 Say
each word they hesitate on
- Since the beginning of the school year I have had reading groups each day, separating
the class into small groups in which the students are all reading about the same
level. One group (usually made up of 4 students) was struggling through each word.
I tried to coach them through the words to the frustration of everyone. After
each story, not one of the students could say what the story was about and they
could not keep their place while others read. I started saying each word they
hesitated on and instructed the parents and my helpers to do the same. As a treat
at the end of the session, I will read a page or two to them. It was hard for
me to overcome old habits, but there has been such a positive change: I have had
several parents tell me they have noticed their child’s reading improving. I have
noticed the students are not asking to leave to go to the bathroom, get a drink
or go to the office because they don’t feel well. They seem to actually enjoy
the time and eventually pick the word up when it is repeated throughout the story.
(R.J., Oregon, USA)
Sitting
at the back of the class
- Jason tends to choose to sit near the back of the class. I noticed that he screws
up his eyes when trying to find his place on the whiteboard. Jason takes longer
than other children to finish copying from the board, making spelling errors,
missing out words and whole lines. Often Jason does not finish copying from the
whiteboard before the work is rubbed off and so he tries to copy from whoever
is next to him. Sometimes his mother comes in to get the week's homework spellings
because Jason had not finished copying them from the board at the end of the day.
Jason told me he sat at the back because he didn't want to read out aloud or answer
questions. I made the teacher aware of Jason's comments and my observations and
she is going to encourage him to sit near her in class. (J.E., Surrey, UK)  Copying
from the board -
Tom is a slow writer: very often he cannot copy down all the homework from the
board. He says that his teacher writes the homework towards the end of the lesson.
She also writes in cursive handwriting. He has difficulty with understanding everything
written down on the board and then copying it. When he gets home he cannot understand
the exact homework to be done, so his homework is incomplete or not done. I spoke
to his subject teacher and explained to her about his problem. Now she gives the
homework early on in the lesson, so that he has enough time to note it down and
also ask any questions about it, for example, if he does not understand her handwriting
or the content of the homework. (L.T., Mauritius)
Fishing
game - Sam and I
use a 'Fishing Game' to learn new words. Newly learned words are written onto
cards shaped like fish. A paper clip is then attached to each card. These cards
are later strewn into a large cardboard cover (this is the 'pond') Sam holds a
rod with a magnet tied to the end of the line. When the game starts, his job is
to catch a 'fish' and read the word written. He keeps the 'fish' when he correctly
reads the word. (M.H.C., Singapore)  The
Reading/Book Corner
- Reading in the wrong environment can seem so daunting to a dyslexic child. Our
Reading/Book Corner has been designed by the pupils themselves, with comfortable
seating, colourful posters and essentially a screen separating the corner from
the rest of the class. The brightly painted bookcase holds carefully selected
reading material, categorised and labelled by the children themselves. They have
mutually discussed and agreed rules including 'No Noise'! It is their own space,
a safe, comfortable, and peaceful area, where they can read without feeling ridiculed.
This corner is used for independent reading, peer reading, and Small Group Discussions,
providing an excellent 'chill out', relaxed, environment.(S.D., Kincardineshire,
Scotland)
Telling
a child the words they cannot read yet
- I was hearing Peter read and telling him any words he hesitated on. Peter made
a deal with me that I will only tell him the words that he genuinely had problems
with. He would tap my hand and I would read him the words he had a problem with.
(H.N., New Delhi, India)  Saying
numbers out loud
- I was helping a class once, the class teacher did not allowed anybody to make
any noise in the class including me. I was working with 2 children at the time,
I could see their frustration at not being able to talk about what they were doing.
I asked the class teacher to allow me to work with the 2 children out of the classroom.
When we were working outside, the children looked relaxed and were able to do
the sums because they could verbalise what they were doing. Dyslexic children
learn through multi-sensory best in all situation, they need to use all their
senses when learning, so it is always good to provide them with multi-sensory
learning. (M.P., Singapore)
 Resource
class - Many teachers
report the embarrassment dyslexic children experience going to the resource class
or withdrawal group. However, if children enjoy the range of activities - games,
matching, etc - they take part in when in the resource class, along with all the
praise they receive, the children will enjoy going, and the other children in
their class may even start to feel a little envious of them. (John Bradford, Direct
Learning)
Tray
game - For this
game you need alphabet letters and an assortment of objects. Place one object
at a time on the table, together with a selection of letters, one of which is
the initial letter of the object (e.g. a plastic dog - with the letters 'a', 'c',
'd', 'h', 'm'). The child must find the letter whose sound the object begins with.
Alternatively, you can put out one letter and five objects, the child having to
pick the object beginning with the letter. This game can include the use of consonant
blends and digraphs as initial, medial or final phonemes. (D.P.M, Bedfordshire,
UK)  Reading
with a teenager
- Use functional reading activities to motivate your teenager to enjoy reading.
Reading the television guide together to find their favourite programs, reading
shopping lists or diaries to help organise their time - write letters to each
other to give out chores in the home - use humor and make the chore of reading
fun! Talking books are also a great way of encouraging the enjoyment of stories
with accompanying books that you can read to them, and share together once the
young person becomes more familiar with the story. (S.C., Bexhill-on-Sea, UK)
Making
a window - one of
my strategies for helping students improve their visual skills during reading
is to cut a piece of paper as a window the size of one word. I then expand it
as the student improves and so on till s/he is able to read a full sentence. (J.B.,
Oman)  Sending
home a reading book the child already knows
- I have found that a good reading experience for homework is sending home a carefully
chosen book, which I have used all week for the Literacy Hour. In class the child
has had a whole week of fun activities and sensitive support based on and using
the book. If the learning experience has been pleasurable, they enjoy sharing
the story - which they have become familiar and confident using - with their family
at home during the weekend. (J.D., Bexhill-on-Sea, UK)
 Using
a Spidergram or Mind Map
- The boy I am working with found creative writing in the literacy lessons extremely
difficult and tended to get frustrated and anxious about writing his own stories.
Using a writing frame helped but I found that drawing a simple Spidergram/Mind
Map of his ideas first helped tremendously. He could see clearly all of his
ideas and could decide which ones he wanted to use and which he wanted to get
rid of. He could then transfer his chosen ideas to his writing frame to give structure
to his story. Using the spidergram/mind map and writing frame allowed him to visually
see his ideas without trying to remember them in his head. (K.H., Berkshire, UK)
A
specific learning condition
- I explain to parents what we mean by a 'specific learning condition' (rather
than a 'specific learning difficulty') and why, as a school, we prefer not to
use ‘difficulty’ in the description, as this can be seen as negative, as a hurdle
or barrier rather than a challenge. (P.H., Shropshire, UK)  The
'bed' trick to help with 'b' and 'd'
- My dyslexic students have learned to do the 'bed trick' when confused with b/d.
They have learned to make the letter b with their left hand (forefinger comes
to the thumb to make the circle of the b while the other fingers are straight)
and their right hand forms the letter d using the same method. Initially I taught
them they could imagine the 'e' for the word bed between their right and left
hands. Quickly they learned to apply this method on their own. Now when a student
is confused with a b/d, if they do not do the bed trick on their own, I just ask
them to do the trick. When prompted to do the trick they quickly realize they
have been using the wrong letter and can determine the correct one! . (Cathy,
Columbia, Missouri)
 Interactive
whiteboards - At
the school I teach in, we have interactive white boards in each classroom. I have
found that along with all the other benefits of these, an added bonus is when
it comes to copying from the board, I can simply print the screen for those who
find this difficult. This has also been useful when homework needs to copied down,
it is quickly and legibly able to be put into their diaries! (R.D., Suffolk, UK)
Helping
with confusion over 'b' and 'd' (1)
- A strategy I have used successfully is to give individual pupils blank flashcards.
They are asked to draw a picture of something they like or identify with beginning
with ‘d’ and ‘b’ for example a dragon to illustrate the ‘d’ card and a bear to
illustrate the ‘b’ card. (The letters ‘d’ and ‘b’ are also clearly written on
the appropriate card). Pupils can keep these on or in their desks to refer to
when needed. I have also used this strategy successfully with the vowel sounds.
The pictures drawn are personal and individual to each particular child, often
reflecting their own interests such as foods or animals for example. (J. D., Bexhill-on-Sea,
UK) Helping
with confusion over 'b' and 'd' (2)
- Two young dyslexic children in my class were constantly confusing the letters
'b' and 'd', so I decided to try a tactile, kinetic and visual approach to see
if the problem could be alleviated. I gave them some plasticine to make the letter
'b' (tactile); I got them to draw a large letter 'b' on the carpet using their
whole body (kinetic) and lastly, I wrote 'bed' on a whiteboard with someone lying
on it and then showed the boys how to hold up their fingers and thumbs to make
the word 'bed', but omitting the 'e'. Providing the children with a multi-sensory
approach to distinguishing the letter 'b' from 'd' seems to have done the trick,
and now there are very few instances when these letters are confused. (D.M., Bedfordshire,
UK)  'Reading
Buddy' - Each day
after lunch the first 15 minutes are quiet reading time, when the teacher can
hear readers and the children can settle down after lunch time! We use a Reading
Buddy idea, where children pair up and take it in turns to read a page/paragraph
to each other. We also use audio books and headphones which allow the poorer readers
to “read” the same books as others in the class, when doing an author study. (Rebecca,
UK).
The
Golden Rule for reading - I asked A.P’s. mother to come and listen to him
read, while I watched. She started by trying to get him to sound out all the difficult
words. It was plain that A.P. was loosing the meaning of the text, by the nature
of the attempts he was making. Then I told her about the Golden Rule for hearing
a child read - 'Tell the child the word if he hesitates for more than one second,
and come back to read the book again the next day'. She then went back over the
paragraph and told him the words he didn’t know as he read. The story flowed and
at the end of the chapter A.P. wanted to carry on to find out what happened next.
A.P’s. mother was pleased as she said she really dreaded their reading time, as
they quite often ended up fighting! (G.K., New Zealand) [Full details of using
the Golden Rule for reading are to be found inthe Dyslexia
Certificate course - Ed.] Sight,
sound, touch and movement - The young children at my school are introduced
to sounds and letters by drawing them in the air, in sand, making them out of
playdough and “treasure hunting” the classroom for items beginning with this sound.
This involves sight, sound, touch and movement and gives the children a greater
range of memories to use. This is the policy for all the children, but obviously
benefits dyslexic child! (R.T., California) Which
font face? I produce worksheets in Comic Sans or Century Gothic fonts as these
have the same ‘a’ and ‘g’ as the children are expected to use. However, the most
generally used font outside school is Times New Roman and they will encounter
this in reading and reference books at school. (Troy, Ohio)  Have
you got your mouth ready? - When I take A.P. for reading and he gets to a
difficult word I always say to him, “Have you got your mouth ready. ’That seems
to help him to look at the first sound of the word. When I first started with
A.P. he would more often than not say the final sound first. I asked him if that
was what he actually saw when he looked at a word. He said it was, so I tried
a strip of paper under the line of words. That didn’t help. In the end we found
that if I pointed to the beginning of the words with a pencil, then he would get
his mouth ready for the sound. In this way we have trained his eyes to look at
the first sounds and not the end sounds. With using phonic prompts, especially
learning the short sounding vowels, this has really helped A.P. to decipher the
difficult words with confidenc. He knows now that he can help himself! (G.K.,
New Zealand)
Cloze
procedures - I find using cloze procedures helpful as the stress of spelling
correctly is removed. I have produced interactive cloze procedures, where they
can lift and drop the words into the correct places and then print off their completed
work. They particularly enjoy this but it can be time consuming to setup. (Mary
D., Australia)  Multi-sensory
letters - Last year
I worked with a child who had difficulty remembering the formation of some letters.
He became angry, cried and was frustrated when he could not remember what certain
letters looked like and how to write them. I provided him with lots of tactile
objects, e.g. pipe cleaners, plasticine, ribbons, clothes, sponge, etc. We worked
on one letter a day: he chose one object, e.g. a pipe cleaner, to make the shape
of the letter, and glued it onto a cardboard book, which I had prepared earlier.
I got him to feel the shape of the letter with his eyes closed, say the sound
of the letter and asked him to write it on the same page. We worked on the project
for a few weeks and every day we started the lesson by getting him to feel the
letter. Each letter was shaped from different materials, so it helped him to remember
better. After a few weeks, he could match the sound to the letter and write it
correctly. (M.P., Singapore)
Letter
sounds and colors
- Teaching a child with many difficulties, including no knowledge of color names,
I taught her letter sounds and colors at the same time, by making large fabric
letters. S (her initial letter) was silver, soft and shiny, with a squeaker inside
it. B was big and blue, covered in bubblewrap and enclosed a bell Red was rough
and raggy, patchwork, enclosing a plastic bag that rustled.... Yellow was more
difficult: yummy yellow sweets were the answer.... G - green grass of the type
used in shop displays.... After she had the idea, other letters needed less specific
teaching, and went in with more conventional letters, covered in objects she found
in catalogues. (Alis, Wales) A
special folder -
Each of the dyslexic pupils at the special school where I work is issued with
a folder containing all the materials they need to be able to work and self correct
as independently as possible. Each folder includes: colored overlay, reading window
for tracking text, alphabetical list of high frequency words, helpful word lists
such as days of the week etc, picture and letter cards for commonly confused letters
b-ball etc, picture timetable for each day to enable students to organize themselves.
The folders contain many other bits and pieces designed to make their lives easier.
Pupils are encouraged to graffiti or decorate their folders in order that they
are not seen as 'thickie folders'. My dyslexic pupils can now quietly look in
their folder for the resource they need without having to ask for help. (L.H.,
Warwickshire, UK)  Remembering
left and right -
One of my pupils has difficulty remembering the difference between left and right.
To over come this problem, I gave him two different ideas to remember. 1. When
trying to remember his left hand side, I tell him to hold up both hands, palms
pointing away from his body, with thumbs pointing out to the side. The hand that
makes a ‘L’ shape is his left hand. 2. To remember his right hand side, (he is
right handed) he must remember that the hand that he uses to ‘write’ with, is
his ‘right’ hand. (G.H., Leicestershire, UK)
Avoid
distractions - Students
with dyslexia often find the normal hum of classroom activity extremely distracting.
Even the most unavoidable sounds catch their attention and draw their minds away
from their schoolwork. So it is very important to find the right spot within the
classroom for the student. Once this has been achieved then the lesson can begin.
(J.T., West Lothian, Scotland) Information
for parents - I
offered to find out for Louise's parents information about the nearest Dyslexia
Centre and local support groups, as I felt that talking to other parents of dyslexic
children would benefit, help and support the whole family. I rang up the local
Dyslexia Centre. They sent me details of their courses and local support groups
which I passed on to Louise's parents. I also wrote down relevant websites. A
few days later Louise's mother eagerly told me that she had already signed up
for a two-day workshop at the local Dyslexia Centre. She said she found the websites
particularly useful as she was able to access the information when it fitted in
with her. Because of her enthusiasm I made several posters giving contact names
and numbers, websites and the National Dyslexia Association address and telephone
number. I put the posters in the staffroom, on the parents' noticeboard and in
the school entrance hall. (J.E., Surrey, UK)  Writing
in cursive - I have
cut pieces of screen and taped the edges with duct tape. When a child has a problem
writting a letter in cursive I write that letter on a piece of paper, put it under
the screen, and then have the child trace it several times. Then I put a piece
of paper on top and have the child write the letter with a crayon. There is a
little resistance that adds to the sensation of writing. The kids love it. (S.S..,
Lauderdale)
Lesson
withdrawal time
- As a school we are careful not to withdraw dyslexic children from lessons in
which they are strong or particularly enjoy. RT approached me one day and asked
if his lesson time could be altered as his timetable had been changed and his
one-to-one with myself clashed with art, his favourite lesson. I then approached
the class teacher and together we came up with an alternative time. (L.B., Essex,
UK) '.
. . a quivering wreck . . .'
- I work with one child who becomes a quivering wreck during the weekly spelling
test in class, and can be in tears before he has even been asked to spell the
first word. However, quietly withdrawing him to a side room just before the test
without warning of the fact that he is going to do his spellings, often results
in him being 100% successful. He also has the satisfaction of returning to the
class and sitting quietly with a book, with the knowledge that he has done his
spellings while the rest of the class have their test!. (S.C., Bexhill-on-Sea,
UK)  Air
writing - I explained
the process of 'air writing' to a parent. I explained how to pretend that the
hand, with the fingers brought to the center, was the pencil lead and the arm
from the elbow down is the pencil. Make big smooth letter loops in the air. This
helps to enhance the muscle memory to enable the child to put pencil to paper
without it being so laborious. This aids in visual and muscle memory, and helps
with b/d and p/9 confusion. (S.V., New York)
Reading
a part in a play
- Mark desperately wanted to join in and read a character from a play during an
English lesson but didn¹t have the confidence to do so. I spoke to the English
teacher after the lesson had ended and arranged it so that he could take the book
home and practise reading with his parents. At the next English lesson, he read
with confidence. He said he had thoroughly enjoyed participating and had a great
feeling of achievement. (N.A., Kent, UK) Picture
clues for a written exercise
- Picture Q’s are an excellent example of supporting the child through a written
exercise. The page is split into three both across the page and down the page.
Going down the page is split for a beginning, middle and an end. Across the page
is split with picture clues on the left, an area for written work in the middle
and a list of key words that could be utilized in the work, on the right. The
page is best set up on landscape. (L. S-W., Manchester, UK) |
