Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Maggie.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: And I'm Nicole. Welcome to the DAC Dyslexia and Coffee Podcast. We're so happy you could join us. We're both moms and dyslexia interventionists who want to talk about our students and children.
What dyslexia is, how it affects our kids, strategies to help and topics related to other learning disabilities will all be covered in this podcast.
Parents are not alone. We want to give a voice to the concerns of struggles we are all having. This is a safe place to learn more about how to help our children grow and succeed in school, in the world. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the conversation.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Hi, everybody.
[00:00:38] Speaker C: Welcome to episode 103 of Dyslexia.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: 104.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: 104.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. 104 of Dyslexia and Coffee podcast. Oh, thank goodness for Nicole. She has my back.
We're going to start today's episode like we have the rest of the 103 episodes, and that is with the concept of the week. So the concept of the week is
[00:01:03] Speaker C: our opportunity to kind of peel back the curtain a little bit and let everyone into an intervention session.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Okay. We like to define things that either we would define directly with our strength
[00:01:17] Speaker C: students or with their parents and caregivers.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: So today's concept of the week is a review. We've talked about this topic before, but I have a few more things to say about it. So welcome to me. Right.
So today's concept of the week is phonics.
Phonics is the pairing of the visual representation, or the. The symbol, otherwise known as a grapheme, to the sound that that symbol represents,
[00:01:51] Speaker C: otherwise known as a phoneme.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: So, for example, when you look at the letter M, the general shape of that letter, that's called the grapheme. The sound that makes is the M sound.
[00:02:08] Speaker C: That's the phoneme. When we put those two things together, that's phonics.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Some things I've heard recently is that either phonics has been debunked, which, yikes, that's scary.
But really just understanding that phonics really just is that process of looking at
[00:02:33] Speaker C: the visual symbol and pairing it to
[00:02:36] Speaker A: the sound that symbol makes. That's what phonics is.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: So episode 104, we're going to talk about parental society.
Society.
[00:02:51] Speaker C: Because honestly, I think it's more general than just.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Misconceptions of dyslexia.
And I think the biggest one that, you know, I think that we talked about before, but I think it's really good to Relate, again, is dyslexia is not tied to iq.
There is much scientific evidence that has debunked that idea. Yes.
It remains one of them.
Many misconceptions about dyslexia, though.
[00:03:29] Speaker A: I agree.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: And it really can impede progress of
[00:03:31] Speaker C: teaching children to read.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:03:35] Speaker C: Children with high IQs can have dyslexia,
[00:03:39] Speaker B: average IQs, and actually low IQs.
[00:03:43] Speaker C: Correct. And students with low IQs can still
[00:03:46] Speaker B: learn how to read.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:03:48] Speaker C: 100%.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Could not agree more. And I can't tell you how many times in my career I have come
[00:04:00] Speaker C: across this very thing on.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: On.
[00:04:06] Speaker C: All right.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: On all ends of that either.
No, that student has an above average, average iq. They could not possibly have dyslexia.
They're just being lazy or not trying hard enough.
Like they're smart enough to do it. Like. Like that's kind of the misconception. Right. Like, okay, well, that student, their IQ says that they should just be able to pick up a book and read.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: No.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Or someone with average intelligence.
Again, kind of that same bucket.
But someone with a lower iq, you. It's like automatically assumed that they shouldn't know how to read or can't learn how to read. And that is completely untrue
[00:04:57] Speaker C: and disheartening
[00:05:00] Speaker A: because it, in my opinion, is one of the driving factors as to why we still have a stigma when we say dyslexia or we say reading difficulties.
I think this IQ idea is one of the drivers. Like, that's why we continue to have that stigma. That if you have dyslexia, then you can't or don't.
[00:05:28] Speaker C: Or are lazy and stupid.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: And that's. None of that is true.
[00:05:34] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: So we can't repeat that enough.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:05:37] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: The next one.
[00:05:45] Speaker C: This misconception is interesting to me that
[00:05:48] Speaker B: dyslexia does not exist.
[00:05:52] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Yes. I feel like this.
Has been.
Maybe it's just the things I've been reading lately, but all of a sudden I feel like this one has come to the surface again. Again.
And I've even been having some recent conversations with parents who come to me in a. Like, hey, now that we've had this
[00:06:21] Speaker C: intervention, do you actually think I can
[00:06:25] Speaker A: ask dyslexia, or do we think we
[00:06:28] Speaker C: just kind of created dyslexia?
[00:06:33] Speaker A: I feel like those two myths are almost related to each other.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Either it completely doesn't exist or somehow made wasn't real. I don't know.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: And I think that comes maybe from the part where intervention does help.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: And I think just because the intervention helps it doesn't get rid of the dyslexia.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: It just helps you.
[00:07:00] Speaker C: Right.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: Because people with dyslexia can become automatic
[00:07:04] Speaker C: and very skilled readers.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: And I think we focus in on that and go, wow, look how far you've come. Right.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: Fantastic.
And that's what we want.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: If you've done the right things. That's what we want.
But still on a Right. If that person who has done the intervention. And we've seen this many, many times
[00:07:26] Speaker C: because we do assessments here. Correct.
So even those students who have improved
[00:07:35] Speaker A: their phonological awareness a lot have improved
[00:07:39] Speaker C: their working memory because all of those skills can be improved.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: There tends to still be a lag
[00:07:51] Speaker C: and there will still be tasks that are more difficult for those students and.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: Or those accommodations are the things that are continuing to allow that student to thrive.
[00:08:09] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: And there's been over 30 years of documented scientific research. Research.
Dyslexia does exist.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: It does exist.
[00:08:18] Speaker C: And really truly we have over a
[00:08:23] Speaker A: hundred years of evidence. Right. I mean Samuel Orton of Orton Gillingham
[00:08:28] Speaker C: fame, he was doing research in the medical world a hundred plus years ago.
So actually this, this is the most
[00:08:40] Speaker A: well researched learning disability with absolutely the most body of evidence saying dyslexia does exist.
It is a lifelong neurological difference which
[00:08:57] Speaker C: they've seen in the brain.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: It is very complicated.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: There are many, like, there are many different factors.
[00:09:04] Speaker C: But yeah, dyslexia is absolutely something that is.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: Is real. And to say that it isn't is often really insulting to our kid. And I think that's why this one bugs me.
[00:09:16] Speaker C: It.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: It's insulting to my students who do have dyslexia. Correct.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
This next one's interesting.
Dyslexia is rare.
I don't know where this one's. Because. Coming from. Because dyslexia is very common.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: Very common.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: One in 25 people or 20%.
[00:09:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: That's a lot of people.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: It's a lot of people. Right. And not even. Right. Not even children. Like the population. The broader population.
So, yeah, dyslexia, not rare at all. Very common.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: This one is the one that bugs me the most. Probably dyslexia can be cured.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: No.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: Can we give them skills?
[00:10:06] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Can we give them accommodations? Sure.
But it's lifelong.
[00:10:11] Speaker C: It's a difference in the brain.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: You know, they may learn to read
[00:10:16] Speaker C: automatically, but they may not.
Or they may continue to be.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: Maybe not as automatic. It's though. But they still
[00:10:27] Speaker C: have it.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: Like it doesn't go away. And it's also
[00:10:33] Speaker A: this one, this one, this one Bugs me on that level. And the level of like.
Yes, we categorize dyslexia as a disability, which carries a stigma because of that.
However, when you look at. Okay, up to 20 to 25% of the population has dyslexia, Are we really looking at a disability or are we looking at a difference? Right, right.
So this one bugs me on the level of they're not broken. Like, this is not a. This is not a thing.
Two, fix.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: This is a thing to
[00:11:18] Speaker B: help.
[00:11:18] Speaker C: It is a thing to intervene and
[00:11:21] Speaker A: get those skill sets stronger, but it is not a thing to fix because this is a person that is not broken. This is not.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Right.
Their brain learns in a different way.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:11:34] Speaker C: But that's not really broken. It's just different. It's different.
[00:11:39] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: So,
[00:11:44] Speaker C: yeah, this one.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Dyslexia is a catch all term.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: I guess my question is, like, Catch all for what?
Right.
No, I mean, we know that dyslexia
[00:12:03] Speaker C: has specific and neurobiological origins.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: The.
We can see the signs and symptoms
[00:12:12] Speaker C: of dyslexia as early as preschool.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: It is.
I think I can kind of understand where this one might be coming from,
[00:12:25] Speaker C: because,
[00:12:28] Speaker A: I mean, all due respect to the idea, but especially the new definition. And I've come around to the new definition. Definition.
But it is all a bit squishy
[00:12:40] Speaker C: because it has a broad definition and there are broad categories. Correct.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: So while it is broad,
[00:12:56] Speaker B: it is
[00:12:56] Speaker C: not a catch all term. Correct.
It's a characterization of difficulties with that, you know, printed word.
Exactly. Yeah.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: How about this one, Maggie? Dyslexia cannot be diagnosed.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Oh, you just knew that one was
[00:13:21] Speaker C: gonna get me right in the like.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Yep, Right in that spot. That just makes me mad.
Right.
We can accurately identify those who are at risk for dyslexia as early as preschool. We can identify dyslexia as early as first grade. Really?
[00:13:44] Speaker C: Even sooner if we can piece those things apart.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: There are a variety of professionals who
[00:13:54] Speaker C: can accurately pinpoint the set of trail.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: The set of skills. Exactly that.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: But they have extensive training in it.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: So I think that's something to take away too.
[00:14:08] Speaker C: About that is, I think sometimes people
[00:14:12] Speaker B: who are not extensively trained in it
[00:14:15] Speaker C: will look at some data and decide things.
And maybe that's where that one comes from.
[00:14:21] Speaker A: I think so too. And I think on either side of it, either someone who is not well trained may take a set of skills and not understand what level of education that kid has had. Like, for example. Right.
[00:14:35] Speaker C: If we have a student in front
[00:14:37] Speaker A: of us and it Is found that they really do not have very good, like, phoneme, grapheme relationships.
[00:14:46] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: We cannot automatically just say that student has dyslexia without investigating what they have been taught.
[00:14:54] Speaker C: Correct. We have to know what they have been taught before we can leap to that judgment. Right.
So
[00:15:05] Speaker A: I will definitely say I've seen, over the course of my career, instances where I think dyslexia has been diagnosed prematurely, and that can do harm.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: And I've seen a lot of instances
[00:15:23] Speaker C: where we refused to say dyslexia or we refuse to diagnose the issue, and that student has been left behind.
So at both ends, it can impact the student.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
It's important that we have trained professionals
[00:15:45] Speaker C: and that you know where to go.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: And my heart really goes out to
[00:15:50] Speaker C: parents who don't have those tools readily available to them.
[00:15:57] Speaker A: And obviously, that's one thing that Nicole and I are out there to change. Right. That's why we're doing this. That's why we have dyslexia achievements.
There's, you know, we're working really, really hard to dispel.
Dispel this, obviously.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: And I think also something that we should really bring up to with this part is depending on which professional is doing the assessment, the diagnosis may say something different but mean the same thing.
Yes.
[00:16:25] Speaker C: Right.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: Some specialists will use the phrase a specific weakness in phonological development
[00:16:33] Speaker A: instead of
[00:16:33] Speaker B: saying it has dyslexia, but it is dyslexia. Yes.
[00:16:37] Speaker C: Right.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Yeah. That. I mean, that is one of probably the most frustrating things about education in
[00:16:46] Speaker C: general and the dyslexia world specifically. Right.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: Is it is something that can kind of wear many hats and.
[00:16:57] Speaker C: And have many labels.
[00:16:59] Speaker A: Like you said, a primary deficit in phonological awareness.
That's a hallmark of dyslexia.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: Correct.
So if that's written in it, the other thing that happens too. Right. Is either the school personnel or somebody like a psychologist or somebody is writing because they know that the parents need to take.
[00:17:23] Speaker C: Take this to school.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: They'll use the special ed terminology, which is a specific learning disability in reading.
[00:17:31] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Writing or spelling.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Yes. Which.
Which is dyslexia.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: Those two things are the same.
And there are actually. There are reasons that different professionals will
[00:17:48] Speaker C: use those different terms.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Correct.
And they all mean the same thing.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: But it doesn't make it less frustrating
[00:17:55] Speaker C: if you're a parent.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: I mean, for example, if you are
[00:17:59] Speaker C: a parent and your.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: Your report says that it's a phonological awareness primary deficit, and you're already doing a structured literacy intervention, sometimes those Parents go, oh, actually what we need is speech and language.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: Which is not true.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: Which is not true.
[00:18:17] Speaker C: Right.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: While many of our speech language pathologists out there, thank you for doing what you do. While many of them are trained in structured literacy. Not all.
[00:18:29] Speaker C: So understanding who can actually intervene and do that intervention that is needed.
It complicates this myth.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Right?
[00:18:42] Speaker B: It does. Right.
[00:18:43] Speaker C: Because I can see why it's a little bit.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Not as.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: It's not as concrete as I would like to see it. And there's nothing I would take away either, because then we're going to miss kids.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:19:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: So there's a catch 22 in this one, I think.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: I think so too.
You know, the fact that dyslexia is caused by just simply the lack of phonics instruction.
[00:19:19] Speaker C: No, no, that doesn't really.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: That's a myth too.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: It absolutely is.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: Because there are a lot.
[00:19:28] Speaker C: Like students with dyslexia can learn phonics
[00:19:32] Speaker B: once they have the underlining phonemic awareness abilities, you know, or they're explicitly taught
[00:19:38] Speaker C: how to use the English language or whatever language they're learning.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: Right. Understanding that a student with dyslexia, even with excellent. We'll call it tier one. Right.
[00:19:52] Speaker C: That's your whole class instruction.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: So a student with dyslexia who receives
[00:19:58] Speaker C: excellent phonics instruction at Tier 1 is
[00:20:02] Speaker A: probably not giving enough practice to make the progress necessary that they need to make so they could have been exposed to excellent, high quality instruction. Just not enough of it, not enough of what they need.
And the opposite can be true.
[00:20:20] Speaker C: Right.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: Like students.
Yeah. Lack of phonics instruction can absolutely hurt students. All students, not just students with dyslexia.
But it is not.
It perpetuates the like, well, just teach
[00:20:37] Speaker C: it phonics and then they'll be fine.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: No, no.
Yeah.
[00:20:41] Speaker C: There's more to it.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: It's a lot more.
[00:20:45] Speaker C: So this myth is a common one. We hear dyslexia means you cannot read.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: This one is frustrating.
I feel like this is one that comes. It comes up a lot. We talk about it a lot.
[00:21:05] Speaker C: Illiterate is not synonymous with dyslexia.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Many people with dyslexia are one able to. Able to read. Someone truly illiterate means like you cannot
[00:21:21] Speaker C: read, meaning they have no ability to decode print.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: That is a very small segment of
[00:21:31] Speaker C: the population
[00:21:34] Speaker A: and could be caused by
[00:21:36] Speaker C: many different factors, including dyslexia.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: But not necessarily.
[00:21:41] Speaker C: Necessarily.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: People with dyslexia can absolutely
[00:21:48] Speaker C: be skilled readers and writers. Correct.
Many famous writers have dyslexia.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
I Think what bugs me probably the most about this is like the black and white statement of like people with dyslexia can't read. The end, nothing we can do about it.
Just throw up our hands.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:11] Speaker C: No, no, no, no, that's, that's not true.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: This one goes along with it. If a child can't read by 9,
[00:22:21] Speaker C: they should not be taught or they cannot be taught. Yeah. I feel like this is another one that I have felt resurface in more recent years.
[00:22:33] Speaker A: And, and I guess my theory is that
[00:22:40] Speaker C: correctly, there is a renewed interest in very early, high quality instruction in reading for kids.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: And I think, again, correctly, a lot of our resources are going to, to
[00:23:00] Speaker C: those very early years.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: But I think it's kind of contributing to the fact that like, well, there's like this magic window for learning how to read and write and if you don't get to them by the time they're in third grade, which I think like, that's kind of where that nine comes from. That's where that nine comes from, right?
[00:23:22] Speaker C: Nine is around.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Around third grade.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: And I think like there is this idea of a magic window where you cannot.
Well, if they haven't made it by third grade, that's a bummer.
We're just going to give up on them.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: And that would have really made our 57 year old that came here very upset to.
[00:23:44] Speaker C: Right?
[00:23:45] Speaker A: I mean, absolutely. I mean, no, I mean the real truth is, yes, we can make more progress faster with our younger students. Right. If we get them before that age.
[00:24:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:03] Speaker A: Yes, we can make more progress faster. We can change things more quickly for that student.
[00:24:09] Speaker C: That's because the brain at that point is still developing.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. That's the reason why. That is the reason why it isn't that, okay, we've missed our window. Too late, Goodbye.
Just like related. Right. In the OT world, there's this idea of like, well, if they can't, if their handwriting is poor and they're, you know, 12, well, forget it. Just don't do it. Like, don't worry about it. And like, hold on.
[00:24:40] Speaker C: While it is more difficult to change
[00:24:45] Speaker A: someone's handwriting or legibility, while it is more difficult, that doesn't mean give up
[00:24:51] Speaker C: on it and don't do it. It means understand there may be more
[00:24:56] Speaker A: time, it may take more effort, you
[00:24:58] Speaker C: may have to change your approach, but
[00:25:03] Speaker A: it doesn't mean don't do it.
[00:25:06] Speaker C: Correct. Yeah.
I think you should take the next one.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:25:14] Speaker B: this one.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: Right.
Dyslexia is A vision problem is a very common myth that I am here to bust.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: There's research that bass this.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: So much research.
Vision has absolutely nothing, hear me say,
[00:25:40] Speaker C: nothing to do with dyslexia.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: Dyslexia is not a vision problem.
It is not seeing letters upside down and backwards. It is not the inability to track
[00:25:53] Speaker C: words on a page.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: It is not something that could be
[00:25:56] Speaker C: fixed with vision therapy.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: There are some very unsavory characters in this space who will say that they
[00:26:08] Speaker C: can correct dyslexia with the use of
[00:26:11] Speaker A: vision therapy or special glasses or.
I mean, insert a lot of hacks here and boom, you've got.
[00:26:19] Speaker C: You've got a whole industry.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: Not that saying a student might have vision problems and dyslexia, in which case, then maybe something would help. But it is not the same thing.
[00:26:34] Speaker A: It is not a vision problem. It is not a student with dyslexia
[00:26:39] Speaker C: who does have BD reversals.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Right.
It isn't that they are seeing that symbol incorrectly. It is that their internal sound system, their phonological awareness, part of their brain is.
[00:26:54] Speaker C: Is the part that is not connecting those dots correctly.
[00:26:58] Speaker A: It is not that they are seeing things backwards.
They are seeing the same thing someone without dyslexia is seeing.
Their brain is wiring it differently.
So that is why actually students with hearing impairments are at a much higher
[00:27:23] Speaker C: risk for reading difficulties.
[00:27:26] Speaker A: Students with articulation area problems, much higher risk. Students with vision problems, same risk as everybody else.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:27:38] Speaker C: Which makes a lot of sense.
[00:27:40] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: So I think the overall, we have so many more myths we can bust, but due to time, I think we
[00:27:49] Speaker C: should really just focus.
[00:27:52] Speaker B: Be very careful. If anybody's saying they have a cure.
Fast way to teach a student with dyslexia a fast experimental treatment.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: Yes.
Anybody that gives you a strict timeline. Six months, one year, 100 lessons.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: Yes. That is not true.
It depends on the student. Every student with dyslexia is different. So the timeline cannot be a specific time.
[00:28:23] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:28:24] Speaker B: Like so.
And there is a science based bat
[00:28:29] Speaker C: instruction, which is what we do.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: And it takes a while. It's not fast.
[00:28:35] Speaker C: And I know parents really was that fast.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: They want people to play on that
[00:28:40] Speaker A: and they want progress to be a linear up into the right.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: Right.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: Which I love that too. I wish it was that way.
[00:28:49] Speaker B: Okay. Me too. Unfortunately, the brain is not wired that way.
[00:28:53] Speaker C: Humans operate.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: So you will not have. You will have.
You will have some setbacks.
There will be plateaus.
Anybody who is actually doing structured literacy instruction
[00:29:12] Speaker C: will tell you we are going
[00:29:17] Speaker A: to Go as fast as we can,
[00:29:19] Speaker C: but as slow as we must.
We are going to work to mastery.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: And we're going to say it depends on the timeline.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: Because it depends on the.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: It depends.
[00:29:30] Speaker C: There's a person.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: Right.
[00:29:33] Speaker C: So I just really wanted to bust that.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's really, really important
[00:29:39] Speaker C: that we do and that we continue to do that.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: So, Maggie, what's happening beyond dyslexia?
[00:29:48] Speaker A: Let's see. Beyond dyslexia. I am kind of awestruck by the fact that it is already August. I will say being in southeastern Wisconsin and actually living here my whole entire
[00:30:03] Speaker C: life, I will say the weather that
[00:30:06] Speaker A: we have had has been weird, has been truly bizarre.
The fact that we had. I mean, way back in April, we've. We had already exceeded the amount of tornadoes.
[00:30:22] Speaker B: Right.
For the entire year.
[00:30:25] Speaker A: The entire year.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: And, like, more and more happened.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: More happened. I mean, we.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: We had one this week.
[00:30:33] Speaker A: We had one this week.
You know, I will say.
Any friends in north central Wisconsin, we're really. We're really thinking about you.
[00:30:44] Speaker C: That was a pretty destructive TR.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: Tornado that went through.
You know, my. My brother lives in that area of the state.
[00:30:52] Speaker C: He's okay.
[00:30:52] Speaker A: Everybody's fine.
But it is.
[00:30:56] Speaker C: It's been kind of,
[00:31:01] Speaker A: in a weird way, like, I kind of feel in awe of mother nature a bit. Because, honestly, Wisconsin is in tornado alley. That is, we've been taught that since we were little. Right, right. To be on the lookout for tornadoes. And listen, we're not in the, like,
[00:31:19] Speaker B: middle, but we're not.
[00:31:21] Speaker A: Right. We don't tend to have as much destruction as, let's say, like, Iowa or Nebraska or Oklahoma.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: Those are areas that are plains and they can gather. The storms can gather so much more power given the landscape that they have.
So while I have always been aware that tornadoes can and do happen here, I mean, I grew up in Wales, Wisconsin. We have had two tornadoes on record that have destroyed, like, literally the same barn.
[00:31:55] Speaker C: You guys, if you look up the history of them, it's wild.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: But isn't it wild? Like, literally the two tornadoes that have
[00:32:02] Speaker C: gone through Wales, Wisconsin, destroyed the same person's property two different times.
[00:32:09] Speaker B: Crazy.
[00:32:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
Several decades apart, but still crazy.
Yeah, Fun. Right?
[00:32:16] Speaker B: But.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: So, yes, I.
Tornadoes can and do happen here, but the severity, the amount, all of it that has happened this
[00:32:31] Speaker C: summer has been really
[00:32:34] Speaker A: kind of eye opening. And I. I think I've had a little bit of a more blase kind of attitude towards severe weather, and these ones have.
[00:32:46] Speaker C: Have had me a lot more spooked. I have to say.
[00:32:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:51] Speaker C: Yeah, that's.
[00:32:54] Speaker A: That's kind of what I'm thinking about right now.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: What about you, Nicole?
I think we have to talk a little bit about kind of a cool thing that we found for our kids with dyslexia.
So, basically, in Wisconsin, and I think the Wisconsin Talking Braille and Braille Library. Yeah.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: This is actually a national program.
[00:33:24] Speaker B: It's a national program.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Each state has a branch.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: Yes. So we've been talking to the Wisconsin side of it.
But an interesting thing is that I don't know how new it is that they've taken students with dyslexia because it used to be just for braille.
[00:33:41] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:33:41] Speaker C: Used to be people with low or no vision.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: Right. But now they also take students with dyslexia or reading.
And so it's really cool. You can get brand new books.
You know, there's a player that you can get, and then you put the thing. The sound in there, and then your
[00:34:04] Speaker C: kids can listen to it.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: I've got two now in my house
[00:34:08] Speaker C: because I have two kids with dyslexia.
[00:34:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: And you also can get an app, though, and you can have it play,
[00:34:13] Speaker C: like, on your favorite player.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: But it's really cool because really all you need to do is have diagnosis and have somebody sign that you have
[00:34:21] Speaker C: a diagnosis and you can get these players and access to millions of votes.
[00:34:27] Speaker A: It is amazing how far the service has come. Actually, this was a service I had when I was a kid.
Things were very different then, but it's been incredible. We, too, have a player in my
[00:34:43] Speaker C: house for my son, and his really
[00:34:46] Speaker A: renewed an interest in just listening to stories which.
[00:34:52] Speaker C: Yay. Right?
[00:34:53] Speaker B: Like that. Yeah, that's good.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: That's good.
You want that vocabulary. And I mean, my son specifically, he's always had a high vocabulary, high imagination,
[00:35:04] Speaker C: and I want all of those skills to continue to flourish in him. And this is just another way for that to happen.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: We, you know, we'll just kind of tease. I would really love to actually bring the research. Yeah. The outcome. The outreach. Outreach librarian for the Wisconsin branch I've had many amazing conversations with over the last couple of months.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: And they actually just redid the space
[00:35:41] Speaker A: for Wisconsin branch, and they.
[00:35:43] Speaker C: They had an open house just a
[00:35:44] Speaker A: couple weeks ago, and unfortunately, we missed that. But we.
Something in the works. Right. For listeners to keep on listening. And so we would love to have our friend Katie on and talk about
[00:35:57] Speaker C: all the many things that they. They do, because it's a lot.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: And it's very. They do a lot yeah.
[00:36:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: Well, thank you everybody for listening.
Please follow us on social media and reach out if you have any questions or you would like us to discuss a topic. If you do like our show, be sure to follow and then give us a rating on your favorite podcast players.
That is how we get to reach
[00:36:21] Speaker C: more listeners and we get to help more families.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: Thank you, everybody.
[00:36:24] Speaker B: Thank you.
