There are likely to be several more who, although not actually dyslexic, struggle with similar issues.
Although our awareness of dyslexia has grown substantially during the past few years, teachers are often perplexed when some children struggle with literacy, while others don’t – with exactly the same teaching approach!
Literacy is certainly not the only area which causes difficulty for dyslexic learners, however it is definitely one of the major barriers so we’re going to look at key issues and some ideas for using technology to even the playing field.
Research shows that dyslexic learners actually use different parts of the brain and many teachers assume that this means they need to be taught totally differently. Luckily that’s not the case. The principles and methodologies which are vital for struggling learners are also those which benefit all learners. Instruction needs to be explicit, multi-sensory and cumulative – and structure is the key.
Some key strategies are listed below, but one of the crucial aspects is awareness of individual needs.
Literacy teaching
Identify struggling learners as early as possible. Often they are not identified until they are demonstrably failing, usually 1-2 years behind their peers. By this stage, the ‘gap’ is so large that making up that ground will take far more resources than most schools can provide. Target children as soon as they show signs of struggling and give them extra input at that stage. Don’t wait until they have failed.
Literacy in maths
General
A final thought is to consider how we can set learners up for success rather than failure. Think what it must be like for a learner who is struggling with reading when a new topic comes up in class. All of a sudden, they are overloaded with up to a dozen new words. By the time they’ve got their head around those, the class has probably moved on. Wouldn’t it be better to use ‘homework’ creatively? Consider sending home a list of topic words which will crop up in coming weeks. A little note along the lines of: “We’re going to be doing a topic on X in two weeks’ time. These are the important words for this topic. The homework for the next two weeks is just to practise reading (not spelling) those words.” Then, when the topic comes up in class, your dyslexic learner may actually be one of the few children in the class who can read those words. And when you start the topic, how about putting a poster on the wall with all of those topic words nice and clear, so the learner can write them easily, too.
One of the crucial principles is that advocated by Neil Mackay, a leading UK expert on dyslexia. His mantra is simply: “Notice and adjust”.
Ros Lugg is a NZ and UK-trained dyslexia specialist. She is an NZCER Registered ‘C’ Grade assessor with nearly 20 years’ experience and she is the creator of the Steps and StepsWeb literacy programme, which is now used in more than 800 NZ schools and by some of the leading specialist dyslexia schools internationally.
Over 500 jobs will be cut at the Ministry of Education, and PLD priority changes…
Claire Amos unpacks Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's claim that we should "steal" models of education…
ERO’s new report on the progress of the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum finds certain…
In a press release, NZPF President Leanne Otene interrogates the coalition government's proposed attendance action…
What happens when the evidence isn't borne by reality? Sally Riordan, from University College London,…
Strategies for raising attendance have been announced by Associate Education Minister David Seymour and Prime…
This website uses cookies.