Resources
Please note that DD-NJ does not officially endorse, represent or has any legal connection any of the resources listed below. These are websites, films and books that many parents have found very useful in their personal searches for information on and about dyslexia.
Find state and national resources from websites, checklists to films and books:
DD-NJ’s Original Resources
DD-NJ Compiled Dyslexia Screening Information: | DDNJ_Screening info for law 2014
DD-NJ’s Dyslexia Awareness Month Video | New Jersey Faces of Dyslexia Video
DD-NJ’s Checklist for Pediatricians | DDNJ_PediatricanPacket ver 1-13-15
DD-NJ’s Guerilla Guide for Spreading Dyslexia Awareness | DD_GuerrillaGuide_Dyslexia Awareness
NJ Resources
NJ Department of Education Website Dyslexia page | www.state.nj.us/education/specialed/dyslexia/
NJ Department of Education Website Special Education page | www.state.nj.us/education/specialed/
Learning Disabilities Association of NJ | www.ldanj.org
NJ Branch of the International Dyslexia Association | www.njida.org
National Resources
Understood.org | www.understood.org
International Dyslexia Association | www.interdys.org
Bookshare | www.bookshare.org
Children’s Dyslexia Centers, Inc | www.childrensdyslexiacenters.org
Learning Ally (formerly RFB&D) | www.learningally.org
National Center for Learning Disabilities | www.ncld.org
LD Online | www.LDonline.org
Bright Solutions for Dyslexia | www.dys-add.com
Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy | www.wrightslaw.com
Dyslegia: A Legislative Information Site | www.dyslegia.com
Yale Center for Dyslexia & /creativity | www.dyslexia.yale.edu
Proactive Parent | www.proactiveparent.com
Reading & Language programs comparison chart | www.interdys.org/ewebeditpro5/upload/MSL2007finalR1.pdf
Assistive Technology reviews | http://bdmtech.blogspot.com/
Assistive Technology Solutions | http://www.atdyslexia.com/
U.S. Dept of Education Guidance Letter to Districts (download) | Education Guidance on Dyslexia oct 23 2015
U.S. Law: “READ Act” H. R. 3033 | http://bit.ly/1p6jTX3
U.S. Law: “READ Act” [press release] | http://1.usa.gov/1phfyAT
Early Warning Dyslexia Signs fact sheets (downloads):
Early Warning Signs of Dyslexia also IsMyChildDyslexic
Films on Dyslexia:
The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia | www.thebigpicturemovie.com
Dislecksia – The Movie | www.dislecksiathemovie.com
Embracing Dyslexia | www.embracingdyslexia.com
Being You | roadtripnation.com/roadtrip/being-you#showdlsfkjadlk
Other dyslexia related films list with links | http://u.org/2dayJaR
Book Resources:
Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level
by Sally Shaywitz, M.D.; Vintage (2005) — A great book that explains what dyslexia is and gives parents tools for helping their children become fluent readers. One of the most helpful and informative books that most parents read early in their journey that really open their eyes and pointed them in the right direction to seek the help their kids needed.
Parenting a Struggling Reader
by Susan L. Hall and Louisa C. Moats; Broadway (2002) — This book helped explain how school systems work and provided real-world practical guidance on how to understand and work within the framework of the public school system. It also helped us understand the need to sometimes look outside public schools for additional resources.
Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide
by Pam Wright and Pete Wright; Harbor House Law Press (2006) — Realizing that your child has an LD (or any disability) can set parents off on a roller coaster of emotions. This fabulous book helped us distinguish facts from emotions in order to properly document the facts and best advocate for our daughter.
The Human Side of Dyslexia: 142 Interviews with Real People Telling Real Stories About Their Coping Strategies with Dyslexia
by Shirley Kurnoff; London Universal, (2001) — Just as the title says, this book is packed with real stories by people with dyslexia. While many books on dyslexia focus on the mechanics of the learning disability, this is the human story of the people who live with it. Through their stories we learn their strategies and tools for coping with the reading disability. Many of the stories are inspirational and will be a comfort to parents who worry about their child’s future.
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science
by Norman Doidge; Penguin Books (2007) — An astonishing new science called “neuroplasticity” is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. In this revolutionary look at the brain, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., provides an introduction to both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they’ve transformed.
The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain
by Brock L. Eide M.D. M.A. and Fernette F. Eide M.D., Plume (2012) — In this groundbreaking book, Brock and Fernette Eide explain how 20% of people—individuals with dyslexia—share a unique learning style that can create advantages in a classroom, at a job, or at home. Using their combined expertise in neurology and education, the authors show how these individuals not only perceive the written word differently but may also excel at spatial reasoning, see insightful connections that others simply miss, understand the world in stories, and display amazing creativity.
The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan: A Blueprint for Renewing Your Child’s Confidence and Love of Learning
by Benn Foss (2013) — In a passionate and well-articulated guide that puts to rest the idea that dyslexic people are unintelligent, disabilities advocate Foss (himself dyslexic and the creator of Intel Reader, a text-to-speech device) describes dyslexia as a characteristic and a disability that should be accommodated in the same way as blindness or mobility issues. Foss reframes the use of film, audiobooks, and material read aloud as ear-reading, in contrast to the eye-reading that is the educational standard. He hopes that parents can learn to explain their child’s needs in a way that will win them essential support, and that they can help their child build self-esteem. Foss also discusses how to navigate good accommodations in the school environment and determine if a school is inappropriate for your child’s welfare. This extremely practical and motivational book will be welcomed by parents of dyslexic children.
DD-NJ members traveled to D.C. on 6/19/12 to meet with NJ Congressmen to talk about Dyslexia and get them sign the Bipartisan Congressional Dyslexia Caucus
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LDANJ Spring Conference!
Life in High School and Beyond Conference & Resource Expo
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Registration: www.LDANJspring2020.eventbrite.com
Full Conference Brochure: www.ldanj.org/wp-content/uploads/LDANJ-March-2020-Full-Conference-Brochure.pdf
Questions? 732-645-2738 or info@LDANJ.org
$1000 Scholarship Opportunity -- Deadline March 6:
The Learning Disabilities Association of New Jersey Inc. (LDANJ), will be giving the Dr. Rosa Hagin Scholarship Award to several New Jersey students with learning and/or attention issues who will continue their education beyond high school. This scholarship is for students moving on to ANY post-secondary program. Click the link for application and all information.
www.ldanj.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-Scholarship-letter-and-application.pdf
Without appropriate reading instruction, the problems at the top of the iceberg give way to what lies beneath. Often those problems are bigger and even harder to remediate.
Workshop information from ReallyGreatReading:
"Decoding and the Struggling Reader” is being offered in NJ on the following dates:
5/6: Paramus, NJ
5/7: Edison, NJ
5/8: Mt. Laurel, NJ
REGISTER: www.reallygreatreading.com/workshops
Complimentary seats are available with the code: WORKSHOP
This article is specific to NYC, but other themes are universal: Why are public schools so unprepared to meet the needs of dyslexic students (and more broadly, those who struggle with learning to read not due to a disability)? Why are students who need specialized reading instruction placed in classes with students who have intellectual or behavioral disabilities? Should learning to read be this dependent on family resources? #saydyslexia #equity
www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/education/2020/02/09/disability-special-education-dyslexia-doe-nyc...
www.usatoday.com
Two boys with learning disabilities grew up just blocks apart in New York City. Public schools couldn't teach them. So their parents battled to place them in private schools, on the taxpayers' dime."Calkins’s approach “is a slow, unreliable way to read words and an inefficient way to develop word recognition skill,” Mark S. Seidenberg, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said in a blog post. “Dr. Calkins treats word recognition as a reasoning problem — like solving a puzzle. She is dedicated to the educational precept that children learn best by discovering how systems work rather than being told. ...skilled reading “is fast, automatic, almost like a reflex — not deliberative.”
www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/read-all-about-it-the-reading-wars-are-back-in-americas-ed...
Perspective | Read all about it: The ‘reading wars’ are back in America’s education salons
www.washingtonpost.com
Should phonics be emphasized? What about whole language learning?Educators and Parents: "Calkins' Units of Study is the third most widely used set of core materials to teach reading, according to a survey by Education Week. But, as APM Reports has shown, the Units of Study lessons and materials frequently assert an idea about how people read that has been proven wrong by cognitive scientists. The idea, known as three cueing, encourages children to look at pictures and use contextual clues to identify words as they are reading. Scientific research shows that skilled readers do not use cues to read words and that instructing children to use these cues teaches them the habits of struggling readers."
www.apmreports.org/story/2020/01/27/lucy-calkins-reading-materials-review
Experts say widely used reading curriculum is failing kids
www.apmreports.org
A first of its kind review finds Lucy Calkins' materials don't align with the science of reading.Always a good time when DDNJ folks get together to reflect on our work and brainstorm future efforts!
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