Teacherscreech

Touching and Meaningful Moment

2009-07-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

I have had two really rewarding work experiences in the past two months, both adults with brain injury. I continue to receive referrals and recommendations from my friend the neuro-psychologist who is currently working with the armed forces in Edmonton. The two experiences stem from my work with him. I will recount the first one in this post.

I first saw a woman 10 years ago, after she had a bad fall from a horse and sustained a devastating closed-head injury. The injury left her with tangential speech and speech too rapid for most people to understand. She had a great deal of difficulty staying on topic while in conversation with people, and this affected all areas of her life, especially in her work. She worked in a care facility for seniors, and her rapid speech and tangents made it difficult for her patients to understand her. She came to see me for 30 hours of the Visualizing and Verbalizing program, because the neuro-psych believed that it would stimulate the frontal lobes and have a calming effect on her brain. It did.
I quickly skimmed my previous posts and don't see one about this amazing program, other than a brief mention in my post "What I learned from Sarah" so I will give a quick rundown...

The Visualizing and Verbalizing Language Comprehension Program is one of the most powerful programs I have ever worked with. It was devised by Nanci Bell, who is a partner in the Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. Basically, Nanci created an step by step process for teaching visualization for what is heard and read. It is making movies in your head, but with form and structure to ensure that salient information is retained and understood. About 10 years ago, I was renting office space from a neuro-psychologist; I began describing the work to him and he became very interested in the program. He sat in on a few sessions and was really interested in it's therapeutic application. He is a specialist in learning and memory- and saw a great application for improving impaired executive function. That was the beginning of a ten year partnership. He has been using the program in his work with prison inmates and now injured soldiers in the military. He has done pre and post testing and has found remarkable changes in executive functioning in his patients. So, that's the background...

Now, 10 years later, this amazing woman with the brain injury has graduated with a degree in social work and is looking to find work. Her latest assessment through her Rehabilitation program suggested that she needed a refresher of the V/V program, so they sent her back to me. It was such a treat to see her again. She has had to work extremely hard to recover from her injury- the speech issues were only part of the difficulties encountered. That she was able to complete a university degree is amazing. She not only managed to get her degree, she did it part time and worked all the way through it as well.

I could tell that her speech had sped up a little over the years, and she did go off on several tangents at first. However, once she started visualizing, it was like flipping a switch! Almost immediately, as she began to describe her mental pictures, she spoke in a normal rhythm and at a normal speed. I watched the clock and saw that the calming and slowing effect lasted for up to 10 minutes after each visualization exercise. We spent another 10 hours together, in which we used her real life situations as material to be visualized. We worked on a meditation technique to enable her to get into that same visualization mode quickly.

It was through these exercises that I learned of some of the challenges of living with brain injury. The one that impressed me the most was how people seemed to doubt her abilities and discount the contribution she could make, once they learn she has sustained a brain injury. When people treat you differently because of this, you begin to doubt yourself. We did a few exercises around job interviews and we ended up doing some role playing so she could practice some of the techniques we discussed for staying on topic. At the end of each interview, as the "boss", I thanked her for her time, and then in one situation I shook her hand and offhandedly improvised, "I think you would be an asset to our company- welcome aboard". I was taken back when she smiled at me and tears started streaming down her cheeks. After a moment she said, "Even if this is just pretend, it is wonderful to hear those words."

She was so afraid of not being given a chance and so convinced that she wouldn't get one. For a moment, I was overwhelmed at the injustice;I though of all that she had been through, her accomplishments and hard work- only to realize she would likely never get past a first impression. There was a fearsome hug at that moment, let me tell you.

What about Central Auditory Processing Deficits?

2009-05-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

Hi There!
I am seeing quite a few learners with the diagnosis of CAPD- and they are all prescribed a lengthy program of individual sessions with a speech therapist or audiologist to work on auditory processing skills. I don't know much about it-and after 25 years of teaching kids with learning disabilities, I haven't run into it as a diagnosis that stands on it's own. There was some work being done on this in the early 80s- around the time that the vision therapy was making it's first rounds- but for the most part auditory processing has been seen, in my experience, as part of the bigger picture- dyslexia. I am wondering why now auditory processing seems to be "extracted" from language as a whole and focused on as a discrete skill set?
I would love some discussion around this- it's a fairly expensive treatment, and I have listened to a CD program that one of my learners was "prescribed", and it seemed like very basic Rosner auditory discrimination-type exercises. Does anyone out there know anything about this? Are there any SLPs or Audiologists out there who can comment?

Time for a career change?

2009-02-26T21:39:00.000-08:00

I have been considering a career change these past few months... after working with occupational therapists the last few years, I have become interested in this work. While helping my daughter research this as a career, I realized that I only need two years at UBC to get my Masters degree in occupational therapy. There is a real shortage of them in our area. Hmmm.
I love working with kids with reading problems- I have to say it's amazingly rewarding- and I love my work with SelfDesign... but every once in awhile I wonder what it would be like to work in another field not education-related! I get overwhelmed sometimes by the enormity of the systemic problem and at how difficult it is to effect real change.
Maybe I could to do both...

Video Tutorials

2009-02-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

Well, the interface didn't materialize in time for me to use it for my tutorials, but I am making video clips with my Mac computer then posting them privately on YouTube. After viewing a clip the parents comment and post in a conference and we have a conversation that way... it seems to be working fairly well. This way they can all view them in their own time and can watch them more than once. It has actually been fun, but a bit of a challenge to keep my wordiness down to 10 minutes or less!

Gaining Some Ground...

2008-12-30T10:18:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. I have had a nice break and have enjoyed having my children home for the holidays. While I have taken two weeks off from my regular duties at SelfDesign, I have been working on a new conference that I will be hosting in January on the "ABC's of Reading".
The basic philosophy of SelfDesign is that if we allow children to explore their own interests at their own pace, (which also means we don't impose our methods and ideas on them)they will learn everything they need in life, and will learn it better because they are intrinsically motivated. To be able to adopt this philosophy, parents (and some learning consultants, myself included) have to be prepared to adjust their perceptions of the timeline imposed from the system. We have to be able to accept and embrace that learning will happen in it's own time, and it may look very different from the school system with it's definite expectations from year to year.
I have found this very challenging as a "systematized" teacher. I have made excellent progress for the most part, but there is one area that I have stood firm on, and that is, early intervention for children who have learning disabilities.
I have had mild and not-so-mild discussions with administration and some parents over this- and I remain unapologetic- to no-one's surprise, I'm sure! The executive of SelfDesign Learning Community encourages me to adopt a "hands off" approach, believing that these kids will read when they are ready, and while I respect their combined body of knowledge and experience, I can't ignore my own. For some learners, remaining "hands off" is the worst thing you could possible do. It's akin to waiting for them to fail, before offering assistance. (check out the link on my page to Joe Torgesen's article, "Catch Them Before They Fall")The learners I will be focusing on have diagnosed learning disabilities, have had several interventions and have indicated they want help- as have the parents.
So I am very grateful that the exec team and my special ed cohort within SelfDesign is supporting me in this endeavor... I am hosting a conference, to offer practical assistance for parents who want to understand the nature of their children's struggles with reading, and to workshop techniques and strategies that teach parents how to teach their own kids. This is NOT what SelfDesign is usually about- but I believe it's a move that acknowledges that there are all types of learners, and some have brain structures that make learning to read with casual or intermittent exposure impossible.
I am now researching web conferencing so that I can present a workshop to 8 or 9 parents over the Internet. I have been using iChat with great success for teaching reading in a one on one situation, but I now need to find something that allows me to interact with more than 3 participants at a time. That seems to be the limit for most small scale interfaces.
This is going to be a very cool process for me,and I am so excited about this whole thing! I will update you all from time to time on how this reading conference works out!

Adaptations- who are they for?

2008-10-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

I have been really busy with my work with SelfDesign, and I have had a steady stream of "in person" learners as well as internet learners. This post is going to be SCREECH... I have encountered some issues around the learners I'm seeing in person that are making me crazy... it's time to get it off my chest.

First... I have been working with a family from another province since the end of August. It's a little girl with fairly significant phonological processing problems.
She may or may not have ADHD but she does have difficulty staying focused. There could be different reasons for this so I can't say- but regardless this precious little girl has to work really hard to learn. Hannah was in French Immersion for the first two years of her education, so she hasn't had any formal English instruction, however, her difficulties would have been just as obvious in the French Language. In the Fall she was transferring to a new school and to English Instruction. The parents had a meeting in August with the principal and shared their concerns about their daughter and told the principal about the reading clinic.

Hannah came to BC for a few weeks holiday in August, and during that time I started the program with her and did a full week "in person". We continued online from her home after that. When we started she was virtually a non reader, and she required alot of hands-on refocusing and direction.

When the family left to go back home, I suggested that her new school contact me if they had any questions about what we were doing- and they did.
I was speaking to her new classroom teacher, so I explained a little about what I do and then asked what they had in place for Hannah. I was stunned by her response. She said, "Oh, we don't do special education here." I was sure I misheard her but she said it again. When I suggested that the law requires it, she said, well we have it but "she" is too busy to see kids and does mostly testing. !!!
I asked if she knew anything about Hannah, and she said she didn't really but did notice Hannah was not reading. I filled her in on what I found during testing and how Hannah responded to the clinic and from that moment on the teacher seemed to be convinced that Hannah was in the wrong class. She said she couldn't do anything for her. She thought their special class would be better- it had a small number of kids in it and Hannah would feel less pressure there. I asked what the other kids were like in there and she "assured" me that Hannah would be OK and that none of those kids could read well at all, and that many had significant developmental delays. I made sure she knew that Hannah could learn in a regular class but needed some sort of support as she was coming out of French Immersion and also that she needed intensive phonemic awareness training. She needed an adapted program, not a modified one, and the most important thing was that she needed to keep receiving intensive instruction in phonemic awareness. The classroom teacher, who is retiring next year, said that she didn't know what that was (Oh please- she teaches reading to grade 2s!) but that she thought the special ed teacher might.

A week later Hannah told me she had a new teacher. In speaking to the mother after our online lesson, she told me that they moved Hannah to a room with only 9 students.
Sigh- not what I wanted to hear. However, Hannah seems happy and her mother was just glad that the pressure was lifted for the time being. This new teacher seems to know what phonemic awareness is, but the other kids in the class are quite challenged.
I am worried about Hannah's self esteem. The bottom line, in this situation, the family has to go outside the school to get Hannah's needs met.

The second thing that made me screech lately is the plight of a boy named Jeremy. He has been coming to see me since he was 11 and he is now 15. He is a tall handsome boy who is very athletic and has a good self image. He also has a very stubborn written output and expressive language problem. He is dyslexic too, but he has worked really hard over the past four years and has improved his reading ability quite a bit. While he is far from a fluent reader, he can decode and apply strategies to unfamiliar words.

Jeremy came back to see me because he was worried about his English class. He said that there was going to be a big writing component and he was pretty sure he would not be able to keeping up. I asked him if he had ever used Dragon Naturallyspeaking or MacSpeech Dictate, which are both speech recognition software programs. He said no.
I would have thought that was one adaptation that most high schools would put in place right away because here in BC, high schools do not do much, if any, direct instruction anymore. It's a pretty simple yet direct way to help kids like Jeremy. I spent a week teaching him how to use it and then set up small writing assignments for him to do. He caught on right away, but more importantly- he was stoked. He was excited about it! His mother remarked at the beginning of the second session, that Jeremy had never showed this much excitement about any thing school related.

It wasn't just that the program was cool to use, which it is- it was more that he seemed to have a renewed sense of hope. Jeremy could see that with this working for him, he would finally be able to do what all his classmates could do- and he could do it for himself.

In the span of one week Jeremy wrote four 1/2 page paragraphs and one full page essay that he wrote by reading and synthesizing two different articles. He did it willingly- happily actually. He kept saying that it would have taken him three times as long to do these and he would have hated it. I have seen his spontaneous writing and believe me when I say that for him to read an article, organized his thoughts so he could retell it, and then write 1/2 a page and edit it in 45 minutes for him is astounding.

His mother was convinced, and sent a note to the learning assistance teacher at his high school asking if he could use Dragon Naturallyspeaking in the resource room there to do his assignments, and she wrote about the difference they believed it would make for him. It was surprising that an email came back saying that no, they couldn't accommodate him. They don't use it for kids like Jeremy- they use it for kids with physical problems, like amputees and kids in wheel chairs.

So now I'm screeching like a banshee... SR software is an adaptation- and adaptations are appropriate for kids like Jeremy...
What's wrong with those people!!!

Resiliency is the key for learners with disabilities

2008-08-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have been doing some reading about resilience and the role it plays in a successful outcome for people with dyslexia. I would like to hear what others think or know about this model.

The Risk Resilience Model posits that resilience is not static, as was accepted in early research on the subject. Resilience used to be thought of as a set of stable traits; the Risk Resilience Model suggests that it is actually a dynamic and responsive process.

There are many different definitions of resiliency in this context, but the underlying concept seems to be the ability of the learner to “spring back” from adversity. Each of the definitions seems to suggest a measure of surprise regarding the achievement wrought, “against the odds”. The definition of risk, in this situation is not having the resources to deal with one’s environment. Resilience is optimized when protective factors are present in the individual as he or she is faced with risk. Protective factors can include individual temperament and skill level, effort and persistence, parental support, the presence of a mentor, and relevant and timely opportunities to succeed.

There is a host of well-known psycho-social adjustment problems associated with learning disabilities; anxiety, depression, higher risk of suicide, reduced social competence, poor self-esteem etc. The issues are not just related to skill deficits; there are internal and external factors, or context, that influence the psycho-social outcomes for these children. Internal factors such as neurological processing deficits and hyperactivity work in tandem with external factors such as family interactions, teacher expectations, and interactions with other children to shape the outcome.

In one of the papers I read, (Sorenson, Forbes et al) a study was done to determine if academic improvement had more of an effect on the psycho-social functioning of the learner than the contextual support. The study concluded that contextual factors did indeed influence the outcome, according to the teachers and parents interviewed, while children attributed improvement in adjustment to academic achievement. This study also concluded that in fact, very little academic improvement occurred. The study was completed over a two-year span and during that time the subjects, all LD, made very little progress. Most “held their own”, but even though 70% of them were on IEPs and had interventions in place, they did not move closer to their age appropriate levels. Sadly, this didn’t surprise the researchers, however, these authors attributed the lack of improvement to the “chronicity” of LD. I don’t agree with that- this seems to “blame the victim” even if it is to say, “Tsk tsk, you have a terrible disability”. The fault is still laid at the feet of the person who is struggling. I am inclined to examine the support more closely, not the learner. It is important to note however, that the interventions were not described, so it’s hard to make much more of that.

Another paper, (Miller) in which several university students with LD were interviewed, noted several themes related to resilience: identifiable success experiences, awareness of their own particular strengths, self determination, distinctive turning points, special friendships, encouraging teachers, and their own acknowledgement of their learning disabilities.

If we embrace the Risk Resilience Model, we accept that academic support is only part of the solution. We need to support the learner with contextual support as well, if we are to ensure improved overall functioning. Successful interventions need to do more than improve academic skill. Unfortunately this enlarges the school’s, and most likely the special education teacher’s role in a time when they are already stretched to their limit.

Sources

Margalit, Malka, Resilience Model Among Individuals with Learning Disabilities: Proximal and Distal Influences, Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 2003
Margalit, Malka, Second Generation Research in Resilience: Social-Emotional Aspects of Children with Learning Disabilities, Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 2004
Meltzer, Lynn, Resilience and Learning Disabilities: Research on Internal and External Protective Dynamics, 2004
Miller, Maurice; Resilience Elements in Students and Learning Disabilities, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2002
Sorenson, Lisa, Forbes, Peter, Bernstein, Jane, Weiler, Michael, Mitchell, William, Waber, Deborah, Psycho-Social Adjustment Over a Two-year Period in Children Referred for Learning Problems: Risk, Resilience, and Adaptation, Learning, Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 2003

Resiliency

2008-08-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
I am just checking in, part way through my summer holiday on the sunny Shuswap Lake. Well, today it's not sunny, which is why I made the trek to the nearest internet cafe...

I have been doing some reading on resiliency, and when I am back in September, I will be posting some articles. In the meantime,if you have some thoughts on the role that resiliency plays in successful outcomes for students with LD, leave a comment.

differential pay?

2008-07-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

I found this post in a folder- I wrote it last year, in response to a discussion on another blog about the necessity of differential pay for special ed teachers. I thought it might be interesting to see if it sparks any discussion here!

A few years ago, in a rare moment of candor the administrator for Special Needs learners in one of our BC school districts lamented that while he didn’t have a shortage of special ed teachers, he did have a shortage of special ed teachers who had adequate training and skills to do the job.

I think part of the problem is that there is no standard of what a special ed teacher should know- not up here anyway. There are attempts, and each district wants trained Special Ed teachers, but the training varies from university to university. I completed my Masters degree in 2004, and at one point was berated for using the term “dyslexia” by a senior (too senior, obviously) professor. At another university in the same province, the head of the Special Education department is writing papers on dyslexia! Half of my Masters cohort was under age 35, and all of these admitted to having no training at all in teaching students with learning challenges, and yet all were expected to teach students with a wide range of abilities/disabilities.

Some schools advocate waiting until a learner is 8 or 9 before intervening, and some screen kindergarten children. It is this uneven application of knowledge and methodology that is really hurting our special needs population in our school systems up here.

So, I am all for better training of special education teachers, and I agree with you that differentiating pay is necessary. However- I think first we need a standard training program for special ed teachers.

While I believe that teachers are professionals and are very capable, in this area I think we need to start telling teachers what they need to do, and insisting on certain courses being taken. Up here there is a very strong sense of teacher autonomy- teachers resent and reject being told what to do. Unfortunately, in the field of learning disabilities it is the child who suffers.

What about Vision Therapy?

2008-07-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

A colleague wrote in a few days ago and she raised a topic that I thought might be of interest to others. She gave me permission to post part of her message here:

I have been doing LOTS of research on struggling readers and have found some instresting information on vision therapy. Rod Everson from Wisconsin (Ontrackreading.com)says that 80% of his reading students improve in their reading after developmental vision therapy. Have you ever heard of this or had any experience with vision therapy? I wonder if this third grader might be having some sort of vision problem..... I am looking at any possiblities to help her and her mom.

My strongest feeling is that she is lanugage deprived, (like I wrote to you in earlier posts). But I also wonder if a vision problem may be affecting her fluency. When I was working with her she could read 1st grade material at 80 -90 wpm, but at 2 and 3rd grade she struggled continually between 50 - 70 words per minute. I wonder if this might be related to a visual problem.

I worked with her intensly on phonics and syllable separation strategies so she could decode longer words. She picked up on that information quickly. She also had a strong grasp on the phonics rules (not sure about now).

In conclusion, I still think two things for sure are at play - 1) language, vocabulary, 2) practice practice practice... but am really wondering about this vision thing. Any insights????

Hmmm. Vision therapy has been questioned since the early 1980s (that's when I started teaching and I recall this controversy then) regarding it's effectiveness in the treatment for dyslexia. I did some searching, and found several articles dated in the late 80s and early 90's.

In BC, we went through a period where children with reading problems were put through vision exercises,especially "eye-tracking" in the early 80s. It is still in practice in some environments. It is natural to suspect that there is something wrong with the visual mechanism in the brain if a person struggles with reading- it is obviously a task that requires vision. Way back, the thinking was that dyslexics saw words backwards. So this is actually a re-emergence of this issue as far as I am concerned. (by the way, the best way to improve eyetracking for reading, I think, is to read print more, not to follow a light or red ball on a stick)

In the past 10 years there has been exciting and compelling evidence brought forth that indicates that dyslexia a problem in the language system, based in the processing of the speech sounds and rapidly attaching them to printed symbols.

In my search, I found an article, published in the Journal of Optometric Vision Development, 2004 and it reported a positive but weak relationship between oculomotor vision therapy and reading improvement in people with non-specific reading disability. Non-specific disability means that the subjects in the 11 studies discussed did not have dyslexia, so we need to keep that distinction in mind. The results say that the improvement was about the same as what was achieved with straight reading therapy. There was a slightly better result when the two were done together. The article also mentions that the study samples were small, many had no control groups, and that larger samples would be needed to draw hard conclusions. The 11 studies were collected from 1940-2004.

So- here's what I think. I think vision therapy could well be warranted in kids with dyslexia, if near vision testing indicates problems with vision skills. But then, one would assume that anyone tested with these issues would probably benefit, whether they had a reading problem or not. If dyslexic children don't have any weaknesses as determined by testing, then it would not benefit them to go through it.

What I don't agree with is a blanket assumption that the therapy would benefit all people with reading problems and would produce results in reading. In a position statement on vision therapy, dated 1985, the American Optometric Association affirmed that optometrists don't teach reading- educators do. Optometrists treat vision problems. So if there are diagnosed vision problems, therapy is going to hopefully fix the vision problems. By itself, it will not improve reading. Reading skills still have to be taught explicitly and intensively.

It would be like saying glasses will improve reading in people with reading disability. Well, they will certainly make it easier to see, IF the learner also happens to be far-sighted. As a matter of course, we always start with vision (not just vision acuity, but near vision skills too) and hearing testing in kids with reading problems. If the learner needs glasses, they are advised to get glasses, but we don't put glasses on a learner just because he is struggling to learn to read.

While the article I mentioned makes a distinction between dyslexia and non specific reading disability, the gentleman you mention above doesn't seem to. I do find it interesting, in reading some of his comments about dyslexia, that he believes that dyslexia is an inherited trait (I agree) and that dyslexia manifests itself as a vision skills problem. That finding seems to be at odds with much of the latest research. He does admit that he is not that comfortable talking about dyslexia, and doesn't have it completely figured out yet. While I don't think anyone has it completely figured out, there certainly is compelling evidence that dyslexia is a language based problem, not a visual one.

To summarize- I don't think there is anything wrong with vision therapy if it is warranted. I don't agree with assuming it is warranted in all people with dyslexia, or any other reading problem, and I don't agree that the therapy itself is responsible for reading improvement.

About the third grade learner mentioned in the quote above... it is tempting to question the phonological and language basis of the disability when appropriate treatment doesn't seem to have fixed the problem... but we need to remember that we can't cure dyslexia. The issues with rapidly translating the letters into speech sounds persist into adulthood. With TONS of reading practice we can make huge improvements and make the whole process easier (thus making that volume of practice more palatable)- but the fluency problem, in my opinion is based in the phonological processing and slower conversion of letters into speech sounds.

That's my two cents.

Reading instruction over the Internet

2008-06-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

I have just completed another session of reading instruction over the Internet, with great results again! I used my Primary Program and then made some modifications to suit this learner. He is 9 years old and has significant language problems. I learned very early on that I had to greatly reduce my verbiage! I also learned that in general I talk too much! It was a difficult adjustment for me. I worked closely with his mother to guage his energy level, as he was quiet and didn't express much.I started to be able to read his body language and finally found the right balance. When I was talking too much he tended to sag a little, and lean back, away from the computer. Having said that, he did respond to the story telling element of the program. But, don't most children respond to stories?
Here's what I mean.
For the lesson about R controlled vowels I have a fairly elaborate story about the Boss being a bad guy who extorts money... as I was telling the story I could see my learner, listening intently. A few minutes went by and I heard a giggle that chimed in with his. I asked, "Is there someone in the room with you T?" Suddenly a little head slid into view at the left side of the screen- his little sister. I said hello... and then another head appeared at the other side of the screen- his older sister who I had taught earlier! She said, "We knew you were going to tell this story today!" We all had a good laugh, then I went on with the story.

I will be doing another reading clinic online with a learner in Alberta in the first weeks of September. I hope it goes as well as the first two. The little girl is going to be visiting her grandmother in a town about an hour from here at the end of August, so this time we will start in-person. I look forward to seeing if it makes any difference.

IEPs

2008-04-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

I have been reviewing and writing new IEPs for learners for the past two weeks. I have written hundreds of them over the years, but I have found them to be tedious and more of an exercise in pushing and filing paperwork than an actual working document.
Until now... having been a case manager for the special education service delivery has helped me see them in a different light. Each child has several service providers, and each service provider must review the IEP with parents and or me, to be sure that their services are in accordance with the reccommendations made by specialists in reports on file. I check in with the service providers monthly to review what they have been doing each month, and to see how the learner is responding to the intervention. The service providers also supply written reports throughout the year. This process has really helped us stay accountable to the learner and to the Ministry of Education. I find this process really helpful in keeping the learner's needs front and foremost in our minds.
I am curious if anyone has comments about the role that IEPs play, and what the experience in your neck of the woods has been?

ADHD talk

2008-03-25T22:35:00.000-07:00

I spent two hours today at our University talking to student nurses about Learning Disabilities and ADHD. It was really fun. These nurses will have to do public education, and they needed to learn about some of the issues they may encounter in their "classrooms". They asked really good questions... and as always happens when I do these talks, they relate on a personal level. Two came up to talk during the break and relayed some of their painful experiences is public school, and another came up to ask some questions as she thought her husband was dyslexic.
Since my son has ADHD (Inattentive type)and as he has given me permission to talk about him, I am able to relate some personal and real stories about ADHD. The nurses really liked that. I am hoping to do more talks like this in the future. I like public speaking (strange, I know, but I am an actor after all) and I think it's really important for people to get the message that medication for people with ADHD is not a bad thing- in fact the medical community believes that it is an essential part of an effective treatment plan. I have to say from experiences with my son, that I believe this to be true.
I have had so many parents over the years express, "I'm not medicating my child!"... and that makes me sad as I watch their child struggle to hang onto the concepts he's learned. I see many children who's attention span is so fleeting that information just seems to evaporate like ether, as new information comes in. Seeing how my son's situation improved so quickly and so drastically- I wish they would keep an open mind. I do understand the fears- I was there myself, but I do think it's worth a try. It think it's important to remember there are side effects to NOT finding an effective treatment for ADHD- the most notable one is the child's self esteem.

What's So Difficult? - from Children of the Code

2008-03-13T13:15:00.001-07:00

This is a fabulous series.

Reading instruction over the Internet

2008-03-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished with my student and I am so delighted with her progress! She is too- she commented on the fourth day that she thought she had learned more about reading in those four days than in her entire life! Bear in mind that this is a vivacious 11 year old who may be prone to exaggeration... but she did do incredibly well. Her mom was pleased too. I am hoping I can do more of this! the connections over the internet were excellent, and the sound quality perfect. There was no lag!
I have been discussing the pros and cons of early intervention with some parents and teachers of home learners, and I said I would post a link to one of my favourite articles by Joseph Torgesen on my blog. I have since found some other favourites.
They are in the sidebar under Favourite Links.
One in particular is very interesting for teachers, and although there is only a summary, it is worth the 5.00 to purchase the whole article. It is "spot on" as far as I am concerned.

Reading Instruction over the Internet

2008-02-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

I wanted to talk in a little more detail about how this is going for my student and I. I sent a box of materials via Canada Post on Wed. of last week, and expected that they would reach their community by Tue. or Wed. of this week. I was delighted and surprised (if you have any experience with Canada Post you know why) when I received an email from the student's mother, L, saying they had the box on Friday! We went over the contents in the box together using Ichat, and then we planned a start time for Monday. In the meantime, I set up our Macbook on a table about six feet from the magnetic white board, and was pleased that the camera picked up the whole space I was going to be working in, and that the lighting was good (right by a sliding glass door). L set her computer up about the same distance from their whiteboard, and set the materials out.
The first day, as I expected, took a little longer than usual to do, because L had to sort through things she was not familiar with, to be able to move with me through each part of the lesson. The shape of the lesson hung together really well though, and the internet connection was good. It worried me that there might be a lag between me making a sound, and the sound actually coming from my mouth- which would be a disaster in a phonemic awareness program! That didn't happen. My student, E, could hear and see me in realtime, and I her. My biggest problem was a ringing feedback from my computer, even with speakers. I tried various things later that night, and came up with a headset and microphone on my end worked really well.
Yesterday, we moved faster as things became more familiar for everyone, and the feedback problem was corrected. E is a very attentive student and I am confident now that she will be able to get the same results as my students "in person" do.
In my clinic, we do lots of work at the whiteboard. I get kids to do a quick sound check, several times in the lesson. I point to various cards with letter/groups that represent phonemes, and the students say the sound, and then I say various phonemes and the students point to their corresponding letters. So, when it came time for E to point to the cards as I said the sound, she then turned and worked from her own whiteboard. Her mother was making sure they had the same phoneme cards and in the same position as mine on their board. I asked her to look at my mouth when I said the sounds, until I was sure that the sound set up was good, and that she could hear what sounds I was making. She continues to look at my mouth when I say some sounds that are hard to distinguish without visual cues: f and the voiceless th, for example.
Yesterday we spent the full 2 hours together (over several hundred kilomoetres!)
I can't wait for today's lesson!

Reading instruction over the Internet

2008-02-18T23:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I had my first ever reading lesson over the internet today and it was great!
I have some feedback issues to try to fix, but other than that it worked really well.
I sent a box of duplicate materials to my student ahead of time, and her mother sat with her and acted as my hands on the other side of the camera- but for the most part I could do everything I normally do with "in person" students. I was excited to learn that I could even conduct a phonemic awareness test this way!
I am hoping I can deliver this instruction to people in remote places one day- some of our Northern communities have trouble finding services. It was a great day- and I can't wait to do lesson two tomorrow!

SelfDesign's Unique Position

2008-02-05T21:03:00.000-08:00

I have been really busy with my work with the Distributed Learning Community, SelfDesign. We have just processed some referrals for funding for learners who are fit our School District's High Incidence Category. High Incidence learners would be those with learning disabilities, speech and language problems and problems that have a higher occurence in the schools. This was a very exciting time for me because I actually participated in helping learners who need direct services get the money they need. This may sound obvious, but this is very different from my experience in the school system, where the money was stretched to accommodate as many kids as possible. There was no direct connection between a learner and money- not one that you could detect, anyway. The money was stretched so thin that lots of kids got a fraction of what they needed, which would not optimize their chances for success.

I have learners who just got money to go and get ed-psych testing done, and others will receive money for special reading instruction. It was very gratifying today to talk to happy parents who feel that someone understands their child's needs and stepped up to help. SelfDesign is a great learning community.

I think online education is only going to get bigger. One of the things that I am really excited about is that I will be working with a learner who is hundreds of kilometers away from me. I am going to conduct my first ever reading clinic over the internet! This will be a pilot- and if it works, it will provide opportunities for many more kids to get services in outlying and remote areas.
I will write about this once we are up and running. We are just waiting for the family to receive a large magnetic white board that we will use.

Good Help is Hard to Find!

2008-01-10T22:39:00.001-08:00

I just have to screech about how unexpectedly difficult it was for me to find a tutor for one of my students who lives in Victoria. It's not a huge city, but it's big enough that I thought it should be straight forward finding someone qualified to work with a little girl with dyslexia. I called seven different tutors and tutoring businesses, and was not satisfied with the methods described by any of them. Some were actually a little weird, I thought. There are lots of people out there willing to take your money!
At the last minute, a colleague found a name in the back of an education magazine. Thank goodness it was a wonderful woman who does the Lindamood program!
Hmmm. This feels more like a whine than a screech; oh well, I did have all day to get over it...

IQ discrepancy and LD

2007-12-26T00:59:00.000-08:00

I just found this article and thought it was worth noting, because I have been telling colleagues and parents that the discrepancy model is on its way out, but lately I couldn't put my finger on any one source. I have read it in several papers.

"As you might expect, early intervention gives the best results. Yet for decades most schools wouldn't consider special education for a child until he or she had fallen at least a year behind. That may be changing. Congress is considering legislation that would eliminate the need to show a discrepancy between a child's IQ and his or her achievements before receiving a diagnosis of dyslexia.

Ideally, all children should be screened in kindergarten—to minimize educational delay and preserve self-confidence. How do you know someone has dyslexia before he or she has learned to read? Certain behaviors—like trouble rhyming words—are good clues that something is amiss. Later you may notice that your child is memorizing books rather than reading them. A kindergarten teacher's observation that reading isn't clicking with your son or daughter should be a call to action.

If caught soon enough, can a child's dyslexia be reversed? The evidence looks promising. In her book, Shaywitz reports that brain scans of dyslexic kindergartners and first-graders who have benefited from a year's worth of targeted instruction start to resemble those of children who have never had any difficulty reading."

this is from Time magazine, and here is a link to the full article:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030728-465794,00.html

Too Little Too Late?

2007-12-25T22:31:00.000-08:00

Ok... so I have been knocking on the school district door for 11 years trying to convince the various Grand Pooh-bahs in charge of special education that they need to train teachers in evidence-based methods in reading instruction. This is so elementary (pun intended) that it's hard to fathom why I had to do that. I have been politely received, politely listened to, been asked to submit proposals on a few occasions, but nothing has ever happened.

Way back in 1997,when I still worked for the district, my colleague and I presented pretty compelling evidence to our school board that the Lindamood Program was worthy of further investigation. We had both taken the training when it was offered as a special in service program, and had been using it in small groups for a year. (We were two of the four people from our entire district that signed up- the 3rd was a speech pathologist and the fourth left the district at the end of that year) We did pre and post testing with 3 months of instruction in between- and the average gain was a year in reading ability. The school board was polite, appreciative, and that was the end of it.

So here it is, 11 years later... and still there is a hodgepodge of programs and approaches being used across the district- and only one that I know of is evidence based (the school that I used to teach at, where my colleague still soldiers on).

I mentioned in a previous post that the current administration has finally made a move- and has hired a consultant to go around training teachers to use a program of his design;one that seems sound enough to me after a brief inspection. However- what is the point of doing this if the delivery of the program is not regulated and is left up to schools to determine? Already we know of one school that is offering it at half the desired number of sessions per week, and for far less time. In effect, the evidence base has been rendered null and void.

I have also learned that the current administrator finally provided training in the Lindamood program last month! I was all set to cheer loudly when I also learned that a half a day was devoted to this training. Say what?!!! I took five full days of training, and even then, starting out was slow and I had to refer to my notes and study the text frequently. Half a day? I haven't talked to any of the teachers who attended, but if it was me, I think I'd want to jump off a bridge after a mere half day of training. That, or else quietly push the program to the back of the shelf and forget it ever happened.

Is it any wonder that sometimes I need to SCREEEECH!?

ADHD diagnosis: helpful or hurtful?

2007-12-17T19:58:00.001-08:00

I had an interesting discussion about ADHD in my online work with some teachers and parents about whether or not a diagnosis is helpful or a hindrance to the learner.
The gist was, I had suggested that the diagnosis could be helpful because it explains some of the difficulties encountered by the learner, and relieves some of the guilt and shame they had been carrying. Because the problem is not a visible one, it is easy (and usual) to assume negative things about these individuals that aren't true. (They are troublemakers, they don't respect the teacher, they don't care about the work, they're stupid, they are not trying, they are lazy etc.) The person who believes these negative ideas with the most conviction, is the learner. When a person loses their homework, house key, wallet or important information frequently, it would be natural for them to wonder, "What's wrong with me?" And in the absence of an obvious answer, they fill in the blanks themselves with very harsh assumptions. The diagnosis also allows a sound treatment program to be undertaken under the guidance of a doctor. Despite many parents' reluctance to try medication, it remains one of the best treatment options available. In thinking about the ramifications of giving pharmaceuticals to children, we need to also examine the ramifications of not treating the problem; Plummeting self esteem, drug and alcohol abuse, failure in school and work, and trouble with the law. These are all well documented possible outcomes for sufferers of ADHD.

One of my correspondents proposed that if allowed to develop these organization skills in their own time and in a home-learning environment that was supportive, that perhaps this negative self image could be avoided. She felt that the label would not be necessary either. She believes that it is the school system that causes the need for a label- because the learner has to perform on someone else's schedule. This is an interesting idea, but my feeling is that it only postpones the inevitable.

Even a supportive home-learning environment can't delay the person needing or wanting a part-time job, or needing to keep commitments with friends, or professional appointments.

While children with ADHD mature later and definitely need more support than there peers in managing their time, their schedules, their relationships- we do them a disservice, in my opinion, in not being honest and accurate about what the learner is dealing with. Facing the truth is better than ignoring it.

Hard Habits to Break

2007-12-08T21:21:00.000-08:00

I read an article a few years ago by the Dutch researcher Dirk Bakker- and he classified problem readers as either perceptual or linguistic readers. I have found in my work, these descriptions are perfect.
The linguistic reader tends to read very quickly, and uses appropriate cadence and expression- in fact if you weren't listening to what he was saying you would think him a fluent reader. However, he very soon gets so far off the original text that what he is saying bears little resemblance to what is on the page. Eventually meaning breaks down and he stops, confused. These readers tend to use context and the first letter or two of the word, and are really reading with their ears. They read what they think sounds right.
The perceptual reader, by comparison, reads painfully slowly, sounding out just about everything, including the words we normally memorize as sight words.
I am sure this theory would coincide with the areas of the brain that are both underactive and overcompensating in learners with dyslexia- but I haven't read any literature about this.
In my work I find the linguistic reader the most difficult to remediate. I think two factors work to make this so. First, the learner has worked hard to cover up his reading problem, and to him, reading fast is the goal. He is not going to like being asked to go back to a plodding and slow pace (careful and accurate, to us) after working so hard to sound like everyone else. Also, I think the learner is working from a part of the brain that deals with meaning, not visual clues.
This is just my theory, based on my experience working with these "speedy readers".
I wonder if you have experiences with these type of readers?

I'm glad I have the freedom to do what needs to be done.

2007-12-05T18:53:00.000-08:00

Today I attended a meeting. I was asked to attend by a family to help them understand a program their district is offering their son, who has a fairly deep case of dyslexia. I have worked with their son over the last year and a half, and I know him fairly well. Cool kid, cool family. The meeting was between the father of the boy and a former colleague of mine, hired by the school district to implement his own reading program across the district.

Interesting situation for me to be in! I am not involved with this family anymore, as the district has developed a rapport with this other gentleman and has hired him to be the magic bullet. I attended because I like the boy, and really appreciate that the family is crusading not just for their son, but for other kids like him.

The poor guy has poured his heart and soul into his life's work and has made it available to the district. Today however, it was very apparent that he had no control over his own work anymore. The schools have complete discretion as to how much time they will devote to his program, and today, we discovered it was likely going to fail, because of the way it was to be delivered. My colleague got good results using this program (he has developed it over the last 25 years,) but he acknowledged it could take several years and needs to be taught daily. However, the school the boy attends is offering this to the boy at about half strength. They are offering three days a week for only 45 minutes. Because of this short time period, parts of this program are bound to be omitted or glossed over. We all agreed today that the program wasn't going to be effective if delivered this way. It may mean that a sound program will be deemed ineffective, through no fault of the man that designed it.

During our conversation this gentleman lamented that no-one could deliver reading instruction at the intensity level required due to budgetary restraints- and I was so glad that I could say, "Well, actually, I can." Now of course, parents have to pay for the service- but I can honestly say that after 10 years, I have never had anyone complain, and in fact, roughly 1/3 of my students come back at least once, and some two or three times for little refreshers.

So today I had it reconfirmed that I made the right decision to leave the system in order to have the freedom to do what needs to be done. I would absolutely hate losing control of what I do as my colleague has had to do. To see something that could work so well be misused and undervalued would REALLY bother me.

Vocabulary is critical to reading development

2007-12-03T09:51:00.000-08:00

I have been asked my opinion about a difficult problem facing a learner in the US. Her tutor, Lynda, has done remarkable work in a short time, bringing up the girl's decoding skills. The problem seems to be language skills and vocabulary, now that decoding is in place. The girl repeated 2nd grade and Lynda is afraid her student won't pass the 3rd.

There is written test that students must take to pass the year, but this little girl's vocabulary and language skills are so weak she won't be able to cope with the demands of the test. Lynda feels she has an 8 month window to try to help this girl develop the language, grammar and vocabulary necessary to pass the test- never mind to function fully in her community. The test situation must be front and center as it can mean the difference between the girl being one or two years behind.This is unfortunate, but it seems to be the reality.

These are my opinions based on my own experience, and I would welcome anyone else out there who has some suggestions for Lynda. First, vocabulary is absolutely necessary for reading to develop properly. It doesn't matter how well someone decodes a word- if they have a limited vocabulary they won't recognize what they have read as a meaningful word. I call that recognition the "aha" in decoding. We sound out a word, trying different syllable divisions, vowel sounds, and then when we realize we have just said an English word that we know, there is a moment of triumph- a little "aha!" that's it! Children with poor vocab development don't experience the "aha" very much. This is sad of course because rich vocabulary is the colour in our reading!
Teaching vocabulary is really difficult the older a child gets. It is nearly impossible to take an inventory of what the child doesn't know. The little girl in question would be 8 or 9 years old I assume? So, it's important to jump on it now. Each year school children are introduced to roughly 3000 new vocabulary words. She has a long row to hoe!
I would suggest first testing her knowledge of basic concepts. Whether you use a test or a published program (Linguisystems has lots of material on Basic Concepts) it would be good to fill those in first.
Then, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test might give you an idea of what words she is missing. It's hard to do much with that, but it would give you something definite to teach to.
The Folks Sentence Builder is a sentence and grammar building kit that I used to use in the public system. It teaches the different grammatical structures we use in our speech and writing. There would be a whole section on using the present progressive, for example. "I am running" "The dog is eating" and includes using adjectives, prepositions, objects etc. (I may be showing my age- there may be something more current than this!) I liked this kit because it worked from pictures and kids usually found it fun.
Of course, it will be hard to make up for the lack of reading to her that has occured, but this would be a must from now until March. If the mom doesn't have the time, perhaps an older student could be enlisted to help. I can't think of anything you could do with this other than to have the older child stop and ask frequently,
"do you know what that is?" and stop for a brief discussion.
I have had limited success using published vocabulary study books, as I mentioned before, it's hard to take an inventory of what someone doesn't know. Having said that, I have used vocabulary books by Stech-Vaughn, and they might help in this situation- it seems that the little girl is almost language deprived.

I am a learning consultant for a Distributed Learning (over the internet and some home visits) school called SelfDesign. I will ask for some assistance on this issue from some of my colleagues there, and report back if I find anything more!

This page had some good insights about teaching vocabulary. I am not advocating for their program, but this page had good info on it, particularly the info about the Matthew affect.

http://www.balancedreading.com/vocabulary.html

I hope I have represented your concerns accurately Lynda. If anyone wants to read the entire description of the issue, see comment #3 under Why don't teachers...