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Fatigue from dyslexia is a very real concern. Imagine the struggles of being someone who has dyslexia during just one day in the classroom. From the moment the learner enters the classroom in the morning, they are faced with one challenge after another. Let’s imagine a fourth-grade classroom. The student enters and typically has a…
The KPS or Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading were developed by the International Dyslexia Association in 2010 and revised in 2018. They represent a list of skills and knowledge necessary to teach literacy to all learners. The KPS help structured literacy educators in a variety of ways. The KPS are divided into five…
There are many organizations that offer Orton Gillingham training. In addition, there are trainings in various Orton Gillingham-based programs. It can be difficult for professionals and especially for parents to understand what level of expertise a particular teacher has. The Center for Effective Reading Instruction, or CERI, has created a certification system that clears up…
One of the very first suffixes that I teach students is the suffix -s. This suffix makes a word plural. Teaching -s and -es builds on students’ natural speech patterns and makes a perfect introduction to the concept of base words and suffixes. Teaching the concept of plural nouns also creates a bridge to teaching…
It is important to teach the voiced sound of S fairly early in the instructional sequence. Students will need the voiced S to add the suffix -s to base words or to read vowel consonant E words with S. Because voiced S is such a prevalent part of our speech, this is a concept that…
There are several reasons why recognizing patterns in words is difficult for our students with dyslexia. Dyslexia often causes difficulty linking the phonemic analysis with the orthographic patterns. This means that a student not only has difficulty correctly hearing, analyzing, and identifying the separate sounds in a word, but in putting the sequence of letters…
One of the logical places to start to teach students about morphology is with prefixes and suffixes added to base words. Even quite young students can understand inflective endings such as -ing, -ed, and -s and basic prefixes such as un-, non-, and re-. This collection of picture books is perfect for helping with teaching…
If you are anything like me, you love going to conferences and workshops. Although I always wind up physically exhausted, I somehow also find myself energized and my batteries recharged. Professional development has so many wonderful benefits. You may discover a whole new vein of interest and develop a brand-new skill set. You can reignite…
I am often asked whether I recommend students take the summer off from tutoring. In fact, I recommend quite the opposite. Increasing the amount of time spent on tutoring during a time of more flexible schedules is an excellent opportunity for students to make some real catch-up growth. Typical students without learning difficulties have some…