Myth #27 #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth: "Early screening for #dyselxia/#reading impairments gives students a diagnosis at age 5 before they can read." NOT TRUE! The purpose of early #screenings is not to diagnose but to identify children AT RISK for developing a #reading impairment 1/7
I explained this in this article written for @blog_bold: bit.ly/349VNzp : "An analogy from medicine may be helpful in this context: Adults are advised to undergo screening for high cholesterol levels, which can indicate an increased risk of developing heart disease..2/7
..those diagnosed with high cholesterol don't automatically receive a diagnosis of heart disease. They are provided with an evidence-based “response to screening,” generally a combination of prescribed exercise, dietary changes, and/or medication. This may prevent the..3/7
..development of the disease, or at least lessen its severity. Goal is to reduce the prevalence of heart disease, by encouraging people to take preventive action & to improve outcomes of those who will develop it by implementing lifestyle changes earlier, prior to a diagnosis 4/7
In the case of reading impairments, we need to make a similar shift from a deficit-driven to a prevention model. With the help of high-quality screening programs, we can identify AT-RISK children early, but refrain from diagnosing them while they are still in preschool/K... 5/7
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