Blog Archives

It was Dyslexia. Dyslexia. Dyslexia. Megan's Story

10/17/2018

School: "Maybe Megan can't read because she can't focus."

MOM: "Maybe Megan can't focus because she can't read."

“Megan is now in 4th grade. She could have been screened in Kindergarten. She could have been placed into a proper reading program right away instead of bouncing around several programs over four years.

I don’t blame her K, 1st, and 2nd grade teachers. Teacher preparation programs must teach teachers about dyslexia interventions and screening. I never want another student or family to have to go through what we have gone through to get a child the correct and proper reading program that they need in order to be successful and confident in school, and in life.” Megan's mother.

In 2014, Megan went to Kindergarten. She had a wonderful teacher who gave her confidence and a wonderful first year in school. My smart, sweet child was put in a “Speedy Speech” program and a Fundations reading group. Megan was still struggling. Her Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) score was a 0. Her Fountas & Pinnell score was still an A (lowest level). How could a child who was so smart, who was doing well in all other areas of school, not be able to read?

In 2015, Megan’s first grade teacher and reading specialist met with me during conferences. At this point Megan had been in several different reading programs. According to her data she was not progressing. I was told that Megan “is a sweet child but besides her reading issues, they were worried about attention issues.” Within a week following the meeting, Megan was seen by her pediatrician and began a low dose of ADHD medicine to control her “attention.”

In January 2016 we had our first IEP meeting. Megan’s first grade teacher stated that while Megan’s attentiveness in class had improved greatly, her reading performance had not. Megan was referred for a comprehensive education evaluation, and her results showed significant deficits for reading fluency, reading comprehension, phonics, and writing. She received an IEP label of “Multiple Disabilities and OHI.”

The multiple disabilities were Specific Learning Disabilities about reading. I was confused. I knew she specifically had Dyslexia. Why weren’t we saying that word? After the IEP meeting, I asked the Special Educator about that. “Megan has Dyslexia, correct?” She replied with “Oh definitely. But we can’t use that word on the IEP.”

For over 3 years I knew my daughter had Dyslexia when no one else did or was willing to admit. I have read up on Dyslexia and Wilson Reading Systems. So what next? I had no choice but to continue. I hired an advocate and Megan was to be re-assessed.

April 2018. Finally, 3 years after figuring out that Megan had Dyslexia, the school agreed with me. Her IEP says “Specific Learning Disability: Dyslexia”. The IEP team had Megan placed into the Wilson Reading System in April 2018 -- the same reading program I have had her tutored in since 2015.

By Kathleen Khoury, Megan's Mom
Harford County

1 Comment

Unbalanced Literacy: The Fight to Read

10/5/2018

1 Comment

Casualties of the Reading War

Very few schools use the appropriate balance of literacy components to teach reading, which is what is inherently wrong with the term "Balanced Literacy." If reading teachers, and especially special educators, are not given the support and tools they need to teach any one of the literacy components they are supposed to balance, that is unbalanced literacy.

By Marilyn Zecher, former secondary school classroom teacher, Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland and Certified Academic Language Therapist

The opinion piece in The Washington Post on the Reading Wars gets a lot right; but some practitioners of “balanced” literacy get some things wrong. (Also see the comment section of the article.)

“Balanced Literacy” can work IF it is truly balanced. The National Reading Panel recommended “healthy doses of explicit phonics instruction and comprehension based instruction,” which the article acknowledges.
Many of the failures of reading instruction can be traced to the reluctance of educators or districts to fully accept, and then explicitly and systematically teach, the decoding/phonics components of “Balanced” Literacy. This is especially true of syllable and structural components of language which are essential for older students who struggle.
Many school districts do not provide explicit phonics instruction which IS part of a “balanced” literacy approach. Some schools and districts may teach sound symbol correspondence and single small word decoding but neglect to teach the larger structural elements of English, syllables, syllable division and morphology.
Additionally, many districts do NOT teach skills like phonics or language structure after 3rd grade because the standards (like Maryland) indicate that those skills should be well established by then. Some students were never adequately taught basic skills like decoding, especially syllable types and syllable division, as outlined in Appendix A of the Maryland College & Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS). Teachers in secondary reading programs may not have been provided the knowledge base needed to ensure students receive effective interventions.
When older students fail to read on grade level because they lack basic reading skills, many districts refuse to include basic skills instruction in interventions or include it in “response to intervention frameworks,” thus perpetuating and compounding reading failure.
People in the field of dyslexia and reading difficulties have long understood that comprehension-building skills must be taught; for students to be successful readers, comprehension must build on a solid footing of core skills: decoding, syllable patterns and division, vocabulary knowledge, and accurate and fluent word recognition.
Without the core skill knowledge, students who struggle with reading and students with reading disabilities like dyslexia will have difficulty decoding words. Comprehension for independent reading depends on a 95% accuracy rate in decoding or word recognition which many “Balanced” Literacy proponents do not accept. (See: Reading Rockets-Fluency)
We MUST teach the structure of English language to students - this approach, also known as Structured Literacy, includes phonemic awareness, phonics, syllable structure and division, morphology/spelling/vocabulary, syntax/grammar, and semantic/meaning/comprehension skills. Competency in the structural elements of language leads to accurate and rapid decoding known as fluency which frees the mind to focus on comprehension.
Very few schools use the appropriate balance of literacy components to teach reading, which is what is inherently wrong with the term "Balanced Literacy." If reading teachers, and especially special educators, are not given the support and tools they need to teach any one of the literacy components they are supposed to balance, that is unbalanced literacy.
In a conversation with the head of a university reading program, I was told that only graduate students could "elect" to take a course in the phonology and structure of the English language. Pre-service teachers and special educators were not expected to acquire that knowledge, nor were they offered a choice to take a course which is central to providing effective, evidence-based instruction and appropriate intervention.
“Balanced” Literacy is a worthy and achievable goal, but educators need to know both the principles and elements of evidence based instruction for phonics and comprehension based approaches to achieve success.

#DyslexiaAwareness
#earlyID
#soAllCanRead
#addressdyslexia

1 Comment

It was Dyslexia. Dyslexia. Dyslexia. Megan's Story

Unbalanced Literacy: The Fight to Read

Author

Archives

Categories