DYSLEXIA
A comprehensive history of Dyslexia by a researcher into the genetics of Dyslexia is available online as a PDF file. Another more detailed look at how ideas about Dyslexia have developed from a Clinical Neuropsychology point of view can be found here.
Why is dyslexia a gift?
Dyslexic people are visual, multi-dimensional thinkers. We are intuitive and highly creative, and excel at hands-on learning. Because we think in pictures, it is sometimes hard for us to understand letters, numbers, symbols, and written words.
We can learn to read, write and study efficiently when we use methods geared to our unique learning style.
Students with dyslexia usually read very slowly,and they misread lots of words—which can lead to comprehensionproblems. Their reading skills are often waybelow grade level. So although they may be able to learnby listening, by watching demonstrations or videos, byparticipating in discussions, and through hands-onactivities, they can’t learn very much by reading.It takes special training, and the use of an Orton-Gillingham-based system, to improve the reading skillsof a student with dyslexia. I do not expect a regulareducation teacher to have that specialized training. ButI do expect her to provide an alternative to reading thetextbook.If a teacher provides time to read books duringclass (often called “silent sustained reading”), I recommendthat she have five or six copies of the book onaudiotape, (along with inexpensive tape players withheadphones that cost less than $10 at most large discountstores). She can allow all students to either justread OR to listen and read. Good readers will discoverthat listening while reading slows them down. So, generally,only poor readers will take advantage of the listenand read option.By the way, it’s better to have a dyslexic student listento a book written at his grade level—so it will challengehim intellectually, improve his vocabulary, andallow him to participate in classroom discussions aboutthe book—than read a book written for much youngerstudents. (Forcing a sixth grader to read a third-gradebook in view of his friends will not only increase hisanxiety, but it will teach him to hate and resist reading.). SPELLING.
Unless a dyslexic student has had Orton-Gillingham tutoring, or has unusually good visualmemory for words, his spelling will be far worse thanhis reading. Traditional methods of spelling instructiondo not work for students with dyslexia.
WHAT DYSLEXIC STUDENTS NEED.
Dyslexic students need a teacher who understandsthe frustration of being smart, yet unable to do what otherstudents do so easily: read, write, spell, and memorize.They need a teacher who understands that thesedifficulties are due to a brain difference—not laziness,lack of intelligence, or lack of motivation.They need a teacher who will not give up onthem—a teacher who is willing to learn how to teacharound their weaknesses.They also need a teacher who knows that they sufferfrom extreme anxiety. More than anything else,these students fear that their teacher will make themlook stupid in front of their peers.
FEAR & ANXIETY.
Why do children with dyslexia complain ofheadaches and stomachaches right before school, andbeg their parents not to send them to school? Why dostudents with dyslexia tend to sit in the back of theroom? Why do they rarely make eye contact with theteacher? It’s because they dread school. They rarelyparticipate because they don’t want to appear stupid infront of their friends.Whenever a teacher shows the rest of the class whata dyslexic student cannot do, directly or indirectly, onpurpose or accidentally, our student feels humiliated. Ifthis happens often enough, our student may developan anxiety disorder.Astudent who is in a constant state of fear and anxietycannot learn. So before you can teach our student,you must reduce his anxiety. You can do that by privatelypromising him that you will:
• NEVER force him to participate in a spelling bee.Instead, you’ll let him be the scorekeeper or dosome other administrative task.
• NEVER force him to read out loud in class, withoutgetting his permission in advance, and without alsoshowing him, in advance, the passage that he’llhave to read, so he can practice ahead of time.
• NEVER force him to write on the board whereother students can see his spelling mistakes andhis terrible handwriting.
• NEVER collect or distribute tests or homework bypassing papers down the row, where other studentscan see his handwriting, spelling, and mistakes.
• NEVER allow other students to correct his assignmentsor grade his tests.
