Reading Resouces

October is National Dyslexia Awareness Month

1 in 10 People Have Symptoms of Dyslexia

Know the Warning Signs and Next Steps

From the Experts at the International Dyslexia Association

BALTIMORE, August 7, 2014 – Did you know that 1 in 10 people have symptoms of dyslexia, including slow or inaccurate reading, poor spelling, poor writing or mixing up similar words? Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability and contrary to some beliefs, it is not due to either lack of intelligence or a desire to learn.

Despite federal and state laws guaranteeing that public schools must provide a “free and appropriate” education to ALL students, it simply doesn’t happen for most children with dyslexia. The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is changing this by better informing parents and ensuring that teachers across the country are trained in a structured literacy approach. With a structured literacy approach, individuals with dyslexia can and do learn successfully.

Structured Literacy describes highly organized, carefully sequenced and cumulative instruction of the basic language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students systematically and explicitly learn the structure and use of sounds, syllables, words, sentences, and written discourse.

KNOW the FACTS

In honor of National Dyslexia Awareness Month in October, IDA would like to set the record straight about dyslexia and let families know that help is available at www.interdys.org .

Dyslexia occurs in people of all backgrounds and intellectual levels. People who are very bright can have dyslexia. They are more often capable or even gifted in areas that do not require strong language skills, such as art, computer science, design, drama, electronics, math, mechanics, music, physics, sales and sports.

Dyslexia is not simply “reading backwards.” Some of the warning signs associated with dyslexia include:

Difficulty learning to speak
Trouble learning letters and their sounds
Difficulty organizing written and spoken language
Trouble memorizing number facts
Difficulty reading quickly enough to comprehend
Trouble persisting with and comprehending longer reading assignments
Difficulty spelling
Trouble learning a foreign language
Difficulty correctly doing math operations

Parents who suspect that their child might be exhibiting signs of dyslexia or another language-based learning difference are encouraged to take action as soon as they suspect a problem. The earlier a child receives intervention the sooner he or she can get on the path to successful learning.

What to do if your child is exhibiting signs of dyslexia:

Contact your child’s teacher, head of school, guidance counselor or pediatrician and express your concerns.
Request a formal evaluation of your child by a professional or request a referral for testing to confirm a diagnosis of dyslexia or another language-based learning difference.
Visit the International Dyslexia Association’s website www.interdys.org for an online screener, fact sheets and helpful resources for parents.
Be an advocate for your child. If your child is diagnosed as having dyslexia, fight for proper accommodations in his or her current school or look into specialized schools or tutors. Information and resources can be found at www.interdys.org .
Keep a positive attitude. A diagnosis of dyslexia or another learning difference is not the end of the world. Children with dyslexia are bright, capable and able to go on to college and successful careers. If your child has dyslexia it simply means that he or she learns differently. Many top CEOs, scientists, artists and entrepreneurs have dyslexia.

Not all students who have difficulties with these skills have dyslexia. Formal testing of reading, language, and writing skills is the only way to confirm a diagnosis of suspected dyslexia.

EXPERTS AVAILABLE: The IDA’s world renowned experts in the fields of education, science, medicine and advocacy are available to discuss dyslexia warning signs, prevalence, treatment options, scientific advances and other issues related to dyslexia, and we can easily arrange to have families available throughout the United States to speak about their own struggles with dyslexia.

About the International Dyslexia Association:

The International Dyslexia Association is a non-profit, scientific, and educational organization dedicated to the study and treatment of dyslexia as well as related language-based learning disabilities. The IDA operates 42 branches throughout the United States and Canada and has global partners in 20 countries, including Australia, Brazil, England, Germany, Ireland and Japan.

THE BIG 5 IDEAS

There are 5 Big Ideas in Beginning Reading:

Phonemic Awareness : The ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken words
Alphabetic Principle : The ability to associate sounds with letters and use these sounds to form words
Fluency with Text: The effortless, automatic ability to read words in connected text
Vocabulary : The ability to understand (receptive) and use (expressive) words to acquire and convey meaning
Comprehension : The complex cognitive process involving the intentional interaction between reader and text to convey meaning

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READING TERMINOLOGY

Source: National Institute for Literacy's A Child Becomes a Reader (http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/reading_pre.pdf )

alphabetic knowledge - Knowing the names and shapes of the letters of the alphabet
alphabetic principle - The understanding that written letters represent sounds, for example, the word big has three sounds and three letters
big books - Oversized books that allow for the sharing of print and illustrations with a group of children
blending - Putting together individual sounds to make spoken words
comprehension -The ability to understand and gain meaning from what has been read
decodable books - Books that are made up of words that contain only the letter-sound relationships that the children are learning, along with a few words that are taught as sight words
decode - The ability to recognize and read words by translating the letters into speech sounds to determine the word's pronunciation and meaning
developmental spelling -The use of letter-sound relationship information to attempt to write words
emergent literacy -The view that literacy learning begins at birth and is encouraged through participation with adults in meaningful reading and writing activities
environmental print - Print that is part of everyday life, such as signs, billboards, labels, and business logos
experimental writing - Efforts by young children to experiment with writing by creating pretend and real letters and by organizing scribbles and marks on paper
explicit instruction - Direct, structured, systematic teaching of a task
fluency - The ability to read text accurately and quickly with expression (Treasures/DRA)
graphic organizers - Diagrams that visually represent the organization and relationships of ideas in a text
invented spelling - The use of letter-sound relationship information to attempt to write words(working with words)
irregular words - Frequently used words that don't follow the letter-sound relationship rules that children are learning
leveled books - Books that have been assigned a particular level (DRA Assessment Correlation is by a number and a letter) intended to indicate how difficult the book is for children to read
literacy - Includes all the activities involved in speaking, listening, reading, writing, and appreciating both spoken and written language

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Reading A-Z

Reading A-Z offers thousands of professionally developed downloadable books (including English, Spanish, and French versions) and quality teaching and learning materials. Reading A-Z is designed to provide supplementary materials from early emergent through fluency. In addition to the K-6 market, Reading A-Z materials have found widespread use at a range of grade levels in special education and special needs, remedial reading, ESL and ELL, and foreign language.

Reading A–Z is a great addition to the reading program. It has wonderful fiction and non-fiction selections, worksheets, benchmark books for each level, and comprehension quizzes. It is important that children have a reason to read, and the activities for each book are making the students realize that we do have to go back to the text for deeper understanding of what we read.

Reading A-Z.com offers:

You can click on any section to find out more!

Choosing Good Books

Here are some tips for helping your first or second grader choose books that are just right…

Choose books that appeal to your child’s interests

Look for book at there reading level (DRA leveled letter that is assigned to the student) * see chart

Kids LOVE “how-to” books

Find text that is clear to read

Encourage them to read more about their favorite character or from favorite authors

Beginning readers love to read stories that they heard when they were younger (think fairy tales)

Fun, colorful illustrations are always inviting to beginning readers

RULE OF FIVE

At school, we help students to select “just right” books, meaning books that they should be able to read on their own or with minimal help. We ask them to read the first page or two and keep track on their fingers how many words they miss. If they are missing FIVE or more words, then this book might be better for a read aloud with someone and we might try to find an easier level for reading on their own.

Phonetic Sounds

Click on the following links to hear and learn: vowels, diagraphs, tricky vowel pairs and word families!

ABC sounds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dNI74FZ6Vc

VOWELS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJCmlB3Xk_U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqizfmO_D_A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8s1y3lFVO4

CVC words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIrn7DLuIzs

Sight Words

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL2bgTBlK2cLRGZxZou4hy-BObypfH9KJW&v=jb2g_RijEW8&feature=player_embedded