Tag: determination

Brenda’s Story

Brenda’s Story

by thecindyleafhall ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Imagine a child so reluctant to write that she lays her pencil down between each word.  That child was Brenda on her first day in my fifth-grade small group. We had opened the first day of a new small group by talking about how the students felt about reading, spelling, and writing – the areas which tend to give students with dyslexia the most difficulty.  Brenda quietly let us know she liked reading, and could work on spelling, but strongly disliked writing. Brenda arrived at this dislike of writing in what is, unfortunately, the usual way.  

Her mom began noticing that Brenda had some differences in her reading compared with the older children in the family when Brenda began completing assigned reading homework in first grade.  When they read together, Brenda tended to either skip over or greatly struggle with common, high-frequency words which other children her age read with ease. If there were questions to answer about the passage, Brenda would have no idea how to answer – as if she had not listened to herself reading.  Spelling in the early years was a complete mystery to Brenda. She simply didn’t make the connection between the letters and the sounds they represented. Brenda and her mom spent a great deal of time studying and working on word lists for upcoming spelling tests only to have Brenda perform very poorly on test day.  

Being a proactive mom, Mrs. C researched possible reasons for the language struggles and took Brenda to be tested for dyslexia at the end of Brenda’s second-grade year.  The test results found that Brenda was identified with characteristics of a person with dyslexia.  Feeling she had found her answer, Mrs. C. pulled Brenda out of XYZ, the private church school she had been attending, and intended to homeschool her.  A plan for teaching Brenda to read using phonics was recommended, so Mrs. C. purchased a popular book on how parents can teach their children to read in just over three months’ time.  She had successfully homeschooled her older children, so felt prepared for the task of teaching Brenda to read.  

Brenda did not share her mom’s enthusiasm for their homeschooling endeavors.  Mrs. C. recalls how Brenda would hide the reading manual, causing time to be spent searching the house for the book so lessons could begin.  Clever even at a very young age, Brenda would find unique caches for the book every day.  Mrs. C. recalls being confused that a child bright enough to search out new hiding places couldn’t simply sit down and learn the lessons the book promised would teach her to read! 

Two years invested in homeschooling efforts had yielded a closeness between mother and daughter (as well as an intimate knowledge of all possible hidey-holes in the house!) but had not resulted in Brenda reading and spelling on grade level.  Writing had now joined the list of challenges and became Brenda’s nemesis. 

Brenda’s folks came to me at the Dyslexia Center at the end of Brenda’s fourth-grade year, looking for a different way to approach Brenda’s language instruction.  They enrolled Brenda in small group and tutoring, planning to start at the beginning of fifth grade.  

At ABC, Brenda responded positively to the open and frank discussion of dyslexia that was part of the school culture.  She seemed relieved to put a name to her struggles with language and was happy to know there was an approach to learning that would be successful for her.  One of the specific things Brenda mentioned that encouraged her was the rotating classroom display of accomplished and famous dyslexic people.  Brenda applied herself to learning and understanding the Orton-Gillingham approach lessons presented to her.  Her tutor recalls Brenda being a very hard worker who seemed relieved to learn the generalizations and logic that are hallmarks of the O-G approach. 

After completing her fifth-grade year, Brenda had made a lot of progress. She had learned to make a brainstorm box to write down key ideas she wanted to include in her writing so that creating content was separated from remembering the mechanics and spelling rules that govern writing. Even though she was not finished the program, Brenda felt she had been given the tools she needed to succeed.  She longed to return to XYZ, the school she had attended in first and second grade, feeling her closest friends were there.  Her parents enrolled her in XYZ and arranged for a private O-G trained tutor to come to the school and give Brenda tutoring lessons multiple times per week. The plan felt sound, but it was not a success. 

Brenda was dismayed to realize school XYZ did not have a culture friendly to dyslexic students. She worked extraordinarily hard to earn average grades, but her teacher did not pick up on the fact she was not thriving.  She was not allowed accommodations in the classroom, and the girls she was longing to reconnect with mocked and ridiculed her need for tutoring.  Brenda’s tutoring lessons fell during the classroom math lesson, and the teacher did not alter the schedule. Unsurprisingly, Brenda soon added math to the list of subjects in which she was flagging. Realizing the failure of school XYZ to meet Brenda’s needs, her mom chose to move Brenda back to ABC for her seventh-grade year.  

Having spent a year away from the support system and understanding culture offered by ABC, Brenda now realized what a gift that support and understanding were.  She felt bolstered by the school culture surrounded by students and teachers who understood dyslexia, at least to some degree, and where everyone accepted her. Once again, Brenda had the environment she needed to succeed.  Accommodations prevented Brenda from getting bogged down and behind.  Class notes that were provided to her by each teacher freed Brenda from the burden of trying to listen to the lecture and write the notes at the same time.  She was now able to focus on what the teacher was saying, and her grades and level of understanding soared.  Brenda was able to take advantage of writing tutoring that could be scheduled during her study period, provided by an English teacher who was O-G trained.  Brenda’s family was exposed to continuing education about dyslexia for families.  This gave the entire family a better understanding of dyslexia and how it was impacting Brenda. 

Brenda graduated from ABC as an honors student and a proud member of the school volleyball team. Brenda’s natural willingness to try new things ripened into confidence, even when success in those new endeavors was not guaranteed.  Brenda is now at a small private college studying nursing, and her grades put her on the Dean’s List.  One day, Brenda’s picture could join that rotating display of accomplished dyslexic individuals.  

Brenda’s mom offers some advice to moms of children who exhibit signs of a reading struggle.

  • Know the signs of dyslexia.  
  • Know that frequently a series of small and seemingly unrelated struggles cumulatively point to dyslexia.
  • Get your child tested and start O-G tutoring as young as possible. 
  • Listen to your “mom radar” when things don’t seem to add up in a way that explains your child’s school struggles.
  • Find a school with a culture of acceptance of children who learn differently. 
  • Allow your child to participate in extracurricular activities that interest them – it can’t be ALL about studying. 
  • Know that you can petition for extra time on college entrance exams and that it can make a huge difference to have that extra time. 
  • Encourage your child to ask for and accept help rather than struggle. 
  • Encourage your college-aged child to register for accommodations at university – even if s/he does not plan to use them.  
Teaching in a Time of Covid19

Teaching in a Time of Covid19

by thecindyleafhall ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

March 13, 2020. That was the last day I taught students who were physically in the same room with me. Like thousands of other educators across our nation and the globe, I sat at my desk late that afternoon and made a list of possible solutions for how to continue to educate my young charges. One consideration I had that may not have been on other teachers’ minds was that every single one of my students is dyslexic. Giving them passages to read at home and questions to write out answers to would not equal learning. So, what to do?

When I was wrestling with the decision on the best way to teach my students, I naively believed that this was a two week pause in the school year, and that we would scrub and sanitize our way back to in-person learning after spring break. Deep in my heart, I have to admit that even then I wondered how it could all be solved in a few weeks. I suspected that even if some of the students did return, some would be at home for the rest of the school year.

Throughout the school year, I had taught professional development modules on dyslexia for schools from Virginia to Florida using the Zoom platform. It worked well for me, and was user friendly. I wrote “Zoom Small Groups” on my brainstorming list, and kept returning to it as other ideas were listed then discarded. By Monday morning, my staff and I held a staff meeting on Zoom to introduce them to the platform. I had the best group of professionals anyone could ever ask for, and they were willing to make the leap with me in committing that all of our dyslexia department’s instruction would continue to be live, teacher/tutor led, and individualized. We spent a couple of days getting everyone set up with Zoom accounts, and practicing the mechanics of inviting parents to sign in, and remembering passwords and codes were an integral part of successful connections. Where necessary, loaner systems were procured and set up at the homes of both staff and parents. By Wednesday, our invitations to join meetings were sent to parents, and we launched out into the unknown world of virtual instruction.

“Tomorrow is going to be better than today,”  became our motto during those early days as everyone, parents as well as staff members, navigated the unknown waters. The motto proved to be true. We communicated, a lot, with everyone involved.  We scoured the Zoom information websites, looking for Share my Screen directions, and happily finding the magical “Improve My Appearance” slider. (If that were sold in a jar at the drug store, I would buy a case!) Every moment was not a good moment. Everyone did not participate every lesson. The situation was more stressful for some families than for others. We chose to look the other way when Grandpa answered a meeting notification in his pj’s with hair standing on end, or the potty training little brother streaking through the camera view.  Everyone was doing their best, and that is all that can be expected.

As the spring wore on, bi-weekly packet pick up days became the bright spot because it meant we got to see our students, albeit through car windows. I became more convinced of the soundness of my decision to put my staff through the rigors of live instruction. The real proof would come when we conducted our end-of-semester progress monitoring testing. Plans were worked out for exactly how we would conduct that testing within the parameters of the Zoom screen. I went first with my own students, so I could become aware of unforeseen pitfalls and we could devise work arounds. After 6 weeks of on-line tutoring and small group instructions, our resilient students breezed through the testing, not seeing to bat an eye at it coming in a distance format. My staff and I held our collective breath as we awaited the results.

Forty-three students completed the testing.  I set out these four categories: scores dropped lower than the December testing, no improvement in the scores compared to the December testing, steady improvement of 4 months to 1 year in all categories tested, and stellar improvement of 6 months to over a year in all categories tested. Scores were verified, reports edited and sent onto parents, and a stroke count made beside each of the four categories.  My excitement rose as I sat at a spare table in my living room working through the stacks of testing data and reports. I may frame the scratch paper I used to tally the testing results. In the end, one student dropped below the December score.  Two students showed no improvement. A whopping twenty-two fell into that steady improvement category, and eighteen were in the stellar improvement column.

It had worked.

They had learned, even in a time of Covid19.

 

 

Creativity Grows on Trees

Creativity Grows on Trees

by thecindyleafhall ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I had the privilege to sub for a grade 2 small group yesterday, as their regular teacher traveled with her daughter to a cheer competition.  I really like subbing for my teachers, because it gives me great snapshots of how the students in that group are doing, and the teacher geek in me just loves teaching kids!

The language portion of the lesson yesterday involved choosing two words from sticky notes to make a compound word, then choosing a different colored sticky note adjective to describe the compound word.  Those stickies were taken to the work table, and students wrote a sentence, underlining the compound and boxing the adjective. This activity was great on many levels, including the getting up from the work table and going to the counter were the sticky notes were laid out between each sentence.  Planned stretches are important for our students, and creative writing that is one sentence long is less overwhelming than a whole paragraph.

I was going through individual reading assessments with each of the five students as the sentences were being written, so was listening to sentences here and there when young authors were so delighted with their own words that they just had to share a particularly funny sentence with me.  That is when Henry started the “money tree” sentence thread.  He had recently heard the maxim “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” and was all about imagining the possibility of money actually growing on trees.  We talked about what the saying means, and why parents or grandparents might say it, but the giggly, creative imaginations of those five second graders had already taken flight, and I found myself in the role of air traffic controller, keeping them from talking over one another in their enthusiasm to read the sentence they had made with their compound word that related to money growing on trees.  Want some examples of their wit?

“If money grows on trees, I will get my whole class orange basketballs for PE.”

“I plant a money tree in the hot sunshine so we can go to Chick-fil-A every day.”

“I got a lot of cool skateboards with dollars from my money tree.”

The sentences went on and on, and the language portion regrettably drew to a close and we moved to spelling, where a new list of words to work on was introduced.  Our pattern of introducing words is to underline the target spelling pattern in each word, scoop syllables, then read the words orally and use them in sentences. I know you can see where this is going, and yes, you are right.  The money tree theme spread like a bamboo forest, creeping from language lesson into those sample spelling word sentences.  Never before had I seen such sharp wit and wide smiles from this group of five students as they somehow fit money trees into oral sentences using their spelling words.

The Spire reading lesson finished out our small group time, with the money tree theme front and center. As we brainstormed all the ways they have learned to spell the long e sound, they were quick to point out that the word “money” ends in the long e sound.  We briefly talked about how not many words have the e at the end spelled ey, most are just a y.  Mary Lou was right there to remind us all that you can’t spell the sound e at the end of a word with the letter e, because then it will be silent and make the vowel in front of it say its long sound, turning our “money tree” into a “moan-y tree.”  Mary Lou had tears of laughter streaming from to corners of her eyes as she painted for us the picture of trees than moaned and complained.

As small group drew to a close, all of us felt the ninety minutes had flown by, like money taking wings of flight. I loved seeing these students’ growth, in both knowledge of how reading and language works, and of the wit and humor that language can bring to us.  This year, these five students have journeyed from the land where language is a confusing blur full of puzzling rules and unexpected exceptions to a stable place where the GPS of reliable rules and guidelines lead them to the right word choice nearly every time.  How amazing see this change unfold, a money tree of knowledge growing steadily between each student’s ears.

” Knowledge is wealth, wisdom is treasure, understanding is riches, and ignorance is poverty.” Dhliwayo

 

Practice Builds Neural Pathways

Practice Builds Neural Pathways

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I was at a doctor visit today, and the doc spied my waiting room reading material, “Reading and the Brain.”  He laid down his pen and said he just had to ask what I did for a living.  After a very brief explanation, he wanted to know more about the neural pathway rewiring that O-G can do.  I was glad to have written this Dyslexia Center newsletter article just last week, so had info to share with him on the tip of my mind. You might like reading it too!

What are neural pathways?

Neural pathways are similar to roads between destinations in pioneer days. The more often the road was traveled, the wider and easier the navigation became. Practice makes the brain create pathways within the brain so recalling that information is faster each time it is rehearsed.

Practicing makes permanent!

Knowing that neural pathways are being widened and improved each time a child (or an adult) rehearses a skill helps us to understand the importance of lots of practice.  Neural pathways are for both academic recall and for skill in physical tasks, such as quickly fingering a run of notes on a flute or releasing a baseball at just the right moment in a pitch.  

More practice for dyslexic brains

Studies have shown that people with dyslexia need 40 rehearsals to recall what a non-dyslexic person can recall in 3 practice sessions. That is because of the brain differences which lay at the root of dyslexia.  This also is the reason it is so crucial for a dyslexic person to study the information correctly, and why parents often need to be involved in study sessions.    

Practice smarter!

Some techniques have been shown to net longer lasting results for dyslexic individuals.  Involving the hand or body in the rehearsals helps with recall.  Some examples of how this is done are simple tasks such as tracing a finger on the table in the shape of the letters being studied as the child says his or her drill ring; finger sounding words to be spelled; bouncing a ball as the letters to a word are called out.  Marching while saying lists of items to be learned for a history test can also be helpful to a dyslexic child.  Study cards which can be picked up and moved or flipped are another way to get movement into the practice.  

Want to read more about brain science?

Check out  this article:

Great 5 Minute Video!

Great 5 Minute Video!

by thecindyleafhall ♥ 1 Comment

This excellent video was produced by Dyslexia 411’s Kristie Stewart Haas.  It shares important information such as warning signs of dyslexia, enough neurological info to pique curiosity, a message of hope and assurance that specialized teaching methods work, and some thoughts on accommodations.

This wonderful message is told by bright faced, eager students, which made me want to watch it carefully, so I caught each of their messages. Share this with teachers, struggling students who feel alone, and  parents whose children are facing unexpected struggles in school!

Watch the video here here

 

The View from Opposite Points on the Journey

The View from Opposite Points on the Journey

by thecindyleafhall ♥ 1 Comment

This year one of my students is finishing up her tutoring years, and another is just beginning his.  It is interesting to be teaching two students who are at such opposite ends of the journey to understand language. I am struck by how many of the broad concepts that I am teaching my little K guy, Andy, are still being used by my 7th grader, Cathy. It makes me stretch to come up with lots of inventive ways to practice the skills that I can see Andy will be using for many years to come.

When reading and spelling are automatic, as they are for non-dyslexic people, they just seem to happen without effort.  A dyslexic individual is putting a whole lot of thought into the process of decoding for reading or encoding for spelling.  No wonder it is kinda exhausting for them.

Andy is learning that a syllable is “a word or a piece of a word with one vowel sound.”  We practice picking out syllables from among the choices I put onto the white board to find the ones that meet that definition of a syllable.  Cathy uses the same syllable definition to check her spelling of multi-syllable words, since she knows she frequently forgets to add the vowel to unaccented syllables when she spells. That quick check helps her to go back and add the needed vowels which she naturally omits.

Andy struggles to hear the difference between some letter sounds such as short e and short i, or f and v.  We do oral games to give him lots of chances to strengthen that weak area.  Cathy has learned to whisper to herself the short vowel sound and clue words to clarify in her mind if the sound in question should be spelled e or  i.  She does it so quickly that I have to be paying close attention to even notice her checking.  When asked about it, she shrugs it off with a breezy, “Oh yeah, it helps me to hear that out loud.”

In addition to still using the same concepts, the other similarity I see between these two students is how much pleasure they get from their ability to actually read!  Both told me they never thought they would be able to read as their classmates do. Happily they have both experienced success in the reading area.  Last semester, Cathy finished an entire chapter book during our tutoring lessons, and immediately asked if we could find more books by that author.  Andy was able to check a Level 1 book out of the school library and, as he put it, “I can read a lot of the words, not just the pictures.”

Being the person to lead these students to that success is my version of teacher success.

Top Ten ways to Build Resilience

Top Ten ways to Build Resilience

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A new article on the International Dyslexia Association page gives a wonderful list of ways for adults who struggle due to dyslexia to build the resilience they need to keep trying in the face of set-backs.  Read it here.

I myself was struggling to spell the word “resilience” as I typed in the title to this piece.  I often struggle to spell, so this was not a new experience for me.  I was staring at my screen, and the word resilience underlined in wavy red, analyzing it for where I had gone wrong in the spelling. Humorously, before reading the article, I had just written a lesson for a middle school student on the schwa word endings, ance and ence.  When I typed in the word resilience, I incorrectly spelled it with an ance ending.  I guess I better listen to myself as I present the lesson later this afternoon!  The ability to laugh at one’s own mistakes is important too, right?

From Struggling Reader to Harvard Grad

From Struggling Reader to Harvard Grad

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I love a good David vs Goliath success story, don’t you?  How about one where the difference maker is an elderly teacher who will not give up on a struggling first grade reader, even when she didn’t fully understand what was a the root of the problem?  Sounds like a must-read, right?  Follow the link to read the full story. 

Dyslexic Wonders: Understanding the Daily Life of a Dyslexic

Dyslexic Wonders: Understanding the Daily Life of a Dyslexic

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At age 12, Jenny Smith decided she wanted to help other dyslexic kids by writing a book about what it is like to be dyslexic.  Four years and 11 editors later, her book was published.  She soon founded Jenny’s Wish Foundation, which accepts scholarship applications to help individuals with dyslexia get the educational help they need. Read her story, which includes a link where you may go to purchase her book.

Jenny’s story