Education Station

What are Executive Skills Disorders?

Many students, particularly students with learning disabilities, ADHD, Dyslexia and Dysgraphia, struggle upon entering middle school and high school. All at once, the student must shift from learning the specific academic skills of reading, writing and math to applying their academic skills in the content area. They now must be prepared to do literary analysis, report writing, and the reasoning of higher level math. Tackling this next learning step requires the student to draw upon the executive skills of prioritizing, multi-tasking, and time management. The struggle to garner one’s executive skills is frequently observed in these types of behaviors:

• Does homework, but forgets to turn it in
• Loses assignments
• Forgets materials
• Gets good test scores but loses points on daily homework grades
• Ignores or dreads homework

If this sounds familiar, the child's executive skills are likely not up to these tasks.

The executive control needed to handle these organizational demand increases dramatically upon entering middle and high school. Yet, the organizational support a student needs to learn these skills actually decreases. Consequently, many children with weak executive skills require direct instruction and individualized instructional support to manage the routine of studying, note taking, and homework.

Educators at Child and Family Development are experienced in working with these middle school and high school students who struggle.

What if my child tests “out-of” her dyslexia?

This is a question recently posed by concerned parents. They knew that their child would continue to struggle with specific features of dyslexia even when older. Although her reading decoding was stable and reading comprehension was fine, the speed or automaticity of reading was an ongoing problem for her. She read accurately but slowly. They were concerned that the accommodation such as extended test time would not be granted if the test “numbers” obtained on a subsequent evaluation did not reveal a learning disability “discrepancy” that would support the presence of her dyslexia.

The research on dyslexia is clear: Dyslexia persists through out the life span of an individual once diagnosed with dyslexia. Longitudinal studies* support the persistence of Dyslexia in adolescents and young adults. Specifically, reading speed remains delayed. Dyslexic individuals continue to require time to input the visual word, decode the word and gain automatic meaning. Although the decoding process may no longer be an issue, the speed of decoding generally remains a slower, tedious process for the dyslexic student and adult. Dyslexia, once appropriately diagnosed, persists through life. Dyslexia does not “go away”!

*Pediatrics. 1999 Dec; 104(6) 1351-9

Persistence of Dyslexia: The Connecticut Longitudinal Study at Adolescence; Shaywitz, et al. Dept of Pediatrics, Yale University of Medicine

National LD Awareness

October is officially National Learning Disability Awareness Month; however, every month some child, adolescent, or adult deals with the effects of their learning disability. Among the learning disabilities, Reading Disabilities, particularly Dyslexia are the most prevalent of the learning disabilities and the most persistent over the life span. Long after a dyslexic student learns how to decode words, the speed and efficiency of reading can remain an enduring obstacle. As a consequence, reading for pleasure is frequently avoided; novels are seldom read to completion; in-depth analysis of texts takes too long; and too often newspapers are abandoned in favor of listening to a TV newscaster’s analysis.

A remedy for “reading avoidance” is available.  CD and digitally accessible books, texts, and newspapers are available to individuals with severe reading disabilities and dyslexia. A diagnosis of a reading disability is required for membership in 2 organizations that provide audio access to print for individuals with a reading disability: The Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic (www.rfbd.org) or BookShare (www.bookshare.org).

The psychologists and educators at Child and Family Development work as a team to evaluate children, adolescents and adults who struggle with reading, math, and/or written expression. Once a learning disability is diagnosed and understood,  a window opens to increased options and possibilities for managing and reducing the struggle of living with a learning disability.

BLAST from the PAST

30 years and counting for Child and Family Development… With longevity comes great joy and satisfaction. Here are a few samplings of recent Blasts from My Past that keep alive for me the passion of what we do at Child and Family Development…

• A young 27 year-old adult who was treated at Child and Family Development for his attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities when he was a teenager called and wanted to share how well he is doing at his new job
• A mother called to say that her dyslexic son whom we saw 10 years ago has graduated from college and has been invited back to the college as a graduate intern in a field he loves.
• A sister whose brother was diagnosed 12 years ago and successfully treated for his learning disabilities called seeking guidance choosing her graduate program. She wanted  to work in a clinical environment like Child and Family Development
• A sister of another client likewise wanted advice on post-college studies so she could become a reading specialist and could work with students like her brother who has dyslexia.

Educational Specialists, Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Therapists, and Physical Therapists at Child and Family Development all make a difference in the lives of the children we evaluate and treat as well as in the lives of their families. 

What is an Academic Coach ?

An Academic Coach is an educational specialist who assists students with Attention Deficit Disorder, poor Executive Skills, and specific Learning Disabilities such as Dyslexia, Written Expression Disorders, and Mathematics Disorders learn strategies to improve homework organization, time management, project planning and task completion.

Academic Coaches and the student work together to:

·        Identify and Target specific “hot spots”of organizational difficulty

·        Develop a strategy and “Plan of Action”

·        Act upon the plan

·        Evaluate the success of the “Plan”

·        Redesign the “Plan”

·        If the “Plan” was successful, tackle another “Organizational Hot Spot”

Educators at Child & Family Development work as Academic Coaches for students with Attention Deficit Disorders, Dyslexia, Written Expression Disorders and Mathematics Disorders who struggle to carry out their daily school routines.

Help…I am ready to medically treat my child’s ADHD. What do I tell the doctor?

Assuming you have had a Comprehensive Psychological and Educational Evaluation* to rule out other contributing interferences, the most important first step is to work with an experienced physician whom you trust and who is knowledgeable about ADHD. Your doctor will recognize how hard this decision has been for you and will understand that considering a medication approach is an emotional hurdle that is not easy for a parent to jump.

Your doctor will know how to reassure you, provide you with good information, and talk to you about how the process of selecting a treatment approach that addresses your child’s ADHD symptoms.

Your doctor will want to know about ADHD symptoms and will ask what behaviors interfere with your child’s daily functioning such as:

1. How your child’s ADHD manifests in the classroom?
2. Is your child impulsive, hyperactive or just squirmy and restless?
3. What do the teachers tell you about how your child’s ADHD behaviors interfere with classroom performance? Specifically talk about as work completion, forgetfulness of homework, listening to and following of directions, and whether the ADHD symptoms interfere with peer interactions? Improvement in concrete behaviors such as these can help the doctor judge the effectiveness of the ADHD medicine.
4. What ADHD behaviors are causing disruption in the home? Are ADHD symptoms such as forgetfulness, poor follow through with the rules and routines of the household, argumentativeness, poor tolerance to frustration, anxiety or sadness diminish your child’s happy home life?
5. Be ready to talk about your child’s many positive qualities that you do not want to see altered by ADHD medicine.

You will want to ask about:

1.       Side effects of the ADHD medication such as appetite or sleep interferences.

2.       Ask your doctor how you will know the ADHD medicine is “working”.

3.       Provide your doctor with all outside evaluations and documentations.

4.       Ask what side effects would indicate that the ADHD medicine needs adjustment or is not effective.

5.       Do not be alarmed if the first trial is not the right medicine. Every child with ADHD responds differently. Often times securing the right treatment for ADHD may seem like trial and error. That is when trust in your doctor becomes important.

* Psychologists and Educational Specialists at Child & Family Development are experienced in the evaluation and behavioral management of ADHD symptoms

Dysgraphia, Dyslexia and Typing: part 2

What typing programs work?

Selecting a single keyboarding program for a dysgraphic student is difficult because keyboarding is not an easy for task for the student who struggles with dysgraphia. Isolating each finger, having both hands work independently of each other, learning correct finger placement and retaining the motor memory for finger placement is a huge challenge. No single program  will work for a student with dyslexia or dysgraphia. Look for a programs that will track progress, offer a variety of teaching modules, and provide age-appropriate graphics. Sample a variety of “free keyboard tutorials for children” using a Google search. Involve your child in the search. Feeling a part of the choice-process increases the child's ownership of the program. 

How important is finger placement?

Correct fingering should not be forced. The ultimate goal is to learn to type fluently with increasing speed and accuracy. Many students with dysgraphia develop their own typing style while others will gradually evolve to correct fingering. The key to fluency regardless of the finger positions is practice and consistency.

How to make it work?

Limit keyboarding practice sessions to 10 minutes. Selecting which program to use, what to type, and what fingering method to use needs to be the child’s choice. Setting a goal of 10 minutes of daily typing over a 5 day practice week provides consistency and spaced practice. A long range weekly goal of 50 minutes with a high interest reward upon completing of the goal can encourage a reluctant typist to build the keyboarding habit.

Educators at Child & Family Development work with students and their families to plan and carry out a keyboarding program. Summertime is a good time to for your child with dysgraphia or dyslexia to “tickle the keyboard”.

Dysgraphia and Dyslexia can affect how easily a student learns how to type. These students often struggle to learn the keyboard.

Yet, typing is the ideal by-pass strategy for all students with dysgraphia and dyslexia. Typing eliminates the manual fatigue of handwriting for the dysgraphic student and offers the dyslexic student the support of the spell check.

Summer is a great time for your child to begin to learn to type. The sooner the child with dysgraphia or dyslexia starts the learn-to-type process the better.

Typing fluency develops slowly for students who also struggle to write, spell, and organize ideas. Use this summer to explore home typing programs that are interactive, sequential, and eliminate the tedium of rote repetition.

Stay tuned to Child and Family Development blogs to learn WHAT typing programs to research and HOW to put a summer typing program into action.

When is it too late to diagnose a Learning Disability?

Never!

A child, adolescent or adult with a learning disability desreves to understand why school is or was so hard for them. Self knowledge is empowering and stops the cycle of shame that  a student who struggles to learn often feels. Uncovering the “why” of the struggle is the first step to set the stage for learning success.

• Diagnosis of learning disabilities begins with a research validated evaluation of learning potential, processing, and achievement. The results set the stage for intervention.
• Intervention for early learners , preschool through 3^rd grade requires daily, intensive, research validated educational treatment. The sooner dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia are treated, the sooner the disability can be overcome.
• Intervention during later elementary years becomes a combination of intensive educational therapy balanced with school based support/accommodations.
• Intervention from middle school through high school requires a different focus. The adolescent with a learning disability has likely flown “under the radar” of LD detection. Compensation strategies that kept them afloat for a while, no longer work. Learning new strategies uniquely tailored to the way the learning disability impacts a student’s school functioning is critical if change is to happen. This path of change requires work and is hard. Learning to work differently, not harder requires an enormous leap of faith for both the student and parent. 
• Undiagnosed learning disabled students feel confused, angry, overwhelmed and misunderstood. As one adolescent recently said... “You should have known me in 3^rd grade. I was the ‘go to guy’. Now nobody goes to me!”.  How sad to no longer feel " smart”!  It is never too late. Learning disabilities will persist through the life span, but the negative consequences CAN be overcome so our now-struggling student can once again be the “go to guy”!

Child and Family Development’s educators can help students gain mastery over their learning disability with a careful evaluation and a targeted treatment plan.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:  Tune in for Adults with Learning Disabilities.

Read our upcoming BLOG …Adults with LD.

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY

Recent blogs by Child and Family Development’s educators alert parents to the importance of early identification of learning disabilities. Reading Disabilities are the most prevalent of learning disabilities. When present but unrecognized, a Reading Disability can turn the kindergartener’s anticipation of the joy and excitement of school into one of disappointment and frustration.

The National Institutes of Health state that 95% of poor readers can be brought to grade level if they receive effective help early. The reading help must be received by 1^st grade or the success rate declines! In fact, 75% of those students whose reading assistance is delayed until the age of 9 or later continue to struggle with reading throughout their school years.

At Child and Family Development, the educators will screen pre-kindergarten and kindergarten aged children for the early warning signs of a Reading Disability and will provide the child with effective help early.  Do not wait to find out if your child will outgrow a reading problem.

If you feel your child exhibits any of the signs described in the recent blog, Is my preschooler showing signs of a Learning Disability? by Mo Froneberger, then schedule a developmental screen with one of C&FD’s educational specialists. The process of the school readiness and screening evaluation is detailed by Martha Knight in her recent blog, Ready or Not?         

Do not wait for your child to “fail to thrive” in kindergarten.

 Happy 2010 to all Children Especially to our Children with

 Learning Disabilities and Attention Disorders

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS TO HELP KIDS WITH LD AND ADHD

1. Listen to what kids with learning disabilities have to say about how they learn.
2. Believe that all children want to succeed even when their grades do not show it.
3. Trust that all children can find the homework plan that works for them.
4. Believe that all children, even the child with severe dyslexia, can learn to read.

MAKE A RESOLUTION HAPPEN:

1. Kids with learning disabilities know when a classroom works for them and when it does not. Listen well when a child tells you, for example, “It’s too noisy” or “The teacher talks too fast”; or “I can’t finish work in time”; or “I’m bored”. Perhaps an auditory processing or a processing speed delay interferes or perhaps their learning style is not optimized in the classroom.
2. Poor grades are clues that tell us something isn’t working. Attention disorders, poor written output speed, homework disorganization, inability to do math quickly, or slow reading speed may be the actual culprits.
3. Kids need to feel ownership over their homework, their test grades, and their school successes. Managing all the details for children with a learning disability or an attention disorder, can “dis-able” them from ever learning how to learn on their own. Believe that a child with learning disabilities will feel proud when they have learned their way.
4. With proper instruction and enough time kids with dyslexia can read. Know when to intensify instruction and when how to use technological resources AND Never Give Up!

OCTOBER IS LEARNING DISABILITIES AWARENESS MONTH

Don’t let your teenager FALL through the learning cracks

The following is a checklist of characteristics that may point to a learning disability in adolescent students. Most parents may, from time to time, see one or more of these warning signs in their teenager. This is normal. These characteristics may have been noticed during the child’s younger years; however, grades were always good. It is the persistence of these characteristics that may signal a learning disability, particularly if your teenager is beginning to struggle in school for the first time and grades are dropping.

Bright high school students may be able to compensate for a learning disability in the earlier grades. Only as the volume of work increases during the high school may the learning difficulties become apparent. This checklist is available through the website www.ldonline.org which is a valuable resource for parents.

Check list for High School Students

• Continues to spell incorrectly, frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing
• Avoids reading and writing tasks
• Trouble summarizing
• Trouble with open-ended questions on tests
• Weak memory skills
• Difficulty adjusting to new settings
• Works slowly
• Poor grasp of abstract concepts
• Either pays too little attention to details or focuses on them too much
• Misreads information

The persistence of three or more of these symptoms is a warning that learning may be difficult for your teenager. If you are concerned, an Educational Specialist at Child and Family Development

is available. Teenagers and adults can learn how to work with their learning strengths to overcome learning weaknesses.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO OVERCOME A LEARNING DISABILITY.

Math Disabilities

(When 2+2 does not = 4)

MATH difficulties become Math Disabilities (MD) when overall math functioning is unusually delayed compared to a student’s capability and compared to performance in other academic areas. When is a math difficulty a stand-alone Math Disability and when is a math difficulty the result of other interfering learning disabilities such as Dyslexia, ADHD, fine motor delays or memory problems. 

At Child and Family Development we attempt to differentiate among interferences in language processing, processing speed, poor nonverbal reasoning or inconsistent attention. The Comprehensive Evaluation process allows us to “tease-out” the factors contributing to a student’s present struggle in math.

According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, we now know that for many students the following is true:

• Math difficulties ARE NOT stable over time
• Math disabilities are often seen in children who also struggle with reading
• Almost all students with Math Disabilities have trouble with accurate and automatic retrieval of basic number facts.

At Child and Family Development, we can begin to help parents identify at-risk math problems as early as kindergarten. Early intervention in math is as important as early intervention for Dyslexia. A diagnostic evaluation at any age or stage in a student’s math development can pinpoint the problem areas, provide a plan for math intervention, and offer recommendations for math remediation with an educator at Child and Family Development or with local resources.

The 2003 National Assessment of Students Progress (NASP) informs us that only 23% of 4^th graders in the United States are at or above proficient levels in math and the percentage will drop to 29% by 8^th grade.
 

The time to make 2+2=4 is right now!

C&FD Rocks the Cradle from Infancy to College!

An educator at Child and Family Development is privileged to work with many school-aged children (from kindergarten though to college)diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, auditory processing delays and ADHD.

During my 24 years at Child and Family Development I have tested and treated so many of these unique learners. I have learned that a child can overcome dyslexia, can overcome dysgraphia, can compensate for auditory processing disorders, and can learn to manage ADHD. With the right diagnosis and treatment, a struggling learner will become a successful learner.  

Children such as these have passed through the doors of Child and Family Development. The names below are changed, but their stories are true.

1.     Melissa: a mom of several beautiful children who went to college and overcame her dyslexia and auditory processing delays.   

2.     Gordon: a double major college graduate of Davidson and now in graduate school overcame his processing speed and written expression delays

3.     Charlie: A freshman at Queens College who attended several Learning Disabilities schools and, after much therapy, overcame dyslexia and successfully manages his ADHD.

4.     James: a high school senior who made a 1600 on his SAT and who overcame processing delays in writing and reading. His college essay is completed.

5.     Mary: A home schooled young girl treated from 2^nd grade to 4^th grade recently wrote to announce she misses Child and Family Development and wishes she still had dyslexia so she could come back!

Dyslexia is a Whole Lot More than Reading Difficulties.

Many individuals with Dyslexia work harder to manage the world of space.

Spacing out problems:

• Distinguishing right from left can persist for a long time. Kids need concrete visual reminders. Wearing an analog watch on the left hand not only orients the left hand position but allows the child to see which way numbers face. Some kids write L and R as well as lower case b/d on their hand in ink.
• Confusing spatial words such as between, over, under, above, top, bottom, on, into, etc can cause these kids problems. Use everyday activities around the house to practice hearing and doing directions involving “spacey” words…in the trash, under the sink, behind the stove, in front of sofa. Hiding an object and verbally using space words to direct the hunt can be fun and stimulate listening and make space real and concrete.
• Getting from point A to point B can muddle some dyslexic kid’s efforts to get around new places. Some high school kids who are stronger with visual information may like to have digital photos of how to locate their locker or navigate a new school setting. Looking for familiar landmarks such as the water fountain, a wall of pictures, etc. also provides them an anchoring reference. For younger kids, parents may want to alert the teacher before school starts. A buddy system is helpful to avoid having kids get “lost in space”. 

These are but a few suggestions the educators at Child and Family Development are able to offer parents who are concerned when their child seems to be lost in time and space. In depth educational analysis of how your child learns and how Dyslexia affects more than reading is available at Child and Family Development. Many students with Learning Disabilities other than Dyslexia as well as students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders find that navigating the world of space and time is tricky. Contact the educators at Child and Family Development if organizing space and managing time are problems this school year for your learner.

Math in particular places a premium on demands for flexible problem solving, using language as a problem solving tool, and making sense of all the numerical details. By using the verbal strengths of a student with NVLD and providing problem solving scripts can reduce the stress of math problem solving.  

Typical NVLD Math Strengths:

1.      Likely to memorize facts quickly

2.      Acquires whole number operations

3.      Prefers the predictability of calculations

Frequent Math Struggles for the NVLD Student:

1. Confuses visual details such as:

·        Vertical vs. horizontal presentation of algorithms

·        Distinguishing the different visual symbols for the operational signs and knowing where to write the answer. “showing their work”.

2. Arithmetic procedures:

·        Conceptualizing that numbers are read left to right and calculations are written right to left.

·        “Reading” place value for decimals.

·        Understanding the part to whole concept of decimals, percents and fractions.    

      3. Word Problems:

·        Learning the meaning of math “talk”: greater than, less than. fewer, more, the comparative (er) and superlative (est)

·        Knowing what details help solve the problem and what details to take out.

·        Understanding rounding and estimating to estimate if their answer “makes sense”.

Math Support Can Help the NVLD Student:

·        Teach verbal mediation (self talk). Talk-aloud while problem solving uses the NVLD student’s verbal strengths.

·        Give the NVLD learner a cue card with the math “Plan”, e.g. write steps, clue words, etc on cards that provide written recipes for action.

·        Use pictures, models, counters, to make new concepts concrete.

·        Use consistent wording for word problems.

·        Show the student how to substitute a smaller number for a bigger number

·        Always re-teach errors. The error tells how the NVLD student.

·        Limit the number of problems. NVLD students work math slowly.