Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

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

Reading materials alone can’t ensure high quality reading instruction. Such instruction requires teachers to consistently use sound instructional practices. To assess this, you might discuss your child’s program with his teachers, observe his classes, or have a private reading specialist do both as part of a reading evaluation.

For the moment, let’s assume you hire a reading specialist. Before the specialist discusses your child’s program with his teachers, the two of you should agree on the questions you want answered. Dozens of such questions are listed in Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds. Here are a few:  Read more...

What you want from and ask an evaluator depends on her specific discipline. It addition to reading and special education evaluations, children with reading disabilities may need evaluations from applied behavior analysis specialists, clinical psychologists, neurologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, psychiatrists, school psychologists, social workers, and speech and language therapists. The list can be long, seemingly too long. It might also include allergists, art therapists, music therapists, and nutritionists. Of course, your child should be evaluated only in areas that might be causing him academic, social, emotional, or health problems. By itself, too many evaluations can create problems.  Read more...

A recent blog posting said that writing difficulties may be more common than reading difficulties (http://tln.typepad.com/middleweb/2009/05/writtenlanguage-disorder.html#comments). I agree. Here is my response.  Read more...

Children who struggle with reading typically struggle with writing. Even if their reading improves, their writing often doesn’t.

A common reason for their continued difficulty is the failure of their schools to adequately diagnose their writing problems. Instead, their schools limit diagnosis to grade equivalents from standardized tests — “Sawyer’s grade equivalent for writing was 2.9; he’s three years behind.” This statement fails to identify the current causes of Sawyer’s problems. It fails to tell his teachers and parents what he isn’t doing or can’t do that’s causing his writing problems. In all likelihood, instruction that’s built on an inadequate understanding of Sawyer’s problems will be inadequate. It will likely ignore or give short shrift to those parts of the writing process that should be stressed for Sawyer.  Read more...

Nothing can ensure that your child’s IEP meeting will be productive. However, you can increase the odds that it will be. Here’s one way. Before the meeting, meet with your child’s case manager and agree on how the meeting should be organized. You have a right to do this as you’re an important member of the IEP Team.

Fortunately, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA-2004) and the format of the IEP offer an excellent sequence for developing the IEP. Unfortunately, the sequence is often ignored and critical parts of the IEP are given the short shrift.  Read more...

Unfortunately, many children with reading disabilities feel hopeless and helpless about learning to read; they believe it’s better to give up than to try and to fail. Fortunately, schools and parents can do many things to change your child’s belief that he’s incompetent and that he’ll never learn to read.  Only by getting your child to believe he can learn if he makes a moderate effort will he begin to work at becoming a competent reader.  Read more...

It’s critical that your son get daily instruction in how to write. As Leif Fearn and Nancy Farnan said, struggling writers write better when they know more about how.

For struggling writers to become good writers requires instruction that the writers view as important, enjoyable, and practical. They need teachers who focus on the writers’ progress and show them exactly how they can improve their sentences, paragraphs, and the overall structure of their writing, all without overwhelming them. These teachers need to take the mystery out of writing by showing them that good writing is a structured, step-by-step process, like building a house.

The federal law governing special education is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004. Its regulations make clear that the IEP Team must seriously consider your concerns. The regulations say:

In developing each child’s IEP, the IEP Team must consider …  the concerns of the parents for enhancing the education of their child.

One way to ensure that the IEP Team seriously considers your concerns is to send it a list of your concerns — before your child’s IEP meeting. Below is an example.

EXAMPLE

March 1, 2009  Read more...

No.

The reading goals of struggling readers should emphasize only what they must learn to make meaningful, important progress. Having only a few important reading goals that must be emphasized during reading and related instruction increases the odds that teachers will devote an adequate amount of instructional time to overcoming the struggling reader’s specific reading difficulties. Too many goals lead to diluted, unfocused instruction.  Read more...

I’m often asked, how do you prepare for IEP meetings? One way is to write down the questions that need answers in order to develop an appropriate IEP — one likely to produce important progress in important areas.

When writing the questions, make sure they’re both specific and answerable. Below are sample questions for David Enigma, a mythical child with reading disabilities and other disabilities. Although incomplete, the list should give you an idea of what your questions should look like.  Read more...