An Expert Takes a Fresh Look at Dyslexia Support

Dr. Nikosi Darnell is a speech-language pathologist and Clearview Speech and Consulting Services founder. Her efforts are helping to increase the understanding of dyslexia and other speech-language disorders and the individuals most impacted. Although there has been an increased awareness of dyslexia in education, Dr. Darnell believes further advances are possible. By expanding the role of speech pathologists to work in collaboration with coaches and teachers, students can reap the benefits.

 

“From a speech pathology perspective, we focus a lot on what we call the ‘phonological awareness’ and the development of that aspect of communication. Whenever we see children having difficulty with rhyming, segmentation, or pre-linguistics skills, we see the possibility of dyslexia. Sometimes, there are precursors that speech pathologists see before students even get into the classroom on a consistent basis.”

Creating a Relationship

A working relationship between student, pathologist, and teacher should be a constant classroom objective. Dr. Darnell has witnessed positive results. “The students I have worked with have definitely been included in their classrooms by their teachers who request more interaction and collaboration between therapists,” she says.

Old vs New

The field of speech pathology has slowly seen a paradigm shift in the thinking of how technology can be integrated. Dr. Darnell refers to the change as “augmentative and alternative communication devices” that help students who are nonverbal speakers. But for the most part, the field has relied on tried and true approaches.

She enjoys taking part in tech conferences in the hopes of being exposed to newer ideas. “Whenever I attend conferences such as FETC, I’ve gained a different perspective that is much more advanced than [what is available] in our field at this time,” she adds.

Subscribe to edCircuit to stay up to date on all of our shows, podcasts, news, and thought leadership articles.