Tag: dyslexia

How DO you teach children with learning challenges?

ADHD, Behavioral Regulation, Dyslexia, Executive Functioning, Learning, Thinking Skills

Effective teaching requires a connection between the teacher and the student. This connection allows the teacher to modify and accelerate instruction as the student grows. Understanding the zone of proximal development helps the teacher understand what a child is capable of learning in any given session. The zone of proximal development is a way to visualize the learning zone.

Zone of Proxmial development

Any information above the zone is too difficult for the child to comprehend while anything below the zone she’s already mastered and no longer needs to work on. The tricky part about the zone is it is always moving. On days that the stars are aligned and the child is open and able to learn easily, the child will move swiftly through almost any appropriate material you give. However, if a child has a learning disability, or struggles with emotional regulation, the zone may be different for different subjects or on different days depending on what has happened already before the learning session. It is the role of the teacher to connect with the child at the beginning of the session to determine where the zone is for that day and then moving the child step-by-step though the material to take him to higher levels of comprehension.

Staying in the zone may sound simple, but it is the core of working with any child with a learning challenge. If instructors stay within a child’s zone of proximal development the child will learn. The challenge for the instructor is both staying within the zone and having the appropriate materials so that the child can connect to the new information. Having instructional tools that appropriately address the child’s area of deficits is critical to the learning process. The selection of materials can be a challenge in itself. One reading program may be great for certain kind of student and completely inappropriate for another student. This is where testing and evaluations are helpful. An educational professional can read the testing results and match the child’s areas of weaknesses to programs that develop those specific areas.

Another key component for creating a successful treatment plan is making it fun and motivating for the child. I believe all children want to learn and feel good about their intellectual capability. Our role as teachers, parents and educators is creating the right interventions which stay in the child learning zone, address the specific needs of the child, are fun and guide the child towards his or her potential.

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Language Organization Skills Blend Executive Functioning and Language Skills To Help Us Communicate Clearly

ADHD, Dyslexia, Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing, Writing

Language serves many purposes. We use language to share our needs, our wants, our feelings and our thoughts. We use language to become apart of our shared community and socially interact with others. Weak language skills can make a person feel isolated and disconnected from those around him. In addition, he may miss out on learning opportunities. Language skills help build strong social connections and friendships as well as allow us to absorb information from teachers and the world around us.

Most people learn language organically as they develop from an infant to a toddler and beyond into adulthood. Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, breaks language into two parts. The first part involves creating a relationship between meaning and sound. What this refers to is that when we hear the sound “d-o-g” we think of a dog, an animal that has four legs and a tail. The average person performs this task quickly and automatically. Most people have learned 50,000 to 100,000 words, which they can quickly and efficiently process from sound to meaning.

The second part of language, according to Pinker, is ability to follow rules and combine words to communicate the thought we have to another person. We learn that “Sarah sat on a hat” has a different meaning than “ A hat sat on Sarah”. We learn that the order of the words is important and that we can get different meanings from the same words.

There is a growing population of students who are struggling with the organizational component of language. Many of these students have acquired the sound to meaning portion of language, but they get overwhelmed when they are required to organize their thoughts to effectively communicate their idea to others. I have begun to call this a “Language Organization Deficit.”

Many of the students who experience this difficulty have a background history of dyslexia, ADHD or language processing difficulty. Some students with Language Organization issues experience word-finding issues, but more commonly they have trouble quickly and clearly conveying information. They may talk around an idea without ever stating what they are trying to communicate. Students with Language organization issues can have trouble keeping up with the pace of the conversation, leading to difficulty in social situations. They also struggle with organizing their ideas to write a paper.

Students with a Language Organization weakness need to build both their language skills and their executive functioning skills.

  • Strengthening the phonological loop with rapid naming exercises can help speed up the word finding component of language.
  • Teaching the Executive Functioning skills of Stop, Think, Plan, Do can allow the student to slow down to organize his ideas.
  • Building a strong vocabulary base, learning antonyms and synonyms, will increase the choices a student has to express his ideas.
  • Learning to breakdown ideas into parts and then organize them can help a student start a task without feeling overwhelmed.
  • Building flexible thinking skills can help a child with language organization issues find new ways of thinking and organizing ideas.

Language and the ability to share thoughts is a basic skill. Those who struggle in this area miss many opportunities for development and friendships. I hope that looking at and considering the organizational component of language can help more students effectively and fluently communicate their thoughts and feelings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Do visual learners have more difficulty with language organization than verbal learners?

ADHD, Dyslexia, Executive Functioning, Learning, Learning differences, Processing Speed, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing, Writing

Visual-spatial learners think in images. Verbal learners think primarily in words. Visual learners see the whole picture all at once allowing them to see things from many perspectives. Verbal learners learn step by step and have a tendency towards analytical thinking. These two types of learning may also impact a child’s organization of language. 

What do I mean by language organization? I am referring to the executive functioning skill of organizing your thoughts, attaching those thoughts to words and sharing those words with others so that they can understand your idea. Therefore when I am talking about language organization I am referring to the relationship between thought and language. 

What is the relationship between language and thought? Aristotle taught that speech symbolized thought. Chomsky believed that the language environment is a key component to language development. Piaget and Vygotsky believed that a complex interaction exists between the child and the environment that is influenced by the child’s social and cognitive development. They believed that as children develop language they are building a symbol system that helps them understand the world. However, while Piaget believed that cognitive development leads to language development, Vygotsky believed language drives the development of thought.

How do these theories of language development impact students who are either visual or verbal learners? Do verbal and visual learners actually have different thought processes? If you think in pictures rather than thinking in words, are your thoughts different? Most importantly, how do these two learning styles affect a child’s ability to express himself both verbally and on written assignments?

Our educational system has embraced a verbal communication curriculum. Most teachers give verbal directions, assign books that are written in text (words) and they require most assessments be completed in written text (words). Take a minute to consider this. If you think in words, then both your input of information from the teacher and books, along with your output (what you write down) are all in your native processing mode (verbal).  If, however, your learning style is visual, when the teacher is talking or you are reading, you must translate those verbal words into pictures; and in order to write an essay you must translate your visual images into words and sequence them to communicate your ideas.

See the chart below to get a better understanding of how visual and verbal (auditory sequential) learners differ.

 Visual-Spatial Learner Chart

Copyright held by Linda Kreger Silverman, August, 1999. From Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner. Denver: DeLeon Publishing. This chart may be reproduced.

The Auditory-Sequential Learner
   The Visual-Spatial Learner
·      Thinks primarily in words
·      Thinks primarily in images
·      Has auditory strengths
·      Has visual strengths
·      Relates well to time
·      Relates well to space
·      Is a step-by-step learner
·      Is a whole-part learner
·      Learns by trial and error
·      Learns concepts all at once
·      Progresses sequentially from easy to difficult material
·      Learns complex concepts easily; Struggles with easy skills
·      Is an analytical thinker
·      Is a good synthesizer
·      Attends well to details
·      Sees the big picture; may miss details
·      Follows oral directions well
·      Reads maps well
·      Does well at arithmetic
·      Is better at math reasoning than computation
·      Learns phonics easily
·      Learns whole words easily
·      Can sound out spelling words
·      Must visualize words to spell them
·      Can write quickly and neatly
·      Much better at keyboarding than handwriting
·      Is well organized
·      Creates unique methods of organization
·      Can show steps of work easily
·      Arrives at correct solutions intuitively
·      Excels at rote memorization
·      Learns best by seeing relationships
·      Has good auditory short-term memory
·      Has good long-term visual memory
·      May need some repetition to reinforce learning
·      Learns concepts permanently; does not learn by drill and repetition
·      Learns well from instructions
·      Develops own methods of problem solving
·      Learns in spite of emotional reactions
·      Is very sensitive to teachers’ attitudes
·      Is comfortable with one right answer
·      Generates unusual solutions to problems
·      Develops fairly evenly
·      Develops quite asynchronously (unevenly)
·      Usually maintains high grades
·      May have very uneven grades
·      Enjoys algebra and chemistry
·      Enjoys geometry and physics
·      Masters other languages in classes
·      Masters other languages through immersion
·      Is academically talented
·      Is creatively, technologically, mechanically, emotionally or spiritually gifted
·      Is an early bloomer
·      Is a late bloomer

Clearly, verbal learners have an easier time in an educational environment built on verbal communication. The issue of language organization, as I’m referring to it, involves the executive functioning skills of organizing and sequencing thoughts. In the chart above, the auditory learner’s skill set assumes that there are no other learning deficits, especially any deficits with executive functioning skills. There are verbal learners who experience difficulty with organization, and therefore may have difficulty with organizing complex verbal language.

The students who are highly visual-spatial learners will need exceptional executive functioning skills to enable them to break down and sequence their ideas in a timely manner. The visual-spatial learner has to both translate pictures to words and sequence words into meaningful sentences, paragraphs and essays.

There is a relationship between visual learners and learning differences such as dyslexia, nonverbal learning disability, attention issues and language processing disorders. Looking at the chart above, you can see how language-based assessments will be more challenging for a visual learner than a verbal learner.

STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING VISUAL LEARNERS

When creating strategies for visual learners it is important for parents and teachers to understand that students with a visual-spatial learning style may take longer than other students to process new verbal information. When you consider the fact that they are translating words to images when taking in new information and translating images to words to share their ideas, it becomes easier to understand why the students need extra time in the classroom. In addition to extra time, teachers can consider ways in which they can modify or enhance their lessons with visual information. When teachers present visual information to the classroom the visual learners will quickly absorb it, while the verbal learners will be busy translating those images into words. Any form of visual support will be helpful to the visual learner. Here are some additional ideas a teacher can incorporate to help students learn better in the classroom.

  •  Before a lecture, provide students with a general outline of the material to be covered.
  •  Write directions with more than two steps on the board.
  • Use flip boards, photos, diagrams, laminated pictures, power point presentations, charts, maps, movies, filmstrips, timelines, mnemonics.
  • Provide access to computer programs that come with your textbook to provide greater visual exposure and practice.
  • Use the computer in the classroom to construct mind maps or webbing of the material.
  • Use concepts maps with key points, boxes, circles, and arrows showing the connections of information. Webbing provides the connections that visual learners must have.
  •  When doing questions and answers in the classroom, allow adequate wait time before calling on students.

It is important to remember that we need diversity in our thinking styles. Each of us has our own strengths and weaknesses that helped create who we are as human beings. As students grow and develop it is important for them to understand themselves, how their brain works and how valuable their type of thinking is.

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Dysgraphia: Difficulty writing

Learning, Processing Speed, Spelling, Thinking Skills, Visual Processing, Writing

Dysgraphia refers to difficulty writing.  Most people with dysgraphia have a hard time holding a pencil or pen. The awkward pencil grip can make forming letters on a page challenging.  When a student with dysgraphia is asked to copy from the board, line up math problems, or write an essay he is at a real disadvantage compared to his peers who can easily write down information on a page.

Many parents and teachers don’t realize that dysgraphia is a learning disability that does not get better as the student gets older. Here are some of the signs to watch for:

  • Awkward pencil grip
  • Messy writing
  • Letter size is inconsistent
  • Presses hard on paper
  • Spacing is inconsistent
  • Letters are not anchored on the line
  • Tires easily
  • Omits words in sentence
  • Has trouble keeping track of an idea while writing
  • A large gap exists between verbal ability to communicate and written ability to communicate.

What can be done to help a dysgraphic student?

Build fine motor skills for writing

    • The amount of effort it takes students to write makes the whole writing process laborious. The frustrating part for the students is that they have the ideas but it’s too much work to communicate them
    • I recommend the Retrain the Brain program along with Handwriting Without Tears.
    • An occupational therapist has additional tools that can be used to build the hand muscles needed for fluent writing.
    • Vision Therapy, if visual tracking is an issue.

Organize language and writing skills.

      • Educational specialists or tutors can help with this
      • The writing skills that a student with this profile needs to learn includes: pre-writing skills to help him organize his ideas before he writes and editing skills.
      • Use Speech to Text software like Dragon 

Use mind maps or advanced organizers

    • Graphic organizers  are great tools.
 In other words, we want to take the grand ideas that the student has and get them onto paper.
 This process alone will alleviate a lot of stress on the student.
    • Once the ideas are on paper, they can be numbered in the order the student wants to present them in his final paper.

Here is a great video that explains dysgraphia

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Will My Child Always Be Dyslexic?

Dyslexia, Learning, Learning differences, Reading, Spelling, Visual Processing


Research is ongoing regarding the neuro-pathways of our brains and how they can change with time and intervention, so you will get different answers to this question depending on whom you ask. Can a dyslexic student learn to read… YES!  As someone who has remediated learning differences for over 20 years, I can confidently tell you that dyslexic children can be taught to read and spell. To provide the right assistance to your child you need to discover your child’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses.  Then you can more easily find the correct intervention that taps into the part of the brain that needs to be developed.

Brain imaging is being used to highlight the parts of the brain that are active when we do certain types of activities. Research has shown that different areas are active in the “dyslexic” brain than in the typical brain when reading.  What does this mean for “fixing” the dyslexic brain? The theory is that we should help the dyslexic readers build the same brain pathways as the typical reader, so that when reading, the two types of brains use the same pathways.

The most widely accepted definition of dyslexia as accepted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, as well as the International Dyslexia Association, states that:

  • Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin.
  • It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.
  • These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.
  • Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

What this means is that a dyslexic child’s intelligence is above his reading level and that the reason for the difference is due to difficulty sounding out and manipulating sounds. What I know from my years of teaching reading is that there can be more than a phonological deficit making reading challenging for children. Therefore to teach a child to read you need to step back to get a bigger picture of the child’s learning profile.

If we are going to use the term dyslexia to define all students who have a reading disorder it is helpful to consider the “types” of dyslexia. The goal of understanding “types” of dyslexia is identifying the underlying issues that are making reading difficult for your child.

  • Phonological/ Auditory Dyslexia:  These students can’t sound out nonsense words, they have weak sound/symbol associations. It is difficult for this student to “hear”, or discriminate, the difference in sounds. “Hat” and “bat” may sound the same. If not identified early, this type of student will learn to read by building a large sight word vocabulary.
  • Visual Dyslexia: Visual processing issues make it hard for this type of student to  discriminate between visual symbols (letters and numbers) quickly and accurately.  Letter reversals are common as are substituting one word for another. “Home” can be read as “House”.
  • Double-Deficit Dyslexia: The connection between the verbal (auditory) portion of the brain and the visual portion of the brain is weak. Tests of rapid naming pick up this visual/language loop.

Once you know the areas of weakness your child has you can select an intervention program that is designed to build the neuro-pathways your child needs to develop in order to activate the parts of the brain that make reading easy. I believe that the unusual brain pattern of dyslexics may offer more benefits and advantages than we previously believed and more conversation is taking place about the benefits of dyslexia.

So perhaps the real issue isn’t whether your child will always be dyslexic, but rather how you can help your dyslexic child to flourish in his or her educational environment and learn to appreciate his/her own learning style. Learning to view dyslexia not as a negative challenge, but rather as a predisposed mental wiring can help teachers, parents and children relax into the realization that different doesn’t mean wrong. As research continues to investigate the brain and how we learn, I am sure we will continue to develop new attitudes and teaching methods to help all types of learners access information easily.

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