Reading & Dyslexia
Approximately 80 percent of students with learning disabilities have been described as reading disabled. Resources within this section provide information and advice on what parents and educators can do to help students with LD gain reading skills.
There are 72 articles in this section.
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Do you think your child or student might have dyslexia? "Dyslexia Basics," a factsheet by International Dyslexia Association," tells you the definition, symptoms, causes and effects. Find out how to help.
Strategies for Summer Reading for Children with Dyslexia
Read a dozen strategies to help your children keep the academic skills they learned last year. Support them as they read. Give them material that is motivating – and some of it should be easy. Help them enjoy books and feel pleasure—not pressure from reading. The summer should be a relaxed time where their love of learning can flower.
Dyslexia and the Brain: What Does Current Research Tell Us?
The identification of a child with dyslexia is a difficult process, but there are ways that parents and teachers can learn more about the reading difficulty and support the child’s learning.
The Need for Flexible Alternatives to Print
An important change in special education law in 2004 was the inclusion of NIMAS, the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard. This new regulation requires educational publishers to provide textbooks and other print materials in a digital format, so that students who have trouble with print can access the curriculum.
Screening, Diagnosing and Progress Monitoring for Fluency
Early and frequent screening can go a long way in preventing reading difficulties. This article includes fluency norms for grades 1-8 and details how to find and fix problems to keep kids on track for reading success. It also includes an example of how to compare fluency scores with other reading skills to design individualized interventions.
Enhancing Outcomes for Struggling Adolescent Readers
With so much required of high schools today, there is little time or money to spend on the students who are lacking fundamental skills. This article presents important factors leading to success for struggling adolescent readers, taken from successful reading programs.
These Tips Might Make Your Son a Reader
Boys may encounter stereotypes that make developing a life-long love of reading more difficult. This article examines those negative perceptions, and gives parents a list of concrete suggestions to combat stereotyping.
Genetic differences in the brain make learning to read a struggle for children with dyslexia. Luckily, most of our brain development occurs after we're born, when we interact with our environment. This means that the right teaching techniques can actually re-train the brain, especially when they happen early.
Consider some excellent lesson models for teaching vocabulary, explaining idioms, fostering word consciousness, instruction for English Language Learners, and mnemonic strategies.
Adolescent Literacy: Where We Are - Where We Need to Go
A majority of federal funding for intervention programs is allocated to elementary schools, but happens when students still struggle in middle and high school? This article investigates why some adolescent readers need more assistance, and what should be done to help them.
Reading Software: Finding the Right Program
With the range and variety of commercial software products on the shelves today, how can an educator or parent choose a program that will most benefit a particular student? Where are product reviews that can inform the decision?
Many young readers are puzzled by the rules and exceptions of spelling. Research has shown, however, that learning to spell and learning to read rely on much of the same underlying knowledge. Read this article to learn more about the relationships between letters and sounds and how a proper understanding of spelling mechanics can lead to improved reading.
RTI and Reading: Response to Intervention in a Nutshell
RTI is not a particular method or instructional approach, rather it is a process that aims to shift educational resources toward the delivery and evaluation of instruction that works best for students. This article provides a quick overview of RTI as it relates to reading.
There’s a reason learning to read is hard for so many children – our brains are not wired for literacy! The written word is a relatively new invention in human history, and our brains have not caught up with the fast-paced changes in the way we communicate. The brain areas that adapted to reading and writing are primarily on the left side, which processes linear, logical information. With the invention of image-based media like television, video, and the internet, the holistic, visual right side is reclaiming an equal role in learning.
Components of Effective Reading Instruction
There is no single “best” program for teaching reading. However, scientific investigators agree about the need for instruction to address certain key abilities involved in learning to read.
Suggestions for fostering independent reading include: (a) Give children books that are not too difficult. (b) Help them find books they will enjoy. (c) Encourage them to try many kinds of material. Although independent reading cannot substitute for teaching decoding, it improves reading comprehension and the habit of reading.
About Reading Disabilities, Learning Disabilities, and Reading Difficulties
Reading difficulties likely occur on a continuum, meaning that there is a wide range of students who experience reading difficulties. There are those students who are diagnosed with a learning disability. There is also an even larger group of students who do not have diagnoses but who need targeted reading assistance.
The World's Greatest Underachiever
Actor and author Henry Winkler reminisces about how dyslexia impacted his school years in this article from Highlights for Children magazine. "Now I know," he writes, "that even if a person learns differently, he or she can still be filled with greatness."
Clues to Dyslexia from Second Grade On
Find out how the specific signs of dyslexia, both weaknesses and strengths, in any one individual will vary according to the age and educational level of that person.
