Best Special Needs Websites:


Reading Skills

When you are looking for ways to help your special needs child improve their learning skills, especially their reading skills, you want to find the best, the most knowledgeable  website and you want to do that as quickly as possible. What if you are searching to find the best website that offers reading help specifically designed for children with dyslexia or learning disabilities? Where do you go? BonnieTerryLearning.com has just been named one of the top 101 special needs websites and the top in the category of reading.

Why is bonnieterrylearning.com the top reading skills website in the list of 101 Best Special Needs Websites?

BonnieTerryLearning.com was chosen to be the top reading special needs website because Bonnie Terry Learning offers both an understanding of  the 3 roadblocks to reading success as well as specific solutions to those roadblocks. Other special needs websites do not do that. Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET explains in detail exactly why children struggle with reading and then gives you specific solutions that you as a parent can implement with ease.

Reading problems can be categorized into 3 areas or roadblocks. These areas are: phonetic related problems, reading fluency problems, or lack of language or vocabulary problems. And, you actually do different things for each of those areas to improve reading skills. And these are parent friendly activities that just take minutes a day.

In fact, some of Bonnie Terry’s solutions only take 5 minutes a day. Some of them take only 10 minutes a day, and some of the solutions are games that you can play and really make a difference with your children’s reading skills even when they have been struggling with dyslexia or learning disabilities. Be sure to check out bonnieterrylearning.com to learn more about these quick activities that you can do to really make a difference in your child’s life.

Bonnie Terry, a Board Certified Educational Therapist and Learning Disabilities Specialist has been teaching for over 37 years. She brings that experience to her site, sharing with you how she discovered the roadblocks to reading, writing, and math success. She shares with you real stories of her kids and her students. She shares her passion with you to make learning easy for everyone. And she shares solutions to reading, writing, and math problems that those with learning disabilities or dyslexia face.

Named Top Special Needs Websites, Educational Websites, Top 100 Educational Advice Blogs, and Top 50 Educators to follow on Twitter Offering Reading Skills Advice

In addition to being named in the 101 Best Special Needs Websites, Bonnie’s site has also been named in the top 101 list of Best Education Websites, Bonnie’s s blog has been named in the top 100 education advice blogs to follow and one of the top 50 education experts on Twitter to follow.

Looking for Special Education Experts

to Answer Your Education Questions?

It is often hard to find who to go to to get your special ed questions answered. What if you could find the top Special Ed experts all in one place? There is now a list of the 50 top special ed experts that are worth following on twitter. I was just informed that such a list exists…and I’m on it.

What type of Special Education Experts are on the list?

Each of these experts give you the best cutting edge information on special ed on a daily basis. The list includes 20 special educators worth following. I also includes the top 17 advocates and groups to follow. It also includes 18 special ed tools (materials, law information, news, and organizations) to follow.

This email just came in announcing the 50 Special Education experts…and I thought I’d share it.

Hello Bonnie

I’m just writing this to inform you that we’ve recently published an article on TeachTechTopia entitled, “50 Special Ed Teachers and Experts Worth Following on Twitter.” We were searching for some of the best twitter accounts to follow on the subject, and found @BonnieTerry_btl to be an excellent addition.

Best,

Alba Collazo

Co-founder, TeachTechTopia

Be sure to sign up for the free teaching tips above my photo on the right and email you special education questions to me.

Top Education Advice Blogs to Follow

It is often hard to find who to go to to get advice and special ed questions answered. What if you could find the top education experts all in one place? There is now a list of the 100 top education advice blogs worth subscribing too. I was just informed that such a list exists…and I’m on it. The list includes many advice blogs related to getting into college as well as student success. But it also includes blogs that help you with struggling students and students with learning disabilities or dyslexia.

What type of Education Advice Blogs are on the list?

Each of these advice blogs give you the best cutting edge information on education. The list put out by CollegeScholarship.org includes blogs addressing:

1. struggling students
2. dyslexia
3. writing essays
4. test prep advice
5. college prep
6. college admissions
7. high school success
8. college success
9. college applications

This email just came in announcing the 100 Education Advice blogs…and I thought I’d share it.

Looking for not only good but great education advice? Many parents and high school students often seek advice regarding what to do and how to prepare their children for college. What do you do when you are a struggling learner and want to get your skills up so you can get into college? What do you need to know to prepare for the SAT test? What do you need to know when you are trying to figure out financing college? What do you do to prepare for entering college? What is the first year like? Adjustment problems during the first semester? These blogs cover those topics and more. I wanted to let you know that CollegeScholarship.org just posted an article with the top 100 education advice blogs in it. You’ll notice a familiar one at number 21. That’s right…Reading, Writing, & Math Help for Dyslexia is number 21 on the list of the top 100 education blogs to follow!

Mid Summer Training – What You Can Do to Prepare Your Kids for School

I Can Hardly Believe It? Check it out…
The FREE Live Teleseminar is filling up fast – Only 100 68 52 Spots left!
Reserve your spot now.

Mid-Summer Training Call

I have had so many calls from parents recently, wondering how to help their child between now and when school starts back up. They realize it’s not too late to give their child a boost, but they also want to be sure they have an enjoyable rest of the summer. So, I decided to have a teleseminar where I will present information on summer activities to help your child’s skills improve as well as activities rich in experiences and family time.

I’m hosting a FREE Live Teleseminar on Wednesday July 14th at 8 pm Eastern, 7 pm Central, 6 pm Mountain, and 5 pm Pacific. Upon registering you will receive a FREE Handbook on the 5 things you can do to help your child over the summer. Those that attend live will receive a surprise FREE gift.

Searching for Mid-Summer Activities to Improve Your Child’s Skills and Still Have Fun?
FREE Live Teleseminar on Wednesday June 2nd at at 8 pm EST, 7 pm CST, 6 pm MST, and 5 pm PST.
Space is limited. You can attend via phone or via internet!

Reserve your Teleseminar line now at:
Title: Mid-Summer Activities to Improve Your Child’s Skills and Still Have Fun
Time: Wednesday, July 14th at 5:00pm Pacific
Listening method: Phone + Web Simulcast

To attend, visit:
Mid-Summer Training Call
LD Specialist and Board Certified Educational Therapist Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., is answering your questions about summer activities to help your child improve their skills. The teleseminar will be recorded; if you can’t attend, you’ll be able to listen later. Plus special surprise bonus just for registering! Those that attend live will receive another surprise FREE gift.

Mid-Summer Training Call

When do you start giving your kids reading help? When do you teach them reading readiness?

You would be amazed at the number of children I’ve seen over the years that have needed reading help that didn’t have a solid foundation of reading readiness skills.  This goes for children that are in kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th grade. So, when I received the following question from Karen, I thought it would be a good idea to shed some light on reading help and reading readiness.

I just received a letter from Karen regarding activities for teaching her triplets.

Karen writes:

“My triplets are 5 yrs. old and in kindergarten this year.  One is a special needs child.  I could use ideas for teaching multiples.  There is no older sibling to model.  Also, trying to work with our special needs daughter and the others creates many challenges.”

Hi Karen,

I know what you mean about challenges – working with 3 kids at the same time and one of them being a special needs child can be difficult.

Here are some tips for working with  kids at the same time – whether they are in kindergarten or any of the primary grades.

I would pick a time to work with each of the kids individually – for 10 to 15 minutes so they get some individual time with you. While working with one of them the other two can be doing something like coloring or listening to a book on tape.

In fact, you can even read their favorite books into a tape – at a speed that is comfortable for them to listen to and then they can listen to you reading to them – following along with your voice – while you are doing some individual work/activity with the others. Then you are still being ‘present’ to the one/s you aren’t working with.

You might even set up a special spot with their stuffed animals and a large pillow where they get to listen to the books. So it winds up being the ‘special place’ where they get to listen to stories.

Also, I would do things like playing Simon Says, bean- bag toss, hop-scotch, or red light green light – games that are relatively easy to do with all 3 that would also work on listening skills and following directions.

You are at the perfect time for doing reading readiness activities with your kids. Remember, all kids need the following readiness skills in order to do well with school tasks. These specific readiness skills  are critical to being a successful learner. Reading help is lessened when these readiness skills are in place.

Readiness skills can be categorized into the following areas:

1. Matching – objects and or sounds
2. Size – small-medium-large; big-little; long-short; fat-thin
3. Shape – circles, squares, and triangles
4. Action – start – stop; slow-fast
5. Position – top – bottom; under-over; forward-backward; up-down; inside-outside
6. Relationships – same-different; parts-whole
7. Configurations – patterns & sequencing
8. Classifications – sorting objects into categories or arrange them into groups – by size, shape, or color
9. Combination Concepts and Time – positions & shapes or positions and matching and time
10. Listening & following directions (These skills are utilized in all of the above activities.)

Hope this helps.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

P.S. Be sure to ask your questions by clicking on the Ask Me a Question Button.

I just came across this article on preparing for an IEP and wanted to share it with you.

As a parent, do you approach IEP meetings with fear and dread? If so, here are some suggestions to help you feel more at ease and able to participate as a full member of the team that plans your child’s special education program.

Before the Meeting:

• Build a positive relationship with at least one person on the IEP team, such as the classroom teacher, principal, or school psychologist, before the meeting. Such a relationship will help you feel more comfortable and know someone else hears your point of view.
• Plan ahead and put your thoughts down on paper, so you won’t forget to mention what’s important to you during the meeting. Complete the IEP Planning Form before the meeting. Know the purpose and format of the IEP meeting and who will be there ahead of time. That way you won’t be surprised by the number of people around the table or the process being followed. IDEA 2004 contains new provisions that you should be aware of, including who can be excused from IEP meetings, and alternative ways to hold IEP team meetings.
• If you wish to share the results of a private evaluation with the IEP team, send copies of the reports to the team ahead of time so they can be familiar with the data before the meeting, rather than take valuable time during the meeting to review them. In some cases parents may feel that sharing this report (or particular aspects of the report) will not be of benefit to the IEP process; it’s your choice whether to do so.
• Review current reports, last year’s IEP (if applicable), and Parents’ Rights and Responsibilities sent to you annually.

For more, go to: Tips for a Successful IEP Meeting

………………………………………………………………….

When preparing to attend your child’s IEP meeting, it is important to have a complete understanding of your child’s learning problems. One way to do this is to use an informal assessment tool. With it you gain the understanding of what the specific problems are and how they impact learning in the classroom. It empowers you to speak knowledgebly about your child’s struggles.

Hope this is helpful,

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

I received an email today where a parent stated “I think that if you have a choice that you should definitely do the IEP because it make the school more accountable and you have to be included in the review.”

Actually, both a 504 and an IEP are legal documents and must be complied with, and as a parent you must be involved in either meeting and you need to sign off on the plan. Since they are both legal documents, both 504′s and IEP’s hold the schools accountable.

An IEP is more encompassing than a 504 plan. If your child is under an IEP, in addition to specific measurable goals and extra services with a specialist, there are usually specific accommodations written regarding the child’s time spent within their regular classroom. These are things like extra time to do the assignment, modified assignments, planners, or recording answers to tests on tape recorders if writing is a problem. In effect, the accommodations that are written into an IEP are what a 504 plan would have. (The IEP should have anything in it they would put in a 504 plan + the goals and time with a resource specialist or other service provider).

A 504 is typically used for students that do not qualify for an IEP because there is no significant discrepancy between the IQ and performance of the student, BUT the student is struggling in the classroom.

The following paragraph is an excerpt from the book From Emotions to Advocacy, written by Pam Wright and Pete Wright

To be eligible for protections under Section 504, the child must have a physical or mental impairment. This impairment must substantially limit at least one major life activity. Major life activities include walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, writing, performing math calculations, working, caring for oneself, and performing manual tasks. The key is whether the child has an “impairment” that “substantially limits … one or more … major life activities.”

I usually suggest to parents that they not sign off on the plan at that meeting and say something to the effect, “we’ve talked about a lot of details today, it is a lot to absorb. I would like to go over them with my husband/spouse/ significant other or if you are both there – we need to go over them and review them.”

You may see some ‘jaws’ drop, but this will help you to be sure you are getting what you need. This does give you time to really look over the document and be sure it contains everything you need for your child. And, sometimes you realize you really need an additional service. Sometimes the additional service or accommodation is added without a problem because the school needs to get the IEP or 504 completed in a timely manner.

To help you have a better understanding of your child’s difficulties and the underlying causes of them, you will want to use a parent friendly informal LD dyslexia assessment tool.

Hope this is helpful.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Hi Bonnie,

I would be interested to know more about how you make your
visual clocks and what they look like.

-Susan

Susan,

As a teacher of K- H.S. age, I have a lot of resources and supplies. I’m a learning disability specialist and educational therapist as well as parent. I have ADD & have worked with ADHD kids for over 30 years. So, I have a number of telling time work sheets that are blank as well as a large blank clock stamp for making clocks.

The stamp can be gotten from

https://educationalinsights.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?

And, I just did an online search and found this site where you can program in your times on the clocks and then print the sheets.

http://www.time-for-time.com/worksheets.htm

After making them, I would copy them on card stock paper to make them more durable and cut them from the sheets so I can tape them across the top or side of their desk.

You can even color code the hands of the clock or copy them on different colors of card stock to make it even easier for your kids to follow.

Hope this helps.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

P.S.: Don’t forget to sign up for the 10 FREE homework & teaching tips – right above my photo.

Back to School…

What can you do to make your life a lot easier? Anna Weinstein from education.com contacted me earlier this week and asked if she could interview me about what parents of LD children could do to help there kids have a great start to the school year. We recorded the interview, so you can hear it here.

Here are a few of the highlights that you will hear Bonnie talking about:

At 4 min: There is a special tip regarding school supply tips to help your child be more organized.
At 6 min: How do you organize your homework area
At 7:29 min: Specific supplies that help the homework time
At 15:53 min: How much time should kids spend on homework – especially when they have dyslexia or LD?
At 17:30 min: How do you talk to teachers?
At 21:05 min: Specific things to tell the teacher to set your child up to have a great year
At 25:40 min: Can you just contact the teacher via email or does it have to be in person?
At 29:44 min: Isn’t there a system put in place already for me to meet all of my kid’s support team?
At 31:54 min: Doesn’t the teacher already know what my child needs – he was pulled out last year for services?
At 38:45 min: Why you want to have a clear understanding of what is going on with your child
At 40:00 min: Ways to keep track of your child’s assignments
At 42:40 min: Parent self care & support for parents
At 47:30 min: Evening family routine
At 51:27 min: Best way to speak with the teacher or principal

Listen to it here!

I’ve been in contact with two parents regarding using visual clocks to help their children keep track of transition times at school. Thought you might be interested in their questions and my response to them.

Has anyone used visual charts with pictures of items and clock faces
that show time? I am having trouble finding websites so I can get one
set up for school to show my son when he will be doing things. I talked
last year about it but the teacher never did it and I want to try this
year and see if it helps but I can not find sites

Any ideas?

Nichole from MI

Nicole,

I would love to have whatever info you get.  Can you use
Boardmaker?  We asked the school if WE could provide our son with a visual
schedule to help him at school, and they said “no – then the other kids
would want one.”  The sad part is that we didn’t pursue it.  This year,
though, we are at least going to do that at home.
-Susan

Nicole,
I’ve used visual clocks but I’ve made them myself. What I would do is to
make up my own clocks and then go in to meet the teacher and say something
to the effect of “I’m so glad to meet you. We’re looking forward to a
great year with you. I know you have my son’s (daughter’s) best interest
at heart and want to help him/her succeed. I just wanted to give you a
heads up on what has worked for us. Using visual clocks that are on
his/her desk to denote the change in subject or class makes a big
difference in their day. I know how busy you are with the start up of the
year so I went ahead and made them up for him/her. If you could just tell
us your transition times so we can fill them in that would be great.”

This type of statement tells them rather than asks, but tells them in a
nice way and you are being helpful by making them up and taping them to
the desk. It is also giving the teacher credit for working with you to
help your child succeed as well as getting them off the hook with the
statement that you know how busy they are with starting up the school
year.

I hope this helps!

BTW: I’m a parent as well as a teacher
Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

P.S. Feel free to ask you questions and/or leave a comment!