ADA-Audio Conference Series: Best Practices in Accommodating Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This audio conference is an excellent introduction to serving adult students who may have learning challenges. Please post your thoughts on the models discussed, Universal Design for Learning or other topics covered in the audio conference.

Evolution

Welcome to the Evolution Blog Site. The purpose of this blog is to create a learning community that explores, shares and considers how we serve adult learners in our programs. You will see comments on several topics - feel free to add your thoughts to any discussion or start a new discussion.

We conducted a tutor training over the weekend and over 25 people attended! I have to give them credit as 23 were college students willing to get out of bed, arrive by 9:30a.m. and participate until 3:10p.m. Of course, Sharon and I love doing these trainings - to us, the information is interesting and useful - we hope to make it so for those who participate in our trainings, visit this blog, read our newsletters, etc.

One of the best resources we use in our trainings is the FAT City video with Rick Lavoie. If you have not seen this video, you are missing out on a true immersion experience. We only show about 10 minutes of this video, and our evaluations reflect it is one of the most valuable pieces of the training. Copies are available from our library (www.ouliteracycenter.org) and through Rick Lavoie's website, www.ricklavoie.com.

In fact, Mr. Lavoie is coming to spend the day with our Literacy Center on Friday, August 7, 2009. We are hosting a Summer Symposium at Hocking College Inn where Mr. Lavoie will present for two hours in the morning and some part of the afternoon. Registration for this event will open in April; we expect a nominal registration fee of $25.

The other part of the day will be break-out sesisons that focus on your needs in the classroom. When working with children or adults with learning disabilities, about what topics do you want more information? We'll select 3-4 topics for our facilitated break-out sesions. Ideally, each group will create 2-3 objectives to achieve in the 2009-2010 school year. A Day of Reflection is scheduled for the following June (2010) to reconvene and share your experiences and findings.

Send me an email with your thoughts (totten@ohio.edu) or post comments here on this blog.

Ever on the quest for new and exciting websites here are a few dandies to take a look at:

First up is http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/African_Geography.htm. This website was discovered by our dear friend, Robbie James, formerly of the C/SE ABLE Resource Center. Take a look at this site - U.S. and world geography, animals, nutrition, videos, games - right on target with multisensory instruction.

Next, stop by www.headstrongnation.org and watch an amazing video about one man's struggle with dyslexia and how he turned it into a way to serve his community.

This next video is excellent because it gives a very clear definition of dyslexia and takes you inside schools where the Orton-Gillingham method is successfully employed:
www.thinkbright.org/dyslexia/about/default.asp

This final site has quick snippets of videos - the best one (I think) is the 16 minute video of David Chalk discussing what it was like to grow up with undiagnosed dyslexia and the impact of the diagnosis in his early forties: http://www.knowledgenetwork.ca/dyslexia/base_loader.html

Take a moment, after viewing these websites/videos and give us some feedback - what did you think? What did you learn? What difference will it make in your classroom, life, workplace, if any?

Have a great weekend, folks!
mb

On this sunny Monday...

let's discuss the second principle of instruction in the Orton-Gillingham method: Systematic and Cumulative.

From Clinical Studies of Multisensory Structured Language Education for Students with Dyslexia and Related Disorders: "Multisensory language instruction requires that the organization of material follows the logical order of the language.

The sequence must begin with the easiest and most basic elements and progress methodically to more difficult material.

Each step must also be based on those already learned. Concepts taught must be systematically reviewed to strengthen memory."

Yesterday I met with tutors that work in our Tutoring Center. We were discussing Direct Instruction and the importance of modeling behavior, specifically problem-solving strategies. I selected a word on a poster (Robinson) and modeled how I would help a student dissect that word. I began by asking the "student" if she knew the word - nicely she determined that she did not (so that made me demo much more believable!). I said, "If it was me, and trying to read a word I didn't know, the first thing I would do is name all of the letters." Then I selected a different word and named those letters. I asked the student to now, if possible, name the letters in our word, Robinson. From there I modeled making the sounds of the letters and then connecting the sounds to determine the word and had her do the same with our word.

That scaffolding technique - building on what is already known - is the main way to move information from working memory to long term memory.

Next week we'll look at Direct Instruction and maybe Diagnostic Teaching. Enjoy your students this week! Remember, create success!

Correction!

Previously, I posted a link to NIFL that I though allowed you to participate in the LD discussion list - but the link is incorrect!

Here is the correct link to register for the LD discussion list:

http://nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/learningdisabilities

Thanks!

Coping with Dyslexia

Last week I promised to discuss ways to work with dyslexic readers, briefly mentioning Orton-Gillingham (O-G) methods. I also referred to a NIFL listserv that specifically addresses learning disabilities - learningdisabilities@nifl.gov and the great discussion happening over there.

Well! The discussion has circled around the argument between a lack of empirical evidence vs. anticdotal accounts of the effectiveness of O-G. Let me give you a brief definition of O-G, the first of five Principles of Instruction, and resources. We'll come back to the argument and my thoughts at the end.

This information is from "Clinical Studies of Multisensory Structured Language Education for Students with Dyslexia and Related Disorders" published by Internaitonal Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC):

"Orton-Gillingham and/or Multisensory Structured Language Approaches: The principles of instruction and content of a multisensory structured language program are essential for effective teaching methodologies. The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) actively promotes effective teaching approaches and related clinical educaitonal intervention strategies for people with dyslexia."

Remember from our discussion last week that the basic definition of dyslexia is an inability to distinguish between sounds like /b/ and /d/ and to identfy those sounds with appropriate letters. One reader contributed this information: "Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction."

So - decoding problems, inability to differentiate sounds, and is a neurological issue.

What's a person to do?

Always begin with explicit instruction:

1. Identify what you want your student to learn.
2. Tell you student how to do it.
3. Show how to do it - model what you want your student to do.
4. Guide their application of new learning.

O-G/Multisensory breaks reading into 6 segments:
* Phonology and Phonological Awareness
* Sound-Symbol Association
* Syllable Instuction
* Morphology
* Syntax
* Semantics

O-G/Multisensory Principles of Instruction:
1. Simultaneous, Multisensory (VAKT): Teaching is done using all learning pathways in the brain (visual/auditory, kinesthetic-tactile) simultaneously in order to enhance memory and learning.
(to be discussed over the coming weeks:)
2. Systematic and Cumulative
3. Explicit Instruction
4. Diagnostic Teaching
5. Synthetic and Analytic Instruction

Let's take Principle #1 (VAKT) and apply it to the first reading segment: Phonology and Phonological Awareness.

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can be recognized as being distinct from other sounds in the language. Phonological awareness is the understanding of the internal linguistic sturcture of words, thus an important part of phonological awareness is phonemic awareness: the ability to segment words into their components sounds.

How do we apply VAKT to phonemic awareness? O-G/Multisensory instructs us to use as many of the senses that we can during instruction/learning. Here are some examples (follwoing explicit instruction)

1. Tell your student what letters/sounds you'll be working on. "Karen, our goal today is to learn the vowels /a/ and /e/, that is, how they sound and what they look like. Ready?"

2. Draw the letter a (or use flashcards) and tell your student, "This is the letter "a." When you want to remember how the letter "a" sounds, remember this key word, "apple." The letter "a" makes the first sound heard in "apple." (Exaggerate a bit here on the first sound so as to distinguish it from the next sound.)

3. Model for your student how they will read the flashcard or draw the letter. "Okay, Karen, now its your turn. Watch how I do it: "a," apple, /a/. Now you try it, "a," apple, /a/."

4. Listen carefully as your student works on the phonemes. At this point, phonemes are about the sounds the letters make and that's what we want the student to become proficient in - identifying sounds.

Other ways to used VAKT:

* Let students draw letters in sand or rice while saying the name and making the sound of the letter.
* Use magnetic letters on a cookie tray
* Demonstrate hand movements to cue the student (circle your mouth with your index finger will making the long "o" sound).

This has been a long post!

I know I promised more on the Great O-G Debate, but I'll have to make that post later in the week.

In the mean time, please share whatever you use in your classrooms with your students! What is working and what is not? What other information can we get for you on LD?