1. Inability to sound out new words

2. Limited sight-word vocabulary

3. Listening comprehension exceeds reading comprehension

4. Inadequate response to effective instruction and intervention

Signs of Dyslexia in Children by Age Group:

1. Preschool- Age Children- a delay in talking or speech, a lack of interests in books, difficulty remembering the names of letters

2. K through first- inability to manipulate single sounds in words, difficulty with letter–sound correspondences, a heavy reliance on the pictures in a story to “read”

3. Second grade though third- trouble segmenting multi-syllabic words, avoidance or reading aloud, insertion of many pauses or hesitations when talking

4. Forth though eighth- history of struggling to read, frequent errors to reading common sight words, lack of attention to punctuation

5. High school through college- avoidance of reading for pleasure and of reading aloud, difficulty with note-taking in lecture-based classes, frequent mispronunciation of the names of people and places

Strengths Observed in Students with Dyslexia:

1. Strong thinking skills: conceptualization, imagination, and reasoning

2. Good listening comprehension

3. Strength in areas that do not rely on reading

10 key takeaways:

1. Dyslexia is a neurological disorder with brain patterns showing poor phonological and orthographic processing.

2. The function and structure center of the left hemisphere language regions are affected.

3. Specifically, the left temporo parietal (phonological) and left occiptal (orthorgrahic process) are affected.

4. These neural signatures are present even if the person speaks a language other than English.

5. Appropriate interventions can alter unique indentifiers in the brain. These identifiers will then resemble patterns seen in brains without dyslexia.

6. Gifted students with reading abilities lower than their cognitive capacity also show dysfunction in left temporo-parietal neural signatures.

7. These gifted students may fall within a typical range for reading abilities and may get misdiagnosed as not having dyslexia.

8. The unique identifiers involved in identifying dyslexia are important for communication across brain cells and regions.

9. These communications and regions are related to chemicals and degree of synchronization of brain waves.

10. In people with dyslexia there is also a difference in the structure of a large number of risk genes.

10 Key Takeaways:

1. Skilled teaching is the most effective treatment for students who struggle with reading and language problems.

2. The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) attests that educators and related professionals should adhere to common professional standards that benefit the students they serve.

3. Both general and special educators must be prepared with evidence-based training to address the how, why, and how of their instructional approach.

4. Pre-service allows teachers to acquire basic foundational knowledge of English language structure.

5. Educators would then have the opportunity to develop expertise in individual interventions and implementation of instructional strategies during in-service staff development.

6. There is a need for a variety of designated educational specialists to help meet the needs of students.

7. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) receive pre-service training that allows them to help them support students with dyslexia and other language-related reading disabilities.

8. School psychologists help by being uniquely trained in assessing and diagnosing reading disorders.

9. School administrators help by identifying needs for in-services that help strengthen their staff's ability to accommodate the learning needs of their students.

10. Paraprofessionals who receive extensive in-service training on reading-based interventions can be an effective source of support to students with reading-related needs.

10 Key Takeaways:

1. A Student with dyslexia is not necessarily guaranteed specifically designed instruction and services.

2. The IDEA defines three distinct ways of determining special education needs and services:

3. One of the key qualifiers is a significant gap between the student's intellectual ability and their actual academic performance.

4. Another qualifier is if the student does not perform adequately based on their grade level and does not meet the state standards in one or more areas.

5. Lastly, students may qualify for special education if they exhibit patterns of strengths or weaknesses in academic performance and achievement relative to their age and grade level.

6. The IDEA does not prohibit the use of the terms dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia in IDEA evaluations, eligibility determinations, or IEP documents.

7. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects students with disabilities from discrimination based on disability.

8. Students who do not qualify for the IEP plan may instead qualify for a 504 Plan.

9. A 504 Plan can provide accommodations for students with dyslexia.

10. Some accommodations that students may receive under a 504 Plan include:

    1. Increased reading time.

    2. Use of audiobooks.

    3. Use of text-to-speech technology.

    4. Recording of classroom lessons.

10 Key Findings:

1. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological
   in origin.

2. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or
   fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.

3. Consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

4. Dyslexia can be understood as a "specific learning disability" and a student may qualify for special education services.

5. A specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written language.

6. Dyslexia is a paradox; an individual with dyslexia may have weakness in decoding that results in difficulties in accurate and fluent word recognition and strengths in higher-level cognitive functions, such as reasoning, critical thinking, concept formation, or problem-solving.

7. Dyslexia affects people from different cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds nearly equally.

8. It has long been known that dyslexia is heritable, so it runs in families.

9. Early diagnosis is especially critical for narrowing the achievement gap.

10. Dyslexia often occurs in combination with other handicapping conditions (e.g., dysgraphia, dyscalculia, oral language impairment, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

10 Key Takeaways:

1. Language disorder: The disorder may involve (1) the form of language (phonology, morphology, and syntax); (2) the content of language (semantics); and/or (3) the function of language in communication (pragmatics), in any combination.

2. Students who are identified as having both a language disorder and a specific learning disability may also be referred to as students with a language-learning disability.

3. Students are typically identified as having dyslexia when they exhibit a deficit that primarily affects their ability to decode.

4. While although students with dyslexia may experience challenges with spoken language, the most widely recognized issue for students in word level reading.

5. The majority of people with dyslexia have a core deficit in the phonological processing component of language.

6. Difficulty in phonological awareness, especially phonemic awareness, is a key predictor of dyslexia.

7. Students with dyslexia may have a history of delayed speech or language development.

8. Language problems typically become
   very obvious once they begin trying to learn to read and write. Typically around Kindergarten and 1st grade.

9. There is a significant amount of evidence that links early childhood spoken language problems with reading and writing difficulties in school-age children and adolescents.

10. Phoneme awareness is the most advanced skill under the phonological awareness umbrella and is typically not fully developed until a student is five or six years old.
    

1. Comprehensive instructional approaches that integrate the teaching of listening, speaking, reading, and written expression are incorporating simultaneous multi-sensory strategies that strengthen connections and enhance memory.

2. It is important to consider the content of instruction while tailoring teaching to the individual needs of the struggling reader. This will take into account developmental stage, cognitive abilities, and the results from both informal and formal assessments.

3. Accommodations enable students with disabilities to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities without lowering learning or performance expectations and without changing the complexity of the target skills being taught or the test construct being measured.

4. Teachers must be familiar with evidence-based strategies that have proven to be effective in supporting students with dyslexia. Evidence from decades of scientific research has shown that with appropriate, intensive instruction, students with all but the most severe reading disabilities can be effectively taught in the early grades so that they stay on track toward academic success.

5. The content and principles of instruction that are components of Structured Literacy approaches are essential for students with dyslexia but can also be useful to students without disabilities.

6. Structured Literacy teaching systematic and cumulative. Systematic instruction is when flows in logical order by language. It begins with the easiest concept and progressively gets more difficult. Cumulative instruction is is when each step is based on concepts previously learned.

7. Explicit Structured Literacy instruction requires direct teaching of concepts with continuous student-teacher interaction and doesn't assume students understand the concepts.

8. Teachers must be adept at individualizing instruction based on careful and continuous informal and formal assessments.

9. In order to effectively teach a student with dyslexia the educator should be knowledgeable on the following:

   1. Phonology

   2. Orthography

   3. Phonics

   4. Syllables

   5. Morphology

   6. Syntax, grammar, sentence structure

   7. Semantics/comprehension

10. Progress monitoring is important when implementing interventions. Educators who are implementing interventions should administer a pre-assessment before the use of the intervention and a post-assessment after the prescribed intervention.Specific intervention periods should be determined by the educational team, and progress should be evaluated on a regularly determined schedule.

Key Takeaways:

1. In 2015, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that 41 percent of fourth-grade students in California read below basic achievement levels compared with 32 percent nationally.

2. A key contributing factor to lower scores in reading is the lack of early and accurate identification of students with dyslexia.

3. Dyslexia can range in severity and may look different at various stages of life and education.

4. When identifying individuals with dyslexia, it is important to look at multiple symptoms and indicators instead of only one symptom or indicator.

5. Screenings may include checklists, work samples, curriculum-based assessment tools, and informal or formal standardized achievement tools.

6. Assessments gather data through observation, interviews, and formal and informal testing.

7. The data gathered during progress monitoring helps educators determine the effectiveness of interventions.

8. A multi-tiered system of support is a comprehensive framework that focuses on differentiated learning, student-centered learning, individualized student needs, and the alignment of systems necessary for student success.

9. English learners are often identified as having dyslexia much later, if ever, in comparison to their peers.

10. Dyslexia is heritable and runs in families. Therefore, information should be collected as to the family history of dyslexia and other learning disabilities.

11. To be identified as having dyslexia, the following areas should be assessed when screening for it:

    1. Difficulties with accurate and fluent word recognition

    2. Poor spelling and decoding abilities.

    3. Deficits in the phonological component of language.

    4. Unexpected difficulties in relation to other cognitive abilities.

    5. Unforeseen obstacles that hinder the delivery of high-quality classroom instruction.