Interventions

What you might see or hear from your child

• Trouble learning common nursery rhymes, such as “Jack and Jill”
• Difficulty learning (and remembering) the names of letters and their corresponding sounds in the alphabet
• Difficulty recognizing letters in his/her own name
• Mispronounces familiar words; persistent “baby talk”  
• Difficulty recognizing rhyming patterns like cat, bat, rat

Terms you may hear from adults about your child

• Emergent reader
• Language Delayed
• At-risk reader
• Immature learner

Actions you can take

• Read more about early reading development to help you know what is expected at this age. 
• Gather examples and information on what your child can do compared to what is expected for the age (for more information on what to look for read the page on Screening Tools on the Get Ready to Read website). 
• Start working at home to build skills in phonemic awareness and sound symbol relationships; be ready to explain how much practice it takes for progress to be seen. 
•  Have your child formally screened at school or with a psychologist or speech pathologist to determine:
  • Differences between the child’s listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities and age or grade level expectations
  •  If the child is at-risk and appropriate services

Source MDE

What you might see and hear from your child

Reading

• Makes errors that show no connection to the sounds of the letters on the page—will say, “puppy” instead of “dog” when shown picture labeled dog
• Does not understand that words come apart
• Complains about how hard reading is, or “disappears” when it is time to read
• Has parents with or family history of dyslexia and reading problems
• Cannot sound out even simple words like cat, map, nap
• Does not associate letters with sounds, such as the letter b with the “b” sound

Speaking and Listening

• Uses vague or generic terms for specific things
• Needs directions repeated frequently
• Relies on body language or non-verbal cues to support communication
• Slow to find the word to use in a conversation
• Complains that others are better readers
• Resists reading and practicing at home

Terms you may hear from adults about your child

• Struggling reader
• At-risk reader
• Student in need of interventions
• Possible dyslexia

Actions you can take

Continue all the actions listed at earlier ages, plus:

• Read more about early reading development to help you know what is expected at this age
• Ask your child’s teacher to describe or provide examples of grade level expectations
• Have your child formally screened at school or formally evaluated with a psychologist or speech pathologist to determine differences between the child’s listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities and age or grade level standards
• Advocate for and accept evidencebased interventions or intervention services
• Continue working at home to build skills in phonemic awareness and sound symbol relationships. When talking to professionals, be ready to explain how much practice it takes for progress to be seen

If all above have been done, move to actions listed at the next grade levels

Source MDE

 

What you might see and hear from your child

Reading

• Is very slow in acquiring reading skills; reading is slow and awkward
• Has trouble reading unfamiliar words, i often making wild guesses because he cannot sound out the word, or same errors over and over
• Does not have a strategy for reading new words
• Avoids reading out loud f Confuses or reads "saw" for "was", "what" for "that"
• Omits small words or parts of words when reading aloud 

Speaking and Listening

• Searches for a specific word, but uses vague language such as “stuff” or “thing” a lot, without naming object f Pauses, hesitates and/or uses lots of “umm’s” when speaking
• Confuses words that sound alike, such as saying “tornado” for “volcano,” substituting “lotion” for “ocean”
• Mispronounces long, unfamiliar, or complicated words 
• Needs extra time to respond to questions

School and Life

• Frequently misunderstands what was said
• Has trouble remembering dates, names, telephone numbers, random lists
• Has trouble finishing tests on time because of slow reading or writing
• Has great difficulty learning a foreign language f Has messy handwriting and or poor spelling; poor handwriting may mask poor spelling
• Practice spelling words do not stick and do not show up in daily writing
• Demonstrates low self-esteem that may not be immediately visible
• Frequently misses steps in multi-step directions (indicates weaknesses in working memory)

Terms you may hear from adults about your child

• Adults express concerns that the student has poor attention, is being lazy or unmotivated, doesn’t work to his potential, or is not trying hard enough
• In need of intervention
• In need of an IEP

Actions you can take 

• Participate in meetings to adjust ineffective interventions; make a plan with the school on when to move forward with an evaluation
• Know your rights and how to request services so that you know what to do if you disagree with school's course of action
• Monitor and notice if your child shows physical or emotional symptoms related to the stress of school and reading
• Continue to build skills at home and monitor how much practice is required to see improvement
• Seek supports within the community to help you understand, advocate for and support child; this may include obtaining an independent evaluation
• Discuss with language specialists if there are concerns about the child’s speaking and listening, attention and/or memory

If all above have been done, move to actions listed at the next grade levels

Source MDE 

What you might see and hear from your young adult

Reading

• A childhood history of reading and spelling difficulties
• While reading skills have developed over time, reading still requires great effort and is done at a slow pace
• Rarely reads for pleasure
• Slow reading of most materials— books, manuals, subtitles in films
• Avoids reading aloud

Speaking and Listening

• Not fluent, often anxious while speaking
• Pausing or hesitating often when speaking; using lots of “um’s”
• Using imprecise language, for example, “stuff” or “things,” instead of the proper name of an object
• Often mispronounces the names of people and places; trips over words
• Difficulty remembering names; confuses names that sound alike
• Struggles to retrieve words
• Slow response in conversations and/or writing; struggles when put on the spot
• Spoken vocabulary is narrower than listening vocabulary
• Avoids saying words that might be mispronounced
• Oral language difficulties persist

School and Life

• Despite good grades, will often say that she is dumb or is concerned that peers think that she is dumb 
• Penalized by tests that limit ability to communicate knowledge (ex. multiple choice tests)
• Sacrifices social life for studying
• Suffers fatigue when reading
• Performs rote clerical tasks poorly and struggles to complete tasks on time
• Struggles with writing projects and essay tests

Terms you may hear from adults about your child

• Student is unmotivated, not reaching his her potential, not completing work and should just try harder
• Student needs a 504 Plan Student needs special education Student has dyslexia, depression, anxiety, attention, or other disorders
• Student is at-risk of dropping out or not graduating

Actions you can take

Continue all the actions listed at earlier ages, plus:

• As the child grows older provide opportunities for him or her to self-advocate and actively participate in making decisions about when, how and to what degree supports are provided
• Watch for changes in ability to recover from failure and frustration, and attitude towards school and learning
• Continue monitoring and supporting a balance between work and special interests
• Ensure documentation of disability and need for accommodations, modifications, services, etc. stays current and shows what is working
• Begin discussing and planning for post school plans in junior high school, if not earlier
• Ensure assistive technology and Accessible Educational Materials are in place and effective

Source MDE

 

Kindergarten and first grade 

What you might see and hear from your child 
Potential Strengths

• Curiosity
• Creative imagination
• Ability to figure things out
• Eager embrace of new ideas
• Gets the gist of things
• Good understanding of new concepts
• Larger vocabulary than peers
• Talent at building models
• Oral language is relatively stronger than phonemic awareness and decoding abilities

Actions you can take 

• Do not let reading problems define your child
• Look for and support the child's interests and strengths
• Avoid talking about child's reading struggles with other adults when child can hear you

Second grade and up 

What you might see from your child 
Potential Strengths 

Reading

• Relatively strong thinking skills: conceptualization, reasoning, imagination, abstraction; gets the “big picture”
• Stronger with tasks that are meaningful, rather than rote memorization
• Understands most of what is read aloud
• Reads and understands overlearned (highly practiced) words in a special area of interest at a high level; for example, reads and understands auto mechanic magazines if hobby is restoring cars  
• Reading in an area of interest becomes easier and productive as vocabulary is mastered
• Stronger listening vocabulary than indicated by reading and writing scores and samples
• Excellence in areas not dependent on reading, such as math, computers and visual arts, or excellence in more conceptual (versus factoid-driven) subjects such as philosophy, biology, social studies, neuroscience and creative writing

Actions you can take

• Continue to build a picture of your child’s growth, strengths, weaknesses and what supports are working; add new information from all professionals working with you and your child
• Encourage a growth mindset and focus on effort and strategies that lead to success and independent learning
• Continue to advocate for use of alternate instructional materials to balance practice in reading with access to subject matter vocabulary subjects
• Encourage and support areas of interest and special talents. Balance school with other interests and family time; consider tutoring as needed
   

Young Adult and Adult 

Potential Strengths

• Demonstrates persistence in areas of interest f Noticeable improvement when given more time on multiple-choice exams
• Noticeable excellence when focused on a highly specialized area such as medicine, law, public policy, finance, architecture, or basic science
• Quality thought and elaboration of ideas in writing (spelling poor)
• Relatively articulate in the expression of ideas and feelings f Success in areas not dependent on rote memory
• Talent for high-level conceptualization, ability to come up with original insights
• Big-picture thinking; inclination to think outside of the box
• Noticeable resilience, ability to adapt

 

Source MDE 

Ask these questions:

1. Are the characteristics above at odds with my perception of the student’s strengths and abilities?

2. Does the student exhibit exceptional skills and talents in multiple areas?

• Strong comprehension when read to
• Conversations and thinking demonstrates sophisticated listening and speaking vocabulary  
• Creativity
• Vivid imagination
• Curiosity and high level of knowledge on topics, activities, or skills that do not require reading
• Intuitive and insightful

If you have answered yes to these questions, it is possible that this student may be dyslexic. Regardless of how you answered the questions, this student needs targeted, systematic, sequential, cumulative, and explicit phonemic awareness and phonics instruction.

Universal Screening — FastBridge

Hopkins Public Schools uses FastBridge assessments for early identification screening of all students. 

Kindergarten-Grade 1: All students are assessed in the fall and spring. Students not meeting the fall benchmark and receiving intervention services are also assessed in the winter. Phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding, word segmenting, sight words and fluency (spring of grade 1) are the focus of these assessments.

Grades 2: All students are screened in the fall and spring, using an oral reading fluency assessment as well as the areading and amath assessments.  The oral reading fluency assessment provides us with information about decoding skills, accuracy and fluency.  The areading and amath assessments provide information about students’ broad reading and math skills, respectively.  Students not meeting the fall benchmark and receiving intervention services are also assessed in the winter. 

Grades 3-6: All students are screened in the fall using an oral reading fluency assessment. This assessment provides us with accuracy decoding skills, accuracy and fluency. Students scoring below the fall benchmark and below proficient on the fall MAP assessment are rescreened during the winter and spring.

Our FastBridge screening assessments do not diagnose dyslexia. They are our first steps in identifying students who need additional targeted instruction in the components of reading. Next steps may include the following diagnostic assessments:

• Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST)
• Phonemic Awareness Inventory
• Decoding Inventory
• Family History - Is dyslexia present in family members?
• RAN/RAS - Rapid Automatized Naming/Rapid Alternating Stimulus Tests 
• Teacher Checklist for Characteristics of Dyslexia
• Classroom observations

Targeted Interventions used in Hopkins include:

• PRESS (Path to Reading Excellence in School Sites) - These targeted, skill-based interventions provide sequential and explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics and fluency in combination with connected text.
•  SIPPS (Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words) - This cumulative program provides a structured literacy approach to foundational reading skills instruction through explicit instructional routines.  Instruction is differentiated based on an initial placement assessment.
• KPALS/PALS (Peer Assisted Learning Strategies) - This targeted intervention focuses on phonemic awareness and early phonics skills for kindergarten and first grade students.

Not all students with characteristics of dyslexia need special education services. Students who are not showing adequate progress after at least two targeted interventions have been provided may be referred to the Student Assistance Team to determine next steps. The team may determine that a formal special education assessment is the next step.

Students who receive intervention support are monitored to document growth and the effectiveness of the intervention. If a student is making progress, we continue with the intervention until the student reaches grade level proficiency. If a student is not making progress, instruction may be adjusted in frequency or intensity. A student may also be placed in different intervention materials. Skill-specific assessments and on-grade level measures are both used to document student progress throughout intervention.

Student assessment results are shared with families during conferences, district reporting periods or as needed through a conversation with the classroom teacher.   Plans for intervention and support are then discussed with families.  

Public school districts cannot formally diagnose dyslexia. We do closely monitor student performance and screen for reading concerns that would indicate a need for supplemental instruction, alternative learning methods, or specialized services. Through these screenings we may also determine that no additional services are required.  

Parents of students diagnosed with dyslexia by an outside source should make the classroom teacher aware of the diagnosis and share any additional information that would be helpful, including, but not limited to the outside evaluator’s summary and recommendations. The classroom teacher will bring this information to the attention of the building’s Student Assistance Team for consideration. The team will collaborate with parents to investigate the extent to which the dyslexia is affecting the student’s performance in reading instruction and determine the next steps. These steps may include: additional evaluation, implementation of classroom accommodations, inclusion in one of the interventions available at the site, or that no additional services are required. Parents will be notified of the team’s findings and will communicate permission prior to proceeding with additional supports or services.