What Can I Do to Support the Dyslexic Students

What can I do to support the dyslexic students

in my primary class?

(Published in Speld (SA) Newsletter Autumn 2003)

Students with dyslexia may lose the motivation to try in response to repeated failure. They may be unjustly labeled as lazy or stupid.

The challenge for their teachers is to adapt their work tasks so that they can manage them independently and achieve success.

Classroom Strategies

Improving Listening Skills

· gain student’s attention eg. use name, touch shoulder, gain eye contact, keep still

· teach student to ‘stop, look and listen’ when teacher speaks

· give one instruction at a time and allow time to process meaning

· keep instructions short and simple accompany verbal information with visuals, demonstrations, headings on the board

Engaging students with different learning styles

THINK MULTISENSORY….

Design lessons to involve:

· the visual channel eg, colour coding, writing key points on board, demonstrations

· the auditory channel eg, explanations, have students repeat, use drama, discussion

· the kinaesthetic channel eg, writing, making things, doing things

· the thinking channel eg, analysing, organising, proof-reading, evaluating, summarising, asking themselves questions

· encourage responses which reflect different learning styles,

· visual: picture, chart, diagram

· auditory: oral, cassette, play

· kinaesthetic: model, movement

Individual Support Accommodations

Getting on with the task

· sit student near a helpful ‘buddy’

· ensure worksheets are written simply, in large print (Sasson or Comic Sans, font 12 or 14pts) with clear spacing

· have emergency supply of equipment: pen, pencil, ruler, eraser

Improving organisation

· model, explain and provide a system for routine tasks eg setting up science experiments, clearing up, giving out homework instructions, collecting parent notices

· help student to devise checklists to tick off eg for homework requirements, sports gear, managing complex tasks like research work, setting priorities for assignments

· teach students a system for eg, tidying their desk/drawer, getting changed for PE, looking for something they’ve lost & encourage them to use it as part of a regular routine

Show understanding

· acknowledge that students with dyslexia have to work harder than most of their peers and even then the results may be disappointing (both to the teacher and the student)

· appreciate that dyslexics have good days and bad days

· accept that progress will be slow and praise small achievements

· recognise signs of fatigue & give a break, change activity

· appreciate dyslexics’ difficulty learning facts by heart

· don’t ask a dyslexic to read to the class unless they want to

· they may lose and forget things however hard they try

· they may be very sensitive to their difficulties and go to extreme lengths to hide them

· be patient. If one approach doesn’t work, try something different, work on one step at a time, go back to a stage they can manage and build from there

Modifying the task

· be prepared to modify tasks eg, accept dot points instead of sentences

· don’t ask dyslexics to copy from the board: they find it very difficult and may miss words/lines/whole chunks of information

· don’t ask students to finish work at recess and lunch or take it home; instead reduce the amount, modify the task accept that progress will be slow and praise small achievements

Building confidence and self-esteem

· reward effort

· capitalize on special interests and talents

· give opportunities to shine

· help students set manageable goals and work out strategies to attain them

· look for opportunities to give descriptive praise

Explicit Teaching Strategies

Developing phonic skills and word family knowledge

· revise knowledge of names and sounds of the letters of the alphabet

· lead students through a structured phonics program

· work with word families (e.g., cat, bat, fat etc) so student can ‘hear’ and ‘see’ how groups of words share a particular sound/letter pattern

· practise breaking words into syllables, e.g., win/dow

· practise reading word endings as a whole unit eg, /i/n/g/ as ‘ing’

· highlight syllables and word endings/write them in cursive so a student sees them as a unit

· teach students to ‘sound out’ words they want to spell and identify the number of sounds in the word. Ask them to check that they have a letter or letter combination for each sound. Ensure pronunciation is correct.

· engage as many senses as possible. For example, a student may:

o -hear and say a word containing a new sound

o -see the word in print and study the distinguishing features or ‘tricky bits’

o -trace over the word while saying it

o -write the word from memory

o -think of words which contain the sound being learnt

o -draw a picture and write a cue word on the back of a card with the sound on

o the front eg, ‘ow’ ® “cow” + picture. Store cards. Use for practice

o -engage in games and activities based around the sound and

o -practise reading and spelling words with the nominated sound until the

o knowledge becomes automatic.

Developing reading skills

Individually:

· choose phonic-based books with controlled vocabulary at appropriate level

· preview vocabulary used in text

· read a page with the student, discuss meaning, and ask them to practise alone

· label objects in the room, storage containers

· set manageable goals for accuracy and speed

Whole class:

· before reading to students, provide background so students can relate what they hear to something known

· when reading to the class, read reflectively

· discuss word meanings, content, relevance to real life

· discuss characters, problems and events

· invite students to suggest solutions to the problem, what will happen next

· provide brief review before continuing reading

· teach visualisation skills (creating a mental movie) to help with comprehension and visual imagination (see ‘Visualising and Verbalising’ by Nanci Bell)

· teach skimming, scanning skills frequently model how you would eg

· identify main point

· recognise supporting detail

· note sequence

Reading and spelling high frequency words

· start with words such as 'the, and, me' and high interest words, such as the names of family members and things of personal interest

· to help with reading, play matching games (using cards), Bingo, Memory game & computer program

· work through a list of high frequency words

· to help with spelling, try the following:

o hear, trace and say, imagine and say, look and say, write and say, check

o look and say, write and say the letter names, and look and say

o practise writing the words in as many different settings as possible eg sand, white board, chalk, plastic letters, large crayons, fat Textas

o practise sky writing to reinforce spelling and writing patterns through motor memory.

o identify and highlight the parts of the word which the student finds difficult

o develop mnemonics e.g., to remember the spelling of said, refer to the first letter of each word in the sentence, Small ants in danger and draw a picture to go with the sentence

Developing written language skills

· provide a scribe when possible so student can concentrate on their ideas

· provide genre structures and model how to use them eg for narrative, procedure

· brainstorm vocabulary and write on the board

· provide sentence starters, topic sentences for paragraphs

· encourage the use of a word processor

Developing handwriting skills

· teach correct sitting position, book/paper position, pencil grip; monitor and praise correct behaviours

· teach correct letter formation, monitor; provide one-to-one guidance if necessary

· teach cursive; because pen stays on the page, motor memory helps with memorisation of letter combinations

· practise writing patterns, letter formation in range of settings eg sand, white board, chalk, plastic letters, large crayons, fat Textas.

Developing short-term memory skills

Intention

· students need to have a reason to remember

· establish an expectation to remember

Support

· give student time if struggling

· provide scaffolding/cues

· divide learning task into small, achievable steps

· teach each step explicitly

· make sure one step is learned before moving to the next

Teach memory strategies

· rehearsal/repetition

Simple recitation is useful for learning facts eg multiplication tables, lists. (Items at the beginning and end of a list are most likely to be recalled so have several short lists rather than one long one.)

· narrative chaining

· relate information to a theme or make up a story incorporating the information

· Chunking

· group information into sub-units eg, the phone number 82164532 (8 bits) might be

reduced to 3 bits (821 645 32); the word-ending e d (2 bits) could be reduced to

ed (1 bit)

· mental visualisation - create a mental picture of the content to be remembered eg,

details of a story; a process, directions. Close your eyes. Can you see it inside your

eyes? For some students this may be difficult and require guided practice.

· mnemonics

· talk about the memory ‘tricks’ you use eg, to remember the spelling of

stationary/stationery: cars are stationary; stationery paper

· make up a sentence using the letters of a word eg, because – big elephants

can always understand small elephants

· make up a sentence with the order of the points of the compass – Never

Eat Soggy Weetbix

rhymes eg, Thirty days has September, April, June and November

Practice

· students with memory difficulties may know something one day and have forgotten

it the next

· provide many opportunities for practice – consider also the value of computer programs with their immediate feedback, infinite patience, potential for variety

· review previous learning regularly eg spellings, maths concepts, routines

Memory Aids

· Encourage the use of;

o diaries, illustrations, charts, calendars, graphs, cue cards, concept maps, notes, flash cards, summaries, post-it stickers with reminders, copy of daily/weekly timetable, checklist of tasks to complete, calculator, multiplication tables chart, card with correct letter formation, indexed book with often mis-spelt words, business size cards with address, important telephone numbers etc

Metamemory (knowing how to remember)

§ Ask student: How are you going to remember this information?

§ Model strategies they might use

§ Student chooses their preferred strategy and talks themselves through the task

§ Give constructive feedback

§ Picture/written cue cards can be used until the student can perform the task automatically