Smart Cookie Reading, LLC

Informative, continuing education morning with my ALTA-VA colleagues!

Remember these? Make a paper chain with your child or surprise them with one! Even teens love these! Not that we’re counting down over here...

Screentime Is Making Kids Moody, Crazy, and Lazy 6 ways electronic screen time makes kids angry, depressed and unmotivated.

It has been an amazing two years serving on the ALTA-VA board. Our members work hard and it’s been a pleasure learning from them!

Dyslexia and ADHD: Connections and Treatments

Sign up!! October 19th!

eventbrite.com Local Pediatrician and Expert in ADHD Discusses Medications, Treatments and Connections to Dyslexia

Decoding Dyslexia Virginia

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2019/09/415346/dyslexia-other-learning-challenges-are-focus-new-20m-initiative

The Written Word Center for Dyslexia and Learning

FAQ❓🍎 A Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) has a PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIAL with the EXPERTISE to provide an individualized treatment plan for the remediation of dyslexia and related language based learning differences. Click to Learn More: http://ow.ly/Vk9u50v0w5M

Day in the life of a language therapist...
student sessions, informal assessments scored, reading report written, parent conference, and to top it all off, a former client's mom sent me a sweet text from her child with more emoji's than I can count!!

Summer session begins tomorrow! Prepping all new games so my Smart Cookies are engaged!

Lorraine M. Hightower, LLC

An excellent and comprehensive report on how to 'reach and teach' the 1 in 5 students across general and special education classrooms who have mild to moderate disabilities including dyslexia...check out the "Eight Key Practices"

Spelfabet

Ah, analytic and synthetic phonics- please take the time to read this if you are a parent or classroom teachers interested in the science of how our children should be taught to read.

A great explanation of why kids should be taught to read via systematic, explicit, synthetic phonics not “Balanced Literacy”, AKA Whole Language plus incidental, initial and/or analogy phonics. I’d like to add that for most kids it may be fine to teach letter names and sounds at the same time, but this overwhelms and confuses many of the strugglers I see, so I start with sounds not letter names.

Our newest reading therapy dog fell asleep on the job!! He was supposed to be helping with curriculum prep!

Snowy afternoon= 8 new games for my older Smart Cookies! 🍪

Independent bookstore coming to Main Street

Smart Cookie Reading is so excited to welcome independent bookstore, Open Book!

fauquiernow.com After extensive research, friends plan to open Old Town’s Open Book in March

Wilson Language Training

Slow processing is not a sign of low intelligence...

Check out this fact sheet about slow processing issues.

Up early and ready for “Screen and Intervene: The Latest Research on Reading” with Dr. Gaab, Dr. Hoeft, and Sandra Dillon.

Ghost digraphs just in time for Halloween!

In honor of dyslexia awareness month, I delivered opening remarks for our fall VA Academic Language Therapy Association chapter meeting today. Earlier in the week I asked one of my students to record both her thoughts as a dyslexic learner and advice for therapists from a student perspective. Her words inspired reflection of our purpose and remind us of the privilege working with these precious students daily. And yes, I cried.

Our Smart Cookie therapy dog won 1st place today! I think all of my students would agree- he’s a snuggle monster!

DC Capital Area Branch of the IDA

The Q&A attached to this report I sent out last week are valuable for parents. Don’t be afraid to ask questions!

https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/10/08/what-to-do-if-your-childs-school-isnt-teaching-reading-right

I am so excited to start fall with fresh books with my students!!

Decoding Dyslexia Virginia

https://www.facebook.com/205682429573289/posts/1301944303280424/

"What is dyslexia? An interview with neuroscientist Guinevere Eden"

https://www.apmreports.org/story/2017/09/11/what-is-dyslexia-guinevere-eden

Usborne Books & More

My cousin is a licensed former elementary school teacher turned mom, tutor, and Usborne book consultant. She personally levels books to your child's abilities and interests and then recommends an individualized list. For my clients and followers, please use the link below to contact Amy. I ordered some fabulous leveled texts for my kiddos and clients- Christmas is right around the corner. I am not profiting from this, but recommending because Amy is not only knowledgeable, but thoughtful in her selections. Excited for some new titles that I can't find anywhere else! https://v7723.myubam.com/

v7723.myubam.com

The Dyslexia Project Decoding Dyslexia- AR

Exposure alone does not work.

Children with dyslexia will not learn to read simply by being exposed to books or by trying to read books.

That's why Accelerated Reader does not work for them.

-Susan Barton

Ways to ease a child's nerves about the new year - NY Daily News

A must-read for parents of kiddos struggling with school related anxiety. Helpful tips from my friend Kristin Kane on how to frame our role and comments as parents.
http://www.nydailynews.com/featured/sns-ways-to-ease-a-child-s-nerves-about-the-new-year-20180822-story.html

nydailynews.com About 8 percent of children have an anxiety disorder. But kids don't need to have a diagnosable disorder to feel nervous about the new school year.

It’s a pretty wild Friday night at Smart Cookie! Prepping for my fall session with new school supplies!

It’s graduation week for two of my Smart Cookies! One student cheered, “I love to read now!”- and that’s the best gift I could ever receive.

The concept of The Ladder of Reading emerged during Young’s lectures with teachers and parents who believed the myth that Structured Literacy was only beneficial and necessary for struggling readers. To counter that misunderstanding, she created an infographic featuring the categories and percentages that illustrated the ratio of individuals who require an explicit, sequential, systematic, phonics-based approach to learning to read, compared to the small proportion of individuals who learn to read effortlessly. With a few well-chosen words, the Ladder conveys the point, frequently unknown, that a Structured Literacy approach to beginning reading is advantageous for most students. [source: https://dyslexiaida.org/ladder-of-reading-infographic-structured-literacy-helps-all-students/]