Dystinct Magazine

Dystinct Magazine is the ultimate resource of inspiration and expertise for families and educators of children with learning difficulties. Dystinct Magazine seeks to find the extra ordinary that lies within the ordinary. Every child with learning difficulties is blessed to be distinctively different. We have set out to identify and nurture these differences to instil a strong sense of achievement in children who are often forgotten about. We also bring to you relevant Up-to-date evodemce based advise from leading experts in the industry to help you navigate the path to success. We have exclusive interviews and content within the magazine, giving you fantastic insights into the world of learning difficulties - dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and dyspraxia. At Dystinct, we care about our children and want to help them find their wings and fly. This is a platform for children with learning difficulties to have their stories told and voices heard.

EDITOR'S NOTE

Dystinct Magazine

DYSTINCT CONTRIBUTORS

WHAT’S STOPPING YOU? • Trying a New Reading Approach

DYSTINCT REPORT • Donna Schultz Hejtmanek is a retired special education teacher and reading specialist of 41 years from Wisconsin. She spends her time in retirement advocating for dyslexia legislation, administering the Facebook group, Science of Reading-What I Should Have Learned in College, and consulting and coaching with school districts on implementing the science of reading.

ANOTHER WAY • How Can One Teach Decoding without Rules and Syllable Types?

THEN AND NOW • HOW LINGUISTIC PHONICS AND EBLI HAVE TRANSFORMED MY LITERACY INSTRUCTION

SUPPORTING STRUCTURED LINGUISTIC LITERACY AT HOME • WITH GAMES AND DECODABLE READING BOOKS

Journey to STRUCTURED LINGUISTIC LITERACY

DYSTINCT JOURNEY • Flynn picks up his cleverly built Lego microphone, adjusts his journalist hat, gives the okay nod to his parents and turns on his camera. Flynn is ready for another interview. He flashes his brightest smile, introduces his co-host, his Mini Dachshund, Slippers, or one of his beautiful younger siblings, and goes on to produce another successful interview. The ten-year-old is brilliant at what he does, and he's only been doing it for a year now.

ON A MISSION • Nora Chahbazi recounts her journey of how she went from being a Neonatal ICU nurse to establishing EBLI and making teaching to read her life's work.

How & Why Structured Linguistic Literacy CLOSES THE GAP Quickly • The most widely known processes used for teaching or remediating reading fall under two umbrellas: Balanced Literacy and Traditional Phonics. However, there is a 3rd way that has been around for decades and has largely remained hidden away and taught by a smattering of teachers and interventionists. This methodology has been referred to by many different labels, Speech to Print and Linguistic Phonics being the most common. Unfortunately, each of those terms can be confusing because they’re used to describe several things. In an attempt to have a common language, the term Structured Linguistic Literacy has recently been created to differentiate this methodology from Balanced Literacy and Traditional Phonics.

Journey to STRUCTURED LINGUISTIC LITERACY • Julie VanLier, a kindergarten teacher at a high-poverty school in Southwest Michigan, shares the story of how her class of 28 students went from "on track for reading failure" to 20 points above the goal when she made the switch from Balanced Literacy to EBLI.

DYSTINCT JOURNEY Nancy & Catie Dressel

MY JOURNEY through LITERACY INSTRUCTION

WILL THE REAL SIGHT WORD PLEASE STAND UP • "If all written words represent spoken language, then all words can and should be sounded out."

A PARENT GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE PRACTICE

Journey to STRUCTURED LINGUISTIC LITERACY...