RECOVERY STRATEGIES

All decisions made in the rehabilitation of education related to information gathered through the assessment process.

We need to assess because we need:

Information needed to identify the problems faced by a student.


To assess the effectiveness of planning and teaching.

WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?

Assessment in the context of a special rehabilitation can be defined as a process of gathering information to make decisions.

Assessment and evaluation of the Special Rehabilitation

In a special recovery there are many decisions to be made by teachers and other professionals involved in services to students who have trouble learning.

The decision should be made carefully so that teaching and service provided is appropriate and in line with the problems they face in learning.

Among the decisions to be made include:

Who among students in your school who may have difficulties in learning and be provided with remedial education?

What kind of problems faced by students and the weakness of the recovery and the strength of the students?

Performance in the areas affected by the problems faced?

What type of placement appropriate remedial education for students and what skills should be taught to the students?

What specific services to be provided to help achieve the skills taught at the optimum level?

Does the teaching program that has been prepared to be continued or replaced with a new program or the student is placed back into the mainstream?

All the results mentioned above can be made wisely and accurately with the help of the information collected through the assessment and evaluation.

THE ORTON-GILLINGHAM MULTISENSORY METHOD

The Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Method was developed in the early 1930's by Anna Gillingham and a group of master teachers.

Dr. Samuel Orton assigned Anna's group the task of designing a whole new way of teaching the phonemic structure of our written language to people with dyslexia.

The goal was to create a sequential system that builds on itself in an almost 3-dimensional way. It must show how sounds and letters are related and how they act in words; it must also show how to attack a word and break it into smaller pieces.

And it must be a multi-sensory approach, as dyslexic people learn best by involving all of their senses: visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic.

The Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Method is different from other reading methods in two ways: what is taught, and how it is taught.

What is taught:

Phonemic Awareness is the first step. You must teach someone how to listen to a single word or syllable and break it into individual phonemes.

They also have to be able to take individual sounds and blend them into a word, change sounds, delete sounds, and compare sounds -- all in their head. These skills are easiest to learn before someone brings in printed letters.

WHAT DOES RESEARCH TELL US ABOUT DYSLEXIA?

If your child has an I.E.P., this description of a reading program should be on the I.E.P.:

"Independent scientific, replicated research supports the use of a reading and spelling system that is simultaneously multisensory, systematic, and cumulative with direct and explicit instruction in both synthetic and analytic phonics with intense practice."
Yes, you can get methodology onto an I.E.P. Click here to learn how.

Here are links to some of that research:

Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6023&page=R1

National Reading Panel Report
www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.cfm

Summary of NIH Reading Research by G. Reid Lyon Director of Research Programs in Reading Development and Disorders, Learning Disabilities, Language Development and Disorders, and Cognitive Neuroscience. Also Chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
www.schwablearning.org select Reading from the Topic list, click on Lyon: Developing Reading Skills

Why Reading is not a Natural Process by G. Reid Lyon
http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/why_reading.php?type=recent&id=Yes

NIH Research Results
www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/jeffords.htm and www.ncld.org/research/keys99_nichd.cfm

Article on Brain Differences
www.schwablearning.org, select Reading from the Topic list, click on Brain Research and Reading

National Center on Learning Disabilities Research Links
www.ncld.org/research/links.cfm

Catch Them Before They Fall, Identification and Assessment to Prevent Reading Failure in Young Children by Joseph Torgeson
www.ldonline.org/article/225

California Reading Initiative
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/sr/documents/readnit.pdf

Texas Reading Initiative
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/reading/
Children of the Code A Social Education Project A Public Television, DVD & Web Documentary Series

A BASIC NEED : LEARNING TO READ

American children suffer more long-term life-harm from failing to learn to read than from parental abuse, accidents, and all other childhood diseases and disorders combined.

In purely economic terms, reading related difficulties cost our nation more than the war on terrorism, crime, and drugs combined. More than any other subject or skill, our children's futures are determined by by how well they learn to read.

So begins this fascinating website that contains amazing statistics, quotes, and over 100 interviews with leading neuroscientists, reading researchers, educators, and policy leaders. To watch a 5-minute on-line video called Part 1: We Have A Problem, which contains statements from many of these famous professionals, go to: www.childrenofthecode.org/genpreview/index.htm

To read the interviews and other fascinating information on this website, go to: www.ChildrenoftheCode.org

NO QUICK FIX FOR DYSLEXIA

There is no magic bullet to quickly fix or cure dyslexia. Your child was born with dyslexia and will die with dyslexia. Orton-Gillingham-based training methods can avoid the reading, writing, and spelling failure so often associated with dyslexia. But these methods take time; anywhere from one to three years.

Watch out for any method or product that costs lots of money and promises 4 to 8 week "cures."
A method is considered a "controversial therapy" if:

There is no research to prove that it works.

The research has not been independently replicated.

The claims of the method or product far exceed the research results.

Before signing any contract or purchasing any product that sounds too good to be true, ask to see the independent research papers that support their claims. Also ask for local references. Talk to professionals in the field about the method. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Click here to see a list of what won't work.

TECHNOLOGY AND DYSLEXIA

Computer technology makes the lives of dyslexic students much less difficult while they are acquiring their basic reading, writing, and spelling skills.

Here are some of the most useful technology tools I've found:

Naturally SpeakingContinuous speech recognition software that runs on Windows-based PCs. Software comes with a headset. You just talk, and the software types in what you said, spelled correctly. The hardest part is training the software to recognize your voice. Training requires reading a long passage displayed on the computer screen. (I sit beside my students and whisper the hard words into their ear.) Once trained, the person with dyslexia just talks to the computer in his/her normal voice at a normal speed, and the software types in the words, correctly spelled. It will even read the passage back to you when you're through. Available in most major computer stores. It can also be purchased from the publisher, Scansoft, in Newton, Massachusetts (800-443-7077 or 978-977-2000).

Franklin Spelling Ace This portable electronic dictionary runs on batteries and is a wonderful tool. You can enter the phonetic approximation of a word, and the closest choices will be displayed, along with a brief definition. Franklin web site. Available at many office supply stores. Suggested retail: $ 29.95.

AlphaSmart ProThis less-than-two-pound portable, battery-operated, virtually indestructible keyboard with a small display provides an ideal way to take notes in class or at meetings IF you know how to touch type. At home (or back in your office), start your personal computer (Macintosh or Windows-based PC), open your favorite word processor, plug in the AlphaSmart Pro, and watch your typed-in words fly into in the document. This is a lifesaver for people with dysgraphia. For more information, check out the AlphaSmart Pro web site.

Books on Tape . Virtually every textbook used in the United States is available on 4-track audio tape through Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic. Books for pleasure and books for literature classes, read by professional actors, can be rented through Recorded Books Rentals.

And most states also sponsor a state-funded Books Aloud program through their public libraries. Contact your closest library for details.Even after a dyslexic person has learned to read, recorded books are useful, especially in high school and college, where it may prove impossible to read fast enough to keep up with the demands of many different teachers.

Type to Learn

This is an excellent program that teaches both children and adults how to type by touch. It is available from Sunburst Software for both Macintosh and Windows-based PCs.

Any Word Processor

It goes without saying that once you can type, your most important technology tool will be any word processor that has a good spell checker.

HELPING STUDENTS WITH DYSLEXIA IN A REGULAR CLASSROOM

While your child is acquiring his/her basic reading, writing, and spelling skills through an Orton-Gillingham Multisensory method, classroom accommodations will be needed.

To learn which ones, why they are fair, and how to get them, watch our one-hour webcast on classroom accommodation, free, by going to:www.webcastgroup.com/client/start.asp?wid=0671129062946&auto=true

Here are the most commonly requested classroom accommodations that will allow your child to demonstrate his/her knowledge even though the child is not yet reading, writing, or spelling at grade level:

Oral testing

Tests are read to the student (or provided pre-recorded on audio tape), and student are allowed to give answers orally (or tape record their answers).

Untimed tests

Dyslexic students do not perform well under time pressure. It also takes them longer to read the questions, compose the answer in their head, and get it down on paper.
Eliminate or reduce spelling testsClassroom teachers rarely teach spelling rules in the same way or same order as a dyslexia tutor. Many teachers will accept a spelling test given in a tutoring session as a replacement for the classroom test, or only grade a classroom spelling test on a small number of pre-determined words.

Don't force oral reading

Teachers should never force students with dyslexia to read out loud in front of the class. If for some reason this is absolutely necessary, warn the student in advance and show them exactly which passage they will have to read so that they can practice ahead of time.

Accept dictated homework

Dyslexic students can dictate answers much more easily and quickly than they can write them down. Allow parents to act as a scribe.

Reduce homework load

Many teachers create homework assignments by estimating how long it would take a "normal" student to complete it. They may not realize it takes a dyslexic student 3 to 4 times longer to complete the same assignment. Teachers should agree to a maximum time to spend on homework. Parents should sign the end of the homework page showing the amount of time spent on the assignment.

Grade on content, not spelling nor handwritingSome teachers take spelling and handwriting into consideration when assigning a grade. For dyslexic children, this is not appropriate. Teachers should be asked to grade only on the content of an assignment.

Reduce copying tasks

It takes dyslexic students longer to copy information from the board, and if they have dysgraphia, they may not be able to read their notes. So provide lecture notes, or discretely assign a fellow student to act as a scribe using NCR paper.

Quick print shops can create NCR sets of binder paper.

(NCR paper is sometimes called carbonless copy paper.) The top sheet of binder paper has a coating applied to the back of it that is pressure sensitive. When someone writes on the top sheet, the coating automatically makes a copy appear on the lower sheet of binder paper. So when class is over, the scribe just tears off the lower sheet and gives it to our student.

Alternate assignments

Teachers should offer alternative ways to show mastery of material other than a long written paper. Alternatives could include oral or video presentations, dioramas, collages, or debates.
Avoid or reduce essay testsUse match up, fill-in-the-blank, or short answer formats for tests. List vocabulary words for fill-in-the-blank sections at the top of the exam.

Multiple-choice questions are also difficult for dyslexic students due to the volume of reading required to answer them correctly.

Conduct a class review session before the test

Also, provide a study guide with key terms and concepts to the students.

Ask the student how he/she learns best

Often, dyslexic students can explain strategies and techniques that help them learn to teachers. These are usually easy to incorporate into a classroom.