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Our Lady of Perpetual Help - Launch Training -  4.3.19

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LINK allows you to read Learning Ally audiobooks on your PC or MAC.

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One of the first conversations I have with my parents of dyslexic kids is "And your child should be listening to audio books." Almost like clockwork, they respond, "But I want to make sure she still learns to read."

Maybe this is a concern you are struggling with right now. Let me help allay your fears.

First of all, one of the hallmarks of dyslexia is a discrepancy between reading level and oral language level. Often, in fact, these kiddos are really verbal and have been forever. I can't tell you how many parents tell me, "He has a great vocabulary and has always impressed people when they talk with him. That's why we were so shocked when he started having trouble reading."

This discrepancy means that children with dyslexia can comprehend books that they hear at a much higher level than they can read. So, to keep developing their oral language, including their vocabulary and their understanding of literary syntax, they need to be exposed to books at their oral comprehension level, rather than being limited to books they can read independently.

Since one of the greatest long-term disadvantages children with dyslexia face is the growing gap in vocabulary, literate language and content compared to their fluent reading peers, it is especially important to supplement what they can read with literature they can listen to.

Secondly, kids become better, more fluent readers by reading books that are easy for them, not books that are so challenging they are frustrating. In fact, research says that the sweet spot is when a child can easily decode 95% or more of the words in a book. If a child struggles to read more than 5% of the words, the book is too hard. So, even though the goal is for your child to pick up Harry Potter or Divergent on their own, the way to get them there is to let them choose easy books now, so that they build the fluency (speed and accuracy) to be able to read those challenging books later.

And, I hate to tell you this, but they need to reread those easy books...over and over and over. When parents tell me, "Just get my kid to read something, anything, other than Magic Treehouse! He has those memorized!" I tell them, "Actually, that's great. Let him read them to his heart's content." Yes, I know that may mean you now have all the books memorized as well, but such is what it takes for your child to get really automatic.

Finally, in this day and age, it is important to realize that listening to an audio book should be considered real reading. Ben Foss, author of The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan, creator of Headstrong Nation, inventor of the Intel Reader, and dyslexic advocate extraordinaire, argues that we need to get over the feeling that listening to books is somehow cheating or not real reading. Dyslexic himself, Foss points out that we understand that blind people read with their fingers. We also need to understand that many people with dyslexia read with their ears. He encourages the use of the terms "eye reading," "ear reading" and "finger reading" to encompass the variety of ways to read.

Foss advocates kids with dyslexia learning how to listen to super-fast tex t, so that they can ear read a book as fast as the average eye reader can read. He points out that many dyslexic brains actually process speeded-up text better than do non-dyslexic brains.

Supporting this dyslexia-friendly understanding of reading is a burgeoning understanding of dyslexia itself as being not so much a "learning" disorder, as a "print" disorder. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Dr. David Rosepoints out that all learning disabilities are in truth a function of normal human neurodiversity in a specific context that fits badly. In the case of dyslexia, the disability resides in part in the print. Seen through this lens, audio books are a logical and easy piece of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an approach focused on giving diverse learners access to content.

Without minimizing the challenges of dyslexia, I have to say, this is a pretty good time in history to be dyslexic. Your average computer and smart device can read to you, Siri is ready to translate your words into action and programs like Kurzweil and Dragon Naturally Speaking do an even better job of translating text to speech and speech to text. Textbook publishers now routinely include an audio cd or dvd in with all their books across the grade levels and the curriculum. And web sites like Learning Ally https://www.learningally.org/ and Audible.com http://www.audible.com/ offer almost any book you would need on audio.

So, let me repeat my standard recommendation. Your child should be listening to books on audio. There is no reason that having dyslexia should mean that a kid can only be exposed to Mac and Tab or Magic Treehouse when her friends are all reading and discussing Divergent or The Hunger Games. Listening to audio books allows them access to the vocabulary, literary language and content that they need to keep growing and developing while they get the explicit phonics instruction and the fluency practice that will help their eye reading catch up with their ear reading.

copyright Diana Kennedy 2014

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One of the first conversations I have with my parents of dyslexic kids is "And your child should be listening to audio books." Almost like clockwork, they respond, "But I want to make sure she still learns to read." Maybe this is a concern you are struggling with right now.

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When students in grades 3-8 have reading skills that are below benchmark, they lose ground more rapidly. As they move up in school, reading becomes all about learning new information and content. Providing access to human-read audiobooks can support reading skill development. Audiobooks allow students to hear explicit sounds of letters and letter patterns that form words. Audiobooks also help students engage in text and gain exposure to more words, ultimately improving vocabulary, comprehension and critical thinking skills. Here are seven reasons why audiobooks are the perfect accommodation for struggling readers. Because listening to an audiobook accomplishes the following:

1. Increases word exposure and improves vocabulary.

When students are offered the opportunity to have audiobooks in the classroom, their world can finally open up. Having books read aloud helps these struggling readers move beyond the decoding and right into learning. The more words they learn and incorporate into their knowledge-base, the better able they will be to access grade-level materials.

2. Builds background knowledge.

Students in grades 3-8 come to the classroom with differing experiences for sure, but those who've also struggled with reading arrive even less prepared. Human-read audiobooks expose students to academic vocabulary and the language of books. This exposure helps build their background knowledge, an essential component to an evolving student. It also helps develop higher-order thinking skills. The ability to build background quickly through audiobooks cannot be underestimated. If students are left to read only materials at their reading level, they lose out. They lose opportunities to get access to content and information that represents their capabilities and intellect. This is not only frustrating and causes emotional stress, but also limits learning experiences.

3. Reduces working-memory deficit.

Students who struggle with decoding and the mechanics of reading spend so much time focusing on sounding out the words that it is difficult for them to retain the information they are reading. By eliminating the focus on decoding they are now able to retain, remember, and understand the content. When students begin reading with their ears, they start building their working memory. This helps them respond to questions about the text more readily. The more often this happens, the more confident a student gets around the one subject that has plagued them, reading. Building working memory helps make other reading tasks easier and improves reading ability.

4. Removes printed word decoding anxiety.

As soon as the pressure to read the written word is gone, students are open to learn and happy to find out they can. Audiobooks allow students to be immersed in the meaning of text. They also remove the lag time of decoding, which becomes increasingly important as texts become more rigorous. Anxiety plays a huge part in a struggling reader's entire school experience, so the introduction and regular use of audiobooks can actually help students enjoy school more.

5. Increases comprehension.

When students can hear the story or information as a whole, read by a human being, their comprehension increases. Reading books word-by-word doesn't help create a whole experience. Kids in grades 3-8 who can finally put all the pieces of information together at one sitting, begin to make meaning of text.

6. Develops grade-level appropriate content knowledge.

Giving students access to grade-level materials by providing an audiobook accommodation improves their self-esteem and increases their participation in class and peer discussions. They are now able to work alongside their peers and get hours of time back. Just because a student can't read the words in the same way as their peers, doesn't mean they aren't developmentally ready to learn this information. Listening to audiobooks brings the information to the student when they are ready for it, not when they can read it.

7. Gives students educational independence.

When students get access to the content and are able to work independently, it gives them the confidence to become successful learners and control their educational outcome. Students who are given the audiobook advantage as an accommodation also have more continuity of learning in the classroom. This means peer relationships can develop normally and students can feel more like insiders.

Learn more about using audiobooks in the classroom to improve reading scores.

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7 Ways Audiobooks Benefit Students Who Struggle with Reading - WeAreTeachers

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When students in grades 3-8 have reading skills that are below benchmark, they lose ground more rapidly. As they move up in school, reading becomes all about learning new information and content. Providing access to human-read audiobooks can support reading skill development. Audiobooks allow students to hear explicit sounds of letters and letter patterns that form words.

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Learning Ally Audiobooks in the Classroom: Helping Students Learn and Succeed