Definition/Diagnosis:
Dyslexia is a language-based reading disability affecting 15% of students (Bryant, Bryant, and Smith, 2016). Dyslexia encompasses a range of symptoms, which cause reading difficulties by impacting the part of the brain where sounds form words and words breakdown into sounds. Some of these difficulties include "word decoding, reading comprehension, and/or reading fluency" (We Are Teachers Staff, 2014). Students with Dyslexia can experience mild or extreme cases. Dyslexia is in some part hereditary. Dyslexia makes reading difficult and so, slows the learning process for many students. Learning disabilities, like Dyslexia, do not predict or correlate to students' IQs. Students can have reading difficulties without having Dyslexia.
(We Are Teachers Staff, 2014)
(We Are Teachers Staff, 2014)
Symptoms/Signs:
Students with Dyslexia exhibit problems learning to speak, decode unfamiliar words and phrases, identify words, make connections between letters and sounds, memorize details, comprehend texts, spell, write, distinguish sounds, and learn new languages. Students with Dyslexia may also experience depression, anxiety, and self-image issues on account of their disabilities. Students with Dyslexia struggle with:
- remembering letters, words, letter-sounds, and word pronounciations
- reading silently and quickly
- improper word substitutions based on meaning or phonetics while reading aloud
- reading without rhythm or with a flat tone
- separating syllables
- combining syllables for word construction
- reading words correctly but does not understand them
- adding words when reading
- recalling details of texts read
Accommodations:
It is crucial teachers help identify students who have Dyslexia early. Early intervention (and support) can significantly minimize student hardship. Teachers can support students with Dyslexia by listening to their anxieties and frustrations and by helping them to express their emotions, which their problems with language make difficult. Teachers can also offer praise and encouragement on the basis of students' efforts, communicating grades are less important than overall progress. Teachers can boost the confidence of students with Dyslexia by holding no-tolerance bullying policies in their classrooms. Peers who shame struggling readers must be removed. In addition to social-emotional support, teachers can help students with Dyslexia succeed by clarifying, simplifying, or reading aloud written instructions. Teachers can also structure and monitor students' reading with glossaries, reading guides, and placeholders. Providing these aids and highlighting important information for students with Dyslexia can improve their reading comprehension. Assistive technology, in the form of audio recordings/books and recording devices can also ensure students with Dyslexia understand what they read.
(The International Dyslexia Association, n.d.)
(The International Dyslexia Association, n.d.)
References:
Bryant, D.P., Bryant, B.R., Smith, D.D. (2016). Teaching students with special needs in the classroom. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
Engelbrecht, N. (2015). What dyslexic users see [online image]. Retrieved December 14, 2016 http://blog.usabilla.com/how-to-design-for-dyslexia/
The International Dyslexia Association. (n.d.). Dyslexia in the classroom: What every teacher needs to know. Retrieved from https://dyslexiaida.org/
We Are Teachers Staff. (2014). Inforgraphic: Understanding Dyslexia (and your students who have it). Retrieved from https://www.weareteachers.com/infographic-understanding-dyslexia-and-your-students-who-have-it-2/
Bryant, D.P., Bryant, B.R., Smith, D.D. (2016). Teaching students with special needs in the classroom. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
Engelbrecht, N. (2015). What dyslexic users see [online image]. Retrieved December 14, 2016 http://blog.usabilla.com/how-to-design-for-dyslexia/
The International Dyslexia Association. (n.d.). Dyslexia in the classroom: What every teacher needs to know. Retrieved from https://dyslexiaida.org/
We Are Teachers Staff. (2014). Inforgraphic: Understanding Dyslexia (and your students who have it). Retrieved from https://www.weareteachers.com/infographic-understanding-dyslexia-and-your-students-who-have-it-2/