more than rıght[ree—ding]

story by | chontelle hansen

Eight year-old Max is one of the brightest kids in his third grade class. He has a wonderful vocabulary, knows everything there is to know about baseball and absorbs information from his favorite channel Animal Planet, but when it comes to reading about baseball [or anything else] he has a lot of trouble.

It takes Max a long time to read a short paragraph and even longer to read a story. He often guesses at how you say a word and many times his guess is wrong. Reading out loud is especially stressful and embarrassing. He is becoming frustrated and feels inferior to his classmates. His teacher recently told Max’s parents that she thinks he might have dyslexia.

so what is dyslexia?

Dyslexia does not mean that children see letters in reverse. It simply means that a child has difficulty processing the sounds in a spoken word [phonological awareness]. They see the right letters in the correct order, but read the word incorrectly because they can’t perceive the part of the word that needs to be changed or fixed.

Most children, who struggle with reading, or decoding, are born with an underlying cognitive weakness called weak phonological awareness. This simply means their brain does not allow them to perceive individual sounds and syllables within spoken words. These children will often:

• Have difficulty learning letters and sounds in Kindergarten

• Add, omit, or substitute sounds or syllables in words while reading or spelling

• Guess while reading, as they have difficulty sounding out unknown words

• Have difficulty understanding phonics instruction

• May regularly mispronounce words such as “libray” for library, “festible” for festival, or “aminal” for animal

• Have difficulty learning sight words

• Have difficulty increasing reading fluency

• Have difficulty with spelling

There Is Hope

Most people assume that part of being smart is being able to read well. The last 25+ years of leading national research have proven this as false. Did you know:

• A reading disability is NOT a developmental delay…it is not outgrown

• In most cases, IQ is not a factor as many children who struggle with reading have a normal intelligence

• Reading difficulties affect boys and girls equally

• In Kindergarten [age 5 ½], a child’s phonological awareness ability can be assessed

As leading researchers began to make a link between phonological awareness and reading, they also began to research and implement specific therapies to address this weakness. Reading difficulties are treatable at any age, but the younger it is addressed the less “catching up” there is to do. Effective treatment must be specific and intensive, directly affecting the core deficit of phonological awareness. There is hope out there & great changes can be made with the appropriate treatment.

Rtc Approach

A tutoring approach such as re-teaching, etc. is not an effective way to improve a phonemic awareness weakness. The Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing ® and the Seeing Stars® programs are the two sensory cognitive therapies used by the staff at the Reading Therapy Center, Inc. These programs, when done intensively one on one, by a well-trained and experienced therapist, are extremely effective. This therapy process is integrated into every level of reading and spelling from simple syllables to multi-syllables and then brought into contextual reading.

All clients who attend the Reading Therapy Center begin with a thorough evaluation that generally lasts 2-3 hours. This evaluation measures a student’s skill levels in various areas including: reading fluency, phonological processing, rapid naming and word attack skills to name a few. Following this evaluation, the examiner will discuss the test results, offer recommendations and answer questions. This consultation generally lasts for an hour.

The Reading Therapy Center differs from traditional tutoring centers in that we are very specialized and focused on a specific process. By dealing with the underlying cause of a child’s difficulties, we ensure the building blocks for future learning are properly placed. Our programs are also different in terms of delivery. On average, therapy is delivered intensively, two hours a day, five days a week, for a period of two to three months.

Yes, phonemic awareness weakness can be improved & great changes can be made with the appropriate treatment. The Reading Therapy Center’s goal is to teach students to become independent, self-correcting readers. Check out our upcoming informational sessions on February 18th and March 18th in Moorhead, MN. The sessions are free to parents and teachers, but registration is required. Visit our website for more information.

The Reading Therapy Center, Inc. is a diagnostic learning center specializing in the remediation of reading, comprehension and math difficulties in children and adults. All of our clients have varied needs. Many experience difficulty with reading and spelling, which can range from a mild to severe degree. Other students may read well, but struggle to comprehend the material they have read or heard. Some students have difficulty with math, either basic math skills, higher-level concepts, or both. We also treat students that may have difficulty in more than one of the above areas.

1100 32nd Ave South Suite E, Moorhead 218.359.0505 rtc@ideaone.net www.readingtherapycenter.com

The good news is that while we know HPV can cause cervical changes and genital warts, the majority of people are able to clear the infection within several years just through their own immune system. By 23 months, more than 80% of adolescents had cleared their infection according to one study.

Many women who are able to spontaneously clear one infection continue to be sexually active and become infected with another type of HPV. Infection with multiple types of HPV at one time is common. This also explains why the rate of infection is so high in sexually active women in their 20’s, as they typically have the most sexual partners. As women age, statistically the number of new sexual partners goes down.

pap tests & hpv

The most frequent question I get asked is, “what does this virus do that causes cervical cancer?” I explain that while only about 10% of infections persist beyond

3 years, the longer it is around, the less likely your immune system will clear it spontaneously. HPV causes changes in the cells of the cervix and with routine screening of sexually active women we are able to identify these lesion and either monitor the improvement or treat them as needed.

For anyone who has had an abnormality of their pap test, the words that get tossed around can be a little overwhelming. For instance, mild abnormalities are typically referred to as ASC-US [atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance] or LSIL [lowgrade squamous intraepithelial lesions]. These milder abnormalities are cleared in 91% of women within 3 years. Some women will develop more abnormal lesions called CIN [cervical intraepithelial neoplasia] level 2 or 3. The progression from initial infection to a pap test that would indicate CIN 2 or 3 lesions can be relatively short. In some studies the change can occur within 12 months. I am going to emphasize, however, that it takes almost 10 years for a CIN 2, 3 lesions to progress to invasive cervical cancer. vaccinations

There is currently a series of three vaccinations available that prevent the four most common strains of HPV. Two of these strains cause genital warts and two cause cervical changes. The vaccine is currently indicated for females, ages 9-26 years. The first vaccination is to be followed by another in two and six months, respectively. The vaccine is to be used to prevent HPV infection, not to treat a known infection. While there has been some discussion of vaccinating boys, the vaccine is not yet recommended for use or prevention of HPV in that population. The vaccine is considered generally safe despite recent controversy and like any vaccine patients should be monitored for about 15 minutes after each injection to be sure there is no dizziness, nausea, fainting or other immediate side effects.

With concerns about HPV, the vaccination or any other medical issue for that matter, make sure you have a doctor you trust and share your questions and concerns with them.

At LilyCare you have healthcare professionals you can talk with and more importantly, they will take the time to talk with you! Dr. Tracie Mallberg and her staff are here to help you and listen to you. Dr. Tracie is a mother, a physician and she is a North Dakota native. She understands the demands of life, family and health. LilyCare accepts all major insurance providers and are a proud member of the Heartland Healthcare Network.