This presentation will discuss the relationship between oral and written language and the impact that deficits in articulation and oral language development have on reading, spelling, and written expression.  Characteristics of students with oral language disorders will be compared to those with written language disorders, and different profiles of students will be explored.  An overview of the DuBard Association Method®, a phonetic, multisensory structured approach for teaching both language and literacy, will be discussed.

This presentation will include the early signs of language learning and attention differences and the early literacy techniques recommended for students in PreK – Second grade. These techniques can be matched to the developmental profile of the student.

ADHD is the most commonly inherited behavioral diagnosis, and up to 30% of children with a reading disorder can also have an underlying diagnosis of ADHD. Educators are often skilled at raising concerns about attention issues in their students with parents; however, teachers and educators play a critical role in supporting medication management for ADHD. In this session, we will review all things ADHD and the underlying neurobiology and how it relates to evidence-based treatment options. We will also review research on prioritizing treatments when co-occurring diagnoses are present and discuss parents’ frequently asked questions when it comes to attention differences.

This session will share information about the importance of understanding, identifying, and supporting students with dysgraphia due to its impact on school performance. Participants will receive information about the diagnostic process to identify students with dysgraphia and ways to support individuals with dysgraphia. The presentation also will include a case study and practical resources.

The session will open with a brief discussion of the common terminology associated with the literacy education of English learners. I will share a list of the current experts in the field of second language learning. Next, I will showcase a set of best practice instructional recommendations for working with English learners within a structured literacy motif. I will include an interactive instructional demonstration lesson focusing on morphology instruction for English learners. The session will conclude with a list of resources for educators and therapists working with English learners.

Let’s talk about the emotional needs of our dyslexic students. Reading is a skill that is required throughout the day. This means that a child with dyslexia faces more challenges than their peers, some of which may come up in the most unexpected places, such as art, Scouts, playing video games, etc. These challenges, combined with social comparisons, can begin to chip away at a child’s self-esteem and self-confidence. We might see sensitivity, irritability, anxiety, withdrawal, and/ or lashing out (to name a few). The effects can range from relatively low-level and/ or localized to more significant, intense, and/ or widespread. I’d like to talk with you about these concerns, what we need to watch for, and things we can do to help mitigate the impact on our children and students.

Many times, students seem to have the research-based skills they need to be good readers (things like phonemic awareness, phonics knowledge, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies, to name a few), but somehow, they still struggle with putting all of these things together when reading. In this session, we will explore essential thinking skills, called executive functions, that underlie skilled reading. Executive functions are self-regulatory mental skills that help students manage their thoughts, emotions, and actions, and they are often invisible to teachers and students. Importantly, executive functions are foundational skills for self-regulated reading. However, when readers have weak executive functions, they may struggle with reading comprehension, despite appropriate word reading skills. Likewise, students with word reading difficulties may also have weak executive functions. The good news for educators is that reading-related executive function processes can be supported and strengthened, resulting in improvements in these and in reading. In this session, participants will learn:

• Basic information about executive functions
• Insights into the ways that executive functions support self-regulated reading
• Research-tested take-home strategies for assessing, supporting, and strengthening executive functions in students’ reading

What is the role of language in acquiring proficiency in mathematics? As language therapists, we need to ask that question. Are there elements from our training that we can adapt and potentially impact our students’ lives in a profound way? Do we seek to support the individual student as a whole or only a slice of a learning deficit profile? Everything in math that occurs after basic numeracy depends on language. As we examine its role in teaching and learning in math, doors open that impact lives with more than just a laundry list of accommodations and technology. Multisensory Math and literacy instruction share many tools. In using them, we can expand the “possible” for our struggling learners.