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Thursday stream 5 Session 16.10 - 17.25 Length 25 minutes
Judith S. Amatangelo , Duke Roberson , Tamye Roberson and Stacye Roberson
Professor of ECE; Professor of Special Education, Austin, Texas; (2) Educational Diagnostician, Director of Special Education, and Vice-President of the Austin, Texas Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, Austin, Texas; (3) , Special Education Teacher for Dyslexic Children (4)16 year-old Dyslexic Student amatangelo@prodigy.net
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First to present an in-depth look at the 'gifts of dyslexia' via single-subject research design and analysis and secondly to present within the context of this presentation a firsthand look at best practices for teachers, administrators, exceptional student populations and parents of dyslexic children with respect to assessment (going beyond the element of standard deviation and delving into more descriptive program designs to meet the individual needs of dyslexic students) and interventions (inclusive of phonics based, multi-sensory reading programs). Central to this presentation will be a discussion of the significant variables sited which have impacted positive outcomes based upon data noted from a 16 year-old dyslexic student, her mother, a special education teacher for dyslexic children and her dyslexic father, an educational diagnostician, director of special education and vice president of the Austin, Texas branch of the International Dyslexia Association, Austin, Texas. Here, the audience will experience firsthand from this family's perspective, data to be generalized across family boundaries for long-term, lifelong, successful outcomes. Social and emotional aspects are inclusive. A portion of a videotaped production of best practices for dyslexic students from the student's perspective will be presented and shared.
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First to provide insights into best practice and secondly to establish a foundation of knowledge for the audience to consider as they address the specific needs and concerns under their own jurisdiction.
When considering best practice issues, where does one begin? It is our belief that it is pertinent to begin with the Dyslexic child. Therefore, consider the following passages. The first is that of a sixteen-year-old's thoughts pertaining to their dyslexic disability. The second is a summary from an 18 year-old dyslexic pertaining to factors that impacted her success. And thirdly, an excerpt from a conversation with a 24 year old dyslexic adult regarding the significant factors that made a difference in his life from childhood through adulthood follows. The latter two are inclusive of on going single subject research.
SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD'S THOUGHTS PERTAINING TO THEIR DYSLEXIC DISABILITY
Life with dyslexia is unlike no other. Being the only one in your classes that can't read really hurts not only the child's pride but their self esteem as well. There are two ways to go about it, thinking of this disability as a handicap or you can think of it as a gift and figure out how to use it to your advantage, like being able to show other students how to deal and cope. It is a day to day challenge. Some days the words move all over the paper and other days they are backwards or they may not be there at all. I was diagnosed with a reading disability in Reading and Language Arts due in part to Dyslexia in the second grade and it was very hard for a seven year old to understand why she couldn't read but all of her friends could. Some of my earliest memories are of trying to read a book and not being able to. Homework would be a battle every night, my mother and father would get so disgusted with me, as well as I with myself, but no matter what I would do I could not read. I would know my vocabulary words one night and then the next night I did not know them at all. I was in class one day and being the out spoken child I was, I started to argue with the teacher over the number 46. I thought it was 64. This was not the first time something like this happened to me. My teacher told my mother who taught down the hall from my room. My parents knew there was a problem and at that time decided to have me tested for a learning disability and, guess what, I am!
Through the years it was something that I didn't talk about, it was something that I didn't like. I didn't want anyone to know, I thought that they would think I was different, which I was. I remember hiding in the hall until it was clear and no one was in the hall and then I would run to a special reading class my parents had fought the school district for me to attend. As I got older the reading classes continued. The only really bad part was the classes were always held way away from the main building. It was as if the school district would seem to say the farther away we can get these kids the better. It was as if they thought we could not learn. Again my parents stepped in and our class was moved into a main building. This year I had a Speech class. I wrote a speech on Democracy. I remember the principal coming in and listening to me give my speech and he could not believe what I wrote or how well I spoke. I wanted to say, "See, I am just like everyone else. I can learn just like everyone else. Just give me teachers who are trained in teaching Dyslexics and care about me and I can learn.
Later on life was not such a bad thing. My parents were the saving grace of my life. They fought for everything I needed to teach me how to read. I was in special classes. I thought it was so boring but now I wonder what would I have done if I would not have been in those classes. My parents taught me how to fight for myself and to be a self-advocate.
I use myself now as a model for other kids that have to deal with this. It is so common you just have to look around and I bet you will find 1 person in a group of 5 who has dyslexia. Some of us are more severe than others. It's not a big deal, it just made me different in the way I learn, and I figured this out when I was in high school. I was always into sports, I played everything but there was one thing that I stood out in and that was soccer. Soccer was a way for me to take my frustrations out... What I could not do in a classroom I could make up on the field. I enjoy public speaking. I can get a point across verbally with no problem. I am a typical 16 year old girl who loves shopping, talking on the phone, being with my friends and listening to the radio. Life does not stop with dyslexia, because I choose to attack it head on, many positive opportunities have come out of it for me.
SUMMARY FROM AN 18-YEAR-OLD DYSLEXIC PERTAINING TO FACTORS THAT IMPACTED HER LIFE
I cannot believe it! In just a few months, I will be finished with school! Cool! I will then be a senior in high school. I am looking forward to my last year of high school. It will help me to reach my goals. Even though I don't like to admit it, mom and dad really did help me get this far. We might not have much but I know I do have one thing that a lot of kids don't have and that is parents who stuck by me to help me out. I don't think I would have gotten as far as I did without my mom and without my dad. They sat with did whatever the teachers told them too. We worked together. My handwriting is horrible. But they never gave up on me. I can read much better now. I had some fantastic teachers. I guess I was lucky.
EXCERPT FROM A CONVERSATION WITH A 24-YEAR-OLD DYSLEXIC ADULT REGARDING THE SIGNIFICANT FACTORS THAT MADE A DIFFERENCE IN HIS LIFE FROM CHILDHOOD THROUGH ADULTHOOD
Being a counselor for first-time incarcerated youth is never dull. I can relate to a lot of the guys here because many of them are misunderstood just the way I was misunderstood. Some were even made fun of and even made a fool of when they were kids. I can remember when I was around 8 years-old. I remember my mother thinking about why I just didn't have any friends. I felt bad for my mom and actually I wanted friends not really for myself but for my mom so that she wouldn't feel so bad that I didn't have any friends. Does that make sense? I remember some boys from the neighborhood knocking on our door and asking my mom if I could come out to play. I really didn't want to go because I knew what they were going to do. But, for my mom's sake, I went. As soon as I went out, they ran in the backyard. I followed. Then it happened. I felt one boy push me down and telling me to get on the ground and act like a donkey cause that was what I was: a real donkey head! I held back the tears as each kid took a turn 'riding me.' This went on for about five minutes as I remember but it felt like an eternity. Finally I just couldn't take it anymore and I pushed one of the kids off my back. When I picked myself up and started to run towards the house, I could see my mom's face from the window watching me. When I got closer I could see she was crying too. Years later, I asked her about that day. She told me she was so happy to see me playing with my friends and she didn't realize what exactly was going on out there at first. Once she did, she opened the window to listen. She told me it was too late to stop them for at that point I had already pushed the kid off my back and began running towards the house. It seems like I always had kids making fun of me because I was the one who couldn't read! I was the one who would always get it wrong. I was the donkey head. Please do not misunderstand. I am not feeling sorry for myself. I am just telling you what it felt like to be made fun of because I couldn't read. I felt worse for my mom and dad having to deal with the fact that I couldn't read than I did for myself and that is the truth. I didn't really want to talk about what had really happened at school because I knew it would hurt them. I could see the anxiety it caused them. I have a sister who has done really well for herself. She even has her masters degree now. I have only a few classes left and then I will have my bachelor's degree. It has taken me this long to get it though. I really want this degree. I know a lot of those kids who made fun of me in school didn't even get a chance to go to college. I want to show them that I am not the donkey head that they made me out to be. I want them to know that I am not stupid.
Maybe the next time they have a high school reunion, I will be able to face them all and go. I must give credit to where credit is due. My dad and my mother both gave me a lot of time. My dad took me to swimming lessons every night for at least six months so that I could pass my lifeguard test. He wanted to help me to achieve a goal of being an Eagle Scout. I did it! I think one of the main reasons why I was made fun of was because of my clumsiness. I would sometimes trip. Well all that is behind me. I am glad I am who I am. I think the painful past made me strong but I wouldn't wish what I went through on my worst enemy.
One might ask, why are these excerpts significant? What can we learn from them? The single-subject research conducted thus far has revealed some significant parameters to consider when working with dyslexic children. It is upon these parameters that we can begin to build a platform for best practice. Again, we must begin by listening to the 'children.'
To date, the most significant factor revealed pertaining to a dyslexic child's success is attitude. Closely related to and almost as equally as important is the parental support a child receives. Socio-economic issues do not seem to impact the outcomes for success for this population. In short, it appears that a parent's income and social status do not show a significant impact upon a dyslexic child's success. Instead, it appears to be dependent upon the parent's input and the parent's support of the child's needs. This study remains in progress. However, it is interesting to note that data analyzed to date strongly indicates the importance of parental support and input towards helping the child to succeed. It would also appear that a significant investment in time has a strong impact upon the child's attitude for success and socially economic status is not a significant variable impacting the child's attitude for success.
From the child, we move towards two additional areas inclusive of instruction and administration providing insights into what we believe to be best practice.
INSTRUCTIONAL BELIEFS
Due to their inability to generalize concepts, a multi-sensory kinesthetic approach to teaching dyslexic students is critical, where students are taught in a meaningful and concrete fashion establishing a language base upon which to build. Repetition provides windows of opportunities for dyslexic students to view how language is built. A-B-C- order is taught at the onset along with phonemic awareness of language. Students begin to distinguish words by, for example moving a marker every time a different word is stated. This same approach is implemented when teaching syllables and then separate sounds. Phonics, writing (cursive), oral and written spelling and reading are all taught simultaneously. For example, when teaching the letter /i/, recognition of the letter /i/ is taught followed by teaching the sound of the letter /i/, a key word and picture associated with the letter /i/, how to write the letter /i/ in cursive, spell letter /i/and read the letter /i/ follows after which /t/ and /p/ are taught in the same manner. Students begin to blend letter sounds together to read a word. The remaining sounds are taught in a specific order. Repetitious stories with blanks where the students put their name in the story are used to teach basic sight words. The student first makes a word card depicting the word to be learned. Refer to the example below for teaching the word, /go/.
Example: Go
Everyday words are reviewed from previous lessons. Students use these words in their daily journal, spelling and reading. Using the student's name in the stories provides a sense of ownership and in many cases results in a willingness to learn. Once the student has some sight vocabulary and has developed the skill of sound blending, students may choose their own books at their level with controlled vocabulary. The pictures should relate to the printed context. It is believed that students need a chance to be able to apply what they have been taught in a meaningful fashion. Thus, although many of the programs designed to teach dyslexics do not have a reading component or a high interests reading component where reading makes sense, a reading component as noted here in is essential to form the cognitive links upon which to build.
When teaching writing, for example, the single personal pronoun, /I/ is taught in cursive so the student feels the movement. Initially it is modeled, then we 'sky write' the letter several times using a hand writing frame on large unlined paper where the student says the letter and sound and writes it. The student also says the key word and sound and writes the letter with model and from memory. There is always a daily review of letters, letter sounds and spelling of sounds.
Additional suggestions and modifications include:
ADMINISTRATIVE BELIEFS
Understanding the disability is the key to serving the disability. In this case, the disability of dyslexia is more normal than it is different. Managers cannot manage what they do not understand. Thus, it is essential for administrators to thoroughly understand the educational programs for dyslexic students. Knowledge of the disability and knowledge of the remedial process itself is critical. The key to successful management is to know your product. In this case it is inclusive of the students, parents, teachers, and academics. The students are the consumers. Through proper consumption of the educational process by the students you satisfy the needs of the parents.
Administrators must realize that with respect to intellectual capacity, the dyslexic child's IQ is probably not lower than average and ranges into the gifted IQ range. Thus, it is essential for teachers to meet the strengths of the individual dyslexic child,while supporting the weaknesses with modifications. The three greatest strengths that a dyslexic child needs for success are as follows:
Therefore, the administrator must encourage and support programs which manifest these strengths and programs which encourage and train for advocacy.
Perhaps the administrator's role, the teacher's role and the needs of the dyslexic student can best be summarized by the following list of statements indicative of what we believe to be best practice for dyslexic populations:
Contact information:
Judith Amatangelo
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