Module 6 - Keli Gilliam

Before/During/After Strategies:

            The Before/During/After Strategy that I did was the SQ3R.  This strategy helped me understand the text by reading it critically.

SQ3R

S:   This section is about reading/learning disabilities how reading instruction is affected by it.

Q:    1. Who is learning disabled?

          2. What interventions are there for reading/learning disabled students?

          3. How can literacy development be supported in students dyslexia?

R:  READ

R:    1. There is not a common definition for a learning disabled student. The most common definition would be an underperforming student.  More often than not, a child labeled as “learning disabled” depends upon the performance of the school itself.

          2. There are many different kinds of interventions:

               *Preventive Interventions:  pre-K and kindergarten fall into this category.  Preventative interventions provide an opportunity to identify potential problems before they become major issues.

                *Acceleration Designs:  anything from correcting problems in the classroom, tutoring, or having reading specialists work with students.

          3. Dyslexic students need teachers who understand the disorder, who can then give explicit, intense, systematic instruction in the sound structure of language. How sounds relate to letters is also a very important concept for teachers to teach.

R:    The label learning disabled can vary considerably from school to school or district to district.  Some students may need very little support in order to succeed, while others might need much more.  A reading specialist should be very aware of labels and look at the specific reasons as to why that particular student is not successful in learning to read.

MODULE 6 REFLECTION:

           

Important Concepts:

a) There is no actual "cure" for dyslexia. It is a lifelong condition that goes through adulthood and even affects people into old age. It is a disorder involving processes in the brain in certain areas of the brain and can be identified with an MRI. Particular types of instruction are needed for those diagnosed with this disorder, so it is not to say a person with this disability cannot learn to read. In fact, they can become successful at it.  <----- I didn't know all this! 

 

b) It's crazy to me that there is no specific test that is common everywhere in order to assess for learning disabilities. It just varies from school to school.

 

c) Preventive programs need to focus on pre-school and kindergarten programs, offering more experiences with print, stories and literate talk. Family support, story hours in the evenings, and parent training in dialogic reading would be a good start.

Implementation:

For my 8th graders, since I have a wide range of readers, all the way from 3rd grade reading level to college level readers, I tend to use a variety of strategies to ensure they all get their needs met when we read or write.  Hopefully, these strategies will help them in their writing as well as reading. I have a lot of students who are labeled "learning disabled" in my English classes. Therefore, I have to meet all their educational needs. I modify work, and give them strategies to help them understand text and use graphic organizers as well.