Jan 26
For our 31st episode, Tracy invited Katelyn Mabry to join her. Katelyn is the author of the children’s book Hi, It’s Me! I have ADHD which is based on her personal history with ADHD. In her book she shares the feelings, emotions and experiences as a child dealing with the challenges of ADHD and offers them insights, tips empowerment and the message that ADHD does not define them. Katelyn has a master’s degree in reading and is a certified early childhood/special education teacher. She also has four children and is now a private coach for kids who learn differently. Katelyn’s goal is to instill the love of reading, learning and growing in her students. Tracy talks about her 17 year old son who is very bright but came to her in December and said he couldn’t read. She saw him reading all the time so this didn’t make sense to her. That’s when she remembered that there was a reading specialist in her ADHD for Smart Ass Women Facebook group named Katelyn Mabry. Tracy called Kately and she told her that Markus can read, he just can’t focus on what he’s reading when he’s not interested which means that he can’t retain what he reads. Tracy hired Katelyn to work with Markus and has been so pleased at how much more confidence her son has around reading in subjects that he is not interested in. She asked Katelyn to share some of the strategies she has used for her son around reading retention. Katelyn talks about metacognition and how she uses it to help kids retain what they are reading. Learn about the three different types of inner voices in metacognition: reciting, conversational and interactive and which one helps retention the most by helping the reader connect to the characters. Kaitlyn then teaches us about the distracted voice and the way she helps students identify when the distracted voice shows up. Learn why visualization is so important in reading retention. Katelyn shares a fantastic quote which analogizes reading to driving a car. Learn what it means to activate background knowledge to aid in reading retention. What does it mean to give the reading purpose and why it’s so important that the reader to intentionally connect the reading to the reader’s worldview. Katelyn mentions her book Hi, It’s Me! I Have ADHD. She is working on the second edition which will be released in October.
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"I mean, when you think about it, when you read, you are just going through the motions, and you're not taking time to pause and really visualize it."
- Katelyn Mabry
"Everything takes practice, right? And everything takes habit is everything we need to practice can become a habit if we practice it enough."
- Katelyn Mabry
"So there's different types of inner voice. So there's the reciting inner voice, which is what you're talking about how you literally are just looking at the words and you're reading them, but it's not going anywhere. You're just that's about as deep as it goes right just to paper."
- Katelyn Mabry
- Katelyn shares her experiences with ADHD, including difficulty with reading and memory, and the impact on her academic performance.
- Katelyn shares a recent example of how she used a soccer ball to help a second-grade student struggling with reading, by incorporating the student's interest in soccer into the learning process.
- Katelyn and Tracy discuss the importance of movement and metacognitive thinking for ADHD students, with Katelyn highlighting the need to listen to students' physical cues and Tracy sharing her experience with her son's defiance in the classroom.
[15:48 - 35:56] Improving Reading Comprehension
- Katelyn and Tracy discuss the concept of "connection mode" in reading, where the reader engages with the text on a deeper level, connecting with the characters and story.
- Katelyn highlights the importance of visualization and questioning strategies for comprehension, emphasizing the need for continuous practice to maintain these skills.
- Katelyn and Tracy discuss the importance of identifying and managing inner voices while reading, particularly for individuals with ADHD, to avoid distractions and improve comprehension.
[35:56 - 49:30] Reading Comprehension
- Katelyn compares reading comprehension to driving, emphasizing the importance of awareness and flexibility in both tasks.
- Katelyn shares strategies for improving reading comprehension, including activating background knowledge and connecting reading to real-world purposes.
- Katelyn shares her personal experience with ADHD and the motivation behind publishing her book to help others understand and support children with the diagnosis.
