Each year, October is recognized worldwide as Dyslexia Awareness Month, a time to come together to raise awareness and share resources about dyslexia.
Dyslexia is one of the most common specific learning disabilities, affecting a wide range of students regardless of general intelligence or intellectual ability. Neurological in origin, dyslexia is primarily characterized by difficulty in word-level reading ability, decoding, and spelling, often due to deficits in automaticity or phonological processing. Secondary consequences may include struggles with reading comprehension and reading reluctance that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.
Research on Dyslexia
Although a cause for dyslexia is not yet known, recent advances in neuroimaging and brain research can help us understand dyslexia and how to help students with dyslexia learn how to read. Learning to read as we do today is a relatively new human phenomenon, and is one of the most complex tasks our brain can perform. In order to be a successful reader, we must repurpose parts of our brain intended for other tasks and create new pathways between them through explicit and systematic instruction (Dehaene, 2010). Though the reading process begins visually, research disproves the popular misconception that dyslexia is a visual disorder. Brain scans show us that in typical readers, the reading process quickly moves from the visual part of the brain into other areas: one that handles the meaning of the words, and another that involves the pronunciation and articulation of the words. Imaging studies of the brains of readers with dyslexia, compared to typical readers, reveal differences in the organization of this process. Primarily, dyslexic readers tend to overuse the front portion of their brain when trying to read, revealing under activation in the rear areas (Dehaene, 2010; Shaywitz, 2003).
Screening Protocols
In 2020, the Departments of Elementary and Secondary Education in collaboration with the Department of Early Education and Care issued the Massachusetts Dyslexia Guidelines in response to a newly established Massachusetts general law. This guidance requires all Massachusetts school districts to have certain early screening protocols in place for dyslexia. This screening is not new to Pentucket Regional School District, as we have had a well developed screening process in place for all students in Kindergarten through Grade 2 for a number of years.
Our screening protocol includes schoolwide administration of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) 8th Edition. This data is collected universally three times a year, but monitored more frequently for students at risk. DIBELS screens for a number of skills critical for proficient reading, including the following:
Phonological & phonemic awareness – the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structure of language
Rapid automatized naming – the ability to quickly retrieve information from phonological memory
Alphabetic principle – the ability to associate letters with sounds to read words
Word reading – the ability to fluently and accurately read words using sound-symbol correspondences and sight word recognition
Universal screening for dyslexia is a first step in identifying students who may require support in learning or further diagnostic testing. Following the screening results, we are able to notify parents and caregivers of the results, including if their child shows deficits that indicate a risk for dyslexia. Dyslexia risk refers to when a child’s skills indicate potential difficulty in learning to read. However, research in early identification of dyslexia cautions that a child’s need for intervention support to prevent future reading difficulty does not indicate a definitive diagnosis of dyslexia, nor do all students who have difficulties with the above skills have dyslexia or a specific learning disability. It is quite common for students in grades K-2 to have variability in their literacy skills.
Screen and Intervene
The same neuroimaging studies that provide insight into the dyslexic brain also show us the power of effective instruction, intervention and remediation. Our brains exhibit plasticity - they develop and change based on our environmental experiences and the instruction we receive. Research such as that by Dehaene shows that interventions that are focused on explicit, systematic and intensive phonics and phonology are able to strengthen and develop some of these neural pathways in children with dyslexia. The key is that this instruction should be in place for all students (Tier 1) - we cannot wait for students to fail before we use effective instructional strategies.
Source: Gabrieli, J. D. (2009). Dyslexia: a new synergy between education and cognitive neuroscience. Science, 325 (5938), 280–283.
Pentucket’s Tiered System of Support is intended to provide this foundation of Tier 1 instruction, while also providing more intensive and focused support to those who demonstrate the greatest need, before their reading difficulties persist and impact future academics. For students identified as at risk based on the DIBELS screener, we assess to the point of breakdown with supplemental assessments aimed at pinpointing the specific skill gaps students present with. We can then design instruction and intervention that targets these skills, whether it be from the classroom teacher or an interventionist (Reading Specialist, Literacy Interventionist, Title I Reading Teacher). These students are carefully monitored for progress, and the plan adjusted accordingly as their skills develop.
Much of this is accomplished in the general education setting. Our teachers - including classroom teachers, special education teachers, reading specialists, and speech & language pathologists- have participated in hundreds of hours of professional development focused on early literacy and implementing evidence based curricular materials through the Massachusetts Early Grades Literacy Grant. In Pentucket, we use Heggerty Phonological Awareness and Fundations phonics curricula in grades K-2 for all students (Tier 1), as well as Wit & Wisdom ELA that focuses on oral language, comprehension, and grade level vocabulary building. Through this comprehensive approach, students develop strong foundational literacy skills, as well as the knowledge and vocabulary to be proficient comprehenders of grade level text.
Second grade Fundations Kindergarten Heggerty Phonological Awareness phonics sound drill lesson
The main intent of our system is to provide high quality classroom instruction combined with early intervention that is focused and targeted where needed. This targeted instruction and structured literacy approach not only benefits students with dyslexia or reading difficulties, but all students in our schools. With the right support, every child can learn to read.
To watch a short video by Pentucket Staff that explains Dyslexia Screening and how we will support students with early literacy through a Tiered System, click this link: https://bit.ly/3AHuLzK
Of course for some students who do meet the criteria for dyslexia and demonstrate challenges with the phonological process of reading, specialized instruction does become a key part of their education. While we carefully monitor each student’s growth and response to both the general education curriculum and any additional targeted intervention, some students will require specialized instruction. Pentucket has trained dozens of our Special Education teachers in a few different programs and methods that are known to be highly effective for addressing the varying needs of students with dyslexia. Direct, systematic and explicit instruction in the programs such as Wilson, LIPPS and the Orton-Gillingham method are used and matched appropriately to the specific needs of the students. These specific programs and methodologies are intensive in nature but also most effective when the students continue to be engaged in Tier 1 classroom instruction that is designed and delivered to be accessible for students with dyslexia, as Pentucket is working to do.
Success for Students
Being diagnosed with dyslexia does not mean you won’t learn to read. In fact, many people receive the proper intervention and support and become fluent and proficient readers. People with dyslexia have intelligence levels that mirror the population of non-dyslexic people and they enter fields of all types, living highly successful lives. Early intervention is a key factor and that is the goal of Pentucket. While some of the early stages of learning to read can be frustrating, success does occur. In fact many famous people, including some actors and athletes, have been diagnosed with dyslexia but also even some of our most brilliant minds in history, like Albert Einstein, who has been thought to have had dyslexia. You can read more about them here.
We have learned a great deal about how the brain learns to read and more specifically how we can best help those who have dyslexia. It is nothing to fear and generally speaking, good instruction that works for those who do not have dyslexia is what students with dyslexia need as well. That is direct, systematic and explicit instruction that builds the phonological skills needed. For students with dyslexia, it is just that they need more of it or more focused on the area of need. So in recognition of Dyslexia Awareness month - Go Red! And let's continue the work to support all of our readers, learning more together and problem solving together.
Jen Hogan
Literacy Coach & Coordinator
Brent Conway
Assistant Superintendent
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