Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

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

My child has a reading disability. Can the school strengthen his memory? Often, yes.

But often schools intensify the memory problems of children with reading disabilities by not scheduling instruction to improve memory. Effective scheduling would repeat instruction a day to a week later and then a month or so later. It would give struggling readers feedback about what they learned, what they did right, and how they could improve their performance. It would focus on the big ideas, the most important concepts and skills, those with the power to unlock and strengthen future learning. Often, such repeated practice and feedback, called spaced practice or distributed practice, is critical for helping struggling readers remember what was taught. Unfortunately, schools often teach struggling readers something on Tuesday and then ignore it, assuming they will remember and apply it. Too often, they don’t.

Schools also aggravate the memory problems of children with reading disabilities by ignoring the problems: They don’t systematically teach these children how to remember. Yes, how to remember. By explicitly and repeatedly teaching them how to apply memory strategies, called mnemonics, to what’s taught, teachers can help them improve their memory. Notice the italicized phrase explicitly and repeatedly: This means that teachers must go beyond explaining the strategies; they must give readers repeated practice, feedback, and reinforcement. It is not a one shot deal. For instruction to succeed, teachers must weave memory instruction into just about every lesson and subject: reading, health, science, mathematics, social studies, language arts. Teachers need to keep stressing and reinforcing these strategies until the children easily and effectively use them whenever they’re needed.

If, however, your child’s teachers ignore memory instruction and he has trouble remembering, you may have to get a tutor, a mentor, a “big brother,” or another knowledgeable adult to do so. In general, we prefer that parents not teach their children with reading disabilities how to read or use memory strategies. Our reason is simple: It often produces little learning, but lots of conflict and resentment.

If your child is eligible for special education and he has memory problems, we strongly suggest that you:

• Make sure the Present Levels of Performance section of his Individualized Education Program (IEP) fully and accurately describes his memory problems. If teacher statements and test results are available, include them. If test results are unavailable, you may want to request a full evaluation of his memory, including short-term memory, working memory, long-tem memory, and the strategies he uses to retrieve information. .
• Make sure his IEP includes explicit, measureable goals for mastering and applying specific memory strategies. Here’s an example: Liam will explain and will demonstrate how to successfully apply three memory strategies—elaboration, acronyms, the keyword method—to his social studies textbook.
• If you live in a state that requires IEPs to have objectives, make sure his IEP includes explicit, measureable objectives like this: Liam will explain and will demonstrate how to successfully apply the Keyword Method to define from memory new words his teacher selects from his social studies textbook. Liam will do this with three new words on three successive occasions by the end of the first marking period
• Request a schedule of classes that has at least two combined periods a week for reviewing the most important concepts and skills, assessing progress, and offering feedback. The periods should be separated by a day or more.
• Request that these periods cover materials that have been taught over the last week or so and over the last two or so months. This is sometimes referred to as cumulative review.
• Make sure that his IEP provides you with parent training on how and when to use the memory strategies the school will teach him. This will avoid confusion and will help you to reinforce the school’s strategies. Keep in mind, however, that helping is not the same as having primary teaching responsibility—that’s the school’s responsibility.
• Request that the school provide training in memory strategies to any of your child’s teachers unfamiliar with them. Teacher training is supported by IDEA-2004 if it’s needed for your child to achieve his goals and objectives. The good news is that teachers often like training in memory strategies as they’re fun to learn, are highly effective for many students, even students not in special education, and are fun to teach.
• Make sure that his IEP specifies how the school will measure his progress in understanding and applying mnemonics. Here, the IEP’s goals and objectives are key: If they’re relevant and explicit, the data they produce should have the relevance and explicitness needed to guide instruction.
• Make sure that his IEP specifies how often the school will inform you of his progress in understanding and applying mnemonics. Generally, once every four to six weeks is sufficient for identifying problems and making program adjustments.

Not all children with reading disabilities are eligible for special education or extra services. If your child isn’t, you might adapt these suggestions to the situation. Keep in mind, however, that you may have little if any legal leverage. Instead, your leverage comes from your relationship with the school’s administrators and your child’s teachers, the respect you show them, the logic of your argument, their concern for your child, and their knowledge and professionalism.

In upcoming posts, I’ll describe memory strategies that can help strengthen the memory of children with reading disabilities: Imagery, Acronyms, The Keyword Method, and the Loci Method. I’ll also discuss critical factors in improving memory: Rehearsal, Elaboration, Meaning, Organization, and Spaced Practice. To help you remember this, remember the acronym REMOS. I’ll even tell you why VIP doesn’t always mean Very Important Person. When strengthening memory, it means Verbal elaboration, visual Imagery, Physical activity.

Howard Margolis, Ed.D. © Reading2008 & Beyond     www.reading2008.com