GISD Dyslexia Informer
October 2021
Experience Dyslexia Event! October 21, 2021
Experience Dyslexia at Rowlett High School
Thursday, Oct 21, 2021, 06:00 PM
Rowlett High School, President George Bush Highway, Rowlett, TX, USA
October is Dyslexia Awareness Month!
While our students with dyslexia face their own individual obstacles they each have their own successes! We want to take a moment to thank every one of our students and families: You deserve to be celebrated!
Dyslexia Twice Exceptional: 2e or not 2e
Many of our students here, in Garland ISD, show these extraordinary strengths (both identified as gifted, or not). We see strengths in our students in athletics, art, sciences, history, and in areas of trade and business. Our students have potential and it is up to us to be sure to tap into those areas for our students!
Susan Baum and Steven Owen, the authors of "To Be Gifted and Learning Disabled", state, "Too often the strengths and interests of Gifted-Learning Disabled students are either unrecognized, seen but ignored, put on hold, or are irksome because they are the wrong talents for conventional school achievement." This statement is something that could be true, but is something that when recognized, and intentionally considered, can make a life-changing difference in student outcomes.
Did you know that:
- A student can appear as an average student, or even a poor student, and can still be gifted.
- 2e learners more likely to have anxiety, depression, and suffer with poor self-esteem.
- 2e learners may behave differently in different contexts.
- 2e learners can be successful in AP courses and college.
In addition, 2e students with dyslexia have asynchronous development, for example, a student is actually 11 years old, but intellectually 16 and emotionally 8.
According to Sally Shaywitz, "...many dyslexics read and even manage to excel in academics despite their disability. These so-called compensated dyslexics perform as well as nondyslexics on tests of word accuracy— they have learned how to decode or identify words, thereby gaining entry to the higher levels of the language system. But they do so at a cost. Timed tests reveal that decoding remains very laborious for compensated dyslexics; they are neither automatic nor fluent in their ability to identify words. Many dyslexics have told us how tiring reading is for them, reflecting the enormous resources and energy they must expend on the task”. -Sally Shaywitz
A student with dyslexia may struggle, but knowing the student and addressing the students needs and focusing on the potential and strengths of the student will ensure that every student has every opportunity to excel in school and beyond.
Quote of the Month
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Dyslexia Intersession
Way to Go Dyslexia Team!
Word Work!
Falling for Rhymes
Audio Book Resources: Free!!!
Learning Ally: https://learningally.org/
Bookshare: https://www.bookshare.org/cms/
myON: https://www.garlandisd.net/content/myon (GISD students only)
Dyslexia Defined
“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”
Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002
GISD Dyslexia Therapist Spotlight
Stephanie Clark, M.Ed., LDT, CALT, SLDS Dyslexia Therapist at Armstrong Elementary
Stephanie Clark is a Dyslexia Therapist at Armstrong Elementary. She is a product of Garland ISD having attended elementary, middle, and graduating from high school in the district. Stephanie earned her bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Texas at Dallas and her master's degree in Special Education with an emphasis on Dyslexia and her Educational Diagnostician Certification from Midwestern State University. Stephanie received Certified Academic Language Therapist and Qualified Instructor training at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. Stephanie has taught in Garland ISD for 15 years, 9 years as a first-grade teacher and 6 years as a Dyslexia Therapist. Stephanie enjoys helping students with dyslexia see and reach their potential and training teachers to become dyslexia therapists. When she is not teaching, Stephanie enjoys spending time at the lake with her husband, Kyle, two daughters, Grayce and Kinley, and fur baby, Happy.
GISD Dyslexia
Email: MEisigner@garlandisd.net
Website: https://www.garlandisd.net/content/dyslexia
Location: 501 South Jupiter Road, Garland, TX, USA
Phone: 972-487-3347
Twitter: @gisd_dyslexia