Is My Child Dyslexic?

If you have been teaching for a while you have probably come in contact with a parent of a child who is struggling learning to read who asks, “Is my child dyslexic?” Here is what Frank Smith has to say about the term.

“This term is a label, not an explanation. Dyslexia means, quite literally, being unable to read. Children are dyslexic because they can’t read. To say that dyslexia is a cause of being unable to read is like saying that lameness is a cause of inability to walk.”

Is the brain of a struggling reader wired differently or is it permanently fixed as some parents and teachers might believe? With these questions in mind, let me digress a bit and share a story.

This past summer, my niece’s son, Josh (age 12) had brain surgery. He had been experiencing seizures for the past year and a half. Through all that time the doctors tried countless medicines to control the epilepsy but to no avail. Surgery, to stop as many as 15 seizures a day, seemed the only option. After months of tests to pinpoint the exact source of the seizures, a piece of his brain was cut out. His parents were told that other parts of the brain would eventually take over the functions that were removed.

The good news is that Josh has been seizure free for several months now! Without going into too much detail, I will share that Josh lost considerable language skills and vocabulary immediately following the operation. When questioned just days after the operation he could not come up with any answers to: “name some farm animals” or “name some video games” or “name some movies.” You can imagine the panic his parents experienced. And yet after only 4 or 5 weeks, I saw Josh and his word retrieval issues had improved tremendously. He recommended that I read Among the Hidden, a book he was reading for his English class. He then proceeded to tell me all about the book, including very specific details. He is successfully functioning once again as a studious 7th grader!

This experience makes me realize all the more how malleable the brain is. Carol Lyons talks about the plasticity of the brain. “Recent research in neuroscience shows that the brain can change its physical structure and its wiring long into adulthood through teaching and experience.” She defines neuroplasticity, a power we have until old age, as “the ability of the brain to change in response to teaching.”

It is absolutely amazing what the brain is capable of! And yet, how many of us think that dyslexia is a permanent condition? How many teachers think that a child diagnosed with a learning disability implies that his brain is fixed forever? How many doctors used to think that trying to rehabilitate a person with brain damage after a stroke was time wasted? I once heard the parent of an LD child say, “But he can’t do that because his brain works differently” as if there is a permanent situation that can’t be fixed. Now neuroscientists have proven all of those beliefs to be false. This is great news! Spread the word.

As teachers of reading we all have had those children who read ‘was’ for ‘saw’ or continually mix up b and d. The longer the problem goes on, the harder it is to fix. But there are ways to retrain the brain to work with these issues. And the earlier, the better. First and foremost, we need to teach reading as a meaning-making activity. A child who learns to read for meaning, will not mistake was/saw in. sentences such as, “Jesse saw the snake hidden under the rock” or “I was having a hard time making up my mind between butter pecan and chocolate ripple.” And if he does mistake it at first, he will quickly self-correct if he is reading for meaning. You can also train the child to put a finger quickly under the first letter and make that sound. It’s difficult to say the word ‘was’ if your lips are shaped and ready for an /s/ sound in ‘saw.” And vice versa. Yes, these kids may have trouble with reversals, but we need to give them ways to solve those problems independently.

Ultimately the parent question I began with should really be, “Will you be able to teach my child to read?” And hopefully we will answer, “Yes, I will keep working until I find the way to support your child in learning to read.”

What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you believe that all children can learn to read?

To read more about how brain research relates to learning to read:

Lyons, Carol “Changing Lives Forever: Looking Backward and Forward” Journal of Reading Recovery, Spring, 2010

Lyons, Carol. Teaching Struggling Readers: How to Use Brain-based Research to Maximize Learning, Heinemann, 2003.

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Big Fans

I sat down to work with three fifth graders the other day, all three being struggling readers. They’ve been placed in my intervention group because they are reading more than three years behind grade level. It’s safe to say they are not big fans of reading. It was our first day meeting together, and I was nervous. I hoped my lesson would capture their attention enough that they’d enjoy coming to read with me in the future. I want so much for these readers. I want their learning to accelerate rapidly, I want them to see themselves as readers, and, in truth, I want them to become fans of reading.

I chose a nonfiction text that I thought might interest them. Being close to Halloween, I thought a book on bats might spark some curiosity, and hopefully hook them on a book. We talked about the book together first, then each child read the book by themselves. They were each reading at their own pace, but they stopped often to talk, wonder or comment on the bat facts the author was telling us. They flipped back and forth in the book as they read and talked about what they read. They shared common experiences and expressed disgust at some of the photos. Before we knew it, our half hour was over. And these fifth graders were begging for more books on bats! They couldn’t wait to take the book home to share with their families, and even wanted me to give them poster board so they could look up their questions on the internet and make bat posters to share with their class.

I was thrilled that this book was able to hook these reluctant readers. It reminds me of how important it is to carefully choose the texts we use with all of our readers – but especially our most struggling. I am also reminded of how important it is to interact with texts alongside our struggling readers. They need to see how books can be exciting, how books can make us wonder, think, question, get grossed out, and pull us in. They need to experience that sense of time passing quickly when you’re totally hooked into a book. As one of my fifth graders said, “no way! We can’t be done yet!!”

In Catching Readers, Pat and I often refer to engaging our readers by choosing high interest books, incorporating LOTS of talk and working in that child’s Zone of Proximal Development so they can feel successful and build upon prior knowledge. Take a minute today to reflect on those kids who are struggling in your classroom. Are you choosing high-interest books for small group work? Are they choosing books that interest them for independent reading? Do they have lots of books available to them that are at a “just-right” level for them? Are they having multiple opportunities to talk about what they are reading? Are they seeing themselves as readers? Are they seeing all that books can offer?

How are you helping your readers become “Big Fans” of reading?

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Talking with Parents

Sometime in the first month of school you can expect to have a Back-to-School night for parents. I remember always freaking out about all the things I wanted to be sure to tell the parents or guardians, but now I realize that too much information just overwhelms them. As a parent myself, I now realize that the parents come that night to find out what kind of person I am. Will I keep their child safe and support him as a learner? Will I love their child and find out his strengths and weaknesses? Am I a kind and caring individual? Do I have a structure and organization to the classroom that will allow for guided learning as well as individual creativity? Do I seem knowledgeable about the curriculum for this grade level?

Our many years of experience have taught us that as the school year progresses there will be various opportunities to communicate with the parents and we don’t have to “get it all in” on this one evening. Below we make five suggestions of what we like to get across to our children’s families on Back-to-School night.

We will accept their child exactly as he or she is. We will work hard to understand the strengths that their child brings to the group. We believe in developing a community of learners who work together cooperatively and support each other.
Much of what we do in Social Studies and Science is inquiry-based learning. As we begin projects, students have opportunity to ask questions about what they would like to know about the topic. A weekly newsletter will keep you abreast of what we are working on.
The walls of our classrooms and outside in the hallways tell the story of our learning together. Please feel free to come in and have a look.
We believe in taking each child from where he is and helping him grow as a reader, writer, mathematician, artist, and so on.
We want to develop children who not only CAN read and write, but LOVE to read and write. We promise that the children will fall in love with certain books and authors this year. Look for the titles of our read aloud books in the newsletter.

In Catching Readers Before They Fall, Katie talks about the weekly newsletter on page 213. See a sample of her Keier Flyer in Appendix 19 and her first letter home to parents in Appendix 17. Also, Chapter 11 answers questions commonly asked by parents throughout the school year.

We hope you will add an idea of what you share with parents on this special evening.

Pat and Katie

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The possibilities in reading aloud

This week I had the pleasure of going around to classrooms, introducing myself as the new literacy teacher, and reading aloud to the kids. I loved it! It reminded me of the power of a well-chosen book – how it can build community, provide laughs, and allow you to connect to a group of kids in a matter of minutes. In one fifth-grade class I read Rod Clement’s Grandpa’s Teeth. They loved the story and begged for me to read it again. For the rest of the week when I saw these kids they yelled “Grandpa’s Teeth – I love that book!” and “that was such a funny book you read – when are you coming back again?” What a great way to feel welcomed in my new school.

Whether you are teaching preschoolers, first graders, fifth graders or middle schoolers – don’t forget the many possibilities that a carefully chosen book can provide in your classroom. We believe that children should be read to daily – numerous times. Read alouds can be used in all subject areas, as well as just to connect, laugh and enjoy together. Below are a few of our favorite read alouds. In Catching Readers Before They Fall, (Appendix 8 ) you can find a lengthy list of favorite read alouds for a variety of purposes. And of course, talking to other teachers and spending a few hours in your favorite bookstore or library are some of the best ways to find your favorites.

The Sweetest Fig by Chris Van Allsburg

The Big Orange Splot, by Daniel Manus Pinkwater

Tough Cookie by David Wisniewski

Rough-Face Girl, by Rafe Martin

Every Living Thing, short stories by Cynthia Rylant

(thanks to literacy specialist Tania Dedham for some of these great suggestions for upper grade students!)

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell

Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill

Skippyjon Jones series by Judy Schachner

Toot and Puddle series by Holly Hobbie

The Baby Beebee Bird by Diane Redfield Massie

ALL of Mo Willems’ books!

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

Edward the Emu, by Sheena Knowles

Owl Moon, by Martin Waddell

See Donalyn Miller’s (The Book Whisperer) blog for more great read aloud ideas, especially for your upper grade students.

What are some of your favorite read alouds? Please share!

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Getting to know your readers

Most primary teachers early in the school year are busy trying to figure out what kind of readers they have in their classroom. Some schools use standardized benchmark tests to level the students early in August or September, others use the data from the end of the last school year. We’ve worked in schools where teachers are trained to use the DRA to assess all their students or they use parts of Clay’s Observation Survey tests to gather information. We’ve also worked in other schools that use their own benchmark leveling system and others still that use only computer tests, spelling inventories, and word reading lists.

Whatever assessment system your school or district uses, we suggest that you also take time to just listen to your students read to you. There is so much more than can be learned about a student by hearing him/her read in a comfortable setting. You can hear how he attacks unknown words, how fluent he sounds, whether he rereads to check and confirm what he is reading, and so on. By chatting with the student about the text, you can discover a lot about his comprehension. You are trying to discover what the child is able to do as a reader, what he can almost do, and some indications of what he still needs to learn how to do. Below is a list of tips of what to listen or watch for as each student shares a book with you.

Watch for students who are reading to you in beginning pattern texts (levels 1-4) and seem to have memorized the book, but are not looking at the print. Some may even be inventing the text based on the pictures and show no evidence of voice/print match. Encouraging one-to-one matching of text is your starting point with these students.
Listen for all aspects of fluency. Does the student read in groups of words or does it sound choppy like robot reading? Does the child seem to attend to the punctuation to help her decide how the sentence should sound? Is she reading in a monotone rather than making the dialogue parts sound like a character talking? Fluency (pacing, phrasing, intonation, and attention to punctuation) can be taught; it’s more than just a child’s speed and accuracy.
Be on the alert for the student who shows no evidence of self-monitoring. Is he skipping words he doesn’t know or just making garbled sounds when he doesn’t recognize the word instantly? Does he read phrases that make no sense, but doesn’t stop or reread to try and fix his error? Teaching for self-monitoring behaviors needs to start with the earliest readers.
Watch for students who seem to be able to read texts that they are familiar with, but then get stumped with a new book on similar levels. These children don’t appear to have any strategies for solving words. (It is possible for some students to slip by us, having memorized early level texts). They need to learn beginning strategies for solving words and understanding texts.
Watch for English language learners who read words with no meaning. Some seem to “sound OK” when they are reading aloud to us, but we notice their comprehension is lacking. Work to discover what is getting in the way. Often a word in English that has multiple meanings, an unknown vocabulary word, an awkward phrase, or an idiomatic expression is what is tricky for the ELL.
Make note of a student who only uses visual information (sounding out letters) for solving words. He needs to learn how to integrate all the sources of information for figuring out new words.
Notice those students who tested beyond level 10 and yet are not starting to take words apart. They are still sounding letter-by-letter and are not looking for parts they know. They will need to learn more about how words work.

For further reading about some of these topics see the following pages/chapters in Catching Readers Before They Fall:

Assessment: Chapter 10

Fluency: 37-39, 56-57, 124-127

Self-monitoring: 36-37, 123-124

Sources of information and/or word solving strategies: Chapter 4

Beginning reading strategies and behaviors: Chapter 7

Working with ELLS: Chapters 6 and 7

Additional information in One Child at a Time: Fluency, chapter 4; Self-monitoring, chapter 5; ELLS, chapter 7.

Enjoy getting to know your readers this school year. What are some of the things you are discovering?

Katie & Pat

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Making the basal work for your readers

We’ve had several friends around the country who have said to us this summer, “but when school starts, I will be forced to use the basals.” One teacher even wrote, “there is no getting around it! The district office is coming down HARD on our principal because our state test scores aren’t the best and the schools that use the basal are getting good results.

I don’t understand how…any insight?”

Our thought is that the standardized state tests are similar to the basal in terms of isolated facts, kill and drill, or read-and-answer literal level questions. Teaching the basal is like teaching the test. Kids can “get by” and show growth on that one test (which is often the “be all/end all” in so many states). However, many of these children aren’t becoming proficient readers in the full sense of the word. Maybe they can pass the test, but can they navigate a newspaper? A guidebook? Pursue topics of interest? Follow a favorite author? Infer beyond the literal level? Do they choose reading as a pastime? Carry on conversations about their understandings or reflections of a poem or short story? Find meaning in a book causing them to love it so much they want to read it all over again? All of these are things real readers do. And most of them will not happen if you holdfast to solely teaching with the basal.

So what’s a teacher to do? We suggest finding what’s good in those basal stories and using what you can in a sensible manner. By sensible, we mean instead of doing the basal story with the whole class, figure out which children could actually benefit from a guided reading group with this story. Find your own teaching focus that supports those students in adding a word-solving or comprehension strategy to their repertoire (basals often go through a very prescriptive set of strategies and lessons that may or may not be what your students need at that time.) The point of guided reading is to help those students grow as readers, not to just “get through” another basal story.

For another group of children you may find that the basal story is too difficult. You might choose to do an interactive read aloud with those struggling students on that story. Then supplement their reading with books they can actually handle. And surely there are others in the class who can read the basal stories independently, leaving lots of time for independent reading in books of their own choosing.

Make your read aloud time powerful by choosing texts that beg for deep discussions around topics that interest your students. Our chapter 6 in Catching Readers gives lots of ideas for getting the most out of your interactive read aloud time. Help your students learn how to choose books they love, authors they enjoy, or series they can follow.

By using the basal wisely you are putting more thought into what your students are reading and how you are teaching them rather than just following the manual page-by-page. You can still structure your reading workshop with a mini-lesson first, then independent time (while you meet with groups or individuals) and a whole-group sharing at the end. Use the basal stories, poems, and non-fiction entries, but supplement with lots of rich, meaningful texts that kids can relate to and that are on their reading levels. This may mean more work for you, but it’s been our experience that it’s worth the effort. You will be helping all your students develop into proficient readers who enjoy reading, find out about their world by reading, live like literate beings – yet are still able to pass the tests!

And lastly we urge you to be an advocate. Go to your principal or administration with research about why teaching everyone the same thing at the same time will not work, speak out in faculty meetings about the big picture of developing well-rounded readers, and start conversations with colleagues about how best to meet the needs of individual learners, especially those who struggle with literacy.

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