The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other organizations have concluded that vision training methods (eye exercises, colored lenses and filters, behavioral vision therapy, muscle exercises, ocular pursuit and tracking exercises, “training” glasses, prisms) are not effective for treating dyslexia or a learning disability in reading. The reason is fairly simple – vision problems do not cause dyslexia and, therefore, vision therapy cannot address (or cure) the primary causes of dyslexia, or the symptoms associated with a learning disability in reading. AAP has concluded that dyslexia is a sound-based problem, caused because of an impairment in the ability to represent, store, and retrieve the basic sounds in our language that are used to build words. . . .

READ MORE A new set of reading comprehension standards has recently been developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. According to these standards, adopted by over 40 states, students should be able to “read closely to determine what a text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it.” For Louisa Moats, member of the work group that formulated the standards, this means that the children we teach must learn to “read like a detective.” The detective work required for the skilled comprehension of a text, according to the core standards, involves determining central ideas or themes, analyzing events that occur in a text, interpreting words and phrases, analyzing text structures such as sentences, . . .

READ MORE A recent study of a comprehensive reading intervention for adults in the Minnesota STAR program suggests that evidence-based approaches for teaching reading to adults with low literacy skills (reading between 4.0 to 8.9 grade level equivalency) lead to greater success than programs based on less rigorous approaches ( Minnesota STAR Project: Meeting the Needs of Struggling Adult Readers). The STAR program was based on research evidence gathered by John Kruidenier and his colleagues, reported in two government publications Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction and . . .

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Starting or heading back to school can be a significant transition for kids. Advance planning and preparation for the first day of the new school year can go a long way toward allaying fears and avoiding issues (well, some anyway!) Some targeted reading is one way of helping your child prepare. We like the suggestions provided by the Bankstreet Library, part of the Bankstreet College of Education. Here is the link.

Good luck with the first and every day of the new school year!