Thanks for sharing. I feel like I had the opposite experience. I am a twin, and we shared the same classes all the way through elementary school. My sister was gifted, I was not. I always felt the teachers were comparing me to her. Looking back now, they weren’t it was just me. I struggled with reading. I didn’t like reading out loud and really didn’t like reading in front of my father. He would always tell me I needed to do better. I always felt like I was one of the lower students in the class, until my senior year. The top 25% of the class was posted in the newspaper. I was number 11. I feel like, if I had known that, I would have not given up so easily.
I know in a lot of states the students aren’t screened for dyslexia until they are in third grade. I feel like this is putting them at a disadvantage. I have a friend that’s oldest son was struggling in school. They had him screened privately, and he was determined to be dyslexic. Through private intervention, he was able to learn to cope with his reading disability and is now one of the top readers in his class. His younger sister was also screened at a younger age because she showed some of the same signs as her brother. She is in first grade, and she is still having to go to private tutoring to get the assistance she needs for her dyslexia.
Thank you for sharing your story. I loved hearing how your parents supported you. I agree with finding the motivation for students. I have a student who loves music. It was always a motivating factor when completing lessons. My student knew the reward and worked hard on the activities.
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Promoting Emergent Literacy Skills (JVIB, 2018, p. 542-550)
- How might the cultural background or socioeconomic status of families impact their ability to implement the suggested strategies for promoting emergent literacy in toddlers with visual impairments?
After reading all the excellent suggestions for promoting early literacy skills, my initial thought was, “wow, this is a lot of work for a parent.” My mind began to spin when thinking about all the stress that comes with being a parent. On top of that the additional stress of parenting a child with special needs and while living in a new country or struggling to pay for food. I can’t imagine the additional stress that our parents may feel when asked about what they can do to help promote early literacy. Some of the suggestions in this article I believe would be difficult for a parent under stress to implement, such as asking questions while reading a story or dictating their daily chores. I think if with simplify the tasks for these parents then they would naturally begin to implement more as it becomes a part of their daily routine. For example, just suggesting a parent spend time looking at appropriate books with their child is less intimidating than saying that they should be asking questions to their child while reading the story. Also, parents may not recognize the habits that they already have that are helpful to their child’s developement. Just pointing out and encouraging these behaviors can go a long way to increase a stressed parent’s level of self esteem.
I understand your prospective. I do not live in an inner city, but I am in an area of Hispanic families live in multi-generational families and their struggles are financially. And the priorities are getting their families fed and a roof over their head. Many times it is a day by day. Thank you for sharing. It brings a lot to the table when students are usually just getting learning at school.
"I think it’s also extremely important to talk and treat my students as the people they are. You’ll get a better response when you acknowledge what they are going through and their frustrations. Also, if expectations are clear and I can give explanations better than it will help them in the future, I find I get more cooperation. "
I think these are very powerful points. I know with the students I teach some times they don’t get the support at home or there are many things going on at home that the students can’t or won’t share. Struggles are real. I had a student go spend a few weeks with a great grandparent this summer due to a home situation. It broke my heart, but you are right struggles are real and student feel they can’t share.
Thank you for sharing this about yourself.
Hi Melissa, I really like the point you make about remembering that not every student is going to feel comfortable about talking about their struggles. I always enjoyed school but did not feel comfortable asking for help. I try to ask my students probing questions in order to get them to open up more and be more specific about their needs. I think being able to talk to students about topics their interested in other than school helps to build a good rapport and makes it easier for the student to ask for help.
I find it very interesting that the teacher you knew chose to send her son to a specific private school for dyslexia. My initial reaction after watching the video was that I would do the same thing for my children if they had a diagnosis. The activity really helped explain the difficult decoding that needs to take place. There is not time for this within the regular school day at a public school. I currently have a student with dyslexia on my caseload who has consult for vision services. She also has a minor ocular impairment. I don’t believe her school district would qualify her for vision services if she did not have the ocular impairment. This video really helped me to have a better understanding of students like her.
Being the “average” sibling following an extremely gifted sibling in school the teacher expectations for me were quite high from the start. Teachers who modified their expectations and realigned with my needs and abilities encouraged me to grow and learn on my own path with better outcomes in the end. I have distinct memories of teachers who labeled my questions and struggles as laziness or defiance vs those who adjusted their teaching to meet my needs.
I feel my school experiences greatly influence my teaching in that I understand the need to look at each student and their unique needs.
Expectations need to be applied with compassion and common sense. For example, my fiercely independent high schooler excelled in Science this past year even though he had struggled in the past due to the classroom teacher acknowledging that while is was able to do complete labs and lab reports his needed to look differently from that of his peers. The classroom teacher differentiated not only the expected outcome, but sometimes the entire lab to make sure the student with no light perception could be an active participant. The student was given the space and encouraged to share his perceptions to various labs with the entire class. His success in this class impacted his willingness to step out of his comfort zone and try “hard” electives next year! (Any hints on adapting a Small Engines or Basic Welding class are most welcome!) Had the Science teacher listened to their peers and just let him “get what he can” we would not have had the same outcome.
Dyslexia
- Prior to viewing the module video, what were your assumptions about Dyslexia? How did the simulation activity change or contribute to your understanding of Dyslexia?
Prior to watching the video and reading the material, I was still under the misconception that Dyslexia was a visual processing problem not neurological. I had a student a few years ago that I was thinking she was Dyslexic even though she was a braille reader. She exhibited more than letter reversals; she could tell me the correct dots but still read the wrong letter. We tried many different cues and strategies. She could figure out the word with a prompt for contextual clues. She did better with the many strategies and daily practice. She was a student who did regress over breaks because she did not touch braille over breaks. Then Covid happened. She is now going into 8th grade, she still regresses over breaks but is living in our dorm during the school year. She loves braille and reading and does get pull out reading instruction. When I had her in class, I thought that dyslexia would be different for a braille reader since it was not a visual processing but a tactual processing. After reading and watching, I still think this young lady had/has dyslexia but to my knowledge she has never been evaluated for it. She likes to reread books, I think it is because it helps her comprehension, she does not have to work so hard to decode. It also helps her fluency so it is a WIN!
Reflecting on your own experiences as a student, how did teacher expectations influence your academic performance and motivation? How might you apply these insights to your own teaching practice?
I can remember two teachers (3rd and 6th grades) who influenced my education in very positive ways. Despite my struggles in learning to read and then actively reading to learn, both these teachers held high expectations for me and believed that I could do it inspite of difficulties. And to their credit, i was very successful in both high school and college. Their belief in my abilities and encouragement influenced my future for the better. I now strive to encourage and influence my students to work hard and succeed.
Hello, I also thought Dyslexia was visually based but I guess I had unconscious thought that it could also be somewhere else as well. I had read a few articles on Braille and Dyslexia. I did think I had a student who was a braille reader was Dyslexic. It changed nothing about how I taught her, I asked many colleagues for input and strategies to try. I think/hope it helped me be more patient.
I would like to give an opinion your question “Knowing that dyslexia is brain based, does learning the braille contractions help or hinder their reading process?” I don’t think it matters, we still need to teach them in their best modality. Just like in print they don’t stop teaching print if they discover the student is Dyslexic. You might bring in more auditory and add some different strategies. Oh I guess you could be asking if you should not teach contractions and only teach uncontracted braille. Well that gets into another discussion but again my opinion is no.
I have struggled with this as well. Last year, I had a gifted blind student on my caseload. Helping the teachers see that he was just as capable as everyone else was a struggle all year long. Their decreased expectaions lead to him fooling around in class instead of completing assignments.
Research tells us the ELL learners need a multi-modality approach to learning how to read. This article made me think about practical ideas to implement in the classroom such as labeling everything with word cards, such as: door, window, desk, chair, whiteboard etc. Daily exposure to these words will help students remember how to spell and say the words. This suggestion applies to “providing extra practice in reading” words. In addition, setting up reading centers with audio books, partners reading together, word wall with pictures, etc. The student’s native language could also be displayed next to the English word, this provides an opportunity for the other students to learn more about their classmate’s native language.
I agree with summarizing reading material to reduce frustration and simplify the text, highlight difficult words and provide meaning before reading the passage will help familiarize the student with the content. Encourage the ELL student to share similarities and differences between the two languages. There are many ways to be creative in order to engage the ELL students into learning how to read. Preparing lessons in advance is crucial to the success of the ELL student, do teachers feel they have enough prep time to implement these strategies?
You make some great points in your response here. For both families of lower economic status and diverse cultural background, seeking support outside the family unit may pose challenges. While schools do a great job identifying and assisting families with these challenges, a family with a toddler who is not school age may not know who or where to seek help. The toddler in this situation may lack the materials (books, toys) appropriate to their needs, while the family may not realize there are community supports available. The town in which I live has a very bustling recreation department. Although my own children do not have any special needs, I utilized “The Civic” as a means of socialization for myself and my children when they were very young. My kids were involved in Tot Music, Tot Fitness, Moms and Tots and a Preschool readiness program. These programs involved parent participation. Both me and my children made a handful of friends (still have them). As a new mom, I was able to chat with other parents. These conversations were so resourceful. I found a great home day care, learned tip ands tricks of life with a toddler. I am so grateful for our community to go above ad beyond to offer such rich programming.
Social media has been a great platform to advertise resources. Hopefully parents of low soci-economic status /diverse cultural background are aware of and can tap into local parent and community Facebook pages. Often the Early Learning Centers have social media that contain a “community section.” I realize it many be difficult or uncomfortable for some to reach out for assistance, so searching social media might be less stress inducing.
I enjoyed reading your response on how cultural backgrounds might impact literacy in children. I really encourage families to get involved in the local public library. There are a vast amount of programs and services that are free such as children programs, family movies, crafts, guest speakers etc. My local library uses an app called Libby, once you register with your library card number, you have access to download thousands of books for free. There are accessible features including font size and contrast too!
Hi Amy,
Your post made me think of several CPSE meetings I attended as a TVI and the parents were Spanish speaking. They brought an older child (sometimes teenager) into the meeting to translate and help review the student’s IEP. Our district will arrange for there to be an interpreter as well. Visiting the student’s home and providing Parent Training is beneficial in order to give parents tools to support literacy. Sometimes we expect or hope parents to do their share but we have not provided the information/tools/strategies to help them in this process.
I completely agree that many students go undiagnosed or overlooked, resulting in lack of proper intervention, or any at all. I know many school districts around my area, are struggling with their special education budget. Therefore students may be released from direct services well before they are ready.Some schools do not have teachers that are certified to provide the proper illiteracy instruction. Sadly for these kids the gap just gets bigger. From my observations of friends whose children have dyslexia, parents sometimes have to really fight and advocate for what they believe/know what their child needs. I have a friend who hired an advocate and a reading tutor. Unfortunately not all families have the knowledge or means to access this support.
Promoting Emergent Literacy Skills JVIB, 2018 p 542-550
- How might background or socio-economic status of families impact their ability to implement suggested strategies for toddlers?
As reported by Chen, D & Jamie Dote Kwan:” Emergent literacy skills develop from a child’s experiences with spoken language in social interactions, written words through storybook reading and opportunities to interact with print in the environment.” These experiences provide a foundation for conventional literacy skills (Dunst, Trivette, Masiello, Roper, Royal, 2006). Emergent literacy development of 12-42 months of age includes acquisition of first words and use of communication functions (requesting, attention getting, verbal descriptions), increased receptive and expressive language, symbols and print recognition, as well as other emergent literacy skills. the article reports on a study that showed, parents who did not have access to braille or tactile books read less than once a week with their children. Only the flip side, those that have the means, reported to read more than 1-2 times per week. Dialogue reading, or shared reading is such a valuable and impactful experience for proper literacy development. Families socio-economic and/or cultural challenges may not have the access to print/tactile rich materials. They may also not know to tap into resources, including those in their community. Schools do a great job supporting families with these challenges. Unfortunately, parents of toddler /non school age) may not be aware of what is available. Additionally reading level or competency of the parent(s) may be limited. If reading is an activity that is challenging for a caregiver, he/she may not know how to provide the child with the size experiences. Time is another issue. Parents may work one or even more jobs and might not have the time to provide literacy rich experiences for their child. Money is also a factor that may limit access to proper materials (books, toys) to participate in literacy rich experiences. Challenges with income and cultural difference may cause stress on the overall family unit. Parents that are just trying to keep afloat, might not see literacy and a top priority. They might not have the knowledge of the sequence of literacy development and may assume when the child enters school, he will get the needed experiences. They may think that this is when and where literacy acquisitive first begins. This can cause some pretty significant disadvantages and catch up.
As an itinerant teacher, I also tend to agree with you and the others who have responded to your post in that I have set high expectations for my students and I try to convey such expectations every time I work with my students. However, in observing my students in academic classes, I am often discouraged to find that the general education teachers and/or paraeducators assigned to support them in gen ed classes do not have/have not conveyed such (if any) expectations. When I start working with a new school team, I do try to emphasize how imperative it is that my students have same/similar expectations as all other students. While it is one thing if academic materials are not available/accessible, more often than not, the expectations are lowered/non-existent, due to the teacher and/or para not realizing the knowledge and skills my student is capable of because their own self-perception of what a student who is blind/has visual impairments can do is skewed.
On another note, I absolutely LOVE your idea of “rose, bud, and thorn” and plan to implement something similar with my students this year. Due to the limited time I have with my students for direct instruction, I may not do this every session - but, it may also depend on the amount of services each student receives as to whether I will do this daily, weekly, or monthly.