How to Teach Dyslexic Children by Jennifer Dobson

Educators often become frustrated by the lack of specialized services that are available for students in their classroom that suffer from dyslexia, a learning disability that chiefly affects the sufferers ability to read, write, and spell. Students with this condition often require special tutoring and teaching above and beyond any special education classes that they might attend. Being unable to spell correctly prevents the student from being able to express themselves fully, which can extend across the spectrum and cause long term problems. Children are typically only taught spelling as part of a language arts curriculum in the early grades, and generally only in the perspective of learning to read. Children who suffer from dyslexia, on the other hand, need a much more wide-ranging and broad spelling support that continues well after the time that they learn to read, and even past their tenure in special education classes.



Improving Learning Environment for Teaching Dyslexia



An important component in teaching the dyslexic child includes specialized instruction across the curriculum and throughout many grade levels. Identifying the dyslexic child early on may be fundamental to overcoming the ill effects of the condition. Spelling and phonics instruction must begin in the formative years of elementary school and continue throughout their educational years, particularly in areas of the curriculum where reading is essential to their success. Dyslexic children should always be seated near the teacher's desk and the chalkboard, and should be kept from distractions as much as possible. The dyslexic child has an elevated difficulty focusing on the teacher when there is background noise and other distractions, in a much more pronounced way than the typical student.



Curriculum Needs



For a dyslexic student to succeed, curriculum needs must be given staunch consideration from day one, including:




  • Explicit phonics instruction in both reading and spelling lessons. Children who suffer from dyslexia must learn to identify sounds and patterns among letters, especially where reading and spelling are fundamental to mastering a concept.


  • Multi-sensory lessons where viable. Incorporating lessons that require the use of multiple senses other than visual cues, including sound and touch, or even smell and taste in more creative lessons.


  • Focus on individual sounds and letters in spelling curriculum, mastering one before moving to the next. For example, focus totally on the letter "d" before proceeding to the oftentimes confused "b". Never teach confusing letters or letters with similar lines at the same time.


  • Call for parent participation. While having a good rapport with all parents is ideal, the dyslexic child needs the additional support at home in order to be successful. Ask parents to reinforce skills learned at school, and schedule regular progress meetings to compare notes.



All too often, the dyslexic student will encounter classroom difficulty that relates to a lack of confidence that can cause problems in other areas of their studies other than spelling. Paying close attention to the child's ability to spell and helping the child develop good spelling skills will go a long way toward helping the child become successful throughout his entire education. Continuing to focus on spelling is vital to achieving the educational goals of the dyslexic student, even after any special education services that the child receives are considered unnecessary.

About the Author

Jennifer Dobson invites you to take a look at one of her favorite places to get teacher supplies and educational toys, MPMSchoolSupplies.com. They have an incredible selection of products including classroom decorations, kids rugs, and more! Visit the site today to save on your first order!

Why Dyslexia Affects Your Child's Coordination by Diana Vogel

Dyslexia is a learning difference. If your child is diagnosed with dyslexia it doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't intelligent.

Dyslexia affects children's abilities in certain areas including reading, writing, spelling and mathematics, but it can also affect a child's coordination. Studies have been carried out to determine the extent to which reading ability, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, and coordination are inherited. The studies, which were carried out by the Royal Berkshire Hospital, found a direct link between dyslexia and coordination. According to the results, impaired motor coordination is associated with reading related problems.

In the study it was found that hand motor skills, or coordination, are affected substantially by genetics. This argument is further supported by the fact that the intelligence of most dyslexic children is average or above-average, meaning that poor coordination is not as a result of low intelligence. Results also showed that there is a moderate correlation between reading abilities and motor skills. This is because of a type of dyslexia that is related to neurological disruption in the brain. However, the results did not show any relationship between reading abilities and whether the child is left or right handed.

Despite these studies, and other similar studies, there is no conclusive answer as to why dyslexia affects a child's coordination. The human brain is very complex and it might take some years before we are able to figure this out. Coordination doesn't only refer to the limbs. It can relate to coordination between the eyes and the ears. With dyslexia, the eyes and the ears are not in synchrony, which means that they are not in time with each other. This affects coordination since the long delay means that balance is not maintained so if a child sees or hears a vehicle that may knock him down, he may be slow to react.

It is more difficult for dyslexic children to analyze sound than it is for other children. Dyslexia causes disorientation since the child hears sounds but cannot place them accurately or fast enough; this can cause poor coordination. Dyslexia also causes perception problems and this affects coordination. Children with moderate to severe dyslexia may have difficulty with activities that require balancing and coordination, such as riding a bicycle. If your child's balance and coordination is affected by his dyslexia then you need to make his physical education teacher aware of the problem as your child may find certain physical activities more difficult than other children.

About the Author

Author and Founder of KinaLearn Tutoring Centres and Learn@Home Systems to teach Dyslexic and Learning Disability children how to read & write and reestablish their confidence. And it isn't a Learning Disability, it is a Learning Difference!

Dyslexia Could It Be A Biological Cause by DAtkins

Not long ago the individuals who was having a tough time with solving mathematical problems, reading comprehension, grammar, spelling, pronunciation, and the likes were called to be dense learners, lazy, and lower than the standard individuals. You might just imagine how these individuals would have felt about the pronounced labeling. Little may the educators know that these learners could be having from a learning impairment named dyslexia. Therefore, is there an apparent reason of what may cause dyslexia? What might be the primary dyslexia biological cause?

Lots of medical surveys have been taken however all of them specifically agree on one point and that is this learning handicap stems from the person's incapacity to relate the sounds or phonics with the true graphic letters and the words. The ordinary troubles that develop include the difficulty in reading, writing or spelling words, recognizing numbers, symbols, and memorizing, solving math problems, and also in understanding.. These are just some dominating early signs of dyslexia.

One particular dyslexia biological cause that has been revealed is about the discrepancy in the optical processing pathway of the brain which is otherwise acknowledged as the M or magnocellular pathway. That chiefly produces motion and brightness. Different revelation indicates to the lack of of the development of the parvocellular or P optical pathway which responsibly enacts on the advance of the sheer details and colors. The dyslexia test - the evaluation of the handicap could be very helpful in the defining some among the causes.

Many of the researchers blamed the difficulty of grasping any sensory information as another dyslexia biological cause. Overall, the deficiency of sensory coordination along with the inadequate communicating between the right and left hemispheres of the brain will cause this learning handicap. Once the cause of the dyslexia is acknowledged it can make getting to the heart of dyslexia treatments less complicated.

For the broader understanding, dyslexia can be more completely explained based on its root words "dys" which intends difficult or wrong and "lexia" which implies words and letters. Plainly put, the term is just about someone's problem with words. In the fuller sense though, a medical term is used to show an person's troubles with reading, spelling, writing, poor memory, hearing difficulties, and the absence of physical and sensory coordination.

There are various types of dyslexia and several ordinary dyslexia symptoms require to be discovered by the dyslexia test, which is the evaluation of the handicap and can be necessary to define a types of condition which a patient can be suffering from. Needless to tell, people can be likely to find their cause already established on the diverse types of dyslexia that the medical community may be knowledgeable with. As with about all disablements there can be routine indications of adult dyslexia as easily as with children. Even if the dyslexia is related to biological cause, there is treatment for the person.

About the Author

Some of the conditions of problem solving, reading, writing and math difficultly might be a form of a dyslexia biological cause. The dyslexia test sholud be given to help determine the causes, symptoms and treatment ofor dyslexia.

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