Harrisonville Schools Dyslexia Connection

08/01/2022

Welcome back to school! No matter if it is through in-person learning or virtual learning, parents are the biggest advocate for their children with dyslexia. I am looking forward to a great year believing in these children as well!

06/15/2022

Dyslexia is often referred to as the ‘invisible’ disability, but that doesn’t mean that our feelings about it aren’t very real and for some people, the damage to self esteem may last a lifetime.

11/10/2020

This is a great idea for in-person or virtual learners to manipulate sounds and read words. You can also make this more advanced for students that are ready for long-vowel words by increasing the vowel combinations as well!

10/22/2020

Thank you to the Harrisonville Public Schools Foundation for the grant to provide students in our building with this multi-sensory approach to learning consonant and vowel sounds. I am looking forward to seeing them in use on Monday!

10/02/2020

For the "Flashback Friday" today, I am sharing some thoughts concerning Parent-Teacher Conferences when discussing reading with a family of a struggling reader.

As we go into Parent-Teacher conferences in a few weeks, there are some phrases that are not helpful when discussing dyslexia. Some of these phrases contain misconceptions, such as number 1 and 6 since dyslexia is not something that "goes away" but rather people learn compensation skills. Additionally, number 4 can be one of the most difficult for people to understand as those dyslexic students are often the students working the hardest in the classroom. Here is a list of what to say that differs from this list:
1. As your child matures, they will learn skills to assist them with this different type of processing.
2. Spelling may be difficult for your child, but there are strategies they can learn and often it helps a dyslexic child to learn the "rules" behind spelling to help with this.
3. Many children feel a sense of relief when they have a name to why they struggle to read or spell.
4. Your child is so smart and works so hard.
5. A dyslexic child's listening comprehension is usually very strong, so continue reading out loud and reading with your child for this enjoyment. Often children enjoy listening to audio books as well.
6. I know people who are dyslexic.
7. Colored overlays have been a misconception associated with dyslexia, however there are conditions where colored overlays are helpful.
8. There is a high co-morbidity rate with dyslexia and ADD/ADHD, but it does not necessarily mean that they cause one another as they are two separate conditions.
9. There are many types of dyslexia and it is important to know that the different types can impact a variety of literacy areas.
10. The school is working to teach your child to read, however there needs to be specialized instruction that is explicit and structured in literacy.
11. Dyslexia is not just about "seeing things backwards," but rather a different way that the brain is processing literacy skills.
12. Dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in reading so it can be surprising given other information about the child that they would struggle with reading.
13. Every parent needs to be aware of how they can advocate for their child's education.
14. I know it has taken a lot to get your child to the benchmark and there can be a concern about regression or the work it will take to make the next benchmark. This is a celebration of where they are now and we will continue to work for the next levels as well.
15. Your child is working hard and we can provide accommodations and modifications in order to gain equal access to the curriculum.

09/25/2020

Each week, I am going to do a Feature Friday. First, I am going to do some "flashbacks" for concepts I've already discussed on this page for any parents that are new to the world of dyslexia.

Here is the first flashback, it is the concept of reversals. While reversals are developmental until a children is around 8 years old, there are some (NOT all, which is a misconception) students with dyslexia that can still have reversals beyond this age. One of the biggest reasons that we still see reversals before this age is due to a defense mechanism that is built into our brains in which we see mirror images of objects in infancy and early childhood. This protects us so that no matter what way we view an object, we know it is that object. For example, no matter which way a young child sees a trusted adult's face, they know it is that person.

However, when working with letters, that mirror concept now gets replaced with the fact that it DOES matter which way we turn the object when it comes to making letter sounds. The first illustration shows this concept as well.

One way we can help our students when trying to distinguish between a b and d or a p and q is to focus upon the mouth shape. When I make a b or p sound, like in bat or pat, my mouth first makes a straight line. We can show children that the straight line also comes first in these letters. In contrast, when I make a d or qu sound, my mouth makes a circle first. We can show students that the circle comes first in these letters as well. The second illustration shows this concept.

05/15/2020

For our final vocabulary ladder for the regular school year, we are going to go from spring to summer. What is your favorite season and why?

05/15/2020

Today for our final red word, we are discussing the word where. Where would you like to go if you had the choice? Let me know if there are other words that you would like to do this activity with this summer!

05/15/2020

Here is the final phonemic awareness activity for our regular school year. Let me know if you would like to see some of these throughout the summer to keep these skills fresh!

05/14/2020

Today, our word centers around the word father.

05/14/2020

Today, our red word is what. Remember that if you create a sentence with this word as the beginning word that you need to use a question mark at the end for punctuation.