What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is one of the most mystifying disorders that hinders a child’s ability to learn to read because all other cognitive functions are unaffected. Children with dyslexia are typically of normal intelligence. They simply struggle with processing words and struggle with phonological awareness.
The International Dyslexia Foundation defines it this way:
“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”
Somewhere in that magnificent machine that we call the human brain is a glitch. A neurological glitch, which causes a child to look at words and letters in utter confusion or with a blank stare.
How Can I Tell if My Child Has Dyslexia?
Like most intellectual disorders, it is always best to have a professional assessment of your child’s reading abilities.
There are some signs that a parent can look for if there is genuine concern.
Dyslexia in Pre-School:
At this stage, children love to sing and usually learn the alphabet song and nursery rhymes without much effort. The melodies and the rhymes make this a simple task for most children, but a child with early signs of dyslexia may have trouble remembering the words or they may frequently reverse letters in the alphabet song. Pre-schoolers who struggle to find the right words for common or familiar objects often use substitute words like “stuff” or “that” or “things”. This could indicate the early signs of dyslexia.
Dyslexia in Elementary School:
If the pre-school years made it difficult to determine the early signs of dyslexia, it will likely be more easily identified in the early years of elementary school. It will also be urgent between Kindergarten and 3rd grade to get a clear diagnosis for your child so that intervention can be implemented at the earliest opportunity.
Some of the typical struggles a child with dyslexia will display in elementary school include: confusing letters that mirror each other such as b/d and p/q. Similar sounding letters like d/t, b/p and f/v are also confusing for children with dyslexia. This inevitably affects a child’s ability to decode (sound out) words which leads to trouble with spelling. Sight words and common words are often a struggle as well.
Dyslexia in Secondary School:
If a child with dyslexia does not receive proper intervention before the end third grade, the struggles with early reading skills could affect the rest of their academic experience. Without intervention, a child with dyslexia will have low phonological awareness and will be unable to build fluency and comprehension skills.
Kids with dyslexia will have trouble recognizing sight words, they will read slowly, skip words while reading, search for common words while talking and oftentimes they may incorrectly substitute other words as they speak. When these kids write, the search and find struggle for the right words and letters coupled with the correct spelling and word recognition struggles will make writing a very daunting task. Dyslexia includes problems that are understood to be both neurological and visual disorders at the core of this learning disorder.
Helpful Tips for Teaching a Child with Dyslexia to Read
For teachers in the field, addressing the skills and the needs of a child with a learning disorder like dyslexia as they struggle to learn basic reading skills is similar to addressing the needs of any child who requires additional reading support as they are learning.
The first step is identifying the need for additional reading skills support. One of the most utilized resources is an assessment tool called DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), which teachers have used to identify students who are at risk for reading skills difficulties at an early stage. Experienced teachers will conduct skills assessments frequently to monitor progress and target reading practice and instruction to address their student’s specific reading skills deficiencies.
One of the most effective forms of intervention that teachers have used with at risk students is the Multi-Tier System of Support (MTSS). As its name implies, it is a “tiered” system of instruction (picture a pyramid with three levels) that works from the ground up to target the student’s deficiencies so that a teacher is more equipped to help kids with their specific needs. It begins with assessment of skills (the base of the pyramid) and with each level (tier), a certain percentage of children will respond to targeted instruction while others will require more help at another level (tier). The smallest population of students are found at the top of the pyramid and require the most specific and targeted reading help. This is where you will find many of the children with dyslexia who are struggling with reading skills.
Teachers are trained to help kids by conducting reading assessments and develop a program of instruction in class to assist children that are identified with dyslexia or other difficulties. This does not exclude parents and caregivers who are teaching their children at home from learning how to provide the same resources and help that many teachers use in the classroom.
If you are teaching at home, you can conduct an informal screening by working with your local school district, an educational consultant or by simply using an online screening tool to identify any possible signs of dyslexia. There are as many resources as there are disorders available to teachers and parents to evaluate a child’s particular deficiencies and disorders.
Once you have identified the problem area, there are some standard approaches that you can use at home when you teach your child which are all based upon the multi-tiered system approach (MTSS).
The best approach to teaching a child who has been identified as “at risk” or has received a diagnosis of dyslexia is to practice a continual cycle of assessment, direct instruction that targets the deficiency and reassessment to continually adjust the teaching approach.
Multi Sensory Teaching for Children with Dyslexia Disorders
Dyslexia is a neurological issue that makes it difficult to recognize and recall. This affects a child’s ability to establish phonological awareness. One of the best ways to help a child with dyslexia to overcome these struggles is to teach reading skills from every angle by trying to engage all of their senses.
The multi sensory approach to teaching a child with dyslexia will make use of visual, auditory and kinesthetic skills in order to teach a child. Multi sensory instruction is a highly engaging form of teaching and it is fun for both the teacher and the child in the classroom or in a home school setting.
For example, a child with dyslexia who struggles with letter reversal may respond well to tactile or kinesthetic learning (touching). Instead of pencil and paper, an effective teacher could try a more unorthodox method of teaching by spreading gelatin powder on a cookie tray and having the child spell words into the gelatin powder. The feel of the powder, the color stains on their fingers and the tasty clean up engage all of their senses.
A more physical child with dyslexia may respond better to scavenger hunts that require walking around and looking for clues, or jump rope whereby every jump requires the recital of a letter for a word they are spelling.
A child with dyslexia who has great auditory skills might respond best to verbal instruction and dictation.
A child with more visually attuned skills may respond well to a “fill in the blanks” approach to call their attention to particular vocabulary words or spellings.
Most people learn best with a combination of auditory, visual and kinesthetic approaches. Effective teachers know this and will target their teaching approach to make use of all of these areas.
Parents are the Most Effective Teachers for Children with Dyslexia Disorders
When it comes to teaching, care, and support for a child with dyslexia, the most important teachers are parents. A child with dyslexia will always benefit from strong support at home.
Parents can conduct simple assessments and monitor progress of their child’s education and skills more frequently than classroom teachers who are responsible for twenty or more children at once.
Parents are also best suited to deliver more frequent feedback and praise for a child with dyslexia. Feedback and praise go a very long way for a child with dyslexia and any other learning disorder that requires additional teaching support for struggling learners.
Some of the easiest ways to support a child with dyslexia are simple solutions like allowing extra time to complete a task, frequent positive feedback that calls their attention to areas of concern, and frequent praise that calls attention to what they are doing right instead of wrong. The better the child feels about reading, the more they will read.
One interesting note about feedback: children with dyslexia are already struggling with feelings of frustration. Red pens and negative comments about reading or writing skills can cause much more exaggerated feelings of devastation for a child who is already being hard on themselves. Positive feedback and continual praise should be a fixed part of instruction for all teachers and parents who work with children who have dyslexia or any other learning disorder.
Whatever teaching supports that you can utilize to the advantage of a child with dyslexia will always help and never hinder their progress. Pencil to paper education is not the only way to teach. Lecturing is not the only way to educate a child. It takes a variety of approaches to find what works best when you teach a child with a learning disorder like dyslexia.
Educational Games and Assistive Technology to Help Kids with Dyslexia
Unless you live in a remote section of the world with no access to electricity or technology of any kind, you are undoubtedly very keenly aware of the advantages and the obvious need to integrate technology into your child’s education.
2020 is a wonderful time to be a student and a teacher because there is so much educational software and assistive technology available to us now that most solutions to learning disorders are accessible within five minutes of a web search.
Online educational games, tutorial videos, learning songs on YouTube and applications that can be downloaded onto tablets and phones are plentiful. These tools are valuable.
Valuable Assistive Technology-A Personalized Reader for Children with Dyslexia
Lighthouse Reader is one of the best customized tools for children with dyslexia, autism, ADD, ADHD, and Cortical Visual Impairment. Unlike other educational programs, Lighthouse Reader was developed with specific challenges in mind.
Lighthouse Reader integrates the concepts of a multi tiered system of support with specialized features that provide customizable help to a child with dyslexia.
Your child can download their favorite books through the Lighthouse library and make adjustments to the text that help your child by using a variety of approaches that target auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning styles.
For the auditory learner, the Lighthouse Reader has three different voices that your child can choose from to audio-play the text. The text can be highlighted or your child can use the push and cover feature to emphasize the word that is being read as they follow along.
For the visual learner, the Lighthouse Reader has several options to customize the text to your child’s comfort while reading. The size of the text can be magnified or reduced and the color of the font can be changed. This is important for students with sensory issues who might find a certain color or screen tone more soothing.
The push and cover feature allows your child to adjust their reading experience by setting the text to reveal one word at a time or cover each word as it is read.
The bubble feature is a unique feature that Lighthouse Reader utilizes for the benefit of students who have Cortical Visual Impairments. CVI is a neurological disorder that causes visual processing issues that make it difficult to see and recognize the word being read. The bubble feature highlights around the word and helps a student to recognize and read more fluently.
Kinesthetic learners will stay engaged with the Lighthouse Reader by being able to touch and manipulate the text that they are reading through the program. They can scroll through the library, complete assessments, book chat with other students, and work on skills by touching the material while being entertained with a visually pleasing format for learning. This is priceless for students who learn by doing.
Benefits of Lighthouse Reader for Children with Dyslexia
Considering what educators know about the benefits of multi-tiered support systems of instruction, it is wonderful to have such a variety of curriculum and teaching methods to support specifically targeted approaches to teaching.
It’s also wonderful to have such a vast amount of technology at our fingertips which allow us to engage our students in a highly personalized format.
Lighthouse Reader is an amazing combination of teaching, learning and keeping a child with dyslexia and other reading difficulties interested in a task that could be boring or overwhelming to them in any other format.
In addition to the reader being customized to the needs of each student, the Lighthouse Reader performs continual vocabulary and fluency assessments by way of cloze assessments. These assessments measure Lexile growth and allow for the reader to make adjustments to subsequent readings and assessments.
The Lexile measure takes data on your child’s reading comprehension and adjusts the level to the appropriate level of comprehension.
Built in Motivation for Your Child with Dyslexia with Lighthouse Reader
Praise and positive feedback are two of the best friends your child with dyslexia will make on their journey to overcoming reading difficulties. Lighthouse Reader makes this easy with built in rewards in the form of badges that your child can earn for a job well done. A parent can utilize this feature to reward their child for any milestone or goal that a child reaches.
Lighthouse Reader is by far the best resource for teaching your child with dyslexia by using a multi-tiered, multi sensory and customizable reading experience for your struggling reader. It provides everything you will need for a child who struggles with dyslexia.
