FAQ
The internet is an excellent resource. However among the good is also the bad.
Below are several frequently asked questions. Some explain the truth and some clarify the myth behind reading and intervention therapy.
According to The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, dyslexia is defined as an unexpected difficulty in learning to read. Dyslexia takes away an individual’s ability to read quickly and automatically, and to retrieve spoken words easily, but it does not dampen their creativity and ingenuity.
15-20% (1 in 5 individuals) of the population has a language-based learning disability. Of the students with specific learning disabilities receiving special education services, 70-80% have deficits in reading. Dyslexia is the most common cause of reading, writing and spelling difficulties.
It is a myth that individuals with dyslexia “read backward,” although spelling can look quite jumbled at times because students have trouble remembering letter symbols for sounds and decoding words. (Kansas Department of Education; Dyslexia Handbook)
In various studies as many as 50% of those diagnosed with a learning or reading disability have also been diagnosed with ADHD. Although disabilities may co-occur, one is not the cause of the other.
People with dyslexia can also have problems with writing, spelling, speaking, processing oral and written language, word retrieval, and mathematics. The severity of these difficulties vary among each individual.
Yes. If children who have dyslexia receive effective phonological awareness and phonics training in Kindergarten and 1st grade, they will have significantly fewer problems in learning to read at grade level than do children who are not identified or helped until 3rd grade. 74% of the children who are poor readers in 3rd grade remain poor readers in the 9th grade, many because they do not receive appropriate Structured Literacy instruction with the needed intensity or duration.
Federal law; IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) mandates “a free, appropriate, public education in the least restrictive environment” to dyslexic students attending public schools. As part of IDEA, students with dyslexia must receive services designed to meet their needs free of charge. It is important that parents know that “dyslexia” is mentioned specifically in IDEA.
It is never too late for individuals with dyslexia to learn to read, process, and express information more efficiently. Research shows that programs utilizing Structured Literacy instructional techniques can help children and adults learn to read.
Dyslexia is defined by IDA (International Dyslexia Association) as “a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”
Reading disorder is a generic term used to describe a student who struggles with reading, writing and spelling. In 1986, Gough & Turner termed the phrase “garden variety poor reader” when they were discussing the Simple View of Reading. There are three ways a student can struggle with reading. One is the inability to decode. One is the inability to comprehend. One is both. The inability to decode is a characteristic associated with dyslexia. The inability to comprehend is associated with hyperlexia. The final, the inability to do either is associated with the “garden-variety poor reader.” This term indicates that a student with a reading disorder is struggling with either the decoding or comprehension that is not biological in nature.
We know that those struggling with dyslexia can have weak working memory skills and many times “brain training” or “brain fitness” is recommended to parents.
These programs come “with slick marketing behind them, that purport to improve or even cure dyslexia by having the student complete exercises that target working memory and brain training.” However, we know that the research is clear and that these techniques do not generalize to reading, spelling, or comprehension (or math). When presented with this information, we suggest that parents request to see “peer-reviewed evidence” of the claims that are being suggested. Peer-reviewed evidence comes from years of study and presentation to receive publication and verification of claims. Schools are required by federal law to use research based interventions. (IDEA 2004, Section 1414(d)(1)(A)(Steedman)
Structured Literacy is the appropriate response to anyone needing intervention for a student with dyslexia. Anyone who suggests a brain training type program does not understand how to provide appropriate services to a student struggling with dyslexia. As recommended by the International Dyslexia Association, we use explicit, systematic, cumulative and multisensory instruction. The two programs that we offer online are Basic Language Skills and Take Flight.
Not at all. Though technology is not meant to replace direct intervention it can help individuals with speaking, listening, reading, spelling, writing, and organization.
Assessments need to be able to be measured. In the one-minute timed assessments like AIMSweb or DIBLES, schools are first checking to see if your child exhibits any red flag characteristics. If so, then they can address them. This is how your child received the accommodations in the first place.
However, we do want to make sure that intervention strategies are still working. For some measures, time is still a very integral part of the assessment. Because of the data, your child scored at XX score in the Fall of their second grade year. As a parent, we want to know that your child scores at XX+ in the Winter and in the Spring. If they do not, then the interventions that have been in place to this point, have not been working. No one wants to see the child’s scores go to XX-. Once accommodations have been put in place, during these 1 minute assessments, the purpose of the time is to see how the child compares against themselves.
Dyslexia is a problem accessing the sound of spoken language. It is not a visual disorder (The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity). Vision therapy is not recommended for a dyslexia accommodation.
At its core, dyslexia is a problem accessing the sound of spoken language. It is not a visual disorder. Early screening, early diagnosis, early evidence-based reading intervention and appropriate accommodations are what is needed to help dyslexic individuals (The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity),
It is a myth that individuals with dyslexia “read backward,” although spelling can look quite jumbled at times because students have trouble remembering letter symbols for sounds and decoding words.
Dyslexia affects males and females nearly equally as well as, people from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds nearly equally.
According to The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, dyslexia is defined as an unexpected difficulty in learning to read. Dyslexia takes away an individual’s ability to read quickly and automatically, and to retrieve spoken words easily, but it does not dampen their creativity and ingenuity.
Assessment of dyslexia involves individual testing, most often provided by a team of qualified professionals who have had extensive clinical training in assessment as part of a graduate degree program. Professional clinicians who assess Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) and dyslexia may have M.A., M.S., M.ED., Ed.D., or Ph.D. degrees in Education, Reading, Speech Language Pathology, School Psychology, Psychology, or Neuropsychology. Evaluation by a medical doctor is not required for assessment or identification of SLD or dyslexia (International Dyslexia Association).
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