Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2021 i Dystinct Magazine

EDITOR'S NOTE It has been nearly half a year since we launched our first issue in January. I started as just a parent with much passion to affect a positive change and little experience required to execute an undertaking as big as this. I feel like our processes have become more defined now, and I see our ideas falling into place. I’m especially loving all the meaningful connections that I have been able to make with the tribe. Reading about people’s inspiring journeys is one of my favourite parts of the magazine, and in this issue, we are sharing the voices of a few determined individuals who are taking charge of their learning difficulties and leaving a significant impact within their communities. We also have valuable content from leading specialists…

App Store Reviews of the DYSTINCT MAGAZINE Amazing app! This app is really wonderful because it spreads awareness to the Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia and Dysgraphia community. They share personal stories and artwork. By sharing those, it really helps people feel less alone and find similarities with others. Definitely check out Dystinct mag! So Informative and Uplifting Dystinct is a brilliant publication. It provides practical articles from specialists that inform and gives really positive insights into SLDs. The fact that it includes the artwork and stories of people with learning differences is so lovely. Great advocacy at work here. Dyslexia Informative, celebratory and up to date. A magazine worth reading for those living with dyslexia, for family members supporting and advocating, for educators and for those pushing for change. Fabulous platform…

Kaitlin Feriante Redwood Literacy https://www.redwoodliteracy.com/about-redwood-literacy https://www.instagram.com/redwoodliteracy/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/redwoodliteracychicago https://twitter.com/RedwoodLiteracy Click here Kait is a certified Learning Behavior Specialist and Dyslexia Practitioner who is passionate about seeing all students, regardless of age, geographical location or socio-economic background, learn how to read and write, equipping them to reach and show off their full potential. She has worked in a variety of public, charter, and private school settings for over a decade and has supported diverse learners ages 5-55 in their literacy and selfadvocacy journeys. Kait founded Redwood Literacy with the intention of a 50/50 model, using 50% of our services to fund the opportunity for 50% of Redwood's students impacted by Redwood to receive services for free. Kait also consults with start-up organizations and educational institutions to advise on incorporating groundbreaking structured literacy…

Lyn Stone LifelongLiteracy.com https://au.linkedin.com/in/lyn-stone-76930063 https://twitter.com/lifelonglit https://www.facebook.com/lifelong.literacy.lyn https://www.pinterest.com.au/lyncalv Lyn’s job is to use research, evidence and linguistics to produce programs, methods and texts for students, teachers and educators worldwide. Lyn gained her linguistics degree at University College London and worked in a variety of speech and language settings in Australia since graduating in 1994. She began work at Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes in Sydney as a clinician and rose to the rank of mentor whilst qualifying as a practitioner and trainer in all of their programs. Lyn then went on to work at the Speech, Language and Literacy Centre in Sydney and qualified as a Spalding practitioner. She is also trained in Makaton, Auslan, Read Write Inc., Little Learners Love Literacy, Explicit Direct Instruction and Sounds-Write. Lyn has been in private practice…

5 QUESTIONS PARENTS SHOULD ASK PRIMARY SCHOOLS ABOUT READING I think that it is important for parents to be active participants in their child's education. One way to be a powerful advocate is by being informed about the school's approach to teaching literacy. These questions can start a conversation about whether the school is following best practices in the teaching of reading. Your child is worth it! What programmes and resources does your school use to teach literacy? 1 The answer will let you know whether the school has a consistent approach to teaching reading and writing. You can look up the programmes that the school uses and see whether they are evidence informed. What is your understanding of phonemic awareness, and how is it taught? 2 Ideally, there is…

WHY KIDS SHOULD WORK ON A VERTICAL SURFACE? Learn more about the benefits of working on a vertical surface and find some creative ways for kids to work in this position. Lauren Drobnjak One thing that stands out to me in the schools where I work is that you never see a good old-fashioned chalkboard anymore! Gone are the days of feeling that chalky dust all over your hands, racing classmates to finish Math facts on the chalkboard, and clapping out the erasers during detention! Back when I was in school, I never thought about the developmental benefits of writing and working on the vertical surface of the chalkboard, but as a therapist, now I know that there are many! The occupational therapists I work with encourage children to work…

5 FACTS ABOUT METACOGNITION WHAT IS IT? Cara Koscinski WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU TELL YOURSELF? WHAT ARE YOUR BELIEFTS AND THOUGHTS AS YOU MOVE THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY? We all have that voice inside of us that helps us to work through difficulties we face. Many of the children we work with struggle to realize that they have the power to solve their own problems without asking for help. They may not have an inner voice or do not know how to develop it. Frustration brings difficult behaviours. But we are in a position to help children have the power to problem-solve. We can help students move from feeling helpless and overwhelmed to, ‘I’m frustrated, what can I do to help myself?’ 1 WHAT IS THIS SKILL? Metacognition involves…

co-founder DMNC Kelly King https://dyslexiamnc.org.au/ https://www.facebook.com/dyslexiamidnorthcoast/ Q TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF? A My name is Kelly and I livewith my husband and two sons in Port Macquarie. We moved here nine years ago for a sea change and fell in love with the town. Port Macquarie has one of the most supportive communities and Dyslexia Mid North Coast is incredibly fortunate to benefit from this generosity which enables us to help families on their dyslexia journeys. Q WHAT LED YOU TO START DMNC? A Dyslexia Mid North Coast started as a conversation between two mums connecting to support each other. Both new to Port Macquarie, Joanna McNamara and I found ourselves challenged by the lack of professional intervention services available in our region, so we decided to do…

youth leader DMNC Sally Blair Q TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF? A My name is Sally Blair, I am 34 years old. I live in a beautiful town north of Sydney called Port Macquarie. I have a supportive husband named Michael, and together, we have four handsome boys Seth, Lucas, Noah and Jacob. I didn't know I was dyslexic until after my schooling. I was the kid in all the lower classes. I got extra reading help which was the reading recovery program back then. I have to say the lady who I did it with made me feel like I was stupid at times. How could I know the word on one page then not know it two pages over? I remember telling my mother that I no…

IS MY CHILD READY TO LEARN TO TYPE? DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRESSION OF KEYBOARDING SKILLS Jaime Spencer Keyboarding skills are often considered just as important (or more than) as handwriting. But when are children developmentally ready? Have you ever gone to a restaurant and spotted an entire family on their phone or tablet? Technology is everywhere, and there is no getting away from it. I’m sure you’ve read those articles about the importance of limiting technology and screen time, but what about the importance of teaching technology in a developmentally appropriate way? WHEN ARE KIDS READY TO LEARN HOW TO TYPE? Common Core Curriculum has evolved over the years so that schools are teaching handwriting before children are developmentally ready. Are we doing the same thing with keyboarding skills? HOW ARE KEYBOARDING…

Working inside AND outside the box in the mainstream classroom Anne Italiano Being able to cater to our Tier 2 & 3 students in the mainstream classroom can be extremely difficult. Teachers want to be able to meet the needs of all their students but the question is how, when there can be quite a significant range of ability in an extremely busy curriculum. Unfortunately, students don't always start at the same starting line. We also need to consider the emotional toll on the students. We don't want them to feel like they are always the ones being pulled out for extra help. For this reason, the groups must be fluid, changing all the time on a needs basis. I certainly do not have all the answers, but I do know that…

DYSGRAPHIA ACCOMODATIONS IN SCHOOL My personal story with dysgraphia started years before I realized my handwriting struggles even had a name. I discovered the word dysgraphia and everything associated with it when my son was diagnosed several years ago. Dysgraphia has never been a household word, so it wasn't something that was on our radar. However, looking back, I definitely remember handwriting struggles while I was in school. The memory that stands out the most from my schooling, in relation to dysgraphia, was in second grade. My teacher used to take some of my writing about 1-2 times a week, along with a couple of other kids, and tape it to the board for the entire classroom to judge who had the best handwriting. This certainly isn't a way to…

I WISH I COULD DIE SO I COULD COME BACK WITHOUT THESE PROBLEMS Ann V. Wixon Curly, red hair and always smiling, Devon was a happy kid. One afternoon, after his father and I had separated, I was sitting with my head in my hands on the steps leading down to the playroom where he was playing. He was two years old and kept repeating, “Woops!” so I looked up to find that he was doing pratfalls to try and make me laugh. Sweet kid. He could read a room, but not, I discovered, a book. As many parents know, a learning disability is not the same as a low IQ. Devon’s Elementary School scooped him up in second grade and began working with him daily. Simultaneously, we began all…

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS Ava Gargett Age 10 Dyslexia & ADHD North Carolina, USA My name is Ava Gargett and I’m 10 years old. I live in Wilmington, North Carolina by the beach. I care about taking care of the environment and not littering. I enjoy art and would like to maybe be a graphic designer. My learning difference is dyslexia and ADHD. Bella Brook Age 11 Dyslexia & ADHD Sydney, Australia Bella is 11 years old and lives in Sydney, Australia. Her favourite things in the world are horses, her dog Tess, and she loves to play oztag. Tyler Walsh https://www.facebook.com/TheTylerExpress Age 7 Dyslexia & ADHD Laurens, New York, USA Tyler (a.k.a The Tyler Express) loves to create 3D things in Minecraft, Legos, train tracks, and blocks. He also creates 2D…

A Dystinct Journey Titan Gabrielse On his journey of creating more selfacceptance and raising dyslexia awareness Interviewed byZahra Nawaz Editor | Dystinct Magazine Nine-year-old Titan Gabrielse is a whirlwind of energy. He enthusiastically lists the names of his favourite dinosaurs and Godzilla movie characters when I ask him to tell me about himself. Even while I try to process the hard-to-pronounce names and repeat them back to him, he has already moved on to showing me some of his amazing Lego creations of animatronics and a book of his detailed hybrid dinosaur drawings. Titan excitedly shares that Godzilla's original name is Gojira and that Godzilla is also a 'Titan'- a giant, powerful monster. Titan is a rising 3rd grader at Swansboro Elementary School in North Carolina. Just before the pandemic…

THE TRUTH BEHIND THE RISE AMY REBEKAH MELISSA MABILE Every time I looked at a passage or the words of a book, it was as if I was looking at a foreign language, and not the language that was spoken to me as a babe and written before my eyes as a 5-year-old. I was in the academically challenged classes. I was asked once by a teacher how I got in Quest but was never to be found at an AR party. I am not illiterate. Rather, I am dyslexic, and it is not common knowledge that we learn differently. The fall of 2015 is when my life changed. In the middle of the first nine weeks of sixth grade, my teacher unknowingly introduced me to audiobooks, and my life…

James Dobson LayingTheFoundation https://layingthefoundations.weebly.com/ https://twitter.com/jdtdobson Click here James acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia, in particular the Dja Dja Wurrung on whose land this article was written. James Dobson is a Literacy Learning Specialist and Foundation teacher at a school in central Victoria. His decade of experience working with students from a diverse range of backgrounds has made him passionate about ensuring that literacy instruction is rigorous and robust. James taught in a remote Indigenous community in the Northern Territory and implemented Direct Instruction as part of the Australian Government's Flexible Literacy for Remote Primary Schools Program. He worked as a Classroom Teacher, Senior Teacher (responsible for curriculum & assessment), and Principal. James completed the Academy on Becoming an Effective Direct Instruction Trainer through NIFDI. James obtained his Master's of…

17 Vertical Surface Activities Here are some of our favourite ways that you can get children to try while kneeling, standing, or seated. 1 Play with stickers! Have children stick them all over the wall at different levels and then give them directions for which stickers to touch – they may have to jump or bend! 2 Make your own DIY removable Lego wall! Building with Legos on a vertical surface is super fun and great for all of the skills listed above! 3 Tape a piece of paper to the wall and trace objects or stencils. 4 Paint with paint brushes or paint rollers. 5 Decorate a window with window clings. 6 Play with magnets on the refrigerator. 7 Paint with shaving cream or finger paint on an easel.…

youth ambassador DMNC Georgia Ryan https://www.facebook.com/dyslexicwarrior https://www.instagram.com/georgia_iamdyslexic_ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL9gsvmIQ6y-RPbzKzoHNLw Q TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF? A My name is Georgia, I am 15-years old, and I live in Port Macquarie, on the Mid-North Coast of NSW. I live at home with my mum and dad and younger sister Lucy, and I am in Year 10 at school. I found out I had dyslexia and dysgraphia in my last year of primary school after my parents had me tested. I know a lot of people would rather not know, but for me, finding out there was a reason I had been struggling was truly freeing. It meant that the power was now in my hands. But that doesn't mean that school became easier, I still struggle every day, in almost every subject,…

rising star DMNC Lucas Blair Q TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF? A My name is Lucas. I am 10 years old. I live in Port Macquarie. I have an older brother called Seth and two younger brothers Noah and Jacob. Jacob is my twin but just years apart. He loves all the things that I do, like cars, dinosaurs, sports and playing outside. I was diagnosed with dyslexia in year three, but mum knew way before then that I was dyslexic. Q WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU HAVE TROUBLE WITH AT SCHOOL? A I have a lot of trouble in all areas of school. My biggest struggles are with spelling, reading, writing. But because that's pretty much the main thing at school, it affects me in every subject. Even…

LOVE YOUR DIFFERENCE Donna Gargett Illustration by Ava Gargett It is not just critical to understand the technical parts of dyslexia, but we must also remember the human part. Creating understanding and empathy continues to be my goal as we empower parents, teachers, and community members with the tools to help improve children's selfesteem. I truly believe that dyslexia is more than understanding the brain but also protecting the heart! To create empathy and understanding, I have found that it takes hard conversations with parents, teachers, and community members while we include children into the process. At the start of the journey, many parents struggle with addressing the initial diagnosis. I gently remind them, if we whisper around the initial diagnosis, we are adding a layer of shame. Accepting the…

READING REMEDIATION FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DYSLEXIA: WHAT IS IT AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT ENDS? Kaitlin Feriante & Ruthie Swibel WHAT IS DYSLEXIA? WHAT IS READING REMEDIATION FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DYSLEXIA? WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF QUALITY READING REMEDIATION? WHAT DOES MY DYSLEXIA LOOK AND FEEL LIKE AFTER REMEDIATION? FINAL THOUGHTS What is Dyslexia? Let's start with the basics. What is dyslexia? Dyslexia is a neurobiological brain difference, which just means there is a difference between dyslexic brains from non-dyslexic brains; the wiring in our brain look different from one another. At its core, dyslexia is mostly a phonological deficit—meaning there is a deficit in how the brain is able to attend to individual speech sounds within words. Remediation of this deficit rewires the brain and creates a more…

The Flat Earth and Teaching Reading Lyn Stone Illustration by Bella Brooks Once upon a time, it was widely believed that the Earth was flat. Many ancient cultures portrayed the world as being a flat surface, and this belief survived until Pythagoras and the like started proving otherwise in the 6th century BC. Through the cumulative efforts of cosmologists, philosophers, mathematicians, and astronomers, to name but a few, a vast body of knowledge about the shape of the Earth has developed. The competing view has taken something of a back seat due to the sheer weight of evidence against it. There is, however, even in this day and age, a group of people who cling dogmatically to the flat Earth ideal, and they are called, surprisingly enough, Flat Earthers. Many are…

A Dystinct Journey ERIN GROCE Erin Elizabeth Groce, the teenager from Spiceland, Indiana who was instrumental in adding the definition of the term dyslexia into her state educational law. Interviewed by Zahra Nawaz Editor | Dystinct Magazine 16-year-old Erin Elizabeth Groce lives with her parents, three siblings, and two dogs. She spends a lot of her time creating beautiful pieces of art. Erin has combined her passion for art and dyslexia awareness by donating her paintings to charities for fundraising to spread dyslexia awareness. She is a seasoned advocate for dyslexia now after being instrumental in passing two very significant laws in Indiana over the past 6 years. Erin's journey with dyslexia began when her fourth-grade teacher pulled her mum, Heather, aside and asked her if anyone had used 'dyslexia'…

youth leader DMNC Jenna O'Connell https://www.theposifygroup.com.au/ https://www.facebook.com/posifygroup/ https://twitter.com/posifygroup/ https://www.instagram.com/posifygroup/ Q TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF? A My name is Jenna, I am a 36-year-old teacher, careers advisor, and business owner now based in Port Macquarie, having grown up in Sydney. I am also the mum of a widely creative and curious 6-year-old boy. I love the precious time we share, which can look like anything from an intense game of Pokémon or a mammoth LEGO build challenge to a couple of hours lost at the beach inspecting every inch of a dead crab washed up onshore. His curiosity, creativity, and thirst for knowledge inspire me every day! While I have never been formally diagnosed with dyslexia, I was identified as possibly dyslexic in early primary school. I re-assessed as an…