In this episode, we’re diving into handwriting. Even for those who do not have difficulty, handwriting in the early years is essential. When students have not yet reached automaticity or legibility in letter formation, it taxes their working memory and places a higher demand on cognitive resources. We want to look at how we can free up some of those cognitive demands. 

Effective handwriting practice will lead to stronger spelling, reading, and writing performance. 

Tune in as we discuss the role handwriting should have in our classrooms as well as the importance and some of the benefits of cursive handwriting! We’ll also look at the developmental stages, offer some teaching tips, and share the most beneficial handwriting resources we’ve used over the years!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Handwriting instruction: a commentary on five studies

Berninger, V. W. & Wolf, B. J. (2009). Teaching Students with Dyslexia and Dysgraphia: Lessons from Science. Baltimore, Maryland: Paul Brookes Publishing Company.

Graham, S., Berninger, V., Weintraub, N., & Shafer, W. (1998). Development of handwriting speed and legibility in grades 1-9. Journal of Educational Research, 92, 42-52.

Overvelde, A., & Hulstijn, W. (2011). Handwriting Development In Grade 2 And Grade 3 Primary School Children With Normal, At Risk, Or Dysgraphic Characteristics.Research in Developmental Disabilities, 540-548.

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

Learning to read proficiently is not an easy task for most students without explicit, systematic instruction. Current US reading scores indicate that 67% of all 4th graders are reading at basic or below basic levels. This fact is leading to many conversations about how we teach reading, what is necessary for classroom instruction, and how we help struggling readers.

We know that early readers, whether they are identified with dyslexia or not, really need appropriate instruction in the elements of word recognition, phonemic awareness, knowledge of phoneme and grapheme correspondence, and accuracy and automaticity of reading and spelling of words in the text to help them break that reading code.

In this episode, we’re sharing tips for how you can keep your eye on the goals of your interventions.

Tune in for five BIG areas of focus that will lead to BIG wins in your interventions.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

The Science of Reading is so much more than just a buzzword! 

In this episode, we’re talking about The Science of Reading or SOR. We’ll cover what it is and what it isn’t. And, how it is becoming more mainstream!

Tune in as we look at trends in education, and then get into 5 specifics of what SOR really is all about. 

Make sure you hang around until the end when we’ll share actions you can take today to begin to dive deeper into the Science of Reading.    

Resources mentioned in this episode:

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

In this episode, we continue the conversation around the power in saying dyslexia and we cover what that means for helping move our students toward self-advocacy. We’ll discuss how we can, as educators, speak to parents and students about dyslexia and shift the narrative to one of understanding. 

Tune in as we share why it’s important to say dyslexia, some of the benefits of knowing how we learn, and looking at evaluations from a different lens.

Stick around until the end for all the details of our 100K download giveaway!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

Structured Literacy is not just about phonics! In this episode, we get into the subject of writing. Mainly, the cognitive demands of writing and how you can thoughtfully incorporate writing into your structured literacy lessons. 

We will share about writing from our perspectives as interventionists and also from our experience as classroom teachers. 

Tune in as we discuss the ten most important components of writing, their implications for the classroom, and what writing will look like in structured literacy lessons. 

Stick around until the end when we’ll address which dyslexia screeners we use. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

In this episode, we’re joined by a fantastic change agent for families of children with dyslexia, Dr. Lauren McClenney-Rosenstein.

Dr. Lauren is the CEO and founder of Think Dyslexia, LLC. She delivers training and professional development for teachers and administrators at the district level focusing on dyslexia awareness, dyslexia screening, and MTSS (Multiple Tiered Systems of Support).

Dr. Lauren’s passion for educating, advocating, and bringing awareness to dyslexia at the domestic and international levels began in the elementary classrooms of private schools serving students with language-based learning disabilities.

She has been a certified special educator for a decade and earned her Doctor of Education in teaching learning leadership curriculum in 2019 from Northeastern University. She also holds a dual Master’s in Special Education and Elementary Education and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Syracuse University. 

In this episode, we are going to discuss dyslexia advocacy as well as the challenges that parents and caregivers face.

Tune in as we take a closer look at how we can support families on their journey with dyslexia. 

Hang around until the end, we’ll answer a listener's question about assessing for dyslexia. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

For more from our guest, Dr. Lauren McClenney-Rosenstein, check her out at Think Dyslexia. You can connect with her on Instagram.

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

You may have heard of Orton-Gillingham, but you may have questions about the principles and approach.

We are both, Emily and Casey, structured literacy specialists trained in Orton-Gillingham and Orton-Gillingham-based programs. 

In this episode, we’re addressing some common questions we see and hear being asked about Orton-Gillingham. We answer these questions from the perspective of interventionists who work with the dyslexic population, however, we understand and support OG-based instruction in the typical or general classroom setting. 

Tune in as we dig into some misunderstandings in conversations around the Orton-Gillingham approach.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

In this episode, we continue our conversation about helping older dyslexic students. In season 2, episode 4, we broke down what struggles we see in our older students and the areas we notice are needed to help them. Here, we dive into the strategies we apply for our older students.

Tune in as we share specific word attack strategies we use with our older students.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

One of those topics we get asked about all the time is how to work with older students who are challenged by reading and writing. How can we work with them effectively? How can we give them what they need while also honoring where they are in their learning journey?

In this episode, we will dig in and talk about our own experiences with working with older students. We have both been so lucky to work with a wide variety of students across all age groups and grades. The beauty of Orton-Gillingham is that it works for so many different ages and grades!

Tune in as we share our perspective and give you actionable tips you can use to work with older students with dyslexia while remaining mindful of the social-emotional piece.

Hang around until the end when we tackle a question about tutor-parent collaboration!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!

In this episode, we’re joined by the incredible Cindy Hall.

Mrs. Cindy Hall is the founder and director of Cindy Hall Consulting and Mustard Seed Tutoring and the author of Dyslexia Friendly Classroom professional development. It is her passion to help struggling students identify why they are struggling and architect a plan for success.

Cindy is excited to work with individual students in a tutoring setting or to help teachers understand the characteristics of dyslexic students and best practices that are vital for dyslexic learners, yet good for all students. 

Cindy was the founding director of the Dyslexia Center at Lindsay Lane Christian Academy, which she directed for a decade before retiring from full-time school-setting work. She has 17 years of classroom teaching experience with elementary students and another 17 years focused on teaching dyslexic learners. 

She is a graduate of Faith Baptist Bible College with postgraduate work in special education at Iowa State University as well as many hours of training in the Orton-Gillingham approach for dyslexic learners. 

In this episode, we speak with Cindy about the biggest challenges dyslexic learners and their families face, why children with dyslexia struggle with homework, and some of the best strategies you can use to help them with homework.

Tune in as we share 5 tips for parents to help their dyslexic children with homework and 5 strategies for teachers to help dyslexic students in their classrooms.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

For more from our guest, Cindy Hall, check her out at Cindy Hall Consulting.

If you like this episode, please take a few minutes to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support and encouragement are so appreciated!

Have a question you’d like us to cover in a future episode of Together in Literacy? Email us at [email protected]!

If you’d like more from Together in Literacy, you can check out our website, Together in Literacy, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For more from Emily, check out The Literacy Nest.

For more from Casey, check out The Dyslexia Classroom. 

Thank you for listening and joining us in this exciting and educational journey into dyslexia as we come together in literacy!