Age Matters
Neuroplasticity Rule #8 – Age matters
This week we look at Neurplasticity Rule number eight, I look at how Age Matters for Dyslexic and Neurodiverse learners when learning to read, write and spell. Age really does matter, and this is because any type of change brought about by teaching something in a specific way, occurs more readily in younger brains.
It is important to note that change occurs at any age, however as The International Dyslexia Association writes in one of their ‘Just the Facts’ files “Research has shown that brain plasticity decreases through childhood. It takes four times as long to intervene in fourth grade as it does in late kindergarten (NICHD) because of brain development and because of the increase in content for students to learn as they grow older.”
So how do we know what to look for? Reading Rockets (2023) has compiled a list of things to watch out for once learners start school, including:
Has difficulty decoding single words
May be slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds
May confuse small words – at/to, said/and, does/goes
Makes consistent reading and spelling errors including:
Letter reversals, Word reversals, Inversions, Transpositions, and Substitutions
You can find the full list here: https://www.readingrockets.org/…/common-signs-dyslexia-0.
The main factor however I will always come back to is that if students are taught to read, write and spell through a Structured Literacy Approach using a systematic, sequential, and cumulative scope and sequence the way the brain is wired to learn, then we can take advantage of the fact plasticity occurs more readily in younger brains and therefore “make the time from birth to age eight a critical period for literacy development (Nevills & Wolfe, 2009), it is essential to identify the instructional needs of struggling students as soon as possible. It is imperative to “catch them before they fall” (Torgesen, 1998).” (IDA, 2023).