Beacon Valley Literacy Support Services

04/22/2026

Students with dyslexia may read a word correctly but not understand it. Informal vocabulary checks (quick questions, oral responses, context talk) reveal what’s really sticking—and what’s not.

That’s how you build true comprehension.

Save this & try one quick check today. DM me with questions.

04/18/2026

Hearing your child read out loud tells a story that test scores alone can miss. Listen for effort, hesitations, guessing, or choppy phrasing—these can be important signs of dyslexia, whether reading sounds fluent or not.

If you have concerns, bring a short recording of your child reading to meetings with teachers or specialists. It gives real insight and helps guide better questions, clearer understanding, and more targeted support.

Advocacy starts with what you notice. Trust it—and use it.

📩 Message me with questions or if you want help figuring out next steps.

04/14/2026

Use informal assessments to drive your instruction.

Listen to students read. Track errors. Ask questions. Adjust immediately.

📖 Highlight to focus attention on patterns and support accuracy.
🔁 Use repeated reading to build fluency and comprehension.

Be intentional. Be responsive. That’s how students with dyslexia make progress.

💾 Save this post to make sure your kid is all set
📩 Message with questions

04/13/2026

04/10/2026

Fluency isn’t the full story 👇I added these comprehension questions because…

A student can read a passage at a solid rate and with high accuracy—but if we don’t ask questions after, we’re missing the most important piece: comprehension.

Oral reading fluency (WPM) tells us how smoothly a child reads.
But comprehension questions tell us:
➡️ Did they understand what they read?
➡️ Can they recall key details?
➡️ Can they make meaning from the text?

For students with dyslexia, this matters even more. They may focus so much on decoding that comprehension can break down—or sometimes comprehension is strong even when fluency is still developing.

That’s why we have to listen carefully to their answers. Not just right or wrong—but how they’re thinking, what they remember, and where meaning falls apart.

Because reading isn’t just saying the words… it’s understanding them.

04/08/2026

A quick look at measuring informal oral reading fluency…

This second grader read 77 words per minute (WPM) with 100% accuracy (0 errors) on a grade-level passage. That means decoding is strong—but fluency is about rate + accuracy + expression working together.

When we compare 77 WPM to grade-level norms, this falls between the 50th and 75th percentile for winter and below the 50th percentile for spring expectations. In simple terms:
➡️ Your child is reading accurately
➡️ But reading speed is still developing compared to peers

For students with dyslexia, this pattern is common. They may read words correctly but need extra time and practice to build automaticity. Fluency growth comes from repeated reading, strong phonics, and structured practice—not rushing.

Informal assessments like this are powerful because they show real reading performance—not just test scores.

04/03/2026

It’s not everyday you feel seen as a parent, teacher, and a tutor. Have to remember times like these. We were knee deep in college applications and my daughter’s writing about me stopped me in my tracks.

03/30/2026

Not every child shows what they know on a standardized test—and that’s where the Core Multiple Reading Measures helps!

This informal assessment digs deeper by looking at real reading behaviors: decoding, fluency, comprehension, and error patterns as they happen. For students with dyslexia, this means we’re not guessing—we’re understanding how they read so we can actually help them improve.

Informal assessments like this are flexible, responsive, and give the kind of insight standardized tests simply can’t.

💡 If you want a clearer picture of your child’s reading profile, this is a game changer.

literacyintervention

03/24/2026

Formal reading assessments = the data you can’t ignore

Standardized, structured, and norm-referenced, tools like the GORT and WIAT show how a student compares to peers—and help identify real reading challenges, not just classroom struggles.

These are the scores that drive eligibility, diagnoses, and meaningful support plans.

Want help understanding your child’s results or need a comprehensive evaluation?
🔗 Beacon Valley Literacy Services: https://beaconvalleyliteracy.com

03/21/2026

The GORT (Gray Oral Reading Test) is used to measure reading fluency and comprehension—but here’s the problem: for students with dyslexia, it can seriously miss the mark. When decoding is hard, comprehension scores don’t always reflect what a child actually understands. I HATE this fact! So are we measuring reading…or the struggle to get through the words?

It’s a reminder that one test should never tell the whole story. Comprehensive, thoughtful evaluation matters.

🔗 Buy the GORT: https://www.pearsonassessments.com
🔗 Learn more / get support: https://www.beaconvalleyliteracy.com

12/31/2023

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was an American philosopher, essayist, poet, and lecturer who played a pivotal role in the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Emerson was educated at Harvard University and later became a Unitarian minister. However, he gradually drifted away from organized religion and developed his own philosophical and spiritual beliefs.

Emerson's work is characterized by a focus on individualism, self-reliance, and the importance of nature. He believed that each person has a unique inner voice that should be heeded over societal expectations, and that nature is a source of spiritual and moral inspiration.

Some of Emerson's most notable works include:

• "Nature" (1836): In this essay, Emerson lays out his philosophy of nature as a source of spiritual and moral inspiration, and emphasizes the importance of individual experience and intuition.

• "Self-Reliance" (1841): This essay is perhaps Emerson's most famous work, and it extols the virtues of non-conformity, individualism, and self-reliance.

• "The American Scholar" (1837): This speech, delivered at Harvard University, outlines Emerson's vision of the ideal American scholar as someone who is self-reliant, curious, and independent-minded.

• "Essays: First and Second Series" (1841, 1844): These two volumes of essays contain some of Emerson's most famous works, including "Self-Reliance," "The Over-Soul," and "Circles."

• "Representative Men" (1850): In this book, Emerson profiles several famous historical figures, including Plato, Napoleon, and Shakespeare, and examines their character and achievements.

Emerson's ideas had a profound influence on American culture and thought, and his work continues to be studied and admired today.

• Ralph Waldo Emerson Collection: Collected Essays and Lectures: https://amzn.to/3M4hQkc