Every Child Achieving: The ABCs of Addressing the Educational Needs of Children with Learning Disabilities

1. Every Child Achieving:The ABCs of Addressing the Educational Needs of Children with Learning Disabilities Nancy Hennessy M.Ed. nhennessy@charter.net ORBIDA Feb. 24, 2007

2. Knowledge rich vs. knowledge poor instructionalenvironments in which informed vs. uninformed professional judgmentsguide teaching learning process in reading instruction.How do we get there?

3. By understanding …………… • Dyslexia • Science of Reading • Connection between the Structure of Language and the Science of Reading • Need for Continuum of Learning Opportunities • Remediation to accommodation……….

4. Learning disabilities can affect a person's ability in the areas of: dyslexia • Listening • Speaking • Reading • Writing • Mathematics dyscalculia dyspraxia dysgraphia

5. Masks of Learning Disabilities • Super competence • Contempt • Victim • Perfection • Helplessness • Outrageousness • Good Samaritan • Clown • Bad behavior • Invisibility • Not caring The Masks Students Wear, Sally Smith

6. Statistics • 60-80% of students with an identified specific learning disability have that disability in the area of reading and language • 1 out of every 5-10 students has some degree of dyslexia National Institute of Health:Child Health and Human Development

7. Dyslexia is….. comprehension phonological disability encoding unexpected neurologically • a specific learning _________ that is • ___________ based and manifested by • difficulties with decoding and _______ that are • the result of a deficit in the ________component of language • and is often______ and • secondary consequences may include problems in_________.

8. What it might look like…. • Problems with: • language development • remembering oral language e.g. words and directions • letter-sound recall • segmenting, blending speech sounds to read words • segmenting speech sounds and identifying letters to spell words • reading words, phrases, and passages automatically • comprehending words, phrases, sentences and passages

9. Though she seemed to have an above average vocabulary for her age, Sarah couldn’t seem to translate it to paper. It was as if she couldn't learn to read or write. Sarah’s Mother What had been a shadowy suspicion that hovered on the edge of consciousness became a certain knowledge the year I was nine and entered fourth grade. I seemed to be like other children, but I was not like them: I could not learn to read or spell. Eileen (In the Mind’s Eye) I am a dyslexic and I feel that this learning disability is like a thief in the night. It (dyslexia) never will rob you completely, but rob you just enough to make you work twice as hard to become productive in comparison to other people without this disability. Adult Dyslexic

10. Closing the gap…“If a child is dyslexic early on in school, that child will continue to experience reading problems unless he is provided with scientifically based proven intervention.”Shaywitz, 2003

11. By understanding …………… • Dyslexia • Science of Reading • Connection between Structure of Language and the Science of Reading • Continuum of instructional options • Remediation to accommodation……….

12. “Research is the only defensible foundation for educational practice.” • If not scientific evidence, then what: • tradition • philosophy • superstition • anecdote • intuition The Voice of Evidence, 2004

13. Research “Whether we enter the best of times is dependent on whether or not we use the gifts research has provided wisely or foolishly.”Marzano, 2003

14. Three Decades of Research….. • National Institute of Child and Health Development www.nichd.org • National Right to Read Foundation www.nrrf.org • Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children- National Research Council www.nationacademies.org/nrc • NATIONAL READING PANEL www.nationalreadingpanel.org • Reading for Understanding: Toward a R&D Program in Reading Comprehension www.rand.org • Institute of Educational Sciences-What Works Clearinghouse www.ed.gov

15. Catalyst for Changebased on reliable, valid and converging evidence Policy Reading Excellence Act NCLB Reading First Reauthorization of IDEA Practice Curriculum Assessment Professional Development “evidence based practices”

16. Age Old Questions? • Are our students learning? • If not, why not? • Which kids need a nudge? • How do we know? • How can we intervene? • Is it working or not? • How do we know? • Are there some kids that need a bigger nudge? • How can we further intervene?

17. Emma Avi Joseph So, who needs the nudge? 25-30% at risk (percentage is higher for poor, minority students) Jamal Sally

18. What does the “nudger” do….. • Screens K-2 + to identify “at risk” readers • Systematically delivers research based instruction initially in general education. Uses a tiered approach to instruction: • Core reading program • Small group intervention, then for some…… • Intensive strategic intervention/remediation 1:1 or small group (potentially special education) • Measures student response to intervention (progress monitoring) • Uses student data to inform instruction

19. Catch them before they fail…. “It takes 4 times as long to intervene in fourth grade as it does in late kindergarten.” NICHD “One of the most compelling findings from reading research is that children who get off to a poor start in reading rarely catch up.” Torgeson, 1998

20. Screening, progress monitoring….

21. A tiered approach to instruction? Layers of intervention responding to student needs TIER I 70-80% Each tier provides more intensive and supportive intervention TIER II 10-30% TIER III Aimed at preventing reading disabilities Dr. Joseph Torgeson, 2004 5-10%

22. Research Based Instruction • phonemic awareness • phonics • fluency • vocabulary • text comprehension • writing • assessment Put Reading First, The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read, 2001 www.nifl.gov

23. Most powerful instruction…..Torgeson, 2005 • More time • Smaller group • Targeted at right level • Provide systematic and explicit instruction in deficient component skills-phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension • Clearer, more detailed explanations, more systematic instructional sequence • More extensive opportunity for guided practice • More opportunity for error corrections and feedback

24. Linnae Ehri’s Phases of Word Reading-LETRS Mature Alphabetic Orthographic reading fluently by sound, syllable, morpheme, whole word, families and analogies early sight word learning Early Alphabetic letter knowledge Logograhic phoneme- grapheme correspondence incidental visual cues partial phoneme awareness complete phoneme awareness

25. In what ways might this information inform my practice??

26. By understanding …………… • Dyslexia • Science of Reading • Connection between Structure of Language and the Science of Reading • Continuum of Learning Opportunities • Remediation to accommodation……….

27. The structure of language…. • Phonology • Morphology • Orthography • Semantics • Syntax • Discourse and pragmatics • Etymology no clue know that word but... own it

28. The Sound Factory Phonology Phonological awareness

29. Phonological Processing Verbal short term memory Rapid serial naming Phonological awareness Articulation speed Phonemic awareness Word awareness Syllable awareness Uhry, 2005

30. Phonological awareness “attending to, thinking about and manipulating the individual phonemes within spoken words and syllables.” (Brady & Scarborough, 2003) “ability to manipulate and play with sounds”

31. Five levels of difficulty, an instructional sequence…Adams, 1990 • Sensitivity to rhyme • Recognition of patterns of rhyme and alliteration in words • Partial phoneme segmentation-syllable splitting and onset-rime • Full Phoneme segmentation • Phoneme manipulation Let's exercise our ph awareness

32. Morning news Poetry, songs, jingles Language themes/embed teach explicitly use a sequence teach as an oral activity working toward using letters to represent sounds as segmentation is mastered 15 minutes…….. Instruction

33. Sound+ Letter Factory Phonology Orthography Morphology Phonics Advanced Phonics

34. Consonant sounds Vowel sounds OrthographyHow do we represent these sounds??

35. Phonics “learning of letter-sound associations used for reading and spelling.”(Gillon, 2004)

36. Decoding-Spelling Continuum Compounds ABC Consonants Vowels Latin Greek Prefixes/ Suffixes PA Sounds Syllables Patterns Fluency Marcia Henry, 2003

37. Vowels • Vacation came on a rainy day/ so eight reindeer would not obey. • He needs meat and candy./ These I believe he will receive for his money. • I like to be under the night sky/ to eat my pie in style. • Go home on a boat/ and show a shoulder and toe. • Soon the new ruby in June/ will fit you. The blue suit is neutral.

38. Effective instruction……. • Systematic • Explicit • Provides opportunity to practice and apply learning (letters and sounds to reading of words) PFR www.nifl.org

39. The Meaning Factory Semantics Vocabulary Comprehension

40. Semantic Map(Moats, 2003) target word antonyms synonyms definition More examples Other categories multiple meanings Linguistic structure phonemes syllables morphemes spelling patterns connotation Personal experiences Idioms Specific texts sometimes confused with

41. Receptive listening reading Expressive speaking writing No clue Heard it but don’t know it means Recognize it, know it t has something to do with____ Own it What is vocabulary? storehouse of word meanings

42. Beck’s Tiers of Words 3: Used Infrequently Limited to Specific Domains Words have different utilities. Suggested goal of 400 Tier 2 words per year. Tier 3 [7,000 Word Families] Tier 2 Tier 1: Most Familiar Words Need No Instruction [ 8,000 Word Families ] Tier 1

43. Characteristics of Tier 2 Words • sophisticated ordinary words for mature language users generous vs. nice • high utility useful across many contexts devour vs. ingest • conceptually appropriate students understand general concepts but lack precision and specificity anxious vs. sultry

44. Instructional Guidelines • Provide a context • Build a student friendly definition • Provide examples beyond context of the story • Interact with words • Reinforce use beyond class (adapted from Beck, 2002) “To have an impact on comprehension, vocabulary instruction must be rich-simply defining words is not enough.” Beck, 2002

45. The Meaning Factory SyntaxDiscourse Comprehension

46. Sentence Comprehension-some observations • Essential to forming accurate concepts (understanding of whole) • Two critical areas are sentence structure (simple, compound, complex) and cohesive ties • Normally achieving readers gain ability to understand and use increasingly complex syntactical patterns while poor readers lag behind “Children who perform well on grammatical awareness tasks tend to be better able to monitor accuracy of reading.” Carlisle, 2001

47. Expository Narrative Discourse and text structures… Mix

48. Purpose is to entertain Consistent text structure Focus on character’s/goals Requires multiple perspectives Connective words not as critical-and, then, so Text can stand alone Purpose is to inform Variable text structure Focus on facts, ideas Perspective of author Connective words critical-because, if-then, before Integration of information across texts Narrative Expository

49. “Text comprehension can be improved by instruction that helps readers use specific comprehension strategies.” • recognizing story structure • using graphic and semantic organizers • summarizing • answering questions • generating questions • monitoring comprehension

50. “Effective comprehension strategy instruction is explicit or direct.” • direct explanation • modeling • guided practice • application www.nifl.org