In the podcast, the neuropsychologist says that many psychs diagnose all reading difficulties as dyslexia, despite there being more reasons.

I listened to a great podcast yesterday about other reasons why (besides dyslexia) kids struggle to read. It was really interesting. I actually sat and took notes to send to my colleagues. Dr. Robin McEvoy, Developmental neuropsychologist, Denver, CO https://www.additudemag.com/podcast-reading-challenges-mcevoy/ --------------- Intro - 1 in 5 children struggle with reading - Dyslexia is not the only cause - Since 20% of the population struggles to read, then we should view it as normal. We can't classify 20% of our population as disabled. Dyslexia - Phonological processing problem - If you have trouble remember or associating a sound with a letter, you will struggle to read correctly - Vowel sounds are very subtle, and if the brain is not attuned to these differences, it makes it hard to read - Saying words incorrectly is a sign - "revenant" for "relevant," "Little Prairie on the House" vs. "Little House on the Prairie." - Neurological in origin - Also genetic. If a parent has dyslexia, 50/50 chance a child will, too. - NOT visual. B and D reversals, for example - it's not that they can't see the difference, they just can't remember which sound goes with which letter Language Processing Weakness Receptive - trouble making sense of language Expressive - trouble expressing thoughts through language (writing, speaking) Speech vs. language disorder - Speech only: Examples, Stuttering, trouble physically pronouncing sounds (12:00 minute mark) - Researchers expected speech disorders to be more closely linked with reading disorders than the research has actually shown - Kids with speech disorders often don't have the expected problems learning to read - If speech/language is the source of the problem, remediation is best done with speech and language therapist who is familiar with reading (build language skills and reading at the same time) Auditory Processing Disorder - Kids do not process sounds correctly - "The red box" may sound like "thread box" - Some kids with APD may be misdiagnosed as having ADHD - OR some ADHD kids may also have some degree of APD - If a kid has APD, "paying attention" won't help because they still misunderstand things - Kids with APD may stop trying to pay attention, and then teachers think the child is distracted - Can sometimes happen when there are frequent ear infections/ fluid in the ears when they are very young (can cause permanent mis-wiring for sounds) - If kids cannot discriminate sounds, (e.g., "ma" and "pa"), need to remediate with multi-sensory reading program (such as LiPS) Executive Functioning Weaknesses - Causes problems with organizing, which can impact reading - Phonics patterns are initially hard to detect - E.g., cat, mat, sat - kids with EF weaknesses (organizing) may not notice the similarities between these words, thus have to laboriously sound out each time - OR, seeing "cat" in two different sentences, won't recognize that it's the same word the second time, leading kids to sound out yet again - Kids don't nail down these skills before the class moves on, so they are perpetually behind and have to guess at sounds - Reading is very complicated, e.g., "a" can make up to 5 different sounds, putting an 'h' with a 'c', - Non-dyslexic problems can remediate reading faster than - EF weaknesses can impact comprehension in addition to decoding - May appear at first to be dyslexia, but once reading improves, weaknesses are still there Visual processing problems - Convergence (eyes focusing, team, work together) - Scanning issues - Discriminating sizes and shapes - Can spot these problems, sometimes, by how kids move when they read (leaning back, twisting around, etc) - Need to see a developmental optometrist for diagnosis - Sometimes special glasses help, or OT (vestibular system is linked to visual system) - Vision therapy ADHD - Can be hard to learn to read because it's boring!! - ADHD kids need novelty - Go through early reading quickly, and get to interesting material as soon as possible Other - Concussions can exacerbate issues, or mimic issues, for several months - Gaps in knowledge - Strange things like celiac disease, other physical causes Best programs: - Multi-sensory reading programs - Examples: Barton, Wilson, Lindamood-Bell - Using visual and motor cues in addition to just looking at paper - These programs also benefit non-dyslexic struggling readers - Use caution if programs are phonics-based, but NOT multi-sensory - NEED BOTH! Important: - If parents aren't taking time to read, they aren't showing their child that they value the skill of reading

Wow, THANK YOU for all of this great information! If you don't mind, I'd love to send bits of it to our SLP. I think I'll ask my FF contact if we can demo the program, like you did. Part of our problem is we've never seen it, so it's hard to know what we're jumping in to. This kid is going for some auditory testing, so we'll know more soon about whether this would be appropriate for him. Do you think it's good at teaching language concepts, or is it mostly for auditory processing? They have another (add-on?) program now, called Reading Assistant or something. It teaches reading comprehension. It's apparently "free" with a FF subscription. You can either do the programs simultaneously, or alternate.

Haha, oh wow. I really need to use this!

I'm sorry 😞 This happened to me in school, too.

Yup. I was just reading something on the Spell-Links forum about how most reading interventions are, lets just say, not great. Someone on there was advocating AGAINST parents at her school getting IEPs for their children, because she knew that the interventions just weren't going to be worth leaving general ed to go to the resource room.

This is the big question. I honestly have no idea. And I'm not a SLP, so what do I know about language processing? Answer: Nada. I know what it looks like to struggle with language processing, a little, but how to fix it?

Work clothing, a problem I've had since I started working! When I was in my 20s, I could only afford thrift store clothing, or super on sale clothing, so I was limited to that. Now that I can actually afford to buy clothes, I have no idea what I'm doing. Luckily I teach at an elementary school, so unusual combinations are forgiven 🙂 And we can wear jeans! As for how many tops... I have probably 5 outfits that I actually like, and I would have no hesitation about wearing the same thing on a Friday as I did on Monday. Perhaps my coworkers notice, but I doubt it. I don't recall what they wear on any given day. I would love a capsule wardrobe. I just don't know how to go about making one. Even more than that, I would LOVE a work uniform.

This is a great point, and I agree with you. Lecka posted some not-great conclusions from a couple articles, so I need to learn more. If it really is unique, and effective, then the five-kid price isn't so bad.

That is the school pricing, if you can believe it 😯 It's $1400 to have 5 kids on, which is better per kid, but still... and then $500 if you want a webinar training. Apparently it's even more expensive for parents!

Yeah... it makes me a bit uneasy, especially since I've never used it before. I mean, plenty of materials are expensive (say, LiPS is about $400), but those are materials you own forever. The $900 is what you get for just a year. I'm thinking some Linguisystems materials may work well.

As a parent, I would definitely want to have some work sent home! Have you emailed his teacher to find out what he's working on? It would be good to know how he's doing academically before you make any big decisions. As a teacher, who is not good at parent communication myself... I often forget to send work home. OFTEN. I'm so busy actually preparing and teaching that communication is often the last on my list. One of my professional goals this year is actually to be better at communicating with parents. I love my students and I actually love talking with their parents, too, but there is just so much to do!

Thanks, all. Fast ForWord is almost $900 for ONE kid for ONE year. I wish I understood why it's so expensive for a computer program, ya know?

Thanks, Terabith. This kid is reading just fine, it's the understanding that needs work. I'll have to look at Headsprout for others! 🙂

Interesting. I'll have to investigate further.

Hi guys, I'm trying to learn about alternatives to Fast ForWard. FFW is REALLY expensive! Is it really worth the money? I'm specifically trying to find a computerized program, because my student is very motivated by computers. I'm trying to target auditory memory, attention, and language processing. (A lot to ask of one program, I know 😀) I've heard of Hear Builder. Anything else you've tried with positive results?

This, a million times this! Trying to rush things just frustrates everyone. Rather than be annoyed that someone *should* be somewhere, I try to focus on matching the instruction to the student. That's easier said than done, of course, but sometimes I need to give myself a reality check. It helps to put things into perspective. Mental math is tough. And I would say it's not for everyone. I can do mental math now, as an adult, but I definitely couldn't do it as a child. If your DD is successful with a number line, I would go with that for now. Bridging past 10 mentally is really challenging. I know "math these days" is all about finding solutions to problems by making groups of ten, etc. (like 8+5 is the same as 8+2 = 10, plus 3 more), but that's not the be-all end-all of math. Counting on fingers is shown to be beneficial to children's math development, and numberlines are just fine. Do you have base-10 blocks? Can your DD build 2-digit numbers with blocks? If she can build with them, then she can use them to add/subtract. I think it would be worth giving it a try. 🙂

Can she add and subtract past 10 if she uses her fingers? Just off the top of my head, I'm thinking you could abandon the 3 + ___ = 8 kind of thing for now, and come back later.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought that "OG" was an approach to teaching reading based on the research of Orton and Gillingham, but that there's no "official OG" program. I'd consider Wilson as OG, and Barton, and many things. So when people say they do OG, they can mean a variety of things. As long as the instruction is systematic, explicit, multisensory, and all the rest... that sounds like OG to me.

Wow, I started to read the excerpt from the beginning. His writing is great. It's not overly complicated! It's nice to read something technical that isn't so draining. 😄

Oh yeah! I follow the Reading League on facebook. They seem really great. I've used the PAST informally, but I didn't realize it was created by Kilpatrick. I kinda thought it was just some possibly-good random test from the Internet. I'm so glad to know it's the real deal! In the excerpt you posted, he provides a list of when typically-achieving children are able to manage the different tasks, which is so helpful. Thank you!!!!

I didn't see that... I can see how that would happen, though. OG suggests a very specific methodology.... and "structured literacy" could probably be code for a lot of less-good "structured" interventions... just liked with "balanced" literacy - argh!

I think a kitten is a great idea 🙂 I begged my mom for a hamster once, and she finally gave in. Turns out hamsters are cute, but really boring. They don't like people (at least mine didn't). The wheel squeaked all night. The cage was stinky, and I didn't want to clean it. If I were you, I'd tell my daughter she could have a hedgehog when she gets her own place in a few years, if she still wants one 🙂

A friend of mine had major reflux issues in his mid-twenties. After he eliminated both gluten and dairy for a long while (6 months/a year, I think) he could eat both again with no reflux. Obviously, your little guy won't be able to have gluten, but perhaps after a time of gluten free and/or dairy free, his gut will heal and the reflux will go away. It kinda sounds like you need to get the potential PANDAS under control, to get him eating more, and then you could think about eliminating dairy as a trial. There are quite a few good dairy-free ice creams. The cashew milk kind is really good, and I just see it in the regular grocery store aisle. Coconut milk/ almond milk ones are good too, but the cashew one is soooo creamy. I have also seen cashew milk yogurt! Not tried though 🙂

This looks very similar to First Grade P.A.L.S., which I love. Love the dots under each sound.