Reading Comprehension > Decoding Words

Reading comprehension is one of the most complex cognitive activities in which humans engage, making it difficult to teach, measure, and research. (2) Reading is not equal to just decoding words. In order to have excellent reading skills, children must have strong decoding skills, a strong language foundation, in addition to other cognitive skills.  Reading …

Language: The Foundation for Academic Part 1

The foundation of language chart above provides a simplified view of language development to show how early language development supports future academic achievement. Because we so often take language for granted and schools often downplay the impact of speech and language challenges after the third grade, it is  easy not to realize, that even small speech …

Life Long: Language-Based Learning Challenges

“My son is not confident”, says a concerned Mom at a picnic I’m attending. She goes on to say, “He seems to have difficulty understanding what people are saying and responding to them in an appropriate time frame, so he is struggling in college.”unicaLanguage-based learning challenges are lifelong. They do not cease at the completion …

“C” says /K/: Orton-Gillingham Reading Approach

Recently, I took a 30-hour intensive refresher training in Orton-Gillingham, a preferred method of instruction for people with dyslexia, given by the Institute of Multi-Sensory Education.    The OG multi-sensory approach has a few differences.  First instruction begins with the letter “C ” which says /k/, “O,” and “A”.   The original OG starts with letters …

Revealed: Twice Exceptional Learners

Twice exceptional learners may remain undiagnosed, by educational professionals including Speech Pathologist, because of their unique abilities in other areas. The language assessment in a neuropsychological battery and in some speech pathology tests often require only one-word or limited responses. Both assessments attempt to look at different areas of performance in isolation. Because twice exceptional learners sometimes …

Vocabulary Development: Teachable Moments

I am holding up a bright yellow jacket at the LL Bean outlet in New Hampshire. “Hey look this is really bright it will be great for biking,” I say to my daughter. “No, it’s dull she says!” I’m puzzled and confused. I look at the jacket again and then walk off to pay the cashier. I’m …

Unidentified: Twice Exceptional Children of Color

“I’m dumb!”  “I can’t learn!”  Often underserved in public schools, twice exceptional children of color,  especially children of color who are of African or Hispanic descent spend their entire academic career unidentified and underperforming. Twice exceptional is a term used to refer to students who are gifted in some areas, but also have learning disabilities as …

Learning disabilities: I can learn….

  Parents fear that their child’s language based learning disability will limit opportunities, but with additional supports like speech/language therapy this is not true.   Even if the distinction between learning disabilities and intellectual impairment is made clear to children, they will pick up on the fact that in school they are having more problems than their …

Dyslexia: Should you tell them?

In the documentary called “Embracing Dyslexia,” a father asked the principal of his child’s school if he should tell his child that the child has dyslexia.  The principal says, “No!” Should you tell children with dyslexia, who are aware of their struggles that they have dyslexia or other language-based learning disabilities? Children know when they are …