Pathways to Reading Success

Sleep matters—especially for children with ADHD.

When children aren’t getting enough quality sleep, we may see more difficulty with attention, emotional regulation, impulse control, and behavior. And for children with ADHD, getting to sleep and staying on a consistent sleep schedule can sometimes be challenging.

The good news? Small, predictable bedtime habits can make a meaningful difference.

This graphic offers practical, parent-friendly strategies—from consistent routines and screen limits to visual checklists, transition warnings, and creating a sleep-friendly environment.

Sleep isn’t a reward for good behavior. It’s a biological need that helps children learn, regulate, and thrive. 💙

When I was a student, I always had a pencil and paper next to me when I studied. In college, I rewrote all my notes to remember the information. Based on my grades, I’d say it was an effective study mechanism.

Today, we live in a world where typing is the default. We type notes, grocery lists, reminders, messages, etc. While your keyboard may be making you faster, the question I ask is “Is it helping you remember?”

Don’t get me wrong, when the goal is getting information down quickly, typing is the way to go. But when the goal is learning and remembering, faster isn't necessarily better. Writing by hand forces us to slow down. We can't possibly write every word someone says. So, our brains must make decisions.

What is important?
What do I need to remember?
How can I put this into my own words?

And while we're doing that, we're using our eyes, our hands, our motor systems, and our thinking process together. It’s multisensory learning in action. That's very different from typing every word verbatim.

Research suggests that handwriting can create richer brain activity and support memory and learning. The benefit isn't simply that we're holding a pencil. It's that handwriting makes us process information rather than simply record it. It’s the same idea with having a real textbook in your hand that you can highlight, underline, and annotate.

Research is increasingly showing that how we read matters. For some students, reading a science or social studies textbook on a screen may not produce the same learning and retention as reading a physical textbook, particularly when the reading is lengthy, complex, or requires deeper processing.

There's something different about having a physical book in your hands. You turn pages, highlight, make notes in the margins, draw connections, and physically navigate the information. Those actions engage our visual, motor, and thinking systems in ways that simply scrolling through text does not.

This is something I wish we would remember when we're working with children, and something that's worth remembering for ourselves, too. The next time you or your children are learning something new, try putting the keyboard aside. Grab a piece of paper. Write down the key ideas, draw an arrow, circle something important, make a little sketch, jot down a question. Don't worry about making it pretty. Just make the brain work a little harder.

Because sometimes the very thing that makes handwriting feel slower is exactly what makes the information stick.

Instruction

Amen to this! This is not uncommon and teachers and parents need to be attuned to it.

“She is an absolute angel in class.”

Sometimes that sentence is intended as reassurance.

But for some children, it can also be an important clue.

A child may spend the entire school day being quiet, compliant, helpful and apparently completely regulated, while internally managing huge amounts of anxiety, sensory overload, uncertainty or distress.

She may be watching other children carefully.
Working hard not to get anything wrong.
Suppressing reactions.
Holding back tears.
Ignoring discomfort.
Trying desperately to meet every expectation.

Then she gets home — to the place where she finally feels safe enough to stop holding everything in.

And that is when adults may see the tears, shutdown, anger, overwhelm or complete exhaustion.

The behaviour at home does not necessarily tell us that home is the problem.

Sometimes it tells us just how hard that child has been working all day.

This is why we need to look beyond “she is fine at school”.

Sometimes being an “absolute angel” is costing a child far more than anyone can see.

Just like dyslexia, ADHD is more than you see on the surface.

If you are in the central Virginia area, this is a wonderful symposium. Don't miss it!

Mark your calendar for the 2026 TNCS Learning Symposium!

What does it mean to truly understand how students learn-and how can research help us better support students who think and learn differently?

On Friday, October 2nd, The New Community School welcomes educators, families, and professionals to campus for a day of learning, connection, and meaningful conversation.

Our keynote speaker, Nancy Lewis Hennessy, M.Ed., will lead “Fact Not Fiction: The Science of Reading Includes Comprehension!”- an exploration of the research behind language, cognition, knowledge-building, and comprehension.

Learn more & register at www.tncs.org/explore/professional-learning. We can't wait to see you there!

So happy to see this. Wish more states would follow suit.

Whitmer makes ‘science of reading’ training mandatory for Michigan teachers Michigan elementary school teachers will be required to take literacy training by the 2031-2032 school year, under a new law signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Tuesday.

We need to start speaking out about what screens in the classroom and for homework are doing to our students.

Close Screens Open Minds | Challenge the adoption of EdTech Close Screens Open Minds is building a comprehensive evidence-based resource for parents, press, and policymakers to challenge the adoption of EdTech in schools.

Technology has its place, but it does not need to be a constant in our classrooms.