Multi-Sensory Learning That Actually Works | Dr. Emily Levy

In this parent-focused episode of The Gentle Year, Knikki sits down with Dr. Emily Levy, founder of EBL Coaching, to demystify special education, early reading struggles, and what parents truly need to know. Dr. Levy explains the early signs of dyslexia and learning differences, when to request a psychoeducational or neuropsychological evaluation, and the difference between an IEP and a 504 plan.

The conversation dives into the science of reading, the power of the Orton-Gillingham method, and why multisensory instruction helps children retain information and build confidence. They also discuss structured literacy vs. generic tutoring, red flags to watch for in tutoring programs, accommodations vs. remediation, and how AI should support — not replace — real learning.

If you’re a parent navigating ADHD, dyslexia, autism, reading comprehension struggles, or questions about special education services, this episode offers practical guidance, research-based insight, and hope.

🎧 Topics include:

• Early warning signs of reading difficulties
• IEP vs. 504 plans explained
• Multisensory learning at home
• Orton-Gillingham and structured literacy
• Assistive technology and AI in education
• Building confidence in neurodivergent learners

A must-listen for parents who want informed, individualized support for their child’s academic journey.

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Transcript

[ 00:00:01,600 ]Hey everyone, welcome back to The Gentle Year. I am here with Dr. Emily Levy. She is amazing, because her and I are both actually in the same space. We both are master educators. And Emily is someone who I admire after I met her. I knew right away I wanted to have her on the show because she is so... not just articulate, but so knowledgeable about things that parents really need to know, especially when navigating these early stages of reading comprehension and learning. And cognitive questions and cognitive issues that kids may be having. So this is going to be a really informative, informational discussion. So Emily, I want to thank you for being here. I appreciate you so much. And will you tell our audience a little bit about you, please?

[ 00:00:45,210 ]Sure. Well, first off, thank you so much for having me on today. And thank you for those kind words. Really appreciate that. To give you a little bit of my history, I actually grew up in the field of special education. My mother was the founder of a school for students with learning disabilities down in South Florida, which is where I grew up. So I spent so much of my childhood working at her school, working with neurodivergent children, seeing their lives change from having the right support in place. So I kind of feel like it's in my blood a little bit. But formally, I went to Brown University for my undergraduate degree. I then received my master's degree in special education. and then my doctorate degree in general education.

[ 00:01:25,700 ]And I really started out personally working one-on-one with students who had all different types of special education needs. and eventually formed EBL Coaching, where we now have a wonderful team of specialists who specialize in providing one-on-one instruction to special education students. I so appreciate that introduction. It really does give us a clear picture of who you are. Love that about your mom. And that she really inspired this. So it's in your DNA. I love that. Now, I have a question, and the question is, what does special education actually mean in practical terms? Well, in practical terms, it's really a student who has a diagnosis that needs specialized support. That could be autism, ADHD, a learning disability, a speech and language challenge, a physical disability, really any kind of sort of disability that requires additional accommodations or additional support in order to help them thrive academically.

[ 00:02:23,850 ]Yeah, that's a really clear definition of what that is. And I appreciate that because if I were to ask anyone else what defines special education, I don't know that they would have stated it as clearly. As you do. So I appreciate that. And I know the listeners do as well. So we'll start right off with parents. This is going to be a very parent-facing podcast today. So for the parents, who may be concerned. What are some of the early signs that a child is struggling with reading that maybe goes beyond just needing a little bit more time to develop? Well, when children are young, if they're demonstrating difficulty, learning basic early literacy skills like the names of the letters and their corresponding sounds, how to articulate the sounds of letters.

[ 00:03:10,530 ]How to orally blend sounds together to form words or blend syllables together to form words. These are early phonemic awareness skills, such as 'cupcake' forms 'cupcake'. They might have difficulty writing letters. As they get older, they may have a lot of difficulty decoding or sounding out words when reading. They may also have trouble with spelling, a lot of difficulty with reading fluency, meaning they read at a very slow, arduous pace, which creates frustration. Any of these could be red flags that something deeper may be going on. And I always like to tell parents that if they're noticing any of these struggles at home, don't wait. Start by reaching out to their teacher to express these concerns and see if maybe they're noticing these challenges as well.

[ 00:03:57,750 ]And that perhaps might warrant an evaluation to be done. Interesting. Now, if a school is suggesting that a child be put into special education, how do you think a parent can best navigate that? Because I know for me, if I were a parent and I had a child and the school was trying to push my child into special education, I would have significant reservations about doing so, especially because. A lot of kids in special education are years behind their general education counterparts. And I just don't feel that it needs to always be that way. So, if a parent has been told that by the school that they do recommend special education services, what do you say to them? How do you advise them?

[ 00:04:45,790 ]Well, I think, of course, it very much depends on the student and on the severity of their special education needs. The idea is that we want the least restrictive environment as we So, if a child has a mild learning disability, mild ADHD, most likely they can thrive and they can excel in a general education setting with extra accommodations, extra support. However, if there's a child, for instance, with severe autism who just can't function in a general education setting, it may very well be that a more specialized setting is better for them. Of course, the parents should explore what that setting looks like. Is it a giant mix of students who have behavioral challenges and emotional challenges and severe learning? challenges. Will their child receive the right support in that environment?

[ 00:05:32,240 ]So I encourage parents to ask a lot of questions and explore what that environment would look like, but ultimately really depends on the individual needs of each student. Yes, definitely agreed with that 100%. So you encourage parents to ask a lot of questions throughout this process, but how do parents ask better questions when they may not necessarily be familiar with this area of education? Well, I think the more they can learn about the struggles that their child is having, the diagnosis their child may have, the better. There's a lot of research available online. Information available online, but they really should start again with with the teacher communicating with the teacher sharing what they're seeing at home. Seeing what the teachers seeing in the class.

[ 00:06:15,780 ]And then, if something deeper is perhaps going on, they really should have a full, comprehensive evaluation so that they can know exactly what their child's profile is, what their needs are, and which setting, which services might be most appropriate for them. Interesting. And can you maybe give an example of what... an evaluation would look like? As an example, over the years, I've seen many students get tested at local universities for different things like dyslexia or autism or ADHD. And things of that nature, but I don't really know what that process actually looks like on the parent end. Can you maybe provide an example of what that could look like? Sure. So there are different types of evaluations. Most commonly, we'll see either a psychoeducational evaluation or a neuropsychological evaluation.

[ 00:07:03,370 ]I'm not a neuropsychologist. But I've read many of them. Neuropsychological evaluations tend to be usually the most thorough. Where a parent is first interviewed on the history of the child. child, any past struggles, any past services or testing that they've had. And then a full IQ test is done along with a full delve into their academic skills. A full delve into their emotional challenges that they may or may not have. And then, once all of that testing is done and reviewed, then a conclusion is made as to whether or not a diagnosis should be made and what should be recommended in terms of accommodations and/ or services. Interesting. And does this... have a cost to it? It depends. There are some districts that will pay for it.

[ 00:07:50,170 ]Really, every student is entitled to a free evaluation if it's necessary. Often, I find that the more comprehensive ones are done privately, but not necessarily. I think it really depends on the district and what's available for that particular student. Yeah, I appreciate that. And in terms of misconceptions around special education, what are some common misconceptions that you've noticed that parents have about special education? Well, I would say the first and foremost that I see in here is that special education students are not smart, that they don't have the ability to do well. They just can't. They're not smart. They're not intellectual. The reality is many, many students who have a learning disability or have ADHD or a combination thereof actually have very high IQs.

[ 00:08:37,870 ]They just struggle with an academic skill or a set of skills or focusing on executive functioning skills. So I think that's kind of a main misconception. And the other one, I think, is that some parents, probably less so, but are still afraid of the stigma of their child having a diagnosis that somehow will be frowned upon or looked negatively upon. But the reality is, by getting that diagnosis, it opens up the door for so many accommodations, so much support that a child can receive to help them thrive academically and to help them thrive with their self-confidence. Yeah, I really appreciate this perspective. It really does shed a very positive light on special education services in a balanced way. And I think that that's good because it's individual and it doesn't always have to be one way or one extreme versus the other.

[ 00:09:26,860 ]So I appreciate that very much. In your professional opinion, when is a good time for a parent to request an evaluation? I say in general, the earlier the better. However, a lot of evaluators won't give a diagnosis of, say, dyslexia before age five or six because so much is changing developmentally. But if a parent is noticing these struggles, sometimes they'll see these struggles as young as age two or three. I would say certainly by age five or six at the latest, if they continue to see these challenges, they may want to look into an evaluation. Interesting. Okay. And then, how do you feel about the special education, going the special education route versus seeking alternative schooling options? Is there a connection there? Well, again, I think it depends on the child and the severity of their needs.

[ 00:10:17,800 ]I think that, if it's a child that might just need a smaller classroom setting, then maybe a general ed school that has smaller classes and more individual attention might do the trick. But again, if it's a child that has severe special education needs, they may need a special education setting full-time for school, whether that's a public school or... Possibly a private school if that's an available option for the family. But I think it's, again, a matter of really understanding their child's specific needs, visiting schools, seeing what's available, and then ultimately identifying what's best for their child. Great. Yeah, that's a great summation of this. So we have—we have basically looking at the situation from a highly individualized perspective, not comparing your child to another child or to what your personal experience was as a parent.

[ 00:11:06,610 ]Parent growing up in the education system and saying, 'Well, their experience has to be like mine or all their other peers, because it can be very personalized and it doesn't have to be standardized. I think that's something super important for parents to be comfortable with. And they also have many options, many resources that are available to them.' Taking that first step, you're not going to see everything at first. You're not going to know everything at first. But just taking those first steps, and then you'll start to see more information. Then taking few more, you'll see more. And then gradually, your knowledge of this world will increase. Then you can start going from there and making some more significant decisions from there that are going to impact you, your family, and your child's life.

[ 00:11:49,260 ]But these decisions are going to be informed decisions. You're not going to be guessing throughout this whole process. So I think that's a good summation of kind of what you're saying there. Now, as far as IEPs and 504s, what is the difference between an IEP and a 504 plan? And how do parents know if their child needs one? And how do parents know which one they may need if they do feel that they do need one? Sure. Well, first up, parents really shouldn't go about this alone. This should really be based on the evaluation that is done before either a 504 or an IEP is developed. Usually, more severe disabilities will require an IEP, whereas less severe disabilities will likely require a 504.

[ 00:12:36,000 ]A 504 is typically where a child will kind of stay in the general education setting. They can access the general education curriculum, but they just need extra accommodations in order to help them do so. Whereas an IEP is again for more severe challenges where they likely can't access the general education setting without additional services, additional support. Interesting. Okay. And typically, what are these additional supports or accommodations that can be reasonably expected? From a school system to a child. Yeah, I mean, it really, again, varies a lot based on the needs of each child. Some examples of accommodations might be preferential seating, where a child is placed in closer to the... front of the classroom, extra time on tests. They might get a scribe for helping them write if they have dysgraphia or difficulty with writing.

[ 00:13:25,900 ]They may take tests in another room where it's quiet. or fewer distractions. Those are some examples of accommodations. In terms of additional services that we might see on an IEP, it might be things like... speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, special education, tutoring. So those are just some examples of what we might see on an I &P in terms of extra services. That's interesting. So quick question. For kids that have visual challenges, what are some methodologies or accommodations that can be used for them? Because that has always been something that, for me personally as a teacher, has eluded me if they have visual challenges. Yeah, I mean, a lot of when there's visual challenges, a lot of times we'll see enlarged text is something that's really helpful for children.

[ 00:14:13,550 ]So much of the text that we have to read now is very tiny that even students without visual challenges might have trouble reading it. So a large enlarged text tends to be really helpful for students who have those challenges. Yeah, appreciate that. And are there any examples of assistive technology that you've seen be really effective with kids with visual challenges or perhaps hearing challenges or a writing challenge? Are there any kind of assistive technologies that parents could look into? I think some of the best ones which are pretty much available now on most devices are speech-to-text and text-to-speech. Meaning text-to-speech is when information that we see on a screen is read out loud to the student. They can even wear headphones, and that's really helpful if they...

[ 00:14:59,370 ]have difficulty reading or seeing visual challenges. And then speech to text might be really helpful if they have difficulty expressing it. thoughts on paper when writing. They might have great ideas, but the limitations of either physically holding a pencil or physically typing or spelling and mechanics are great. or gets in the way, whatever it may be, it allows students to dictate information and then it's typed on the screen for them. Yeah, appreciate that. Now. Have you seen any artificial intelligence? Have you seen artificial intelligence be useful in this setting with special needs accommodations and things of that nature? Because it's... It's here. It's definitely here. And people, teachers, school systems, tutors, organizations are using this now all the time. So I'm curious to know what your perspective on artificial intelligence in this realm actually is.

[ 00:15:52,470 ]Well, I think you're right in that it's here to stay and it's only becoming more and more sophisticated, more and more part of our lives. I think what's tricky about artificial intelligence is that we still want our kids to learn how to read and write. We don't want them to just ask ChatGBT to write an essay for them. So I think really making sure that they're still learning the basic skills of how to read, write, and do math is very important. But at the same time, they need to really be able to learn to use AI as a tool, which will continue to involve spell check— Basic one, Grammarly, where a student who might really struggle with writing is able to access tools to help them self-check their work.

[ 00:16:30,430 ]So I think that's a key one. I think that there's so many tools that continue to grow and evolve that can help. Aid them in their process of learning, but not take the place of it. I think, also, as individuals get older, it's really helpful in creating resumes or editing resumes, helping to create letters for applying to jobs. So there's a lot of great ways it can be used as a tool, as long as it's not replacing the process of learning. Yes, I definitely agree with that. And I think more and more, at least based on what I have seen, is that there's a lot of replacing learning going on. There are organizations that are absolutely using it not for that reason. They're using it to actually enhance the learning and personalize and tailor the learning for the children.

[ 00:17:13,900 ]And I think that's amazing. But for some... especially in the public education system, I'm starting to see more and more people take the path of least resistance, and say, well, You know, the kid really doesn't need to... I actually had a teacher tell me this one time. They said, well, this child's just going to be a slumlord anyway. let them utilize AI because they don't need to know how to write a paragraph. What do they need to know how to write a thesis statement for? And I was just, I'm blown away that sometimes And there are educators that do feel that way. And I don't know if I'm not going to sit here and speculate as to why they feel that way. But I have seen things like that happen.

[ 00:17:49,570 ]And I'm very concerned. So I'm glad that you shared with. You shared, because it is true, it should not replace the process of learning. I fully agree with you. So in terms of, okay, so let's say we've got a parent, they've gotten the evaluation of their child, maybe they have a diagnosis, okay, something solid. And they're going to the schools. They have developed an IEP with the administrators and the teachers, the family and the child's input. Now, what should a parent look for in terms of whether this IEP is actually effective at this point? Well, I think first off, it really should match what the evaluation found. So usually, an evaluation, hopefully, it will be thorough, but will not just indicate a diagnosis, but will specifically indicate recommendations of services and accommodations that the child needs.

[ 00:18:42,620 ]So I think really making sure that that matches what was found in the evaluation. And then also making sure that, if services are recommended— like speech therapy, special education, tutoring, and so forth— there are providers available within the school that meet what your child needs, that will be available to work with them regularly as indicated on the IEP. Yes, and do schools work directly with you and your organization to provide some of these services? A little bit, some. So we do some work with special education tutoring as indicated on IEPs. Okay, cool. That's good. I hope they work with you more, because that would be amazing to see that come to fruition. So that's very good. So how often does an IEP need to be reassessed for effectiveness?

[ 00:19:32,340 ]Is this something I know it's going to depend on the child, of course, but is there kind of a ballpark figure? Is it every year, every three months? How often should these goals be assessed and reassessed? So evaluations are typically done every three years, but IEPs really should be updated every year based on how the child is doing. Okay, cool. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Now, in your opinion, based on your own professional experience, because I know you've worked with so many students and you've really changed lives, what makes special education instruction effective? Well, I'm a big believer in a multi-sensory approach to instruction when it comes to special education students, meaning we're not just working out of a workbook or listening to a teacher, but we're engaging the senses, the visual, the auditory, the tactile, and the kinesthetic modalities simultaneously.

[ 00:20:25,860 ]As we teach students, yeah, thank you for that. So when a parent hears the phrase 'multisensory,' what should they picture happening in the lesson? Like, I know when I was a teacher, well, before I became a teacher, I was... doing some observations in some classrooms and stuff. And one of the sensory approaches I thought was really cute. Now I teach high school. I was working, well, not working, but observing in an elementary school. And the teacher had like a little box. It was a tin box and it had sand in it. And the teacher would do spelling activities where the kids had to take their fingers and write in the sand and they would spell the words and all that.

[ 00:20:59,520 ]And I thought, 'That's really cool.' So when parents hear 'multisensory,' what should they be picturing happening in the lesson? I think that example that you gave is an example of a multisensory tool. That's a great tactile kinesthetic aspect of working on spelling, working on writing. Of tools like that, colored sand, magnetic tiles, mini whiteboards, multicolored highlighters, these are examples of multi-sensory tools that should be used within the context of a structured plan for teaching. Yeah, thank you for that. Now, are there any specific multi-sensory tools that you use for dyslexic students versus ones with autism? Well, again, it depends on the student, but generally speaking, the Orton-Gillingham method is really the most ideal multisensory approach for students with dyslexia. It's specifically designed to help develop decoding and encoding skills—or, essentially, the phonetic aspect of reading and spelling.

[ 00:21:58,000 ]That's really interesting. So for the parents that didn't grow up learning with this multisensory approach, I learned through phonics. I did Hooked on Phonics, you know, the 1-800, you know, call 1-800-ABCDEFG. Like that was the number that my mom called to get me the phonics set in it. It worked amazing, and I never had any multi-sensory type things done so that I could read well. I just didn't. I never needed it. So I guess for the parents who never actually experienced that themselves, and they're just learning about this, can you tell us why these multisensory approaches really help children retain the information? Well, I think there is a lot of research that supports a multisensory approach, particularly for neurodivergent learners. But first off, the multisensory approach helps to engage students.

[ 00:22:50,870 ]So if they have difficulty staying focused, maybe they're not as interested in the content. The fact that it's so engaging and multisensory in terms of the tools really helps them to stay focused and ultimately digest the information better. And also the act of involving all of these senses helps the information stick in our long-term memory for longer periods of time. So even students who are not necessarily... necessarily special education or neurodivergent, tend to really enjoy a multisensory approach and also benefit from it, even though they might not necessarily need it, they tend to also benefit from it. Yes, I was going to ask you a little bit later whether or not you felt that this multisensory approach could benefit everyone, or is this like very specific to students with certain academic profiles?

[ 00:23:33,440 ]And you answered that question, so I appreciate that very much. So I have a lot of people who are homeschooling their children right now that listen to this podcast. Can you give an example of an at-home multisensory reading support activity? Sure. Well, again, it really should be within the context of a whole structured plan of learning. But to give one example, let's say, for instance, we were working with a child on understanding. The names of the letters and their corresponding sounds and how to blend together basic two and three-letter words. Well, for the letter A, for example, we might make an audio-visual flash card with the letter A on the front and a picture of an apple on the back, which would be our key picture.

[ 00:24:13,810 ]And we would hold up the card and say, 'This is the letter A, like apple. It makes a sound: ah.' And we would have do that with the child and then have them do it independently on their own. And then we might sky-write. We might say, when we write the lowercase 'a', we go around up and down, and have the child do it with us. And then, usually, we'll have them do it on their own. And then we take out colored sand or shaving cream or sugar, whatever may be available, and do that same tracing exercise in the sand, seeing out loud the formation. And then, once we've really made sure the student understands that, later we would then work on how to blend those sounds together to form words.

[ 00:24:51,810 ]We could do it with the flashcards after we've introduced it. P-F-S-T-N-A. We might blend sounds together using flashcards, using magnetic tiles. We can use real words or nonsense words to really make sure that they're decoding words. So that's just an example of what a multisensory lesson could look like. I really appreciate that. And I was just kind of laughing in my head as you were talking because I was thinking to myself, 'God, if I was one of those kids with the sand or the sugar, I would have been the one like.' With my face on the table, like trying to lick the sand or something. Just been, as a six-year-old kid, I would have just been like, 'Well, what am I doing? And doing something crazy.' We have to modify a little bit.

[ 00:25:31,790 ]Like we might keep the Ziploc bag and have them trace over it. So sometimes we'll modify, but usually the kids really enjoy it. Yeah. No, they definitely do. I think that this is an incredible way of learning and most students are definitely going to get so much out of this because it really does engage the whole child. It's not just It's not just academic. And I think that's so important because today in today's education system, what I see at the high school level is that kids are sitting in desks around six hours a day, probably more, but they're sitting in those desks and they're not moving. They're just watching. Listening, copying, and that's really it. Now, there are, of course, some activities where they're up and about— maybe doing a gallery walk or whatever the case may be.

[ 00:26:19,220 ]Or maybe they're working on a group project. But most of the time, is spent not engaging the physical senses of these kids. It's interesting to me because, in academia, it's almost shunned to to get outside and to go do stuff. It's considered abnormal. It's considered— almost an extreme. Like it's that, that's a fun activity, but it's not a learning activity. This is just something fun. What's your response to that? That sort of thought process starts to change because, first off, there's so much more buy-in from the students, especially when they're older. If they are engaged and they're enjoying it, they will remember it more, they'll learn more, and they'll be more engaged. And it's just very effective. So I think, hopefully, that thought process, like I said, will change as things progress forward.

[ 00:27:14,790 ]Yeah, I hope so, too. I really, really, really do, especially for the sake of this whole generation. Because I've seen it. Unfortunately, I have seen kids who are in high school and some are in middle school. And they have no physical dexterity at all. No athleticism. It's, it's bizarre. One time I was with a with a child who, this child, does not have any special needs. And we were doing an activity. The putt-putt was the activity. And so, you know how you hold the golf club, you know, you hold, you hold the putter and then you hit the ball and whatever. Well, the girl was holding the putter in. such an awkward way because she had no idea how to do it, which was fine.

[ 00:28:02,770 ]You know, if you'd never had done it before, maybe you wouldn't know. But it was so unbelievably awkward the way that she was holding it that it stood out to me. It wasn't just like a small correction here or there. Like you would have if you were learning how to play golf or learning how to play basketball, you know, you may need to have some tweaks or technique adjustments. But this was like a whole. Whole body switch, up, change, modification that we had to do because her body had no idea. It didn't acclimate to the sport at all. And so, anyway. Anyway, I moved her arms. I, of course, I asked her, I was like, can I, can I help you, you know, fix this or whatever? And she said, yeah.

[ 00:28:39,090 ]So I moved her arms and I put her hands on the, on the putter the right way. And even just me moving her hands and her arms, it did not feel natural at all. Um, Because the reason why I say this is because when I moved one hand. The other arm should have adjusted a little because, when you move the body, when you turn, when you move, you know— when I, if I, if I move my, my chest like this. My shoulders are moving with it. But just imagine if I'm moving my chest and my shoulders aren't moving or whatever the case is. It was like that, but with her arms, there was no adjustment. So I had to physically move every single essential piece of her body, including her feet, her ankles, and her legs.

[ 00:29:24,290 ]To get her to hold this putter correctly, just so she could hit the ball gently down the little course. And I was like, 'Oh my gosh.' And it wasn't just her. It was almost all of the students were like that. They didn't have the physical dexterity to do these things. And I'm thinking to myself, 'Is it just because they've been sitting down? pretty much their whole lives. They're on their phones. They're at the computers, watching TV, playing video games. I don't know. But it was very, very, very scary. So do you have any thoughts on that? Because in today's world, I feel like kids are much more sedentary than they used to be. Well, they are. And I think finding a balance is always a tricky one.

[ 00:30:06,090 ]And I think to your point, kids now are so used to sitting in front of a screen, being on their phones, being on the computer. So I think the more parents can encourage their children to. Put their screen down, go outside, play a sport, go for a walk, be with their friends outside without using their devices, the better for so many reasons. But I think it's a challenge because I think. So much of how we communicate and socialize and the academic work we do is in front of a screen. So I think it just takes a lot more effort now. To make it a point to put the screen down and do something that doesn't involve looking at a screen. Yeah, I really appreciate that because I mean, I have seen it in PE classes.

[ 00:30:46,970 ]I've seen it everywhere where, like, if you look at videos from, like, the 1970s or 80s or whenever, and you see kids in, like, PE class, you know, there's a lot of athleticism in those classes they're doing. Monkey bars, they're on, and it doesn't matter the age, but they're doing a lot of things that require physical skill and dexterity. You look at PE classes today and it's like, 'All right.' I can't even describe and put into words what it looks like because a lot of the students just don't have any athletic ability whatsoever. It's almost like they're still, even as high schoolers, they're still in some kind of developmental stage physically. You know, they're mature because their bodies are maturing because they're at a certain age. But in terms of mobility and dexterity.

[ 00:31:29,710 ]They're still at, I would say, an early and soft skills and gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Many of them are still at, like, the elementary age for that. It's very concerning. So any thoughts before we move on to the next thing? No, I think you're right on target. And I think, again, as a parent, just encouraging, putting the screens down, getting outside, doing physical activities is so key. Yeah, definitely appreciate that. So earlier you had mentioned, you know, not just giving a little tip, like here's a homeschool tip. Here's a little physical activity that you can do with your homeschool children. You mentioned having a structured program. And so can you talk to us a little bit about the differences between structured literacy programs and just generalized tutoring and tips and things of that nature?

[ 00:32:13,140 ]Well, you know, a lot of times parents will come to us and they will tell me about an experience they've had in the past where a tutor just came and every time they came, it was a different lesson. They were reading a book. book. [book or] they brought a worksheet and nothing really was strung together. And our approach is that it needs to be strung together, new concepts as they're introduced. Old concepts need to be spiraled back and reintroduced to help the students really remember what they learned in the past. So we'll always start with where the student is at academically. Whether they're at the level of decoding single syllable words or writing a basic sentence, but can't do anything more than that, or wherever they're at. And we will.

[ 00:32:53,170 ]come up with a structured plan that builds upon itself, starts with where they're at, and then gradually increases in difficulty as they develop proficiency within each level of the skill. Interesting. How do you develop this structured program? Is it like, okay, for six weeks, this is the specific skill that we're going to work on for this six weeks, and then we're going to reevaluate and go to the next six weeks? How do you develop this program out? It's more individualized than that. There might be a student that is able to grasp a concept in two weeks and another student that might take three months to get that same concept. So it's really a matter of focusing on the individual student, how they're responding, the pace of their response, and really moving on when they're ready.

[ 00:33:36,560 ]Yeah, I agree with that. The readiness is so important. And that's one thing that even my dad, as a kid, it took me a while to learn how to walk. I didn't walk independently until I didn't even know— I was a little bit older. It was like maybe three years old, two or three or something like that. And my grandma and my mom, they were worried. And they were like, 'Is something wrong with her?' Because she's not walking. And. My dad. As sometimes we can have an interesting relationship at times, one of the best things that he ever did was to tell them. Nothing is wrong with her. She will do it when she's ready. And that was a really important lesson that even I still carry with me to this day.

[ 00:34:20,840 ]I'm living my life, when I'm making decisions, when maybe I feel rushed to do this or to that, you know, maybe I feel pressured, whatever it is, it could be a life lesson, anything. And I will always go back to my own readiness and the way that I can tell when I'm ready. And I know parents must experience this too. It's something internal. It's something very internal that says, 'I'm ready now.' I'm not— maybe yesterday I wasn't ready and that's okay, but there's a switch that happens internally and you are ready and then you just. Just you just go. Have you seen anything like that happen in your practice where, like, you're working with a student? It feels like you're not making any progress. They're not they're they're not getting it.

[ 00:35:02,420 ]And then, just one day, everything clicks. Oh, all the time. Absolutely. A lot of times, it's a struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, and then they get it and then they're ready to move on and they've got it. They keep it and they're able to use it and build upon it. Again, it really just depends on the student and that's why everything really needs to be highly individualized to the needs of each student. Yeah, thank you for that. So the Orton... Forgive me if I'm mispronouncing this. Orton Gillingham? Yeah. Okay, cool. I've heard of this methodology so much, especially in recent years, and I'm sure it's fantastic. So can you kind of talk to us a little bit more about like what it is and is it sort of the foundation for decoding language?

[ 00:35:42,010 ]Because I'm not exactly sure. Yeah, so the Orton-Gillingham method is a multisensory approach to really teaching the phonetic aspect of reading and spelling, meaning it's very structured. All of the concepts spiral back and previously taught concepts are integrated when future concepts are introduced. Of course, it's multi-sensory, it's research-based, and it's very much individualized to the needs of each student. Typically, there's also scope and sequence. So it will usually start at the level of individual letters and their corresponding sounds and how to blend them together to form words. Words with blends, words with consonant digraphs, vowel digraphs, multi-syllabic word patterns, prefixes, suffixes, and roots, and so on. So again, starts with the basics and then builds upwards from there. That makes perfect sense. Thank you for that explanation.

[ 00:36:32,120 ]So can older students, like middle school and high school students, if they're... If they're not reading well, or maybe even adults that haven't had the foundation that they need, can this approach fix these foundational weaknesses? Absolutely. This approach can help students of any age. It's a matter of identifying where their holes are, where their struggles are, and then really targeting it at that point and building upwards from there. Okay. And as I was doing some additional research before this podcast, correct me if I'm wrong. But I think I read that you conducted a five-year research study on reading comprehension? Yes. Okay, wanted to make sure that that was correct. So what did you discover that surprised you the most about reading comprehension?

[ 00:37:15,650 ]Well, I discovered that, you know, not every student is able to visualize information when they read or when they're read to. So, teaching students how to visualize. How to use web-based diagrams, how to use a visual approach to creating images in their head of information that they read, really is very helpful in developing stronger reading comprehension skills. Okay. Can you talk to us a little bit more about that? Just kind of slow that down. Let's distill that because, yeah, go ahead. So an example, um, might be um, let's say we are reading a passage out loud to a student. This is how we might kind of teach them how to visualize um and it could be a very basic five-sentence story. We usually start at a basic level before we move to higher levels.

[ 00:38:01,070 ]And it might be something like: 'A boy was sitting by a fireplace roasting marshmallows.' So what we want to do is encourage the student to create a visual image of the scene. And we do that by asking prompting questions. How old do we think the boy was? What color was his hair? What time of day was it? Did he have any friends with him? Were the marshmallows big? Were they small? So we want to ask these leading questions to help the students create a visual image of the story that they're either hearing or the story that they're reading about. And then they go to the next sentence and do the same and so forth. And then, at the end of the story, we have them retell the story back first.

[ 00:38:41,100 ]All of those extra vivid details that they were able to visualize, and then trying to just focus on details from the story. And it really helps build the skill of visualizing information and ultimately improving their reading comprehension. Yeah, I can definitely see that being a case or being the case just because when you are learning. If you close your eyes and you visualize something, and you create sort of an elaborate story around what you're learning, whether that's reading in English class or maybe math class or science. If you're creating this visual world, you know, sort of like world building when you're writing a book. It can really help you remember things. I've seen it myself. I've also seen, oh, God, I cannot remember the name of this methodology for the like me.

[ 00:39:25,370 ]It was Greek. It was something Greek. Well, anyway. What they did was they would train your mind to remember certain bits of information. Maybe you're learning a formula in calculus class or something like that, or you're learning elements of literature and rhetoric, or something like that, and what they would do is they would say, 'Okay, visualize your house, and put each piece in a specific room.' And then, you know, by doing those activities, you just somehow magically remembered. All of the information at your facility, with your company. Do you guys do like memory things to help people increase their ability to recall information as well? Yeah, absolutely. If that's something that a student is struggling with, especially when it comes to test taking, learning information for a test, we'll build in strategies for that as well.

[ 00:40:20,610 ]Oh, yeah, that's really good. OK. And do you have any specific like test taking strategies to offer parents and kids? Some of the like the little test taking strategies that I give people are just. Always look at the full exam because many times, maybe not all the time, but many times the answer to the question you're looking for is probably like in one of the previous questions, things like that. So do you have any like... test taking tips, especially for kids who may struggle with test anxiety or just struggle with tests in general. Yeah, I mean, there's so many different types of so many different strategies, depending on the kind of test, depending on the content.

[ 00:40:54,990 ]For example, if they have to learn vocabulary words for a test, we might teach them, again, a sort of a visualization strategy where they might create a flashcard, whether it's a physical flashcard or they can use an electronic form. They put the word on the front and then on the back, they'll write the definition that they can connect to. They'll create a picture. And again, that could be a Google image or it could be drawing their own picture to help them recall the word. And we'll have them write a sentence with the word in it. And all of those pieces together really help them to recall and remember the definition of the word. Yeah, most definitely. I love that approach. Now, for a question, why do you think that some students struggle, like they do so well with decoding words?

[ 00:41:38,340 ]But they struggle with the comprehension piece of it. And the reason why I asked that question is because, like, one of the biggest anti-phonics arguments, which I do not agree with. Like, just for the record, I do not agree with this at all. But people would say that we can't do phonics because the kids Kids can read the words, but they don't know what the words mean. And so then there was this shift from phonics to, you know, quote unquote, whole language where kids didn't learn how to decode words. They were looking at pictures of words. So here's the word horse. Here's a picture of a horse. And you would try to associate the word that you see with the picture, but you still have no ability to read the word.

[ 00:42:16,870 ]You're just trying to memorize it and all of that. And so, What I have found with students who were taught, quote unquote, how to read utilizing that method is that they struggle with comprehension. Far more than anyone I have ever met or known that was taught the phonics way. So in your opinion, why do some students just decode so well, but maybe just struggle with the comprehension piece? You know, I think there could be a lot of reasons. I think some of it could be the way they were taught. Some of it could be genetic. It could be just the way their brain is structured. But I think ultimately. As we get older, we're not always going to have pictures to connect with words.

[ 00:42:54,910 ]And we really need to have the tool set of how to decode words that we've never seen before in order to really understand what we're reading. So I think having the ability, learning the ability to decode words, is so critical in being able to understand and process the information that we read. Yeah, no— most definitely. I appreciate that. I didn't think of it as being genetic. Were you thinking of like dyslexia or something that maybe they've inherited, like a learning disability? It's possible that it could be a learning disability, that they have a learning disability. To reading comprehension or language processing and not necessarily decoding. Okay, cool. So if a parent, like I said, a lot of people, they homeschool their children. I think that's amazing. But how do you...

[ 00:43:38,890 ]What would you recommend for parents? as far like if they're teaching their child. How can parents think about teaching reading and particularly reading comprehension differently? Well, I think if a parent is homeschooling their child and the child has dyslexia or a language-based learning disability, if they have the ability to take an Orton-Gillingham training course or to... do some additional professional development of their own to learn how to teach their child more effectively, that would be ideal. But in general, following a structured approach, integrating multi-sensory tools, bringing back old concept sets as they introduce new ones, those are all really helpful tools when instructing students. Okay. That's really good to know. What does that training look like? I know you've obviously gone through it and the people you've worked with have gone through it.

[ 00:44:27,230 ]What does the Orton-Gillingham training look like? Like, I might have to go through it myself. Yeah, I mean, there's different ones that are offered from different organizations. The Orton-Gillingham Academy has some. Different school districts have them. Some colleges and universities also have them. So they're all different. Many of them are 30-hour courses, but some are done over several weekends. Some are done on evenings. So it really depends. There's lots of different courses, but the idea is really understanding what the methodology is and how to best teach it. Okay. And can you incorporate this approach virtually? And can you also incorporate the multi-sensory approach? multi-sensory. Wait, let me ask you a different question: is the Orton-Gillingham approach the training on multi-sensory teaching? No, the Orton-Gillingham approach is a form of multisensory teaching that's specific to reading and spelling.

[ 00:45:14,140 ]Okay, cool. Thank you for that. So in terms of multisensory teaching and the Orton-Gillingham method, can you execute these practices virtually? And if so, how so? Yeah, so we do a lot of virtual tutoring, actually, that is multisensory. And either we will mail the student a set of multisensory tools and the tutor will have the same. One so they can engage physically as though they were next to each other in person, or we'll use a lot of electronic multi-sensory tools, like electronic magnetic tiles, electronic math manipulatives, so there are electronic highlighters. There are a lot of electronic tools that we can integrate as well. Hmm. Interesting. Okay, cool. That's good to know that you can actually do these things virtually.

[ 00:45:54,840 ]Is there any kind of like preparation on the parents and that they need to be ready for, if, if that's something you advise them to do? I mean, really, the most important thing is a good Wi-Fi connection, honestly, because that is the biggest challenge that we see with virtual tutoring. But other than that, a good tutor is really able to work with the student. The right tools in an effective manner. Okay, cool. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. And yeah, the Wi-Fi, that's a whole different thing. So for students who maybe... Maybe they're struggling with motivation, or maybe they're struggling with their self-esteem a little bit just because they feel like they've got to have some of the support. Actually, let me rephrase this.

[ 00:46:33,680 ]Sometimes I think that parents, some, not all, but sometimes I think that some parents put on a lot of negativity on their children when they talk about like these disabilities and these disorders and things like that, because these are really heavy words. And if a kid, especially at a young age, takes on that identity. Maybe they internalize that a little bit. That's it. I feel like it can definitely impact their motivation, their self-esteem. They may feel like, what's the point of learning when I've got this disability? Or I have even seen students brag about it. I know that I was one of those kids when I was little. Oh my gosh, it was so wild. If I thought that I had something, or I don't know, whatever the case was, I would go around and I would tell everybody about it.

[ 00:47:24,200 ]I remember being even a kid, I heard the word 'hypochondriac.' One time. And because I was a kid, I misunderstood the word. And I thought that a hypochondriac was someone who got hurt all the time. And I did— I was sort of injury prone. And I would go around and I would say to everybody, 'I'm a hypochondriac, I'm a hypochondriac.' And they were like, 'Yep, you definitely are.' And then it wasn't until I got older. I realized what it was. And so I was just like, 'Oh my God.' So anyway, the question that I'm trying to ask you is: how do you, if you have a student that's maybe struggling with what they're going through, how do you keep them motivated, especially when progress may feel kind of slow?

[ 00:48:06,530 ]Well, I try to always take a positive approach with students. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Some of us are great at swimming. Some of us are not great at swimming. Some of us are great at reading and some of us are not. So no one is perfect. I first off is I always try to relay that, and then the other piece is instead of using any kind of negative words, just like when we play soccer, we have a soccer coach, we now have a reading coach or a learning coach that's just going to help you better, become better at that skill. So really just trying to take that positive spin, and no one's perfect. We always have strengths and weaknesses, and we all have opportunities for growth. Yeah, most definitely.

[ 00:48:42,040 ]I thank you for that. Now, in terms of tutoring programs, what are some you made a great post for those of you guys just for who are listening to the show for context. I was looking at her Instagram page and there was an amazing post that she had made about tutoring programs and just kind of what to look out for, what you don't want in a tutoring program. And so the question for you, I would love for you to go over this information because it was really important. So what are some red flags that parents really should watch out for? Well, it's not necessarily to say that tutoring programs are bad, because sometimes you do need to just a generalized approach, you know, some some support in that way.

[ 00:49:18,040 ]But for something as specific as what you do, what are some red flags that parents should probably be on the watch for? Well, I think first off, someone who might be providing just generic tutoring or homework help may not be ideal for a child with special needs. Someone who doesn't really have a method, a structured approach that they'll be following. That's kind of a red flag. Someone who's maybe never worked with a child like their child— who has dyslexia, or ADHD, or whatnot. You want someone who's really done a lot of work with students like that. Those are some red flags that you may want to look for. And what to look for is really having that structured approach, having someone who has a lot of experience working with students like their child, and having someone who they'll connect with from a personality standpoint.

[ 00:50:05,470 ]Yes, definitely that part. Now, in terms of long-term goals, if you have a structured approach, obviously, there's this natural lack of ability, but there's this natural need for a long-term goal. If you're going to have a structured approach and it's not just going to be homework help or generalized tutoring, then there has to be some kind of a goal at the end. End because it wouldn't be a structured approach if there was no goal. So what does long-term success actually look like for your clients, the people that you work with, and for the kids and the families? Again, I think it depends on the individual child, on their profile, on their struggles. It might be, for example, a child who is in fifth grade who can only write.

[ 00:50:47,080 ]One sentence with incorrect capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, we might want to, you know, in a year, get them to a point where they're able to write a five-paragraph essay. Say, or maybe we don't think that child is even really able to do that in a year. They might only be able to write a single paragraph in a year. So it's a matter of kind of looking at their profile, looking at who they are, coming up with what we think is a realistic goal, and then really modifying that along the way as needed. Okay. Now, in terms of writing, how do you help a student to develop the editing skills that they need to be able to evaluate their own writing and their own grammar skills and that kind of thing?

[ 00:51:23,970 ]We try to give them structured tools for how to go about doing that. So instead of saying, 'now go back and self-check your work,' we might use a checklist like COPS, which stands for C is Capitalization. So we want to go back and check for capitalization errors and then check off the C in that checklist. O is organization, then punctuation, and then spelling. So giving them concrete tools for how to go back and self-check their writing rather than just saying, 'now go and self-check.' Okay, so quick question. So the grammar, that part makes sense because it's concrete, it's black and white. Make sure your capitalization, your commas, and punctuation, and all that, is there makes perfect sense. But you can have a sentence that's grammatically correct that doesn't read well.

[ 00:52:03,680 ]It doesn't flow like it should. So is there anything that you do? That helps to train kids like their ear? You know what I mean? Because like whenever I write something, I'm always like reading it out loud and listening for what feels right. Is there anything like that that you guys do to help kids kind of develop that feel for good writing? Yeah, and I think that's where a strong teacher comes in. So what we might do for an example like that is, Um. If they wrote, say, a sentence that didn't quite flow right. We might say, let's look at three other examples where this flows really well. And let's compare yours to that one. And let's see how maybe we can make yours a little bit like these. A little better.

[ 00:52:44,480 ]So giving them examples of what is a better way to write, without them feeling bad about the writing, but showing them concrete examples and then helping them to modify their own work. Yeah. Have you ever experienced a situation where a kid's getting tutoring from you and they just, they shut down, they have a complete meltdown? And if so, what did you do? Sure. And a lot of times we have to just pivot in that moment. So, if they just shut down, they refuse to do any writing, we might just pivot and have them dictate for now. Say, you know what? I'm going to do the writing for now. You're going to dictate to me what this paragraph is going to be, and then we'll edit it together.

[ 00:53:18,960 ]And then, slowly with time, we'll bring in topics that they're interested in. And we might have them maybe just write one sentence and the tutor will write the rest and slowly get them into the idea of writing if they're not able to initially. Okay, so when a kid comes to you, do you start, it doesn't sound like this, but do you start with high interest material based on the students likes and hobbies and things like that? Or do you start mainly with like, what the school is asking for? It depends. So usually we'll begin with an evaluation to gauge their needs. If we feel that it's the kind of student that really needs high interest material, we will bring that in from the start, but not every student. necessarily needs that.

[ 00:54:00,130 ]And of course, when we're in school, we're not always going to be interested in every topic we come across. So it's important that we're able to work on topics and concepts that may not immediately pique their interest. Yeah, definitely. It comes with time. That's definitely a learned skill there for sure. My dad used to say that as well. He was like the mark of true character when he was talking to me is he was like, 'how you do things that you love is one thing because you're always going to be great at that.' But it's how you approach things that you don't love that really shows me who you are. And so that was always kind of he always had like these little one-line one-line zingers and stuff like.

[ 00:54:39,030 ]That that you know just kind of have always stuck with me and I'm 38 now so appreciate that dad if you're listening so anyway if you could give parents one piece of advice to you know especially a parent who's struggling and has a learner who may be struggling what would that be I would say that there are so many incredible individuals who have special education needs, who are neurodiverse, who are amazing. successful in life, CEOs, business leaders, celebrities, you name it. It's really getting through school that can be a challenge, but every student has the ability to excel and succeed in life. It's just helping them, giving them the tools to get through school that is often a challenge, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

[ 00:55:24,200 ]Yeah, most definitely. So, sort of, some rapid-fire questions here. Do you think that we as a society are over-diagnosing learning disabilities? Not necessarily. Okay. Interesting. Do you think that we're under-supporting students and learning different, like students with learning differences in today's world? I think in many school systems, yes, but I think it is improving. Okay. And in your opinion, what's the key difference between an accommodation and remediation? And a combination is an extra. Support or tool that can help a child in the classroom to access the general education material remediation is really more. Tackling a core issue using a method that's best for that child. Yeah, yeah, I definitely could see that. And in your experience, have you ever worked with a student who struggled severely struggled with reading and they eventually became like a very confident reader and maybe even a confident writer?

[ 00:56:30,060 ]Yes, many times. Proud to say that. Can you talk to us a little bit about what that experience was like for that? But if you can, if you're allowed to share that information. I mean, of course, I can't give any specific names, but we've had many students who come to us where they either are non-readers or can read at a very low level. And with time, with the right support, with the right pace, and frequency of instruction, we've seen tremendous growth in reading, writing, and math skills that is amazing. I love that. For you guys, and then, in terms of movement. Why do you think that, especially for kids who are dyslexic or have these challenges, why do you think that some students just kind of thrive when movement sounds visual?

[ 00:57:10,790 ]Why do you think that they do so well? And have you ever experienced a situation where a kid didn't, they did not embrace that approach and maybe they even shut down? Well, first off, I think it really helps engage them. And yes, there are times when an exact approach that we think will work for a student doesn't necessarily work. And then we either have to tweak that and modify it or we try something else. There's a lot of different approaches that we can pull from if a student isn't responding to a method for whatever reason. Yeah, definitely. I just— I love that, that you're— you're really just taking it day at one day at a time, one student at a time. And that's really beautiful.

[ 00:57:48,010 ]So, is there anything that— gives you, I mean, you're doing great work. You're doing great work. It's just, it's so impactful. And I'm very happy to know you because to be connected with somebody. Who's entrepreneurial, teaching, loves academics in the same way that I do, and you're just making people's lives so much better and so much richer. It's an incredible thing for me to witness. And I appreciate you so much. And I know that the parents who work with you do as well. So long term, what gives you hope for these upcoming generations of learners and kids? Well, I think that there are, there are, more and more professional development happening. There's more and more acceptance and acknowledgement of the science of reading and using the right approaches for students that I hope that continues to grow and evolve and that more students receive the support that they need and that they deserve.

[ 00:58:42,550 ]Yeah, most definitely. Well, as we wrap up here, this is a question that I always ask every guest that comes on the show. You can interpret it however you want to. It's totally open-ended. And the question is, what do you believe is the most important education that a child could ever receive? I think confidence building is so important. I think that's such a a large piece of success in life. So whatever we can do to build a child's confidence, make them feel good about themselves is so important. Yes, thank you so much for that. And where can we find you, Dr. Emily? Because I know people are going to want to reach out to you. And for the record, guys, for the people who are listening, I have invited Emily to come into our Facebook page.

[ 00:59:22,870 ]She's going to be a gem, I know. So hopefully she'll join us there. But outside of that, where can we find you? Well, thank you. Best Place is our website, which is eblcoaching. com. There's lots of articles that I've written, podcasts that I've been on, of course, information about our tutoring programs. And then we are also on all of the social media channels under EBL Coaching, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn. Well, we'll have to have you back, Dr. Emily. We appreciate you so much. Thank you for everything. And thank you for coming on The Gentle Year today. Thank you for having me. It's been a great conversation.