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The Neuroscience of Word Study: Igniting the Reading Brain K-8

Dr. J. Richard Gentry Richard@jrichardgentry.com

My Website: http://jrichardgentry.com

My Blog: Raising Readers, Writers, and

Spellers | Psychology Today

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Page: JRichardGentry.com | Facebook

Follow me on Twitter: Richard Gentry

(RaiseReaders) on Twitter

Author, Researcher, Educational Consultant Mobile, AL

Welcome and Introductions

Cognitive Conditioning

1. At what grade level should the major brain circuitry for reading be in place?

Cognitive Conditioning

2. What is the best differentiator between good and poor readers?

“The best differentiator between good and poor readers is repeatedly found to be their knowledge of spelling patterns and their proficiency with spelling–sound translations.”

Effective spelling instruction teachers children to read.

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Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print (1990)

As stated by cognitive and developmental psychology researcher Marylyn Jager Adams

Cognitive Conditioning

3. What’s the best predictor of reading proficiency?

A. Phonemic Awareness

B. Phonics Knowledge

C. Word Reading

The Dictionary in the Brain

Brain words are key to developing rapid and accurate word reading.

Word reading is the best predictor of reading proficiency.

Word reading is the key to comprehension!

How is Word Reading taught in your schools?

• Word sorting and hypothesis testing so that kids can “discover” how words work? • A a new kit with units of phonics study offering 20 minutes a day of phonics

sessions? • New “comprehensive word study book” full of bulleted items? • Disconnected lessons for phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, high-

frequency words, grammar, spelling stuffed into an already over packed reading series?

• Are your district or school’s word study lessons pulled from the reading program but with no grade-by-grade word study curriculum?

• Did your district invent it’s own word study program? Is it research based? • Optional, add-on minilessons for word study? • No specified word study or curriculum? • A research-based spelling book?

Today we are going to learn what works based on the neuroscience of reading.

Cognitive Conditioning

4. Which is more important for beginning reading?

A. Meaning Cues

B. Syntactic Cues

C. Graphophonic Cues?

Cognitive Conditioning

5. It’s been two decades since the National Reading Panel report was released followed in 2001 by No Child Left Behind.

What is the missing link–based on the science of the reading brain?

What is the missing piece of instruction?

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The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The missing link is what this workshop is really about.

When science proves what we are doing is wrong we have to give up long held beliefs.

The state of reading education in America is not good.

Why do we keep making the same mistakes over and over?

Why are we afraid to listen to science?

The Ugly—Reading Scores

: • 65% of 4th Graders are not reading on grade level.

• Scores have been flatlined for two decades

The Bad—the Gap

I realize I will be stepping on some toes…

I apologize.

I hope you will welcome a frank discussion…

The Bad—the Gap

“The Gap Between The Science On Kids And

Reading, And How It Is Taught” February 12th, 2018

From National Public Radio:

Claudio Sanchez interviews cognitive psychologist Mark Seidenberg (U of WI)

From National Public Radio

February 12th, 2018

“The Gap Between The Science On Kids And Reading, And How It Is Taught”

There is a massive amount of behavioral research, including neuroimaging research on brain organization that is not being applied in the classroom. Claudio Sanchez interviews cognitive psychologist Mark Seidenberg (U of WI)

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Tracing the Missing Links in Reading Education to Whole Language Myths

Understanding where myths come from helps debunk them.

There is no need to denigrate whole language.

I was part of the movement!

Positive Transformational Changes is Education

• the use of invented spelling

• expectations for classrooms filled with good children’s literature

• efforts to motivate children to read

• use of thematic units

• the process writing approach

• more time for reading in school

• integrating reading and writing across the curriculum.

The Bad—Holding on to long-held erroneous beliefs.

5 Scientifically Debunked Whole Language Principles that Are Still in Use

Debunked Principle #1: Learning to read is as natural as learning to speak.

• Learning to read is not as natural as learning to

speak. • Students do not simply “pick up mechanics” from

reading and writing for their own purposes. • The foundational skills of reading have to be taught. Weighing in from a scientific perspective, renowned French cognitive neuroscientist Stanislis Dehaene did not mince words:

Reading In the Brain

Whole language does “not fit with the architecture of our visual brain,” (2009, p.195) and he goes on to say “Cognitive psychology directly refutes any notion of teaching via a “global” or “whole language method” (2009, p. 219). Stanislas Deheane

Debunked Principle #2: Meaning always comes first in language

(Goodman, 1986).

For Reading… • Meaning cueing • Syntactic cueing • Graphophonic cueing • Brain Words (Automatic Word Reading for fluency)

Which comes first?

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Is this a brain word for you?

dosseret The dosseret was milky

white.

dosseret (dos’ ə ret’) a supplementary capital or thickened abacus as in Byzantine architecture.

Entry = Words and Meaning in Spoken Language System

xxxxxxxxxx

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Debunked Principle #3:Debunked Principle #3: Do not to teach handwriting explicitly. Money for handwriting programs should be spent on children’s literature (Goodman, 1986).

Brain scanning has demonstrated that handwriting helps preschoolers learn their letters (James & Englehardt, 2012; Longcamp et al., 2005). In doing so the child who is learning to print letters is setting up the neural systems that underlie reading.

Debunked Principle #4: There is no pathology such as dyslexia

(Goodman, 1986).

Brain imaging irrefutably shows differences in processing in the reading circuity of children who are dyslexic versus normal readers.

Debunked Principle #5: “There should be no special spelling curriculum or regular lesson sequences” (Goodman, Smith, Meredith, &

Goodman, 1987, pp.300-301)”.

Perhaps the most universally misunderstood aspect of the brain’s reading architecture is the importance of correct spelling representations in the word from area of the brain.

National Reading Panel

Five essential components of reading teaching: 1. Phonological awareness 2. Phonics 3. Fluency 4. Vocabulary 5. Comprehension

Where is SPELLING for automatic word reading?

Creating a Need: Why do schools and districts need explicit systematic

spelling instruction? 65% of American fourth graders read below grade level proficiency.

“If you can spell it you can read it!” Too many elementary through high school students can’t read and write proficiently.

Brittany Was she in your classroom?

Some of Donald Grave’s Points for Writers like Brittany

• Bond with Children—All children can write. • Writing is a process—It takes time. • Give children autonomy such as choosing their

own topics. • Make it authentic. • Do a lot of talking to plan the piece. • Bring in detail. • Help them—don’t criticize. • Revise and Edit. • Publish the piece.

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Was she in your classroom? Is she dyslexic?

Building Brain Words

The story of building brain words comes in two parts.

Part 1—Spelling to Read Methodology from

No Reading to End of First Grade

Part 2—Spelling to Read Methodology from

Grade 2 and Beyond

Dig Deeper into the Brain Science—Getting the Reading Circuitry in Place

Let’s begin with a close look at how the brain changes from preschool to end of grade 1 and grade 2:

(5 Phases of Beginning Reading and Writing)

Five Developmental Phases!

YOU CAN SEE THE CHANGES IN

PHASE OBSERVATION! 0 1 2 3 4

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Reading (decoding), spelling (encoding), and writing aren’t just subjects in school, they are

brain functions. How INVENTING SPELLING drives the beginning reader’s brain.

Functional Anatomy of Single Word Reading

Adapted from: Pugh et al. (2000)

Occipito-Temporal Region

Word identification

Visual Word Form System

Temporo-Parietal Region

-Rule-based grapheme-to-phoneme analysis

-Semantic processing

Inferior Frontal Gyrus

-Phonological mapping

-Semantic processing

Functional Anatomy of Single Word Reading

Activate your Word Form Area

Read this:

As skilled readers, we are able to quickly and accurately recognize printed words without much effort. Indeed, you are most likely finding it no real chore to read this text now, and it has thus far taken only seconds of your time.

What Are Brain Words?

You are literally matching the words on this slide with spelling images that have been mapped or stored in your brain; these stored neural representations of spelling, linked to sound and meaning, are what we refer to as brain words.

Gene and Katrina Ouellette

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Developmental Psychology

Ouelette, G. & Sénéchal, M. (2017).

Invented Spelling in Kindergarten as a Predictor of Reading and Spelling in Grade 1: A New Pathway to Literacy, or Just the Same Road, Less Known?

Developmental Psychology. 53 (1) 77– 88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0000179

Psychology Today blog

J. Richard Gentry Ph.D. Raising Readers, Writers, and Spellers

Landmark Study Finds Better Path to Reading Success This study proves what exemplary teachers have been doing correctly for years. Posted Mar 30, 2017

Phase 0—Non-alphabetic Spelling (no alphabetic letters present)

Phase 1—Pre-alphabetic Spelling (letters but no sounds)

Phase 2—Partial Alphabetic Spelling

Phase 3—Full Alphabetic Spelling

Phase 4—Consolidated/Automatic Alphabetic Spelling

0 1 2 3 4

Outcomes of Brain Development Match the Names with the Samples

Five Phases of Writing, Spelling and Reading

Phase 0 : Non-alphabetic writing [No Letter Use]

No later than Preschool • Wavy writing and loopy writing-scribbling

• Child cannot write his or her name

Example:

Phase 1

Phase 1: Pre-alphabetic writing [No matching of sounds to letters]

No later then the first half of Kindergarten

• Random letters on the page • Use of letters but no match to sounds

Example:

Phase 2

Phase 2: Partial Alphabetic Writing

Expected in second half of kindergarten

• HMT for Humpty

• DPD for Dumpty

Example:

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Phase 3

Phase 3: Full Alphabetic Writing

No later than the first half of First Grade

• CAM for Came

• NIT for Night

• Child writes a letter for each of the sounds

Example:

Phase 4 Phase 4: Consolidated/Automatic Alphabetic Writing

in Chunks of spelling patterns No later than the end of First Grade • EVREWHAIR for Everywhere • Child writes EV then RE in a chunk • Child analogizes with AIR and writes WHAIR • Child consolidates the sounds into chunks of spelling patterns

Phase 4—Consolidated/Automatic Phase

For most kids learning to read (and write) in English is slow and laborious. Then all of a sudden after the December holidays, “the lights come on!”

Phase 4 is when “the lights come on” in the reading brain.

NOTE: Italian/6 months English/2 years

What happens in Phase 4—the Consolidated Alphabet Phase

In Phase 4 recurring letter patterns become consolidated in memory as CHUNKS of spelling patterns.

/r/-/ă/-/t/ is consolidated into /r/-/ăt/

The brain sees recurring pattern –at as a chunk

Reduces memory load

Enables comprehension

Decoding/Encoding the Word interesting

Decoding/encoding interesting in Phase 3

• i n t (ə) r ə s t I NG 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 [10 graphophonic units]

Decoding/encoding the interesting in Phase 4

• in·ter·est·ing [consolidated into 4 units]

Phase 4—Consolidated Alphabetic Phase

The word interesting has 10 graphophonic units including -ng which is one graphophnonic unit. So in Phase 3 a child might sound out the word letter by letter. When the units are consolidated into chunks, the word interesting has only 4 graphosyllabic units: in-ter-est-ing which is how it is read in Phase 4. The 10 units are consolidated into 4 units. These same principles apply for writing and spelling in Phases 3 and 4.

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The Six Syllable Types are Chunking patterns.

The brain learns to recognize these six syllable type!

What are they?

Open syllables (V, Cv, CCv): (me, she, he and no, so, go, to-tal, ri-val, Bi-ble, mo-tor)

Closed syllables (about 50% in running text): (com-mon, but-ter, stuff)

Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe) syllables: (make, while, yoke, rude, ape) (Called “e-marker” or “silent e”)

Vowel team syllables (may be two, three, or four letters):(thief, boil, hay, boat, straw, hey, boy, taugh, bough, night) and can represent a long, short, or diphthong vowel sounds.

Vowel-r syllables (vowel followed by r (er, ir, ur, ar, or): numerous, hard to master; they require continuous review: (fir, fur, perform, ardor, mirror, further, wart)

Consonant-le (C-le) syllables (stable final syllable, C-le combinations)

(There is no doubled consonant. It is combined with a closed syllable.): (puzzle, riddle, quadruple)

The Power of Chunking

What happens in your brain when you see this word?

SEIKOOCDNAMAERCECI

ICECREAMANDCOOKIES

Florida

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Floreda

The Power of Spelling Representations in the

brain. The Cambridge Study

Olny srmat poelpe can raed this:

The Cambridge Study

Olny srmat poelpe can raed this:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rgh it pclae. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Reading and Writing Connections through the Phases

The next 5 slides show: • How Word Reading develops in each phase • How Phonemic Awareness develops in each

phase • The range of Guided Reading Levels expected in

each phase • Minimal level when each phase is expected in

kindergarten or first grade

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Scaffold by Stretching Though a Word with a Moving Target

Teacher emphasizes Child writes

lightning l

lightning lt (child adds t)

lightning ltn (child add n)

lightning ltng (child adds g)

Sometimes saying “Watch my mouth,” Speaking the target sound louder Elongating or dragging the target sound. HERE’S HOW TO HELP KID WRITER: spell LTNG FOR LIGHTNING.

From Kid Writing in the 21st Century by Eileen Fledgus, Isabell Cardonick, and Richard Gentry, (Hameray Education Group, 2017)

Scaffold with Rhyming Houses

Use with Hand Spelling

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Scaffold with “Close Look Writing Assessments”

Phase 3 (a letter for each sound) Phase 4 (chunks)

Rth (earth) = Phase 3

qhaks (quakes) = Phase 3

log (long) = Phase 3

tim (time)= Phase 3

mac (make) = Phase 3

kel (kill) = Phase 3

pepl (people) = Phase 3

Sanfrinsiskou (San Francisco) = Phase 4

hapin (happen) = Phase 4

Moving from Phase 3 into Phase 4

While celebrating his meaning making and other strengths, this sample helps us target instruction:

• CVC short vowels

• the long vowel CVCe pattern

• digraphs qu and ng

• eventually r-controlled syllables as well as the idea that every syllable needs a vowel

Mariah entered kindergarten as a Phase 1 writer.

Teacher Publishing for Reading and Rereading *: It was a sunny day.

It was a sunny day.

End of her kindergarten year—a strong, independent, Phase 3 writer.

Teacher Publishing for Reading and Rereading: Tuesday, my tooth was wiggling. When it was in my mouth, it bled. When it fell out, it stopped bleeding. My mom gently pulled it out with a paper towel and I was happy that it fell out.

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What about building brain words in Grade 2 and beyond?

First of all, what doesn’t work!

Mistakes We Made Without Knowing It

Example # 1: No Spelling Instruction or Curriculum “We don’t have time for spelling.” Test Prep

Beware of Auto-Correct!

Sum won tolled me eye wood knot knead too learn two spell. Computers dew it four us!

Well, computers are sometimes stupid spellers.

Mistakes We Make Without Knowing It

Example # 2: Haphazard Spelling Instruction

• “Hit or miss” • No specific grade-by-grade curriculum • Random or disorderly—teachers choose their own words • Pulling words from the internet • Spelling components of mammoth

reading programs—Too much stuff! Components: Phonemic awareness Phonics Sight words Grammar Vocabulary Spelling

Mistakes We Make Without Knowing It

Example # 3:

Single-Strategy Word Sorting and Hypothesis Testing

What does work?

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Let’s Use 5 Powerful Research-Based Word Study Strategies for Spelling

1. Practice the Pretest—Study—Posttest weekly cycle… Self-testing

2. Use a Self-Correction technique.

3. Ask yourself Why-Questions 4. Use a research-based Word

Study Technique

The Spelling Self-Test

Here’s the pretest strategy: 5-Step-Sequence

1.Hear-it

2.Say-it

3.Write-it

4.Read-it

5.Use-it

Give the Pretest

E.g.. Using the Flip Folder for Distributed Practice

Scaffold with Adult Underwriting connecting to reading.

Tooth Fairy One night I was in my bed and the Tooth Fairy came.

Write or Tape Underwriting Under the Child’s Piece

Have the child read the conventional piece over and over.

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What Word Study works for spelling?

• Teach Spelling Explicitly 15 minutes per day in a standalone curriculum—Explicit,

systematic, standalone spelling instruction is strongly supported by research.

Moats doesn’t shy away from explicit spelling instruction:

“As a general guide for covering the proposed content, about 15-20 minutes daily or 30 minutes three times per week should be allocated to spelling instruction. Application in writing should be varied and continual.” (Moats, 2005/2006, p. 42-43)

**This means you may not use every activity in every lesson…and that’s OK!!!

What Word Study works for spelling?

• A Leveled Curriculum--Teach the

Right Words at the Right Time—You need a grade-by-grade word list for continuity and consistency (with accommodations for individualization).

• Most state standards call for a Grade-by-Grade Spelling Curriculum.

What about Integrated Spelling?

In the classroom real integration takes place in the child’s brain all day long.

Look for ways to have students constantly retrieve, practice, apply, built upon, and expand the units words throughout the day in everyday reading, writing workshop, and reading and writing in the content areas.

Strategies for Spelling in Integrated Language Arts

• Engage the child’s brain with the words or patterns being taught in a weekly unit.

Whole Group Small Group Individual, Buddy or Team Work Self-testing games, self practice games, buddy or small group scavenger hunts, time saving practice, digital practice

Green Penning Words

You (the teacher) keep a green pen with you at all times.

If you spot a developmentally appropriate misspelled word in the child’s writing—green pen it:

1. Circle word in green

2. Write it correctly in green at the bottom of the page

3. Have child put the word in personal spelling journal.

4. Challenge the child to make this a “brain word.”

5. Limit to about 3 words per page.

6. Green pen 2 pages of each child’s writing every two weeks.

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Specific examples of the five best learning strategies implemented in

weekly units.

• The Five Best Learning Strategies : 1) self-testing, 2) self-

explanation, 3) elaborative interrogation, 4) distributed practice, and 5) interleaved practice.

1. Self-Testing

We Self-Test in every weekly unit (except review units).

1. Self-Testing. Self-testing or taking practice tests over to-be-learned material. E.g. Self-Testing is the Pretest in our Pretest/Study/Post Test Methodology

2. Self-Explanation

2. Self-Explanation. “HOW DO YOU KNOW?” Students explain “how” to spell a word as they ask themselves how does the spelling relate to what I already know?

“I KNOW…” Spelling Connections teaches a Spelling rule for Grade 3:

If a word ends in a consonant followed by y, the y changes to i to add any suffix except –ing: mystery, mysteries; carry, carried; hurry, hurrying. If a word ends in a vowel followed by y, the base word is unchanged: delay, delayed, delays, delaying (Gentry, 2016, Unit 32, page T20B).

3. Elaborative Interrogation

Elaborative Interrogation. Students ask themselves “WHY”?

• For example, third graders engage in elaborative interrogation when they learn both spellings and meanings of single-syllable homophones in a lesson on words such as roll and role, scent and cent, and great and grate. (Gentry, 2016, Unit 23, page T152A.)

4. Interleaved Practice 4. Interleaved Practice. Mix up the practice for long-term effects. • A Look-Say-See-Write-Check “Flip Folder” technique • Digital practice options for in school or home

practice • Meaningful workbook pages • Online spelling games • Word sorting options

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5. Distributed Practice

4. Distributed Practice.

Break up the practice into short sessions throughout the week

• 15 minutes per day (Moats, 2005/06).

• Students leave it and come back to it day after day—but only for a short time.

These 5 Best Learning Strategies foster independence and agency.

• Have the students do the work dispersed over a weekly unit of study.

• They take ownership of their own learning.

• Manage their own thinking.

The goal is to become agentive spellers by taking an active role in the learning.

Not just assigning and testing!

Showing kids HOW to spell!

Not simply giving lists of WHAT to spell.

Conventions: Capital Rap

GCW Level 2

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Here’s what supported by 21st century research (Grades 1 and 2):

Characteristics of Effective Spelling Instruction Randall R. Wallace, Ph.D. Missouri State University Reading Horizons, 2006, 46 (4) From examining the research, effective spelling instruction consists of: 1. Giving weekly spelling lists and administering weekly tests, as the

difficulty of the words is adjusted to the instructional level of the speller.

2. Administering words in a pretest-teach-posttest format with students self-correcting the tests as much as possible.

3. Including words originating from other subjects and from students' own reading and writing in conjunction with the commercially prepared word lists. (Recommended) 4. Keeping records, such as a log, that

notes misspelled words offers the student, parent, and teacher, a way to isolate and practice words that are personally difficult for a student to spell. 5. Teaching strategies and procedures that assist students

to learn new words.

Conventions: Movin’ To Edit!

GCW Level 1

Conventions: Movin’ To Edit!

my name is vickie

how old are you

I am six years old

my friends are sam tom and richard

the officer said stop

Conventions: Movin’ To Edit!

the officer said stop

The officer said,

“Stop!”

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Does handwriting matter?

Image from What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades NYTs By MARIA KONNIKOVA JUNE 2, 2014

Scaffold with Handwriting Instruction

Handwriting instruction for kindergarten and first-grade students:

• Adult modeling of letter formation

• Use of consistent visual and verbal cues

• Repeated practice with immediate adult feedback

• Peer modeling and support

• Self-evaluation

Scaffold with simplified letter-formation language.

Follow the Zaner-Bloser format, to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands”:

• Always start your letters at the top

• Always start your letters at the top

• When you write a letter, you’ll get better, better, better

• If you always start your letters at the top.

Scaffold with simplified letter-formation language.

b Tall down, circle around

c Half-circle around

d Circle around, tall down

What does the research say?

• “When we write, a unique neural circuit is automatically activated.”

• “There is a core recognition of the gesture in the written word, a sort of recognition by mental simulation in your brain.

• “And it seems that this circuit is contributing in unique ways (to reading circuitry) that we didn’t realize”.

• “Learning (to read) is made easier.” Stanislas Dehaene, renown psychologist at the Collège de France in Paris

What about older students?

Is handwriting still essential in the Keyboard Age?

Keyboarding versus Handwriting for Note Taking?

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What about older students?

Is handwriting still essential in the Keyboard Age?

YES!

Keyboarding versus Handwriting for Note Taking?

Handwriting!

We have spell checks! We don’t need to teach spelling!

Sum won tolled me eye wood knot knead too learn two spell. Computers dew it four us!

Dr. Virginia Berninger Brain scanning research professor of educational

psychology at the University of Washington

• “What we’re advocating is teaching children to be hybrid writers,” said Dr. Virginia Berninger, “manuscript first for reading — it transfers to better word recognition — then cursive for spelling and for composing. Then, starting in late elementary school, touch-typing.”

5 Ways to Bridge the Missing Link

1. Assure that all kindergarten and first grade teachers have been properly trained to teach beginning reading with emphasis on the student’s ability to read words quickly and accurately.

2. Replace debunked ineffective whole language practices with science-based practices such as early focus on word reading.

3. Teach handwriting (i.e., manuscript beginning in kindergarten and cursive beginning in grade 2 or 3).

4. Provide extra support for children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

5. Teach spelling with research-based methodology in a grade-by-grade curriculum.

Teach Brain Words

BIG IDEA!

Effective spelling instruction teaches children to read.

Spelling instruction not only activates reading circuitry but it also creates the neural pathways and cognitive “wiring” that lead to higher reading achievement.

In Plain Language: 5 Big FAQ’s About Dyslexia

5 Important Questions and Answers about Dyslexia

Let’s start with a little quiz. Let’s find out what you know and what you don’t know.

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In Plain Language: 5 Big FAQ’s About Dyslexia

“In 1969 is was a sophomore …”

5 Important Questions and Answers about Dyslexia

Let’s start with a little quiz. Let’s find out what you know and what you don’t know.

SURVEY

1) How many kids in your school are dyslexic?

A. 1 in 5

B. 2 in 100

2) Are more boys dyslexic than girls?

3) Does dyslexia run in families?

4) Which statement is true?

A. Many dyslexics end up in prison.

B. Many dyslexics are successful in life.

5) Can dyslexia be cured?

1. What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a biologically-based condition that makes it difficult for beginning readers to learn to read.

In laymen’s terms, the typical brain organization for reading and spelling does not function normally in dyslexic children even though they may be very smart.

Trouble learning to read and to spell

Dyslexia is brain-based but its cause has nothing to do with intelligence. Simply put, kids who are dyslexic have trouble learning to decode print and to spell.

Dyslexia is not a comprehension disorder; however, if one can’t read words, one can’t comprehend.

Dyslexic children can learn to read.

• They reorganize brain circuitry and accessing different regions than the normal reading brain.

• Dyslexic readers are known to be slower in reading rate.

• Many dyslexic children likely subvocalize or “say each word in their mind” rather than use a more direct route from seeing print to meaning.

• Dyslexic children likely can’t see words in their mind when they spell.

Dyslexia is the most common learning disability.

The manifestation of dyslexia can differ considerably across individuals.

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2. How common is dyslexia?

Nobody knows. Recent studies suggest that 1 in 5 people have neurologically-based processing difficulty for learning to read. Brain scientists are often saying about 10%.

Part of the difficulty in determining the incidence of dyslexia is that dyslexia manifests itself across a continuum: some cases are mild, others severe.

3. Does dyslexia run in families?

Yes. It has a genetic origin. It’s biologically and neurologically based so familial occurrence is not surprising.

If you are dyslexic, it’s likely that half of your brothers and sisters are too.

4. Are boys more likely to have dyslexia than girls?

Yes. Recent studies debunk a popular myth and report that dyslexia is just as common in girls as in boys.

5. Do dyslexics see words backwards?

Probably not—though they may write words or letters backwards when they attempt to spell them. The science on this issue is muddled.

Most recent studies associate dyslexia’s causal factors with early difficulties in letter-sound processing (phonological processing deficits) and not with a lack of visual abilities or dysfunction in visual processing. The visual anomalies with dyslexia may be a symptom, not a cause.

Classic Early Warning Signs

• Speech delay—Language isn’t occurring as it should. Receptive is language fine. Expressive language is delayed.

• Saying sounds in the wrong sequence—Odd pronunciations – P-sketetti, am-i-nal, em-iny, a-lu-ni-mum, (dyslexia), fus-trated

• Word retrieval

– Trouble finding the word they want to use—”You know, that thingy.”

• Trouble with rhyming words • Trouble with phonemic awareness • Trouble with invented spelling Adapted from Susan Barton https://bartonreading.com/the-barton-system-is/

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Classic Warning Signs—School Age Children

• Difficulty memorizing arbitrary sequences: days of the week, months of the year, • Spelling their own name • Learning their address • Learning their phone # • Learning names of the letters • Learning the sounds of the letters • Multiplication tables • How to tie shoes (Age 6 or 7 or later) • Issues with dominance—right handed or left handed

– Normal—4 years old – Dyslexic—7, 8, 9 years old – Dyslexic—mixed dominance

• Poor handwriting skills • Terrible spelling

Adapted from Susan Barton https://bartonreading.com/the-barton-system-is/

Adults and older kids with dyslexia:

• OK in school but struggle • Terrible spellers/hate spelling bees • Dread reading out loud • Written expression is often weak • Are slow readers • Can’t prove their intelligence on paper/poor test takers • Trouble with foreign languages (most colleges waiver) • Bad with sense of direction/trouble with left and

right/bad with driving directions/sense of directionally Adapted from Susan Barton https://bartonreading.com/the-barton-system-is/

What does dyslexia look like in writing?

First Grade Twins Monster Test Results

Word

Kaia

(No Symptoms)

Spelling & (Phase)

Anderson

(Symptoms of Dyslexia) Spelling

& (Phase)

1 monster monst (2) left out /r/ moostootr (3)*

2 united ynitid (4) unidid (4)

3 dress jres (4) jest (2) left out /r/

4 bottom botum (4) bootum (4)

5 hiked hicked (4) hicht (3)

6 human Hyomin (4) pwmim (2) left out /h/*

7 eagle egol (4) igl (3)*

8 closed closed ✔ codst (2) left out /l/

9 bumped bumed (2) left out /p/ but (2) left out /p/*

10 type tipe (4) tell (2) left out /ī/ and /p/*

Kaia

1 Correct

2 Phase 2

7 Phase 4

Anderson

5 Phase 2

3 Phase 3

2 Phase 4

* Red Flag Spellings for

Dyslexia

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• Christian

• Pate 1 and Pat 2 for page 1 and page 2

• Said spelled five different ways: correctly,

siad, sand, sad, siand

• Tinker four different ways:tinker,

tincer,tinkr, tinke

• Basic patterns misspelled: mate for mat, rop for rope

• High Frequency first grade words come out wrong: ca’nt for can’t

• Perfect is purfick, pursitk, and porfick

• A conglomeration of Phase1, Phase 2. Phase 3 and Phase 4 spelling

Fifth-Grade Disabled Speller

The for they, to for too, ben for

been,weighted for weighed, ribons for

ribbons, and stoped for stopped.

(All previously mastered for spelling test.)

He reads: “What project did you select?”

He writes: I SOLLECTED a steer. . .

How can schools help dyslexic children?

• Intervene early. • Teach phonics. • Teach spelling explicitly. Spelling ability is the

locomotive that powers the reading brain. • Teach writing. Begin teaching writing in preschool

and kindergarten. No copying from the board. • Teach handwriting. • Embrace repetition. • Don’t ever give up on children with dyslexia. • Recognize that dyslexia can be a gift.

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How can parents help dyslexic children?

1. Understand what dyslexic is.

2. See what help is available in school.

3. Get a tutor who understands dyslexia.

4. Find a school that understands your child’s strengths.

5. Recognize that your child is smart and not just lazy. Dyslexia is an inconvenience but many successful people overcome dyslexia.

What about dyslexia?

7 Ways to Accommodate Dyslexics in Regular

Classrooms J. Richard Gentry PhD

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/raising-readers-writers-and-spellers/201611/7-ways-accommodate-dyslexics-in-regular-classrooms

1. Dyslexic children are known to have difficulty with expressive language—trouble retrieving the right words, the tip of their tongue phenomenon, or difficulty organizing their thoughts in conversation. A teacher who understands the child’s situation will be patient and understanding and perhaps look for other ways of expression or alternatives for demonstrating competence.

2. Individuals with dyslexia can have difficulty organizing, managing their time, and following a teacher’s directions or difficulty filtering out background noise. Cutting back on classroom noise, reducing distractions, or seat placement closer to the teacher can help the student focus on instruction.

3. Dyslexic children often have difficulty with handwriting. Be an advocate for teaching handwriting in school. Dyslexics tend to spell better in cursive.

4. Use a research-based spelling curriculum as a dyslexic-specific intervention. Because poor spelling is often a telltale sign of dyslexia, monitoring each student’s spelling development is often the first strong indicator for early intervention or referral to a specialist for diagnosis.

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5. Expect to give dyslexic writers more help with proofreading for spelling. Avoid criticizing or counting off for spelling errors. Instead, offer extra support and teach them spelling consciousness—the habit of getting help to make sure that their spelling is corrected in important pieces of writing.

6. English spelling with its very difficult system of drawing spelling patterns from many different languages is always a challenge for dyslexics, but foreign languages are often a challenge, too. Many colleges and some high schools waive some of the foreign language requirements for dyslexic students. Dyslexics who wish to master foreign languages report total immersion, going to live in a foreign country, tutoring, and extended time for study as possible accommodations.

7. Dyslexic readers are known to have a slower reading rate. Teachers should be cognizant of at-risk dyslexic students’ slow reading rates when making in-class or heavy homework reading assignments. Enable students with slow reading rates to use books on tape or recordings. Dyslexics should get test-taking accommodations, such as extra time to take tests.

Advocate for all students who struggle with dyslexia.

• Treat any student who may be struggling to

acquire literacy skills with compassion rather than mistaking dyslexia as a sign of inferior intelligence or laziness.

• The classroom accommodations take into account that students with dyslexia also have strengths—some experts even suggest dyslexics are gifted and have special talents—such as thinking outside of the box and being creative, artistic, and athletic.

Dyslexia Specific Interventions

Dyslexia specific interventions are evidence-based, specialized spelling, reading, and writing,

instruction that is multisensory:

• Vision

• Hearing

• Touch

• Movement

Dyslexia Specific Interventions

Employ direct instruction:

• Cumulative in nature

• Grade by grade

• Begins in Kindergarten and Grade 1

• Meets the individual where he/she is

• Progresses from easier to harder tasks

• Systematically reviewed

• Integrated in the brain

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So what’s integrated in the brain?

Targeted instruction helps integrate the following:

• Building the child’s spoken language system

• Phonological awareness

• Decoding (including phonics)

• Encoding (a deeper level of phonics knowledge)

• Syllable structure, morphology, syntax, and semantics

Explicit Spelling Instruction includes all of the above.

THING kids look for in Teachers

by Noah Miller

5th Grade

1. Kids are treated equal regardless of RASE color RELEGON

2. Do a lot of hands on projects with kids

3. Can be seen CLERLY by every kid

4. PONISH only kid WHOS a problem—not whole class

5. Writing NANES on the board—Keep it down

6. Not known to PATTEL

THING kids look for in Teachers

by Noah Miller

5th Grade

7. Decorate room for HOLADAY—let kids help

8. Have a clock that everyone can see

9. Have a CALANDER of events and the date

10. DACORAT desk, walls, and even SELING

11. Not TO nice and not TO mean

12. Share THING with the class

THING kids look for in Teachers

by Noah Miller

5th Grade

13. Try not to have ASSAND seats

14. Be able to see EVERONE from desk

15. Keep extra paper and PENCELS HADEY

16. Try to WARE DIFRENT CLOTES every day

17. Keep ENCIKLOPITYS and DICTIORY HADEY

18. Try not to have SUBSTATUTES

THING kids look for in Teachers

by Noah Miller

5th Grade

19. Have a globe

20. Try not to give homework on Fridays

21. EXSPLANE THING UNTEL KID UNDRSTAND

22. Have A LOT of BOOKS to read

23. Have a plant in the room

24. Give little GEAFS on SPECAL HOLODAY

25. Try to have a small live ANAMAL like GERBEL or HERMET CHRAB

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Thank You! J. Richard Gentry, Ph.D.

Mobile, Alabama Email: Richard@JRichardGentry.com Website: JRichardGentry.com Connect with me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/J.Richard.Gentry

Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/RaiseReaders

Read my blog on PsychologyToday.com http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/raising-readers-writers-and-spellers