Beware of the Developmental Lag Excuse!

The National Institutes of Health state that 95 percent of poor readers 

can be brought up to grade level 

if they receive effective help early.  

The reality is, time is of the essence when it comes to addressing reading issues.  Yet parents are often told not to worry, that Johnny or Suzy is just suffering a developmental lag and all will come together at some point in the future.  Research indicates this is usually not the case.  If you think your child is having difficulties with reading, act now!

The three key research conclusions that support seeking help early are:

• 90 percent of children with reading difficulties will achieve grade level in reading if they receive help by the first grade.
• 75 percent of children whose help is delayed to age nine or later continue to struggle throughout their school careers.
• If help is given in fourth grade, rather than in late kindergarten, it takes four times as long to improve the same skills by the same amount.

Click here to read the article providing this information.

Dyslexia

Dys------trouble lexia------words

Dyslexia=trouble with words

Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers recently had the honor of participating in a teleconference with dyslexia expert, Tim Conway. Tim Conway is director of the Morris Center in Gainesville, FL, (which evaluates and treats language-based learning difficulties) and an investigator at the Brain Rehabilitation Center, also in Gainesville.

Some important facts about dyslexia:

Dyslexia is neurobiological in origin. (In other words, it is genetic and tends to run in families.)

Dyslexia is a lifelong diagnosis, although one's environment may alter its course. (Meaning that intervention can, in some cases, significantly diminish the effects of dyslexia.) Click here to read about what kind of remedial plan Langsford offers.

The core deficit of dyslexia is an instability in the phonological component of language. (In other words, the primary symptom of dyslexia is difficulty with distinguishing and manipulating the individual sounds in words.)

Research shows that regular and intense multi-sensory work to develop a brain process can result in strengthened neural pathways that are observable on a brain scan. (Put another way, "what fires together, wires together." Linking visual, auditory, and articulatory processes can result in improvement in how one's brain processes input.) Click here for more about brain rewiring.

Lastly, having dyslexia does not mean that one won't be successful in life. (John Kennedy, Thomas Edison, Leonardo DaVinci, Cher, Harrison Ford, Whoopi Goldberg, and Steven Spielberg all have dyslexia!)

Umbrellas and Labels

Parents who have children struggling to learn how to read can sometimes find themselves in the middle of a confusing array of educational terms. This confusion affects their basic understanding of the problem which means they do not have the clarity they need to make informed decisions on how best to help their child.

Labels such as learning disability, auditory processing disorder, dyslexia and attention deficit disorder are just a few terms parents may hear from educational professionals. The problem is that most of these terms fall under large umbrellas with a wide variety of symptoms falling under each.

If that’s the case, then are these labels important? Yes and no. Labels are important only as far as they can be used to get help for a child, whether that means help through accommodations for challenges that are innate, and/or specific remediation for challenges that can be improved with research-backed work.

Complicating Factors

One example of how labeling can be helpful is when a child has several factors coming into play that can affect learning in various ways. If nothing else, for a child with a lot of challenges, giving a series of labels about a child can quickly help an educator understand that a particular child has a lot more to juggle in order to learn than another child without those labels. Labels can also help determine specific accommodations or help a school may offer. If the label is used to translate into specific individual help for the child, then that’s what's important.

Uncomplicating the Factors

When it comes to getting some specific help, often there is no reason to think in terms of labels. At Langsford, it’s our philosophy not to label children, especially when we know that the right kind of work can bring a child up to a typical level of functioning. We will certainly use a label if it is helpful in some way for the family to get the help they need, but otherwise we just don't find it necessary or even helpful to the family or the child.

When Stars Read Video

During the Dyslexia: Beyond Reversals presentation, Stephen mentioned this video. We wanted to make it available to everyone, so we uploaded it here in two parts. Produced by the National Institute of Health, this video depicting the improvement possible with effective remediation, is a Langsford staff favorite. It's a total of about 12 minutes and well worth the time.

Part 1



Part 2

Dyslexia Presentation

Stephen McCrocklin, Director of Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers in Louisville, gave a presentation last week called Dyslexia: Beyond Reversals. Many people still believe that letter reversals (b-d confusion) and word reversals (was for saw) are the primary signs of dyslexia. This presentation shattered that long held belief!

The large group of professional educators that attended the presentation learned what the converging evidence says about dyslexia and how to identify it. This presentation was so well received that we're sure to schedule it again, so if you are reading this and interested in attending the next one, just let us know and we will place you on the list to be notified when another one is scheduled.