I was reflecting on why this field can be so difficult at times. I was considering the beliefs we have, the realities we face. This field is beyond rewarding and the impact we make as therapists as educators is truly second to none. But it’s hard.

And part of the reason it’s so hard is because we expect a lot from ourselves. And then we never seem to measure up no matter how many hours we put in. It often feels like there is no winning. When I started out in this field I thought I had two choices. I could only be one of two types of educators.

Now, if you have been working with us for a while, you’ll know that we LOVE teaching with key images and phrases to help anchor skills for a student. For au/aw, we use the phrase “Yawn, I have to do the laundry.” This helps our struggling readers and spellers remember the rule. Keep reading for more tips, tricks and activities surrounding the au/aw vowel team.

We use both “oi” and “oy” to make the /oi/ sound (think of the words “boy” and “foil”). When that sound comes in the middle of a word, we use “oi.” If it comes at the end of the word, we will use “oy.” Keep reading to learn more about how we teach our students all about this vowel team!

There are many misconceptions around dyslexia and unfortunately teachers went through a lot of training in college through their teacher training programs and yet still never received formal instruction in specific learning disabilities. We are here to dispel many popular misconceptions and we have a free printable!