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Thursday, July 23, 2020

When an Otherwise Bright Child Struggles to Learn

By seven years a child should be showing all the signs that they are ready to read with the base knowledge of letters and sounds they have learned in their early ed years; learning that can come through interactive play based strategies. Most children will already have begun reading their first words and blending simple letter sounds, some will already read sentences by age seven. For some children reading comes more naturally than others, some show more interest in reading and with verily little effort will begin to read. If however, your otherwise bright 7-8 year old is struggling to learn the names of letters, having trouble connecting letters to their sounds, confusing or substituting words, having difficulty decoding (sounding out) single words, making consistent errors, reversals of letters or words after the 2nd grade (7-8 years old), is generally frustrated with school work -- especially those assignments that require reading and writing and/or rote memorization -- having problems with attention, and reading is very slow and painful, you likely have a dyslexic child.


It is estimated that 1 in 5 human beings (20%) have dyslexic brains. Dyslexia is the most common “learning disability” affecting both reading, writing, and arithmetic, yet it is the most misunderstood and largely unmet challenge in education today. Teachers colleges in the U.S. devote no significant time to the study of dyslexia and the average teacher receives practically no training in appropriate instruction methods to meet the needs of dyslexic learners. Most perplexing is the fact that most  reading intervention specialist in public schools are not equipped with appropriate training or curriculum to properly instruct dyslexic learners. The curriculum and methods that work best for dyslexic learners are also excellent curriculum for all learners, and yet American schools do not use these curriculum or methods.

Dyslexia is often referred to as a learning disability, but more accurately it is a learning difference resulting from an entirely unique brain structure, and therefore entirely unique brain processing, which can now be seen through fMRI technology. Dyslexia is a lifelong condition. Dyslexic do not grow out of dyslexia, they do not “overcome” dyslexia, instead they learn in a different way and their strengths compensate for their weaknesses. 

Dyslexia is hereditary. A family history of late reading and learning difficulties should be present, however, it is sometimes difficult for families to identify their family trait because of the poor diagnosis of dyslexia in the past and the fact that dyslexia in adults looks very different than it does in children. 

Dyslexic thinkers have both gifts and challenges, in fact, it is their unique brain structure that results in valuable brain strengths which have trade offs in early education. Dyslexia is observed in differing severity and dyslexics are often referred to as having mild, moderate or profound dyslexia. Because of the spectrum within dyslexia many child dyslexics will never have their dyslexia identified. 

The only sure way to diagnose dyslexia is to have a child thoroughly evaluated by a neuropsychologist with special training in diagnosing dyslexia. However, for most homeschooled children it is not necessary to seek a diagnosis for dyslexia since a homeschool can equip itself to meet the challenges of educating a dyslexic thinker without seeking special ed services. In cases where dyslexia is profound (severe) a diagnosis may be needed to receive accommodations in college entrance and college coursework and testing.

Early intervention and correct instruction methods can help reduce the frustration and stress a dyslexic will experience in learning but it will not eliminate it. (Read my post on the dyslexic struggle here) The best prescription beyond choosing the right instructional methods and curriculum is to educate yourself about dyslexia and be patient and persistent in your child's instruction. If you think your child might be dyslexic I would encourage you to read about dyslexia. I highly recommend the book “The Dyslexic Advantage, Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain,” by Brock L. Eide M.D. M.A. (Author), Fernette F. Eide M.D. (Author), as the place to begin.

The curriculum and teaching methods I will recommend below are excellent for children with dyslexic brains or your average brain. The good news there is that if you use these curriculum and you discover that your child is dyslexic at between 8-10 years of age (the most common period for which dyslexia is recognized due to the serious education lag that occurs in this range) you will feel confident that you have been using methods suited to their brain differences. If however, your child is not dyslexic, you will find these curriculum thorough and easy to implement. For this reason I believe these programs to be the best programs for teaching reading and writing that I have seen.

My Treasure Trove of Education Resources for Elementary ED instruction

ELA (English Language Arts):
  • All About Reading & All About Spelling: Primary Instruction is from All About Learning press, these programs are mostly direct instruction with short application activities. These programs are strong multisensory reading instruction programs based on Orton-Gillingham reading science.
  • “Writing Skills” by Diana Hanbury King: Writing Skills is a systematic incremental writing program to give your child the foundational skills necessary to become a solid writer. The lessons are easy to teach and the student will not be frustrated because the lesson are so logical in their incremental order that they feel confident in their abilities to complete the assignments. The assignments begin simply and it is not a time consuming program. For extra writing practice use supplements and creativity.
  • Handwriting Without Tears & Writing Without Tears: Handwriting Without Tears has a simple easy to learn format for handwriting, both print and script. Don't worry, the style you use when teaching handwriting does not impact the child's adult writing style. All people settle into their own writing style as adults regardless of the instruction style used in the classroom in their youth. Learning without tears has some great workbooks for extra writing enrichment and practice beyond the Writing Skills instructional program. I bet your handwriting style is verily close to one of your parents handwriting but you were taught in different schools and with different styles, that's because handwriting is more about DNA than instruction style. **If I did it again I might consider teaching cursive from the beginning instead of teaching print. They do it that way in England and it works wonderfully.
  • Explode the Code workbooks: For additional reading skill practice the explode the code workbooks are easy to use, inexpensive, and follow solid phonetic instruction.
  • Dance Mat Typing: A simple free typing program for kids that has 4 levels. Teaching typing early and consistently is extremely helpful in unleashing spelling and writing, especially for dyslexics.
  • Notability App: Is a great resource for kids when doing longer writing assignments. They can use text to type to get their ideas down and then do edit and revision right in the app. They can add pictures to their stories and reports and save their work easily.

Once they establish relatively fluent reading encourage them read quality literature that interests them. Early readers are only instructional but kids grow out of them quickly. For a late reader the early readers become a problem because they are too mature for the stories but their reading level is too low for things that would interest them more. I have found that scripture reading and the scripture readers are enjoyable for them because the stories are meaningful.

Favorite Math Curriculum & Instruction Models:
  • Math Inspirations: Emily Dyke will teach you how to teach math in a way that will build a logical thinker who is able to solve problems not just preform rote memorized algorithms. I find that her method for math is especially powerful in early ed and elementary ed because of how it builds foundations for higher level thinking. I took her teacher training and it has framed how I instruct in math every since. I have not done her program exclusively but it has made me a better teacher.
  • Teaching Textbooks: I moved my son into teaching textbooks his 3rd grade year. He had already established a strong number sense and base for arithmetic in Math Inspiration and more free form manipulative math instruction. Teaching textbooks helped him advance to middle school math and learn common instruction and testing techniques.
Favorite Math Resources:
If your child is struggling to master those basic skills -- reading, writing, and arithmetic -- be diligent and keep going but DON'T WAIT for their skills to catch up in order to expand their education into science, history and all the wonderful learning the world offers. Too often children who struggle to establish these skills loose their love of learning because the daily trod is so discouraging and difficult and without any joyful educational pursuit, education begins to feel like complete drudgery. The most difficult thing to do with a struggling learner is to give them the vision of what education really is and what they are doing all this daily tedious practice for. Show them that they can learn from hands on activities, play, audio books, and documentaries. Help them discover their strengths and develop their talents. Let technology aid your child in helping them learn what they want to learn.
Favorite History Resources:
Art:
Other Science and Technologies:
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