Sounds In Motion

SOUNDS IN MOTION WORKSHOP ALERT!!!

There is still time to register and claim your spot for the next Sounds In Motion workshop hosted by Bank Street College.

What: Sounds In Motion Training
When: March 2, 2024 from 10am-4:30pm
Registration Link:

Course Schedule: Continuing Professional Studies Explore and register for current online and short-format course offerings from Continuing Professional Studies at Bank Street College.

Cicio, Laurie
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11:51 AM (2 hours ago)
to me

Hi Fran,

Just a note of thanks for the Sounds In Motion program. I have been offering this to our kindergarten students for almost ten years and know the benefits! I love receiving notes from our kindergarten students who also appreciate it! Sharing the joy with you and hope you are well.

Laurie Cicio M.S. CCC-SLP
Speech and Language Specialist

What is happening with the current reading practices across the country. . .

The Rise and Fall of Vibes-Based Literacy Is a controversial curriculum, entrenched in New York City’s public schools for two decades, finally coming undone?

From Lavinia Mancuso at Everyone Reading -

Did you/could you teach yourself to read and write in Pre-K or Kindergarten? If not, you might be predisposed to DYSlexia and DYSgraphia. Could you solve complex math problems without a number fact in your head? No! DYScalculia might be in your profile. Could you become distracted teaching yourself physics through inquiry, without those number facts or basic science information? You might lack executive function or be prone to ADHD.

Teachers used to teach. Now they diagnose and refer. Curriculum guides used to brief and focus on instruction and practice. Now they are doorstops and include Common Core Standards, Charlotte Danielson's benchmarks, ideas for differentiation, but very little solid instruction to differentiate. Every lesson has fourteen possible activities, most of which are useless or silly.

It seems that, starting in infancy, every child now gets a label, and those labels last forever. Those labels place the problem on the student, sometimes even blaming heredity. A few children, of course, will need special services, but when everyone seems to have a disability, those services are spread thin. How do we know that the specialist is better than the classroom teacher, or if being pulled out or pushed in on doesn't cause the same embarrassment it always has?

In BACK TO NORMAL: Why Ordinary Childhood Behavior is Mistaken for ADHD, Bipolar Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder, psychologist Enrico Gnaulati lays out the folly of our rush to judgement. Literacy eminence Anita Archer questions the difference between dyslexia and dystaughtia. In The Dyslexia Debate and other writings, educational psychologist Julian (Joe) Elliott wonders why, since the treatment for dyslexia and garden variety poor reading is pretty much the same, we don't just give that instruction to those who need it, label free.

In his book, All that Moves Us, pediatric neurosurgeon Jay Wellons reflects that his line of work has given him "the opportunity to fundamentally improve, or even bring back, a child who is pure potential, for whom nothing is truly determined and all possibilities exist."* If he can find joy and promise under the most dire circumstances, why can't we stop our sifting and winnowing and just get on with better teaching.

*Book review by Jerome Groopman in the July 25, 2022 issue of The New Yorker.

As we hurtle towards a new school year, we should wonder why 25% (250,000) of New York City public school students have conditions requiring special interventions. What has created these conditions? We cannot blame the students or the teachers. They are doing what is asked of them. We should blame the people doing the asking.

Very exciting article about infants processing
speech shortly after birth. .. .

Newborns Begin Language Processing Just Hours Post-Birth, Study Indicates Babies appear able to successfully differentiate speech sounds shortly after being born, according to research.

There is still time to register for the next SOUNDS IN MOTION training workshop presented at Bank Street College on August 8, 2022. For registration information please go to::
[email protected].

Mayor Adams is following through with his promise to provide more support for children who have dyslexia. . .

Mayor Adams Unveils Program to Address Dyslexia in N.Y.C. Schools The mayor, who has dyslexia himself, would open two new schools, train teachers and direct schools to use phonics-based lessons as a way to address a literacy crisis in the city.

More information on the causes of autism. . .

What Causes Autism? Study of 100,000 Kids Reveals New Clues From genetics to fevers, Columbia psychiatrist and epidemiologist Mady Hornig discusses the possible roots of this mysterious condition.

In honor of "Better Hearing and Speech Month," here is a link to information from the CDC on loud noises. How loud is too loud? With an increase in technology use with headphones, hearing loss is happening more and more in the younger population.

"Ask a Scientist" Comic Series | NCEH | CDC The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, an...

Thoughts from Lavinia Mancuso at Everyone
Reading. . .

Anxious parents frequently call for help for children who are not reading in Kindergarten. I am tempted to tell them to move to a highly literate country where reading is taught between the ages of six and eight.

Over the past several years, I have observed elementary school classes where children were asked to analyze picture books as if they were written by James Joyce. (Could you, Gentle Reader, identify the internal and external character traits in Frog and Toad?) In many cases, the children have not been taught to read the words they have to analyze deeply.

Teaching penmanship to first graders also seems beneath contempt. Lots of kids now need occupational therapy to correct the bad habits they developed trying to teach themselves to write, often in Pre-K, and often while sitting on a rug facing the back of the room.

The first grade math curriculum now includes data analysis, geometry and algebraic thinking. It probably doesn't include basic adding and subtracting. Why else would I find so many high school students who can't add, subtract, multiply or divide one or two digit numbers without a calculator? Worse yet, they do not know how, when or why to do so.

I understand that American students are exceptional, but even exceptional children can benefit from instruction. The Wishful Thinking Curriculum implies that children can teach themselves basic skills and that they can do so at very young ages. The fact is that most can't.

Teaching is the traditional function of school. Reading, writing and math skills are traditional, too. Even the newest math is based on ancient Arabic numerals and the work of Euclid and Pythagoras. English is constantly evolving, but it hasn't had a major change since the Great Vowel Shift between the 14th and 17th centuries.

Since those bodies of knowledge are pretty well fixed, why don't we just teach them and encourage students to apply this knowledge to things we don't know?

The Wishful Thinking Curriculum has not raised test scores. It has raised special education referral rates and anxiety levels.

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month. Here are some great resources.

Better Hearing and Speech Month 2022 Each May, Better Hearing & Speech Month (BHSM) provides an opportunity to raise awareness about communication disorders and the role of ASHA members in providing life-altering treatment.

Here is another wonderful post from Jo-Ann Kalb. This one is about free online decodable books!

Calling All SIM Fans,
I have a terrific recommendation for decodable books, suitable for all levels through fourth grade. The company is called FLYLEAF Publications and to their immense credit, they have made their books available on line, for free, throughout the pandemic. Their books are beautifully illustrated and written with higher level language missing from so many decodable books. Just one example…The King Of Spring a rhyming book…”It is spring!” the king said, as he sat in the midst of a budding daffodil bed. Later in the story, “ And in the midst of the song was the king, clapping his hands that were dressed with silver rings.” When a wind storm begins the king says, “Fantastic, Fantastic!” the king sang along with the blustering, gusting, spring singsong.

The choice of “midst”, "hands that were dressed with silver rings” a "budding daffodil bed” are all examples of literary language totally missing from other decodable series.

Another title “Mr. Mole’s Stove” begins “Mr. Mole lived in a hole at the top of a windswept slope. He dug his hole in the sand with his little mole hands long ago, when he was just a lad. In his hole Mr. Mole had woven a bed with twigs and grass and rope. He stuffed it with fluff and bits of fabric and rug. It was a nest that kept him snug.

I have read this book with countless second graders, none of whom understood what woven meant or had a concept of Mr. Mole’s construction of his bed. What a wonderful opportunity for a hands on project to bring these words to life.

Please visit www.flyleafpublishing.com and click on Free E-Book Library. You can select Students or Instructors and then scroll through the offerings.
This is now the third year that Flyleaf has made their library available on line; I don’t know how much longer it will be available…I urge you to take advantage while you can.

Authentic, Decodable Books | Flyleaf Publishing Engaging, meaningful, decodable books with fine-art illustrations tied to a systematic phonics scope & sequence. Foundational Skills and Close Reading Guides…