Dyslexia Teacher Training - 2015

Angela Robinson LDT-C, NCED

Why are we here?

New Jersey Legislation recently enacted three laws with the goals of improving the identification and remediation of reading disabilities.

P.L.2012,c.131 requires that the New Jersey Department of Education incorporate the International Dyslexia Association’s definition of dyslexia into Chapter 14 of Title 6A of the Administrative Code.

Dyslexia Legislation

P.L.2013,C.105 requires a minimum of two hours of professional development each year for general education teachers: Kindergarten to grade 3, special education, basic skills, ESL, reading specialists, LDT-Cs, and speech and language specialists. The professional development must be on the screening, intervention, accommodation and use of technology for students with reading disability and dyslexia.

Dyslexia Legislation

The law requires that each school district screen students who have exhibited one or more

potential indicators of dyslexia or other reading

disabilities no later than the student's completion of the first semester of second grade.

P.L.2013,c.210 requires the NJDOE to provide

districts with information on the screening instruments they can use to identify students who

possess one or more indicators of dyslexia.

International Dyslexia Association's

definition of Dylexia

“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is

neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties

with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor

spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically

result from a deficit in the phonological component of

language that is often unexpected in relation to other

cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom

instruction. Secondary consequences may include

problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading

experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and

background knowledge.”

What is Dyslexia?

What are the signs of Dyslexia? The problems displayed by individuals with dyslexia involve difficulties in acquiring and using written

language. It is a myth that individuals with dyslexia“read backwards,” although spelling can look quite jumbled at times because students have trouble remembering letter symbols for sounds and forming memories for words. Other problems experienced by people with dyslexia include the following:

Learning to speak

Learning letters and their sounds

Organizing written and spoken language

Memorizing number facts

Reading quickly enough to comprehend

Persisting with and comprehending longer reading assignments

Spelling

Learning a foreign language

Correctly doing math operations

Not all students who have difficulties with these skills have dyslexia. Formal testing of reading, language, and writing skills is the only way to confirm a diagnosis of suspected dyslexia. (International Dyslexia Association)

Symptoms and Characteristics (Mather, Wendling 2012)

Difficulty learning to rhyme words

Difficulty learning the letter names and letter sounds of the alphabet

Confusions of letters and words with similar visual appearance

Confusions of letters with similar sounds

Reversals and transpositions of letters and words that persist past the age of 7

Trouble arranging letters in the correct order when spelling

Difficulty retaining the visual representation of irregular words for reading and spelling

Spelling the same word different ways on the same page

Spelling words the way they sound (sed for said)

Difficulty pronouncing some multisyllabic word correctly

Slow word perception that affects reading rate and fluency

Common Misconceptions About Dyslexia (Mather, Wendling, 2012)

People with dyslexia cannot read

Most do learn to read at some level, although their rate is often slow

Individuals with high intellectual ability cannot have dyslexia

Intelligence does not predict dyslexia. Many highly intelligent people have

dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a rare disorder

Approximately 5-8% of population has mild to severe dyslexia.

Dyslexia cannot be diagnosed until at least third grade.

At-risk symptoms for dyslexia may be identified in individuals as young as five

years of age

Continued

Dyslexia is seeing things backward.

Dyslexia is much more complex than seeing letters and numbers backwards

Children will outgrow dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a lifelong disorder, but intervention can reduce the impact

More boys than girls have dyslexia

All struggling readers have dyslexia

Many other reasons than dyslexia may cause reading problems such as low

intellectual ability, poor oral language, attentional problems, poor instruction and

lack of opportunity

Young children who reverse letters (e.g. b for d) have dyslexia

Beginning writers often reverse letters but most will master these letter-sound

correspondences with practice.

Dyslexia: A Hidden Disability

Subtypes of Reading Disabilities

1. DYSPHONETIC DYSLEXIA - difficulty sounding out words in a phonological manner

2. SURFACE DYSLEXIA - difficulty with the rapid and automatic recognition of words in print

3. MIXED DYSLEXIA - Multiple reading deficits characterized by impaired phonological and orthographic processing skills. This is probably the most severe form of dyslexia

4. COMPREHENSION DEFICITS - The mechanical side of reading is fine but difficulty persists deriving meaning from print

Screening

Our district is scheduled to use the PALS screening instrument (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) for all students in Kindergarten and first grade. This will help teachers identify students who may be at risk.

This screening will serve as a tool to provide interventions to students and monitor their progress.

Teachers will be trained on the PALS screening instrument. Teachers will also receive training on interventions during the school year.

What are the interventions that can

help?

According to the National Reading Panel, there are five linguistic skills children need to become functionally independent readers. The five pillars for reading success involve the explicit and direct instruction of:

phonemic awareness (the manipulation of spoken syllables in words)

phonics (letter-sound correspondences)

fluency (reading speed and accuracy)

vocabulary (lexicon of known words

comprehension skills (deriving meaning from print)

Phonological Strategies

Phonological processing skills can be specifically and systematically taught through the Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Method. This method was developed in the 1930s and encompasses a specific sequential system of reading that is taught through multisensory methods. The theory is to have the children learn specific rules for reading and spelling to help them decipher the code. The five steps in teaching phonology (Barton, 1998) are as follows:

1. Phonemic awareness - involves teaching students how to properly listen to a single word or syllable and break it into individual phonemes. The English language has 44 phonemes, which represent the smallest unit of sound in the language Children are also taught blending strategies, as well as sound substitutions, sound deletions, and sound comparisons.

Phonemic Awareness

Phoneme/Grapheme Correspondence

2. Phoneme/grapheme correspondence involves the introduction of the alphabet system representing a visual component to link with phonemes. Children are explicitly taught that specific sounds are represented by a variety of letter combinations; emphasis is also placed on how to blend letters in single-syllable words. This is also called phonics. We teach the names of the letters and the sounds.

Examples: When we say "c" says /k/ like cat, car, cot

or "a" says /a/ like apple

The Six Syllable Types

3. The six types of syllables that compose English words are introduced. If students are aware of specific type of syllable, then the sound should be automatic. These syllable subtypes include:

Closed syllables (just one vowel, e.g. cat)

Open syllables (ends in long vowel; e.g.baby)

Vowel-consonant "e' syllables (silent "e" elongates vowel; e.g. make"

Vowel-team syllables (two vowels make one sound; e.g., caution)

R-controlled syllables (vowel followed by "r" changes sound; e.g. hurt)

Consonant "-le" syllables (word end I "le"; e.g. turtle)

** Note: Some programs present 7 syllable types in adding "diphthongs" for example "oi" boil.

Rules, Roots and Affixes

4. Probabilities and rules are explicitly taught. The English language provides several ways to spell the same sounds. For instance, the word caution has the sound /shun/, which can be spelled either "tion", "sion" or "cion".

5. Roots and affixes, as well as morphology, are taught to expand a student's' vocabulary and ability to comprehend unfamiliar words. When students can identify the root word and then any prefix or suffix that is added to the word, decoding and comprehension are improved. For example, the word "unhappy". If the student can identify "happy" and then learn that "un" means "not", the student then can understand that unhappy means "not happy". This also helps with larger, complex words as students move through the grade levels.

Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Reading

Spelling

Spelling is sometimes much more difficult than reading for students with dyslexia. The types of spelling errors that students make should be used as to identify if the student has a weakness in phonology (sounds) or orthography (visual word).

Various techniques in different programs can focus on practicing the sound-symbol relationships and ordering of sounds in words including patterns ( rimes) and affixes to root words. Additionally, teaching spelling patterns, syllable patterns, spelling rules, high frequency word practice and multisensory approaches all can help with spelling.

Instruction and intervention that is systematic, structured and carefully sequenced and practiced regularly is the most effective.

Fluency Strategies

Some students do not necessarily struggle with phonological processing but rather with reading fluency. They have difficulty with rapidly and automatically recognizing the visual-word forms of print. (Flanagan, Alfonso 2011).

Examples of interventions include: (with progress monitoring)

Explicit modeling of fluent reading is one of the most effective methods for improving reading fluency

Repeated reading with corrective feedback

Partner reading

Reader's theater

CD reading

Speed drills

Choral reading

Reading Comprehension Strategies

To help students with reading comprehension difficulties, teaching vocabulary is very important. Children build vocabulary through language acquisition. As young children are exposed to language through various methods such as parent interaction, stories being read aloud, television, and songs, their receptive and expressive vocabulary is expanded. The more words the children have been exposed to, the more easily they are stored for future reference. When the children are ready to read, this vocabulary helps them identify the meaning of the words that they are learning. Using picture prompts, picture books and visual supports, help build vocabulary skills and help students understand what they read.

Additionally, do not assume that your students understand the meaning of all the words that they encounter in the curriculum - e.g.math word problems, content words, etc. The more explicitly vocabulary is taught, the better students can improve their comprehension.

See https://www.hand2mind.com/pdf/miriam/grades_1_2.pdf for more reading comprehension strategies!

Accommodations

"For a dyslexic reader, accommodations represent the bridge that connects him

to his strengths and, in the process, allows him to reach his potential"(Shaywitz,

2003)

Provision of extra time

Audio texts and stories on CD or online

Visuals, models, graphs and illustrations - to accompany print

Use of computer word processor

Alternative assessments/projects that assess content knowledge

Oral examinations

Technology

There are many websites that provide various information for apps for students with dyslexia. Some newer apps are:

SightWords : free app for phonics

Ghotit Real Writer: for writing assistance

Write in Style (Gerlingo) : writing

Spy Sam Reading Series : free app for letters and sounds

Make Sentences: free app for Preschool

Play and Learn Languages: free app for early elementary

Learn to Read, Write and Spell: free app for early elementary

These and more can be found at http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/tools/apps/age/early-elementary

Technology

Speech to Text options on IPad, Chromebooks, etc. to help students who have difficulty with spelling, writing, etc.

Text to Speech options for stories, textbooks etc.

Kidspiration (www.inspiration.com) for graphic organizers for writing

Visuwords.com - visual dictionary and thesaurus to help with vocabulary

See Read Say - read and hear Dolch words

Word Magic - phonics skills that works on beginning, ending and medial sound with pictures and sound

Results of Intervention

Principles of Effective Instruction for

Students with Dyslexia (Mather, Wendling 2012)

Reading and spelling skills are taught directly

Demonstration, guided practice, feedback and independent practice are

provided

Instruction is sequential with careful planning and pacing

Instruction is built around small steps that connect old learning to new

learning

Systematic review is provided to ensure mastery of previously learned

material

Multisensory instruction is provided when needed

Progress is monitored and evaluated frequently.

Summary

References

Barton, S. (1998) Teaching methods that work. Retrieved from Bright Solutions for Dyslexia, Inc. www.dys-add.com/teach.html, November 12, 2009

Flanagan,D.P, Alfonso, V.C. (2011) Essentials of Specific Learning Disability Identification. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley& Sons, Inc.

Mather,N.,Wendling, B.J. (2012) Essentials of Dyslexia Assessment and Intervention. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidenced based assessmentof the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development

Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming Dyslexia. New York: Random House

International Dyslexia Association: eida.org