Hi friends. Working with so many students that are in different places in their journey with reading and dyslexia means that I need to be diagnostic and prescriptive in my approach, but there are some key components and materials that seem to work themselves into most of my lessons. This week, I am sharing a few of my favorites! Comment and let me know if any of these are on your list.

Plastic Letters

I use my plastic alphabet letters for so many different activities. They are a great way to incorporate multi-sensory learning and practice into our sessions. The letters can be used to build skills from letter naming, to letter sequencing, to teaching accent and phrasing, to alphabetizing – the possibilities are endless! I like the letters from abcedarian.com because the plastic letters are consistent in their shape, are available in both English and Spanish, and the price it hard to beat. You can purchase the entire alphabet, certain letters, and upper-and-lower case letters. They als...

Educators and professionals should look for indicators of dyslexia in children starting at a young age. Our system often relies on the “wait to fail” model before testing or providing interventions which can have lasting impacts on a student’s educational success. By looking for clues, educators can provide appropriate instruction and early intervention. Research has found that children at risk for dyslexia or who demonstrate reading difficulties benefit most from early intervention in kindergarten and first grade.

Parents should pay attention when their child speaks to listen for clues in how they pronounce words and sounds of the letters of the alphabet. Delays in speaking can also be an indicator of potential reading problems. It should be noted that not all delays or mispronunciations indicate a learning disorder. Parents can speak with their child's pediatrician and discuss any concerns they may have about their child's language struggles. Once in school, both educators and paren...

Children participate in the process of segmenting when they are actively engaging in separating words or parts of a word into syllables or individual phonemes. This is one of the most critical skills that children need to develop for phonemic awareness. It is important for building reading and spelling skills.

For students with dyslexia or other language-based learning differences, a deficit in the phonological component of language is often at the root of difficulties in reading and spelling. Students need foundational skills explicitly taught and practiced moving systematically through the hierarchy.

• identifying the number of words within a sentence
• identify the number of syllables within a word
• segment or break apart the onset and rime pattern
• segment the individual phonemes (sounds) within a words

Segmenting is taught through explicit instruction, but learning can be extended and practiced through games and activities. There are many engaging, hands-on ways to practice se...

Summer is a wonderful time to relax and play in the sand. Using sand trays is a fantastic way to sneak in some multisensory pre-writing strokes and handwriting practice!

I have found that students of all ages love to use the sand tray in our therapy sessions. The use of sand trays provide kinesthetic practice for pre-writing letter formation and letter practice. The drag, or pull, in the sand helps build connections for the learner through what we refer to as multisensory practice, or when we are engaging at least three of the senses at the same time. When we use multiple senses at the same time, we have a higher chance of retaining the information.

Setting up a Sand Tray

• Sand trays can be made with any kind of flat tray with sides (to keep the sand inside). I like cookie trays as they are magnetic, stackable, and reasonably priced. I painted my trays with black chalkboard paint prior to provide contrast in color - bonus is that they can be used as chalkboards too!  (I LOVE to

  ...

Summer is usually one of my favorite seasons filled with daytime adventures, the delight of a more laid back schedule and late nights relishing in the laughter of my children and friends around the pool. This summer is unlike any other, and the amount of stress and trying to plan for the unknown has weighed heavy on me. 

I was looking through my blog posts and I came across the one that I wrote as a guest blogger for the amazing Emily Gibbons, owner of The Literacy Nest. I originally wrote the post for the immediate emotional response to schools closing in the spring, however, I feel that so much of it remains true even today as we begin to try and plan for what fall schooling will look like. If you haven't had a chance to read it, or even if you did and need a little boost in strategies to help navigate our children's anxieties about school and these unusual times, check out my post that gives 9 tips to help you navigate the emotional response to school closings. 

 https://www.the...

The title of CALT, or Certified Academic Language Therapist, was one that was new to me in the year 2008 even though I was eleven years into my career as an educator. I had worked as a classroom teacher, lead teacher and literacy coach, reading interventionist, district literacy facilitator, and curriculum writer. Even with all of this experience and trainings, I had never heard of the CALT certification.  I had been trained in many different approaches and programs, and yet I knew that there were students that were falling through the cracks. 

This sent me on a personal mission to learn more about dyslexia, and to seek out training to better help all students and educators. Twelve years later, I know that seeking highly focused training in the science of reading was the best decision that I made, as it set me on a new path in my educational career and provided me with the necessary skills and knowledge to best help students with dyslexia. 

A Certified Academic Language Therapist (CA...