Dr. Collins has recently become the president elect of the Counsel on Learning Disabilities. Her research is about teaching writing. She's a CALT, so she understands the challenges of teaching those with dyslexia. From writing instruction, to the importance of evidence and the CLD's stance on diagnosing learning disabilities, she has a lot to share. The future of the CLD is in good hands with Dr. Collins' leadership!
Here's her article on writing interventions: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19APKoZI2tTqWz07Oe4QGdmUVmuZowecf/view?usp=sharing
Dr. Amy Rogers is concerned about the challenges of the small town school districts. We chat about what those challenges are and how we can be resourceful when the odd are not in the favor of the small town school district.
Remember when Texas had a cap on the number of special education students who could be in special education? Dr. Morgan is the one who helped expose the harm of the cap. Dr. Morgan and Hu work for University at Albany’s Institute for Social and Health Equity. Time after time, they find that if there are 2 kids with the same reading or math struggles, the mainstream white student will be more likely to get the services than the minority child of color.
Check out their articles: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10xjzZu0o4LDXZhOFbJgGTZp1dqjVR1Sp/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16xqlFTquDhavfPu56RnwZ7uaeLhyPB4O/view?usp=sharing
Dr. Tammy Stephens joins to tell us about professional judgment's role in determining disability and how organizing our informal data can help to improve that judgment. She has a new program called BOSCO that does just that.
Here's the websight:
https://www.jotform.com/customer-stories/bosco/
What would special education look like if it didn't include high incidence disabilities? Are you a preservist or a transformist? This one talks about the vision of special education. It reviews a book by Thomas Hehir, the director of OSEP for six years during the reauthorization of IDEA. His book is available on Amazon. https://a.co/d/13IJxrg
In this episode, diagnosticians discuss the vision of Special Education as seen through the perspective of Dr. Thomas Hehir, author of: New Directions in Special Education: Eliminating Ableism in Policy and Practice. Dr. Hehir was the head of OSEP during the time leading up to the re-authorization of IDEA in 2004. He was also the chair of Harvard's Ed.D. Special Education program for 20 years before he passed away. The discussion helps us to understand why the vision of Special Education as communicated from a perspective of OSEPs responsibility towards civil rights is often conflicted with the vision of most practitioners who aim to preserve what is special about special education.
Clubhouse members gather to discuss the contributions of Lynn Fuchs in memory of her at the time of her passing. She passed away on May 7, 2025. He leaves behind her husband, Doug, son, and grandson, in addition to numerous mentees and research colleagues. Her memory will live on in her contributions to CBM development, reading and math interventions, and the RTI model of SLD assessment.
Here are some research articles and book chapters that she is known for:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1511189
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED459544
Dr. Barbara Foorman, professor emeritus from Florida State University served on the National Reading Panel and is one of the most recognized researchers of reading. She joins to tell us about her latest study that compares using an evidence-based reading program and using a serious of various evidence-based interventions valid for specific skill development.
Here are some links to references made in this event:
The Relative Effectiveness of Two Approach to Early Literacy Intervention Grades K-2
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wnqxs-rfSuKRbfSYDyyZG-6f1KcIaPXq/view?usp=drive_link
The Role of Instruction in Learning to Read: Preventing Reading Failure in At-Risk Children
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11u3dKyrZNqpXEUzOt7xfhSwsCPPg8o9B/view?usp=drive_link
Interventions Aimed at Improving Reading Success: An Evidence Based Approach
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pq9vClozQBHqSqOApJSbNewDmuPHkuaq/view?usp=drive_link
Curriculum Guidelines: https://www.thereadingleague.org/compass/curriculum-decision-makers/
What Informs Literacy Instruction in the Primary Grades: Chapter 9
Foorman chap 9_What Informs Literacy Instruction in the Primary Grades_Guilford in press.pdf
PowerPoint of Literacy: Using Data to Inform Instruction
State Policy Levers: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED615740.pdf
Amy Smith interviews Dr. Kathleen Pfannenstiel, from American Institutes of Research, about the evidence-based assessment of math. She talks the importance of independent research, the most common challenges for students with disabilities, and integrating CBM into our evaluations.
She refers to several related resources listed below:
Links:
Math Fact Fluency Norms:
Worksheet generator:
Supporting Mathematics Intervention in Elementary School (NCII website): https://intensiveintervention.org/resource/supporting-mathematics-intervention-elementary-school
Infusing EBPs to Improve Middle School Math Instruction: https://mtss4success.org/blog/infusing-ebps-middle-school-math-instruction
Lesson Plans to Support High-Quality Middle School Math Instruction: https://mtss4success.org/blog/lesson-plans-middle-school-math
Dr. Yell helps us to define "progress" as it has been described after Endrew F. v. Douglas County Schools (2017). Here's an article he wrote: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fa_ZgzItiGYJ0AMqRSy-MGBE_TzfuXJr/view?usp=sharing
Here are some books he wrote: https://a.co/d/8iKAo8J
A new, revised version of the Guidance for the Comprehensive Evaluation of SLD in Texas is now available. We will get a training on this from TEA. In the mean time, Candace, Nazzie, and some others on Clubhouse discuss their impressions. Candace goes over her Top 10 Takeaways from reading the document. Here's a link to her notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ZC1daO72dx0h8NT5vrG0QwqJ3qRrHKKLgHZo1P8TKE/mobilebasic
Dr. Robin Peterson is one of the authors of Diagnosing Learning Disorders: From Science to Practice. This group of researchers proposed a Multi-Deficit Model of learning disabilities, and their research influenced the way we think about Dyslexia.
Here's a link to her book:https://a.co/d/diWPuRo
Here's a link to her research article: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LChLzHx2K_t11XOgsbmFtV4i81erHDz-/view?usp=drive_link
Learning to use CBM has become a valuable skill. Michelle Hosp has made it easy by providing step by step guidance in her book: The ABC's of CBM. Here's a link to her book: https://www.guilford.com/books/The-ABCs-of-CBM/Hosp-Hosp-Howell/9781462524662?srsltid=AfmBOor87pNMcb5aSa0R5PqWD8NCZGYLimlMZEnKNHppdJJxPdUXQ-Qn
You may also know her for her work with Renaissance Learning, an evidence-based assessment system listed on the NCII toolkit.
The Hasbrouck & Tindal (1992, 2006, 2017) norms revolutionized American education. These norms have helped us to understand the importance of reading fluency. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED594994.pdf
Check out Dr. Hasbrouck's & Dr. Glaser's book: https://www.benchmarkeducation.com/y35121-reading-fluency-understand-25e2-2580-2593-assess-25e2-2580-2593-teach-professional-learni.html
Dr. Tindal's & Dr. Marston's book: Classroom Based Assessment: https://a.co/d/dT7oIom
Dr. Linda Siegel produced important research which helped her to illustrate that cognitive testing was not relevant to the diagnosis of dyslexia. She led the way to revisiting this finding when she edited a journal for the IDA asking for researchers to weigh in on IDA's definition of dyslexia. She's also well known for her books: Not Lazy, Not Stupid & Understanding Dyslexia and Other Learning Disabilities.
Here's a journal article she wrote: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002221948902200803
Nazzie Pater-Rov, Candace Vielma, and Zarvonia Gibbs chat with others in the Educational Diagnostician Clubhouse about proposed bills for this legislative session. Would more money be appropriated for special education? Would the Diagnostician profession fade away into school psychology? What is the future of our careers?
Candace Vielma talks with Jan Cook and Diane Burke about Reading by Design, a Texas approved dyslexia curriculum.
This episode is a follow up to a discussion we had on 2/4/2022. At the time Dr. Dehn was helping Mr. Romstad to norm this new test that evaluates the fluid reasoning of culturally and linguistically diverse learners without discrimination or bias. We did a follow up because the test is now normed and is available on Dr. Dehn's Schoolhouse Education Services website. Here's the website if you'd like to learn more. https://www.schoolhouseeducationalservices.com/assessment-of-nonverbal-contextual-reasoning-ancr/
Dr. Piltier drops in to help us out as we discuss the difference between an SLD in Basic Reading and Dyslexia. She says it's like saying H20 for water. Let's stop arguing about it and get to work helping kids learn to read!
Thanks Dr. Frith for the suggestion to invite Dr. Piltier on to address this topic!
The science of reading requires us to assess morphology, but the tools for an assessment of morphology are less established than those of oral reading fluency and word reading. With the support of federal funding, Dr. Apel has created a test of morphology. Listen to what he has to say about it!
Here's a link to his study: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sqf6EVz29Xxm1pmbk0k7GXjMIS0N9BX-/view?usp=drive_link
Here's a study as well:
https://alliedhealth.ceconnection.com/files/UsingMultipleMeasuresofMorphologicalAwarenesstoAssessitsRelationtoReading-1360187360413.pdf