Don M. Winn's Blog, page 6

Helping Your Struggling Reader

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Don’t miss this helpful interview with parent, educator, and author, Kim Jocelyn Dickson: Helping Your Struggling Reader

In this interview, you will learn:

1) Why 75% of students fall behind in reading by the third grade

2) Strategies for helping these children regain their educational traction

3) What parents can do to make sure their school district provides necessary services for their child

My biggest takeaway from “Helping Your Struggling Reader” with Kim Jocelyn Dickson is that although 75% of children who are behind in reading by third grade never catch up, these grim statistics don’t have to be the rule.

Most kids start out behind before they even begin school. Without a reading foundation or toolbox built in the home, a child starts out school with a tremendous disadvantage. That disadvantage only compounds with time. Third grade is an important year because after third grade, children are no longer learning to read. Now they are using their reading skills to learn other subjects, like history, science, and more. If they have difficulty reading after third grade, they will have difficulty learning.

With diligent effort and cooperation between parents and educators every child has the potential to become a competent reader. Toward that end, Kim encourages all parents to develop a culture of reading in the home. When kids see their parents reading on a regular basis, they’re encouraged to incorporate reading in their own lives. Although this can be difficult for parents who do not have a habit of reading themselves, taking on this challenge together with your children will pay off in so many ways.

Kim Jocelyn Dickson and The Invisible Toolbox Links

https://kimjocelyndickson.com/

https://theinvisibletoolbox.org/

About Don M. Winn

Learn about the Award-winning Sir Kaye series. Great for reluctant readers.

Raising a Child with Dyslexia: What Every Parent Needs to Know is available from Amazon, Audible, and other online retailers.

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Reading Instruction Bait-and-Switch

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Is reading instruction bait-and-switch happening in your school? This is a video interview with reading specialist Faith Borkowsky.

In this interview, you will learn about:

The jargon some school districts use to make parents think their child is getting the help they needThe difference between balanced literacy and structured literacy instructionIneffective techniques like Skippy Frog, Tryin’ Lion, Chunky Monkey, and Eagle Eye that parents should watch out for

My biggest takeaway from “Is Reading Instruction Bait-and-Switch Happening in Your School?” with Faith Borkowsky is how reading instruction has changed, and not for the better, from when I was a young dyslexic child struggling with reading.

When I was in first grade, my teacher, Mrs. Carson, could not understand why I was having so much trouble with reading (among other things). A special education teacher named Mrs. Davis finally gave me the type of help I needed in reading instruction—the very type of reading instruction that many schools no longer teach.

Mrs. Davis had been taking some extension courses about dyslexia and recognized my symptoms. That’s when I was officially diagnosed as dyslexic. From that point forward I was excused from Mrs. Carson’s class for one hour each day and Mrs. Davis worked with me one-on-one. She helped me with my reading, and that was a huge turning point in my education.

Even after all these years I still remember my sessions with Mrs. Davis quite vividly. I remember her opening a book that I liked (mainly because it had a lot of pictures) for me to read aloud. The very first thing she did was to cover the pictures, which startled me because I had always gravitated to just using the pictures to interpret a story. Once she covered the pictures, she would take a card and place it under a sentence so I could better focus on each word. Then she would step me through each word, identifying the syllables and helping me to sound them out. Phonics and phonemic awareness were what helped me to begin decoding the written word.

And here’s the thing: all kids—not just dyslexics—learn to read best when they are taught how words actually work, rather than being taught to guess at words and word fragments. Phonemic awareness and phonics instruction are the only effective ways to do that.

This phonics-first approach to teaching reading is called structured literacy. Many parents are aware of the value of this method of instruction, but they may not be aware of a recent rebranding of literacy instruction in many schools. Now many schools have renamed reading instruction techniques. On the surface they sound very much like structured literacy, which makes parents happy. But upon further investigation, these techniques involve a lot of guessing, looking at pictures, and other methods that are less valuable for teaching reading than focusing on phonics.

What do parents need to be aware of to make sure their children are receiving the effective reading instruction they need? Find out from reading specialist Faith Borkowsky in this interview, “Is Reading Instruction Bait-and-Switch Happening in Your School?”

Faith Borkowsky is a Reading and Learning Specialist, Regional Literacy Coach, a Certified Wilson and IDA Dyslexia Practitioner. She is also the founder of High Five Literacy and Academic Coaching.

Failing Students or Failing Schools: A Parent’s Guide to Reading Instruction and Intervention is available on Amazon and Audible (audio book) and from other online retailers.

Raising a Child with Dyslexia: What Every Parent Needs to Know by Don M. Winn is also available from Amazon, Audible, and other online retailers.

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Dyslexia: The Needed Revolution

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Dyslexia: The Needed Revolution is a video interview with Stephen Straus, co-founder and board chair of the organization Impact Dyslexia. In this interview, you will learn about:

The work Impact Dyslexia is doing to promote early dyslexia diagnosisThe changes that need to happen on the educational side of the equationHow you can help

My favorite takeaway from the Dyslexia: The Needed Revolution interview with Stephen Straus is how he emphasizes the profound need for parents to understand their dyslexic child’s emotional needs. Parents have to know what’s coming, so they can help their child cope with his or her needs and reactions. Without informed emotional support, no dyslexic children can reach their potential.

Additionally, it’s astounding that 140 years after dyslexia was first identified, there is almost a complete lack of awareness of dyslexia. There are also countless misconceptions that exist about the condition. Parents have to know that their dyslexic child is living with feelings of failure, stigma, and shame. Why? Because of the endless barrage of negative messages a child with dyslexia receives at school, in the home, and in the child’s own internal dialog.

Most kids with undiagnosed dyslexia know there’s something wrong. They can see that although they’re working really hard, they aren’t learning or performing like their classmates. They can’t keep up and they don’t know why. But Straus and his team at Impact Dyslexia hope to reduce the quiet desperation of children with undiagnosed, unsupported dyslexia, one child at a time.

About Impact Dyslexia: Impact Dyslexia is a group of committed and successful dyslexics, parents of dyslexics, and educational leaders. Their goal is to create bold solutions to the dyslexia crisis and empower the gift of dyslexia. https://impactdyslexia.org/

You can also view the Dyslexia: The Needed Revolution video interview with Stephen Straus on YouTube.

Cardboard Box Adventures picture books are great for shared reading and can help parents establish a strong preliteracy foundation for their children. Check out the CBA Catalog for a full list of award-winning picture books, chapter books, and resources for parents and educators. Visit my Amazon author page for more information.

The post Dyslexia: The Needed Revolution appeared first on Author Don Winn's Blog.

Self-Care for Families

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Why does self-care for families matter? How can families integrate self-care into their routines? Why is self-care so important? And why is it vital for parents to take time for self-care? In this interview with Dr. Dan Peters, psychologist, author, and cofounder of Parent Footprint, we will discuss the answers to these and other questions. You can watch the Zoom video or read the transcript below. Please note that the transcript has been paraphrased in a few places to make for easier reading.

Don: Many of us face continued home-based work and schooling, with limits on the social activities we enjoy. Lots of parents and their children are struggling to cope with their feelings. Today I’ll also be talking with Dr. Dan about ways to cope with stress, anxiety, depression, illness, and the many negative emotions that we are experiencing during this time. Dr. Dan, welcome.

Dr. Dan: Thanks, Don. It’s good to be back.

Don: As most of us here have had to isolate ourselves and curtail most of our social interactions due to COVID, why has this had such a powerful effect on people’s moods and their ability to function?

Dr. Dan: Well, so much has been taken from us, even so many things that we have taken for granted. I have clients who are living in cities, and they don’t even feel safe walking on the street because it’s congested and there are people who are not wearing masks and not keeping distance. And so, if you think about not being able to go to athletic activities, movies, state and national parks—all these places where we could get out, we could get in nature, we can get air, we could exercise, we can gather with friends. So many kids and parents are just suffering from not being able to connect with their friends, not being able to play Magic: The Gathering because you can’t touch the same card and you can’t be close enough together.

There’s not only isolation—we humans are meant to connect and be together and we have these mirror neurons which still work to some degree through screens, but not the same as being in the room. With all of these restrictions and these limitations and this isolation, it creates a lot of pent-up energy, angst, sadness, anxiety, and that’s not even thinking about COVID itself and everything we have to think about to stay safe and the concern we feel for our loved ones.

Why Prioritize Self-Care for Families

Don: Well, I certainly have experienced a lot of these feelings and emotions myself. So I’d like to talk a little bit about self-care. How does self-care provide relief when we are feeling stressed and overwhelmed?

Dr. Dan: It’s key. I just want to acknowledge that for working parents—whether they’re working out of the home or working in the home, or single parents who are doing that and then trying to help their kids with virtual school—it’s really hard at multiple levels.

And as I just talked about, all these things [we used to be able to enjoy doing] have been taken from us. These are the things that would fill us up. Going outside, getting exercise, talking to a friend. We need to find ways to have some time for ourselves. It can take many, many forms. I think the thing is that as parents, we usually put ourselves last. Kids’ needs come first. Other family members’ needs come first.

You really have to prioritize your own health because of how instrumental you all are to your families. How we are as parents trickles down—from an energetic level, from an emotional level, from a behavioral level—to how our kids are. So building in self-care—even for a couple minutes a day to ten minutes to fifteen minutes to a half hour or whatever you can do—is key. There are several forms. Sitting and just breathing. Listening to music. Reading a book. Journaling. Doing yoga. Everything now is on a screen, right? People can exercise, do guided meditation, guided yoga through your phone or computer. Talking to a friend. Going for a walk, whenever you can get outside to get some fresh air, some nature, and some sunlight, depending on where you live in the country. Just to feel the air is critical for the health of your biological system.

Ideas for Self-Care for Families

Don: Very, very nice. Now a lot of parents may be thinking, “Well, self-care, that’s kind of selfish.” And you mentioned why it’s so important. But what suggestions would you have for parents as far as activities that they can do with their children and also to help their children see the importance of self-care?

Dr. Dan: I’m on the West Coast, so the weather—aside from the rain—allows us to be out more than some folks in the Midwest and the East Coast. With that said though, doing self-care together—I still feel like you need to get your own in, just a little bit of time with no interference from kids. But we need to model. So again, it could be reading time. It could be doing a puzzle together, having some downtime, some away-from-screen time. It could be, “Hey, let’s put our screens down and let’s just talk.”

I love getting outside, whether you’re roller-blading, walking, jogging, going on a bike ride, throwing a ball, or kicking a soccer ball at a park. These are all things that show kids that we need to get outside, or we need to do something different, or we need to plan “us time.” And “us time” or “me time” is so we can replenish our bodies and our minds. And I think part of doing it is also talking about it so we’re modeling the importance of it for kids.

That hits something else you said, Don, about the selfishness. This is really important, because a lot of parents feel guilty—particularly really involved mothers—if they do anything for themselves. They think, Oh, no, no, no. I shouldn’t be doing this for me. And I’m here to say that you absolutely should be doing it for you, not only because you need it for your health, but it’s important that your kids know that you matter as an individual and have your own needs and your own desires and your own wants. That’s good for kids to see. Now of course I’m not talking about taking this to an extreme. We’re just talking about saying, “Hey, you know what? I need to go lie down for fifteen minutes. I need to go just take a break. I need some me-time right now so I can feel more present and show up in a way I want for you.” It’s important to articulate this.

Self-Care for Families by Limiting News Consumption

Don: Excellent suggestions there. Now one thing that I’ve also found necessary in my case is to limit myself as to how much news I watch because everything is bad and everything is negative, and if you’re so focused on the daily news, not only does it have an impact on yourself, but it can have an impact on your children. I’m sure you probably notice that yourself.

Dr. Dan: Very much. I’ve always been someone who stayed away from the news just because it’s an anxiety management technique. The news is there to shake us and to make us worry about things, so I’ve stayed away from it successfully. However, with the elections and with how it all dragged on and with what’s been happening and with the Capitol and all the stuff we’re dealing with, I found myself glued to watching the news as again. I think it became a [different] method of anxiety management. I wanted to know what was happening, but I can tell you—I think we agree here, Don—it was too much. I was watching too much news and I was amped up and I was less present and I was thinking about what happened.

And now, moving away from it again, I just feel so much more grounded. My parents used to say, “If you don’t watch the news, how are you going to know what’s going on?” But I always tell people, I have never missed a major event. Somehow it always gets to me.

So I think what you mentioned is really important. People need to be mindful of how much news they’re watching and remember that our kids are always listening, even if they’re not in the room. So especially with what has been going on over the last several months and with the pandemic and this year, we want to really be mindful of what they’re hearing and what we’re talking about so we don’t increase any stress or distress for them.

Striving for Hope and Acceptance

Don: Very nice. So is there anything else I haven’t asked about practicing self-care for families that you would like to share?

Dr. Dan: Hope and acceptance. We have to acknowledge that these are—everyone always uses the word unprecedented, right? This is a tremendous time we’re living in.

It’s not only the pandemic. If you look back over the past year, you have political stuff, you have elections, you have racial injustice, you have police brutality, you have climate change, you have all of these things that we’re trying to deal with—which are really big things. Our lives have changed. We have to accept, we have to acknowledge, we need to mourn and grieve for so much suffering at so many levels. We have to work really hard to accept the reality which we area living in and try to cling to hope.

If we look back through time, you don’t have to look too far back for bad stuff to happen and for people to have to persevere and be resilient and get through it, and we’re in one of those times right now. So I just try to have the larger perspective, which is hard. Try to do your best to accept the situation we’re in, the limitations, the restrictions, the isolation. Do your best to really do what you can with self-care, with creativity, with fun, and try to keep that hope that we will get through this and it will be different one day.

Don: Thank you very much, Dr. Dan, for taking the time to talk with us today about the importance of self-care for families. You can click on the links below to learn more about Dr. Dan and the Summit Center and also his books. Thank you again.

Dr. Dan: Thanks, Don.

About Dr. Dan Peters and The Summit Center

Dr. Dan Peters, licensed psychologist, is the co-founder and executive director of The Summit Center, specializing in the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents, and families with special emphasis on gifted, talented, and creative individuals and families.

Connect with Dr. Dan:

http://www.drdanpeters.com
http://www.summitcenter.us
Amazon Author Page

Cardboard Box Adventures picture books are great for shared reading and can help parents establish a strong preliteracy foundation for their children. Check out the CBA Catalog for a full list of award-winning picture books, chapter books, and resources for parents and educators. Visit my Amazon author page for more information.

The post Self-Care for Families appeared first on Author Don Winn's Blog.

Self-Care without Self-Judgement

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The term self-care has become a common but important buzzword these days. During difficult times, people may be very critical of themselves, believing they need to do things differently or better than they are currently managing to do. How can we practice gentle pandemic self-care without too much self-judgement?

As we enter our second year of COVID-19, many individuals and families are still doing their best to shelter in place, going out as little as possible. Some people I know haven’t even been out to get groceries or a haircut for months. Many are working from home and schooling their children from home as well. For this group, life has changed tremendously, and while those changes help them feel as safe as possible, they also cause other issues.

It’s not failure. It’s laundry.

KC Davis in How to Keep House while Drowning

Lumped together under the catchy title “pandemic fatigue,” many people are experiencing symptoms that can include feelings of anxiety, depression, grief, hopelessness, or frustration. Physical symptoms might include insomnia, digestive upset, frequent headaches, body aches, and more. Any combination of these symptoms equals a very, very difficult time getting by. There are more than a few folks who struggle to care for the basic needs of life like cooking, cleaning, hygiene, feeding, dishes, and laundry.

After enduring several months of this, a person’s mind can start to heap insult on top of injury. “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I find the energy or motivation to shower or brush my teeth? Why can’t I seem to do even the simplest tasks anymore?” Very often, thoughts like these are caused by shame, which demoralizes humans like nothing else. But what can be done?

The key is to practice self-care without self-judgement.

A small, encouraging book entitled How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis offers helpful insight on this topic. Davis is a licensed professional counselor and mom of two. In fact, she had her second baby just as the pandemic began. She had also moved to a new city where she knew no one just before the baby was born.

Davis states, “Without access to a support network for months on end, I used every tool in my therapy training arsenal and created a self-compassionate way to address my stress, depression, and ever-mounting laundry pile. After sharing this unique approach on social media, I gained hundreds of thousands of followers within a few months. I realized the shame over not being able to keep up with housework is universal and that’s why I wrote this book.”

This book does not offer a bunch of to-do lists that would likely compound a reader’s shame and anxiety. Instead, Davis breaks the material into 31 brief, readable sections full of encouragement and gentle nudges to invite perspective shift. For example, if a person hasn’t done laundry, cleaned their kitchen or body or teeth in weeks, they aren’t nasty, gross, or lazy; they are instead just a person having a hard time.

And people having a hard time deserve compassion. They need self-care without self-judgement.

Davis recounts her laundry issues: “I had a baby three weeks before the country shut down due to the pandemic. Completely housebound and isolated with a toddler that had cabin fever, a newborn who just came out of the NICU, and a husband who works a lot, my laundry quickly turned into an insurmountable pile. I did not fold even one article of clothing until my baby was seven months old.

For seven months, my entire family lived out of a giant pile of clean laundry that spanned the entire surface of my laundry room floor. I could occasionally get it into the washer and transferred to the dryer between toddler tantrums and baby screams but I just could never get it any further. One day as if by magic I ended up with a little time to go fold some laundry. If I had spent those seven months telling myself I was a piece of *%#$ every time I looked at that laundry pile, I probably would not have had the motivation to do it, despite having the time.

That is because if a laundry pile represents failure, and I’m already struggling with a newborn and a pandemic and an energetic toddler, my brain, which is desperately trying to avoid pain and seek pleasure (or at least relief from pain) is never going to give me the green light to lean in to yet another painful experience like spending 30 minutes in my failure pile of laundry. But it’s not failure. It’s laundry.”

Davis helps shift the perspective of the struggling when she states: “You deserve love and compassion regardless of your level of functioning. True skill building (i.e., self-care) can only happen in an atmosphere of profound self-compassion and gentleness. On a foundation of compassion and rest, with the view of care tasks as morally neutral, rejecting shame and perfectionism, you can begin to explore ways of caring for your body and space that best serve you.”

If you’re feeling fatigued, overwhelmed, or are struggling to care for yourself or your space, I highly recommend this book. It’s a tremendous help with learning some gentle self-care without self-judgement.

Cardboard Box Adventures picture books are great for shared reading and can help parents establish a strong preliteracy foundation for their children. Check out the CBA Catalog for a full list of award-winning picture books, chapter books, and resources for parents and educators. Visit my Amazon author page for more information.

The post Self-Care without Self-Judgement appeared first on Author Don Winn's Blog.

Dyslexia Anxiety in the Workplace

The 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can is the story of Frank Abagnale, a man with a troubled childhood who ran away from home as a teen and began to support himself as a con man. Watching this movie reminded me of dealing with dyslexia anxiety in the workplace.

Frank was intelligent, brash, and bold, passing himself off as an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, among other things. He cashed fraudulent checks worth millions of dollars. He was basically a pretender.

While on the surface Frank’s life seemed full of luxury and excitement, there was a dark side. Out of necessity, Frank to live on full alert, always desperately anxious that he might be exposed. He knew that if his frauds were ever discovered, his life would come crashing down. And he knew it was only a matter of time.

What does any of this have to do with being dyslexic? More than you might think!

Types of Dyslexia Anxiety in the Workplace

There are many adult dyslexics who were never diagnosed and/or accommodated and supported as a child. While most of us are not running around committing illegal acts like Frank, many of us do experience anxiety due to living in constant fear of exposure.

How so? Many undiagnosed or unaccommodated adult dyslexics live in fear that their dyslexia will come to light in the workplace. They may fear numerous possibilities:

They will lose the respect of their peers.They will be reprimanded by their employers.They will miss out on promotions.They will receive pay cuts.They will lose their job.They will be shamed for being different or for performing tasks in unconventional ways.

In most cases, many of these fears are irrational, but they can still become a tremendous source of anxiety.

Another source of dyslexia-related anxiety may be performance anxiety. Performance anxiety might take the form of an email with an attached 300-page report and instructions from the boss to “skim through this by 2:00 pm and send me your thoughts on the plan.”

Or the boss might say, “I need you to document your team’s approach to this crisis and I need it before you go home today.” Whenever a dyslexic is required to read or write material quickly on a deadline, it’s a huge anxiety trigger—it’s happened to me often!

Anxiety can also occur when a boss or team requires a dyslexic employee to “show their work,” for example, how they arrived at a mathematical solution or design idea. Many dyslexics solve problems with out-of-the-box thinking and solutions. Sometimes it’s difficult for them to explain how they arrived at a (correct) conclusion.

Dyslexia can also contribute to generalized anxiety. This may show up as an existential dread of getting up every morning to go to a place where we will have who-knows-what demands thrown at us, despite the fact that we probably don’t have the bandwidth to deal with it.

The Root of Dyslexia Anxiety in the Workplace

At the root of all this anxiety is the fact that most dyslexics feel like a fraud. From the first time we perceived our differences in childhood, noticed that our brain worked differently than others’ brains, or saw that our working processes differed from the norm, we were made to feel like our work didn’t count. This could take many forms:

If a test was timed and you couldn’t finish on time, none of your work would count.If you couldn’t show your work on the math problem, the fact that you got the right answer didn’t count.If you could only tie your shoes the “wrong way,” it didn’t count.If you couldn’t process left/right/up/down quickly enough for sports and PE, you weren’t welcome on the team. You were viewed as a screw-up.If you couldn’t read or write like your fellow students, you didn’t count.

In short, if you didn’t learn, work, and perform just like everybody else, nothing you did would matter. (That’s how you eventually come to feel about yourself.) None of your tasks counted because you had to do them differently from what was expected, and it probably took you extra time as well.

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When these early childhood beliefs about ourselves go unchallenged, they have a profound effect on our work life. And for an adult, the stakes are higher:

Getting a paycheck is at stake, not just a big red F on a spelling test or report card.Taking care of your needs and those of your family are at stake. Your very survival is on the line.

In the previously mentioned workplace examples, dyslexics usually feels they are left with one option: bluff their way through. Do whatever they can manage in the allotted time, and then wing it the rest of the way.

And that makes a person feel like a fraud.

It feels (and is) inauthentic. Existential fear snowballs day after day—what will happen if I’m found out? And when is that going to happen? And how can I survive when it does?

This is no way to live. It is not sustainable.

How to Manage Dyslexia Anxiety in the Workplace

I would like to offer for your consideration four steps you can take to coexist with your dyslexia in a way that doesn’t involve feeling like a fraud and doesn’t produce the subsequent fear of exposure.

Step one: If you know you have dyslexia, you’ve already completed step one. If you wonder if you might have dyslexia but aren’t sure, get tested. A person has to know what they’re dealing with.

Step two: Learn all you can about dyslexia, especially the aspects of dyslexia that you personally experience. Everyone’s dyslexia manifests differently. Do you also have dysgraphia (trouble writing)? How about dyscalculia (trouble with math, numbers, and sequential tasks)? Auditory dyslexia (trouble processing spoken information or instructions)? Dysphonia (trouble speaking your thoughts and ideas)?

Any and all of these need to be explored so that you can understand what you’ve been experiencing. Only after you understand your own unique dyslexia can you develop coping mechanisms and get support.

Step three: Develop compassion for yourself. If you’re like most of us, there’s been a very harsh, critical voice inside your head talking smack to you about yourself for years.

[image error]Pexels.com","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"white printer paper with be kind text on plants","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="pexels-photo-3972441" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-3972441.jpeg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-3972441.jpeg?fit=683%2C1024&ssl=1" loading="lazy" src="https://i0.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-3972441.jpeg?resize=434%2C650&ssl=1" alt="A little note among small plants that says hashtag Be Kind. Dyslexia anxiety in the workplace can be mitigated by learning to have a kinder internal dialogue." class="wp-image-14768" width="434" height="650" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-3972441.jpeg?w=867&ssl=1 867w, https://i0.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-3972441.jpeg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-3972441.jpeg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-3972441.jpeg?resize=768%2C1152&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-3972441.jpeg?resize=800%2C1200&ssl=1 800w" sizes="(max-width: 434px) 100vw, 434px" data-recalc-dims="1" />

That voice literally adds insult to injury.

It’s time to learn to look back over your past and show yourself some compassion and respect for struggling for so many years without understanding what you were dealing with, and for showing up every day to work harder than most folks ever have to work, and for surviving.

With time and proper support, we can learn to be more aware of this harsh voice and replace it with kinder words that acknowledge how hard you are working.

Step four: This step takes time and effort but it’s the key.

Learn to ask for what you need. This is a biggie. It takes a lot of courage. But once you have educated yourself about how your brain works best, you can educate others.

Reducing dyslexia anxiety in the workplace starts at home. Start by building a support system within the safe zone of family and close friends. Share with them what you are learning about yourself and help them to understand dyslexia. Maybe they can watch some dyslexia documentaries with you. As you learn about the way you personally experience dyslexia, you can communicate differently.

For example, if you have a less-than-ideal short-term memory, you could request that your spouse or roommate text or email you the grocery list instead of just giving it to you verbally.

Or maybe the people in your home often offer verbal information in passing, such as telling you about an upcoming social event while you are focused on something else. Later, they are surprised (or worse) when you aren’t prepared the evening of the event. If this is a common event for you, you can teach the people in your household about the fact that dyslexics have a smaller “buffer” in their brain’s processing center. This means that if you are engaged in another activity, or even simply have a lot on your mind, they may need to make sure they have your full attention before discussing plans or leave a note or an email as a backup system. Even implementing a household calendar that you can refer to frequently will help prevent this kind of stress in the family.

In addition, remembering several items in sequence can be a struggle for some dyslexics. Situations like this might show up during a home project that has several steps. It will reduce stress for everyone involved if you discuss and tackle one step at a time.

Over time, as family and friends begin to understand you better, you will become more comfortable talking about your dyslexia and asking for what you need. Then you will gradually become ready to have conversations in your professional environment. This will take time and courage.

Become Your Own Advocate

A good place to start is the Human Resources department at your place of employment. If there is someone on staff in Human Resources, you can ask them directly what specific procedures are in place to make accommodations.

If there is no dedicated HR department, most jobs have an employee handbook that lists company policies, including those that handle requests for accommodation.

In some places of employment, the only path to accommodation is through conversation with a direct supervisor or boss.

According to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, you only have to let your employer know that you need an adjustment or change at work for a reason related to a medical condition. You do not need to disclose the medical condition if you don’t want to.

[image error]Pexels.com","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"focused ethnic male boss interviewing applicant in office","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="pexels-photo-5668863" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?fit=860%2C573&ssl=1" loading="lazy" width="860" height="573" src="https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?resize=860%2C573&ssl=1" alt="A man and woman talk together across a desk in an office setting in front of a window that shows city buildings outside. " class="wp-image-14770" srcset="https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?w=1880&ssl=1 1880w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?resize=1805%2C1203&ssl=1 1805w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?resize=1100%2C733&ssl=1 1100w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1 800w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/pexels-photo-5668863.jpeg?w=1720&ssl=1 1720w" sizes="(max-width: 860px) 100vw, 860px" data-recalc-dims="1" />

The Learning Disability Association of America offers a helpful checklist to take care of before having a conversation with your employer:

Have a clear understanding of your areas of strengths and challenges.Know which accommodations and strategies will work best for you.Know how to effectively communicate information about your dyslexia as it pertains to your job, including your strengths and needed accommodations.Documentation of your dyslexia can sometimes be required.

What is the most important information your employer needs to know?

How your dyslexia impacts your ability to do your workWhat accommodations, supports, and services you will need to excel at your job, and how those accommodations have helped you in past situations

What if you’re at a loss as to what accommodations to ask for? The Job Accommodation Network has qualified staff to help you know which accommodations could make the most difference for you. Be prepared with a clear description of your dyslexia.

Their website is https://askjan.org/ and their toll-free number is 1-800-526-7234.

Dealing with dyslexia anxiety in the workplace and in life is difficult. I encourage all of you, please don’t give up. Your work counts. You count. With enough information and courage, every dyslexic can get the accommodation they need and deserve so that they can do their best work, feel great about themselves, live their best life, and never again feel like a fraud!

You will find helpful information in my book, Raising a Child with Dyslexia: What Every Parent Needs to Know.

In addition to full explanations of each aspect of dyslexia that a person can have, some of the most useful information (for an adult) will be in the sample conversations between parent and child. As I mentioned earlier, our own inner dialogue as an adult dyslexic is often quite harsh and hopeless. The sample conversations will give you ideas not just for communicating with your child, but also will help inform your inner dialogue so that your inner life as a dyslexic is less abusive and more compassionate.

Cardboard Box Adventures picture books are great for shared reading and can help parents establish a strong preliteracy foundation for their children. Check out the CBA Catalog for a full list of award-winning picture books, chapter books, and resources for parents and educators. Visit my Amazon author page for more information.

The post Dyslexia Anxiety in the Workplace appeared first on Author Don Winn's Blog.

Benefits of Reading During Times of Stress

I recently had the privilege of interviewing parent, educator, and writer Kim Jocelyn Dickson. Kim has nearly 30 years of experience in the elementary school classroom, has taught in public and private schools, and currently teaches literature and writing. She is the author of the book, The Invisible Toolbox: The Power of Reading to Your Child from Birth to Adolescence. During the interview, we spent some of the time talking about the power of stories during difficult times. You can watch the video interview below or keep reading to learn about the benefits of reading during times of stress.

Don: Kim, in part 1 of this interview (The Power of Stories During Difficult Times) you explained how shared reading between parent and child is a great way for them both to have an escape. This is especially helpful now, with all the extra stress that children and parents are dealing with. What experiences have you had recently in which reading has played a helpful role in that regard? What are some of the benefits of reading during times of stress?

Kim: As a matter of fact, I just finished writing about an experience that I had as a teacher. I am teaching fifth grade now, in remote learning; I have been since last spring, and I teach literature and writing. A couple of weeks ago when we Zoomed in, every morning as we do, and had our morning meeting, I had a check-in with my students. I was aware that there were fires happening in the periphery—it wasn’t happening right in my community, but it was happening near enough that I had good friends I was concerned about.

I learned that some of my students were also being impacted by fires. In fact, one of my students had had to evacuate that very morning, and she was Zooming into class with us from a hotel. Many of the students were very anxious about it for themselves and their families and for their friends and each other, and you could sense, you could feel the anxiety in the class. It’s amazing how, even in Zoom, there’s a lot you can tell about what’s going on with your students. You’re apart, but you can still feel it. You really can.

Benefits of Reading During Times of Stress—Finding Sanctuary in Stories

So here we are, in distance learning for one thing. We’re not together. We’re in the middle of this election season with parents being upset and concerned with all that’s going on politically. The virus has impacted our lives. And now on top of this, we’ve got the fires. I’m in southern California, and people are really worried for their lives and their homes.

We’ve got all this going on my class, and that day, what I had planned to do was to continue reading a novel that I’d been reading with them. We were reading The Great Brain, which is an excellent classic that I strongly recommend by John D. Fitzgerald. And it happened to be the chapter where the namesake of the book, Tom—who is the Great Brain—had been unjustly paddled by the new teacher, who was very harsh in his methods and would paddle all the time, and he had decided that they were going to frame this teacher by planting evidence that he was a secret drinker, so it was kind of a shocking chapter and exciting. It takes place in 1890s Utah, so it could not have been further from the reality of what the students were experiencing in their lives at that moment, and I have never been so happy as I was that morning that I am a literature teacher, and that we had the opportunity after sharing our feeling about what was going on in our vicinity to do a deep dive into this chapter because it really took us out of ourselves for a while. Because as I was talking about, when we read, we experience the story as if it’s actually happening to us. So it was just a lovely, comforting escape to be able to fully immerse ourselves in this crazy chapter that was so satisfying and kind of just take a break from what was going on. And I think that’s one of the most powerful things that reading can do for us.

Internal Reading Infrastructure

Don: Yes, I want to talk briefly about your book, The Invisible Toolbox. Now we had talked a little about some aspects of your book during the interview. That name, The Invisible Toolbox may sound a little strange to some parents. Could you explain a little bit why you called it The Invisible Toolbox and how it relates to the benefits of reading during times of stress?

Kim: Sure. I had a little bit of an epiphany I think, many years ago. I used to be a third-grade teacher, and you know third grade is that watershed year, where if students are not reading on grade level, statistically, 75% of those who don’t never will, which is a really concerning statistic. And so, I was teaching in a public school then; it’s an excellent public school, my neighborhood school, the school my son went to. It was wonderful. But there were always a few students who were behind, and it seemed that sometimes the interventions that were offered didn’t necessarily pull them out. And again, that’s a different topic because I’m a firm believer in that 25%, and there are definitely things that we can do.

But what I realized at that time was that what the students who were not able to read at grade level—and again, this takes away students who are dyslexic and with an actual processing concern. There were students who simply did not have that internal infrastructure that I mentioned a few minutes ago, and that’s where the invisible toolbox comes in.

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It just struck me one day at a parent-teacher conference that every child comes to kindergarten with an invisible toolbox. If their parent has read to them regularly before kindergarten, that invisible toolbox is filled to overflowing with all those literacy skills that we were talking about a few minutes ago—the understanding of the way books work, they’ve been exposed to language and vocabulary that they won’t hear anywhere besides in books, all these things that help them to be successful, all that scaffolding is in place if they’ve been read to.

And my heart has broken for the kids that have not had that because they come to school with these invisible toolboxes that are empty, and school is a struggle for them because the infrastructure that they need to learn and take advantage of what school offers isn’t there. So what they’re needing to do is catch up and have the infrastructure built. It is possible to do that. I think it’s a lot harder later, but it’s doable. So that’s the invisible toolbox.

Don: Yes, The Invisible Toolbox, I highly recommend it. A wonderful book—it’s an easy read, speaking from a dyslexic’s point of view. It’s also available on audio from Audible.com. You can listen to it actually in one sitting. Kim, thank you very much for talking with me today.

Kim: It’s been a pleasure, thank you.

Don: If you missed it last time, see part one of this interview with Kim in The Power of Stories During Difficult Times.

Kim Jocelyn Dickson has nearly thirty years of experience in the elementary school classroom, has taught in public and private schools in the east, Midwest, and west coast of the United States, currently teaches literature and writing in an independent school in Southern California, and frequently speaks on reading’s powerful impact on young lives.
Nearly thirty years teaching hundreds of elementary school-aged children has convinced Kim that the simple act of reading aloud from birth has a far-reaching impact that few parents understand and that our recent, nearly universal saturation in technology has further clouded its importance. The Invisible Toolbox aggregates research findings in neuroscience, education, and psychology along with practical anecdotal experience from the classroom and parenting to illustrate that the first years of life are critical in the formation and receptivity of the primary predictor of success in school—language skills—and that infants begin learning immediately at birth, or even before.

Don Winn’s Cardboard Box Adventures picture books are great for shared reading and can help parents establish a strong preliteracy foundation for their children. Check out the CBA Catalog for a full list of award-winning picture books, chapter books, and resources for parents and educators. Visit my Amazon author page for more information.

The post Benefits of Reading During Times of Stress appeared first on Author Don Winn's Blog.

The Power of Stories During Difficult Times

I recently had the privilege of interviewing parent, educator, and writer Kim Jocelyn Dickson. Kim has nearly 30 years of experience in the elementary school classroom, has taught in public and private schools, and currently teaches literature and writing. She is the author of the book, The Invisible Toolbox: The Power of Reading to Your Child from Birth to Adolescence. During the interview, we spent some of the time talking about the power of stories during difficult times. You can watch the video interview below or keep reading.

As a fellow advocate for shared reading, I asked Kim to explain how a parent sharing good books with their children offers comfort. What really is the power of stories during difficult times?

The Power of Stories During Difficult Times—Connection

Kim: One of the first things that comes to mind that is powerful about a parent sharing books with a child is the connection that occurs between the parent and the child. It’s a powerful bonding experience. When a parent sits down with a good book and their child—sits together on the sofa or maybe cuddles together, they’re telling them that the child is really important. The child is hearing and feeling that this time together means that they’re important to the parent, so I think that the connection is one of the most powerful things that comes out of the parent/child read aloud.

The Power of Stories During Difficult Times—Escape

There are so many things that come out of this. That’s really the reason that I wrote this book, but another thing that occurs to me is that since our topic today is about the advantage of reading to your child, especially during a difficult time, is that it does provide a little oasis for them. I’m really very big on creating a family read aloud time daily. If that can be developed into a habit, that can be a super beneficial thing that affords the child and the parent a special time every day to look forward to. It’s that time of closeness and it’s also a time that just offers a little escape from whatever might be difficult—for instance the quarantine that we’re experiencing right now and the absence of normal life. Having that little time to escape into a story and to be together and to share that is a really powerful thing.

[image error]Pexels.com","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"happy ethnic woman and kids reading book together","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="pexels-photo-5693027" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?fit=860%2C573&ssl=1" loading="lazy" width="860" height="573" src="https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?resize=860%2C573&ssl=1" alt="A mother reads to her two children as they cuddle for a moment of connection, escape, and imagination, just a few of the benefits of the power of stories during difficult times." class="wp-image-14554" srcset="https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?w=1880&ssl=1 1880w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?resize=1805%2C1203&ssl=1 1805w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?resize=1100%2C733&ssl=1 1100w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1 800w, https://i2.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-5693027.jpeg?w=1720&ssl=1 1720w" sizes="(max-width: 860px) 100vw, 860px" data-recalc-dims="1" />



The Power of Stories During Difficult Times—Imagination

It also fosters the imagination of the child and literally takes them out of their reality for a while in a super healthy way. It’s so interesting what neuroscientists are discovering now about the impact of reading on the brain. We used to think that reading only impacted the frontal lobe of the brain, where the language processing center is, but recent studies have shown that when we read, every single part of the brain is engaged, which means that we experience the story as if it is actually happening to us. So we experience it on a sensory level, we experience it on an experiential level, so it literally does take us out of ourselves and out of our own reality.

The Power of Stories During Difficult Times—Calm

And then the other advantage it provides—or one of them, because I could go on and on—another one I think that’s so important during this difficult time is that we’re starting to understand that the physiological effect of reading on the body is very similar to what happens during meditation. There’s a very calming and soothing thing that happens with us mentally and physically when we sink into a good story. And so to share that with a parent during a time that’s difficult, to do that daily and know that that’s something that you both count on and look forward to, can be a really powerful and comforting thing.

Reading from Infancy

Don: You’ve mentioned some excellent points about the power of reading during difficult times. I love the bond fostered between parent and child by having that reading time. Something else that you mentioned too—and this was in the book—is that you don’t want to wait until after your child starts school to say, “Oh, that’s the time to start reading with them.” Read from birth, even before birth. What have you noticed with your own child in doing this, and the benefits of doing this?

Kim: Well, he’s all grown up now, and he’s a reader. He’s a lifelong reader. Yeah, I started reading to my son in utero, towards the end of my pregnancy. I had received I think three copies of Goodnight Moon at various baby showers. And so I hadn’t really done any research on this topic—I’d been a teacher for so many years, and so I sort of instinctively knew that reading to your child is a good thing. I was always a reader. So I just started reading Goodnight Moon to him, just maybe a month or so before his birth, and then continued doing it when he was a baby. Nursery rhymes were a really big part of what we did, and it just was part of our daily pattern. I remember that it was like after naptime was a great time because he was still kind of sleepy and not too active, and then after bath time at night because he was winding down. I found that during his infancy and childhood those were really great times to read during the day.

[image error]Pexels.com","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"person reading a book","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="pexels-photo-1741230" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?fit=860%2C573&ssl=1" loading="lazy" width="860" height="573" src="https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?resize=860%2C573&ssl=1" alt="A mother reads to her baby from a picture book. The power of stories during difficult times can also lay a preliteracy foundation for very young children, which will benefit them academically when they enter school." class="wp-image-14557" srcset="https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?w=1880&ssl=1 1880w, https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?resize=1805%2C1203&ssl=1 1805w, https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?resize=1100%2C733&ssl=1 1100w, https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1 800w, https://i1.wp.com/donwinn.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pexels-photo-1741230.jpeg?w=1720&ssl=1 1720w" sizes="(max-width: 860px) 100vw, 860px" data-recalc-dims="1" />



Long-term Benefits

So reading was really part of our family experience, and he kind of grew up into that and it was just something that we continued doing into his middle/upper elementary school years, I guess. My book is subtitled The Power of Reading to Your Child from Birth to Adolescence, and I kind of wished that I continued it even longer than I did. But by the time he was, I don’t know, maybe upper elementary, he was into Star Wars, and was reading all the Star Wars novels over and over again, and he was just kind of into his own thing.

But the fun thing is—and I just need to say that I do believe it had a huge impact on him academically, and that’s another subject. We could get into that if you want to, but I’ll just talk about it from a life skill/reading for pleasure perspective. When we get together now, one of the things we always share is “What are you reading?” We trade books back and forth. We’re both big nonfiction fans, and so we’ve been trading Erik Larson’s books back and forth the last few months. I don’t know if you read The Splendid and the Vile, but if you love history, those are great books to get into.

So anyway, it has continued to be a point of connection for us, is my point, for a lifetime, and I expect that it will continue to be.

The Secret World of Reading

Don: And one of the things, if your child is dyslexic, like I was (am) dyslexic is that early reading from birth is such a big factor in how well they’ll do when they start school, because that helps to build that preliteracy foundation. You’re basically modeling reading for them before they can even talk, when you have them sitting in your lap and you’re reading across the page with an open book and you go from left to right and top to bottom. You show them every time how reading works, and that sticks with them. And so once they start school, they already have some of those basic foundations down. Wonderful point.

…children come to school already understanding that there’s a whole world behind reading that’s a really exciting and important one that they’ve already been a part of…

Kim: That is so true, and that gets into the whole academic part of this, which I really get into in my book, because as a teacher of so many years, I’ve seen that again and again. What you’re talking about is those early preschool years. When a parent reads to a child, they are literally building an internal infrastructure for them that lays the foundation of all the preliteracy skills that they need—the things that you just mentioned about how reading works, it communicates to them that there is a payoff in reading, that this strange thing that we do with putting symbols and meaning and sounds together has a payoff. There’s something to it, because those children come to school already understanding that there’s a whole world behind reading that’s a really exciting and important one that they’ve already been a part of. You’re absolutely right; there is a huge value in doing this, and it’s one of the reasons that I’m so passionate about talking about the subject, because parents need to understand how important it is.

Don: Thanks for sharing your insights, Kim. Readers, please check back here soon for the second part of my interview with Kim— Benefits of Reading During Times of Stress.

Kim Jocelyn Dickson has nearly thirty years of experience in the elementary school classroom, has taught in public and private schools in the east, Midwest, and west coast of the United States, currently teaches literature and writing in an independent school in Southern California, and frequently speaks on reading’s powerful impact on young lives.
Nearly thirty years teaching hundreds of elementary school-aged children has convinced Kim that the simple act of reading aloud from birth has a far-reaching impact that few parents understand and that our recent, nearly universal saturation in technology has further clouded its importance. The Invisible Toolbox aggregates research findings in neuroscience, education, and psychology along with practical anecdotal experience from the classroom and parenting to illustrate that the first years of life are critical in the formation and receptivity of the primary predictor of success in school—language skills—and that infants begin learning immediately at birth, or even before.

Don Winn’s Cardboard Box Adventures picture books are great for shared reading and can help parents establish a strong preliteracy foundation for their children. Check out the CBA Catalog for a full list of award-winning picture books, chapter books, and resources for parents and educators. Visit my Amazon author page for more information.

The post The Power of Stories During Difficult Times appeared first on Author Don Winn's Blog.

Psychological Challenges of Distance Learning

In a recent Zoom interview with psychologist and author Dr. Dan Peters, I had the chance to ask him for some of his valuable input on a big difficulty facing parents and children these days—adapting to distance or virtual learning. For over 20 years, Dr. Dan has been passionate about helping parents to parent their children with purpose and intention. His goal is to guide them in reaching their potential while their children are also reaching their own. Today I wanted to share his response to my questions about the challenges many children face with distance learning, especially kids with dyslexia, and how parents can help their children with meeting the psychological challenges of distance learning.

You can watch the full interview below or on my Don Winn YouTube channel.

Psychological Challenges of Distance Learning for Dyslexics

Don: Dr. Dan, what observations have you made about the challenges facing students who are engaged in distance learning for the first time?

Dr. Dan: There’s a host of them. I think that the backdrop to all this, with the pandemic and distance learning, everyone is having to do so many things that are new. Parents are having to do more teaching and supporting than maybe they have in the past, even for parents of dyslexic students and other neurodiverse learners. Teachers are having to do something they’ve never had to do before and engage kids in virtual stream learning. And so there’s a lot of overwhelm, is what we’re seeing, a lot of overwhelm at a lot of levels. So for a child, and particularly a young child, we’ve been for years trying to get our kids to be off screens, right? Less screens. We know that kids love screens, and now they’re needing to be on screens, and they’re needing to be on screens often in ways that they don’t want to be on screens.

So a few things with the screens—one is, we know that dyslexics, in particular, are very hands-on learners, right, very kinesthetic hands-on learners. Well, it’s hard to do hands-on learning when you have a talking head, a teacher having to deliver the curriculum. The other thing that’s happening is a lot of schools and teachers are requiring the video to be on, which is really uncomfortable for a lot of kids, and also they then get distracted by having to see their face, other people’s faces, and then it’s hard to take in the curriculum. We know that a lot of kids with dyslexia have auditory processing issues as well, and so now you’re having to really rely on listening to a lot of information, and hopefully, the teachers are using visuals as well, capitalizing on the visual/spatial learning strength of a dyslexic, but all teachers are doing it differently.

And then of course, you have parents, many of whom are needing to work as well, are having to be responsible for keeping their child engaged in something that might not be engaging for their child or might be very difficult for their child, or their child is just bouncing around, opening tabs, scrolling around, looking out the window… So there are just multiple levels of added stress and complexity with our current learning situation.

Balancing Academics and Well-Being: A Key to Handling the Psychological Challenges of Distance Learning

Don: Yes, in my wife’s office environment, a lot of the secretarial staff have to bring their kids to work with them. It hasn’t worked out very well. The kids are stressed, the parents are stressed, there’s a lot of shouting, and I hear that in a lot of cases, the teachers are just assigning them a couple of chapters to read and then having them write a five-hundred word essay on what they read. I know speaking for myself, for a dyslexic, that just doesn’t work. And so it’s been nothing but a nightmare for the parents and the kids. So my question—some parents are having difficulty helping their children to find a balance between academic needs and their mental health needs during these unprecedented times. So what should parents’ priority be and why? How can they help their kids deal with the psychological challenges of distance learning?

Dr. Dan: I just want to capitalize on something you just said, which is really important, and that is, in a lot of these learning situations, either (a) because the schools are wanting kids to not be on screens all day long, or (b) they’re just not set up to deliver the curriculum, kids are being assigned more work. And so we know as dyslexics, as a fellow dyslexic, like you, this would be my worst nightmare. The amount of reading and writing I had to do alone in regular school was difficult. To have to do it in this way, it just increases the anxiety and the intensity, and for many families the meltdowns and the avoidance.

So what I’m suggesting daily in my role is we need to focus on mental health. We need to focus on health and wellness over the worry about academic output, academic proficiency, and even the concern about our child getting behind. Now we know that we’re often concerned in a regular school environment with our dyslexic kids getting behind, and yes, it’s a concern, especially in this environment. However, that does not overshadow the importance of mental health and well-being. We have to remember that this is a temporary situation we are in. I know we don’t know when this thing is going to end, but this is not going to be virtual learning forever. We also have to remember that much of the United States is in a similar situation, and a lot of kids are not in an optimal learning environment.

We have to try to put down the worry about whether kids will get behind, and really focus on both their mental health and your mental health as a parent. How much can kids handle? Are they getting to move around? Are they getting to be outside? Are they getting to do things that they like? Are you able to reduce the conflict over schoolwork?

And then for yourself, what can you carve out for yourself in this very stressful time? Because from what we know, from all of the brain-based research, the great books of Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, is that we have to help our kids regulate. Our job is to help give them safety and security so they can have a positive attachment to themselves and to others. To do that, we parents have to be regulated ourselves, and this is a crazy stressful time for parents. And so, we really have to focus on ways that we can practice self-care so we can go into these situations—not with that elevated energy, with that elevated emotion, because our kids pick up on that intensity as well. So to answer your question simply, mental health and wellness are what we have to prioritize right now.

When Parents Should Put Themselves First

Don: Yes, excellent points, especially the fact that part of the solution in handling the psychological challenges of distance learning is that parents need to be caring for themselves at this time. So what suggestions would you offer to help the parents meet these challenges?

Dr. Dan: Well, first of all, I’m taking a deep breath. We do have to have some time to breathe. So everyone has their own self-care strategy. The first thing that we need to do, because awareness is key, is we need to be aware, take inventory of what are the things that fill me up? What do I need to increase my energy when I’m feeling depleted? It could be anything from alone time, meditation, yoga, journaling, talking with a friend, going for a walk, going for a hike, going for a run, going for a bike ride.

Now there are many people saying, I don’t have time to do this, and that may be true. Even if you can find the smallest amount of time for yourself—sometimes it’s waking up earlier, sometimes it’s waking up later, sometimes it’s working with another parent (someone who’s in your pod) to say, “Hey, I’ll take your child for a couple of hours or an hour a day, let’s trade off,”—any way you can do something for yourself.

What a lot of parents feel is that “I come last.” It’s true. Parents—especially good parents—parents who are trying to be really good parents, put themselves last. What I am strongly suggesting is that you put yourself first for at least a small part of the day, because not only do you need that, your child needs you to have that space, that rejuvenation. And I even recommend to parents to tell your kids why you’re doing it, because you’re modeling coping and resilience, which is what we’re wanting to raise our kids to have as well.

The Psychological Challenges of Distance Learning: How to Cope with Homework Horrors

Don: Excellent suggestions. And I know just from what my wife observed—I’m not in an office environment—but she’s observed this a lot, when both the child is stressed and the parent is stressed, unless the parent takes control and puts the brakes on, that’s when tempers flare and things just get worse after that. When the parent finds themselves getting upset or getting distressed by a situation, what would you suggest they do at that moment, to put the brakes on and help everyone deal with the psychological challenges of distance learning?

Dr. Dan: You’re going to hear me say the a-word again—aware. If you could become aware that you’re starting to escalate, that’s huge. That’s huge. Because a lot of us just go from zero to whatever very quickly, particularly in stressful situations, and we’re sleep-deprived.

So just start cultivating awareness of when you’re starting to feel frustrated and to escalate—notice that. Then in the moment, decide whether you can take a deep breath and shift your energy in that situation or take a little break. Just take a little time-out. There is no crisis or urgency in that school assignment. Right? That’s the other thing. It seems like it’s so important, but there’s no worksheet, there’s no essay that has to be done right in that moment. Take a break, walk away, tell your child, “You know what? I just need to take a break right now.”

Sometimes it’s good to let them know you’re just taking care of yourself, other times you just need to distract your child, like, “Hey, why don’t you go do that and I’m going to take a break.” We don’t want our kids feeling bad, we don’t want our kids feeling shame, and again, we’re talking about a lot of dyslexic kids, who automatically feel bad and feel shame just when they have to engage in schoolwork when it’s so difficult for them. So it’s really about noticing it, Don, and doing something when you notice it.

Helping Kids Deal with Anxiety

Don: Excellent. And so that awareness is something that a parent needs to be thinking about before they begin to talk to their child about any situation that comes up. Tell us a little bit about the Summit Center and your work there and also your wonderful books, Make Your Worrier a Warrior.

Dr. Dan: We have a center where we have psychologists, therapists, and educational therapists, and our goal is to help people of all ages realize what we call their developmental potential, or realize who they can become. We’re fortunate to work with wonderfully neurodiverse people who are bright, they are creative, and they learn differently. They might have dyslexia, they might have ADHD, they might experience anxiety, depression, other processing issues. Through a variety of ways, whether it’s assessment to understand their profile, counseling, consultation, or educational therapy, our goal is to focus on their strengths and help them understand their overall profile while working on shoring up some of the developmental challenges which are causing them stress in any of those areas.

I’m fortunate to work with a wonderful, collaborative team, and really collaborate with the parents, who are of course partners and know their kids better than anyone. So that’s our center.

The books, the Worrier to Warrior series came out of my work with anxiety and talks over the years. Like so many books happen, people would say after a talk, “Hey, where can we get your book?” As someone who is dyslexic and dysgraphic, I never would have wanted to or even thought I would write a book, and then lo and behold, I wrote some books. They’re really all based on the biopsychosocial model, which is knowing about how our brain works, our biology, our fight or flight response. They focus on learning about different ways of overcoming anxiety, both through cognitive behavioral methods and mindfulness-based ways and a narrative approach, which is the worry monster—like how do we gang up on the worry monster? There are three different books—one’s for parents and teachers, one’s for kids and teenagers, and there’s a workbook for younger kids. It’s all about how to learn more about how we work as humans, to squelch the worry monster which often gets the best of us.

Don: Yes, I highly recommend the books. I have a worry monster myself. I always have, so I understand the importance of putting that worry monster back under the bed where it belongs. So thank you very much, Dr. Dan, for taking the time to talk with us today.

Dr. Dan Peters, licensed psychologist, is the co-founder and executive director of The Summit Center, specializing in the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents, and families with special emphasis on gifted, talented, and creative individuals and families. Dr. Dan speaks regularly at state and national conferences on a variety of topics including parenting, gifted children, twice-exceptionality, anxiety, and dyslexia. He also writes for Huffington Post and Psychology Today. Dr. Dan is author of Make Your Worrier a Warrior: A Guide to Conquering Your Child’s Fears, and its companion book, From Worrier to Warrior: A Guide to Conquering Your Fears. He is co-author of The Warrior Workbook: A Guide for Conquering Your Worry Monster, as well as co-author of Raising Creative Kids. Dr. Dan is also a co-founder of ParentFootprint.com, an online interactive parent-training program, and Camp Summit, a sleep-over summer camp for gifted and 2E youth. He is the host of the Parent Footprint Podcast with Dr. Dan.

Cardboard Box Adventures picture books are great for shared reading and can help parents establish a strong preliteracy foundation for their children. Check out the CBA Catalog for a full list of award-winning picture books, chapter books, and resources for parents and educators. Visit my Amazon author page for more information.

The post Psychological Challenges of Distance Learning appeared first on Author Don Winn's Blog.

Affordable Ways to Make Learning Fun

I recently conducted a Zoom video interview with educator and reading specialist Faith Borkowsky. I thought I’d share some highlights from the video interview here on my blog. This week, Faith is sharing her favorite affordable ways to make learning fun for young children and also help them with their reading skills, motor skills, and brain development.

The following information is from the video interview with Faith Borkowsky. You can watch the whole interview  below or on my Don Winn YouTube channel.

Don: What ideas can you offer to parents to help them make learning feel like fun for their kids?

Faith: One of the most important things you can do is to get kids to stand up and learn. What I mean by that is getting them to write on a vertical surface, using chalkboard and chalk. Painting on an easel works too. This is kind of the old-fashioned way kids learned, and I say bring that back!

You could implement this in any number of ways:

Set up an easelPut up a chalkboardUse chalkboard paint to create a drawing/writing area on the wallHang a whiteboard in your house

Writing on a vertical surface starting at a young age provides the following benefits:

Kids cross the midline when they write. This engages both sides of the brain and is great for their neural development.Holding chunky chalk, markers, or crayons when they write on a vertical surface helps prepare them to use pencils.They are standing up, so they strengthen their core as they write. When they progress to writing on a flat surface, such as at a desk, many times children don’t have the necessary strength in their upper bodies because they’re not used to standing up and working. We need to get them moving more.Picking up and using small pieces of chalk helps them develop the all-important “pincer grip,” which enhances their fine motor skills.Writing on a chalkboard (or other vertical surface) gets their wrists in the right position for writing on a horizontal surface.When writing on a vertical surface, kids are physically closer to what they’re writing than they are when they write at a desk, so they really get a chance to connect with the writing.



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Here are some other cost-effective ways to help make learning fun:

Give kids a microphone to speak into, let them read aloud into the microphone and then play it back so they can hear it. That is very, very helpful for developing their reading skills.Use a flashlight. At night, let kids read in bed, make a tent, read with a flashlight.Flashlights can also be used to trace letters in the air. Kids can visualize a letter, trace it in the air with the flashlight, in the dark, so they can see it. This lets parents notice if kids are able to form letters correctly too, first with gross motor movement, and then with fine motor movement.



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Notice how nothing here is expensive. Chalk, flashlight, microphone (maybe a microphone is a little bit expensive, but that could be a nice Christmas gift). Nothing really needs to cost a lot. I would say, get them off the electronic toys. Kids are on the computer now, from morning until late afternoon, many of them, with this online learning. We need to get them up, moving, having some fun, but I say the number one thing, if you want something that is useful and fun, get them a vertical surface to write on. And start early. When I have grandchildren, that’s going to be my first gift when the child turns two years old.

Don: Thank you so much, Faith, for sharing these easy and affordable ideas that are so helpful for parents and kids. For more highlights from this interview, check out my two previous blogs featuring Faith Borkowsky called “Reading and Learning Challenges at Home” and “Does Your Child Have Too Much Homework?”

Faith Borkowsky is the founder of High Five Literacy and Academic Coaching with over thirty years of experience as a classroom teacher, reading and learning specialist, regional literacy coach, administrator, and tutor. Ms. Borkowsky is a Certified Dyslexia Practitioner and provides professional development for teachers and school districts, as well as parent workshops, presentations, and private consultations. Ms. Borkowsky is the author of the award-winning book, Failing Students or Failing Schools? A Parent’s Guide to Reading Instruction and Intervention and the “If Only I Would Have Known…” series.  She is also a board member of Teach My Kid to Read, a 501(c) non-profit organization with a mission to support and empower students, teachers, and parents through education so all kids, including those with dyslexia, learn to read.

Cardboard Box Adventures picture books are great for shared reading and can help parents establish a strong preliteracy foundation for their children. Check out the CBA Catalog for a full list of award-winning picture books, chapter books, and resources for parents and educators. Visit my Amazon author page for more information.

The post Affordable Ways to Make Learning Fun appeared first on Author Don Winn's Blog.