Disclaimer: A version of this article was originally posted as part of a series called, “Ask Susan”. In this series, I answered questions about teaching and learning. This article has been updated with new and additional information and links that apply to these teaching strategies.

Dear Susan: My niece has been told she has dyslexia. I remembered that you said you have some good resources that can help students with dyslexia. Can you point me toward that information? – Brian Harris

Dear Brian: Here is the information online that changed my son’s life after he was diagnosed as dyslexic.

1. Parents Active for Vision Education (P.A.V.E.) – The goal of P.A.V.E. is to spread awareness of vision therapy and its positive effects in reinforcing the critical link between vision and efficient learning. This nonprofit organization offers online resources for parents, and while the website hasn’t been updated recently, it’s a good starting point to begin looking for doctors and therapies for kids with dyslexia.
2. The Optometric Extension Program Foundation (OEPF) – While this is geared toward the optometry profession, it’s another website well worth searching to find information of value. For example, you can find an optometrist who is knowledgeable about vision therapy. I also was able to do some advanced searching of the site via Google to find research and documents written more for the layperson on issues related to dyslexia.

3. There are also plenty of articles available through the OEPF that address vision therapy, found here via this search.

Vision therapy changed my son’s life and helped him overcome his dyslexia. He still has some symptoms, but not nearly what they were before therapy. I’m sure it can be of great help to your niece as well.

Here are some additional resources for Dyslexia:

Dear Susan: Thank you for your recent, thought-provoking presentation. You mentioned that there are teaching strategies for color-blind students to make it easier for them to learn. Can you point me in the direction of these techniques? – Taisei Ando

Dear Taisei: Absolutely! Two of the best resources I’ve found have been teaching strategies from an organization in the U.K. called Colour Blind Awareness, and tips from the site Understanding Graphics.

Colour Blind Awareness works to call attention to the hundreds of thousands of students in the U.K. dealing with color vision deficiency, pointing out everyday problems faced by those with colorblindness, how to get kids tested for the condition, and get support for kids with colorblindness.

The organization offers a very detailed tip sheet specifically for teachers on ways to help colorblind kids achieve success in the classroom.

Understanding Graphics has an informative page on designing images and pages for people with color blindness. For example, when designing a chart, placing the legend directly into the chart can help those with color deficiencies better identify which color bar or line corresponds to the data being presented. It also recommends not using color data alone to identify items in a chart or image.

I hope you’ll find these helpful!

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

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MTSS, Multi Tiered System of Supports,  encompasses several approaches, one of which is Response to Intervention (RTI). Here are a few strategies for classroom implementation at the secondary level.

1. Tier One of RTI requires the use of best practice, research-based teaching methods. Research-based strategies implemented in the differentiated classroom reduce the need for interventions.

2. Using frequent progress monitoring, teachers determine where a student is lacking and then seek Tier Two interventions that might be appropriate for that student. Often, Tier Two interventions can be researched-based practices used in Tier One, but with three modifications:

• Specific students receive more intense instruction and application of strategies.
• Students are given more time to practice and implement the strategies.
• The intensity of implementation may increase.

3. Having adequate time to implement interventions is often the greatest challenge faced at the secondary level. When teachers routinely implement small group work, flexible grouping, or center teaching, interventions in Tier Two fall right into place in the general educator’s lesson plan.

4. Rather than forcing teachers to follow a script from a published program, teachers are encouraged to use their professional skills, experience, and an understanding of student needs and data derived from frequent progress monitoring to determine appropriate interventions. The key is using a problem-solving model to hone in on possible interventions.

5. An option for delivering Tier Two instruction that works well for students at the secondary level is a tutored study hall combined with in-class, frequent, immediate interventions made possible by Chunking Lesson Plans^®.

6. Tier Three is not as delineated as Tiers One and Two in literature on Response to Intervention. School districts define Tier Three requirements as follows:

• Interventions are more intensive, based on problem-solving models, and implemented through a combination of means including classroom instruction, outside-of-school instruction, or in-school instruction outside of the general classroom.
• A combination of intensive interventions implemented in general education as part of a wrap-around approach to meeting a student’s needs.
• Some school districts, as well as books on the topic of RTI, consider special education to be part of Tier Three.

7. How we assess students to determine their understanding of content is critical to the Response to Intervention process. Keep it simple, frequent, and efficient. Authentic assessments incorporate a variety of measures into the evaluation process and focus on formative assessment. Types of authentic assessment include rubrics, exit cards, curriculum-based measurement, student self-evaluation, and documented observations.

Originally published and copyright© 2012. Excerpted from RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers by Susan Fitzell, Corwin Press ©2011. www.responsetointernventiononline.com

For more information on differentiation and Response to Intervention, see Susan Fitzell’s book, RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers.

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Featured seminar – Response to Intervention (RTI) Strategies

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Over 20 years ago, when I first began working and consulting nationally with teachers to implement brain-based, best practice teaching strategies in classrooms, the terms we used were much different than those we use today. We’ve gone from “Learning Styles” and “Multiple Intelligences” to “Differentiated Instruction.” We now have brain-based research to back up much of the strategies some of us have used for decades. We’ve seen and heard the terms, “Brain-Based Learning” or “Whole Brain Learning.” Now we are hearing and seeing terms like “Neuro-diversity.” We’ve gone from “Mainstreaming” to “Inclusion.” Then there’s “Response To Intervention” and, in at least one state in the union,  special education teachers have been re-designated as “Intervention Specialists.” Today, we are hearing  much about “Universal Design for Learning” and we now have the massive research analysis by Dr. John Hattie referenced in “Visible Learning.”

The Shocking Truth

At the heart of all these theories, ideas, and different classifications, regardless of the labels, what we’re really talking about is adjusting our teaching to respect the way our students learn. It’s about employing strategies that reach students, that have been proven to work through research and resulting data analysis, and then using that information to teach so that all students can achieve to their highest potential. Ultimately, it is about applying what I like to refer to as Really Terrific Instruction (See what I did there?).

Honor Your Students’ Learning Preferences (And make your teaching even more amazing!)

To honor all the changes that we’ve seen over the years, I’m highlighting five of my “12 Ways” articles that offer timeless strategies on how to teach  all students, no matter what labels you, your school, or your state are currently using. Even though the language changes, and the framework in which they are presented may be “upgraded”  and “fine tuned,” these are practical, no-nonsense, research-based strategies that help show us how to teach all students.

• 12 Surefire Ways to Remember Vocabulary

• 12 Ways to Help ESL and ELL Students

• 12 Do-Able Homework Assignments for All Students

• A Dozen Ways to Support Learning Styles

• A Dozen Surefire Ways to Boost Memory in the Diverse Classroom

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar
Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

For Thousands Of Tips To Teach… So Your Students Are Top Performers Get this Book Now!   Gain more knowledge on differentiation strategies to reach ALL learners Get Susan Fitzell’s book Now. Don’t waste any time Special Needs in the General Classroom, Strategies That Make It Work. Available in both print and electronic versions! Want quality professional development you can afford? Save time with this popular PD option: A Professional Development Kit, for all teachers, with a Graduate Credit Option! Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

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Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Excellent article on Teaching Students with Autism. Would love to know your thoughts on the article. Also, feel free to share your best tips for Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/8761-22-tips-for-teaching-students-with-autism-spectrum-disorders

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Response to Intervention Seminars, Workshops, and Conference Sessions

Response to Intervention Strategies for Secondary Teachers

Response to Intervention (RTI) is an exciting differentiation model that schools and districts may opt to use as a new way of meeting students’ needs earlier and more quickly. This seminar is designed to show you how RTI can be implemented effectively and efficiently at all grade levels.

This seminar will help alleviate the fear and confusion surrounding RTI, especially at the secondary level, by providing practical, classroom-tested techniques for Tiers I, II and III as well as user-friendly materials that can be implemented immediately in your classroom. You will receive many simple, straight forward, and effective strategies, best practices, and classroom-proven tips to enhance the success of all your students including students with special education needs.
Format: Workshop – 360 Minutes
This seminar can be adapted for all grade levels

For Dozens of Lesson Planning Ideas… For Your Differentiated or Response to Intervention Classroom Get this Book Now! Easy-to-implement and practical interventions Sample lesson plans and visual models Examples of how to address budgeting, staffing, performance, and student culture constraints Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Response to Intervention (RTI) Strategies

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Program Description:Presentation Description:
The biggest obstacle that teachers face when implementing Differentiated Instruction, Common Core, or when delivering interventions  to struggling learners or students with special education needs in their classrooms is lack of time. They don’t have the time they need to get everything that must be done accomplished. Consequently, they rush to deliver information as quickly as possible and fail to reach all levels of learners and learning styles as well as their students with special education needs.

Most teachers agree that they can teach a new concept to five capable, on grade level, students, in a small group, in ten minutes. Those same teachers also agree that, when they direct teach new material to the whole class, a portion of the class understands that new material after the first ten minutes of instruction while other students are still struggling.

Tradition would dictate that we go over the new material again, and maybe even again, in the hopes that those who haven’t “gotten it” will, but we know that rarely happens. What if, instead, we used real-time assessment and creative grouping techniques to focus our limited teaching time in a more productive way?

Chunking Lesson Plans^® is an innovative new way of lesson planning, designed by Susan Fitzell. This full day program introduces the concept of chunked lesson plans, explores best practice and brain-based teaching strategies for chunking, and shows teachers how to use their precious classroom time in ways that are more productive, reach more students, and increase achievement! Teachers learn to teach their lessons in manageable CHUNKS, allow time for students to PROCESS that information with high yield, researched based methods, and then ASSESS student achievement at the end of a lesson to adjust the next lesson.

This program includes time for teachers to prepare actual chunked lesson plans that they can use in their classes!

If your state has adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or Next Generation Science or Social Studies Standards, Chunking Lesson Plans^® provides a solid framework to implement highly effective lesson plans to meet those standards.

Preferred Program Length: 360 minutes
Target Audience: General classroom teachers, special educators, and specialists in the classroom, Special Education Needs (SEN)
Grade-Level Appropriateness: All grade levels

Bring Susan to your campus!

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Effective Strategies, Dynamic Presentation
Engage Educators in Quality PD

Differentiated Instruction Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

This workshop has also been titled “Special Needs in the General Classroom: How Do We Make It Work?” and “Successful Inclusion Strategies and Techniques for Differentiating Curricula to Meet I.E.P. Requirements,” among other things. This full day program explores the ways that the brain learns and discusses a variety of brain-based, research supported, “implement tomorrow” strategies that will help teachers reach ALL the learners in their classrooms including gifted, English language learners and students with special needs. The strategies and techniques in this program can be used to support your school or district’s differentiation initiatives, common-core implementation, or Response to Intervention requirements. If you want your teachers to realize increased achievement for their students, this program is the first step!

Intended audiences: Principals, Paraprofessionals, General Education Teachers, Co-teaching Teams, Special Education Teachers, English Language Teachers, Special Education Needs (SEN)
Format: Workshop – 360 Minutes

For Thousands Of Tips To Teach… So Your Students Are Top Performers Get this Book Now! Gain more knowledge on differentiation strategies to reach ALL learners Get Susan Fitzell's book Now. Don't waste any time Special Needs in the General Classroom, Strategies That Make It Work. Available in both print and electronic versions! Want quality professional development you can afford? Save time with this popular PD option: A Professional Development Kit, for all teachers, with a Graduate Credit Option! Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

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Program Description:Susan presents a smorgasbord of strategies that are simple, common sense, and effective during her differentiated instruction strategy blast. Discover how to keep learners engaged, to help students with organization and memorization, increase critical thinking skills, and make learning fun and meaningful. All strategies are based on solid educational theory and current research. Leave with successful strategies that differentiate instruction, and motivate ALL students, especially students with special needs in the general classroom. Gain proven, easy to implement research-based techniques that make teaching more efficient by reducing the need to re-teach, motivating the hard to reach learner and promoting responsiveness to instruction.

Subscribe to the Professional Development Program!

Intended audiences: Principals, Paraprofessionals, General Education Teachers, Co-teaching Teams, Special Education Teachers, English Language Teachers, Special Education Needs (SEN)
Format: Workshop – 45 to 180 minutes

For Thousands Of Tips To Teach… So Your Students Are Top Performers Get this Book Now!   Gain more knowledge on differentiation strategies to reach ALL learners Get Susan Fitzell’s book Now. Don’t waste any time Special Needs in the General Classroom, Strategies That Make It Work. Available in both print and electronic versions! Want quality professional development you can afford? Save time with this popular PD option: A Professional Development Kit, for all teachers, with a Graduate Credit Option! Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Differentiated Instruction Strategy Blast – Seminar appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

The Council for Exceptional Children published a study that addresses and clarifies this issue, Helping or Hovering? Effects of Instructional Assistant Proximity on Students with Disabilities.  This study can be an important resource for those who work with these students.

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