Nice infographic that demonstrates the importance of using Structured Literacy to teach all students.
Effective Reading Instruction
IDA’s handout about Structured Literacy.
Transforming a Resource Room Teacher
A teacher shares her experiences learning and using Structured Word Inquiry with struggling readers.
Making Sense of Words That Don’t
“Sight words. Demon words. Red words. Irregular words. Maverick words. There is a lot of instructional time spent teaching students to memorize words that do not seem to “play fair” or are just plain crazy. What would you think if I told you there was a way to teach the sense for what has been long taught as nonsensical? Would you read on?”
The Dos and Don’ts of Teaching Children How to Read
Some children seem to just know how to read, but the majority of students will need explicit instruction.
“It’s crazy, but a lot of elementary schools teachers don’t actually know how to teach kids to read. Some have been taught that it is their job to express enthusiasm for reading but don’t really know how to impart the nuts and bolts of it. A teacher like that may be fine for your child. In fact, about 25 percent of children seem to learn to read almost by osmosis, but about 75 percent need some sort of instruction. About a quarter of those kids will need systematic, explicit instruction to learn to read or they will struggle.”
Dyslexia: The Anatomy of an Appropriate and Effective Intervention
An article by the Dyslexia Training Institute about the important of appropriate intervention for students who are identified as dyslexic.
Dyslexia and the English Learner Dilemma
While it may be more complicated to assess for dyslexia in ELL students, it is still important.
“Ortiz et al (2002) reported that ELL students who are struggling to learn English and have some foundation in reading in their native language should receive direct instruction that includes speech perception, phoneme awareness, and sound-symbol connections. This is very similar to the Orton-Gillingham approach that is recommended as the intervention for English readers who have dyslexia.”
Why is the consonant doubled in words like rabbit and kitten?
One article from an Orton-Gillingham based education blog, “Think Ready Read.” Sign up to receive new posts through email.
Dyslexia is more common than you know
Honest account by a classroom teacher who learned about dyslexia through one of her very bright students who was struggling to read.
“When I was in teacher credentialing school I received barely any instruction about dyslexia. This is tragic because the International Dyslexia Association says that “as many as 15 to 20 percent of the population as a whole … have some of the symptoms of dyslexia.” My first real experience with dyslexia was with a smart third-grade girl named “Estella.” Estella was supposed to be in fourth grade but the school held her back because she read at the kindergarten level.”
Who Helps Kids With Dyslexia Gain Reading Fluency?
An excellent article from October 2015 which helps explain the importance of ensuring our classroom teachers are prepared to explicitly teach reading skills.
“But the 50 percent who need direct instruction need first to learn how to decode, or be able to match the sounds of letters to print letters in order to form words. Teaching the whole class the basics of decoding will not damage the students who are already reading (Cutting said some research suggests that it might actually make their reading stronger).”
The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland
“After two hours of visiting a Finnish kindergarten, I still hadn’t seen children reading. I was, however, hearing a lot of pre-literacy instruction sprinkled throughout the morning—clapping out syllables and rhyming in Morning Circle, for example. I recalled learning in my master’s degree courses in education that building phonemic awareness—an ability to recognize sounds without involving written language—was viewed as the groundwork of literacy development.”
Understanding Dyslexia and the Reading Brain in Kids
Excellent article published by Mind/Shift in which Maryanne Wolf discusses the importance of understanding how our brain functions with respect to learning to read. “Understanding that these developments are nothing more than brain differences that can be aided with systematic and explicit instruction, Wolf said, is a large but necessary step for everyone involved: students, parents and teachers. When children find they’re unable to read or read with much difficulty, they often believe that it’s the result of a bad or broken brain. Some teachers may also unwittingly hold beliefs that reading happens for all children by a kind of osmosis.”
Wolf is the author of “Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain.”
Dyslexia, Language Processing Problems, & Reading (1 of 4)
A well-written overview of dyslexia, research and OG interventions. Published by Decoding Dyslexia-OH. The link brings you to Part 1 of a four part article. Links to the other sections are provided at the end of each part.
Dyslexia and Spelling: The Chicken or the Egg?
“Think about this for a minute: If you can spell a word you can read it, but being able to read a word does not guarantee you can spell it.”
Effective Reading Instruction
Overview of Structured Literacy provided by the International Dyslexia Association.