How to Support a Child with Dyslexia
Create a support team for your child., Do not be judgmental when teaching a child with dyslexia., Be patient., Educate your other students about dyslexia., Encourage him to take baby steps., Win their trust., Allow the child some extra time to...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Create a support team for your child.
It takes a team of concerned individuals to address dyslexia.
This is often called student support teams which can consist of parents, principals, school psychologists, teachers, speech therapists, reading therapists and other professionals who have the competency to help the child get the learning he deserves at school in the light of thier special needs as a dyslexic.
This team will meet regularly to discuss the child’s existing learning issues and their progress if he is already receiving a specialized learning program., After their parents and other members of the family, teachers are the adults children look up to.
Teachers inspire, motivate and support their students.
If a child seems like he wants to engage in class but is unable to take the pressures of schoolwork, do not assume that there is a problem with their attitude.
He may be struggling with their inability to read, write, spell, or speak well.
If you notice that a student seems to be struggling, schedule a meeting with his or her parents to discuss what may be the issue. , Try to understand the problems that the child is facing such as understanding instructions or keeping up with the pace of the work or with peers.
Try to provide a conducive atmosphere which is free of taunts, ridicule and mockery.
Encourage her to make use of simple tools like folders and some software apps to keep herself organized. , Going to school can be a traumatizing experience for a child with dyslexia--he may be afraid that other kids will make fun of him or he may feel like there is something wrong with him.
If you notice this child falling behind socially, make an effort to educate their peers about dyslexia in an effort to make them more empathetic. , Commend him for what he achieves--doing this will boost their self-esteem and when this is high he will not hesitate to take on bigger responsibilities and bigger steps to take charge of their learning. , Place him in a seat that is close to your desk--by doing this you will be able to monitor their mistakes and discuss them quietly with him, rather than announcing them in front of the whole class.
It is important to make him feel comfortable and to avoid putting him in situations in which he may feel uncomfortable.
For example, if he struggles with reading a sentence without making mistakes, do not make him read aloud in class. , It is important that you allocate a few extra hours just for her to make sure that she is able to cope with her work.
If you have time, or your classroom as a teacher’s aid, ask him or her to spend some time working with the child on phonics. , This technique helps kids associate letters with actual words by turning the letter into its own picture.
Kids with dyslexia can have trouble putting words together and remembering how these are arranged in a sentence.
They also have serious trouble memorizing phrases as short as those consisting of only four words.
To help them with this, allow them to create graphical representation of the vowels thereby allowing them to associate the letters with the words they use every day.For example:
An “a” can be written so that is would look like an apple (a simple leaf on top of the “a” can do the trick). “E” can assume a more oblong shape reminding the child of an egg. , Phonics is often taken for granted in reading skills.
Most kids get phonics early with no problem at all.
This is simply not the case with dyslexic children.
Phonics, which literally translates to “language sounds”, is harder for kids having serious issues with letters in the first place.
There are two major ways to help your child with phonics as listed in the following steps. , This can help him have a clear idea of word families that will be a building block in letter sound identification later on.
With the help of rhyming story books, the child can group words like ban, man, tan, and pan, or sat, mat, hat, bat, and cat easily adding to their understanding of these words and what letters these words consists of. , When your child gets the idea of rhyming words, help him build a word family which can be as short and simple as fig, big, wig, and so on.
When this is proving to be getting easier to your child go on to harder word families like shop, prop, flop, and chop.
Get the difficulty level progress forward as your child understands the association of these words and letters. , While writing an essay might not be her strong suit, creating a picture or poster to express her thoughts on a subject may work better.
Create projects that do not focus on the written word, like art projects or construction projects., If a dyslexic student in your classroom is seriously struggling with written exams, allow her to perform oral exams.
Make every other test an oral exam, or at least have an oral component of each exam that you give. -
Step 2: Do not be judgmental when teaching a child with dyslexia.
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Step 3: Be patient.
-
Step 4: Educate your other students about dyslexia.
-
Step 5: Encourage him to take baby steps.
-
Step 6: Win their trust.
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Step 7: Allow the child some extra time to complete work.
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Step 8: Teach memorization through visualization.
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Step 9: Help your child with phonics.
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Step 10: Make it a habit to read to your dyslexic child rhyming stories.
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Step 11: Help your child build a word family.
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Step 12: Give your dyslexic child ways to express herself without words.
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Step 13: Give oral exams as well as written exams.
Detailed Guide
It takes a team of concerned individuals to address dyslexia.
This is often called student support teams which can consist of parents, principals, school psychologists, teachers, speech therapists, reading therapists and other professionals who have the competency to help the child get the learning he deserves at school in the light of thier special needs as a dyslexic.
This team will meet regularly to discuss the child’s existing learning issues and their progress if he is already receiving a specialized learning program., After their parents and other members of the family, teachers are the adults children look up to.
Teachers inspire, motivate and support their students.
If a child seems like he wants to engage in class but is unable to take the pressures of schoolwork, do not assume that there is a problem with their attitude.
He may be struggling with their inability to read, write, spell, or speak well.
If you notice that a student seems to be struggling, schedule a meeting with his or her parents to discuss what may be the issue. , Try to understand the problems that the child is facing such as understanding instructions or keeping up with the pace of the work or with peers.
Try to provide a conducive atmosphere which is free of taunts, ridicule and mockery.
Encourage her to make use of simple tools like folders and some software apps to keep herself organized. , Going to school can be a traumatizing experience for a child with dyslexia--he may be afraid that other kids will make fun of him or he may feel like there is something wrong with him.
If you notice this child falling behind socially, make an effort to educate their peers about dyslexia in an effort to make them more empathetic. , Commend him for what he achieves--doing this will boost their self-esteem and when this is high he will not hesitate to take on bigger responsibilities and bigger steps to take charge of their learning. , Place him in a seat that is close to your desk--by doing this you will be able to monitor their mistakes and discuss them quietly with him, rather than announcing them in front of the whole class.
It is important to make him feel comfortable and to avoid putting him in situations in which he may feel uncomfortable.
For example, if he struggles with reading a sentence without making mistakes, do not make him read aloud in class. , It is important that you allocate a few extra hours just for her to make sure that she is able to cope with her work.
If you have time, or your classroom as a teacher’s aid, ask him or her to spend some time working with the child on phonics. , This technique helps kids associate letters with actual words by turning the letter into its own picture.
Kids with dyslexia can have trouble putting words together and remembering how these are arranged in a sentence.
They also have serious trouble memorizing phrases as short as those consisting of only four words.
To help them with this, allow them to create graphical representation of the vowels thereby allowing them to associate the letters with the words they use every day.For example:
An “a” can be written so that is would look like an apple (a simple leaf on top of the “a” can do the trick). “E” can assume a more oblong shape reminding the child of an egg. , Phonics is often taken for granted in reading skills.
Most kids get phonics early with no problem at all.
This is simply not the case with dyslexic children.
Phonics, which literally translates to “language sounds”, is harder for kids having serious issues with letters in the first place.
There are two major ways to help your child with phonics as listed in the following steps. , This can help him have a clear idea of word families that will be a building block in letter sound identification later on.
With the help of rhyming story books, the child can group words like ban, man, tan, and pan, or sat, mat, hat, bat, and cat easily adding to their understanding of these words and what letters these words consists of. , When your child gets the idea of rhyming words, help him build a word family which can be as short and simple as fig, big, wig, and so on.
When this is proving to be getting easier to your child go on to harder word families like shop, prop, flop, and chop.
Get the difficulty level progress forward as your child understands the association of these words and letters. , While writing an essay might not be her strong suit, creating a picture or poster to express her thoughts on a subject may work better.
Create projects that do not focus on the written word, like art projects or construction projects., If a dyslexic student in your classroom is seriously struggling with written exams, allow her to perform oral exams.
Make every other test an oral exam, or at least have an oral component of each exam that you give.
About the Author
Denise Chapman
Dedicated to helping readers learn new skills in crafts and beyond.
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