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Are Academic Accommodations Fair?

Many parents, teachers and administrators worry about whether academic accommodations offer an unfair advantage to some students. They are concerned that providing services such as extended time on tests, the use of a computer with a spell check, a reader or a copy of the teacher's notes provides an uneven playing field. Fair Shouldn't be About All Students Getting the Same Thing: If all students came to the classroom with the same brains and experiences, offering them equivalent expectations and an identical curriculum would make sense. However, that is not even close to the truth. In fact, each student offers diverse strengths and weaknesses, developmental levels, experiences and abilities. As a result, fair shouldn't be about all students getting the same things. Fair is that each student gets what he or she needs to learn. So How Can a Student Get an Accommodation if This is What They Need to Learn? The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Sect...

Using Tiled Floor to Create a Coordinate Plane Game

I love to use stairs and tiled floors when teaching math concepts. In fact, I integrate as much movement and games as possible into my lessons with students. This week, I will present my rationale and share a specific kinesthetic and playful strategy for teaching the coordinate plane. Although many educators recognize the connection between learning, movement and games, many dismiss the correlation once children get beyond first and second grade. I propose we are never to old to move and play! Movement Improves Learning for 4 Reasons: It feeds the brain by increasing blood flow and oxygen. It improves attention, alertness and motivation by uniting the brain and body. It helps nerve cells to bind together, which is the basis for learning new information. It triggers the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus which is an area of the brain that is used for memory and learning. Games and "Play" Boosts Learning: Studies also suggest...

Nurturing Lifetime Success for Students with Learning Disabilities

There are many successful adults with learning disabilities, but what are the common traits that these people share? A 20-year research study by the Frostig Center in Pasadena, California answered this question and they identified 6 key attributes that contribute to success. The Six Key Attributes to Success for Adults with Learning Disabilities: Self-Awareness: Understanding one's strengths and weaknesses is an important indicator of success because students can learn to utilize their strong abilities and, with the right support, deficits can be remediated. One of the best ways to define difficulties and talents is by pursuing a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation and then working with a learning specialist or educational therapist on remedial methods and compensatory learning strategies. Proactivity: Learning that we can control our future and that we can affect the outcome of our lives is another earmark of future success. Individuals that are proactive mak...

Multiples and LCM Made Easy with Millipedes

Over the years, I have found that students struggle remembering how to find multiples as well as least common multiples. Somehow the wording doesn't cue them into the process that they must execute to solve the math problems. As a result, I continually associate multiples with millipedes and use the alliteration, multiple millipedes to help them recall and even visualize the process. To make the process easier, I have created a new publication (a document and PowerPoint) - Multiples and LCM Made Easy with Millipedes . This product includes a PowerPoint lesson, as well as a comprehensive document that includes embedded memory strategies, step by step instruction, practice problems, a coloring activity, and an interactive game so that students can receive the practice they need while having fun. Now students can learn the concept once and continue to remember the process over time. Click Here to learn more. Cheers, Dr. Erica Warren Dr. Erica Warren is the author, il...

Free Text to Speech Software Can Help Students Edit Papers

Text to speech software is a valuable tool that comes for free on all Mac computers, and now a number of free apps make this technology available at no cost for PC users too. Text to speech has been used as an accommodation for struggling readers, but did you know that it is also an advantageous device for writers too? In fact, I often teach my students how to use this technology to help them edit their written language. What is Text to Speech Software? Text to Speech software is a form of speech synthesis that converts text to a spoken computerized voice. This technology was originally created to aid those with vision impairments so that they could hear the written text. How can Text to Speech Help Students Edit Their Writing? Many students struggle to edit their own work because when they go back to refine their text, they often glide over mishaps and read it as they meant to write it. Furthermore, there are many errors that are easy to make but difficult to see. For...

Key Reason Dyslexics and Struggling Readers Hate to Read

Imagine going to the movies with your eyes closed. How much of the movie would you understand? How much of the storyline would you recall? Not much, and it probably wouldn't be very engaging. In fact, you may begin to focus on the smells and the sounds of people crunching on popcorn. Your thoughts might wander, and you could even fall asleep. Many struggling readers have a similar experience when they open a book. They get little to no visuals in their mind's eye while reading, they report that it is difficult to maintain attention and many complain that the process is boring. Others purport to have a "blind mind's eye" and are amazed to learn that it is possible to create mental imagery while decoding text. Why Does This Happen? The average reader puts 20% of their cognitive effort into decoding and 80% into the visualization and comprehension of the text. However, most struggling readers put 80% of their cognitive effort into the decoding process, l...

Successful Educational Therapy Remediation: Learning How Each Student Thinks

Every student processes information and learns differently because we each have our own, individual cognitive makeup as well as strengths and weaknesses. As a result, the key to successful remedial outcomes is to celebrate, understand, and accommodate the unique ways that each student thinks. How Can Educational Therapists and Learning Specialists Uncover How Each Student Thinks? There are a number of things that professionals can do to reveal how each individual processes information. Read comprehensive psycho-educational evaluations and progress reports. Talk to parents, teachers and other professionals that know this student well. Ask the student. What Valuable Information Can Be Gained From Prior Testing and Reports? A comprehensive psycho-educational evaluation can help uncover each student's strengths as well as their areas of challenge. On the one hand, by focusing on strengths, professionals can help students to develop compensatory learnin...

Early Literacy: Letter, Number and Shape Challenges

Occasionally, I get inquiries from other learning specialists in the field that have difficult cases. Recently, a director of a tutoring academy asked me a question about a new student, and I thought I would share our correspondence for this week's blog post. Names have been altered to preserve anonymity. Dear Erica: I have a question about a new case. When I first contacted you about two years ago, it was because I had a little 5-year-old girl who was way behind. Your guidance really helped me. Anyway her first cousin has come to us. The girl turned 4 in June, and she is having a number of issues. She has no number recognition and no letter recognition, except the letter "A" - because her name is Alice. She does recognize most of the basic shapes. However, she can only trace, but not copy them. I asked her to write her name, but all letters were illegible - but the letter A. I'm not sure it was even her name. She knew all her colors, but blue, which ...

Slow and Labored Reading: Causes and Solutions for Dyslexia and More

Slow and labored reading can make schooling a drag for many bright students, and in order to truly help these struggling learners, teachers and support personnel need to understand the root causes. The problem is that each student has their own unique contributing factors. As a result, the best way to serve each student is to begin with an investigation. What are the Three Main Causes of Slow and Labored Reading? Three main causes of slow reading. 1) Cognitive - Deficits or weaknesses in key cognitive processing areas can point to a root cause of slow and labored reading. Common areas of deficit that can impact reading speed are: Auditory processing Visual processing Memory Processing speed Executive functioning and attention 2) Physical - Discomfort in the physical process can also make the process of reading difficult and it can minimize the practice needed. For some learners, the reading process is: Exhausting: Some report that reading is wearisome for t...

Dyslexia Strategies: Improving Your Memory for Names

I think we are all familiar with the embarrassment of occasionally forgetting a person's name. However, this is a common difficulty for individuals with dyslexia, and it is called a word retrieval or word finding difficulty. They may know someone's or something's name one day, but are unable to access the same information the next. What Causes One to Forget Names? There are four factors that can impact one's ability to encode and then retrieve a name. Environmental Factors that impact the senses can pull one's attention away from a learning experience. Auditory distractions such as a noisy environment can make it difficult to encode new information. Visual distractions, like kids playing outside the window, can also pull one's attention away from the present moment. Physical distractions, such a a touch or someone jogging the table can also complete for one's attention. Olfactory distractions, like the smells of lunch cooking can also div...

Back to School Checklist for Parents

Getting prepared for the upcoming school year can be a complicated task that involves gathering school supplies, connecting with new teachers and administrators, establishing individual needs, creating house rules and routines, coordinating nutritious meals and snacks, and arranging any needed accommodations. To help with the process, I have created the following checklist: Stock Up on School Supplies Check the school website or call to inquire about of list of required supplies. Find out whether students will store supplies at school or bring them home each day. See if the school will allow you to get an extra copy of all textbooks for use at home. If not, you can usually find used copies on the internet. Plan to be Involved Mark school events on the family calendar. Attend back-to-school meetings. Schedule and attend parent-teacher conferences. Find out the best way to communicate with each teacher – phone, email or note. Find out from each tea...

Are We Grading or Degrading our Students? Let's Shift Paradigms

Over the 15 years that I have worked as a learning specialist and educational therapist, I have never had a student come into my office with a poor test grade and ask me to help them to learn the material that they clearly did not master. Instead of nurturing a desire to learn, our current paradigm instills a fear of failure. As a result, when a student receives what they believe to be a poor grade on a test or assignment, they often feel degraded and ashamed. Oftentimes, these tests and assignments are hidden or thrown away, and learning takes a nosedive. In fact, when a student does unexpectedly poorly on a test, they are often so mortified that they learn little to nothing the rest of the day. Instead they tend to internally ruminate and stress about the grade. Sadly, it is the high test grades that students love to share and celebrate, as students quickly learn that they are rewarded for perfection. Traditional Grading Only Points Out the Errors: When teachers limit ...

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