Read and Spell Blog

When b and d letter reversal becomes an issue …

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B and d letter reversal

Writing by hand requires a child to correctly identify the sticks, curves and/or circles that make up a letter, then reproduce those shapes in a particular orientation, using a set sequence of pen strokes. Before the skill is automatized, the handwriting process can be quite mentally taxing. New writers are also struggling to develop the fine motor skills needed to grip a pen or pencil and the language encoding skills required for reading and spelling.

Add to this the challenge of writing in a straight line and creating letters of the same height and width, and you’ll find that reversing letters is a common mistake for beginners to make. This is particularly the case for symbols built from the same set of shapes, including b/d, p/q, f/t, i/j, m/w and n/u. Nonetheless, most children grow out of letter reversal by age 7 and it only becomes a cause for concern when errors occur beyond first and second grade.

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My child has dyslexia

A guest post from the authors of ‘The Illustrated Guide to Dyslexia and Its Amazing People'

6 Gifted children problems and how to help

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6 Gifted children problems

Gifted children are often precocious learners who can master counting, reading, and writing skills from a very early age. They will generally have a large vocabulary, advanced grammar and adult-like communicative abilities.

But while many do exceptionally well in academic pursuits, there are cases in which how best to support these special children, as they require help in areas in which they are underperforming and stimulation to encourage and nurture their giftedness. Moreover, some gifted children have difficulty making friends with same-age peers.

This can result in feelings of isolation, low self-esteem and a lack of confidence in social situations. That’s why it’s important to recognize problems early on, to ensure every child gets the help they need to reach their full potential.

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Identifying dyslexia in 3 easy steps

Dyslexia is a specific learning difference that can affect both children and adults and cause difficulties with reading, spelling and math. It’s important for parents and teachers to understand that dyslexia does not affect intellect. Rather, it is a different way of processing language in the brain.

Often individuals who are dyslexic struggle to split words into their component sounds. For children who are learning how to read and write, this causes frustration and poor performance in activities involving literacy skills. Because reading is required across the curriculum, students may quickly fall behind their same-age peers and lose confidence in the classroom.

That’s why it’s important to recognize the symptoms early on so children can gain access to appropriate coping strategies and accommodations that can help them achieve their full potential at school.

When learning disabilities in adults go undiagnosed

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When learning disabilities in adults go undiagnosed

Learning disabilities are neurological differences in the way the human brain processes, stores and communicates information. Some estimates suggest that over 10% of the world’s population is affected by a learning disability such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia and/or ADHD. In extreme cases, they can cause individuals to miss out on literacy skills development, particularly when schools do not recognize the symptoms early on.

For adults, having an undiagnosed learning disability can affect career choice, limit job advancement and lead to a number of psychological and emotional issues, including depression and feelings of low self-worth. This is particularly true when the person interprets his or her past educational failures as personal faults and experiences feelings of embarrassment and shame because of a perceived intellectual deficiency.

The tragedy is that with the right diagnosis, coping strategies and accommodations can be put in place to help every individual with a learning disability achieve their full potential.

Signs of a gifted child in the classroom

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7 Signs of a gifted child

Giftedness is often defined as an intellectual ability linked to an IQ score of 130 or more. However, not all gifted children excel in an academic area. Sometimes giftedness shows up as a high creative, artistic, musical and/or leadership ability relative to same-age peers.

Giftedness can be focused in a single skill, or it can be more general. It's also important for parents and educators to understand that giftedness can sometimes come alongside specific learning differences that affect performance at school.

In these situations it's important to help a child develop their talents while also overcoming any challenges posed by a learning difficulty.

In some cases of giftedness, it may be appropriate for a child to attend a special program or a school specifically for gifted children. The aim is to ensure ample opportunities for advancement in a classroom environment that is sensitive to the child's needs and provides adequate stimulation.

With access to the right resources and emotional and academic support, every gifted child can achieve their full potential at school.

Dyslexia and dysgraphia -- what's the difference?

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Dyslexia and dysgraphia – what’s the difference?

Many parents and teachers struggle to distinguish between specific learning disabilities that impact on literacy skills. This confusion is made even worse when they have such similar names. While dyslexia is traditionally associated with reading, dysgraphia affects writing. Both are language disorders that can cause a child to struggle in the classroom, but they are separate conditions with unique neurological and behavioral profiles (1).

Children with dysgraphia may have trouble with letter formation and word spacing in handwriting. They can experience difficulty with written expression, from translating ideas into language, and organizing their thoughts, to using grammar, capital letters, and punctuation correctly. For students with dyslexia, it is often English spelling and sounding out words in reading that are problematic.

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What’s the best font for dyslexia?

A font is a formal set of text characters, including letters, numbers and punctuation, created by a graphic designer in a particular style. Not all fonts are created equal and some typefaces may be more or less accessible for readers with visual impairments, visual processing disorders and dyslexia. For example, Dyslexie font is a font designed specifically for dyslexic readers. OpenDyslexic was also designed for people with dyslexia. Additional factors such as letter spacing, the spacing between words and lines on a page, font size, text color and background can all affect readability and reading speed.

9 Quotes about dyslexia to encourage students

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9 Quotes about dyslexia

A good quote can work in the same way as a supportive teacher or coach, providing us with the encouragement we need to strengthen our self-resolve. Quotes can make us feel better about what’s going in our lives. They often teach important life-lessons and are a great way for an individual to share his or her wisdom about an experience.

When it comes to quotes about dyslexia, you’ll find a mix of anecdotes, advice, and words of wisdom. You'll hear from dyslexic individuals discussing their experience at school pre-diagnosis, or in cases where they didn’t receive the help they needed. You'll also hear from people who view dyslexia as their greatest strength.

Teachers may wish to use quotes to inspire students with learning difficulties and raise awareness of dyslexia within the general student population. That's beause they provide opportunities for reflection and thinking about dyslexia in a new way.

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Writing in all caps

Capital and lower-case letters can look similar, like 'O' and ‘o,’ or they can look very different, like ‘A’ and ‘a.’ Nonetheless we still recognize that they are the same letter. This is because when children first start reading and writing they learn to associate two forms with the same sound. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that upper and lower-case letters are processed by the brain in the same way for everyone. In fact, incongruent capital/lowercase forms may be problematic for unskilled readers.

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3 Dyslexia strengths you should know about

People with dyslexia possess many strengths thanks to the unique ways in which their brains process stimuli, including language.

Many individuals with dyslexia are right-brain dominant.

The right and left hemispheres of the brain are organized in a slightly different way. On the right, cells are more evenly distributed (versus in clusters).

This means connections have to cross larger distances, which helps dyslexics with big-picture thinking, spotting patterns, and taking a more open and creative approach to problem-solving.

Dyslexics are often holistic rather than linear thinkers.

While memorizing facts may not be their strong suit, children and adults with dyslexia often have the ability to integrate personal experiences with acquired knowledge to generate new ideas.

They can make great team players and be extremely creative students who are artistically gifted and have an intuitive sense of spatial organization.

That's because visual thinking and spatial reasoning are both associated with right-brain thinking.