Dyslexia is often talked about as if it were a sickness. Teachers and parents search for a “cure” for the reading difficulty in their children. However, a cure is nowhere to be found. Dyslexia is a lifelong condition, and it is simply a learning difference in how the reader’s brain processes language (LearnFast Education, 2014).
Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that goes far beyond letter reversals and words “bouncing” around on a page of text. It often affects spelling and writing, in addition to reading. Students with dyslexia frequently exhibit signs of attention deficit disorders, anxiety, and a lack of reading motivation. These students are also creative deep thinkers with incredible listening comprehension. Dyslexia spans from mild to severe forms, and the same intervention for one dyslexic student may not be the most effective for another (Reading Rockets, 2019).
What Causes Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is not caused by poverty, speech impairments, or developmental delays. The problem is physically located in the brain (Hudson et al., 2013). Research shows that “the brain of a person with dyslexia has a different distribution of metabolic activation than the brain of a person without reading problems when accomplishing the same language task. There is a failure of the left hemisphere rear brain systems to function properly during reading” (Hudson et al., 2013). Simply put, there is a disorder of the language processing part of the brain. Therefore, it is imperative that educators understand best practices in assessing and assisting students who are dyslexic or show dyslexic tendencies.
Early Identification
First and foremost, early intervention is key to helping dyslexic students become successful readers. Measuring a student’s knowledge of sounds in speech, letters in words, fluent word recognition, and letter sound correspondence at the earliest stages of learning is one of the best ways to continuously monitor for warning signs of reading difficulties. Young learners should be presented with explicit and systematic instruction in phonological awareness and phonics (Hudson et al., 2013). The earlier a student can be identified with a reading difficulty, the better the child can grasp on to reading skills. Early intervention is imperative in the road to becoming literate.
Best Practices for Dyslexic Readers
Even if, as educators, we know that early intervention is vital, how do we provide good reading instruction that better helps students with dyslexia? It is important to remember that “for the most part, good teaching is good teaching. If something works with kids who struggle more to learn to read, it is likely to work with all students. If something doesn’t work for the kids who struggle more, it’s worth asking why it belongs in our whole-class instruction” (Jiban, 2021). A focus on explicit instruction in the areas of phonological awareness and decoding and phonics skills are essential in the reading classroom. The following are best practice strategies to use for struggling readers.
Orton-Gillingham Approaches
Famous educators, Orton and Gillingham, developed instructional approaches that are helpful to all readers. The main focal points of Orton-Gillingham reading instruction are:
multisensory
direct
systematic and sequential
For students struggling to read, they need instruction that teaches them step by step, with one skill building upon the previous. These students need to know the how and the why of the reading process. Whichever skill is being taught, it should be presented in a variety of methods, including strategies that involve touch, sound, and kinesthetic (Positive Action Staff, 2021).
Skills to Help Dyslexic Readers
Children with dyslexia are not a homogeneous group; however, most poor readers will show phoneme awareness hardships. Reading teachers know the importance of phonological awareness skills for developing readers, so the need for phonological awareness intervention for struggling readers is firmly established. “Other aspects of spoken language, however, also make important contributions to the processing of written text. In particular, syntactic, semantic, and morphological knowledge of spoken language is brought to hear in the reading and spelling process” (Gillon, 2018, p. 85).
Syntactic Strategies
Model correct syntax to students by restating what they say incorrectly with correct word order.
Write words on cards and have students arrange the cards to make a complete sentence.
Develop basic skills that will help with fluency and phrasing, such as new sentences start with capital letters and ideas end with a period or question mark (Hanson, 2022).
Semantic Strategies
Have students make comparisons between objects using a variety of vocabulary words.
Play word games involving synonyms, antonyms, homophones, compound words, and word families.
Use grouping activities where students must sort objects based on certain criteria. Students must explain their grouping. As an alternate format to this, ask students to justify and explain why something does not belong, giving reasons why (Buttriss et al., 2021).
Morphology Strategies
Create a word matrix to map a word family.
Use word sums, showing the structure of complex words.
example: re + create + ing → recreating
All Students Can Read
The best practice any reading teacher can take into her classroom is the belief that all students are readers. Students who are identified as dyslexic may take a different route for their reading approach, but they will get to the same destination - a literate learner who gains new knowledge through the pages of a text.
References
Buttriss, J., & Callander, A. (2021, September 14). Activities to develop Semantic Knowledge.
Teaching Expertise. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/activities-to-develop-semantic-knowledge/
Gillon, G. T. (2018). Phonological awareness: From research to practice (Second). The Guilford
Press.
Hanson, J. (2022, May 14). How to teach syntax to kids. The Classroom | Empowering Students
in Their College Journey. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://www.theclassroom.com/teach-syntax-kids-8538531.html
Hudson, R. F., High, L., & Otaiba, S. A. (2013, December 12). Dyslexia and the brain: What
does current research tell us? Reading Rockets. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/dyslexia-and-brain-what-does-current-research-
tell-us
Jiban, C. (2021, March 23). Best practices in reading instruction for students with dyslexia.
Teach. Learn. Grow. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://www.nwea.org/blog/
2021/best-practices-in-reading-instruction-for-students-with-dyslexia/
LearnFast Education. (2014). Auditory Processing and Dyslexia. YouTube. Retrieved November
11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O3kc0Lc7jU.
Positive Action Staff. (2021, February 9). How to Teach Students With Dyslexia? 14
Evidence-Based Tips. Positive Action. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://www.positiveaction.net/blog/how-to-teach-students-with-dyslexia
Reading Rockets. (2019). What are some intervention fads that don’t help children with
dyslexia? YouTube. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAZQjX58SU4.
Shanahan, T. (2020, May 27). What should morphology instruction look like? Reading Rockets.
Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-
literacy/what-should-morphology-instruction-look
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