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5 Clues to Dyslexia
Sometimes dyslexia can hide in plain sight and can be difficult to detect. While there are several indicators, here is a list of five more subtle signs that are often overlooked or dismissed as being quirky, too tired to read, or just a passing phase.
What is Research-Based Reading Intervention?
Discover why Orton-Gillingham (OG) instruction is hailed as the gold standard for dyslexic students. Learn how its sequential, multisensory, and flexible approach transforms reading intervention. Explore its research-backed effectiveness in nurturing struggling readers.
My Child Has Been Diagnosed with Dyslexia...Now What?
This can be both a difficult and freeing experience. Now, you know the reason that your child is struggling, but you feel lost and alone and aren't sure what to do next.
There is a two-pillar approach for helping your child close academic gaps. These two pillars stand together forming the "bases" of your child's success in the classroom. The first pillar is getting appropriate accommodations and/or modifications put into place within the school. If you need help getting appropriate accommodations we are happy to help.
How Do You Determine which Accommodations are Best?
Once you have intervention in place to be sure your child is closing any skill gaps:
How do you get the right support from the school?
Talking with your child's school team is of paramount importance. You want to be sure that while your child is getting the help they need privately or through school-based intervention, that they are not continuing to fall further behind in the classroom.
How Much Therapy is Enough?
Typically we can help predict the length of time in a program based on standardized testing results (psychoeducational testing results, not necessarily state standardized assessments). Our team researched the length of time it would take to see consistent growth in reading ability. There were many factors at play but overall we found that student's could expect to see around 8 Standard Score points of growth in a 6-month period with therapy occurring once to twice per week. There was not a statistical difference between students being seen once to twice per week.
Why Orton-Gillingham (OG) Reading Instruction?
What is so different about OG instruction?
A major benefit is that it meets the student where they are as opposed to assuming they indirectly picked up a rule/strategy without being given the explicit rule or pattern to follow. But equally as important OG is different than reading instruction they may have received previously because it teaches the "why" of our language.
Signs to Watch For if You are Concerned about Dyslexia
In this blog, we outline the signs and symptoms of dyslexia for students ranging in age from preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade and above. We want to spread dyslexia awareness and help both parents and teachers catch these signs of dyslexia early so that you can get answers for your struggling readers. Click through to read more, and grab our free dyslexia symptoms checklist.
Do I Need an Evaluation?
While there may be some cases in which it is good to wait, generally the answer to this question is - YES! While you absolutely do not need an evaluation to get started with remediation, it can help guide treatment and answer many questions for you, as parents as well as for the clinicians working with your child.
How is Learning Therapy Different From Tutoring?
Often by the time a student is suspected of having a learning disability, parents or caregivers have already gone to great lengths to support their child. Many have hired tutors or had teachers spend extra time with their child over the summer to no avail. So often families ask us how academic therapy or dyslexia therapy is different from what they have tried in the past. This is a wonderful and necessary question.
Discovering a Learning Disability
The best place to begin is to identify indicators of a potential learning problem. Think about it this way; if you have a student who has average to superior intelligence, has intact sensory perception (e.g., ability to see words on the paper and hear words) and has been instructed in reading and writing by a competent teacher for months or years, but is demonstrating a significant discrepancy between their IQ and their academic achievement, it is time for an evaluation.
Homework Strategies for Students with Learning Difficulties
Our top five homework strategies to decrease that nightly homework battle, especially if your child is struggling with a specific learning disability like dyslexia.