What does neurodiverse mean?

A child who is neurodiverse has a brain that operates differently than the typical brain. Those who are neurodiverse, which includes diagnoses such as ADHD, autism, and learning disabilities, may learn and process information differently.

What are signs that my child may be neurodiverse?

Neurodiversity can include a learning disability such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia; ADHD; autism; dyspraxia; and other diagnoses. If your child is neurodiverse, they may require specific supports and tutoring services to help them thrive academically. What are some signs that your child may be neurodivergent? Let’s take a look at different types of neurodiversity.
Signs your child may have ADHD

Individuals with ADHD often have difficulty with their executive functioning skills. They might demonstrate challenges in the following areas:

• impulsivity
• staying focused
• organization
• talking out of turn
• losing their belongings
• struggling to pay attention for long stretches of time
• making careless mistakes
• poor time management skills
• neglecting to self-check their work.

If your child demonstrates these challenges, you may want to consider having them evaluated and try some of the executive functioning strategies below:
To develop their time management skills, teach your child the Estimated Time (ET) verses Actual Time (AT) strategy. To do so, have them select a task, like a math worksheet they need to complete for school, and estimate how long they think it will take them to complete that task (and write down the ET). Then once they have completed the worksheet, they should note the AT, or actual time it took them to complete that task. Often, those with ADHD and poor time management skills will note a big discrepancy between the ET and AT when they start using this strategy, but the more they practice it, the more these times will merge, and their time management skills will improve.

For self-checking, which is a skill many students with ADHD struggle with, your child may benefit from the COPS strategy for checking their writing, which stands for Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, and Spelling. At the bottom of their page, they should write these letters vertically with a check box to the left of each letter. After they have finished writing a paragraph or essay, they should self-check their writing for each of these elements one at a time, encouraging them to slow down and carefully self-check their work before turning it in. This strategy is also often used during dysgraphia tutoring sessions.

Signs your child may have dyslexia 

Dyslexia is another type of neurodiversity. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects language skills, including reading, spelling, and writing. Those with dyslexia may struggle with learning individual letters and their corresponding sounds, decoding words, reading fluently, spelling accurately, and expressing their thoughts on paper when writing, amongst other related language challenges.

If your child is struggling with these skills, you may want to consider having them evaluated for dyslexia. However, Orton Gillingham tutoring can also help children with dyslexia tremendously. The Orton Gillingham method is a research-based, multi-sensory technique that helps students with and without learning disabilities develop stronger reading and spelling skills. It follows a systematic approach, integrating previously taught sounds and concepts as new ones are introduced, and is highly effective in developing these core skills. Students also tend to enjoy the multi-sensory tools that are part of Orton Gillingham tutoring lessons, including colored sand, magnetic tiles, shaving cream, mini whiteboards, and other related manipulatives.

Learn more about Orton Gillingham tutoring at
What Is Orton-Gillingham Tutoring? Multi-Sensory, Structured Help | EBL Coaching

Signs your child may have autism

Autism is part of a spectrum, so the signs can vary. Children with autism often have challenges with social skills, engage in repetitive behaviors, and have sensory differences. They may also have trouble with executive functioning skills – including planning and organization – and reading comprehension, especially when it involves abstract or inferential thinking.

If your child shows any of these difficulties, autism tutoring can also help them immensely. To develop their reading comprehension skills, an autism tutor may teach them to identify three key elements when reading: the topic, which is one, two, or three words describing the passage; the main idea, which is what the author is saying about the topic; and the important details, or salient information describing the main idea. They will learn to highlight the topic of the passage in blue, the main idea in green, and the important details in yellow, helping to make them a more active reader. Their tutor can then ask them inference questions and have them write a short summary describing the passage in their own words.

Learn more about helping your child with autism at: Tips for Helping Your Child with Autism Improve School Performance | EBL Coaching

When should you have your child evaluated?

If you notice your child struggling with any of the following skills, you may want to consider having them evaluated and seek specialized tutoring or executive functioning coaching for them:

• Demonstrates challenges with reading, writing, or math
• Struggles with organization, planning, or time management
• Shows consistent attention challenges
• Avoids doing their homework
• Demonstrates social challenges
• Shows low self-esteem or frustration related to school

Many children are neurodiverse, and with that comes numerous strengths. However, getting through school can be a challenge for these children. If you notice any of these signs of neurodiversity in your child, you may want to consider having them evaluated and consider ADHD coaching, Orton Gillingham tutoring, or autism tutoring. This instruction can help them immensely.

Learn how EBL Coaching can help your child with one-one-one dyslexia tutoring, learning disability tutoring, autism tutoring, ADHD tutoring in NYC, and executive functioning coaching by visiting www.eblcoaching.com.

Frequently asked questions

How is neurodiversity diagnosed?
Neurodiversity is diagnosed through a comprehensive evaluation, typically administered by a neuropsychologist or psychologist.

Can tutoring help neurodiverse students?
Yes, absolutely! Research-based, multi-sensory tutoring that is individualized to each student’s needs can help neurodiverse students thrive. Students with dyslexia tend to respond exceptionally well to Orton Gillingham tutoring and those with ADHD benefit from executive functioning coaching.

What does research tell us about early identification of learning disabilities?
Research tells us that identifying learning disabilities early can significantly improve academic outcomes. Don’t wait! If you see your child struggling, seek an evaluation and academic remediation as soon as you can.

The founder and director of EBL Coaching, Dr. Emily Levy, has been helping neurodiverse students in grades prek-12 excel academically with individualized tutoring for over 20 years.

The post Signs Your Child May Be Neurodivergent: ADHD, Dyslexia, And Autism appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Research tells us that when parents and teachers work together as a team, students perform much better in school. Parent-teacher conferences serve as an opportunity to build a relationship with your child’s teacher, set up a line of communication, and learn about how your child is doing in class. Why are parent-teacher conferences so important?

Learn about your child’s performance

Many parents work with their child at home, helping them study for tests, complete their school work, and work on projects. You might be able to gauge your child’s academic abilities through this work, but your child may show a completely different profile at school. In a large classroom setting, some children lose focus, struggle to process information, or display academic difficulties. Parent-teacher conferences provide you with the opportunity to learn more about how your child is doing in class. Their teacher will tell you about areas of academic strength, how your child interacts socially with peers, and areas where your child may be struggling. All of this information is helpful for you to learn, and can further guide you in working with your child at home or seeking extra support.

Setting up a line of communication

If your child is demonstrating any academic challenges or has a learning disability or ADHD, it’s important for you stay in touch with their teacher on a regular basis. Sometimes a child may start the year off strong but then quickly begin to struggle once the school year is underway, and parents may not always find out about these struggles under months later if they don’t set up a regular line of communication with the teacher. Parent-teacher conferences give you the opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher face-to-face and not only learn about how they’re doing in class, but set up a plan for communicating going forward. You might set up monthly phone calls, regular emails, or even periodic in person meetings to discuss your child’s progress. Try to come up with a communication plan that works for both of you. Don’t wait for your child to struggle; be proactive in communicating with their teacher regularly, not reactive once the struggles become more severe.

Opportunity to ask questions

Parent-teacher conferences offer an opportunity for you to ask your child’s teacher specific questions you may have. You might ask how your child has performed recently on tests, projects, and assignments. Ask if the teacher is noticing any foundational skills struggles. You may also want to ask about how your child interacts with peers and if they have many friends in school. Also find out about their ability to stay focused during lessons. Be prepared with these questions before the meeting starts so that you can be organized and systematic in asking them. The information you gauge from these questions can be very valuable.

Possibly seek an evaluation

If you are noticing that your child is struggling at home – perhaps with completing homework on time, reading words, writing sentences or paragraphs, or completing math problems – parent-teacher conferences can give you a chance to discuss these challenges with your child’s teacher. Ask the teacher if they are noticing these difficulties at school. If so, perhaps there are some accommodations that can be integrated, like seating at the front of the class or extra time on tests. If the struggles become more severe, you may want to request an evaluation for your child. If they are given a diagnosis, they will likely receive an IEP or 504 plan, which can provide them with services and accommodations that can help them thrive in school.

Parent-teacher conferences give you an opportunity to connect with your child’s teacher and learn valuable information about how your child is doing at school. Try to be organized and well-prepared for this meting, and you will learn important that can help your child thrive in school.

The post Why are Parent-Teacher Conferences so Important? appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Does your child struggle with sounding out words when reading? Does he have difficulty recognizing sight words or understanding what he reads? Perhaps he loses focus when reading or avoids reading at all costs. If so, your child may be experiencing reading difficulties. Reading is a skill that affects all aspects of school, so the earlier you can help your child build this skill, the better. Help your child build stronger reading skills with the four tips detailed below.

Read, Read, Read!

One of the best ways to help improve your child’s reading skills is by doing lots of reading! Starting when your child is a baby, make reading a ritual – every night before bed pick 2-3 books to read to them. Eventually let them pick the books and try to integrate topics they are interested in – mermaids, trucks, animals, you name it!  Any topic that peaks their interest is a good one. As they get older, talk about the plot of the story, the characters, and the setting. Ask questions, like “What do you think will happen next?” or “Why do you think Sara feels this way?” Remember that struggling readers often choose shorter books that they perceive as “easy” so feel free to pick longer, more complex books when you’re doing the reading. 

Make it Multi-Sensory

Most kids learn best by engaging the senses, especially those who are struggling with reading. Rather than sticking a worksheet or mundane workbook in front of your child, engage their visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses when helping them learn to read. For instance, when teaching your young child how to form letters, gather some colored sand, sugar, or flour, and spread it out on a cookie tray. Say the formations aloud as you model tracing each letter. For example, for the lowercase letter “a” use your pointer and middle fingers and say “around, up, and down” as you form the letter a in the sand. Then ask your child to do the same. Practice this technique for all of the letters of the alphabet, and also numbers! Additionally, you can use magnetic tiles, mini whiteboards, and shaving cream for forming letters and words. These elements are part of the Orton Gillingham methodology, which is a research-based, multi-sensory technique for helping students with or without learning disabilities, including dyslexia, develop stronger reading and spelling skills. 

Use a Structured Reading Program

Many children who struggle with reading benefit from a structured, Orton Gillingham based reading program. For instance, the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham Multisensory student workbook program teaches students to read and spell words starting at a very basic foundational level and moving upwards using a structured, systematic approach. The program starts by teaching students to identify individual letters and their corresponding sounds and blend them together to read and spell CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. It then progresses to words containing blends, consonant digraphs, vowel digraphs, silent e patterns, multisyllabic word patterns, prefixes, suffixes, and roots. This Orton Gillingham, multi-sensory program is a great way to help students who struggle to read, including students with learning disabilities, ADHD, and dyslexia, to build stronger reading skills. 

Get Help!

If your child is still struggling to read despite practice and reinforcement at home, you may want to consider speaking to his teacher about any reading challenges at school, and possibly look into further testing. Public schools offer testing for learning disabilities free of charge, or some families choose to undergo a private neuropsychological evaluation. This evaluation will help determine whether or not your child has a learning disability (like dyslexia or dyscalculia), ADHD, executive functioning challenges, or other formal diagnoses. Oftentimes, if your child struggles with reading, the evaluator will recommend a structured, multi-sensory approach, such as the Orton Gillingham methodology, since this is a highly effective research-based approach for building reading and spelling skills.

Reading is a skill that plays a role in all aspects of school. The earlier you can help your child build stronger reading skills, the better! Use a multi-sensory approach, help engage your child with books on topics he enjoys, and work on strengthening his foundational skills – and he will be well on his way to reading success! 

The post FOUR Ways to Help Your Struggling Reader appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Have you noticed your child struggling in school? Perhaps they are having a hard time learning to read, can’t grasp multi-step math problems, or are having difficulty staying focused in class. Their self-esteem is plummeting as schoolwork becomes increasingly challenging, and their struggles seem insurmountable. Your child may have special needs and, if so, the sooner you can identify these needs and address them, the better it will be for their overall confidence and academic performance. So what can you do?

For starters, if you see your child struggling, talk to their doctor ‎and teacher. Discuss milestones they may or may not have met and determine if their teacher notices the same challenges you see at home. If you feel these struggles are getting worse or think they may benefit from additional accommodations at school, you might consider having them tested. This testing can be done for free either through your state’s early intervention program (if your child is under age three) or through your child’s school district. The evaluation and specific tests administered may range, but evaluators will typically test your child’s IQ and will likely also test language, motor, behavior, and achievement skills.

Psst…Winter isn’t over, here are Perfect Snow Day Activities for Kids in NYC

IEP or 504 plan
Depending on the evaluation results and your child’s needs, your child may qualify for either an IEP or a 504 plan. An IEP details your child’s specific goals and a plan for what your school will do to help meet those goals, including specific services, like speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and academic support. A 504 plan helps provide accommodations for support within the classroom, such as additional time on tests, an aide in the classroom, preferential seating, and/or modified homework. Typically students who have a less severe disability (like anxiety, ADHD, etc.) and not a diagnosed learning disability will receive a 504. Students who need more services, including speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, special education teacher support services, etc., would receive an IEP.

Know Your Rights
Federal law indicates that every child is entitled to a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment possible. Three specific federal laws apply to children with special needs, including the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Ace, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These laws’ specifics can vary by state, so it’s important for you to understand the procedures and criteria specific to your state.

IDEA‎ stipulates that a child’s issues must fall into one of 13 categories to be eligible for special education services. Section 504 mandates that schools cannot discriminate again students who have disabilities and are required to provide appropriate accommodations to them. Students covered under Section 504 usually have less severe disabilities or do not fall into one of the categories stipulated under IDEA. The ADA indicates that children with special needs cannot be discriminated against and must be provided appropriate services and programs suitable to their needs. If your school district refuses to provide appropriate services to your child, you may initiate a due process hearing to challenge their decision.

Focus on Your Child’s Strengths
It is easy to go into a bit of negative space when dealing with your child’s educational support. Remember to focus on your child’s strengths; they may struggle with reading and writing but may excel with math computation. Or maybe your child is incredibly social, empathetic, and ‎kind. Perhaps they are a beautiful artist, a great storyteller, or a whiz at building Legos. Praise your child for small accomplishments, like sitting next to a friend at lunch who seemed sad, drawing a beautiful flower, or creating an elaborate Lego tower. As you help your child academically with areas where they may struggle, continue to build their self-esteem, and explain that no one is perfect. We all have strengths and weaknesses, as well as areas we need to work on improving. Your special needs child can still have dreams and aspirations that can be achieved with support and guidance.

Dr. Emily Levy is the founder of EBL Coaching, a tutoring program that specializes in one-on-one home and on-site instruction for students in grades PreK-12 in NYC, NJ, and Westchester. She is also the author of Strategies for Study Success, a study skills workbooks series emphasizing test-taking, note-taking, reading comprehension, writing, and executive functioning strategies, and the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham student workbook series.

The post Is Your Child Missing Milestones? When the Next Step is an IEP appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Children with dysgraphia often struggle with forming letters and words correctly, spacing words properly on a page, and generally have difficulty expressing their thoughts on paper.

Your child struggles to properly hold a pencil. His handwriting is messy and he has trouble with letter spacing and spelling. Writing a paragraph is a completely daunting task. If your child experiences these challenges, he may have dysgraphia.

Dysgraphia is defined as a specific learning disability that affects writing. Children with dysgraphia often struggle with forming letters and words correctly, have ‎trouble spacing words properly on a page, and generally have difficulty expressing their thoughts on paper when writing. Yet with the right strategies and tools, your child can learn to tackle the increasing writing demands of school. Try the ideas detailed below:

Feel the letters!
Many kids with dysgraphia have trouble learning to form letters and numbers properly when writing. To build this skill, try creating a multi-sensory experience. Have your child trace letters in a tray of salt or colored sand while she says the formation of each letter aloud. For instance, as she traces the letter “A,” she might say “around, up, and down,” or “down, up, and around” for p. You might also have her trace letters on your back or palm, or you can do the same to her while she closes her eyes to better experience the sensation of each letter’s formation. For gross motor exercises, try having her sky-write each letter or number while standing up, or squirt some foam on the shower door and have her write letters and numbers, using large hand formations.

Practice storytelling!
Children with dysgraphia often struggle to organize their ideas into well-constructed stories and paragraphs. To help build this skill, teach your child to tell stories aloud in an organized fashion. For instance, when you return from a vacation, ask him for an opening line by saying, “We did so many fun activities on our vacation!” and then ask him ‎to discuss his three favorite activities and why he loved each one. He might say one of his favorite activities was playing on the beach, since he built a giant sand castle, jumped the waves, and swam in the ocean. He may say another favorite activity was eating every meal with his family and enjoying special treats, like Belgian waffles, chocolate ice cream, and frozen lemonade. Finally, he may say that his third favorite activity was spending time with his cousins, which included swimming with them, sharing stories, and laughing. Then have him end his story with his overall thoughts on the vacation, like “I had so much fun on my vacation and can’t wait for the next one!” You can try this exercise with just about any experience—a day at school, a play date, or a meal he just ate. The more you practice helping him organize his ideas orally, the easier it will become when writing.

Learn to type
The physical act of writing involves so many components: Letter and word formation, spacing, spelling, sentence construction, written organization, and so many other challenging tasks, especially for kids with dysgraphia. Typing can ease some of these challenges. It eliminates letter formation and spacing challenges, and computers can help with spelling with the use of spell check. When the physical challenges of writing are reduced, ideas often flow much more easily. ‎ If typing is not an option, though, learning to write in cursive, rather than print, can help your child with letter reversals, spelling, spacing, and the overall flow of writing.

Brainstorm!
Many kids—even those who don’t have dysgraphia—have trouble getting started with their writing. Brainstorming can be very helpful in easing this challenge. Encourage your child to start by creating a brainstorm web with her ideas. If she wants to write about why she loves math, for instance, before she begins writing, she should draw a bubble in the middle of the page and write “why I love math.” Then, branching out from the middle bubble, she can add details on why she loves math, like “It helps with problem solving,” “It’s fun!” and “It plays a role in everyday life.” Then branching out of those detail bubbles, she may even add supporting details on why each of those reasons make her love math so much. Once her brainstorm web is complete, it becomes a much easier process to translate that information into an organized written format. Computer programs like Inspiration and Kidspiration are great tools for creating electronic versions of these brainstorm webs.

‎As students progress through school, they will inevitably be required to write longer and more complex stories, paragraphs, and essays. Help your child with dysgraphia build his writing skills with these ideas, and he will be well on his way to academic success!

The post Does Your Child Have Dysgraphia? appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Your child daydreams in class, forgets to turn in his homework assignments, or struggles to express his thoughts on paper when writing. He may have difficulty sounding out words when reading or completing basic math problems. If your child demonstrates any of these challenges, he may have a learning disability or ADHD. Research tells us that using a multi-sensory approach is the most optimal way to help struggling learners develop their academic skills. So how can you help your child? Try some of the ideas detailed below.

Reading Comprehension

Many children with ADHD and learning disabilities struggle to comprehend material when reading. You can help your child become an active reader and improve her reading comprehension using a multi-sensory tri-colored highlighting strategy. Start by explaining to her that when she reads, she should look for three key elements: the topic, main idea, and important details. She should first identity the topic, which is one, two, or three words describing what the passage is about, and highlight it in blue. Next, she should look for the main idea, which is what the author is saying about the topic, and highlight it in green. Finally, she should identify the important details, or salient details describing the main idea, and highlight them in yellow. Note that she should try to highlight only important information (not every detail on the page!) and only words and phrases when possible. When applying this strategy, she should read the passage first, then go back and highlight the topic, main idea, and important details using blue, green, and yellow highlighters. Becoming an active reader can help her develop stronger focusing, reading comprehension, and processing skills.

Vocabulary

Many struggling learners have a tendency to avoid reading and thus have a sub-optimal vocabulary. Help your child build his vocabulary using a multi-sensory flash card technique. Say he has a series of vocabulary words to learn for school. To use this strategy, he should take out a stack of blank flash cards and write the first vocabulary term on the front of a card. He should then flip over the card and divide it into three horizontal sections. In the top section, he should write the definition of the word in his own words. In the middle section, he should write a sentence containing the word to add context. Finally, at the bottom of the card, he should draw a picture to help him remember the definition. He should perform this exercise for each of the vocabulary terms he needs to learn, helping him to not just memorize the definitions, but to actually understand the meaning of each one and be able to use it in context.

Writing

Writing is a skill that involves multiple steps, and one that is challenging for many students. Yet learning a structured approach for written expression can help your child develop stellar writing skills. Instead of simply starting to write (or staring at a blank sheet of paper), encourage your child to follow a three-step approach: first she should brainstorm, then write, and then go back and self-check her work. For the first step (brainstorming), she should create an outline, list, or web diagram to help her organize her ideas before writing. Then she should convert this information into an organized paragraph or essay, and then go back and self-check her work. For self-checking, she can try using an acronym like COPS, which stands for Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, Spelling, where she self-checks for each element (one at a time) once she is done writing. This systematic approach can help your child improve her organization and overall written expression abilities.

Math

With math instruction becoming increasingly more language-based, many students are struggling with this skill. Help your child learn to effectively solve math word problem using the OINS strategy. When using this strategy (which stands for Operation, Information, Number Sentence, Solution Sentence), your child should start by reading the problem, then circle the relevant information, cross out the irrelevant information, and circle the key word(s) that tells him what kind of operation to use. Then he should break the problem down into four steps, and write out each step separately – O (operation), I (relevant information), ‎N (number sentence), and S (solution sentence). By breaking each problem down into these individual steps, he can learn to solve word problems in a clear and organized manner.

Students with learning disabilities and ADHD often struggle with many academic aspects of school. Without the proper strategies and support, many become disengaged, lose focus, and struggle as the demands of school increase. Try these strategies with your child to help him feel confident, engaged, and successful in school.

The post Study Skills Strategies for Your Child with a Learning Disability or ADHD appeared first on EBL Coaching.

The education trends parents should know more about.

Your child is struggling to sound out words, write simple sentences, and solve even single-step math word problems. He has a learning disability and is drowning in school, as he watches his peers learn to read, write, and calculate with ease. You have tried just about everything to help him—workbooks, flash cards, drills, computer games, and the like—but nothing seems to be working. We now know that using evidence-based techniques for teaching students with learning disabilities, a trend in special education, can solve this long-standing dilemma of how to truly help struggling learners. So, what exactly are evidence-based techniques, and how can you reinforce this instruction at home?

Several techniques and interventions for students with learning disabilities are scientifically-based and have been found to be effective. One such technique is direct instruction, which uses straightforward techniques to explain a concept, and can help a student with a learning disability retain new material. For instance, an instructor might directly teach students that proper nouns or new sentences always begin with a capital letter—or they might directly explain the “floss” spelling rule, where we double the last letter if a single syllable word ends with an f, l, or s.

Strategy instruction is also evidence-based, and is an effective tool for students with learning disabilities. With this technique, a teacher provides a clear strategy that helps students come up with a response or solve a problem. For instance, the “OINS” strategy can help students with learning disabilities solve math word problems in an organized fashion. With this strategy, students read a word problem, then break it down into four steps: O (Operation, where they write down correct operation symbol), I (Information, where they write the relevant information needed for solving the problem), N (Number Sentence, where they write the complete number sentence), and S (Solution Sentence, where they write the solution to the problem as a full sentence).

For reading, however, using a sequential, multi-sensory approach has been considered one of the most effective evidence-based approaches for teaching students with learning disabilities. Multi-sensory instruction engages more than one sense at a time. As a basic example, your child may learn about shells in school. Rather than simply reading about them in a book, he may collect shells in their natural environment, then feel them, smell them, and even put them to his ear to listen to the sounds they may project. He might also search for facts about shells online, forming a connection with this information from the visual, auditory, and tactile modalities he used when studying the shells.

Multi-sensory instruction can help students with dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities in particular develop their basic reading skills. Orton Gillingham pioneered this approach, by helping students make connections between letters and sounds and learning to blend these sounds together to form words. Many Orton Gillingham-based programs now exist, but they all share the common elements of using the auditory, visual, and tactile approaches to help students develop their reading skills. Some multi-sensory components of these programs, many of which you can reinforce at home, are detailed as follows:

Audio-visual card drills: Students learn to connect a given letter and sound to a key picture. The letter is often written on the front of a flash card with a key picture on the back—like P (on the front) and pizza (on the back), or a (on the front) and apple (on the back). An instructor might orally model to the student that “P makes the sound p, like in ‘pizza’” and have the student repeat back that sequence.

Sand or shaving cream writing: Using a tactile tool like sand or shaving cream can help students further connect letters to sounds and remember these connections for the long run. In doing so, they trace a letter in the sand or shaving cream while saying its formation. For instance, when writing the letter P, they would say aloud, “around, down, and across” as they write the letter—followed by the sound it makes, which in this case is p.

Skywriting: Students utilize muscle memory with sky writing to help them further connect sounds to letters and form the letters properly when writing. They may stand up and use their gross motor muscles to write a letter formation in the sky with their pointer and middle fingers, like “down and across” for the letter T.

Magnetic tiles: Students can learn to effectively combine sounds to form words using a multi-sensory tool such as magnetic tiles. An instructor may dictate, for instance, the word “cat,” and ask the student to spell the word using magnetic tiles. The student would select from a group of letters first the letter C (which says c), then the letter A (which says a) and finally the letter T (which says t)—then blend those sounds together to form the word.

Students with learning disabilities often continue to struggle as they progress through school and the academic demands increase. Yet the trend towards evidence-based instruction in the classroom can help ease this struggle, ultimately helping students with learning disabilities feel confident and successful in school.

The post Evidence-Based Instruction Opens Doors For Students With Special Needs appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Wondering if your child might have dyslexia? Look for these signs.

You notice your child struggling to sound out words when reading. He has difficulty with writing and his reading fluency is very slow. His self-esteem is starting to plummet as he compares himself to peers who are excelling in these academic areas. You might wonder if your child has dyslexia. Read below for some grade-specific signs:

Preschool

Most preschool-age children are not yet reading or writing. Many have not yet learned to write letters or or recognize sound/letter relationships. Yet early signs of dyslexia can be identified at this young age. Your child might struggle with phonemic awareness, or the ability to hear, recognize, and manipulate sounds in words. For example, rhyming might be a challenge. She may have trouble identifying initial sounds in words (ex: What sound does the word pizza start with?), medial sounds (ex: What is the middle sound you hear in the word hot?), or ending sounds (ex: What is the final sound you hear in the word red?). Try asking your child to say the word “dog” without the /d/ sound or “chop” without the /p/ sound. Struggling with this ability to manipulate sounds in words could be a sign of dyslexia. Furthermore, children with dyslexia might have trouble following directions or coming up with the correct word to describe an object or action.

Elementary School

As students progress through elementary school, reading and writing demands increase rapidly. At this age, you might notice that your child struggles to decode, or sound out, words–especially those he has never seen before. He may rely on his sight memory and picture clues to figure out words when reading, rather than trying to actually decode them. His reading fluency may be slow, and he might start to avoid reading out of embarrassment or lack of self-confidence. You also may notice that your child looks at the beginning sound of a word and guesses at the rest of it, and struggles to spell even basic single syllable words. Writing sentences and stories can be a challenge, and he might write the minimum amount necessary in order to be done with an assignment as quickly as possible.

Middle/High School

By the time students reach middle school, those with dyslexia have typically already been identified. However, some students develop coping strategies that allow them to “mask” their dyslexia for quite a while. While this masking can often carry them through early grades, many students hit a wall when the reading and writing demands ramp up in middle and high school. ‎You might find that your child’s speed of reading and completing work is very slow. He also may struggle with the simultaneous demands of writing: grammar, mechanics, organization, and spelling, and likely finds very little pleasure in reading. His overall self-esteem is low.

While dyslexia can be a lifelong challenge, for many parents and students, being diagnosed with dyslexia often comes as a relief. They feel better knowing that there is a reason for the constant struggle and that action can be taken to help relieve these challenges. The earlier students receive remediation to address their dyslexia-related struggles, the easier reading and writing will be as they move through school. Specialized methodologies, including the Orton Gillingham technique for decoding and spelling, and similar research-based, multi-sensory techniques for language processing and writing, can help dyslexic students tremendously as they progress through school and face the growing academic demands.

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