Thanks - I've read these, but sending them out is a great idea. I'm new to PS, so I'll check out the law about dyslexia screening. There are a lot of regulations in PS, so I just go around trying not to put my foot in my mouth!

THANK YOU! YES! I agree. I have a group of first grade RTI students, and I took one look at the first book of F&P. It was things like, "The frog likes pizza. The frog likes cereal." Etc. The next book was farm animals, and it was repetitive enough that kids repeated the first part of each sentence, then scanned the picture for the right animal, then stuck that in. Ugh. We switched to Fundations right quick 🙂 We're also doing P.A.L.S. You might check that out, just for future reference. It's great! It's so cool that you're student teaching! I'd love to hear more about that!

I'll go check out that Louisa Moats book. Thanks! Problem is, the teachers are understandably overworked, so reading a book is probably off the table. 😞 I'm reading a good one now, Reading at the Speed of Sight, by Mark Seidenberg.

I wish I could figure out how to do that! I joined, and can read their posts... but how to post myself? I feel like an idiot, but I can't figure it out!

You're right, she's not a minimalist. Watching her show, I was surprised at the amount of stuff people kept. I tend to go to Goodwill and buy things because they're "good deals" - and then never using/wearing much of what I buy. Working on that!!

I've been in my new job in public school for a few months now. In many ways, public school (at least, this particular school) is awesome! As a special education teacher, I am lucky to be able to observe how many teachers teach. It's fun to see what goes on in the different classrooms. Not so fun - people don't know much about how to teach struggling readers. At my last school (private), everyone was 100% OG focused. There were no questions about which direction to go when teaching dyslexic kids. Teachers in public school don't know ANYTHING about dyslexia, or about any reading programs for kids that don't learn typically. Teachers seem uncomfortable when I mention dyslexia, like it's some strange and untouchable phenomenon. As far as I can tell, phonics instruction is done thoroughly through second grade, third grade gets some phonics, and then in fourth grade, you're on your own. I wonder if it's the same in other public schools - when does serious phonics instruction end? Part of my job involves RTI, which has until this point been using guided reading/leveled literacy almost exclusively. I am starting to see the benefits of guided reading for students who need just a little decoding practice, but major comprehension instruction. It's great for these kids, and comprehension scores have gone up! All good. From what I know, which admittedly isn't overly much, guided reading involves some "word work," and about 75% of the session is kids taking turns reading aloud, and then discussion about the book. For the most struggling readers, 25% of a 30 minute session being devoted to phonics is NOT ENOUGH. Not to mention that a struggling reader listening and waiting while another struggling reader reads aloud is... less than helpful. It's making me crazy that these kids are getting so little instruction in their weakest areas. I technically have the power to decree a change to "structured literacy" for students who need it. I have voiced this opinion many times, and we have made some gradual changes, but it's quite awkward for me as a newcomer amongst long-time colleagues. If I absolutely need to, I'll just pull rank and say this is how it is. As the newbie, though, it's SO uncomfortable to do this! I would love some really convincing information to give to my colleagues in RTI, some of whom are very convinced that we need "balance" in a reading program, and that comprehension should always be a big part of any reading lesson. My thing is, if a kid comprehends just fine, but can decode like squat... why not drop the comprehension and focus entirely on READING THE WORDS correctly? These kids get comprehension all the time in their classrooms anyway. Administration is very supportive. They have no clue about teaching reading either, but are fine with whatever I say. (That's a new and welcome phenomenon! Also scary. But awesome.) Arg. I'm getting all worked up when I should be relaxing and waiting for a snowstorm 🙂 Any super convincing articles or websites I could use to convince my skeptical colleagues?

I just got a hilarious voicemail from my mother, saying that the people in her town are watching Marie Kondo's show on Netflix, and are purging their houses like crazy. She's on her way to Goodwill to snag all the cool things other people are ditching! 🤣

How would WOOD get into chicken nuggets? Did a crate get dropped into the nugget maker..?! Really makes you wonder about processed foods.

My cat will only drink filtered water, and I have to change her water a couples times a day. Many pets don't like plastic dishes. (Maybe it smells weird to them?) You could try a ceramic bowl and see what happens.

Well... I put left a big container of yogurt in the spice cabinet last week, and only noticed the next day when I was making dinner. Argh! Like Selkie said, if they look in the weird place first, that would be odd. I would think maybe they don't know categories very well - for example, belts go with clothes, so I should look with the clothes first. Lots of people have trouble with categories.

Thanks, that's good info - I'll have this post to look back on if it gets bad again.

No, no endoscopy. I'm fine with being gluten free... in fact, I prefer it because once I started to have a "little" gluten, it turned into a lot. I also gain weight when I eat gluten, and it goes away when I'm gluten free again. My mouth is better today, and I think it was a new "natural" toothpaste that was bothering me. No xylitol in it, but there was stevia and essential oils.

I think so, too! All celiac tests were negative in the past, but I was gluten free for about 7 years anyway. I recently started eating gluten again... and feeling mentally conflicted about it! I think I'll go off again. Although... the joint stuff never went away even with strict gluten free. Bummer.

Good gravy, that would be awful. Luckily, I think I've dodged that bullet! After reading your story, I NEVER want to get that particular virus.

Interesting - maybe there is an immune thing going on, with the joint issues, but I don't actually get viruses very often, so it's confusing. I hate going to the doctor 😕

Yes, I love Ronit Bird! She is great. I'm finding that the scheduling portion of public school is maybe the biggest barrier to having RTI work well. Here, there's no intervention block or anything, so the RTI teachers have to pull kids from their regular instruction... and it's usually halfway through a period, or right when they should be IN class... not ideal. We try to make up for it with good interventions (working on that!), but scheduling is tough. Do you find that RTI is benefiting your daughter?

Do there have to be other thrush symptoms? My tongue isn't white, if anything the tip is a little redder than usual.

This would be pretty unfortunate... sounds like an elimination diet would be the way to figure that out. I could start with toothpaste. I did start to have a problem with xylitol. Now when I have it, I get canker sores all over my mouth. It's awful. No more xylitol!!

Oh dang, I'm 35 but my mom went through early menopause. Ack!

This is a super easy one, but my 9-10 year old dyslexic students love Narwhal & Jelly 🙂 https://www.amazon.com/Narwhal-Unicorn-Sea-Jelly-Book/dp/1101918713/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1547136903&sr=1-3&keywords=narwhal+and+jelly

Has anyone experienced this? For the past couple weeks, my tongue feels burned, like when you take a sip of too-hot soup. The feeling comes and goes a couple times a day, and sometimes not at all. The past two days, it's been almost constant. I talked to some work friends, and two of them said that it happens to them when they eat certain foods (apples for one). Another said it could be "inflamed taste buds."? I haven't eaten anything new lately. The feeling isn't any stronger after eating. The only odd health things I have are sore finger/wrist/foot joints (for a decade... nobody's figured out why and I've given up trying, since it's very mild), and once I tested at the low end of the range for B12, which improved to above-range with supplementation. I'd been having pins and needles feelings in my feet, a symptom of low B12. I still get that sometimes, and take occasional supplements.

That's incredibly wonderful! Congrats to your DD!

This thread got me up off the couch this morning to throw some stuff away, and also to put a bunch of things I do want - but have scattered around the house - into their rightful places. Phew! I also started thinking about stuff I wouldn't normally consider tossing, like those blankets that I keep piled on the spare room bed, but don't actually like... someone else will hopefully get them at Goodwill and enjoy them 🙂

All of your illnesses sound terrible on their own, but together, I can't even imagine! It seems like you have been getting sick a lot lately. Maybe it would be worth trying to figure out why you keep getting so sick. Hope you feel better soon 😞

Lol. But do men know that?