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Students with Dyslexia Can Benefit from Classroom Accommodations

Students with Dyslexia Can Benefit from Classroom Accommodations

by | Oct 10, 2023 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders

Why Students with Dyslexia Could Use School Accommodations
For students diagnosed with dyslexia, various accommodations can help them succeed in the classroom setting by improving their confidence and giving them the support they need to meet their educational goals. Academic accommodations are changes to materials, actions or techniques that enable students with disabilities to participate meaningfully in grade-level or course instruction. Because students with dyslexia can struggle with single word reading, accurate word recognition, poor spelling and poor decoding abilities, accommodations can be crucial to give the student the tools they need to accomplish their work with less difficulty.

What Kind of Academic Accommodations Are Helpful?
Accommodations for students with dyslexia or other learning disorders might look very different for each student based on their individual needs, and methods do not have a one-size-fits-all strategy. The impact of dyslexia on each individual student determines the level of accommodations. However, there are some common accommodations that might be offered for students with dyslexia:

  • Not marking or taking off points for spelling errors.
  • Allowing the use of assistive technology, e.g., speech-to-text or text-to-speech.
  • Grading written work primarily on content versus spelling.
  • Reducing the number of words to spell.
  • Providing a word bank for typically misspelled words.
  • Using a word bank to provide words to choose from.
  • Offering alternative projects instead of written reports, such as an oral report or an art project.
  • Reducing written work if possible.
  • Encouraging verbalization of ideas before writing (i.e., record then write, use mind mapping for ideas, use sentence starters, etc.)

How Spelling Accommodations Improve Performance and Confidence
Accommodations are intended to provide a student with a learning disability a ‘level playing field’ and not count the impact of their learning disability against them. Spelling can be particularly difficult for a student with dyslexia and can take a lot of time and energy to ensure proper spelling. 

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If the lesson’s primary focus is on conveying the main idea of the story rather than on spelling, not penalizing the student for spelling errors allows them to focus their time and mental energy on the key objective of telling the story’s main idea.

Using Assistive Technology to Complete Schoolwork and Homework
Allowing students to utilize assistive technology, such as text-to-speech or speech-to-text, can help the student by not requiring them to spend extra time and energy decoding words. Assistive technology includes any device, piece of equipment or system that helps bypass, work around or compensate for an individual’s specific learning deficits.

  • Speech-to-text software can help students who struggle with spelling and writing by converting spoken words into typed text, and it can help struggling writers and spellers get their ideas on paper.
  • Text-to-speech software is often a vital resource for students with dyslexia to aid in reading, promote comprehension and enhance overall literacy skills. Text-to-speech converts any written text into spoken words and is popular among students who have difficulties with reading. By presenting the words auditorily, the student can focus on the meaning on the words instead of spending their energy on trying to sound out the words.

Assistive technology doesn’t cure or eliminate learning difficulties, but it can help students reach their potential because it allows them to capitalize on their strengths and lessen the impact of areas of difficulty.

Accommodations That Harm More Than Help
Because accommodations are different for every student, what works for one student may not be beneficial for another. However, there are some common accommodations that have been found to be counterproductive or hinder students’ long-term academic journey.

  • Providing additional time for assignments or tests. While some students with dyslexia may benefit from additional time, in many cases this does not address the underlying issues that create difficulties for the student. For some students, extra time can cause stress or lead to procrastination.
  • Using color overlays or special fonts. Some students with dyslexia may find it easier to read or focus by using specific colors or fonts, but this has not been proven to be an effective method for assisting reading. These adjustments may even create extra distractions for some students and make it more difficult for them to read.
  • Grouping dyslexia students together or removing students from the class for individual instruction. By isolating students with dyslexia, students are not benefiting from the diverse learning environment that is provided in the classroom with their peers. Segregating students with dyslexia from others may make students feel different, less than or discouraged.

The Difference Between Accommodations and Modifications
In education, both accommodations and modifications are strategies used to support students with disabilities. However, they serve different purposes and involve different levels of adjustments to the classroom environment and curriculum.

Accommodations:

  • Minor adjustments: Accommodations make relatively minor changes to how a student works with general education curriculum without changing the content itself.
  • Same curriculum: With accommodations, the curriculum, or core content of what is being taught to the students, is not altered. Accommodations may change how the curriculum is taught to the student or how the mastery of that content is tested.
  • Same goals: educational goals and objectives remain the same as other students.
  • Grading stays the same: Students receiving accommodations are graded on the same scale using the same criteria as their peers. Accommodations may improve a student’s performance but do not change the method of how they are graded.

Modifications:

  • Substantial changes: Modifications involve making significant changes to curriculum content, assignments or assessments and alter the expectations for the student.
  • Different curriculum: With modifications, curriculum is often adjusted to meet the student’s needs.
  • Different goals: Students with modifications will be working toward different goals and will have a lower level of expectations.
  • Grading is changed: For students with modifications, the grading scale and criteria are altered to fit the student’s adjusted goals and expectations.

How to Find Accommodations for Students
Students with dyslexia benefit greatly from appropriate, customized accommodations that enhance their learning experiences and foster confidence in their abilities. These accommodations allow them to overcome challenges associated with reading, spelling and decoding. Accommodations vary for each student and should be carefully considered with the student, parents, teachers and dyslexia therapists to ensure the success of the plan. In Texas, there are laws that protect students with learning disabilities and guarantee them the resources they need to learn effectively. If you think your student would benefit from accommodations, start by contacting your child’s teacher or dyslexia therapist. Students need an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that is created by an Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) committee to solidify their accommodations throughout their academics. Learn more about dyslexia laws, interventions and accommodations in Dyslexia 411.

Learn more about our Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders.

Hidden Signs of Dyslexia: Beyond Reading Challenges

Hidden Signs of Dyslexia: Beyond Reading Challenges

by | Oct 7, 2023 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders

Many people associate dyslexia with reading and writing problems. Although it is true that this learning disorder primarily affects reading and writing skills, children who have dyslexia may have other challenges parents and caregivers may miss. Knowing these less familiar signs of dyslexia can help you get your child the care they need early so they can succeed in school and in life.

Rhyming Words

Dyslexia causes problems with phonological processing, or the ability to hear, store, recall and make different speech sounds, according to the National Center on Improving Literacy. It also causes issues with a child’s working memory, the cognitive skill that allows them to remember and store information he or she has learned.

Children with dyslexia may not recognize that two words sound alike, or they may struggle to remember a word that rhymes with another word.

Mixing Up Letters

Children with dyslexia may confuse letters that look similar, such as:

  • “b” and “d”
  • “p” and “q”
  • “m” and “w”

This is sometimes called letter reversal, and the cause isn’t fully understood. Some children may have issues processing visual information, leading to the confusion of letters that look alike. Letter reversal can impact a child’s reading skills as well as their ability to write and spell.

Older children may confuse these letters when writing, and as a result, many people think writing backward is a sign their child has dyslexia. However, it is not uncommon for children to write letters backward as they are learning to write, even if they do not have dyslexia. 

Remembering Word or Event Order

The same challenges with working memory that can make it hard to rhyme words can also lead to difficulty remembering the steps involved in a task. Whether the task is tying shoes or doing a chore, you might see a child struggle to complete the task, do things out of order or skip steps altogether. A child with poor working memory may also have trouble learning math.

Confusing Directions

People with dyslexia may have problems with spatial reasoning, or the ability to tell left from right or up from down. All of us mix up our lefts and rights on occasion, but we can often sort it out quickly. Children with dyslexia have a consistently hard time doing so.

Common Signs of Dyslexia

As with any symptom, parents and caregivers shouldn’t jump to conclusions if their child shows these less familiar signs of dyslexia. Getting your child evaluated will allow a dyslexia expert to consider those symptoms in context with other, more common symptoms of dyslexia, which can include issues with:

  • Learning letters and the sounds they make
  • Learning to read and speak
  • Pronouncing words properly or sounding out unfamiliar words
  • Reading aloud
  • Recognizing letters of the alphabet
  • Remembering dates
  • Speaking clearly
  • Spelling
  • Understanding mathematical concepts and numbers
  • Using the correct word to describe an object

Signs of dyslexia can appear in early childhood, well before a child reaches school age. The condition can also show up as kids get older and even into adulthood.

Early intervention is crucial to help a child learn and grow, as addressing these challenges right away can make a significant difference in a child’s ability to learn to read and write effectively. As kids get older, addressing dyslexia can improve their self-esteem and help set them up for success in adulthood.

Finding out your child has dyslexia can be a lot to process. The Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia & Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children is here to help. Complete an application request today to get started.

Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia

Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia

by | Oct 3, 2023 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders

What is Take Flight? Take Flight: A Comprehensive Intervention for Students with Dyslexia is a curriculum written by the staff of the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children. Take Flight builds on the success of the three previous dyslexia intervention programs developed by the institution: Alphabetic Phonics, the Dyslexia Training Program and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children Literacy Program. The curriculum was designed for use by dyslexia therapists with children ages 7 years and older who have developmental dyslexia. The purpose was to enable students with dyslexia to achieve and maintain better word recognition, reading fluency, reading comprehension and aid in the transition from a therapy setting to ‘real world’ learning. How is Take Flight Implemented? Take Flight is designed for small group instruction (two to six students) for a minimum of 45 minutes per day, five days each week. Alternatively, the lessons can be taught for 60 minutes each day for four days a week. Take Flight includes 132 new learning days and 98 application days for a total of 230 days of direct instruction. What is included in the Take Flight Program for Students? Take Flight contains the five components of effective reading instruction supported by the National Reading Panel research meta-analysis and mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and reading comprehension. With Take Flight, students will learn all 44 sounds of the English language, 96 letter – sound correspondence rules and 87 affixes. The student will also learn spelling rules for base words and derivatives. Practice opportunities are also provided that are designed to improve oral reading fluency. Finally, Take Flight introduces comprehension and vocabulary building strategies for both narrative and expository text in the context of oral reading exercises to prepare students for successful, independent reading. Key research findings on Take Flight include:
  • Students who complete Take Flight instruction show significant growth in all areas of reading skill.
  • Follow-up research with children who completed treatment indicates that students maintain the benefits of instruction on word reading skills and continue to improve in reading comprehension.
  • Take Flight is effective when used in schools by therapists with advanced training in remediation of students with dyslexia.
  • Students with the lowest reading skills acquire the strongest gains from Take Flight instruction.
There are 109 instructors that teach Take Flight to other dyslexia therapists representing 24 training courses. Because of this work with instructors and therapists, Take Flight is servicing children in 46 states and nine countries. Our team is now reaching more than 20,000 new students with dyslexia each year. Scottish Rite for Children also offers other supplemental programs:
  • Rite Flight: A Classroom Reading Rate Program was designed for use by classroom teachers, reading specialists and special education teachers with first through eighth grade students to help students increase their reading rate and fluency. It can be used as supplemental or intervention instruction for individuals, small groups or the whole classroom.
  • Rite Flight: A Classroom Comprehension Program may be integrated into a core reading program as a supplement to address reading comprehension more completely. It is designed for use by classroom teachers, reading specialists or special education teachers with first through eighth grade students as a tool for intensified comprehension intervention for struggling readers.
  • Build: A K-1 Early Reading Intervention is a 100-lesson reading intervention.  Build is a small group intervention that addresses the five specific components of reading intervention. Each component is taught developmentally using a direct, systematic, cumulative, multisensory method of introduction and practice to meet the specific needs of kindergarten and first grade students struggling in reading.
  • Bridges: A Dyslexia Intervention Connecting Teacher, Avatar & Student is a two-year curriculum that can be taught by a certified teacher. The avatar, Ms. Hallie, co-teaches by delivering the more complex aspects of the structured dyslexia intervention. Those familiar with Take Flight know that it was designed for use by academic language therapists. Developing that expertise is a two-year process, and at times, that can become a discrepancy between the number of students identified with dyslexia and the number of trained therapists available to provide services. Bridges is the carefully considered response to the complication.
  • Jet: A Fast-Paced Reading Intervention is a one-year curriculum that builds on the success of the four previous dyslexia intervention programs developed by the staff of Scottish Rite for Children. It was developed for individuals with dyslexia fourteen years and older.
Learn more about the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders.
Share Your Story: Take Flight

Share Your Story: Take Flight

by | Oct 7, 2022 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders

Meet Levi – a patient who is seen in the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia & Learning Disorders. Learn more about his journey below.

Blog written by Levi’s dad, Josh.  

My wife Kelly and I have eight children, as young as five and as old as 24. We have homeschooled our children since our oldest daughter was in first grade.

Around the time our second oldest daughter, Grace, was in kindergarten and first grade, my wife noticed that Grace was having difficulty reading. At that time, we were living in Austin. Grace was evaluated with a local diagnostician and diagnosed with dyslexia. We worked with a local language therapist, and Grace was provided her the tools she needed to learn to read. Grace will graduate college in about a year.

A young boy is sitting at a table with lego toys on it

Levi is seven years old and our second to youngest child. When Kelly started teaching kindergarten with him, she noticed almost right away that he was having similar struggles, like Grace did when she was younger. By now, we had moved from Austin to Arlington, and we reached out to Scottish Rite for Children in Dallas.  
 
They evaluated him, and Levi was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. We were looking into finding private language therapy for him, just like we had done for our daughter, Grace. It turned out that there was an opening for Levi to do the Take Flight program at Scottish Rite starting in fall of 2021. We jumped at this chance.
 
We have seen a great deal of progress since Levi started this program. We thank God for connecting us with Scottish Rite. He loves everyone who has taught him, and he loves to learn!

Last December, Levi fell while playing basketball. He came to his Take Flight class with his arm in a sling, from the ER visit the night before. The leaders of his class were able to get us connected with some of the orthopedic experts and he was able to get the care that he needed. Turns out he had broken in his arm in three places, and Scottish Rite was just the place he needed to help treat his arm.

The Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite has been a blessing to our family, and we are incredibly thankful for the impact they are making on Levi’s life.

 

DO YOU HAVE A STORY? WE WANT TO HEAR IT! SHARE YOUR STORY WITH US.

A young boy in a suit and bow tie smiles in front of a fireplace

Scottish Rite for Children and The University of Texas at Dallas Collaborate to 
Improve Education for Children with Dyslexia

Scottish Rite for Children and The University of Texas at Dallas Collaborate to 
Improve Education for Children with Dyslexia

by | Jun 7, 2022 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders, Press Coverage

The Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children and The Center for Simulation and Synthetic Humans at The University of Texas at Dallas have joined forces on an innovative project to break down educational barriers. Dyslexia affects 20% of the population and represents 80 – 90% of all those with learning disabilities. It is the most common reading difference.
 
Since 1968, Scottish Rite has been a pioneer and international leader in the evaluation and treatment of dyslexia. Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder that is neurological in origin, affecting a child’s ability to decode words (break them down into sounds) and then sound out new words. Additional problems can include reading comprehension, reduced reading experience and impeded growth of vocabulary and background knowledge. 
 
Innovators at Scottish Rite approached Marjorie Zielke, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Simulation and Synthetic Humans UTD to develop a program that would make dyslexia intervention possible for more children. Using motion capture recording technology, Zielke’s team of researchers, artists and developers worked with Karen J. Avrit, M.Ed., LDT, CALT-QI, Director of Dyslexia Education at the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia & Learning Disorders to create Ms. Hallie, a virtual human. By recording Avrit’s precise facial movements, dictation and vocal tones, her expert teaching methods have been captured and preserved, allowing her expertise to be shared in classrooms across the country. Alongside a certified teacher, Ms. Hallie will help instruct students while using the dyslexia intervention curriculum created by Scottish Rite, Bridges: A Dyslexia Intervention Connecting Avatar, Teacher and Student. Avrit has more than 30 years of dyslexia education experience and serves as the lead author of both the Take Flight and Bridges curriculum.
 
Scottish Rite’s expertise in dyslexia education and therapist training, combined with UT Dallas’s futuristic synthetic human and simulation technology, allows Bridges to knock down barriers. Districts and schools who do not have access to specialized education or enough certified dyslexia therapists can now provide more services to those in need. Together, Avrit, Zielke and their teams are excited about the possibilities. “Bridges was the carefully considered response to the discrepancy between the number of students who need services and the number of trained therapists available to provide services,” Avrit states. “It was designed to maintain high-quality and effective research-backed dyslexia instruction.”
 
While there is no replacement for a fully trained dyslexia therapist, “this program integrates the human expert (teacher), alongside the virtual human (Ms. Hallie), ensuring that the child receives the education they deserve,” Zielke said. “This important triad is built into the name, and this technology is successful due to all three components working together.”

Learn more about our Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders.

Study Looks at Re-Injury Rate After ACL Reconstruction in Young Athletes

Study Looks at Re-Injury Rate After ACL Reconstruction in Young Athletes

by | Apr 12, 2022 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders

Wrapping up his third year as a medical student at UT Southwestern Medical School, Craig Kemper, B.B.A., has participated in several projects with the Center for Excellence in Sports Medicine research team. Kemper was the lead author on a project looking at athletes who were back to sport after an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear and reconstruction that was recently presented at the 39 annual meeting of the Mid-America Orthopaedic Association. The organization comprises orthopedic surgeons from 20 states, including Texas.

After surgery for the “primary” ACL tear, as many as 1 in 4 young athletes re-tear the reconstructed ACL or the ACL in the other knee. The rate for these “secondary” ACL tears in young athletes is a concern for researchers and clinicians in pediatric sports medicine. This review included patients seen over three years at Scottish Rite for Children for an ACL tear and reconstruction to determine whether participation in multiple sports protects against re-injury.

The 145 patients in the study were

  • an average age of 14 years.
  • 50% male, 50% female.
  • > 50% reported playing only one sport (single-sport athletes)
    • Most played soccer.
    • On average, these athletes returned to sports in fewer days than multi-sport athletes.

Kemper says young athletes continue to feel pressured to choose one sport at earlier ages to “not be left behind.” Many recommend multi-sport participation to help an athlete develop varied skills and protect from overuse injuries unique to growing children, including apophysitis and osteochondritis dissecans.

“We give this advice, but we aren’t sure if it applies to this population regarding re-injury after an ACL reconstruction,” says co-author and Medical Director of Clinical Research, Henry B. Ellis, M.D. “The time out of sports is already so long for an ACL tear, we are eager to learn all the variables that contribute to re-injury rates. Other studies have looked at surgical techniques, but this one looks at sport-participation and time to return-to-play.”

Although single-sport athletes were cleared to return to sports in a shorter time than multi-sport athletes, the analysis found no difference in the rate of secondary ACL injuries within two years of follow-up for this group. “Results like this are still helpful and give direction for future projects,” says Ellis. “More importantly, they help me as a pediatric orthopedic surgeon know how to counsel my patients.”

 

SINGLE-SPORT ATHLETES NOT EXPERIENCING INCREASE IN SECONDARY TEAR INCIDENCE DESPITE EARLIER CLEARANCE, Craig Kemper, B.B.A., K. John Wagner, III, B.S., Connor M. Carpenter, B.B.A., David E. Zimmerhanzel, B.S., Philip L. Wilson, M.D., Henry B. Ellis, M.D.

Learn more about ACL injuries on our website.