Sami Carrick is a Child Development & Certified Reading Specialist (M.Ed) who shares (research based) tips for busy parents to take a proactive approach to learning and reading in schools by building a really strong foundation in the younger years and really looking at the whole child. She believes that we can prevent a lot of learning struggles and help kids thrive by making some simple improvements in the younger years.
Follow Sami on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunnyseedco/
Sami’s Website: https://sunnyseedco.com/
How to Teach Sight Words Freebie
Understanding Phonemic Awareness
Understanding Dyslexia
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -> https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, & child development courses.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
Links
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla Website
Harkla YouTube
Harkla Instagram
Headsprout
Yoto
Handwriting Without Tears
Sami Carrick is a Child Development & Certified Reading Specialist (M.Ed) who shares (research based) tips for busy parents to take a proactive approach to learning and reading in schools by building a really strong foundation in the younger years and really looking at the whole child. She believes that we can prevent a lot of learning struggles and help kids thrive by making some simple improvements in the younger years.
Follow Sami on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunnyseedco/
Sami’s Website: https://sunnyseedco.com/
How to Teach Sight Words Freebie
Understanding Phonemic Awareness
Understanding Dyslexia
We’d love to answer your questions on the podcast! Fill out this form -> https://harkla.typeform.com/to/ItWxQNP3
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, & child development courses.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
Links
All Things Sensory Podcast Instagram
Harkla Website
Harkla YouTube
Harkla Instagram
Headsprout
Yoto
Handwriting Without Tears
So, if I were to say c-at, you put it together, it's cat and if that's tricky for our child in kindergarten, then we need to keep looking deeper. That phonological and phonemic awareness piece that I keep mentioning, it's so huge because it affects about 90% of struggling readers. and those are skills that we can actually begin to develop in the early years by singing songs and rhymes and doing some little fun sound games. Like it can take one minute a day to practice some of these skills and then it's going to set our kids up for so much success.
Rachel:I'm Rachel.
Jessica:And I'm Jessica. And this is All Things Sensory by Harkla.
Rachel:We are both certified occupational therapy assistants and together with Harca. We are on a mission to empower parents, therapists and educators to help raise confident and strong children of all abilities.
Jessica:On this podcast, we chat about all things sensory, diving into special needs occupational therapy, parenting, self care, overall health and wellness, and so much more.
Rachel:We're here to provide raw, honest and fun strategies, ideas and information for parents, therapists and educators as well as other professionals to implement into daily life.
Jessica:Thank you so much for joining us.
Rachel:Welcome back to All Things Sensory. Welcome, if this is your first time. We are so excited to have you here today and we have a special interview with our new friend, Sami Carrick. She is a child development and certified reading specialist. She's a mom to three and she is a military
Jessica:Yep. We're gonna talk all about reading, writing the wife. different skills involved. But a little bit about Sami really quick before we jump in. So Sami enjoys sharing research based tips for busy parents, in order to take a proactive approach to learning and reading in schools by building a really strong foundation in the younger years and really looking at the whole child. She believes that we can prevent a lot of learning struggles and help kids thrive by making some simple improvements in those younger years. And you can find her on Instagram, she is at SunnySeedCo and we are linking all of her amazing resources in the show notes so that when you finish listening, you can check it out. Her website is Sunny seedco.com and let's jump in.
Rachel:Okay. Hi, Sammy, how are you today? Welcome to the podcast.
Sami Carrick:Hi, thanks for having me.
Jessica:Awesome. We're super excited to chat with you today. But first, we have to ask you our five secret questions. Are you ready for that?
Sami Carrick:I hope so.
Jessica:First question is what is one thing you're excited about for 2024?
Sami Carrick:Hmm, hopefully more sleep.
Jessica:Oh.
Sami Carrick:Got a little one. So, fingers crossed. This is going to be the year of sleep.
Rachel:I am hoping that as well. Okay, are you more of a dog person or a cat person?
Sami Carrick:Dog. 100%
Jessica:Do you have a dog?
Sami Carrick:I do. He's downstairs right now. Hopefully won't bark through this.
Rachel:What kind of dog is he?
Sami Carrick:He's a mutt. He kind of the donkey from Shrek.
Rachel:I love that.
Sami Carrick:He's the sweetist thing.
Rachel:I love that.
Jessica:Would you rather ski, snowboard, or snowshoe?
Sami Carrick:Ski. It seems more effective.
Rachel:So logical.
Sami Carrick:You get farther faster.
Rachel:Okay, who is someone that inspires you?
Sami Carrick:Hmm. My mom.
Rachel:I love that. Any particular reason why?
Sami Carrick:She just always put raising kids first and really modeled that for me in the midst of like tricky military life and she was kind of the steady rock and that sturdiness has really impacted me in my parenting to show up calm and competent for my kids too.
Rachel:I love that.
Jessica:Last question. What is your sensory quirk?
Sami Carrick:Hmm. I always have socks on.
Rachel:Ok.
Sami Carrick:Yeah, my feet are always kind of cold and I like to wear socks to sleep. And my family thinks it's crazy.
Rachel:Yeah, I do too. No just kidding!
Jessica:What about if you wear sandals?
Sami Carrick:Then definitely no socks. But if I'm at home, then socks are on.
Jessica:Socks. All right. There it is.
Rachel:I love that. All right. Well, now that everyone knows your deepest, darkest secrets, tell us who you are, what you do, why you do it. All the things.
Sami Carrick:Sure. So, I am a mom to three a military wife and child development and certified reading specialist. Formally I taught in elementary schools and I provided reading intervention to struggling readers. But what I found when I was working with so many kids is that and research backs as too is that so many of the deficits that kids are experiencing in the reading world can be tied back to the early childhood years. So now I share tips to try and help parents fulfill that gap and take more proactive approach to learning by building this strong foundation in those early literacy years. We can prevent a lot of struggles, and help kids thrive just by making these little improvements.
Jessica:And we're gonna chat about some of those, like tips that you're gonna give our listeners today. But do you work with clients virtually? Do in-person trainings? What does that look like for you?
Sami Carrick:Right now, I'm sharing primarily over ebooks and blog posts and in my email newsletter. I'm not doing one on one right now, just because life with kids, and I'm solo parenting a lot with military life. But eventually I'll get back to one on ones and doing reading tutoring. That was really special to me.
Rachel:Yeah, I remember in one of your posts that just stood out to me was talking about the ocular motor skills and it's just as therapists ourselves, like, it's something that is so impactful. And I'm sure you see that and see challenges with it all the time.
Sami Carrick:Yeah, definitely. It affects about 30% of struggling readers. But it's honestly not something that is very discussed in the educational world. I kind of came up with it and found the research on my own. It wasn't something that I was taught in school, or even when I was getting my master's in reading instruction. So trying to integrate some of these approaches to help kids find more success faster, it's really different and out there, but it's amazing when you see the progress. You just want to tell everybody that this can help a child and help parents to know when to kind of intervene and just weave in some of these fun, like visual skills to strengthen those areas.
Rachel:30%, you said? 30% of kids struggle?
Sami Carrick:30%.
Rachel:That's high. I didn't realize it was that high.
Jessica:And that's 30% of kids who have challenges reading, it's because they're ocular motor skills?
Sami Carrick:Yes. Well, I will say that there are a lot of components to reading instruction, which we can get into. I think that there's multifacets to it and there's a variety of factors. But we know that in the struggling reader category, about 30% of them have difficulties with their visual and ocular motor.
Jessica:So then what are those different components that are required for reading that these kids struggle with that causes these challenges?
Sami Carrick:So, learning to read is not natural. You know,
Jessica:Yeah, we need to look at the whole picture. Look at
Rachel:Yeah. it's this code that we invented and it's actually really complex. It involves multiple parts of the brain, you know, both left and right sides and as skilled readers, it feels easy and automatic, and we take it for granted. But when kids are learning, it's important to understand all these these pieces of it. So imagine a pie divided into three sections. We've got early literacy skills, brain and body, and then effective reading instruction. And so if you look at the early literacy skills, we've got things like language and vocabulary development, alphabet knowledge, phonological and phonemic awareness. This is basically just a fancy way of saying how we understand and manipulate sounds, but it's huge. It affects about 90% of struggling readers. Working memory, handwriting, sequencing, narration, background knowledge, verbal reasoning skills, those visual skills, enjoyment of books, and even parental influence. Being read to regularly is a huge predictor of future reading success. And then if you look in another piece of the pie, we've got effective instruction. So we know that if kids are taught with these evidence based methods, the science of reading, we can expect about 95% of them to experience success. Which is great, but right now in our country, about 66% of kids are not reading proficiently. So there's this huge gap. We have over 70 years of research on how the brain actually learning how to read and yet most classrooms are not following this research. Most colleges are not even teaching teachers correctly. Only about 25% of colleges are so there's this huge disconnect, and even some popular curriculums have been recently debunked, and proven ineffective, and not in alignment with research. So the way children are taught how to the whole child, which I feel like sometimes it's so hard as a read also plays a huge part in this. A big thing is like memorizing sight words, it's not actually reading, it's just memorizing, and yet we see it in so many classrooms, especially in the younger grades. But what memorizing sight words does is it trains kids to primarily read by sight. So they're training their subconscious to like bypass their auditory cortex, when they're processing a word, which can cause a lot of issues down the road and then also creates this false sense of confidence. So we see quick growth in kids during kindergarten and they think that they're reading, but then they therapist, because I see these kids that I work with, and I'm get to like mid-first grade, and about 80% of the words that they're going to read require decoding skills, and they just like, I know all of the things they're struggling with and I don't have those skills. So we see their reading levels want to work on every single thing. But I have to kind of plateau, a lot of frustration, and these issues just start to pinpoint and narrow it down to what I can help them with the compound because we don't have a lot of the resources either. So most. We want to lay the whole child but then identify where we what we know though, is that kids need explicit systematic can help them the best. phonics instruction, and phonemic awareness skills. And then we've got the other piece of the pie. This third one, which is brain and body, which I know you guys are all about and I'm so excited to chat today. Because it involves like sensory motor and the visual processing and the auditory processing weakness, brain hemisphere and balance, core strength, balance, coordination even like integrating those reflexes, nutrition, and just overall health. Like, are there any toxic exposures? Are they experiencing a lot of stress? Sleep, the gut microbiome, they all affect learning. So there's so many components to reading, some stand out more than others. But they really are all part of the puzzle when we're hiring to help kids be more successful in school. Yeah, what are the lowest hanging fruits? What are some things that we can do that make the biggest bang for the buck? Really. Because it does seem overwhelming when you hear that whole list that I just kind of rattled off, but. I'm like, stressed, like, did you see my eyes? I'm like, Oh, my God, I don't know anything about teaching kids how to read. What do I do? Talk about some evidence based strategies like what, what?
Sami Carrick:And then it's certainly not my goal to overwhelm parents, but I want to create a way to learn and it is so complex and so just hiring a reading tutor might not be the answer, or just buying some program that you see at the store might not be the answer. It's probably not going to give you this success that you're dreaming of. So if we understand all these parts, and we make these little tweaks, I think we can find a lot more success and I've seen it in my own work with kids in classroom and of my own students and in kids. So like, for example, when you're at home and you're going on a walk, you can start to play with sounds and build some of those early literacy skills. You can say I spy with my little eye something that starts with the hmmm... sound and so you're practicing the sounds or you're playing rhyming games, and you're jumping out syllables, or before you're sitting down to read, you're crawling or you're balancing or you're crossing the hemispheres and doing some fun work like that. Those little tweaks can make a huge impact for kids.
Rachel:Okay, well, what do you say it like that makes me feel better?
Jessica:Yeah. I was going to say you are doing fine.
Sami Carrick:I promise. It's okay.
Jessica:It was so funny, because I remember when my son, he's in fourth grade right now, and I remember in it was probably the first or second grade that he brought home, probably second. Because I think first grade was during all of the crazy lockdown stuff and he did first grade all virtually, which was awful. But I think it was in second grade that he brought home this list of sight words that he was supposed to memorize and I remember looking at it and being like, we're not doing that. And so now I kind of feel better about it. Because I'm like, the fact that we didn't do it didn't harm him. You know, he did things to boost his reading. But I was like sight words, memorizing, this doesn't sound fun.
Rachel:Well, yeah, it should be like sounding the words out instead of memorizing them?
Sami Carrick:Totally and that's the decoding part. So we need this understanding of sounds and how to manipulate them, which is phonological, and phonemic awareness and that's like I said, it's just a fancy way of saying like, can we play with sounds? Can we manipulate them? Can you understand the beginning sound in a word, and syllables and break it down? Because that helps us then learn phonics skills and we need the explicit phonics instruction, which is understanding the rules of language and how letters work and letter patterns. And so when you can apply those decoding skills, you have access to so many words. Only about 4% of words are actually irregular and need to be memorized. So if we have the tools, we can decode so much more effectively and that just helps us become skilled readers. So what we're looking for is programs that focus on explicitly teaching kids phonics rules. So, okay, on this day, we're going to teach this skill and then we're going to apply it with decodable readers, and then we're going to work on this skill and so you have this systematic sequence that really helps kids build confidence, rather than just learning a couple of sight words and then you don't really have any skills when you get to a word that you can't memorize.
Rachel:Oh, that makes sense. Yeah.
Jessica:I was just, as you were talking about that I was thinking of auditory processing disorder and children who have auditory processing disorder, and how they probably struggle with reading so much more.
Sami Carrick:Oh, totally. Because they can't quite distinguish the difference between some of those letter sounds and so it makes it really challenging for them. But we do know that with the right instruction, they can find success in reading. And even kids with dyslexia, about 70% of them have an auditory processing disorder. So the two are very connected and we found great success with different types of explicit instruction. But early intervention is going to be really key in helping those kids that have some kind of a deficit or an auditory processing disorder.
Jessica:Are there certain ages that we should see these skills developing where you can live your child and say, Okay, I know that they should be doing this by this age and if they're not, it's kind of like a red flag that tells me we need to do something different?
Rachel:Like reading milestone?
Jessica:Yeah.
Sami Carrick:That's a really great question. I actually have I love that I love being able to implement it into just like a free resource on my website that has those literacy milestones. So parents can kind of go off and just like, check, okay, we're there, we're doing great, you know, we've got this. daily activities and oh, just to have it, you know, put it as a And that's so important, because we know intervention is going to be four times more effective in kindergarten than it is in fourth grade. So we don't want to just wait and see, because then these issues compound, even dyslexia, we can diagnose it around age five and a half with 95% accuracy. So when reading issues are creeping up in kindergarten, it's very evident and we can get in there and kind of fill in some of these gaps as soon as possible for kids. If there are difficulties identifying rhymes or sounds, if recognizing letter names and that is not becoming automatic and effortless, if they're not note in your phone and like remember it when you're like able to blend a word so if I were to say c-at you put it together, it's cat. And if that's tricky for a child, you know, in kindergarten, then we need to keep looking deeper. That phonological and phonemic awareness piece, that I keep mentioning, it's so huge, because it affects about 90% of struggling readers and those are skills that we can actually begin to develop in the early years by singing songs and rhymes and doing some little fun sound games. Like it can take one minute a day to practice some of these skills and then it's going to set our kids up for so much success. So I have an e-book, all about that on my website as well to give parents just little things that they can kind of weave in when they're going for a walk with their kid or they're outside playing or they're swinging. How can they play some sound games, and build these early literacy skills. doing something. Oh, yeah, I forgot I was gonna do this and just write it down real quick. So you can do that quickly. Yeah. I'm not a big proponent of pushing kids too early or too soon, or having workbooks; instead, let's weave these things in and make it feel like it's not actually learning.
Rachel:Yeah, I am curious. You mentioned a couple of programs. Are there any programs you recommend for teaching kids to
Sami Carrick:Oh, I wish I had a really great resource. This is read? complicated. I don't feel like there is a comprehensive resource out there right now for parents that I can fully stand behind. But I am working on kind of analyzing some different homeschool curriculums, and finding out where there are gaps. So okay, this is going to check off all these boxes for you. But then you need to fill it in with this, you know, resource instead. So it's currently in progress. I'm sorry, that's a complicated answer.
Rachel:But that's helpful that you're kind of reviewing it from with your lens, right? Because I don't know anything about homeschool programs, like which ones are great and reading programs. Like, you don't think about how important it is until your kids are there and you're like, oh my gosh, they actually need to learn how to read. Oh, wow.
Sami Carrick:Yeah, and I really feel for teachers too, because it's not so easy for them either with curriculums. There isn't just one that kind of like checks all these boxes, even though we have so much research on how kids learn how to read. It's tricky and we're gonna in between. You know, we're kind of like, on the other side of change, and we see it starting to happen, but it's not universal across the board yet.
Jessica:Hopefully soon.
Sami Carrick:Fingers crossed. These kids deserve better.
Jessica:I was thinking about, are there benefits for kids, as they're learning to read and becoming fluent readers. Are there benefits to reading out loud versus reading in their head?
Sami Carrick:Totally. So we want kids reading out loud for several reasons. But primarily in the beginning, we want to help identify when there are errors so that we can help correct them. You know, maybe not every single time your child is making a mistake in their reading, but we do want to intervene right then and there as much as possible because it helps them train and make the great connection. Also, if they're having too many difficulties reading out loud, it's gonna tell us a little bit more about their abilities and where there are phonics gaps. So, especially with younger kids, it's going to be more important than with the older kiddos. It also develops fluency, which is how fast and smooth and accurate we can read and that's really important for our comprehension, how much we understand. So all these pieces work together, and kids are going to be more effective when they are reading out loud and rereading passages over and over and over again.
Jessica:Yeah,
Rachel:I have a random thought. So we see a connection between retained primitive reflexes and challenges learning. Have you seen that? Have you had any experience with that?
Sami Carrick:Yeah, honestly, I've only experienced it recently with my own children. This is not something that I was ever taught about when my graduate work, but just kind of putting the pieces together. I saw these kids, who it just wasn't quite clicking for them, and I felt like there was something deeper going on. And so I started getting into neuroplasticity, and really reading about that. And that's how I kind of found the retain reflexes just kind of stumbled on it. And it's become a huge passion of mine, because it's so integrated with learning, and it could really help so many kids.
Jessica:So are you doing primitive reflex integration activities or exercises with your children?
Sami Carrick:I am. I am. Sometimes it's a struggle. I'll be totally honest.
Rachel:Oh, yeah.
Sami Carrick:I'm gonna like, Oh, my goodness, this is hard. But I'm also seeing crazy growth and even my daughter, she was struggling a little bit with her visual skills and so we've been working on different things and doing some exercises and her reading is just like taking off. It seems so much more easy for her and so here it was, she had this really strong foundation and early literacy. But there was still a piece that was missing and it was this routine reflexes and visual processing and so kind of putting that together. And now she's just she's flourishing. So.
Jessica:Amazing.
Rachel:Wow, good. Good for you.
Jessica:That's amazing. I was thinking about spelling accuracy. So my son's in fourth grade and a lot of spelling things and he brings home a lot of these papers that he does in class, these writing papers. And I mean, he's really just not a great speller. He's a very fluent reader. He's always he's never really struggled with reading, but spelling is difficult for him. So is there a connection there in any way?
Sami Carrick:There is. So, reading and spelling are very connected, because they rely on a lot of the phonics skills that we were talking about, and some of those rules and patterns for words. So how old is he? Like, what grade? He's 10. Okay, so it'd be really interesting, I
Jessica:He's 10? would love to sit down with him and do a phonics screener and see where some of those gaps are. I'm sure that some kids with dyslexia and not saying that he does have that at all, but one trademark is that they have a lot of difficulty with spelling. Because their brain wiring bypasses the phonological processor and so they're so smart, though, that they compensate in other ways with their reading and their comprehension. So it's really nuanced. But initially, my gut is telling me that it could be a phonics gap. Yeah. Yeah. I know, I think about that all the time. When he brings schoolwork home. I'm like, oh, man, he spelled that word wrong. But we try to sound it out and stuff, but it's wrong.
Sami Carrick:It's tricky. I get messages from parents all the time, like my kids doing this, what do you think it is? And without sitting down next to them and giving a full evaluation, it would be really unethical for me to just say, oh, you know, it's this or it's that. You really need a full evaluation. I'm sure you guys get messages like this all the time.
Jessica:We get the same thing. I was like, oh, man, we deal with that daily.
Sami Carrick:Yeah. Yeah. It's nuanced.
Jessica:Yes.
Rachel:What does the evaluation look like?
Sami Carrick:I'm going to do a different version than some people. I feel like are there imbalances in the brain because we've got these skills that we need on like, left brain and then right brain or are there retained reflexes or are there visual skills. But most evaluations are going to be like a phonemic awareness screener and they're going to assess a child's ability in different phonemic awareness skills. And there's a free one actually, that I have linked on my website as well so parents can kind of be like, Oh, okay, this is what my kids able to do or this is what I'm anticipating. A phonics screener and then of course, depending on different reading struggles, they're going to have to go outside to see a psychologist or even a pediatrician to have further processing. So in the classroom, really, we're just collecting a lot of information to make an evaluation.
Rachel:Makes sense.
Sami Carrick:But I want to encourage parents real fast, sorry. Like, dyslexia wasn't even acknowledged on IEPs up until like, I think it was 2018. So a lot of reading difficulties are not identified in the classroom and it is a true dis-service. Something that I hope that we're working on as a country. But I want to empower parents, if you suspect that your child is struggling, something just seems off, it's way more difficult for them, start the process as soon as possible. We know that early intervention is really powerful. Don't wait for the teacher to get the ball rolling and to raise concern. You can even get a referral from a pediatrician to have further testing done. Love that advice. Thank you.
Jessica:Yeah, we also agree with that. We're not big fans of the wait and see. Let's just wait. Definitely don't like that. So we're all working with that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was just I wrote down root words. What are your thoughts on like learning root words?
Sami Carrick:Yeah, hugely important, not so much for the younger kids who are learning how to read, but definitely fun and powerful for kids. I remember playing some fun games with my third graders and fourth graders. Vocabulary is also really important for comprehension and so when you're learning the root, it supports your spelling, and your phonics and your vocabulary.
Rachel:Yeah.
Jessica:Can you expand on what we're taught what we mean by root words, if someone's not familiar?
Sami Carrick:Sure. So see, like biology, Bio means life, that would be like part of it a child's learning all the pieces of a word and how they can work together i n the meaning.
Jessica:I was thinking about screens. How so many kids love screens. I know my child loves the screen. He loves this tablet. Are there apps that parents can use on their child's device that can help boost their reading skills?
Sami Carrick:Yeah, there is one that I really like. It's called reading.com and I'm not sponsored by them in any way. Just I appreciate that they are incorporating some different components that are research based, but it is a program that parents do with the child. So it takes about 15 minutes a day. But they're kind of working through a sample lesson of reading instruction, and it's leveled as well. So you can kind of start as little as letters and then work up to reading more fluently.
Jessica:I know, I'm going to check that out. Because I'm like, my kid loves apps and loves his screen. It'd be kind of a fun way to incorporate that on to a child screen device, you know?
Sami Carrick:Well, yeah, there's another called Head Sprout too. But I think you have to pay for that one. But that's also great.
Jessica:Okay,
Rachel:I like that you have to sit down with the child and do it together rather than a set it and forget it type situation. That's helpful. Okay, so if, if kids are struggling to enjoy reading, if they are struggling to get into the routine, do you have any tips on that?
Sami Carrick:Yeah, great question. Usually, it's because of an underlying deficit. We don't like to do things that we're not good at. So that would be a big red flag for me personally and I would try and dive deeper into why is my child not interested? What are they struggling with. We want to find books that interest them, of course and even if that's for older kids, like graphic novels, worry about the quality, you know, quote, unquote, quality of a book, as long as it aligns with your parenting. I think that these books can be so powerful for kids, it helps them build their fluency, even if it's like an easier level for them. That's going to help them build their confidence. So as long as they are reading, like just get them in a book. And also kids can be eating snacks, they can be moving their body, take the books outside build a for and read with flashlights,. The goal is for it to be a positive experience together and we want to aim for consistency, small increments throughout the day, rather than like one big long chunk of time necessarily. And also, we can model it, it's important for kids to see the people that they love and respect reading and enjoying it. So let them catch you or the next time you're at the store, you know, like walk by the book section and just kind of linger ooh, I really want to read this one and I'm going to add this to my wish list. Even if you're with like a three year old, they are taking that all in books for the holiday. It's important that they see that these things are valuable and also consider open shelves like in your house, maybe. Sometimes we have these big bookshelves, and it's amazing but it could also be really overwhelming to find something you like. So, instead, maybe like get a small basket of three or five books or prop them up so they can see the cover, it's more inviting, way less overwhelming, and then of course, just building it into a routine in like every day, we're going to have some quiet time and we're going to read together or maybe read a devotional on the morning over breakfast as a family or when your spouse gets home or even like when my kids are playing in the bath sometimes I'm reading a book to them. Audiobooks are also really beneficial. You can get free ones on podcasts, or I really love the Yoto. They've got stories for four year olds all the way up to middle schoolers. So that's amazing and then one thing that probably not a lot of people are gonna like to hear, but limit TV. So we can't really expect these fast paced shows, and books to compete with that. It just kind of alters our expectations and the way that the brain is wired and the attention. So we've got to limit that in a way if we want books to take priority.
Jessica:I was just thinking when you mentioned graphic novels, I remember, it's been a while, but there was like a two year period the last couple years where my kid loved the dog man books.
Sami Carrick:Yeah.
Jessica:Or like, novel ish comic strip ish there and he would read an entire one of those in one sitting because he just, he thought they were so funny and yeah, totally about them. And so I think that's such a great tip of like, explore all the different types of books that are out there so that your child can find the one that they think is hilarious or interesting.
Sami Carrick:Yeah, we have to take the pressure off. We don't want our kids to feel that stress. So just getting a book in their hands,
Jessica:Well, I think to like the library.
Rachel:Do people go to the library still?
Jessica:I still go to the library.
Rachel:I do every week.
Sami Carrick:We do, but we have a really awesome one. So
Jessica:Like, go to the library on the weekends and just spend time looking through the different books and yeah, the library. For sure. It's free.
Sami Carrick:Yeah, I have a list of books I recommend by age as well that are kind vetted.
Rachel:I love that
Sami Carrick:And even for like the little kids. I mean, we've got toddlers who can hardly sit still, let's get some interactive books in their hands. Where they're lifting flaps, and they're feeling and they've got these sensory things. and there's funny rhymes and even they can sit for a book. It's just got to get their attention first.
Jessica:Yeah, totally.
Rachel:I think too, you know how kind of toy rotations are the thing right now. Book rotations are also really helpful. I put books in baskets in like every room with different books, and I have to like, I have to really think about it and like rotate the books out and put them away and change them,like if we have holidays, coming up with some holiday books. But I noticed that's really helpful for both of my kids to go over and they'll go pick out a book and check it out. But that's been helpful.
Sami Carrick:Absolutely. And it also reduces how often you have to read the same book over and over and over again with little kids. So I do it a lot for that reason, too.
Rachel:I just have to say we have a book called everybody poops and it is in Chinese, I think. My aunt got it for us because she's kindergarten teacher and Austin, who is my youngest, he's like 20 months right now, she has requested to read it every single night. She says, and she like brings the book to me and I'm like, we're reading. I don't even care, like funny. We're having fun. Making memory.
Sami Carrick:Yeah. I've got a couple of poop books on my recommended reading list as well.
Rachel:I love it. I love it.
Jessica:Want to talk about dyslexia a little bit. We've mentioned it a few times. What are some signs of dyslexia that we'll see in younger children?
Sami Carrick:Sure, well, it's neurobiological. So it's important that we know that like it has nothing to do with an IQ. Oftentimes, these kids are really smart. There's just something that's not clicking in reading, it doesn't quite match up their intelligence with their ability to read and really their brain wiring. It's bypassing this phonological processor. So we're gonna see kids that might struggle a lot with rhyming, or with sounding out and decoding and these phonics skills, which again, are kind of like those early skills that we're working on with kids. So if you're seeing some of that, not saying that your child has dyslexia, but start kind of thinking about it, because we can identify it with 95% accuracy. There's a lot of components to accurately identifying a child with dyslexia. But those are some of the big ones. Even in like poor handwriting. There's going to be a disconnect. So I've got a really extensive blog post on my website with some resources, next steps for parents as well. But honestly, I was never taught about it in college. It wasn't even recognized on IEPs when I was beginning a teacher so parents have to advocate hard for their kids in this area.
Rachel:I'm wondering why? I mean, do you feel like it's always been an issue and people just didn't know about it or didn't test for it or do you feel like we're just we know more about it now? What do you think?
Sami Carrick:Yeah, I think both. I think oftentimes these kids are so smart that they can compensate in ways that it doesn't quite throw off the same warning signs that maybe another reading difficulty or learning disability might. So these kids sometimes fly a little bit under the radar and also, I think it was just so tricky to understand. We didn't really have the research. But there's this amazing book called Understanding Dyslexia, by Dr. Shaywitz and they have this program out in Yale, and they've done so many studies on the brain to really hone this in and think about it from a neuro-biological standpoint, and get the support. So they've got an awesome screener as well. Highly recommend that and I've had that linked on my blog post kind of summarizing a lot of what she shares.
Jessica:That's so helpful.
Rachel:You have so many helpful resources, too. I love it.
Sami Carrick:I try.
Rachel:This is like gold that I didn't know I needed, but I needed it. Oh, it's so helpful.
Sami Carrick:Thank you.
Jessica:One thing that we often work on with our clients, as OTs and COTAs is handwriting.
Sami Carrick:Mm hmm.
Jessica:And so we've already kind of talked a little bit about the connection between reading and handwriting. But can you expand on that a little bit?
Sami Carrick:This is an interesting one, because there's studies that show handwriting contributes to development of reading, and then reading contributes to the development of handwriting. They're kind of this interrelated relationship and I think it's probably because there's so much overlap and brain function between these skills, right? So we've got like motor skills and visual processing, and these language, areas kind of function. So it's interconnected and that just highlights how badly we need multi sensory learning, in my opinion, like this holistic approach. But it also makes sense because like, as a child is writing or learning how to write, it's going to be reinforcing this relationship between spoken and written language, and then these auditory skills that they're getting with phonemic awareness. So even like fine motor skills is linked to reading achievement, I think it's just because of that coordination that's needed for efficient reading across, you know, the hemispheres of the brain. So I would recommend, like really just honing in on some fine motor skills when kids are younger, developing that strength in the hands, and then tie in some literacy if you can. So like we're matching, maybe clothes pins that have letters written on them. You're matching clothes pins onto a paper plate, that's easy. Your kids can do it while you're making dinner so win-win. We're using like, pipettes or spray bottles to erase chalk letters outside, while you're saying the letter sounds, you know, not just the letter names. So then you're getting both of these skills kind of working in. I really like practicing letters in like a sensory tray, as well to talk about letter formation, singing songs about letters and numbers. One program that I really like and recommend is called Handwriting Without Tears.
Jessica:I was just about to ask you about it.
Sami Carrick:Yeah. So it engages, you know, like multiple senses and so we're gonna see more success anytime we can have multi sensory learning. But also, anytime teaching something with my kids, we're going to start with movement and then we're going to work in some brain beat breaks. You know, handwriting can be really fatiguing for kids, especially if they are not strong enough, or they're compensating with different skills. So how can we make it more fun and get that enjoyment.
Rachel:I know we normally talk about this at the beginning of the episode, but just like learning more about what you do and stuff, how did you decide that this is the area you wanted to specialize in?
Sami Carrick:Wow, thanks. So actually, I went to school for math, science, technology education. I was really into STEM learning and critical thinking and doing like project based learning with kids. But when I got my first teaching job, I was in fifth grade, and I had kids, at least a third of my class could not read,. They were reading on a first grade level and so I kept asking around, like, how do I help these kids. You know, then the behaviors start creeping up, because they're just really so miserable in the classroom when they can't read, especially at that age. It's very emotional and relational for them and basically, nobody could give me a steady answer of how we can help these kids fill in the gaps. And I felt so underprepared. I went to this great college on education, and I didn't even have the skills to help these kids. So I started researching on my own and that's when I kind of came across the science of reading and I decided I'm gonna go get my masters I'm gonna figure this out. And, you know, obviously I didn't have kids at this time. I was able to devote all this time to it. I can't do that now. But and then I just kind of was reading about like, neuroplasticity, and I just kind of started doing some things on my own, weaving this in, and I got really excited with the results. My kids made incredible growth. I became a model classroom and then I was teaching other teachers what I had found and it just kind of evolved from there. And it's been just a passion that's kind of accidentally been put on my heart.
Rachel:Oh, my goodness. I love that. That's so cool.
Jessica:I like how you mentioned the behaviors, because I can only imagine what it would be like to be sitting in a classroom with your friends, and you have read or you're struggling to read, and you know that it's difficult, and you know that it's not hard for your friends and it's this big, emotional challenge for these kids.
Sami Carrick:Totally, it affects the entire classroom, and entire family. So it's really important that we get kids help as soon as possible,. Because especially I knew these kids were going off to middle school, they weren't going to get the intervention that they needed and it's important that we kind of catch these kids before it's too late.
Jessica:Totally. And I think this is great, too, that you mentioned, the multisensory, full body learning because that's we're big proponents of that as well. And love that idea that you know, in a treatment session for OT or speech therapy, to really focus on that full body movement, crossing midline, almost like these preparatory activities before you dive into those more higher level cognitive tasks.
Rachel:Totally. Well, as we kind of wrap up a little bit. I'm curious what you feel like is the biggest challenge with what you're doing? Anything?
Sami Carrick:Yeah.
Jessica:Besides lack of sleep.
Sami Carrick:Lack of time, right? I think raising awareness and education. So I've kind of got these two goals, we're trying to help parents recognize just how much power and responsibility lies in these early foundational years. It's exhausting. I'm in the thick of it right now. But being intentional can prevent so many struggles down the road. So trying to, you know, help parents where they're at. I don't want to add more to their plate. But yet, this is just so profound. And then also the teachers, you know, they have the best intentions, they work so dang hard. It's frustrating to learn that the way you were taught how to teach reading is wrong, or that the curriculum you're using are wrong. That is incredibly difficult to navigate and sometimes there's a lot of defensiveness. Sometimes there's a lot of guilt associated with it. So we're asking them to unlearn something and then they're trying to relearn on their own, you know. Their schools are not supporting them, or paying for them to go back and figure out the way and really get support that's aligned with the science of reading. So we've got these two difficult worlds and trying to integrate them. So parents and teachers work together is really tricky. But also, I mean, change is hard. But is there anything more important than society, knowing how to read? I don't think so it impacts everyone. So just hope that we can all give each other a lot more grace in this area and support each other so that kids get a better outcome.
Rachel:Very true. I love that.
Jessica:What is one last piece of advice that you could give to our listeners? It's a mixture of parents, therapists, educators.
Sami Carrick:I mean, you're all doing important work. I would say, create a family culture that just values reading. Like take the pressure off, make it feel like a book club. It's one of the greatest gifts that we can give kids and improves their empathy, their cognitive function, IQ, language, reading, focus, so many things, but it's also just this connected time together that we'll never get back. So focus on the reading, reading together, even when kids can read on their own, you can still keep reading to them. It's really powerful.
Jessica:Totally.
Rachel:So so many memories of like, reading with my family. when like, oh, sit down, read stories, like haha, it's so fun and I just I want that same Yeah, raise for my kids too. It's just so impactful, like you said, and it's such a simple step, a simple thing to implement. But with vast results and positive, positive. What's the word I'm thinking about?
Jessica:Positive results.
Sami Carrick:It's the biggest predictor in reading success. So it really has the most impact. I think.
Rachel:I'm excited to go to your website and get the all the freebies that you have and the book recommendations by age. I'm really excited about that.
Jessica:And we'll link all of that in the podcast show notes so that everyone listening can also get access to all of that.
Sami Carrick:Yeah, I've got a freebie also on like how to actually teach sight words, kind of the right way. So you've got kids of older ages there's stuff on there for you as well.
Jessica:I'm gonna be going into that for sure.
Rachel:All right, do you have any questions for us?
Sami Carrick:No, I mean, when can we hang out?
Rachel:I know. Where are you again?
Sami Carrick:I'm in Virginia. Williamsburg area.
Jessica:Yeah, a ways away.
Sami Carrick:Like Colonial Williamsburg. Great place to be here. I know, a hop, skip, and a jump right? 70 degrees here right now.
Rachel:Well, this was so fun, Sami. Thank you for taking the time. I know we had to reschedule. just life in general is crazy. So we appreciate you spending some time with us.
Sami Carrick:Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.
Jessica:Yes, thanks so much. I'm really excited to go to her website and look at some of her resources, and maybe try some of these different things with Logan. Honestly, he's a good reader, but just kind of the some of the spelling things were as interesting to talk about.
Rachel:Yeah, I just found I learned so much from Sami, in So. this episode. So many things that we can be implementing and I'm a big fan of like implementing stuff and ideas and strategies into just what we're doing daily, and I just have some new tricks and activities to try. I'm really excited about it and I'm also going to send this episode to my husband who is not as like, we're gonna read every single night like are doing all this. He's like it's find. I'm like nope, we are.
Jessica:This is it.
Rachel:The proof is in the pudding. The proof is in the research. I love that it's research backed and Sami has just a wealth of knowledge, as you heard. So definitely go soak up all of her resources, and we'll link everything in the show notes.
Jessica:If you enjoy this episode, make sure you send it to somebody else who will also enjoy it. Take a screenshot and tag us on Instagram. We are at all things sensory podcast. Let us know you're listening and be sure to include full body, crossing midline, repertory activities before reading and writing.
Rachel:Boom. Mic drop. Thank you so much for being here. We love you and we will not see you next week. We will chat with you next week. Unless you're watching youtube then we will see you on Tuesday but podcasts are Wednesday. Okay, there you go.
Jessica:Okay, bye.
Rachel:Thank you so much for listening to All Things Sensory by Harkla.
Jessica:If you want more information on anything mentioned in the show, head over to Harkla.co/podcast to get the show notes.
Rachel:If you have any follow up questions, the best place to ask those is in the comments on the show notes or message us on our Instagram account, which is at Harkla_family or at all things sensory podcast. If you just search Harkla, you'll find us there.
Jessica:Like we mentioned before our podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla. Whether it's for one of our digital courses or one of our sensory swings, the discount code sensory will get you 10% off.
Rachel:Head to Harkal.co/sensory to use that discount code right now.
Jessica:We are so excited to work together to help create confident kids all over the world. While we make every effort to share correct information, we're still learning.
Rachel:We will double check all of our facts but realize that medicine is a constantly changing science and art.
Jessica:One doctor or therapist may have a different way of doing things from another.
Rachel:We are simply presenting our views and opinions on how to address common sensory challenges, health related difficulties, and what we have found to be beneficial that will be as evidence based as possible.
Jessica:By listening to this podcast you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or your child.
Rachel:Consult your child's pediatrician or therapist for any medical issues that he or she may be having.
Jessica:This entire disclaimer also applies to any guests or contributors to the podcast.
Rachel:Thanks so much for listening