Practice Test before applying.

Kate, age 8, also is struggling without any legitimate support. At the start of our assessment, Kate wrote that one of her wishes was to be famis. None of Kate’s three wishes were written in complete sentences. For Kate, open-ended writing causes her a great deal of stress. Daily, she faces the imposition of the imposing Common Core State Standards resulting in activities targeting the development of three to five paragraph essays with “higher order” concepts. Kate is hard pressed to write one adequate sentence, no less a three to five paragraph essay.

The stress with reading disabilities/dyslexia resides primarily with children being asked to do tasks that are beyond their developmental level. Both Justin and Kate are children not adequately understood.

For Justin, the school believes he should be on medication to help him focus better. While Justin may be a candidate for medication, his primary issue is the fact that the reading and writing process are very inefficient for him resulting in him feeling depleted. With Kate, asking her to write essays when she is not close to that level of skill development is fundamentally unfair. People in their adulthood looking to pick up writing seriously or even as a profession, but who also struggle with their dyslexia, may benefit from utilizing Proofreading services when they’re in the final stages of the writing process.

On some level, these were children who were functioning well enough to receive adequate grades in school. They both had extra time as an accommodation. For both Justin and Kate, just giving them extended time, is not going to cut it. (What children want more time on tasks that they find detestable and that they cant manage?)

Above all, the Justins and the Kates need closer contact with a supportive teacher who can deliver skills in an encouraging manner, targeting their zone of skill level and development. It’s no wonder that more children and teenagers are using a paper writing service to keep on top of their work when they can’t get teachers who will understand their condition and help them with their work. The skill development should be scaffolded in a way that allows mastery to develop in a logical sequence. One step and skill should lead to the next. Ideally, the work should also be as multisensory as possible, to simultaneously and systematically engage the child in ways that the regular curriculum cannot.

Then the stress will reduce.

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