In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan is joined by executive director of the Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute, Teresa May, Ph.D. Teresa shares her powerful story, from being a student with dyslexia to fighting systemic barriers in education. Teresa and Susan also discuss Teresa's legal advocacy for her sons' right to appropriate dyslexia education; the legacy of Margaret Byrd Rawson, a groundbreaking activist who dedicated her life to helping students with dyslexia success; and the importance of early intervention and understanding each child's unique learning needs.

Show notes:

• Download the Dyslexia Support Power Pack.
• Listen to Science of Reading Essentials: Dyslexia.
• Learn more about the Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute.
• Follow the Rawson Institute on Instagram.
• Like the Rawson Institute on Facebook.
• Connect with the Rawson Institute on LinkedIn.
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"There's no time to waste. A child only gets one childhood." —Teresa May

"You teach this complex language as it is to the child, as he or she is. If you do that, you don't leave anyone behind." —Teresa May

"There is a science and an approach that we can take to help kids learn how to read." —Teresa May

"[People] remember the kindness of a teacher or the meanness, but they don't remember the explicit way they learned [to read]." —Teresa May

Timestamps*:
00:00 Introduction: Fighting for learners with dyslexia, with Teresa May
04:00 Teresa's childhood struggles with dyslexia
07:00 The moment of discovery: Finding Margaret Byrd Rawson
09:00 Meeting Margaret: "There is a key, but not many people hold that key"
14:00 The legal battle begins—fighting for her sons' education
19:00 Taking the case through courts and starting parent advocacy
22:00 Margaret Byrd Rawson as an educational pioneer
27:00 Margaret's biological background and the start of her longitudinal research in the 1930s
30:00 The 55-year study following 56 boys: groundbreaking research without technology
33:00 The human impact of good teaching
39:00 The Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute's mission and current projects
44:00 The complexity of dyslexia remediation
45:00 Final thoughts on advocating for children with dyslexia
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, returning guest, Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D., joins Susan Lambert to close out the season by answering thoughtful and thought-provoking comprehension questions submitted by listeners. Nathaniel and Susan answer questions about comprehension strategies, the relationship between comprehension and memorization, and how to shift the mindset amongst your teaching colleagues to help them understand comprehension.

Show notes:

• Submit your literacy questions!
• Bonus: Watch Dr. Hoover's complete responses to a listener guest.
• Learn more about Nathaniel Swain on his website
• Connect with Nathaniel Swain on LinkedIn.
• Access free, high-quality resources—including our recent Essentials episode on Science of Reading: The Podcast—at our companion professional learning page
• Download our free Comprension 101 bundle for comprehension resources, including ebooks, and on-demand professional learning
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast
• Join our community Facebook group
• Connect with Susan Lambert

Quotes:

"What we're trying to do is create meaningful text experiences. ... The strategies are background, the powerhouse behind the work we're doing, but the star of the show is the language and the text." —Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

"If you ever feel like your comprehension work only allows students to produce or perform something on a particular day in which you've just read that text, then you may be missing the opportunity to weave meaningful text together." —Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

"When we're teaching reading comprehension, really let the text be the center of what we're doing." —Susan Lambert

Timestamps*:
00:00 Introduction: Answering listeners' questions on comprehension
03:00 The difference between oral and written language as it relates to comprehension
06:00 Supporting students who read fluently but struggle with comprehension
16:00 The role of comprehension strategies
21:00 Oral language development and comprehension
28:00 The connection between memory and comprehension
36:00 How to help colleagues adjust their mindset on comprehension
42:00 Overall takeaways from this batch of mailbag questions
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

Host Susan Lambert hits the home stretch of her comprehension-focused season of Science of Reading: The Podcast with a reflective episode based on her presentation at this year's Plain Talk About Literacy and Learning conference. Instead of being joined by a guest, Susan breaks down some of her biggest takeaways from this season—explaining how reading comprehension is far more intricate than the ability to decode words on a page, and detailing how the expert guests this season helped illustrate all of comprehension's amazing complexities. Whether you hear her Plain Talk conversation live or not, this episode captures those same insights in a format you can revisit anytime.

Show notes:

• Submit your literacy questions!
• Access free, high-quality resources—including our recent Science of Reading: The Podcast Essentials: “Comprehension” episode—at our companion professional learning page.
• Download our Comprehension 101 bundle: Access free comprehension resources, including ebooks and on-demand professional learning.
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"Comprehension is an active process. It usually requires active engagement and effect from the reader." —Susan Lambert

"Comprehension is an integration of knowledge and experience that requires the reader to connect new information from the text with their own knowledge and experiences." —Susan Lambert

"Comprehension is dynamic and ongoing. It requires the reader to update and revise their understanding as new information is encountered." —Susan Lambert

"What constitutes good comprehension is relative, and it depends on who is reading the text and why they're reading it." —Susan Lambert

"The components of comprehension don't develop in isolation. They bootstrap and support each other throughout a reader's development." —Susan Lambert

Timestamps*:
00:00 Introduction: Building blocks for deep comprehension
04:00 Common themes from guests' definitions of comprehension
07:00 The simple view of reading
10:00 Oral language, syntax and fluency
13:00 Syntax is the critical missing piece needed to improve reading comprehension outcomes
16:00 Fluency is a critical but often overlooked prerequisite to reading comprehension
21:00 The components of comprehension don't develop in isolation
22:00 Closing thoughts o our comprehension focused season
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute