Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Dystinct Magazine

For every issue, I pick my favourite quote to reflect on in my note to all our readers. In this issue, I found a few wonderful quotes that would make excellent talking points, but instead, I choose to share with you the response of 8-year-old Shane Feinstein when I asked him a seemingly simple question, “What do you think your life will be like in the future?” His response was as stunning as it was innocent. In the midst of all our adult concerns about career paths and worldly success for our children, Shane simply replied, “Fun.” We constantly strive to mould our children to fit society’s expectations while telling ourselves that we do all that we do to give them a future full of happiness and joy. Let us…

Sometimes in school, I look at the trees when I am distracted because they are incredible. I always make shapes and words out of the branches. When I raise my hand, and it takes a long time for the teacher to call on me, I look at the trees and put what I was going to say into the branches, so I don’t forget. Then when the teacher comes to my desk, she says, “What are you doing, Shane?” and I say, “I’m looking at the trees because they are awesome!” Then the teacher asks, “Why did you raise your hand?” I reply, “Because I know the answer.” I look at the trees, and they remind me of what I was going to say. I tell her the answer, and…

REALITY CHECK WE ARE NOW THREE YEARS POST-COVID AND BEGINNING TO SEE THE RAMIFICATIONS AND IMPACTS ON OUR CHILDREN. I WON’T BE ALL GLOOM AND DOOM AND SAY THAT ALL IMPACTS WERE NEGATIVE. I SAW CHILDREN BONDING WITH SIBLINGS AND FAMILIES THROUGH THEIR EXTENDED TIME AT HOME. I ALSO SAW CHILDREN TAKING UP HOBBIES THAT THEY MAY NOT HAVE OTHERWISE. HOWEVER, I AM NOW SEEING SOME MAJOR MISSED LEARNING, PARTICULARLY WHEN IT COMES TO HANDWRITING. Some kids spent a year or more participating in lackluster virtual schooling and NEVER picked up a pencil. For some kids in K-3rd grades, that meant those crucial years of foundational writing were missed. Now the expectation is to go into 4th grade and write essays when they struggle to effectively hold a pencil or…

Illustrator Abby de los Santos Age 10 Dyslexia San Antonio, Texas, USA Abby is in the fifth grade. She enjoys spending time with her friends and being creative. She loves taking her dog on walks and wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up. Illustrator Abriana Atswei Adjoor Ablorh Age 12 Dyslexia Accra/Ghana I am currently in grade 7 of basic school in Ghana. My hobbies are drawing, activities that involves the use of hands and demonstrations. I like using the computer as well in developing PowerPoint presentations. Illustrator Ava Eldridge Age 9 Dyslexia NSW, Australia Ava loves art, animals, cooking, her family, playing the piano and she really enjoys reading! Her newfound love of aerial acrobatics keeps her busy. Illustrator Ben Hartling Age 13 Dyslexia Halifax, Canada Ben…

For over 25 years, Dr Dan has been passionate about helping parents, children, and families realize and achieve their full potential while living with intention and purpose. Dr Dan is the Co-Founder/Executive Director of the Summit Center, specializing in the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents, and families with a special emphasis on gifted, talented, and creative individuals and families as well as anxiety, overcoming fear, learning differences, neurodiversity, and more. Dystinct reporter Flynn Eldridge has a chat with Dr Dan about his work and life. EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEW: Who do you help in your job, and why? I help children, adolescents, adults, parents and families. I am passionate about helping people realize their full potential and then live meaningful and fulfilling lives, knowing more about who they are,…

Does this sound familiar? Your child is upset, stressed, and flustered because s/he is tasked with the assignment to write a multiple-paragraph essay yet struggles to write complete sentences. According to evidenced-based research, “While all writing requires conscious effort and a great deal of practice in composing, developing and analyzing ideas, proficient and effective writing also hinges on the ability to craft formal, and well-constructed sentence structures.” (Graham, 2006; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1986; Strong, 1986). “WRITING A SENTENCE” CHART This chart displays the sequenced, meta-cognitive questioning for students to generate their ideas into narrative, informational, or opinion sentences. COMPONENTS OF THE WRITING LESSON STEPS To demonstrate this technique, a scripted lesson is utilized to explain to the teacher/facilitator how to implement the four steps on the “Writing a Sentence” chart. IDEA…

When I was a new mother, my first memory was filled with worry about the possibility of my children facing dyslexia. My husband had struggled with this condition throughout his life, and he always reminded me to be compassionate if our children ever faced reading difficulties. He shared with me stories of his teachers who refused to recognize that his lack of progress wasn’t due to laziness or slowness but rather due to dyslexia, a condition that his educators did not understand at the time. As a result, he became a target for bullying from teachers and peers, making school a traumatic experience for him. Growing up, school was always a struggle for me too. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t keep up with the rest of my classmates. My…

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-inspiring content Neurodiversity is every bit as important…

We, as educators, need to know the current best practice in teaching students with dyslexia. A systematic, synthetic phonics approach to the teaching of reading, which incorporates phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, oral language and comprehension (The Big 6), in addition to encoding alongside decoding, and a smattering of morphology, is what is going to get the best results for all students. I do my best to get this message across right from the start because, as I tell the staff, “If you don’t know it, I can guarantee you the parents of dyslexic students know exactly what their child needs, and they will fight for it. So, it’s best you learn it. And quick.” At present, there are a growing number of schools that are making the switch from…