Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Anxiety overwhelms many children. On Monday Wilson has a school test; on Tuesday he needs to watch his young sister, Estella; on Wednesday he sees his mother crying about the cost the food; on Thursday another test; on Friday he hears the school will fire more teachers. And on Saturday, when he wants to go to the library, he’s told he can’t—it closed, forever. Joe has similar problems. So do Kelly, Ryan, and Emma. Tremendous uncertainty, tremendous responsibility, tremendous loss, tremendous anguish, tremendous anxiety.  Read more...

From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Experts who have long and assiduously studied their field, who know far more than you about their field, deserve your attention and respect, especially when they’re talking about your child. When they’re speaking, you should listen and, if necessary, ask for clarification to fully understand what they’re saying. But they don’t deserve your complete trust and obedience—they can be wrong. This includes us. Like all experts, we have trouble predicting the future; we’ve made mistakes.

Below are the mistakes a few other well-known experts have made:  Read more...

From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Last week, we discussed five evaluation and IEP traps that often harm children with reading disabilities. Today, we’ll discuss five more.

Agree or Disagree: It’s fair to ask a school to measure a child’s progress once or twice a year, but asking a school to objectively measure progress weekly is simply asking too much. It’s “overkill.”  Read more...

From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

A Guest Post by

Louis Pica, Jr., Ed.D., Child Psychologist

Note: Louis Pica, Jr. was an outstanding child psychologist who worked tirelessly to help children and youth with learning, emotional, cognitive, and attention difficulties. Because Lou was practical, humane, and highly structured, the children with whom he worked benefited greatly. Below are several of his tips for helping parents of children with attention difficulties to monitor their children’s learning and to motivate them to succeed. In addition to attention difficulties, these tips have proven effective for children with learning, emotional, cognitive difficulties. Of course, you may want to modify these so they reflect your child’s stage of development and his school and home situations. But reading these, and then discussing them with a psychologist, learning consultant, or teacher, may be a good place to start. Thanks Lou. – Howard Margolis  Read more...

From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

If your child has a reading disability, the school should monitor his progress frequently enough to prevent minor problems from becoming major ones, to prevent him from getting frustrated with work that’s too difficult, to prevent him from becoming bored with work he’s already mastered, to accelerate instruction when the data shows he can handle it comfortably.

In 2006, the federally-funded National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (NRCLD; Johnson et al.) recommended that schools assess the progress of students who need “extensive and intensive interventions” twice weekly (p. 2.4). Children with reading disabilities are part of this group.  Read more...

Many parents of children with reading disabilities (and some advocates and attorneys) insist that the Wilson Reading System (Wilson) is the only reading method that can help their child learn to read. They claim it’s the scientifically proven method for overcoming dyslexia and other reading disabilities, and thus the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) supports it.

They’re wrong. And if they take this argument to court, and the school’s experts are well-versed in the research, the school has valid reasons for prefering its methodology, the IEP’s goals and objectives and services are sound,  and the hearing officer or judge believes, like most do, that courts should not overturn a school’s decision about methodology, the parents will likely lose.  Read more...

Here are 15 guidelines that can strengthen the effectiveness of your advocacy.

1. Have your child evaluated by experts who can identify your child’s needs.

2. Make sure you understand his needs before you meet with school personnel to discuss his needs and possible interventions.

3. Make specific requests (in writing) for meeting his needs; support your requests with reports from well-credentialed experts, experts whom the school respects.

4. Treat people with respect, even if you disagree with them, even if they reject your requests.  Read more...

A critical component of beginning reading and word recognition is your child’s ability to isolate, identify, and manipulate or apply sounds that he hears within words. When kindergartners and first graders listen for, identify, and manipulate large or small units of sounds within words, like the sounds of syllables or individual letters, it’s called phonological awareness. When they do this with only the smallest meaningful sounds, sounds that distinguish between words, like the /b/ sound in bat and the /c/ sound in cat, it’s called phonemic awareness.  Read more...

Often, no.

With enthusiasm, dedication, and genuine tears of gratitude, many parents advocate for particular reading programs, programs they claim cured their child’s dyslexia. They’re joined by many teachers and private reading consultants. These proponents—genuine in their beliefs and unbridled enthusiasm for particular programs—ignore these possibilities:  Read more...

• Good teaching, rather than the particular program, was responsible.
• The placebo effect was operating, as it often does. A sugar pill can sometimes be as effective as a brand name pill costing $100.
• The program works for some children, but only for a few.
• Other programs would have worked as well, or better.

Shortly after meeting me, parents often ask, “What program and services does my child need to overcome his reading disabilities?” They’re surprised when I say, “I don’t know enough about your child and his problems. Tell me more. Exactly what problems does he have?  With what components of reading does he struggle? What can’t he do?” My response often surprises and disappoints them. Here’s my explanation.

A Reading Evaluation Needs to Pinpoint the Problem: The Five Areas of Reading

To be effective, programs that aim to improve the reading of children with reading disabilities need to focus on the child’s specific difficulties. Identifying those difficulties requires an evaluation from a reading specialist.  Read more...