What is MSL And How it Can Help Those With Dyslexia

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What is MSL And How it Can Help Those With Dyslexia

dyslexia - what is dyslexia - treatments -symptoms

What is MSL (Multisensory Structured Language) and Can it Help those with Dyslexia?

Links are consistently being made between the language we see, the language we hear, and the language symbols we touch when learning to read and spell.

MSL is distinct from other methods of learning because it engages multiple senses at a time. Specifically, it engages visual, auditory, and kinesthetic pathways simultaneously, to enhance the learning of language.

How does MSL instruction work?

Students engage with MSL learning material in more than one way.

For example, students might learn the letter “d” by simultaneously writing it out with finger paint and saying it out loud.

Another example is the Wilson Reading System technique, which has students tap out each sound of a word with their fingers, to help break a word down.

Students learn to link speech sounds (phonemes) to letters or letter patterns by saying sounds for letters they see, or writing letters for sounds they hear.  It conveys information through things like touch and movement—called kinesthetic elements—as well as sight and hearing.

How can MSL help those Diagnosed with Dyslexia?

Students with dyslexia often exhibit weaknesses in underlying language skills involving speech sound (phonological) and written language (orthographic) processing and in building brain pathways that connect speech with written language.

The brain pathways used for reading and spelling must develop to transmit information with sufficient speed and accuracy.

Children with Dyslexia have trouble learning to recognize words automatically, or fast enough to allow comprehension.  This causes problems in forming memories for common words.

Specialized instruction like MSL, can be very helpful in mastering the alphabetic code and forming common word memories.

MSL instruction helps children with Dyslexia harness their strengths to make connections and form memories by using a wide range of ways to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

The MSL approach offers the students the advantage of learning alphabetic patterns and words with an engagement of all learning modalities.

All children can benefit from MSL lessons, but MSL can be particularly helpful for kids with learning and attention issues like Dyslexia.

Current research, much of it supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), has demonstrated the value of MSL language teaching for all students, especially those with dyslexia.

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people with Dyslexia. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.

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Source: Pathways Neuropsychology
What is MSL And How it Can Help Those With Dyslexia

How to Have a Better Relationship

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How to Have a Better Relationship

 This article originally published in the New York Times:

Tips for Parents Supporting Children with ADHD

How to Have a Better Relationship

Can you spot a good relationship? Of course nobody knows what really goes on between any couple, but decades of scientific research into love, sex and relationships have taught us that a number of behaviors can predict when a couple is on solid ground or headed for troubled waters. Good relationships don’t happen overnight. They take commitment, compromise, forgiveness and most of all — effort. Keep reading for the latest in relationship science, fun quizzes and helpful tips to help you build a stronger bond with your partner.

Love and Romance

Falling in love is the easy part. The challenge for couples is how to rekindle the fires of romance from time to time and cultivate the mature, trusting love that is the hallmark of a lasting relationship.

WHAT’S YOUR LOVE STYLE?

When you say “I love you,” what do you mean?

Terry Hatkoff, a California State University sociologist, has created a love scale that identifies six distinct types of love found in our closest relationships.

  • Romantic: Based on passion and sexual attraction
  • Best Friends: Fondness and deep affection
  • Logical: Practical feelings based on shared values, financial goals, religion etc.
  • Playful: Feelings evoked by flirtation or feeling challenged
  • Possessive: Jealousy and obsession
  • Unselfish: Nurturing, kindness, and sacrifice

_______________________________

Read the Full Article in the New York Times

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.

LET’S GET STARTED

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Source: Pathways Neuropsychology
How to Have a Better Relationship

Prenatal Care Links with ADHD

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Prenatal Care Links with ADHD

Prenatal Care Links with ADHD

Prenatal Care Links with ADHD

Lipid Panel During Pregnancy

According to a new study, understanding your lipid profile during pregnancy, can be important in lowering the risk of ADHD.

Lipid profiles are a panel of blood tests that serve as an initial medical tool for detecting abnormalities in the blood, such as in Cholesterol.

According to a recent study from a team associated with Johns Hopkins University, low maternal HDL cholesterol levels and triglyceride levels outside the standard range of 135 to 176 mg/dL, is associated with an increased risk of ADHD.

This research suggests pregnant women maintain higher HDL levels for adequate fetal brain development and reduction of ADHD risk.

Several potential causes of ADHD have been identified during pregnancy, like gene variants, structural abnormalities of the brain, and neurotransmitter dysfunction.

Are Drugs Like Tylenol (Acetaminophen) During Pregnancy Linked with ADHD Diagnosis?

There is no reason to believe that short term use is harmful.   However, new data suggests that there may be some concern for long term use.

According to a large study published in the journal of Pediatrics, an association between frequent prenatal acetaminophen use, and ADHD seems to be apparent.

According to their research, those who report long-term exposure to acetaminophen, which is considered 29 consecutive days or more of continuous use, have more than double the risk of A.D.H.D.

Their data suggests that the risk of ADHD actually goes down for women who used acetaminophen for less than seven days.

This does not prove direct cause and effect. There are other possible explanations for the correlation.  However, this new information does raise possible concerns to make experts skeptical in making recommendations.

What this study can lead some to believe, is the consistency of the association between acetaminophen and an ADHD diagnosis leading some people to assume it is not risk-free.

The complexities of pregnancy and medications and the many unanswered questions of correlations between prenatal care and diagnosis of ADHD demand more research and information.

Dr. Gordon is an experienced ADHD expert. He is devoted to helping you learn more about ADHD and find solutions for each individual’s needs. Please feel free to contact us for any concerns or questions regarding ADHD about yourself, or a loved one.

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people with ADHD. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.

LET’S GET STARTED

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Source: Pathways Neuropsychology
Prenatal Care Links with ADHD

Dyslexia Impacts Hearing Too

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Dyslexia Impacts Hearing Too

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Dyslexia Impacts Hearing Too

Some consider dyslexia a problem that exclusively affects the ability to read and recall words. However, data suggest dyslexia encompasses more than just that, and affects how the brain processes speech as well.

Dyslexia affects Processing Speech

Typically, there are big differences in reading, but for something like listening, there are subtle, critical differences.

The differences in listening can cause problems for those with dyslexia, not only in understanding meanings, but also in comprehending sounds of speech. Data suggests that people with dyslexia have trouble recognizing voices.

Problems with comprehending sounds of speech can cause children with dyslexia to misspeak, for instance, calling a “champ” a “camp”.

The child understands what they are trying to communicate, but they are unable to transmit their understanding to the sounds necessary to correctly utter the word.

Dyslexics compared with Non-Dyslexics in Reading

Data suggests that there are big differences in dyslexics and non-dyslexics in a broad range of tasks such as reading.

There appears to be a wide range of learning difficulties that can be circumvented, but language and reading difficulties are challenging to circumvent.

Normal reading is the ability to have all brain systems integrate automatically. In dyslexia, the brain is not able to integrate its unit of sound systems with other components of its language comprehension system.

Even when dyslexics learn to read well, spoken language deficiencies can persist.

Diagnostic Tests for Dyslexia

Common diagnostic tests will require the participant to separate sounds from words such as saying “batman” only with the “bat” part.

The voice-recognition task might be used as well, to identify young children at risk for dyslexia.

For a comprehensive understanding of the assessment and diagnostic process for dyslexia, please visit us here.

The Takeaway 

For dyslexic children, the ability of truly hearing and comprehending a parent or teacher speak may be a problem.

If a child has trouble grasping the sounds that make up language, acquiring reading skills will be harder.

It is important to understand that what may appear as unintelligent, such as not being able to answer, “who is the president?”, is not a problem of intelligence at all, but rather of word retrieval.  Reframing a basic question like that as a multiple-choice question, makes it a lot more likely that the child will answer the question correctly.

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people with Dyslexia. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.  If you have concerns you might have dyslexia, contact Dr Gordon for a comprehensive evaluation and effective treatment. 

LET’S GET STARTED

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Source: Pathways Neuropsychology
Dyslexia Impacts Hearing Too

Dyslexia and Reading Terms & Definitions

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Dyslexia and Reading Terms & Definitions

dyslexia - what is dyslexia

Dyslexia and Reading Terms & Definitions

  • Alphabet principle is the letter combination, as well as individual letters, which constitute symbols that are used to represent speech sounds. The letters and combinations are based on systematic and known relationships between written letters and spoken words.
  • Digraph is one sound resulting from the combination of two letters (e.g., ph or ey). In the English language, there are many digraphs made up of both consonants and vowels.
  • Diphthong is a single syllable speech sound (e.g., the combination of two vowels in words such as boy or may) that begins at or near the point of articulation of one vowel and proceeds to the place of another vowel.

Dyslexia “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”

Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002. Many state education codes, including New Jersey, Ohio and Utah, have adopted this definition.

  • Grapheme is the smallest unit of writing, which individually may not have meaning and does not necessarily correspond with a single phoneme (e.g., the “s” and the “oo” in the word spoon).
  • Logographic stage is visual and involves the rote memory of words that are related to graphic symbols. This can be known as visual reading.
  • Morphology is the study of words, how words are put together, and the relationship of words or other words. It is the analysis of the structure and parts of words, such as word stems, roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
  • Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, recall, identify, manipulate and use individual letter sound phonemes spoken words. It is a critical predictor of a child’s future reading ability.
  • Phonological awareness is the knowledge of the sound structure (or phonological structure) of words.
  • Semantics involves the meaning and interpretation of words, sentence structure, and signs.
  • Syntax includes the rules, principles, and the process by which the structure of sentences are formed and includes word order and punctuation.

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people with Dyslexia. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.

LET’S GET STARTED

The post Dyslexia and Reading Terms & Definitions appeared first on Pathways Neuropsychology Associates.


Source: Pathways Neuropsychology
Dyslexia and Reading Terms & Definitions