You are not going to want to skip this episode!! Today's guest is Dyslexia & Science of Reading expert and advocate, Melanie Brethour.
Fueled by her personal journey following her son Benjamin's dyslexia diagnosis, Melanie is not just an advocate but a powerhouse of practical advice and actionable strategies. She is the founder of Decoding Dyslexia Quebec and Soar with Dyslexia, and serves as a board member for Teachers For Reading Canada. Stay tuned as we debunk common myths and misconceptions and offer insights on evidence-based interventions for dyslexia.
Episode Summary:
Resources & Links:
Follow Melanie:
Conclusion:
What an enlightening conversation with Melanie! It's evident that her extensive experience and personal journey have equipped her with unique insights into dyslexia and the science of reading. We hope this episode provides you with a clearer understanding and practical steps for effectively teaching children with dyslexia. Make sure to check out Melanie’s social media and the valuable resources she has shared.
Thank you for tuning in, and don't forget to share this episode with others who could benefit from this knowledge. Until next time!
Get your FREE copy of Impact Statement Mastery: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Personalized IEPs.
A must-have for every special education teacher and related service provider.
You are not going to want to skip this episode!! Today's guest is Dyslexia & Science of Reading expert and advocate, Melanie Brethour.
Fueled by her personal journey following her son Benjamin's dyslexia diagnosis, Melanie is not just an advocate but a powerhouse of practical advice and actionable strategies. She is the founder of Decoding Dyslexia Quebec and Soar with Dyslexia, and serves as a board member for Teachers For Reading Canada. Stay tuned as we debunk common myths and misconceptions and offer insights on evidence-based interventions for dyslexia.
Episode Summary:
Resources & Links:
Follow Melanie:
Conclusion:
What an enlightening conversation with Melanie! It's evident that her extensive experience and personal journey have equipped her with unique insights into dyslexia and the science of reading. We hope this episode provides you with a clearer understanding and practical steps for effectively teaching children with dyslexia. Make sure to check out Melanie’s social media and the valuable resources she has shared.
Thank you for tuning in, and don't forget to share this episode with others who could benefit from this knowledge. Until next time!
Get your FREE copy of Impact Statement Mastery: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Personalized IEPs.
A must-have for every special education teacher and related service provider.
Transcript: Interview with Melanie Brethour on Dyslexia and the Science of Reading
Jennifer: Hello, hello. I've got a great interview for you today. Whether you're an educator, a parent, or an administrator, you're going to learn so much from my guest Melanie Brethour as she leads us through the fascinating world of dyslexia and the science of reading. This is a topic that is finally getting the recognition it deserves, and today's guest is an expert in the field, making this episode an absolute must-listen.
Today, we have the honor of hosting Melanie Brethour, a resource teacher from Montreal, Canada, who is a trailblazer in the realm of dyslexia awareness and research-based literacy instruction. Her journey into this crucial area was sparked by a deeply personal experience—the diagnosis of her son with dyslexia when he was just nine years old. Melanie didn't stop at understanding what dyslexia meant for her family; she took it on as a mission to equip herself and others with the scientific knowledge to effectively intervene and instruct.
She has achieved associate level certification in Orton-Gillingham and holds the title of a CERI Structured Literacy Classroom Teacher. Recognized for her dedication and prowess, she won the Nessie Dyslexia Aware Teacher of the Year in 2023. Beyond her personal and professional credentials, Melanie is a devoted advocate. She founded Decoding Dyslexia Quebec and also runs "Soar with Dyslexia," a social media platform that serves as a treasure trove of resources for navigating dyslexia and understanding the science of reading. Melanie also volunteers for Dyslexia Canada and serves as a board member of Teachers for Reading Canada, which provides free Orton-Gillingham training to teachers in Canada.
Today, we will discuss common misconceptions about dyslexia, explore evidence-based intervention strategies, and delve into how special education teachers can improve their approaches to teaching reading.
Jennifer: Welcome, Melanie! I can't tell you how excited I've been for this conversation, and after several schedule changes, we are finally making it happen. So, welcome to the show.
Melanie: Thank you very much.
Jennifer: I'm ready to pick your brain. Before we get started, why don't you go ahead and share a bit about who you are and what you do?
Melanie: I'm actually from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I've been an elementary resource teacher in special education for most of my career, nearly 20 years. My journey into understanding dyslexia started when my son Benjamin was diagnosed three years ago. That set me on a mission to learn everything I could about dyslexia and how to help him and other students become stronger readers.
Jennifer: That's incredibly inspiring. The range of initiatives you've taken on shows precisely the kind of dedication that makes a real difference. So let's start with common misconceptions about dyslexia and the science of reading.
Melanie: Well, I started a feature called "Misconception Mondays" on my Decoding Dyslexia Quebec Facebook page and Instagram because there are so many misconceptions. For example, people often ask if reading and writing letters backward is a sign of dyslexia. While it can be, it's not the sole indicator. Dyslexia is not a vision issue; it's neurobiological and language-based.
Jennifer: Can dyslexia go away?
Melanie: No, you're born with it, and you have it for life. However, one can become a proficient reader. Dyslexia is also on a spectrum, so the severity varies.
Jennifer: When can dyslexia signs appear?
Melanie: Early signs can even show before school starts, such as difficulty with rhyming or mixing up words.
Jennifer: It seems ongoing professional development is crucial for teachers in this area. What tools or resources would you recommend for special education teachers to enhance their understanding and skills?
Melanie: Well, I think for me, I went on an obsessive mission to learn as much as I can. So I definitely obviously it was because my son, but it also transformed my teaching completely. I think there's a lot of wonderful pre resources and pre programs out there that you can learn about the science of reading, the body of research. There's amazing podcasts, for example, and just I think it's also the buy in. I think it's really difficult to say, you have to stop doing this. What you're doing is maybe not okay or it's not based on the research, but I think if we show the success of this is what we're doing in the classroom to align our practices with the research, I think there's more buy in. I know at my school that's happening. We're looking at also the data of our students and seeing how many students are not proficient readers. And I'm sure I know in the States quite high and here also in Canada. And I think we have to say, well, we have to stop doing the same thing over and over again. I think that's the definition of insanity. So we need to definitely look at our teaching. And I think as professionals, just like doctors, we need to know what's the latest research and to me, the science of reading is going to change. There might be something that I'm doing now in my classroom this year, but next year I might have to change it because they have a new research out there saying that this might be a better activity or program or approach to help all students in your classroom. We're not just talking about students with dyslexia. We have struggling students in our classroom who are not dyslexic or they just may be at risk, and we can actually provide them that early intervention.
Jennifer: I feel like all of this goes back to those misconceptions, that this really isn't just a teaching method, but it's a comprehensive understanding of how students learn to read. So how can schools and districts create a supportive environment for teachers to apply this newfound understanding effectively?
Melanie: Well, I think I know in the states, a lot of districts are adopting this now. I think there's many states that have dyslexia legislation, even a handbook, and they're looking at this research. I don't know if it's because I'm in it, where I see a lot of tweets about it and social media. So I feel like there's a really positive move towards it. But I could be just kind of in a science or reading silo. But I'm hoping that I think, again, you can't force anything, or at least that's my experience. But just showing that there are effective ways to reach all the students in a classroom, no matter what approach I use in my classroom, we have about 40% to 50% of students that can kind of crack this code without too much explicit, direct instruction. But what about the other students in your classroom? And I think as teachers, we need to look at how can we reach all our students in our classroom. And having the support of a principal my principal is fantastic. My VP, they're really on board and supportive, and I just share the research with them and say, look, let's try something differently. And I shared data of how many students in our school are not proficient readers, and it was quite high. And I think they need to understand it coming from them. Obviously, it would be more beneficial. But there's, like, a little buzz at my school. I can speak firsthand of, we're slowly making changes, and we're still a balanced literacy curriculum. And so fighting against that is a little challenging when your own curriculum is saying, this is what you have to do. But I think as teachers, we can kind of decide, for the most part, how do we want to teach our students.
Jennifer: Yeah, I'm starting to see in my district and in districts across my stays, I don't feel like that you're in a silo. I'm seeing it. They're trying to foster a culture where the science of reading and structured literacy isn't just an abstract idea, but it's a lived practice. And we've adopted new curriculum at my district based on the science of reading. And I feel like we're at least trying. So that's at least a little comforting. But if I had to share with my teachers as an instructional coach what intervention strategies have shown the most promise in help helping students with dyslexia thrive academically?
Melanie: Well, I think, as you mentioned, a structured literacy approach works best for students who are struggling or students with Dyslexia, but it benefits all students in your classroom. Right. If you have an evidence-based program or approach that is based on the research, that's something that's positive. A balanced literacy based on the Three Queuing system is definitely something that it's definitely a red flag. I know the Reading League has curriculum evaluation guide, which I found really helpful, and you can look at it and see what are the red flags in whatever program or approach you're using, and then it gives you actual practical ideas of what you should be doing that is aligned with the research, and that's completely free. I found that really helpful, and you can share that with I've shared that with my staff. We're not really big on programs, unfortunately, here, but I hope that's something that's going to move forward instead of reinventing the wheel. As a resource teacher, I was big borrowing and stealing all different ideas and kind of making my own based on my Orton Gilliam training. But there's some amazing programs. Some of them are a little more expensive and some of them are not, but not reinventing the wheel. And if you're new to all this, you have an actual program that, as you're going along, you're learning at the same time. I would have loved some type of program that's evidence based as I left my university program. It would have been amazing.
Jennifer: Yeah. I feel like that should just be a part of your training.
Melanie: Yes, 100%. And there's so many amazing trainings out there that are free, or you can get paid and you have to pay for it, obviously. But I know my school also offers professional development a certain amount per year, so I've been very fortunate to be able to take advantage of that every year, taking different types of trainings that are based on the science of reading the body of research.
Jennifer: Yeah. And I would imagine that early identification of these students is very important.
Melanie: Yes, early identification. And it's not saying, like, we have to some people will say, oh, putting a label on a child. It's really just flagging any students that having difficulty. I've seen that firsthand, where a student is just struggling for whatever reason, we flag them. We give them that intervention right away. They don't need an IEP, they don't need anything. And then maybe the following year, you assess them again, and they're actually doing quite well. But at least we can flag every single student. And universal screeners is something that we changed from more of, like, a running record, and it's a game changer, I have to say. So you want to flag as many students as possible, and if you can give them the effective intervention that they need, not a balanced literacy approach where you're encouraging, guessing, or look at the picture.
Jennifer: Right. I feel like as special education teacher for 28 years, I had many students on my caseload that if they would have had this before they were identified, they would never have been placed in special education. So I feel like 1s that's very important. The sooner that we can identify them, the sooner we can begin supporting them. So my listeners are primarily special education teachers. So what if you just had to pick one thing? What's the one thing that you would encourage special education teachers to well, you probably can't just think of one, but what are things that teachers should stop doing as a part of their typical school day practice?
Melanie: Well I think if you you know that curriculum evaluation guide from the Reading League that's free, it's fantastic because it kind of gives you those red flags. Some of them is the biggest one for me. If there's one practice you can stop, it's the three Queuing. So that's having students as a reading strategy, look at the picture to figure out the word. I remember taking a book and I'm so embarrassed by this, but that was what I was taught. I didn't know better where I took a book and I covered the rest of the word, and it was like guess based on the first letter and look at the picture. And I cannot believe I actually thought that was a reading strategy. And unfortunately, I reinforced that at home with my son. And so he was being taught that at school and at home, and it's just such a terrible habit to break. So the three queuing system is not backed by any research whatsoever, and we just have to have students decode and sound out words. 2s That's really one of my top recommendations for anybody. There's a few other ones, like memorizing words. That was something that I did with my son, too. I had flashcards and sight words. Yeah. And I just kept on saying, what word is this? What? And then a day later, he'd forget. And it'd be like, you just saw that word. How can you forget? So students need many repetitions, but memorizing is there's only a certain amount of words we can actually memorize in our brain, but we have to have students even with those we call them heart words or red words, irregular words, and we can have students still sound out those words. But there might be more of a tricky part that they do have to memorize or they just haven't learned that pattern yet. And so the Reading League has an article about heart words instead of having students memorize words. And I know for firsthand, my son wouldn't no matter thousands of showing him the word what, for example, is like, for whatever reason, he couldn't get that. It was like thousands of repetitions. And then one day we just started doing more of, like, mapping it. How many sounds instead? 1s What are the parts you already know? The S and the D and what's the tricky part that you have to remember? And I just felt it was really beneficial for him to learn that way. And that's based on the research.
Jennifer: Yeah, I feel like it's not our fault. You said you were being hard on yourself, but that's how we were taught. And we don't know better until we start to learn the better way to do things and the way that kids really learn how to read. I think that's very important. So you mentioned a resource. Do you have another resource that you want to share with the listeners?
Melanie: Well, I on my social media I love sharing. I am technically a resource teacher, and I love sharing resources with everybody. I love sharing as many free resources. And 1s I made two bit emoji classrooms, one on the Science of Reading and one on Dyslexia, where I share some of my favorite podcasts, my favorite books, even free webinars. And so that would be something that I could definitely share. The Reading League is a fantastic resource, too. They have not only the curriculum guide, but they have a Science of Reading guide as well that's completely free to download. And all that is kind of embedded in my links for those two resources. But I love sharing because it's just like you mentioned, we didn't know that. I have a lot of mom guilt and teacher guilt, especially mom guilt, because I feel like if I knew this earlier on, I could have helped my son early on. He's definitely severely Dyslexic, but I often think if we was given that early intervention, early on, the effective intervention, would he be as severe? So I have that. So that's why I'm really such an advocate for this, because I feel like I can help other parents and teachers help those students early on, because we're not even talking about that probably today, but the. 1s Self esteem has such an impact on I can speak for my son and many others. There is that anxiety dyslexia connection for a lot of students because everything is so difficult day in and day out, and if they don't have a teacher who's understanding and supportive, it can make it really difficult.
Jennifer: Yeah, I can see being called out in front of your peers and how how that would take a big hit on your hard for that's hard to hear. Well, Melanie, I cannot thank you enough for this enlightening conversation. Your personal journey and your passion and your dedication to not only understanding dyslexia, but to empower others, like you said, to do the same is truly inspiring. So I'm sure that the listeners will leave this conversation with knowledge and resources and inspiration to be able to take meaningful steps in their classrooms this school year. So if we wanted to learn more from you, how can we find you out in social media land?
Melanie: I would say Instagram is probably the biggest one. I share a lot of literacy tips, dyslexia tips, and resources. I try and share something always on Friday that's free, but most of the resources I share. So it's called Sore with dyslexia. So I picked that. My old Instagram was called Resource Rocks, but then I thought Soar with Dyslexia, with the play on words of the science of reading, and dyslexia go kind of hand in hand. So if anybody wants to check that out, I'm on Instagram, and I also have a Facebook page for decoding dyslexia Quebec. But every state has a decoding dyslexia and also, I believe, seven provinces. So if you need more information, like in your state, you can also check that out.
Jennifer: Great. Well, I will put all of those links in the show notes. And thank you so much for joining us.
Melanie: Thank you so much for having me.