Myth #21 #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth: "Children who speak African-American dialect cannot be identified with #dyslexia/#reading impairments or screened for being at-risk for #reading impairments." NOT TRUE! These kids have a heightened risk for developing problems with #reading 1/3
"Children with the highest dialect density (e.g. children who still produce 70% dialect in fifth grade) are at the greatest risk for #reading problems" as explained by one of the key experts in this area @jwashinup; see Washington et al., 2008 (link bit.ly/2P4XvNZ) 2/3
Majority (82%) of African-American (AA) 4th grade students read at or below "basic" levels in 2017 NAEP sample bit.ly/2BzkwAA & only 18% of AA children were considered proficient/advanced readers (NCES, 2017). See also the great work of Dr. Patton-Terry at @floridastate
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Here is Myth #2 for #DyslexiaAwarnessMonth 2020:
FIRST SIGNS OF #DYSLEXIA OR #READING IMPAIRMENTS CAN ONLY BE SEEN AFTER 2-3 YEARS OF READING INSTRUCTION. Nope. Early signs can be seen as early as preschool. Here is what to look for:
Numerous studies have shown that these skills are predictive of successful #reading acquisition as early as age 4 or 5:
Phonological awareness
Pseudoword repetition
Rapid Automatized Naming
Expressive/Receptive vocabulary
Letter (sound) knowledge
Oral listening comprehension
We are back for #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth 2020 after all the wonderful feedback we received last year! Every Day we will bust another #dyslexia and #reading myth during the month of October:
MYTH #1 for 2020:
DYSLEXIA AND READING IMPAIRMENTS ARE RARE
While the exact prevalence of #dyslexia/#reading impairments depends on many factors (e.g., the definition, the spoken and written language, diagnostic practices), we can say with great certainty that dyslexia/reading impairments are not rare.
Let's take a look at the numbers: The National Assessment of Educational Progress shows in their report that approx. 65% of 4th graders are not #reading proficiently and the numbers are similar for students in 8th grade. You can find the 2019 report here nationsreportcard.gov/reading?grade=4
Thank you @BostonChildrensfor all your support during the development of this! We could not have done this without your Innovation and Digital Health Accelerator!!! #grateful
Thank you @ne_inno for believing in us! #NEInnovation#NEInno
Rapid and widespread changes in #brain anatomy and physiology in the first five years of life present substantial challenges for developmental #MRI studies. One persistent challenge is that methods best suited to earlier developmental stages are suboptimal for later stages
This new review describes the data acquisition, processing, & analysis challenges that introduce these potential biases when conducting & analyzing data from infants and young children & attempts to elucidate decisions & recommendations that can optimize developmental comparisons
Many school districts are deciding to use 'survey' or 'questionnaire' #screeners (asking teachers a series of questions) for assessing #dyslexia risk instead of directly assessing the child. It's very problematic for various reasons & can harm our #dyslexia advocacy efforts1/6
1) Several research studies have shown that teacher surveys are poorly correlated with the actual performance of a child, especially at the beginning of K (or any grade since teachers are still getting to know the student). It' important to DIRECTLY assess the child's skills 2/6
For example, this study bit.ly/36Gve6e: shows "..teachers’ judgments of students’ early #literacy skills alone may be insufficient to accurately identify students at risk for #reading difficulties. So, why are we still using these? 3/6