Tag: phonological processing

Does Your School District Want to Learn More About Dyslexia?

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Does your school district want to learn more about dyslexia? Don’t miss these five free dyslexia webinars for CA school districts co-sponsored by Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) and Glean Education.

DDCA Leaders recently connected with LACOE, and we are impressed with their lineup of upcoming dyslexia webinars.  Each webinar is targeted for a specific audience within your school district.  District staff can sign up for all five webinars or just the webinars that they are interested in.  A recorded version is available for those who pre-register but are unable to attend the live version.  You must be employed by a CA local education agency to register for these free webinars. Please share with your local school district. There are limited spots so pre-register today.

“Quality reading instruction is pivotal in both teaching young learners to access the code, but also in diagnosing issues that students may have. We’re seeking to raise educator awareness in understanding the scope of dyslexia and all of its complexities, while giving tools and strategies for them to address these issues and provide targeted, ongoing supports.”

-Leslie Zoroya, RLA Coordinator, Los Angeles County Office of Education

Here are the links to each of the Dyslexia series webinars (times are PST):

Understanding & Recognizing Dyslexia: What CA Educators Need to Know 
Jan. 13, 2021, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Audience: K-12 Teachers, Instructional Coaches, Administrators 

Screening for Dyslexia: What School Leaders Need to Know
Feb. 23, 2021, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Audience: K-12 Teachers, Instructional Coaches, Administrators 

Implementing Intervention for Students with Dyslexia: What Teachers Need to Know
March 17, 2021, 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Audience: K-12 Teachers, Instructional Coaches, Administrators 

Accommodating Students with Dyslexia in the Middle & High School Classroom: What Teachers Need to Know
April 14, 2021, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Audience: Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Secondary Administrators, Instructional Coaches

Assessing & Supporting Dyslexia: What School Psychologists Need to Know
May 12, 2021, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Audience: School Psychologists, Administrators, Instructional Coaches

You Asked! Question 4

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Download a PDF version of this You Asked question and answer HERE.

Q4:  Can a below average score in an area of phonological processing (i.e. phonological awareness, phonological memory or rapid naming) be a possible indication of dyslexia?

A:  Yes.

Students who demonstrate weaknesses in the phonemic awareness component of phonological awareness often have difficulties with decoding and spelling. When students have attained rudimentary skills in phoneme blending, phoneme segmentation, and phoneme manipulation (a few of the aspects of phoneme awareness), they are able to learn to associate phonemes (speech sounds) with the letters (graphemes) that represent them in print. Together, phoneme-grapheme association—the foundation of spelling, and grapheme-phoneme association—the foundation of decoding, are called phonics.

Students with slow naming speed, another component of phonological processing, often have problems with reading fluency. Retrieval fluency difficulties are often demonstrated as students struggle to retrieve words during both speaking and written expression (e.g., content specific vocabulary, labels, math or scientific terms, or a formula).

Students with phonological memory deficits may have difficulty with the working memory requirements for keeping track of the steps when decoding an unfamiliar word or in recalling and being able to correctly pronounce an unfamiliar multi-syllable word.

If screening reveals performance below expectations in any of the three components of phonological processing, additional assessment is needed to determine eligibility for special education services under the category of specific learning disability. This comprehensive assessment must include measures of the academic skills (e.g., decoding, spelling, oral reading fluency [rate-accuracy-prosody]) that are often affected by deficits in phonological memory, phonological awareness, and naming speed—and are characteristics of students with dyslexia.

(Source:  Nancy Cushen White, Ed.D. Clinical Professor—Pediatrics-Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine-UCSF /UCSF Dyslexia Research Center)

For more YOU ASKED questions and answers click HERE