From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
A Guest Post by
Barbara J. Morvay, MA
Retired Superintendent, Atlantic County (NJ) Special Services School District & Author of My Brother is Different
Since grief is usually associated with death, why do I mention it here?
Because many parents who have a child with disabilities grieve, especially when their child is young.
From Reading and Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan & Dr. Howard Margolis
Parents of struggling writers worry about their children’s struggle. They want to know, “How can I help my child?”
If your child struggles with writing, this post might help you and your child’s school identify the type of writing instruction your child needs. It will do this by first discussing critical but often ignored areas of diagnosis, then discussing a typical but inadequate diagnostic process that can do more harm than good, and finally suggesting actions you can take. A follow-up post will outline one effective, well-researched method for helping struggling writers improve their writing: Self-Regulated Strategy Development.
Why Can’t We Be Friends?
Guest Post by Kathryn Burke
Executive Director
Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta
Alberta, Canada
Some memories are so vivid it almost seems like a DVD is being played in your brain when they are being recalled. The memory I want to share is like that for me – so vivid I am still able to recall everything from the smell of the room to the buzz of the fluorescent lights.
Here are 15 guidelines that can strengthen the effectiveness of your advocacy.
Have your child evaluated by experts who can identify your child’s needs.
Make sure you understand his needs before you meet with school personnel to discuss his needs and possible interventions.
Make specific requests (in writing) for meeting his needs; support your requests with reports from well-credentialed experts, experts whom the school respects.
Treat people with respect, even if you disagree with them, even if they reject your requests.
Hello Everyone,
By now you’ve probably read many of our posts. If you think that our blog can help people you know, please share this press release with them. It’s one way that Gary Brannigan and I can help parents and teachers help children with reading disabilities beat the odds.
Many thanks,
Howard Margolis
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Helping Children Overcome a Devastating Disability: Reading Disabilities
One in four children struggle to read. Many read so poorly that by ninth grade they’ve been held back one or more times. In despair or anger, many quit school.
In a valuable new book, Virginia W. Berninger and Beverly Wolf challenge the often heard but simplistic charge made against children with learning disabilities: They’re just not motivated. This, Berninger and Wolf argue, is often false:
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.
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.
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.
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.
