From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
In our book, Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds, we emphasize the importance of getting the proper evaluations and maximizing their effectiveness by requesting specific information. Below is an example of a request for a neuropsychological evaluation. The basic concepts can be adapted to virtually any educational evaluation. For reading evaluations, chapters 4 and 5 of Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds provide dozens of requests in the form of critical questions.
The Letter Read more...
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From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
In an enormously insightful book for teachers, school psychologists, and reading specialists, Jack M. Fletcher and his colleagues (2007) have identified 10 principles of instruction for students with learning disabilities (LD). These principles hold for any student who, despite quality instruction in general education classes, struggles with reading, writing, or mathematics. They can be enormously helpful for parents who want to increase the odds that their child’s IEP or remedial program remediates his problems. Here are three of the principles:
- Increase time on task. Interventions for students with LDs should supplement instructional opportunities, not supplant them. (p. 272)
Dyslexia, dyslexic, dyslexics, instruction, intervention, Learning Disabilities, learning disability, Parenting, principles of instruction, reading diagnosis, Reading Disabilities, reading disability, reading evaluation, reading intervention, reading problem, reading problems, reading remediation, struggling reader, Struggling Readers
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
It’s September. Your child is starting to struggle with reading. How long should you wait to get help? Should you wait until November, December, January? After all, his teacher needs a chance to help him. Will it pass if you just show patience and encourage him to do better?
Our Response
Usually, it won’t pass, so don’t wait. Make a formal request to the school to evaluate his reading and related needs and to provide whatever services he needs to become a successful reader. A good evaluation, supported by quality resources, should help your child and his teacher. Read more...
Dyslexia, dyslexic, dyslexics, intervention, Learning Disabilities, learning disability, Parenting, reading diagnosis, Reading Disabilities, reading disability, reading evaluation, reading intervention, reading problem, reading problems, reading remediation, struggling reader, Struggling Readers
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Finally, The Perfect Reading Test!!!!!
Is it perfect?
No.
No test is perfect, and test scores, without proper interpretation and without corroborating information, can damage children. Inaccurate scores can easily lead to a reading program, a class placement, or an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that backfires.
To better understand test scores and help ensure that your child’s reading program is effective, read and save these quotes from a test manual I reviewed for the University of Nebraska’s Seventeenth Mental Measurements Yearbook. Read more...
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From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Quote 1: “The gap between proficient and less proficient readers widens over the elementary years and remediation of reading problems becomes increasingly difficult after third grade. Moreover, the long-term negative effects of illiteracy have been well documented.” (Al Otaiba & Fuchs, 2006). Read more...
Dyslexia, dyslexic, dyslexics, Learning Disabilities, learning disability, Parenting, reading assessment, Reading Disabilities, reading disability, reading evaluation, reading problem, reading problems, reading specialist, reading tests, strengthening resiliency, struggling reader, Struggling Readers, testing
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
“In this era of increased testing and expanding high stakes accountability systems, we need to remember the purpose for assessment. We want our schools to improve, and for this to happen, we have to do better at helping kids learn. Some of the tests teachers administer cannot help them much in this effort. Standardized measures (like those administered by states) and the outcome measures required under the No Child Left Behind law fall into this category. They are designed more to measure student achievement levels than to guide classroom instruction” (Santi, York, Foorman, & Francis, 2010, p. 1). Read more...
diagnosis, Dyslexia, dyslexic, dyslexics, high-stakes tests, Learning Disabilities, learning disability, reading diagnosis, Reading Disabilities, reading disability, reading evaluation, reading problem, reading problems, standardized testing, standardized tests, struggling reader, Struggling Readers, test, test scores, tests
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
For your child to succeed in middle and high school, he needs to become a proficient reader by the end of third grade. If not, his reading problems will likely persist through high school, causing other academic problems and increasing the likelihood of social and emotional problems; in adulthood, struggles with reading will diminish his chance of getting and holding a decent job. As the Annie E. Casey Foundation so clearly states: Read more...
Dyslexia, dyslexic, dyslexics, evaluation, intervention, Learning Disabilities, learning disability, Parenting, preventing reading disabilities, Reading Disabilities, reading disability, reading evaluation, reading intervention, Reading Materials, reading problem, reading problems, reading remediation, remedial reading, remediation, resilience, Resiliency, strengthening resiliency, struggling reader, Struggling Readers
Struggling Writers: How to Improve Their Writing
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities
A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis
Very often, writing is taught to struggling writers in very haphazard and unscientific ways. Such instruction produces very little progress and often promotes student beliefs that for them writing is too difficult and will always be a struggle.
Fortunately, however, writing can be taught in systematic and scientifically-supported ways that promote progress and student beliefs that they can succeed. One such systematic and scientifically-supported method is Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD). SRSD removes the mystery of how to write. It shows students the steps they need to practice to succeed. Read more...
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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. Read more...
diagnosis of writing problems, Dyslexia, dyslexic, dyslexics, frustration, frustration level, IEP, independent level, instructional level, intervention, Learning Disabilities, learning disability, monitoring of reading, parents, Reading Disabilities, reading disability, reading evaluation, reading intervention, reading levels, Reading Materials, reading problem, reading problems, reading remediation, reading tests, remedial reading, remediation, struggling reader, Struggling Readers, struggling writer, struggling writers, test, testing, tests, Writing, writing assignment, writing assignments, writing diagnosis, writing evaluation, writing problems
From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities, A Blog by
Dr. Gary G. Brannigan & Dr. Howard Margolis
Parents and school personnel often make a critical mistake. They assume that instruction and related factors do little or nothing to cause or sustain reading disabilities, that all reading problems lie within the struggling reader. Thus, reading and other educational evaluations that reflect this assumption stress five things: testing, testing, testing, testing, and testing. They minimize or ignore everything else. Read more...
Dyslexia, dyslexic, dyslexics, evaluation, evaluations, learning assessment, Learning Disabilities, learning disability, learning evaluation, reading assessment, Reading Disabilities, reading disability, reading evaluation, reading problem, reading problems, struggling reader, Struggling Readers, test, testing
