Episode 8: Helping Hands: Bringing Families and Caregivers into Literacy Learning

Narrator:
0:04

Hello literacy leaders and champions. Welcome to literacy talks the podcast series from Reading Horizons dedicated to exploring the ideas, trends, insights and practical issues that will help us create literacy momentum. Our series host is Stacy Hurst, professor at Southern Utah University and Chief Academic Advisor at Reading Horizons, where reading momentum begins. Joining Stacy are Donell Pons, a recognized expert in literacy and special education and Lindsay Kemeny, a Utah-based elementary classroom teacher. Today's episode takes us beyond the classroom as our hosts explore how to bring families and caregivers into the literacy learning equation, enriching this special time that we read with children. Let's get started.

Stacy Hurst:
0:57

Welcome to another episode of literacy talks. I'm the host Stacey Hurst and I'm joined by my awesome co host, Danelle Pons and Lindsay Kemeny. Hello, you two. Today we are going to be talking about a very important topic. Not that our other topics are not important. But Donell chose that our topic today so Donell, will you take it away.

Donell Pons:
1:23

So I'm thinking this is probably a good time of year to we've all coming off at the holidays, we have a chance to take a deep breath again and get back into the groove of our lives and what we're doing. And I thought this might be a good time to bring into the discussion about literacy, parents, guardians, caregivers, the folks who do the heavy lifting and spend the most of the time with our students. How those folks can be involved in the science of reading and teaching our students to read and what we might do in our different spaces in order to encourage parents, guardians and alike to participate. And when I say caregivers, I'm talking about folks who also maybe are babysitting, you know, providing after school care, how might they be able to support to in this endeavor. So there are lots of folks, I think, who are interested in helping. And I know that reading is top of mind for most people when they think of young people, and how they'd like to help contribute, and knowing that it's so important for their futures. And I think we're kind of in a unique space with our podcast here and our different backgrounds, to kind of have a really interesting conversation. And I'd like to frame it this way, I'm going to pose a question to each Stacy to you. And also to you, Lindsay, and I want you to think I'm gonna give you a little think time here. Notice I'm doing that teacher thing, which is a good practice to give you a little think time. But I'm going to ask a question of each of you. And Stacey, you're just going to be slightly different. I'm more gonna frame it like you're in that space where you're teaching teachers to be teachers. And I'm wondering, is there space within what you're teaching? And is it really thought of intentionally about how you teach educators to bring parents and caregivers into their teaching? And how that might look? And are they being taught how to do that. And if there's conversation around that, I'm going to have you think about that for a little bit and tell us and Lindsay, you're in a space in a classroom in these early grades. And I'd like to ask you how you bring parents in and experiences that you have in helping parents come into this space. And maybe we'll start the conversation there about how we get parents and guardians and those folks who are in the supporting roles and really important roles. And let's remind our listeners to this is, you know, probably obvious but let's really think about it here clearly, that a lot of us will have a an experience with a student that might last if it's a year, if you have them in your classroom, as an educator, it's a year, but maybe you tutor and you're seeing them for longer. Sometimes I have students for a longer period of time because I'm tutoring across the spectrum. But really those people who are spending day in day out and the rest of their lives with these individuals, how are we helping them to be able to support literacy for the duration of of that student's life and to be supportive? So this is a really, I think, really important conversation. There's so many important conversations around literacy. But this is not less important than the rest. So I'd like to start with that in mind. And Stacy, I'm going to ask you first I've given you hopefully a few minutes to kind of think about that, about arm teaching teachers how to help parents and others come into this conversation.

Stacy Hurst:
4:19

Yeah, that was a very well worded question. And a few things came to my mind immediately. I do share with my students, something I chose to do as a classroom teacher, that is not required. I'm very clear that it's above and beyond but it is absolutely helpful and beneficial to my classroom as a community and that is to consider parents and families as part of your classroom community but I held monthly parent. I called them parent trainings, which is kind of obnoxious of me, I guess, but information sessions and I trained them on things related to literacy. In fact, you know, that was mainly my focus. And so they would cover topics like fun phonemic awareness games you can play when you're in the car or you know how what to do when your child comes to word that they don't know, when they're reading to you, and those kinds of things. So hopefully by setting that example, and helping my students know how important that is that they're at least thinking about that. And then I do also have some very candid conversations, especially when it comes to struggling readers and maybe some misconceptions that we've had. And specifically, I'm thinking of the misconceived notion that if you just read with your children, they'll be okay, that they'll know how to read well. And so we generate unwittingly, a lot of parent guilt, I think when it comes to that, if we're communicating, oh, just read with them more, oh, you must not have read with them when they were little right? How many books do you have in your home? And just kind of asking those questions. Sometimes that is not the issue, right. And there are I know plenty of parents that, Donell, Lindsay, you're two of them that read prolifically to your children, probably from in utero. And yet, we have learning differences like dyslexia, that that won't be enough, right. It's, it's essential, but it's not enough. So. And then we do have specific assignments I give my students in fact, they have a mock parent teacher conference situation. And then we're always focusing on how to communicate with parents to regularly about literacy. And then having those conversations about how their students are doing, we create. In one of my courses, we tutor a student throughout this semester, and they create a reader profile. And then we talked about communicating that information, that whole profile, part of the audience is apparent. And so we're talking about how to communicate sometimes these very complex concepts to parents, and in a way that they can take action on that information. So that that's just initially, what I've been thinking. But it is very important. I'm so glad you included that question to me as someone who is currently in higher ed, because I think it's vital.

Donell Pons:
7:12

Yeah. And Lindsay, how about you? Yeah,

Lindsay Kemeny:
7:15

well, first, Stacy. So you did a monthly workshop with your parents when you taught first grade? They came to school, you just did it in the evening. Wow, that's impressive. I just I'm like thinking about that idea. A little bit. Um, I love the idea of parents as partners, right? They're so important. And I love when I have parents or caregivers, whoever is the adult at home with the child that are just really involved and supportive. I want to help. But I don't know how to do is that when you don't have that, how can you encourage it that's I don't know, that's like another thing, maybe we could talk about his ideas to help that or if anyone out there net has some great ideas, you can email me. So I a few things. I've never been a fan of homework in the younger grades except for reading. And so I teach first grade, and that is my homework is reading at home. Both of course I want this the parents to read to the children. That is wonderful. But I also want the students to be practicing their reading at home. And so this is my first year in first grade. And I just think it's so critical, especially this age, they need more practice opportunities. And if you've guys have listened to our podcast, you know, I say that all the time, like we need meaningful practice opportunities. So this year, in first grade, I started take home book system. And it took me forever, like all summer, I was like, you know, reaching out on Facebook to different groups. And I'm like Googling and I'm trying to see you know how first grade teachers do this take home book system, and I had to kind of figure it out. And what I'm doing is the students have a little book bag that they take home on Monday with three decodable books, and then they bring them back on Fridays. So and then I have a parent helper who helps me on Friday, she comes in and she switches out and rotates the books. And you know, it took me a while to build up this decodable library. And at the beginning of the year, I mostly like I had printed out some decodable texts. And I had sent those home and then when I saw that they were all really good about bringing them back. I felt a little more comfortable with sending home some of my nicer decodable books for them to read. Okay, so anyway, in there. At the beginning of the year, I had the parents read a letter to so that they understood what was happening and that they would go home on Mondays and come home on Fridays. And so they signed a paper so they all knew you know kind of what was going on. And then in the in the bag, I put tips reading tips for parents, and I also made a video and so you could, actually, it's on my YouTube channel. So if you went to Lindsay Kemeny, on my YouTube channel, I think it's called Five reading tips for parents and caregivers. So then I made this video. And then at the beginning of the year, I sent that out to everyone. And at back to school night, I talked to them, because, you know, we might just think they'll automatically know what to do when a student misses a word. But they don't always do. So it's nice, just to have some specific things, this is what you do. And so that is one way, you know, that I involve parents are really key to the success of the whole take home books thing.

Donell Pons:
10:35

So I love that I know I'm hearing that there are really intentional ways in which you can help parents feel a part of parent caregiver. And we're going to just assume that whatever we're saying, parent, we mean, whatever makeup that is, like you said, Whatever adult is helping a young person become a reader, you're all involved in this conversation. And I'd like those really intentional ways that you were thinking about, and then I've kind of got that third space, I work with the students who have made it all the way through those lower grades. And sometimes they're in high school, middle school, college, adults in the workplace. And that's a wide range of individuals. But at any rate, that ship sailed from those lower grades, and now they're functioning in the so called adult world, and the Reading isn't great. And so where do you get your support, then who supports you, because now you're not thinking about someone sitting next to you helping you read. And in fact, most of the folks that I work with, have worked really hard to look like readers, they don't want anyone knowing. And so even parents are sometimes astonished at how hard reading is for their student, because that student has hidden it so well, even from the parents. So those are the students that I'm working with. And I think that what I try to do is to help folks in this older space, think about any time that you present an opportunity for reading in a classroom, whether it's science class, math class, English class, you really think about the ways in which you're providing them material to those students and the access points, there's got to be more than one access point for that student to that material. That's the beginning, I think, for a teacher in any classroom that now was working with older students, when they maybe don't know where their reading levels are at, is to provide many access points, what that does is it provides a level of safety for the student. And you'll find that students start to then share more with a teacher in that setting, because the teacher has sort of put it out there that I'm aware, this may not be easy for all of my students. So I think that's kind of one way in which I try to help the teachers who are at this point, the biggest support system, because that's where the students are probably going to be interacting with material. The other thing I would say is, for parents who have those older students, it's never too late. So that's also the message I want to say to those parents of students who are still struggling with reading, remember, it is not too late. That's the grant message at the science of reading. I think the most beautiful message and the science of reading is it's never too late. And so that's the big takeaway I want parents to have, yes. So you found that your eighth grader struggling on a level you did not believe was happening? What do I do? There's resources. And so don't let's not panic, let's get on a path and find a way to help your student, whatever that may be. And then I think the other piece that the adults helping other adults in this space, that one, many access points to whatever you're going to ask in terms of literacy. And the other is thinking of ways in which to provide accommodations and and that can happen on any level, hey, this can be audio, it doesn't have to be, I'm not going to make everybody read this PowerPoint. In a meeting today. I recognize that some folks in my workplace are not feeling comfortable reading. Just those are things that adults can do to help in this literacy space. That so vastly different. My next question, I kind of want to move ascent to where we've talked, we've hit on it a little bit, we've had touch points with it, in your stasis that you're working in, what is it that you would want parents to know or understand about the science of reading? Because the parents trust me, if you've got educators who are just coming new to this, then there are a lot of parents that are just coming to this and not knowing okay, I've heard this thing science of reading, if they've even heard that, what is this? Or I've got a teacher talking about it? And what are the key points? Because this is huge, right? I mean, we all attend conferences every year, how many years have we been doing this? We'll never have enough of the information. And it does continue to evolve as we know science should? And so what are some of those basics that you would want parents to understand about the science of reading? And I'm going to ask again, from your viewpoint stay so you can give it from any viewpoint you want. But I'd be interested about what do you how do you help your teachers that are new to teaching condensed that down to help parents understand because a lot of this is new for them? And then Lindsey likewise, for those parents that are, you know, guardians that are interacting in your classroom? How do you help them understand what are the key takeaways you want them to take with them about the science of reading and maybe Lindsay will start with you this time?

Lindsay Kemeny:
14:37

Okay. Um, so, I don't know. It's almost like, the whole thing is embarrassing. When I explain it to someone outside of education, okay. And they're like, Okay, what and you're like, Yeah, you know, it's just like, you wants to be aligned with research and it's kind of like, well of course, and you want to teach them the code. So you teach them, you know, explicitly teach them all the sounds and the ways you can represent those sounds with the letters. And it just seems so intuitive. And like, I don't know, like, my 17 year old son, you know, was like, that's like the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Like, just to be completely frank, like when he's talking about, like, why this is even a thing. So sometimes it is almost like, I know, this sounds weird, but like, for decades, we've thought that we could teach reading this one way. And we turns out, you know, so sometimes, I think, with parents, some of the biggest things and again, I'm in the first grade space, is kind of explaining that, you know, in a way that three cueing because that the kids, even if they haven't been taught the three cueing strategies, when they're struggling, they, they kind of want to do those naturally, they want to look at the picture and guests naturally. And so, that is one way I kind of explain it. And like, we really need them to be looking at all the letters, and mapping the sounds to the letters and letter combinations, and not just guessing. And not only looking at the first letter, you know, and also with quote, unquote, sight words, you know, the high frequency words where I feel like a lot, come to me thinking we've got a memorize by a whole all these words. And so I think, for me, those are kind of biggest areas that I'm I explain to parents.

Donell Pons:
16:26

I like that. How about you, Stacy?

Stacy Hurst:
16:29

Do you know I'm gonna answer this as a first grade teacher, literacy coach, and what I tell my students to and I think, just like what Lindsey said, it, first of all, kind of looking for the red flags. So if your student is when they get stuck on a word, their eyes, leave the text and go to the picture. And I'm also relating to what you were saying about it being embarrassing, Lizzie, and I will be totally vulnerable here. This happened when I was teaching first grade. And as a literacy coach, I literally had parents coming to me and saying, don't you think it would be helpful if we may be covered up the pictures sometimes? And I would think, well, sure, maybe you know, if you want to go ahead, but they're important keys to the meaning of the book or whatever, I'd say, Oh, it's just embarrassing. And I just admitted that here. Anyway, we all do better safe here. Yes, I would not respond the same way. Now. I would absolutely say also, you said to Lindsay, sounding it out is a good thing. And that what we call an effectual struggle, right? That in some cases, it's not always going to be easy. But I also think it's really important to send a message to the parents know, they may not have to know everything about the science of reading, I mean, when I go get an appliance fixed, I don't need to know the inner workings, I just want my dryer working on my clothes, dirty, dry. And in some sense, I want to preserve the relationship between the parent and child when it comes to reading. So it should be a happy, fun, good time when your child is reading to you or when you're, you know, reading to your child, if there are struggles beyond that, as an educator, my hope is that my pre service teachers will be able to send the message of competency. You know, I've got this, we know what to do when there is a struggle. And we're willing to take the time to make sure that your student is successful. But you don't have to have those fights at home. You know, let's discuss other ways that we can approach this. And so I think that's sometimes overlooked, but those are the big things. I think, for parents, I share the red flags. And then I do give them tips. Like there are lots of fun things that they can do. explaining the purpose of phonemic awareness, you know, to understand something, well, you have to be able to describe it to a six year old. So sometimes I just simplify that information and saying, you know, hearing those sounds become really important when you're blending them together to make a word or spelling and so just giving them a little bit of the why but a whole lot of ideas about what to do their student. Yeah.

Lindsay Kemeny:
19:13

So that just Okay, a little offshoot, because what you were saying Stacy just reminded me so for years, because my son with dyslexia, we would read together 30 minutes every night where you know, initially it was I read a sentence, he reads a sentence, I read a sentence he read as a sentence until he could carry you know, you know, read more and had a little more momentum, I guess for that. Anyway, it was such a like, it could have been a really negative time. But I just think back was such fond memories of us sitting on the couch. I always had a little pencil pointing where we are. And this just bonding time we had reading and really it was all through elementary years and this is he's in seventh grade. Now. And so this is the first year we, we've stopped doing it. And I'm a little bit like, oh, maybe we need to go back and start doing it again, because I'm, hopefully his reading won't slip, because we're not doing that now. And so we were just talking the other day, I think we saw a picture of both of us sitting on the couch reading, like we always, what, every night for 30 minutes. And he was just like, Oh, I miss that mom that was so like, he had such tender, you know, feelings about it. And I did, too, it was such a special moment. And that could have been a really like, we could have negative feelings around that just because he's severely dyslexic. That was took a lot of effort for him. But you know, it was always positive in this wonderful, you know, and so just you saying that, Stacy, it should we we do want it to be this positive interaction between parents. So that it's a special time. And I always say that to my first grade parents, I'm saying this reading should be a special time for you and your child. And so I love that.

Narrator:
21:01

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Donell Pons:
21:20

I think you both of you have really provided some great information and just those ideas about, you know, the the messages, the things we want parents to really take away and to know and to understand it, and also making yourself vulnerable to talk about the times when that's the thing I probably shouldn't have said, but I didn't know any better at the time, we're always on that pathway of knowing better. I think one of the things I always want the folks that I meet to know is that because of the science of reading, because of this wealth of of research and understanding that continues, we have the information to help people who are struggling with reading. And so if you didn't receive the help that you need, and you're struggling, and you never understood why, let's get some answers for you deserve answers. And I think that's reassuring. And sometimes a lot of times it's a first for a lot of my students and for their parents to hear somebody say that. The other thing is, it's not difficult to understand why someone's struggling with reading. That's the other thing that the science of Reading helps us to unravel. Because oftentimes you'd hear parents say, well, they told me, it would be so hard to be able to tell why my student is struggling to read, they wouldn't be able to tell this sort of thing. There's no mystery, right removes that mystery or of intrigue that we don't want to have. It's very straightforward. There are a lot of things that we do understand about reading and how people come to reading. I think that's another piece about the science of reading that I want parents to understand. And the other thing is, is that the science of Reading isn't a location or a thing, or you missed that conference. Right? It's it's ongoing, and it's a large body. And there are many books, and there are many researchers, some you've heard of some you haven't heard of, that are involved in this effort, and it will continue, which is great. And we have a lot of eyes on this, which is fantastic. Also, because of that we have a lot of innovations, you know, things that have occurred that we have understandings of we have better ways to screen for reading difficulties. Stacy Lindsay, I think it will junctures, both of you have mentioned those key foundational skills that we understand about reading that phonemic awareness, being able to distinguish and work with those spoken those sounds, those units of of sound spoken language that we hear, and how important that is, you know, and having a foundational understanding of that part just alone, I think is helpful for parents, the conversations you have with your kids now become a lot more important and meaningful, I'll be more mindful about just having an ongoing dialogue to make sure my child is hearing spoken language, maybe I'll be more intentional about the way I speak to be sure that I'm clear. And to make sure that my child is understanding the thought that's an important way to be involved too. And then also this understanding that at some point, they need to be able to put all this together, and they need to be able to make sure that it moves at a pace that is productive for them. You know, that's that piece that we move into being able to rapidly and automatically access information that's important to us. So all of this science that we talk about really does boil down to those foundational understanding of how we learn to read. And both of you have touched on really important things. And I think this is maybe the juncture of the conversation. We're going to wrap up here soon. But if my student isn't coming to reading, and it is difficult, Lindsey, you talked about your son and all those years spent on the couch, what are some things that I can look for to indicate to me that I should be on the alert as a parent? And how early can I know that as a parent, and maybe we would talk a little bit about this before we wrap it up? What do you think Stacy Lindsay, any thoughts on that?

Stacy Hurst:
24:34

You know, I have been thinking in the course of this whole conversation. I don't have children of my own but I was in college for eight years. I nannied the same family and the youngest has dyslexia. And we you know, Lindsey, when you were talking about the happy nice time you had with your son reading, um, Kyle and I jokingly look back on those years And we call them the homework wars. And he actually did gain some really good negotiating skills because it was like it. If I don't have to read for 20, what if I just read for 10. And I do this and you know, all kinds of things. But one thing we did do was on road trips, we would choose a different book and read it out loud. And that kind of compensated for it. But one thing I did notice about Kyle, early on little tiny things, really, if I'm thinking about it kind of landed not only just in the camp of decoding, because he did struggle with that, but also language comprehension, I definitely could not give Kyle more than two directions at once. I couldn't say, brush your teeth and put on your shoes, you know, is one thing at a time. The other thing that he did not demonstrate early on was the ability to rhyme, he had a very hard time recognizing and producing rhymes of any kind. And so I think those are some things to look for. Lindsay, you probably have a lot more to add to this because you also lived it and Donnell, I can't wait to hear what you have to say too. But also little things like not understanding inflection in my voice, he wouldn't pick up on those either. And then just, you know, I really caution to watch for, I guess, a resistance to reading of any kind, right, and if they're really demonstrating that to kind of just not being afraid to reach out for help, either. So if you're seeing any of that go to the teacher go to the literacy coach, or the reading specialist, or your school, those are just some things I'm thinking of,

Lindsay Kemeny:
26:36

You know, oral language is so you know, connected with our reading. And so when your child is late to speak or a little slow, gaining new words and things that can be a possible sign of potential issues. So that's something to watch. If they're struggling to learn the alphabet, even just to sing the alphabet, or to recognize letters and say, their names, their sounds, that can be a sign as well. And like Stacey was talking about the rhyming and hearing sounds and words. And if you're, you know, a little preschooler, you can play some little word games, or think of the word. Let's find things on our walk that start with, you know, and little games like that things like that can help. You know, my son when he was in kindergarten, we would say what's your favorite part of the day need, say, going home. And you know, we would just we laughed, we thought that was so funny until like looking back and I just kind of realized a little more. He was really struggling. That was really his kind of way of saying, you know, he didn't like school, and he was frustrated. And, and so you know, if you see that kind of resistance to school, that might be a key that something is going on. And I have a good friend who her daughter, we found out she had dyslexia several years ago. And so this is a good friend of mine. So I've really kind of talked to her and she's gotten some programs that she used with her daughter and everything. And now her son, she kind of could see some of these signs when he was really young. But she had this little phonemic awareness program. And she did that with him when he was, you know, young in preschool, and now he's in kindergarten. And she just told me just this weekend, she said, so we had him diagnosed, and he does have dyslexia and he's in kindergarten. So that is not too young to diagnose, you can diagnose in kindergarten, you know, she said that the teacher is not concerned yet, because he is learning he he knows about half of his letters. But it's a struggle. And it just remind me my son, because when he started the year in kindergarten, he knew half of his letters, which I know, as a previous kindergarten teacher, that that's great. But what the teacher didn't know is that we had been working on those for two years. And, and, you know, as soon as she saw that, but it kind of reminded me, you know, my friend was telling me, you know, like, what should I do? And so I was just giving her some tips. And one thing, I was like, she goes to my neighborhood school, so I'm like, put them in my class for next year. Let's make sure I get him. Yeah, so those are just kind of some of the signs and things to look out for. Yeah,

Donell Pons:
29:15

I'd love that I appreciate all of this conversation will be so important for individuals to hear. One thing I want people to also realize is that we aren't the only ones within the education field who are talking about this, pediatricians are being encouraged. So that's another area where you should be able to reach out to your pediatrician to and ask them do you have any screeners because I'm concerned and here are the things that I'm concerned about. And that pediatrician really ought to be because they're every year you see it put out that they need to be part of the conversation. They're not the only ones and they shouldn't be carrying the burden alone. But all of us together, right? We have other individuals who are involved with these young people, and they're all getting trained and having an understanding the better off that young person is. But you've all mentioned in one way or another all the things that they would be looking for and as you mentioned Lindsay, it's not too early. And even some of the screeners are for four year olds now that we're looking at. And there's a screener that's online that came out at the gap lab. Meeting gap is one of these great researchers that's been involved. And she has a screener online, that's called Early Bird. I was just looking it up today to see what the cost is. Sometimes the cost is prohibitive. This one's about 299. It's a one time use, but it's four years old, and above. And it's online, it was developed by Boston Children's Hospital with needing Gavin or gab lab. So these are becoming more available. And I hope as we see, when things do become more available, not only are they become more useful, and more people are able to access them, but the cost is also less prohibitive. And I'm hoping that happens. You also mentioned I thought it was interesting talking about those early signs that we should be looking for. Sometimes there is speech delay, and sometimes there isn't my little guy with dyslexia. That was the one thing he didn't have was speech delay, he was a talker. And so that was one of the things he didn't. But remember, it's a constellation of things. And so that one didn't come but boy did he have a bunch of the others right rulemaking in Orion's belt and other things. And so that was important to think about that didn't take him off the list just because of that one thing. The other pieces that you've mentioned before, and I think it's really important, is the effort and the time that you've put in to help that child get to that point, because my son also didn't come up as a real red, bright red bubble, say, because there were other students who were struggling more in his classroom. And we had worked so hard on some things, but that's where that relationship and conversation with the parent comes into play. When the parent has a relationship with you, they're able to say, we worked really hard to get those letters. Those are key things. If a parent lays down a tip like that, pick that up. That's a good tip, and run with it. Oh, how long have you been spending on that? And that's helpful. The other thing is, I think the more that we're aware that a family history of those who struggle with reading is very important. That's part of what pediatricians are being asked to look for, is to ask their patients, you know, does their family history have somebody struggling with reading, then today, statistically, we're seeing there's a 40 to 60%, that's a wide range increase in the chance of having dyslexia for that individual, that's high, that's really big. The other thing, the reason why we also want to pay attention to this is not only because reading will be challenging and difficult, we're going to need a lot of support and help for that or can be doesn't necessarily need to be, but maybe they're also co attending things that come with dyslexia. And I think that's one of the big lessons I learned with my own son is that not only did he have dyslexia, which everybody will kind of focused on, because the out of out of the D words, that was one maybe people were most familiar with, even though they weren't very familiar with it. But he also had dysgraphia, which can co attend with dyslexia quite often. That's the writing handwriting very difficult. He had dyscalculia dyscalculia, however, you'd like to say it, but that's the math disability, it's basic numeracy that came with it. And then there's also a high rate of ADHD and ADD. And that's what they're telling pediatricians, that's why they want them to screen out is because there could be potentially other things that are occurring for the student. So ignorance was not bliss, and wouldn't have been blessed for us with our son. Because there were so many things that we learned, eventually, now that I have more information that would have been so helpful to know those things, but I would have been looking sooner. So again, this is so important with the knowledge that we have, that's what I love to about this area called the science of reading. And what we're talking about is, is it's an information and it's informed a lot of really important areas and learning for students. So I think that's the big takeaway, that you could take as a caregiver of the science of reading, you're not going to all the conferences, you're not really in this field and reading all those books, but understanding enough of it to know that it's really impacting our understanding of learners, and how we're all unique and different. And we can come with some concerns and difficulties that need addressing and some support. And with that, we can really flourish right with those differences. And that's really the beauty of the science of reading to me. Blues has been a fun conversation, you guys. It's been great. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it.

Stacy Hurst:
33:54

It has been fantastic. Thank you, Donald for coming up with this really important topic. And I would just leave our listeners maybe with a tip that is actionable. And if you're a parent, or if you're a teacher and you have a list of resources for parents or website, look up your local chapter of Decoding Dyslexia. I believe we have one in every state now, or wealth of information, whether or not you have concerns about your student. I think just being aware of what dyslexia is, was it what it is in Danelle, as you were talking? I was thinking about all the things that Kyle the kid that I nannied like he was diagnosed with ADHD quite early on, that was the thing we focused on. Right, but dyslexia kind of got ignored. Or, you know, we were we couldn't say it at that point. So it wasn't something that got focused on anyway. And you know it this is such a critical conversation because parents and caregivers you think about it are the common denominator in that child's life. You can move to another school district or school, or students, you know, move from one grade to the next and the parent is the consistent factor. So it is important that we include them as part of our community, and make sure that everybody is well informed and we can many hands make light work, let's say, and we can work together to make a difference for our students. Thank you all so much for your comments. And thank you for joining us. We would love it. If you have anything to add to this topic, feel free to reach out or email contact us and otherwise we will see you on our next episode of literacy talks.

Narrator:
35:40

Thanks for listening to literacy talks, the podcast series for literacy leaders and champions everywhere. Literacy talks comes to you and your colleagues from Reading Horizons were reading momentum begins. Visit reading horizons.com/literacy talks often for resources, ideas and great literacy learning conversations. Subscribe to Our Podcast digest and you'll always be up to date on all things literacy. See you next time.