"Overcoming Dyslexia" Part 3

 The third part of the book outlines reading strategies to help struggling readers.  I recommend getting the updated version of the book, as the chapter outlines for both are extremely different. 

 One of the major recommendations is to remediate phonics, while strengthening higher level thinking skills.

 Many of the strategies given are common knowledge for teachers who teach early reading, but the book is geared toward parents who want to help their children.

 The author suggests the following:

•  Teach rhyme
• Segmenting and blend sounds of words
• Separate words by syllables
• Separate each syllable into phonemes (compare, matching, and count sounds in different words.)
• Practice skills during reading
• Teach high frequency words
• Read stories aloud

                       

Click the link for a Sample Intervention lesson.

Students in kindergarten should be assessed in January after everyone has been taught the same curriculum to identify struggling students.

Early intervention is essential!

A good phonics program is needed. Phonics rules should be taught to help with decoding. Children need to decode faster in order to gain the fluency needed to comprehend. Teaching vocabulary and using prereading activities to support comprehension before reading is helpful.

Most of all students need to practice, practice, practice reading aloud and have immediate feedback!

Summer Reading "Overcoming Dyslexia" Part 2

 

Dyslexia can be identified in young children if you look at the following symptoms: 

• ·      Children may show a delay in speaking.
• ·      Once the child begins to speak, they may have difficulty pronouncing words, like leaving off the beginning sounds of words or inverting sounds in a word.
• ·      Children don’t hear rhyme.
• ·      Children describe a word or call it a “thing” because they cannot recall the word.
• ·      They have extreme difficulty learning letters and sounds.
• ·      They have a family member who is dyslexic.

***Reversals are not an indication of dyslexia.***

 Later, children continue to show an inability to link letters to sounds.  They fail to see word parts and attach a sound to them.  They try to memorize words; however, this strategy is too limited. They must be able to decode words to gain a larger vocabulary. High frequency words are difficult to learn and they are 90% of the words found in a 5-thousand-word passage. They are not decipherable by context. This explains more of the struggle dyslexics have with reading fluently and they tend to avoid reading tasks. They need more exposure to print than typical readers.  This compounds the already existent problem.  Reading is slow and fluency is compromised. Dyslexics must use more context clues to gain meaning.

Warning signs to a problem would be a second-grade student that cannot decode, guesses unknown words, lacks fluency and has a limited vocabulary.

Watch out for overuse of word substitutions, like “bake” for “cook.” It is an indication of context to figure out unknown words.

Watch out for word by word reading with skipped words and mispronounced words.

Watch out for poor spelling and handwriting.

Reading takes all their concentration so they have to have quiet distraction free environment. Children that are dyslexic may be able to read accurately, but not fluently. Hyphenated words are even more of a problem as they look completely different than the actual word.

Low self-esteem is common among dyslexics. Despite the fact they can be extremely intelligent in other areas, they suffer from the effects of reading failure.

Schools are reluctant to evaluate students with problems and are still using a variation of the “wait and fail” model.  This is a mistake, as early intervention is the key to helping dyslexics from falling further behind. It is recommended to use other sources to get your child evaluated.

 Special education qualifications include IQ tests results. The gap between the IQ score and the child’s ability must be large enough for them to qualify for services.  Although the IQ test is not necessary for a dyslexia diagnosis; schools continue to use these results. Hearing and vision screening should be assessed for safe measure.

 Tests for evaluation should include decoding nonsense words, as this is great way to measure phonologic skill. Phoneme deletion and substitutions are extremely difficult for dyslexics. It should also include tests of phonemic awareness, as it is strongly related to reading achievement. The test measures should include sound comparison, segmentation, and blending.  Tests for phonologic memory will determine if the child can hold bits of verbal information, which is necessary to decode and ultimately form a word.  Rapid automatic naming test where children familiar objects on pictures and asked to name them quickly.  This relates to reading as quick recall of sounds are necessary for good reading. Finally, a basic test to see if a child has mastered letter knowledge and sounds.

In summary, assessments of the following should be included:

1. ·      Phonology
2. ·      Letter names and sounds
3. ·      Receptive and expressive vocabulary
4. ·      Print conventions
5. ·      Listening comprehension
6. ·      Reading comprehension, as well, as decoding

Sometimes children may have another disability that is not dyslexia.  It is important to not confuse these differing disorders. 

Language learning problems include sounds and meanings of words. IQ is lower in these people and they are born with the disorder.

Acquired dyslexia is a loss of reading ability from a head injury, tumor, or stroke. It can include speech loss and other functions depending on the site of the damage in the brain.

Hyperlexia, a rare condition, is the ability to decode words easily at an early age. However, the inability to understand their meaning and the use critical thinking is impaired.

ADHD is also confused with dyslexia.  ADHD is a disorder that hinders the ability to focus one’s attention.  A child could have both disorders, which happens 12-24% of the time.

Young adults come to read using the front and right side of the brain as they use context to determine meaning. They have developmental history of phonologic problems.  Reading aloud demonstrate a lack of fluency although they may be very accurate.

Visit Dyslexia Modules from the South Carolina Department of Education to learn more.

Summer Reading "Overcoming Dyslexia" Part 1

 

This summer I was inspired to read “Overcoming Dyslexia” by Dr. Shaywitz.  I had an intervention group last year and the children were struggling with acquiring reading skills.  I had a strong feeling that dyslexia had something to do with their problems, but I realized that I didn’t know much about that specifically to tailor my instruction properly.  Next year, I will have a class with similar problems and I want to be prepared to give them the best instruction possible. Unfortunately, I have an older, used version of the book and I know the book has been updated and revised.   It appears that a lot has been changed in the newer publication, so I may be back with update later.

This is a summary of the first part of the book which contains 7 chapters.

The first chapter illustrated some personal cases of people who have struggled with dyslexia and have begun to overcome their struggles with new research on the brain and how it affects reading. The second chapter talks about history of this problem which was called "Word Blindness" and how the genetic aspect of it affects entire families. They also discuss how individuals are extremely intelligent in other areas yet struggle to read fluently. 

The third chapter talks about the prevalence of the problem.  One in five are diagnosed with this disability and it is not linked to geographic locations or specific ethnic groups as it occurs in Japan, China, Germany, Australia, Israel, Africa, Thailand, etc. Girls are less likely to be identified as Dyslexic in the school setting because they are many times quiet and get overlooked by their teachers.  Boys are more often identified because they are more likely to act out when struggling with school. However, girls are not less likely to have these problems.  Over time even with help students identified remain as poorer readers and a gap between reading ability continues to exist. The help from schools is limited and not effective. Dr. Shaywitz identifies some case studies of boys who show extreme talent in areas other than reading.  She explains that only recently have we learned that it is a problem with the language system. It was previously believed that the problem existed in the eyes.  Eye training was prescribed which was useless, as the problem is linguistic, specifically in the phonologic module of the brain.   

All children acquire reading knowledge in the same sequence.  They must master the alphabetic principal. Language is instinctive and doesn’t have to be taught genetically. Our minds are wired to automatically learn and use phonemes in speech.  These phonemes combine to form unlimited words and sentences. We are also wired to distinguish speech from other noises. Our larynx, palate, tongue and lips produce speech without segmentation. Speaking is natural, but reading is learned, although they both rely on phonemes. The reader has to translate print into code recognized by the language system. Writing is a way to record language.  It is comprised of symbols that stand for speech. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear spoken words in parts.  This is the basic element needed to match sounds to letters. Training students to notice the sounds in words is a predictor of success in reading. 

Dyslexics cannot convert alphabet to linguistic code as a result they have an inability to decode unfamiliar words. This chart from the book demonstrates this problem.

The phonologic problem can affect speech as they misname objects that sound similar.  For example, "tornado" and "volcano" have similar sounds. Children can describe both in detail but have trouble naming them. Rote memorization and rapid word naming are difficult as they use context to figure out unknown words. 

In the past, the heart was considered the center of life and consciousness.  After brain research began on brain of the dead, it was discovered that certain regions of the brain were oversized or damaged and correlated to certain behaviors. The discovery of Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area were linked to language development and understanding.  In dyslexia, the developing fetus fails to develop the phonologic system correctly in the brain.  When the ability to observe the brain of the living became a possibility, scientists were able to see the brain in detail. In the 1980’s brain function could be seen as a person read, spoke or thought.  Blood flow changed to various areas depending on the activity.  During MRIs good readers consisting of both women and men were studied.  While men had activation in the left side of the brain, Women had activation in both the left and the right areas of the brain. Further, the brain shows two areas that are used to read one is used for beginning reading skills and the other is used for proficient readers. 

Dyslexics must use other pathways to read as the regions used to visualize, transform letters into sounds of language and get to the meaning of the words are inactive. They have trouble analyzing words.  The brain compensates for the weakness by using more of the frontal reading areas. 

Many dyslexics must read words quietly aloud which activates the front of the brain.  While good readers use both the front and the back of the brain, dyslexics have increasing larger areas activated in the front of their brain and use the auxiliary systems for reading.  These help improve reading accuracy but they are still slow to read.  

The other benefit to watching the live brain at work is that researcher can evaluate the effectiveness of intervention programs. These programs if done early, can result in normal reading development in dyslexics.

 

Part two discusses how to identify dyslexia. I will post about that soon.

Meanwhile, here is a recent video of Dr. Shaywitz talking about Dyslexia.

Succulent Experiment

If you have a black thumb, you probably did not know that you can grow new plants from succulents. This experiment was done as a class and used the scientific method.

I introduced the concept through these slides and we came up with a hypothesis.

 Our experiment was to propagate using leaves.

Dry Propagation

Water propagation

Soil propagation

The students hypothesized that soil propogation would provide the best results.

I believe this was due to inconsistent watering and overwatering at times since I was only there part of the day. I have used this method at home with a lot of success. However at home, I am able to check them frequently and keep the soil moist.

In the end water propagation gave us the best results.  We have roots as well as plants beginning to grow. 

I also sent each student home with a stem to try stem propagation.

I am looking forward to trying this again soon.😄

Distance Learning Activities

Last year most of us were forced to teach via distance learning for the 2020-2021 school year. I am not a big fan of distance learning for little children.  They are still babies and need nurturing, individual help and modeling.  I miss hearing there funny thoughts and teaching them how to get along with each other. 

However, I was happy to be safe than sorry. 

I always look for the positives in everything, so I thought about this as an opportunity to grow.  I have created some lessons to use in this digital time.

Digital Mat Man

Make a copy if you would like to use this.

I have also posted uppercase handwriting videos on my YouTube channel. Click on the image below.

The worksheets are here.

When the children were able to come back to school, I tried to have fun activities for them.

Mother's Day Gifts 
Students painted wooden boxes and decorated them with stickers.

We made favorite character puppets.

I gave them the cube challenge!

We watched caterpillars change to butterflies and made "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" project.

We also did a succulent propagation experiment but that is a post for another day...

Human Body Unit (Cut Short by Covid-19)

This year I wanted to try a new unit of study about the human body.  There are so many projects, experiments, and hands-on demonstrations that keep children engaged.

Our first weeks we learned about the nervous system.  We labeled parts of the brain on chart paper and discussed what each part was responsible for.  Our activities included making a brain hat and outlining a student and drawing the nerves in her body.

We discussed some major bones in the body. 

I laminated some large bone cut and paste sheets

to create floor puzzles.

Then we made macaroni skeletons.

I purchased a used copy of this book...

and that is where I got the muscle activity (below) from.

The circulatory system was a favorite because we were able to make a blood model out of water, marshmallows, red and purple licorice. Created a brace map of the parts of blood.  The younger students were only responsible for drawing pictures of the parts.  The older students were asked to label the parts.

This project was really fun and easy to do.  I purchased some thin blue and red yarn from Hobby Lobby.

Then I used clip art of a body outline and heart to printed on cardstock to create the printable. Students colored the heart and glued on the pieces of yarn.

You can grab this if you would like to use it as well.

Printable Circulatory Project

This is a vest that is from Lakeshore Learning. It was part of a large kit about the human body.

The kit also had a model of the digestive system that was clear so we could see how the contents moved through it.

We made our own model of the digestive system (below).

Here is a word problem that I made to tie math into the unit.

Here is a blank copy if you can use it.

Digestive Math Word Problem

This was going to be the next part of the unit.  I was going to tie in prevention of respiratory illnesses with the respiratory system.  I was hopeful that students would have a good understanding of why we ask them to cover coughs and sneezes. Ironically, the respiratory illness (Covid) prevented us from finishing the unit.

Here are some sites I used for inspiration:

Preschool human body printables by Living Life and Learning

Human Body Organ Printables by Totschooling

Have fun with this!

David meets Conscious Discipline

Check out this Southern California white Thanksgiving!  I haven't seen a storm like this for at least 10 years!

My class has been working on a social emotional  unit for the past several months.  We have been practicing the use of Conscious Discipline language. As a part of our learning, we rewrote some pages of the "David" book series. 

We discussed David as a character and a student labeled him as "bad."  After further discussion, the children agreed that David needed to learn new skills.  We changed the wording from "No" and "Don't..." in the story to positive commands.

The children did some directed drawings of David and came up with their own advice that they would give him.  They still use "Don't" or "No" in their own words.  I had to prompt them when rewording the text on the pages.

These are just a few of the pages.  We had many more.  We chose pages from each of the following three books.