Sara Peden

Haven't posted here in a while! But I just came across this interesting blog post about "summer slide" which many in education (myself included) have "believed in" because I understood it to be well supported by the evidence. THIS (info in blog post) is why we need to consistently look at new evidence! https://robertslavinsblog.wordpress.com/author/sdavis1000/

After a period of reflection, having shutting down my intervention practice during this period of social distancing, I'm considering trying to put together an online course for #yyc parents about teaching children to read. It will take a ton of prep time to do well, so I first need to know if there will be interest. If you think you might want to take such a course, can you reply here or via Messenger to give me some input? Some content might be via video conferencings, some recorded via, readings, practice activities. What would you want?

I've been so busy teaching kids to read and with discussions on the FB group Dyslexia Support Calgary, that I hardly ever post here. For info re: assessment/intervention/consultation do check out www.sarapeden.ca

Reading Simplified has a sound basis behind its teaching methods. The Switch It tactic is good stuff. I'm sharing this page so that I can get the guide that's linked here.

If you are looking for more information about services, please send me a message or check my website at www.sarapeden.ca

It just doesn't get much better than this!

Please spread the word far and wide! The best way to support the new Decoding Dyslexia Alberta, right now, is to click on the title below - Kids Struggling to Read? and **buy your tickets in advance**. Anyone can support Decoding Dyslexia Alberta, by this simple purchase.

In my practice, we teach students with dyslexia and all forms of reading disabilities. We teach them to read and to write. It can be done! We *often* must focus on the explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics and fluency that they haven't had before and which they need to strengthen the decoding variable of reading. But vocabulary and knowledge and the deep desire to read are *SO* important to reaching the ultimate goal of reading. So, Amanda and Kate (my assistants) and I get very excited to add to our library the books we *know* will capture the imagination of at least some of our students. Last week we added some non-fiction. What did we add this week?

I keep threatening to do a collection like this ... but now someone else has done it and I don't have to!

There's a second practice assistant at Sara Peden Consulting! Welcome, to Kate, a second year (of 5) education student doing a concurrent degree at the University of Calgary. Kate already has a background in linguistics and is making great contributions to the practice, already. Thank you Kate! Our little team is glad to have you with us!

Free stuff is great, right? MOOC (thanks again Valdine Bjornson, for pointing me at this). https://place.fi.ncsu.edu/local/catalog/course.php

For anyone interested in spelling, there's a whole issue of LDA Bulletin (Learning Difficulties Australia) that was shared recently by Valdine Bjornson; ReadingClinician-EAL, FIT/AOGPE, EdD student in her group. https://www.ldaustralia.org//1026%20LDA%20Bulletin%20Winte

Amanda (my new colleague) has been creating a library from all my resources. She's using an app we found that wasn't overly expensive. Now I can sign out all my books, games and equipment in my practice and keep track of it all. Parents will be able to ask for a list of what their child has checked out, so they can track everything down to bring back to me. And another professional just asked to borrow a resource to preview and I was able to "check it out" to her. So cool! (Thanks Amanda!)