NANCY BAILEY: Why Do So Many Children Have Dyslexia? What is it Exactly?

Why Do So Many Children Have Dyslexia? What is it Exactly?

Why Do So Many Children Have Dyslexia? What is it Exactly?

Many parents and educators raise concerns about dyslexia, and some are pushing for state laws for students with dyslexia in schools.

But why do so many children have dyslexia? What is it exactly? What causes it?

Prevalence

LD Online states that a staggering 5 to 15 percent of Americans—14.5 to 43.5 million children and adults—have dyslexia, a learning disability that makes it difficult to read, write, and spell, no matter how hard the person tries or how intelligent he or she is. 

The British Dyslexia Association claims the number of individuals with dyslexia in the UK; they call a lifelong condition, is around 10 percent.

The Dyslexia International Association states…perhaps as many as 15–20% of the population as a whole—have some of the symptoms of dyslexia, including slow or inaccurate reading, poor spelling, poor writing, or mixing up similar words.

That’s a lot of people who struggle to read, but why?

What is Dyslexia? 

The International Dyslexia Association says they need to create a new definition. We now know that dyslexia is real; we know what it is and what to do about it. Is CONTINUE READING: Why Do So Many Children Have Dyslexia? What is it Exactly?

Russ on Reading: Reading Aloud for Better Human Understanding: Asian-American Picture Books

Russ on Reading: Reading Aloud for Better Human Understanding: Asian-American Picture Books

Reading Aloud for Better Human Understanding: Asian-American Picture Books

Prejudice and hate crimes against Asian-Americans are not new in the United States, unfortunately, but the recent increase in bias related crimes against this segment of the American population reminds us that anti-bias efforts remain critical. The need to address the issues head on is made doubly important when political leaders are among the principal spreaders of this unreasoned hatred. One way to combat prejudice is through knowledge and understanding and one good way to spread knowledge and understanding is through a good book. Here are some great picture books that will help young readers learn about their Asian-American classmates and neighbors.

Long one of my favorite read alouds for children in grades 2-5, Angel Child, Dragon Child, by Michelle Maria Serat, with pictures by Vo-Dinh Mai, tells the story of Ut, recently arrived in the United States from Vietnam. Ut is teased by her new classmates for her different language and different clothes. School is a sad, dispiriting experience and home is a place where she misses her mother who has not made the journey with the family. Ut eventually makes an unlikely friend at school, a boy who was her chief tormentor, and the school community eventually unites around Ut and her family. Wonderful soft pencil and watercolor CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: Reading Aloud for Better Human Understanding: Asian-American Picture Books

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Chose Monday: Books and Understanding

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Chose Monday: Books and Understanding

Donors Chose Monday: Books and Understanding

 Donors Choose lets you set up filters, so that you can focus on what you choose. The most obvious is a geographic one that allows you to find classrooms in your area looking for help. But you can also set for the types of classrooms and the types of resources, as well as setting (as I usually do) for rural schools.

So one of the classrooms chosen for this week is Ms. McCord's at Allegheny-Clarion Valley Elementary School in Foxburg PA (a cool little town to visit if you're ever in the neighborhood). She's teaching third graders, and she'd like to expand the library for both reading and developing some human-being skills

With your support, I can help my students build character and spread kindness that will reach beyond the walls of my classroom. With purposeful teaching of social-emotional lessons with associated literacy, I am hoping that my students will grow both academically and emotionally.

Mrs. Fanning in Cordova, South Carolina, is looking for similar help. She's another teacher of rural poor students who is looking for some social and emotional learning to go with the literacy

There are many wonderful books available today that can help our students understand and state their feelings and I want them to be able to relate to characters in books that might be feeling like they are.

These books will be read aloud to students who are face to face for learning as well as students who remain virtual. While reading these books, we will be able to discuss our feelings as well as learn ways to be kind to others.

As always, I invite you to contribute to these classrooms, or search for others on Donors Choose, or donate to a local classroom. Stimulus money may trickle down to classrooms, but it's not going to get there this week. If you can share, that's a great thing.

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Chose Monday: Books and Understanding

Teacher Tom: In the End the Goal is Not Literacy, It's Understanding

Teacher Tom: In the End the Goal is Not Literacy, It's Understanding

In the End the Goal is Not Literacy, It's Understanding

I write every day, publishing here and in other forums like Medium, Edutopia, and other places, not to mention my two books. Yesterday, I wrote a post that might be considered a bit dismissive of writing, but please don't let that make you think that I don't value the written word. I'm a product of it, as are you, but it has its limitations, severe ones, in that one can never really say what one wants to say, only come as close as possible.

Like everyone who writes, which is most of us at one time or another, I sometimes write to convey information, persuade, entertain, or preserve something, but the primary reason I strive to put things into words is so that I can know what I think. This, of course, is the opposite of how we "teach" children to write. They are taught to start with a thesis, build their case, then end with a pre-determined conclusion. In other words, they are to think before they write, which, as the old woman quoted by E.M. Forester in his book Aspects of the Novel, "Good gracious! What rubbish! How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?"

For me, the process of writing is, in many ways, my process of thinking and that is what usually happens here on this blog. Sure, I try to go back and tidy things up a bit to make it presentable before hitting the "Publish" button, and I can't CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: In the End the Goal is Not Literacy, It's Understanding