articles

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month

β€œTo learn to read is to light a fire” – Victor Hugo

By Teresa Lyons, M.Ed., BCBA, LBA, Owner of Fit Learning Salem October 2, 2018

Can you imagine picking up a book and encountering text that is so difficult to read that not many words make sense? And yet all of the other kids around you are giggling as they read, answering the teacher's questions, and seemingly enjoying a story that just makes no sense to you?  This is the plight of 5-10%, and some sources say 17%, of our world’s population that have been or may be identified with dyslexia.  

As an educator with several family members who have been diagnosed with reading disabilities, I am all too familiar with the struggles that many learners encounter with reading text. I have also heard, way too many times to count, comments such as “I can’t do this,” “I am stupid,” “My brain is broken” amongst many other comments of defeat and pain. It has been the goal of my educational career to turn those “I can’t do” statements into “I can do” and “I love to” statements. Over the last several years, I have had the wonderful opportunity to bring the best that learning science has to offer to many individuals struggling with their reading in the Roanoke Valley as well as to members of my own family.  

So let's talk about dyslexia and what can be done to turn things around for our learners who are faced with challenges in reading. What is dyslexia?  

The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity defines dyslexia as “an unexpected difficulty in reading in an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader.  While people with dyslexia are slow readers, they often, paradoxically, are very fast and creative thinkers with strong reasoning abilities.”  

Individuals with dyslexia demonstrate reading weaknesses at the phonological level. This is characterized by trouble with: the sounds of letters; decoding of words; knowledge of the phonetic code such as the long versus short vowel rule or when c should make a hard “k” sound as in cat versus a soft sound “s” as in city; auditory analysis; spelling; as well as in the reading of text.  A strong foundation in the phonetic code is necessary to becoming a fluent reader.    

Fluent reading involves accuracy, speed and prosody. 

“Accuracy involves reading words correctly. Students who have excessive miscues when they read do not read with accuracy. Those who read with automaticity recognize words automatically, without having to decode or process them. Proficiency in accuracy and automaticity leads to an increased reading rate, but speed alone does not encompass fluency in its entirety. A third factor of fluency is prosody. Prosodic reading includes the use of intonation, phrasing, and expression while reading. When reading orally, prosody provides a clue to the reader’s comprehension of text. So, a fluent reader reads with accuracy, automaticity, and prosody.”(Allington, 2006; Hudson, Lane & Pullen, 2005; National Reading Panel, 2000; Rasinski, et al., 2005; Rasinski, 2006)   

A learner who is fluent – accurate and quick – on the basic skills of reading can demonstrate these same skills in more and more complex learning tasks.  Without a strong foundation, however, the child will struggle with grade level content.  


So how can families begin addressing some of the reading challenges that their children are facing?  

To start with, families need to ensure that their children are receiving highly individualized and intensive instruction that explicitly and systematically teaches them the phonetic code through a well-designed and sequential curriculum.  One place to start with accessing services for a child is at their home school.  Parents should speak with the school administrator of their child’s home school about how to access the services of an educator who is highly qualified to provide evidence-based reading interventions.  

 On July 1, 2017, a Virginia law went into effect requiring each local school board to ensure that at least one reading specialist employed within their division serves as a “dyslexia advisor” to the division. This person is required to “have training in the identification of and the appropriate interventions, accommodations, and teaching techniques for students with dyslexia or a related disorder and shall serve as an advisor on dyslexia and related disorders.”  With this same law, every individual seeking initial licensure or renewal of a license in Virginia is required to complete awareness training on dyslexia.  The “dyslexia adviser” role is to support students and educators in the school division that are identified with dyslexia or a related disorder.

If the child has not yet been identified as having a disability, the school will need to start the Child Find process.  This is a process whereby division personnel will test the child’s cognitive and academic skills to determine if there is a need for supports and services.  It is vitally important for parents to know that their child does not have to be failing in order to make a request for testing.  Consistently failing classes is typically a good indicator that a student may need more supports and services.  However, some students may actually be receiving passing grades and yet demonstrate significant challenges on reading tasks.  Parents know their children well and are an essential part of the identification process.  

Many school divisions may offer a model of intervention called Response to Intervention also known as RTi. RTi is a model of intervention that provides the child with general reading supports in a smaller group with instruction typically being delivered by the general education teacher.  While RTi plays a very important role in providing additional reading supports to all learners, it is not a replacement for specialized reading services that will be identified through a rigorous testing process.  RTi can and should be provided while the child is going through the testing process.  

Next, parents can provide enriching reading activities for their child in the home.   In the article titled “Ten Things to Help Your Struggling Reader” by Joshua Jenkins the author identifies many important things parents can do to in support of their child: 

  • Notice your child’s strengths; 
  • Celebrate every success; 
  • Be honest with yourself and set realistic goals; 
  • Read aloud to your child – It’s fun and helpful; and many more.  

It is very important to keep your child engaged in reading through activities such as reading together on high interest books, playing rhyming games, or building vocabulary through games such as “20 questions.”

Lastly, parents may need to seek help from additional service providers in the community.  No matter which service provider a family chooses to use, parents need to ensure that the program: employs the best practices that the learning sciences have to offer; that the program provides the parent with ongoing (daily) data about the progress of their child as they move through the curriculum; that the program views the instructional environment as the key to learning gains - the problem is not the child but rather the problem rooted in how instruction is delivered, measured, and counted; and that the program does not employ a one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter approach but rather individualizes the students program to the exact learning needs of the child.  


Remember, that all children can learn to read.  For some children, it may require just a little bit more work.  The starting point is to identify the needs and to allow a team of highly qualified educators to come around you and your child to provide them with a program that individually and intensively addresses their needs.




If you would like to learn more about how to address the reading or other learning needs of your child, send Teresa an email at teresalyons@fitlearningsalem.com or give her a call at 540-404-3765.  

Teresa Lyons is the owner of Fit Learning Salem, a learning lab providing individualized and intensive instruction that produces 1-2 years of academic gains in 40 hours of instruction.  Teresa is a licensed educator and Board Certified Behavior Analyst in Virginia who provides instructional services to learners from preschool to adulthood in the areas of reading, mathematics, vocabulary, reading comprehension and penmanship.  

Fit Learning Salem serves all types of learners – from those struggling to keep up in school to those with an identified disability.  

Visit the Fit Learning Salem website here.