Write2Read Solutions - Blog , Uncategorized

MIND THE GAP

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:05:15 +0000

It's Time to Teach Study Skills

Did you know that over 75% of students with learning disabilities spend a majority of their time in general education classes, especially at the middle and high school levels? While capable of learning the content, students with specific learning disabilities, like Dyslexia, do not pick up on study skills like their typical peers who generally "figure out" how to study.

Dyslexic students report that they do study, but.... they often study ineffectively. Reading notes over and over is not an effective strategy. Dyslexic college students report working hours more than their peers only to earn a C, at best, on tests. Check out the infographic to learn about the gaps in our teacher prep programs, educator beliefs about study skills, and more! Need help for a student in your life that would benefit from explicit study skills instruction, please contact me at susan@write2readsolutions.com

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October is Dyslexia Awareness Month

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 17:35:21 +0000

Reader's Theater Play

Just in time for Dyslexia Awareness month, we have a controlled, semi-decodable Reader's Theater play about two kids with Dyslexia. In keeping with the fact that no two Dyslexic individuals are the same, the two students in this play present with their own unique profiles of this common specific learning disability that impacts the development of decoding and encoding skills. Perfectly short for a small group intervention lesson! As with any fluency related activity, it's important to practice to attain fluent, natural delivery of the character's lines. While no grade level is mentioned in the play, the two students were inspired by two 5th graders. Interested in using this with your group or class? Click the link below to sign up to join Write2Read Solutions' mailing list. Thank you.

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Screening for a Potential Learning Disability? Don't Forget Spelling

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 18:39:09 +0000

There are many literacy screeners on the market, many of which are well-designed, valid, and reliable, that are now being used by our NJ public schools - by force, not choice, by the way due to new state mandates. Some, like iReady and Acadience, include spelling aside from the usual phoneme segmentation, nonsense word reading, and oral reading fluency tasks. Acadience's supplemental spelling assessment, for example, requires the student to produce the word in writing. iReady, on the other hand, presents tasks that require the selection of the correctly spelled word rather than writing it independently. Acadience only assesses spelling in K through 3rd grades. Others, like iReady, are adaptive, so if a student performs well early on, they "test out" of spelling.

We have many K to 3rd grade students in our schools that look good on these early literacy screeners. They "passed" or "tested out of" the phonological awareness and spelling tasks asked of them in 1st and 2nd grades, but yet, now in 4th, 5th or 7th grades, they are not reading or spelling accurately. Of note, is that screening laws like those in New Jersey do not extend beyond 3rd grade, so higher level phonemic awareness, decoding, and encoding skills are not mandated to be assessed in 4th grade and beyond. I have evaluated many older struggling readers who qualified for Special Education services due to poor reading/spelling skills who "passed" early screeners. They typically had amazing visual memories, btw, which helped them fly under the radar as well as attending schools that had little to no expectations for accurate spelling. "Spelling doesn't matter in this day and age," is a quote that I'm tired of hearing from educators - spelling matters. I have worked with countless adults who were embarrassed about their spelling skills despite having "spellcheckers."

If you want to know how well a student is processing sounds, understands and applies English orthography, and also get a snapshot of their overall literacy skills, give them a SPELLING assessment. Research continually informs the field that spelling weaknesses hinder overall writing development, so it's worth the 10-15 minutes to assess a student's spelling skills. And yes, it doesn't take long to conduct a classwide spelling assessment. The only time I've had teachers of older students say it took longer than 15 minutes to assess spelling was when their students’ letter formation skills hindered the ability to quickly get their words on paper..... the issue of letter formation requires a separate blog post!

SUGGESTIONS

1. use one of the resources below, organized by grade level (thank you Neuhaus!)

2. conduct the spelling assessment with your whole class (we have a lot of hidden SLD's in our schools)

3. dictate the word, have the students repeat the word to ensure they all heard it correctly

4. use the charts below to determine common error patterns that require instruction (a worksheet is not instruction)

5. did you identify students with well-below grade level spelling skills - outliers in the class whose spelling attempts are not even phonologically accurate?

6. Use the chart to plan intensive intervention (3x to 5x weekly for 6 weeks) for those well-below for reading and spelling purposes

7. Repeat assessment after 6 weeks (assess only those patterns that were taught in that timeframe - this is not about memorizing the words on the lists below, but truly owning the patterns/rules that were taught.

3rd grade: https://neuhaus.org/wp-content/uploads/Spelling-rubric-for-3rd-grade-SM-.pdf

4th grade: https://neuhaus.org/wp-content/uploads/Spelling-rubric-for-4th-grade-SM-.pdf

5th grade: https://neuhaus.org/wp-content/uploads/Spelling-rubric-for-5th-grade-SM-.pdf

6th - 9th grades: https://neuhaus.org/wp-content/uploads/Spelling-rubric-for-6th-and-9th.pdf

QUESTIONS - send them my way

Susan E. Miller

susan@write2readsolutions.com

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Red Shirt, or Red Flag?

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 15:30:00 +0000

What you should know about grade retention research

Every year the same question arises in schools across the country – should a child whose struggling repeat kindergarten, first grade, and so forth? Despite years and volumes of research about the harmful effects of retention as they relate to future achievement and mental health consequences, schools invariably opt to recommend retention, especially for children in the early grades. The National Association of School Psychologists published several reports over the past ten years that cite reviews and meta-analyses of all the research completed on retention. As a matter of fact, there is a whopping 100 years worth of research on grade retention. “The cumulative evidence does not support the use of grade retention as an intervention for academic achievement or socio-emotional adjustment problems. … retention at any grade level is associated with later high school dropout.” (NASP, 2003) Recent research overwhelmingly continues to support these findings although there are a few that found an academic benefit. The authors of those studies caution that the positive academic effects experienced by the retained students could have been due to the intensive tutoring they received during the year of retention.

Here’s a classic example to consider. You have a kindergarten student who has been struggling with reading all year. The issue has been discussed during parent teacher conferences with the plan of "keeping an eye" on the student as the year goes on. It’s now Spring and the student has demonstrated progress, yet his peers continue to out pace him. The classroom teacher is now recommending that the child repeat kindergarten since his reading skills are not on par with his peers. What’s a parent to do? First of all, is the recommendation solely based on reading achievement? Does the situation involve a child who has a late birthday and was frequently absent? Having been involved in a couple of circumstances with kindergarteners who should have been red-shirted due to age, yes, retention may be the right choice. In most cases though, age or absences aren't the issue, the decision to retain is based on the belief that the child will “outgrow” his reading and/or socio/emotional difficulty. Research shows that children with reading disabilities do not catch up to their peers by being given more of the same instruction. A struggling reader requires careful assessment and progress monitoring along with intervention provided by an instructor who is certified to implement scientifically proven structured literacy interventions, e.g., Wilson Reading System or a graduate of the Orton Gillingham Academy. In an ideal situation, the child should have been screened and provided with reading intervention throughout the year since it was apparent early on that he needed help. To quote Ben Franklin, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

To return to the kindergarten student’s situation, the school is suggesting that given another year of the same curriculum the student will “get it” the second time around, feel good about himself and even be a leader in the class. Sounds positive right? Over the long term, citing more research, “sixth grade students rated grade retention as the single most stressful life event, higher than the loss of a parent or going blind.” (NASP 2002). For parents experiencing this dilemma, here are some good questions to ask – namely, what specialized instruction/intervention can be offered to the child next year and how often can the child receive this instruction? Also, does the school offer instructional support over the summer months and is the child eligible for the program? School-based supports such as specialized reading programs, summer school and after school tutoring programs have been identified by the International Dyslexia Association, the Learning Disability Association of America and the NASP as consistently demonstrating benefits for struggling students.

For more information on grade retention and reading disabilities the following organizations offer many resources: the Wrightslaw organization, the parent advocacy group, Decoding Dyslexia, the International Dyslexia Association and the National Association of School Psychologists.