What can impact learning? Ears Infection Damage Eyes Far sightedness Near sightedness Eye movement problems Nose Allergies Sinus Infections Throat Tonsils Brain trauma Concussions Seizures Strokes Tumors Dyslexia Medications Sleep Disorders Speech ADHD This is only a partial list of factors that can impact a child’s ability to learn. Please notice that most are medical. See a professional.

What can impact learning? Sleep 0-3 months: hours 4-11 months: 12 to 15 hours 3-5 years: 10 to 13 hours 6-13 years: 9 to 11 hours years: 8 to 10 hours years: 7 to 9 hours years: 7 to 9 hours 65 and older: 7 to 8 hours

What is Dyslexia? Definition: Dyslexia is a specific (to print) learning disability that is neurological 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 phonologica l 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. Adopted by the IDA Board, November This definition is also used by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2002.

Definition of Dyslexia from the Texas Education Code TEC “Dyslexia” means a disorder of constitutional origin manifested by a difficulty in learning to read, write, or spell, despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and socio-cultural opportunity. 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 my include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experiences that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

Primary Characteristics of Dyslexia Difficulty reading words in isolation Difficulty accurately decoding (sounding out) unfamiliar words including nonsense words Difficulty with oral reading (slow, inaccurate, or labored) Difficulty spelling

Primary Characteristics are most often associated with the following Segmenting, blending, and manipulating sounds in words (phonemic awareness) Learning the names of letters and their associated sounds Holding information about sounds and words in memory (phonological memory) Rapidly recalling the names of familiar objects, colors, or letters of the alphabet (rapid naming)

Decision Points Difficulty in one or more primary characteristics of dyslexia Result of a deficit in phonological processing (see Phonemic Awareness section for examples) Unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction

Assessment Process Notify parents/guardians of proposal to assess student for dyslexia Inform parents/guardians of 504 rights Obtain parent permission to assess student for dyslexia Administer measures only by individual trained in assessment to evaluate students for dyslexia and related disorders Assessor gathers data

Committee Meeting Committee reviews all accumulated data Review the data in relation to the 3 decision points Committee Decision is made Does the student have dyslexia? Yes, they automatically receive appropriate instruction. No, continue through the RTI process.

Instruction Wilson Language Program Explicit, direct instruction that is systematic, sequential, and cumulative Multisensory

Phonemic Awareness

Definition Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to segment and manipulate the sounds of oral language. It is not the same as phonics, which involves knowing how written letters relate to spoken sounds. Activities that develop phonemic awareness in children provide practice with rhyme and with beginning sounds and syllables.International Reading Association 1980’s research – “preschoolers phonological aptitude predicts his reading three years later…training a young child to attend to the sounds in spoken words before he goes to school significantly improves his success in learning to read later on. Overcoming Dyslexia-page 55 Sally Shaywitz

Difficulty of Skill Sequence Rhyme (recognition, production) Alliteration Syllable Counting (blending, segmentation, deletion) Phoneme Isolation (initial, final) Phoneme Blending Phoneme Manipulation (addition, deletion, substitution, transposition)

Activities Rhyme Read or sing nursery rhymes Take turns saying words that rhyme Bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, gnat, pat, rat, that, vat, chat They can be real or make-believe words Questions Does _____ rhyme with _____? What rhymes with __________?

Activities Alliteration Read aloud Tongue Twisters (Peter Piper) Create new ones A name and job (Teresa Teacher) A simple sentence (Dogs dive.) A sentence (Donuts dipped in dots is delicious.)

Activities Syllable counting, blending, segmentation and deletion A syllable is a push of breath (hand under chin to feel the mouth open or hand in front of mouth to feel the push of breath) Say a word and count the syllables. (jump=1, castle=2, elephant=3) Blending: Say sea, wait 1-3 seconds, say shell. What’s the word? (compound words) Say win, wait 1-3 seconds, say ter. What’s the word? (multisyllabic word) Segmentation: Say cupcake. The child tells you the parts. Deletion: Say cupcake without the cup. Say winter without the ter.

Activities Phoneme Isolation Initial What is the first sound you hear in __________? Final What is the last sound you hear in ___________?

Activities Phoneme Blending Read my mind: starts with /p/ ends with /eek/ What am I saying? /p/ /ouch/ Same as above breaking it down into each individual sound. /p/ /ee/ /k/ Same as above breaking off the last sound. /pee/ /k/ Troll talk story that can be used for each of the above activities. Once upon a time, there was kind, little troll who loved to give people presents. The only catch was that the troll always wanted people to know what their present was before giving it to them. The problem was that the little troll had a very strange way of talking. If he was going to tell a child that the present was a bike, he would say /b/ /i/ /k/. Not until the child has guessed what the present was would he be completely happy. Now I will pretend to be the troll. I will name a surprise for you. When you figure it out, it will be your turn to be the troll.

Activities Phoneme Manipulation Addition: say /est/ add /w/ to the beginning; say/wes/ add /t/ to the end Deletion: say meat, say meat without the /m/; say meat, say meat without the /t/; say clap, say clap without the /c/; say clap, say clap without the /l/. Substitution: Say hard. Change /h/ to /k/. Transposition: Sunshine changes to shinesun

Credits The Source for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia by Regina G Richards How to Reach and Teach Students with Dyslexia: Practical Strategies and Activities for Helping Students with Dyslexia by Cynthia M. Stowe Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz Dyslexia: Definitions and Services PowerPoint by Tracie Young