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Dyslexia

Understanding Dyslexia Meet the gurus, the

researchers Understanding language

neurologically The neurology of Dyslexia Plasticity of the brain Multisensory teaching

techniques Cortical opposition The value of spelling rules

Vocabulary/Morphemes Reading fluency Reading comprehension Auditory processing Processing

speed/memory Multisensory teaching

training

My Gurues

• Dr. Gordon Sherman• Dr. Peggy McCardle• Isabel Beck• Dr. Terrence Torgesen,• Dr. Maryanne Wolf• Dr. Barbara Foorman

Dr. Judith BirshDr. Sally ShaywitzDr. Louisa C. MoatsMarianne MeyerPamela HoodNancy HennessySuzanne Careker

What Dyslexia is

not:

A SIGN OF POOR INTELLIGENCE

THE RESULT OF LAZINESS OR OF

NOT CARING

A DISEASE CURED WITH PILLS OR DIETS

AN EYE PROBLEM

HAVE A MEDICAL CURE

NOT OUTGROWN NOT ADD-H

Definition

dys” means “difficult” in

Latin

“lex” means “words”in Greek• = DYSLEXIA

Definition of Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin.

It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor encoding and decoding abilities.

Dyslexia is:

The leading cause of reading failure and school dropouts in

the USA

Most commonly shared characteristic

of juvenile justice offenders

Identifiable with 92% accuracy

Enduring if not remediated young

Often co-existing with ADD

Where It Starts

Dyslexia is neurological in origin. It is genetic.

Brain Design

Brain design includes: physical structure,

chemical composition, organizational pattern.

Brain design is created by:genotype + fetal environment + chance.

6 Layers of the Cerebral Cortex

The total area of cortex is estimated at nearly a square meter; it is about 4 mm thick, and it contains 10 000 million or more nerve cells (neurons). The number of synapses (connections between nerve fibres and other neurons) are, on average, around 10 000 synapses on every cortical neuron at one time.

In layer 1 there is a glial membrane called a neuronal border. Neurons born in layer 6 should never enter layer 1. There is proof that dyslexia emerges if this neuronal migration happens into layer 1. Notice the top layer...These nerve cells or neurons find each other and become bunches called ectopias.

Ectopias cause the nerve fibers(axons) to become tangled. What is fascinating is that ectopic neurons seem to connect with neurons in other parts of the brain differently. Some of these ectopias are in the language area of the brain, others are in the frontal lobe, the place of working memory.

Therefore: Dyslexia occurs when a neuronal migration takes place during the fiber release. This is atypical.

Language/Sensory SystemsCharacteristics of a brain with dyslexia include differences in appearance, organization, and function. All three of these are involved with phonics. To accommodate, there is need for direct instruction for mastery of phonological processing and alphabetic skills (written symbols representing speech).The function of the thalamus nuclei is to processes fast information. A brain with dyslexia has a smaller nuclei. While long term memory needs speed, for someone with a size deficit of the nuclei proposes a disadvantage in traditional educational environments.

Dyslexia is a different brain organization. Studies show that individuals with dyslexia process information in different areas of the brain than do efficient readers.

• Difficulty with phonological processing vowel sounds difficult after age 7

• Reading :Decoding / Word Attack Word RecognitionReading Comprehension

• Spelling: encoding• Writing• Handwriting

Dyslexia - Difficulties

Phonemic Processing

Dyslexia Strengths• bright, curious, great imagination

• excels in areas that use 3D thinking,

• building (Legos), blocks, art, athletic, choreography

• or hands-on tasks

• great at thinking “out of the box”

• creative problem solving

• Albert Einstein Cher; Robin Williams

• Thomas Edison Tom Cruise

• Leonardo da Vinci Kiera Knightley

• Alexander Graham Bell Jay Leno

• Ansel Adams Billy Bob Thornton

• Pablo Picasso Whoopi Goldberg

• Andy Warhol John Lennon

• Tommy Hilfiger Steven Speilberg

• Charles Schwab Agatha Christie

• Ted Turner F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Henry Ford Patricia Polacco

Individuals with Dyslexia

Dyslexia Facts

60% of America’s prison inmates are illiterate

85% of all juvenile offenders have reading problems

Secondary consequences: depression, anxiety, loss of confidence

Studies show that of the children who were reading disabled in 3rd grade (& received no specific reading remediation), 74% remained reading disabled in 9th grade.

(National Institute of Child Health & Human Development)

What Does the Student with Dyslexia Need?

1) Specialized Instruction – Remediation using a specific teaching approach that matches how students learn

2) Academic Accommodations

Multisensory Teaching

Systematic Cumulative

Structured and Sequential

Direct TeachingVisual

Kinesthetic/Tactile

Auditory

Structured Literacy Programs:

Orton-Gillingham Approach Multisensory Teaching Approach (MTA)

Wilson Reading SystemSonday Systems

Lindamood-Bell Programs LearningRX

Alphabetic Phonics

What Can You do as a Teacher?

Request early testing to provide more services

Profile

Educational testing can verify the presence of SLD or dyslexia and can provide the needed diagnostic documentation that is required for eligibility for specially designed instruction and accommodations throughout the educational career from elementary school through college and graduate school.

What Can You do as a Teacher?

Be Sensitive- talk to student one-to-one so that peers can’t hear- don’t have student read aloud in front of class- peer editing can be humiliating

What Can You do as a Teacher?

Multisensory Instruction = Good teaching- present visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile modalities simultaneously during instruction (e.g. have a visual when explaining)- multisensory instruction benefits all students

Multiple Exposures/Experiences

What is multisensory

teaching?

The term multisensory refers to any learning activity that includes the use of two or more sensory modalities simultaneously to take in orto express information. (Motes) Multisensory teaching links listening , speaking,reading, and writing. VAKT!

• The theory that learning experienced through all the senses is an excellent means to reinforce memory has a long history in pedagogy.

• Tracing has been found to be a reinforcer to visual memory. Sight with touch is sometimes noted as “better sight.” If I touch what I see, I see it better.

• Have you ever heard someone say on the phone, “Just a moment; I need to get my glasses to hear you.”

Working Memory

Listening, speaking, reading, and writing with another tactile or kinesthetic activity produces multiple representations of linguistic units in the working memory that improves the explicitness, completeness, durability of what is stored in long term memory.

What Can You do as a Teacher?

Differentiation- vary the learning experiences, the way students present their knowledge,vary the way students are evaluated

• The International Dyslexia Association dyslexiaida.org

• International Dyslexia Association, Northern Ohio noh.dyslexiaida.org

• Decoding Dyslexia Parent Group

• The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity dyslexia.yale.edu

• U of M website Dyslexia Help dyslexiahelp.umich.edu

• Sally Shaywitz Overcoming Dyslexia

Resources:

Sr. Marcia Kiser, sndmmkiser@Hotmail.com