Yeah.
You just wanna embarrass yourself in front of everybody so that you're rehearsing.
And then, of course, that makes it almost feel worse, and then you're more likely to mess up.
Hi, and welcome back to the smarter literacy podcast from a send smarter intervention where we simplify effective literacy instructions so every student gets what they need and every educator gets to breathe a little easier.
I'm Lindsey.
And I'm Corey.
And today, we are kicking off dyslexia awareness month, which is in October, if you're listening to this later.
And we're starting with a big question.
So what does dyslexia really look like? And how do we support it in every classroom or every setting in which we might be supporting students with dyslexia? This is such an important one because dyslexia is one of those terms we hear all the time, but there is still so many myths and understandings floating around out there about dyslexia Yes.
And I'll be honest.
When I first started in this work, I thought dyslexia was mostly about kids reversing letters or seeing words backward.
It felt like that was really all I knew about it or that was what I had heard.
But when I started working with more students, I started to see the real testing patterns, and I realized, oh my gosh, this is so much deeper than what I had originally thought.
Awesome.
So let's actually start right there.
Dyslexia is a language based difference in how students process written language.
It's not about motivation.
It's not about intelligence.
It's about how the brain connects sounds, symbols, and meaning.
Exactly.
And one of the best ways to understand it is through the literacy processing triangle, which we talk about all the time.
So if you visualize a triangle, we want to think about the bottom two corners here.
So on one side, we've got phonological processing, which is really our understanding of the sound structure of the language.
And on the other side, we have orthographic processing, which is more about the written code or the visual patterns we see when we're reading.
So we have these little visual symbols that we call letters or letter groups.
And then on the top of that triangle, we have semantics, which is the meaning processor.
So we're really thinking about vocabulary and starting to connect comprehension here.
And strong readers, or if we think about kind of effective and efficient reading, is requiring that we pull from all three points of that literacy processing triangle and connect them fluently efficiently automatically.
When we see dyslexia, it's usually that phonology orthography connection at the bottom of the literacy processing triangle.
That's weaker.
Kids struggled to map out sounds in onto print, which makes the coding and spelling really hard.
And that could also impact fluency and comprehension down the road.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So when we have a student with dyslexia, it may be that they have more difficulty with that orthographic processor.
So they might have more difficulty with the visual prints, And when students are younger, they might be flipping or reversing letters or reversing words.
I actually have a student that I was working with a week or so ago, and she was having the hardest time with the word was and saw.
So we were doing a lesson and some of those words that were popping up as kind of the sight words or the lock words that she needed to lock in were was and saw because they were beyond kind of where she was at in her phonics progression But no matter how many times she saw it, she kept saying the wrong word over and over.
It just was like, she just couldn't she actually was doing that kind of mirror reading Right.
Which can happen for students, for sure.
Now what I will say is that oftentimes, students will outgrow that, and it is developmentally appropriate for some period of time.
So if you are seeing letter reversals and, you know, students are still in, you know, kinder first grade, that's generally still appropriate.
We would usually expect that by age eight, that that's fully remediated itself.
However, if you are noticing some of those things, it could be a sign that that orthographic side of that literacy processing triangle is just not quite as strong.
As maybe some of the other areas.
Now, you might also have students who have dyslexia who struggle more with the phonological processing side.
So they struggle more with the sound structure of the language.
So They might have a hard time blending sounds together or pulling words into individual sounds or rhyming or just being able to kinda manipulate and play with sounds in words.
Mhmm.
And so, again, when we're thinking about dyslexia, it could be either that orthographic, that visual print, or the phonological side, the rhyming and the sound structure and playing with sounds, not even thinking about letters and the pictures that you associate with letters, or both.
Mhmm.
And so that's why it might look different than you might expect.
And so I think a lot of kids potentially get missed because it's not necessarily showing up and that reading words backward or seeing letters flipped and that kind of thing.
Right.
Right? And like you said, the dyslexia can look different in each child.
So and we also wanna remember dyslexia can look different at different ages.
In kindergarten first grade, it might be struggling to remember letter sounds or sounding out words.
In upper grades, it might look like really slow reading, weak spelling, or writing that doesn't match a student's thinking.
Yep.
Exactly.
And I think that's a big misconception too that, you know, of times when you get these older students who are diagnosed with dyslexia, it really shows up more in their spelling or just in their oral reading accuracy.
And a lot of times as students get older, you're not necessarily listening as much to them read aloud as you may have in those younger grades.
So in kinder, first grade teachers are often listening to your students read aloud, but teachers in the upper grades, you just may not necessarily have the opportunity to hear it quite as much, or especially if you're having students read in what we might almost call like popcorn style or you're having students read aloud sort of, oh, you're gonna read.
And then you'll read next and you'll read next, that can be difficult because if students are making errors and that kind of thing, you're like, oh, were they just nervous? Mhmm.
Which, yeah, probably So but that's something to be aware of too.
If they are catching themselves and things like that, that could be a sign.
Right.
Yeah.
And if and if you're at all wondering, think back to when you had a popcorn read and how just completely nervous.
And, like, you weren't paying attention to what the person before you read or the person after you read, you're just paying attention to the lines you're reading.
So you may not be picking up everything that's going on there.
Right? So stressful.
That's exactly right.
I remember that too.
And I feel like even thinking back, I was a fine reader, but just what you said.
I wasn't, yeah, you just don't wanna embarrass yourself in front of everybody, so that you're rehearsing.
And then, of course, that makes it almost feel worse, and then you're more likely to mess up.
And so anyway, but just being aware that, yeah, that's something to to watch for for sure.
Yeah.
Now because dyslexia shows up in different ways, there are a lot of myths out there.
So let's clear up some of the most common ones.
And, Corey, what would you say is some of the most common myths? Yeah.
Absolutely.
So I think one of the biggest things that we want to clear up is that students with dyslexia have lower IQs or lower intelligence.
Now dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence, and some of the brightest, most creative students that have worked with also happen to have dyslexia.
It doesn't mean they can't learn.
It just means that they need instruction that works with how their brain processes language.
So I often tell students, you know, especially if they're coming in for an assessment or something like that.
There can be a lot of just nerves or, you know, I don't wanna be labeled or I don't want something to be wrong with me.
And I always tell them, oh, this is really about understanding how your brain takes in information, so how you best get information into your brain, and then how you best share information out And sometimes, students who have dyslexia just have a different neural process, a different way in which they best take in information, and they best share out the information that they know.
Yeah.
Exactly.
I I've had so many experiences like that with my own students.
I had one student in in particular I can think of.
Or the breakdown was really happening in that the orthographic piece for him, but his semantics piece was out the window.
Like, he could listen to any story and give you the best kind of predictions inferencing.
His thought process was so incredible.
I was like, this is amazing.
I love talking with that kid, but he really, really struggled because of his dyslexia to be able to read at a fluent pace And so he was kind of marked as not like not having the the highest grades or like this and that and everything.
And no, this kid could perform with his peers or beyond peers when it came to actually comprehending and understanding content.
Absolutely.
And I think that's one of the big pieces too is because when we think about school and how school is structured, one of the most efficient and effective ways for us as educators to get information in and out from our students is to One, give them a reading assignment.
That's how we want them to get information in.
So read this article, that's how you're going to take in the information, and then provide a written response.
That's how you're going to share out information.
And so for students who have dyslexia, often that's very difficult for them.
They actually usually take information in better when they are listening to it.
So listening to you speak, listening to a lecture, like you said, just having a conversation, and then sharing information out through speaking and having a conversation and talking about what they know.
But because as educators, we can't necessarily have one on one conversations with all of our students, we really rely on this written structure of language for both intake of information, reading, and output of information, like written work, writing.
And so their grades suffer.
And so then because of that, they feel like I'm dumb.
I'm not smart.
Everybody else is smarter than me, and that's just not the conversation at all.
It's just a mismatch between how we are asking you to present what you know.
Exactly.
Okay.
So what's another myth? Yeah.
So I think another big one is that dyslexia is a vision problem.
So dyslexia is not caused by vision issues.
And this is a big one because so many parents and educators have definitely heard otherwise.
So things like colored overlays or vision therapy or eye exercises are often recommended for dyslexia, And it totally makes sense logically because if we think back to the literacy processing triangle, that orthographic awareness is about an understanding of the visual print of language.
So, yes, we wanna make sure that they can understand that they can process assess that visual print.
But dyslexia is fundamentally language based.
So it's not about what the eyes see, but how the brain is processing that visual print and how it is then associating that to the sounds of the language.
So interventions that are targeting vision shouldn't be used to treat dyslexia.
Now, certainly, we wanna make sure that students have their vision checked.
We want to make sure that there's not an acuity issue.
We we do need to make sure they can see the words.
Right? That's very, very important.
But if we're thinking about things like vision therapy and things like that, that shouldn't be used to treat dyslexia specifically.
Not here to say that it doesn't hold value for other difficulties.
Absolutely, it could.
But it shouldn't be used as a dyslexia intervention specifically.
Right.
And you know what? I even remember learning this early on in my education career, and I was even given the the colored overlays to give to my students.
And I remember I had all different colored ones, the blues, the pink, the green, um, being like, oh, yeah.
This is really going to help my students.
Then I went for Orton Gillingham training, and that was one of the first things I said, nope.
Smith.
And I'm like, okay.
Great.
Uh, you know, and to some extent, like, some kids are like, oh, no.
It really helps.
And Sure.
Maybe it maybe it does.
And to some extent, that could be because it's hoping to pull their attention to the words.
And so it's more of an executive functioning support of, oh, I'm using this colored overlay to keep track of where I am and that's helping to focus my attention Mhmm.
To the right place.
Absolutely.
That can be helpful.
So if you have used colored overlays and you feel like, well, this is really helpful for my students, Amazing.
You can keep using them.
Yeah.
But just knowing that that's not specifically an intervention for that, it could be supporting because of something else.
Yeah.
Again, that executive functioning is is usually the underlying cause of any support there.
Yeah.
Because even thinking back to my students who did use those cover, uh, colored overlays, they really were using it, like, almost as a bookmark to track their reading, like, line by line, which helped them just kinda zone in, um, what words am I paying attention to right now versus the page, which feels overwhelming to me.
And you're right.
That's more executive functioning than anything they're having to do with dyslexia.
But it's a great accommodation nonetheless.
Right? It's one of those things where you're like, oh, actually an accommodation that we might say is to present less on a page or something like that.
So if ultimately that's what you're doing, great.
Right.
That's fantastic.
It's just not a vision problem per se.
Right.
Alright.
Any other big myths out there? Oh, my goodness.
There are so many.
I feel like I've just encountered so many through the years.
I've done a lot of assessments and work in this, but I think another one is that students will outgrow their dislike media.
So dyslexia is not something that kids grow out of without targeted intervention.
Those struggles tend to persist.
Now the good news is that when we put systematic, explicit instruction in place, we can absolutely build the skills that students need to become strong readers.
So often, I'll tell families that being dyslexic is a lot like being left handed.
We don't grow out of being left handed.
Mhmm.
It's just not something that you grow out of.
But with the right strategies in place, you can be just as effective and efficient with everything as everyone else.
Right.
And there's nothing wrong with being left handed.
And there's also absolutely nothing wrong with being dyslexic.
Right.
Absolutely.
So what does all this mean for teachers in the classroom? What should they actually look for? Yeah.
This is such a great question because as you mentioned earlier, it looks different across different levels.
So in younger grades, you may wanna be looking for kids who have trouble remembering letter sound correspondences.
So if they're having a hard time with the alphabet or linking sounds with the alphabet, that could be something to start to watch for.
Kids who can't quite blend the sounds together.
So a lot of times they might, you know, think through each of the different pieces.
So for example, if they were reading the word cat, they might have told you, and then said something completely different like sit.
Mhmm.
And you're like, oh, you just told me at and then said sit.
Uh, they just couldn't hold on to those particular sounds or they struggled with that blending process.
Or maybe they guess at words instead of sounding them out.
So they're almost trying to rely on that semantics processor where they're really thinking about, oh, what's something that makes sense here? Let me kind of do word prediction if if you will.
To guess what this is.
And so for example, if they were reading something and it said the house, they might say the home.
And you're like, oh, that definitely makes sense.
It's just not what it says there.
And you might also want to look for students who just struggle potentially with some rhyming or just being able to manipulate sounds in words altogether.
Now as they get older, you might notice students who avoid reading or who read really slowly or without fluency.
If you are doing some of that, and, like, you're gonna read, and then you're gonna read.
And maybe the student gets sick a lot or has to go to the bathroom as you're doing that, some of those avoidance strategies, those might be things that you would look for.
Or students whose spelling and writing skills just do not match their verbal ideas at all, where it's like, when you speak to me, you have these great ideas.
But as soon as I go to look at your written work, it just doesn't match.
At all.
Exactly.
That's exactly what my student looked like.
Right? Yeah.
And here's the important part.
Teachers are typically not able to diagnose dyslexia, but teachers are often the first ones to notice the signs.
That's when you start documenting what you see and bringing concerns to parents or your school team.
Sometimes it leads to school based testing, sometimes to an outside evaluation, but always start to that observation.
Exactly.
And like you mentioned, teachers are the ones who see those day to day patterns and noticing those patterns early can make all the difference.
I think, you know, it's one of those things when you think about teachers, especially in your class.
You can start to see what are your other students doing And if you're starting to see gaps with particular students, those are things that you really just want to keep your eye out for to say, something might be going on here.
We really need to be having conversations about this and not just hoping like, oh, I'm sure they'll grow out of it, or let's just wait a little bit longer.
We really need to start having these conversations early.
Yes.
Yeah.
It's better almost to be safe than sorry, right, which I know it can be some of the approaches in schools.
But, again, it never hurts to open up a conversation if you're noticing something about a student and, um, you're noticing that they're struggling because the more we can get help and accommodations for them early on, the more likely they're going to experience success later.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
It's such a great point.
Alright.
Let's get practical.
Once we suspect or know a student has dyslexia, how do we support them? Yeah.
This is so important.
So there are three big things that I always like to think about when I have a student that I suspect has dyslexia or has been diagnosed.
And so the first thing that we need to do is we need to give them what they need to, one, close the gap Second, we need to give them what they need to access the classroom instruction as they are today.
And then three, we need to make sure that they feel supported, that they feel seen, that they feel powered even though they learn differently.
So what that means, kind of coming back to the top is if we need to give them what they need to close the gap, we need to make sure that they are getting systematic structured literacy instruction.
We know that that can be so effective.
Research has been around for years and years that have proved the efficacy of these strategies specifically for students with dyslexia, although it helps all students.
We need to make sure that they have that so that they can start to close that gap.
The next thing again is making sure they have access to the classroom instruction.
So that's gonna be things like accommodations and potentially modifications.
So If we know students are going to learn best through listening to information, giving them access to audiobooks or having them listen through podcasts or just other ways of taking in information and also other ways of showing what they know.
So giving them the chance to dictate or have a scribe to write down what they say.
Those things can be super helpful.
They may also need additional time to get those thoughts out.
And then again, finally just feeling confident, feeling good, and a lot of that just comes from awareness and an understanding.
So as teachers, you know, us trying to say, hey, we get it.
We get that this isn't the way that you best show what you know, and that doesn't mean that you're not smart.
That just means that we need to have you respond a little bit differently.
That makes a world of difference.
I think when they feel like, oh, this isn't my incompetence that's leading to this.
It's just a mismatch of how I'm being asked to demonstrate something that I so clearly do know.
Exactly.
And so many people, including parents, think that these accommodations are cheating.
Right? And that's where it really gets me because, again, going back to what you said, like, we want these accommodations to help our students access classroom information, where they're at now.
Even if they are getting systematic instruction in, like, a tier three or tier two setting, right, it's still gonna take time for them to be able to really access that information.
It's not gonna happen overnight.
Right? So, again, kinda going back to my student that I was talking about earlier, he, again, if he could listen to audiobooks, if he could respond orally, He was on top of things.
He was performing at or above his peers.
But in that case, he had a parent who really thought that audiobooks was cheating and wanted him to read books with the, you know, print and stuff.
Well, my student could only access, and he was in seventh grade, but could access print at, like, a magic treehouse level.
Right? And what kind of confidence or what kind of anything that we're trying to build up on the student, if we're asking a seventh grade boy to read magic treehouse, he's gonna shut down.
He's not gonna wanna do it.
But, oh my goodness, this kid was so bright.
So just really remember that these accommodations really just help level the playing field for these kids.
So that way, that they know that they're as smart as their peers.
Right? Because again, it's not an intelligence thing, but a lot of times kids with dyslexia too feel like I'm not a smart.
Right? And we're giving them the access to the tools so they can demonstrate their understanding of the content and become like a confident team player in the classroom.
And we all have different ways in which we best take in information whether you have dyslexia or not, I think thinking back to my own academic career all the way up through college and graduate school.
I think there were definitely times where I felt like, oh, gosh, like, I'm just not getting this in the same way.
And what I realized now is that I also just take information in better when I'm listening to it.
Mhmm.
And I also just share information out best when I'm speaking it.
Right.
So I think that's just something that we can all be aware of of, oh, hey, this isn't because something is wrong.
This is just because we all have these different areas that are our own unique kind of zone of genius, if you will, and being able to take in information that way.
And in today's world, I think it's so important that we just recognize that.
And I tell students who often come in who have dyslexia.
Hey, if you decide that college is a right next step for you, do not be the student that skips out on the lecture.
Okay.
Go to the lecture.
Do not be the student that's like, oh, I'm just not gonna go.
I'll just read the textbook.
That's not gonna work best for you.
And that's okay.
But just knowing that and knowing that once you get into the workspace, you're gonna be able to find work that's going to align with those unique strengths and that's gonna be so important.
So if we can start setting students up for that now, that can be so good, so helpful for them.
Right.
So there you have it.
If you're looking for more information about what dyslexia really is, what is it, what signs to look for and how to support them in every classroom.
Hopefully, you found this episode helpful.
And if this was helpful, we definitely recommend grabbing our free dyslexia symptoms checklist.
It's a simple tool to help you recognize signs and start those important conversations.
We'll link to the blog where you can find the checklist in our show notes.
Absolutely.
And don't forget to check out our spotlight PD.
We have one that just dropped about what dyslexia really looks like from identification to intervention, where we will go even deeper and unpack even more strategies for supporting students with dyslexia.
And if this episode resonated with you, we really would encourage you to share it with a colleague, share it with someone from your team, share it with a parent because the more we can spread accurate understanding, the better outcomes we can create for our students.
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