With the individualized support of his teachers, and help from his family and community, Chris has made great strides. He learned the sounds that different letters make. And he keeps working on combining those sounds in different patterns. With continued support he is beginning to read some books on his own now. The ones about animals are his favorite. Alex is thrilled that Chris is able to read the exciting stories she’s been telling him about. ‘Try this one next!’ she tells him, ‘It’s about a very, very, hungry caterpillar. I think you will really like it.’ ‘Okay!’ says Chris. “Caterpillars are awesome! Will you help me if I get stuck?’ Alex smiles and nods her head yes.
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- Dyslexia
- a learning disability characterized by poor spelling and difficulties with word recognition and word decoding. It is unrelated to intelligence, motivation, or school experience
- Explicit instruction
- systematic and direct teaching that takes into account students’ prior knowledge
- Phonics-based reading instruction
- teaching focused on how letters represent sounds and how words can be sounded out by knowing letter-sound correspondences
- Plasticity
- the brain’s ability to change as a result of experience