April 12 — Beverly Cleary’s birthday — is D.E.A.R. Day, a national celebration of reading designed to encourage families to make reading a priority activity in their lives.
The National Center for Learning Disabilities presents a basic fact sheet on dyscalculia, a term which refers to a wide range of learning disabilities involving math. The following questions are answered: What are the effects of dyscalculia in early childhood, during the school years, and on teenagers and adults? What are the warning signs? How is dyscalculia identified and treated?
Signs and symptoms of dysgraphia are described. You’ll also learn about effective accommodations and modifications such as allowing more time, simplifying the task, and allowing assistance for part of the task. The last section of the article has remediation recommendations to help the student improve their writing and overcome their dysgraphia.
Teachers and parents should suspect dysgraphia if a child’s handwriting is unusually difficult to read. Find out more about this neurological problem that can cause physical pain as some children struggle to write.
Eli, a young boy, tells us what it is like to have dysgraphia. Regina Richards, a well-known expert on dysgraphia (and Eli’s mom), explains how to help children who struggle with the challenges Eli describes. Practical techniques discussed include POWER: Prepare, Organize, Write, Edit, Revise.
The identification of a child with dyslexia is a difficult process, but there are ways that parents and teachers can learn more about the reading difficulty and support the child’s learning.
