Quick links:
1.Rethinking Traditional Intervention
2.The Logical Letters Method
3.Tailor-Made Materials
Rethinking Traditional Intervention
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Logical Letters is a strength-based approach to the remediation of dyslexia.
Driven by dyslexic minds, created slowly and passionately over 35 years, the Logical Letters program uses traditional styles of intervention, but with a difference!
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The integration of LOGIC is what sets us apart.
Logical Letters emphasizes abilities rather than disabilities as the core element in our reading program for dyslexic students.
I’ve always been very good at remembering stories; stories for some reason just stay with me. So the fact that there was all these stories that interconnected, in the sense that they all took place in the same world, allowed me to remember these seemingly random rules and somehow make sense of them.
The Logical Letters Method Connects
- Traditional research-based phonemic training
- Logical, interconnected and big-picture thinking
- Episodic memory
while transforming the traditional remediation experience!
Research by Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide, authors of The Dyslexic Advantage and founders of the non-profit organization Dyslexic Advantage, has supported and validated our perspective on rethinking traditional intervention.
The Logical Letters program focuses on what are now identified as common strengths of individuals with dyslexia. These include:
- LOGICAL THINKING
- EPISODIC MEMORY
- PROCESSING OF LARGE SCALE PATTERNS
- INTERCONNECTED THINKING
- SEEING RELATIONSHIPS
- COMBINING INFORMATION IN UNIQUE WAYS
These dyslexic strengths are part of the intervention. The dyslexic mind is being used as a valuable resource in the program itself. That is a Logical Letters difference!
Based on field trials over many years working with dyslexic students, the Logical Letters program places great focus on phonemic awareness to correct the underlying auditory processing deficits common within the dyslexic population.
Individual phonemes are mastered and added to the student’s personal chart that eventually contains all English phonemes and most spelling options.
Like some other successful programs, this chart is organized into “sound-spots”, with all spelling options for the same sound placed in the same vertical row. Once mastered, the student has easy reference to all sound/symbol phonemes.
The fundamental difference that our method provides is active participation in the dramatic stories of the Logical Letters’ Alphabet World. Students make correct spelling and reading choices based on the logic that has simply become part of their thinking.
The logical thinking is derived from unique stories, created and dramatically told throughout the program. Due to the engaging meaning, logic, conceptual depth and interrelatedness of the stories, there is little rote memory involved. Each student becomes enabled to decode and encode most English words by following the logical system as it is kept visually displayed on his/her chart.
Once comfortable using this simple chart for easy reference, the student often chooses to bring their chart home and/or to school so they can use it independently. With time, reliance on the chart decreases.
"Since most individuals with dyslexia favor episodic over semantic memory most will remember information about things they’ve experienced (or imagined as scene-based experiences) better than abstract or noncontextual facts. Individuals with dyslexia will also remember information better if they find it interesting and if they can place it into a larger framework of knowledge or understand its big-picture function or purpose."
Creating many inter-connected stories and exploring their use has opened up a much greater understanding of how the dyslexic mind learns to read and spell. Utilizing a dyslexic style of problem solving has led to compelling success in our remediation program. That is a Logical Letters difference!
Logic and episodic memory are major strengths for many individuals with dyslexia. Therefore, these skills are utilized in our remedial program as key aspects that increase retention of skills. This is done in a manner most students find playful and lots of fun.
The Logical Letters program has the flexibility to allow for the focus to vary from student to student, depending on the individual’s strengths and weaknesses. The following components are inherent in the Logical Letters program; the greater or lesser degree to which each aspect is focused on is determined by constantly increasing our understanding of each student’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Movement to each distinct visual position in the letter-to-letter pointing on the student’s chart benefits those with strong visual and spatial imagery.
- The personal, real-world episodic stories mirroring the situations in "Alphabet World" are presented as part of the core story-telling component of the program and greatly support students with strong abilities in inter-connected thinking and analogies.
- Discussion derived from the story-telling component of the program benefits those with strong contextual thinking and provides a very interactive learning situation.
- Numerous auditory games are emphasized for those who need practice recognizing individual sounds and their order in words (phonemic awareness).
- The large variety of games and chart activities are beneficial for students who require more sound/symbol association practice.
- Points/raffles are incentives commonly incorporated into lessons when the student will benefit from a reward system that distinctly demonstrates to the child his/her achievement of a particular skill.
Tailor-Made Materials
Logical Letters specialists create reading material and spelling dictations in order to increase the success of each learning experience.
It wasn’t 'learn your alphabet, learn this, do it like this', it was actual tricks, actual stories to it.
- Each student is presented with reading material using words comprised exclusively of phonemes that have been mastered or are the focus of the lesson. This encourages fluency and provides practice with targeted sound/symbols, further increasing confidence.
- Materials are geared to the particular interest level of each student to increase attention and desire to read. We have created numerous worksheets about dragons, boats, go-karts, dogs, basketball, fashion, trivia- - whatever most interests the student will become the target content of the worksheets that are created uniquely for that child.
- By creating reading material that is carefully formatted, the child is presented with words that match their ability to visually process written material. Greater progress has been demonstrated by our students when there is more “white space” around the sentences, fewer words per line of print, alternating lines in different colors and/or the addition of high-interest pictures to attract attention and spread out the text. Even when the student has mastered all phonemes and is ready for standard text, we often re-type stories from traditional books, adding pictures and adjusting the text format, to help ease the transition to reading standard material.
- Individualized spelling dictations focus on the phonemes mastered within the chart activities, producing writing success. The child always has access to the correct spelling by using the chart skills developed in previous lessons. Constant correct spelling from these dictations increases confidence and causes many spelling patterns to become ingrained, allowing for more fluency within student-generated writing.
The unique feature of this program that makes such a difference is the combined use of LOGIC and EPISODIC MEMORY.
- Creative logical conceptual thinking, derived from a series of unique stories connected to personal episodes, is the central thread and focal point of this program, embedded throughout and working concurrently with the phonemic training.
- We pride ourselves on understanding that learning to read with a system that encourages curiosity, creativity and thinking, along with systematic phonemic teaching, will be more enjoyable and successful. That is a Logical Letters difference!
We are not going to cure your children's dyslexia. We will teach them how to read and write, understand their dyslexia and integrate it into their lives.
These dyslexic strengths are part of the intervention. The dyslexic mind is being used as a valuable resource in the program itself. That is a Logical Letters difference!