This mother’s blog about her autistic son’s communication advances lend an understanding to the complexities of the literacy pyramid and what’s possible.

Psychologists and neuroscientists are using new techniques to identify the source of language and reading problems such as dyslexia in the brain and create innovative new therapies to significantly improve children’s language learning and reading.

Every year, parents and educators work hard to help their children and students learn as much as possible, squeezing in all the high-value knowledge they can. But come the end of the school year, a solid percentage of that learning — anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks — is lost during summer vacation. This is especially true for children with learning challenges.

Reading aloud with expression is a foundational reading skill students should be developing between grades 1 – 5. It is pretty easy to recognize when someone skillfully reads aloud in an expressive manner. However, to effectively teach or assess this skill, a closer examination of its features, development, and relationship to other reading skills is needed.