The I Had Butterflies Of Sweat As The Feeling Of Dread Run Through My Body

Ever since I was young, I knew something was different about me. I’ve always had an active imagination and would write all kinds of stories, sometimes through pictures and sometimes through words. Not until I was in first grade did I notice my writing was different than my friends. It didn’t bother me though because I was too young to realize something was wrong; I was just different. One weekend, after playing restaurant with my mom and brother, my mom contacted my teacher to talk about some concerns she had with my reading and writing. She was told that I seemed to be progressing on an age-appropriate level with my peers and that nothing appeared to be wrong. But my mom persisted, and insisted that I be tested for a reading disability. My dad is dyslexic and my mom, knowing it can be passed down, was watching for the signs in my older brother first and now me. After testing, one of SV’s school psychologists announced that my results showed I had a learning disability. I then went to my pedestrian to talk about it and then to a special learning center in Sewickley for further

In ELED 4444 (Diagnosis and Remediation of Reading Difficulties), I was assigned by Dr. Morrison to work with a peer to create a diagnostic report based on a semester long tutoring project at Washington Irving Elementary School. To create the report, my partner and I ran pretests (Informal Reading Inventory-Graded Word List, Oral, Silent, and Listening Comprehension Passages, Basic Sight Words and Phrases, Phonics, and the DIBELS mid-year assessment) to see what we needed to work on with the student and then we created lesson plans that addressed the child’s needs. After tutoring the student for eight weeks, we post tested him to gather data on how much he progressed. We used the post-tests: IRI Oral and Silent Reading Comprehension, Basic Sight words and Phrases, Phonics, and the DIBELS assessment

My memories are blurry. They are fragments of disjointed moments, without a linear narrative. I remember reading. It was in Mrs. Davidson first grade class. My reading proficiency skills were very poor, the English language still thick and unnatural on my tongue. While some of the other students took a Gifted class, I had to take a remedial course—English Learners (EL)— just so that I could hold onto the edge. I remember reading. I had a hard copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in my little hands, reciting only the first page of the book from memory. The classroom was dark; the stream of sunlight filtering through the windows served as our only illumination. The rest of the words on the book looked like a mess of jumbled letters. I couldn’t make out anything other than the words “the” and “and.” I remember enthusiastically pointing out my “fluency” to my teacher, seemingly applauding my menial abilities: “The catpater at droo!” (The caterpillar ate through). In the first-grade, my free time was spread sporadically between watching The Little Mermaid, catching ugly black crickets and pretending that I was Sailor Moon, guardian of the galaxy. In the first grade, I was not at all concerned with words, literacy and books. In the first grade, I did not know the power that words hold. I did not know that books would change my life.

As a young child, my memory of reading starts with a troubling period in my life. It started in first grade after I had moved to a new school. For me he year kicked off normally, but the further down the road, I found myself struggling to keep up in my reading class. In addition to falling behind in my classes, I was feeling isolated from the other students. My grades started to suffer and everything got worse. We didn’t have a school counselor, so my principal arranged a meeting with my parents to discuss what actions should be taken. My principal told my parents it isn’t uncommon for new students to fall behind in classes and that the move could be causing some of the issues. He recommended that I start attending special education for my reading course. My parents thought it over and explained to me that it was ok and not to be discouraged about this. However,

The desire to discover never really left. I’ve always gone out of my way to learn something new. So it was to my disappointment when my middle school advisor in Geneva Switzerland told me that science and math were subjects I shouldn’t pursue. My high grades in Latin and German signified that I was more of a “languages person” and should therefore forgo a pursuit in stem fields and focus instead on classical languages and humanities. I countered their advice by shadowing a biologist who worked on altering genetics in mice. I found myself learning about anything I could despite the Swiss education system and my middle school advisor’s advice. When I transferred to Manhattan Center for Science and Math in New York City, I was encouraged to explore everything and anything. My first opportunity was the Advanced Science Research Program. After mere weeks of moving to a new country, my biology teacher encouraged me to apply. I never regretted the decision once. At the end of my sophomore year, some of my teachers suggested I take a few Advanced Placement courses during my junior year. I craved learning

Victor: It is the hardest thing I went through in my life. Every time I looked down to read, I only saw a jumble of letters. This reading thing made no sense to me. I tried and tried to read, but I would never get it. It was so horrible because I could never solve my reading problem. I found out that I had extreme dyslexia later in my

As a child I began reading in first grade. I have never had any reading difficulties or struggles. By the time I was is second grade my mom had to threaten me nightly, grounding me from books because I would get lost in the stories and stay

I discovered that I had a reading disability over the course of my first three years in elementary school. This made schoolwork strenuous, which made finding a solution a priority. I fell behind in every subject; but giving up was my last option! During all of this, I felt like I lost myself, along with my “spunky” attitude. By the time I reached the end of fifth grade, my eye doctor suggested that I take my EOG literature test in a separate room, reading every word out loud. This is the test that changed my life. These EOG

For some people reading can be a difficult experience. For me it became difficult at the age of five years old. I really wasn’t an educational kid I was more of a kid that like to play with my toys and four brothers, whenever they came home from school. As I grew up reading became a little more difficult for me to master, at times in my middle school my teacher Mr.G would test us on how well and skilled we were at reading. Every day when it was time for him to test me I would get nervous and started to stubble on words and fail my test. By the time I was in high school I learned how to take my time and read, which has help me to progress my reading skills over the years.

At the end of first grade, my parents were concerned because I could not read. I never developed any basic decoding skills making reading almost impossible. My mother had me tested for special education and we talked to our doctor about other issues that may be interfering with my ability to learn. I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) along with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) with high anxiety. I was placed in Title 1 reading in second grade, and with hesitation, my parents decided to put me on medication for the ADHD. With the help of many supportive teachers, and slowing my thought process down with medication, I began to read. As a result, my confidence rose along with my grades.

When you’re young school is all about popularity and friends, but with a lack of word knowledge reading in class, especially out loud can destroy your credibility. I came from a blue collar background and none of my family ever attempted college, so I figured college wasn’t that important. During school, if it wasn’t interesting I didn’t want to participate or take the time to improve myself. Reading and writing was just another uninteresting, check the block, fake it till you make it, subject for me. I was a slow reader and often times I had to ask the teacher what a particular word meant. What was even worse was having to read out loud in class. Again, the fact that I was a slow reader and I often times mispronounced words caused me to be the subject of reticule and embarrassment. I started to hate reading because I couldn’t do it as well as the other kids; this continued from elementary

Pamela Quick was my speech teacher in elementary school. Apparently I struggled in every subject especially reading and writing. At a young age, I knew reading or writing didn’t come easy to me and I didn’t understand why. Before I started kindergarten, my parents were told that I had a reading efficiency. So because of that, I was introduced

Based off of the experiences we have shared together so far, the assessments have revealed some of my tutee’s strengths and challenges from several areas of literacy. Bryan excelled in the certain areas of phonics when it came to the spelling inventory. His strengths were consonants, short vowels, digraphs, and blends. There are also other literacy areas that can be explored in this process and some in which I have already seen; areas include reading, writing, speaking, and listening. A challenge Bryan may face when reading or speaking is the pronunciation of words. Although my CT said Bryan was very fluent in English she also told me his mother speaks no English, she only speaks Spanish. I am curious as to if Bryan is struggling with reading

Fletcher, Jack M.; Francis, David J.; Boudosquie, Amy; Copeland, Kim; Young, Victoria; Kalinowski, Sharon; Vaughn, Sharon (2006). Effects of accommodations on high-stakes testing for students with reading disabilities. Exceptional Children, 72 (2), 136-151.

I have always been an avid reader; from the point I could read all the way up into my teenage years. My reading level was always higher than my classmates. I enjoyed reading, I loved the way the words could take me away from what was going on in my life. If I was having a bad day, I could read a story that would lift my spirits. I knew that reading was helping me in school, it made me more confident in my abilities. I was comfortable reading aloud in class because I knew that I wouldn’t stumble over words and embarrass myself. I was always a great student, never had a bad grade in my life. I never had to work very hard to get good grades. This all changed on October 18th 2014.