Reading words or learning to read? Part II
I’ve been frustrated this year with the level of reading instruction my daughter has received. What did I notice about my daughter’s reading abilities? She skipped words she didn’t know, and she confused small words like “of” and “off.” When I asked her indirect questions about stories she had read, she’d fall out on the floor screaming. Okay, I […]
Reading words or learning to read? Part I
My daughter’s reading instruction at school has been frustrating this year. She is a fluent reader, but when you ask her what she has read. Her answer is sometimes, “I don’t know!” Her comprehension is not equal to her fluency level. Is this normal? Yes, she has been working on learning to read the words, […]
That cry means…
When your baby cries she is communicating in the only way, she knows how. Listen closely. Her cries will be her first attempts to communicate. Often you will hear mothers say they can tell whether their baby is hungry, wet or tired. Next time your baby cries remember it’s not a cry, but communication, and […]
What did I learn?
In my last post I wrote about a woman I helped to re-learn to read. What did I learn from her? An injury to the brain can make us not like something that we once loved. Children with no acquired injury but with reading or language impairments, after years of failure often want to avoid […]
Writing remediation
I work with many amazing students, but one student I worked with has been especially remarkable because of his persistence, determination, evolving self awareness, and hard work. He meets his disabilities head on with full awareness of his limits while refusing to let them stop him. He has a moderate to severe language-based learning disability […]
The sweet smell of success
Success! One of my high school clients with a moderate to severe language-based learning disability that looks similar to dyslexia, scored in the average range on a formal assessment for writing at the sentence level. This is so exciting! Last year formulating sentences with prepositions, adjectives and conjunctions was a huge challenge for this client. […]
Goal: Spelling perfection?
Back in the 90’s I went to school for a semester in London. Although I was a student at the University of Maryland I was taught by the faculty of the University of London. It was an interesting semester. I choose London because I thought at least there would not be a language barrier. Little […]
What did you just read?
Recently I sat listening to a new client read, and after he read I asked him to summarize the information. I was not surprised to hear, “I can’t.” He read the words with little expression, and his primary emphasis when reading was on trying to pronounce complex vocabulary. Little effort was put into phrasing, visualizing […]
Writing
The standards for written language are higher than for spoken language. Written language is one of the primary tools used for assessment in formal education. For all students acquiring basic written skills is important; however, for college bound students it is crucial. Spoken language is easier to learn because spoken language allows for repair when […]
Verbs
Writing is a challenge for many with language-based learning disabilities. Who knew writing was so complicated. Subjects, verbs, objects, how often do any of us think of them when we write. Yet, they are the building blocks of writing and the ability to identify them is part of reading as well. Writing remediation can take […]