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When it comes to reading, the research is clear: the child who gets behind in reading progress, stays behind. There is no evidence to suggest that a child will "mature" or "catch up" to his peers, if we "wait and see." Waiting will not allow that child to catch up. Immediate intervention is needed.
According to Dr. Sally Shaywitz, "Kindergarten is in many ways a watershed in identifying children who are vulnerable to dyslexia." Parents and teachers should closely monitor a child's progress in learning to read, beginning no later than kindergarten.
Many schools now routinely screen every kindergartner when they register or near the beginning of the year. If a child's results put him in the lowest 20-30%, he is considered "at risk" for reading failure. Schools ideally should provide classroom, group or individual interventions to these children. As a parent, you should ask where your child falls and if she is at risk, ask what the school is specifically doing to address it.
According to Dr. Reid Lyon, research psychologist and Chief of Child Development and Behavior Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), "Most children can learn to read if difficulties are detected in kindergarten and first grade and the appropriate early interventions are applied. Prevention and early intervention programs that teach phoneme awareness and phonics skills and develop reading contexts where children have an opportunity to practice skills are more beneficial than approaches that are less structured and direct. Help needs to be provided before nine years of age; after that time, children respond more poorly to reading instruction."
The moral of the story? Don't wait, see and hope. Address your child's reading struggles now by learning all you can about what he needs, what help he is getting, and what else might need to be done.
According to Dr. Sally Shaywitz, "Kindergarten is in many ways a watershed in identifying children who are vulnerable to dyslexia." Parents and teachers should closely monitor a child's progress in learning to read, beginning no later than kindergarten.
Many schools now routinely screen every kindergartner when they register or near the beginning of the year. If a child's results put him in the lowest 20-30%, he is considered "at risk" for reading failure. Schools ideally should provide classroom, group or individual interventions to these children. As a parent, you should ask where your child falls and if she is at risk, ask what the school is specifically doing to address it.
According to Dr. Reid Lyon, research psychologist and Chief of Child Development and Behavior Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), "Most children can learn to read if difficulties are detected in kindergarten and first grade and the appropriate early interventions are applied. Prevention and early intervention programs that teach phoneme awareness and phonics skills and develop reading contexts where children have an opportunity to practice skills are more beneficial than approaches that are less structured and direct. Help needs to be provided before nine years of age; after that time, children respond more poorly to reading instruction."
The moral of the story? Don't wait, see and hope. Address your child's reading struggles now by learning all you can about what he needs, what help he is getting, and what else might need to be done.
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The following explanation was inspired by a quote someone shared with me that came from Milwaukee, WI Psychologist Dr. Stephen Dykstra. Dr. Dykstra compared the Orton-Gillingham approach to learning to read to physical therapy in terms of treating the reading area of the brain. I found his comparison helpful and so I reworked it slightly and added some other information, to create this explanation for families, on how and why the Orton-Gillingham approach is used for those with dyslexia, or extra difficulty in learning to read and spell.
When someone has extra difficulty with reading and spelling, despite normal intelligence, research has shown that there is an underlying difference in the left hemisphere of the brain, related to the ability to read written language quickly and easily This area causes difficulty with processing sound and connecting it to letters and print.
Think of this spot as a “reading muscle.” If you had an injury or disability of some kind that impaired a muscle, you’d go to physical therapy. You’d have to do exercises just for that muscle. How does that look when you start therapy? You start with tiny little weights, and with practice build your muscle’s strength and ability to do more. It might seem boring. It might hurt. It likely would not be fun. But would it be important?
In the same way, you will start with smaller pieces of sound, and train your brain to connect those sounds quickly to the correct written symbols. You will use all of your senses and do many “repetitions” in order to improve. It is important to cover and fill in all the gaps, where you’ve learned to memorize and guess and to re-teach your brain to really read the symbols instead.
As you see yourself getting stronger, you will understand the importance of doing what you do to “re-train” the brain to read accurately and correctly. You will build a solid base so that your reading will become unstuck and you will be able to read at a much higher level than before.
It takes commitment and determination, but it’s important and it needs to be done. This is the reasoning behind the approach to reading and spelling that you will be doing here.
When someone has extra difficulty with reading and spelling, despite normal intelligence, research has shown that there is an underlying difference in the left hemisphere of the brain, related to the ability to read written language quickly and easily This area causes difficulty with processing sound and connecting it to letters and print.
Think of this spot as a “reading muscle.” If you had an injury or disability of some kind that impaired a muscle, you’d go to physical therapy. You’d have to do exercises just for that muscle. How does that look when you start therapy? You start with tiny little weights, and with practice build your muscle’s strength and ability to do more. It might seem boring. It might hurt. It likely would not be fun. But would it be important?
In the same way, you will start with smaller pieces of sound, and train your brain to connect those sounds quickly to the correct written symbols. You will use all of your senses and do many “repetitions” in order to improve. It is important to cover and fill in all the gaps, where you’ve learned to memorize and guess and to re-teach your brain to really read the symbols instead.
As you see yourself getting stronger, you will understand the importance of doing what you do to “re-train” the brain to read accurately and correctly. You will build a solid base so that your reading will become unstuck and you will be able to read at a much higher level than before.
It takes commitment and determination, but it’s important and it needs to be done. This is the reasoning behind the approach to reading and spelling that you will be doing here.
