"That was the kind of battle I had. I knew what I had, but my teachers didn't." – Charley Boormam

Recently actor Charley Boorman discussed his struggle with dyslexia on an interview with BBC News. It was interesting to hear him discuss the problems he had faced because of his dyslexia. Rather than having low self-esteem because of the difficulties he had in school, he had a hard time in school because of the negative way his teachers responded to his difficulties. He understood that he struggled because of his dyslexia, but his teachers didn’t.

Because Boorman would have been saved from a lot of emotional and educational issues if his teachers had properly responded to his dyslexia, our next few posts will discuss 3 ways you can better meet the needs of your dyslexic students:

1.    Understand How Dyslexia Affects The Student

Often when people think about dysleixa, they associate it with reading problems. Although most dyslexics do struggle with reading, they also have many talents and abilities that are valuable. In fact, dyslexics often demonstrate above average levels of intelligence.

Why is this? The more you understand dyslexia, the more you understand that the dyslexic brain is not inferior or less valuable than the average brain, it is just different. Compared to the typical brain, dyslexics have a very dominant right brain.

Recently, Dr. Papanicolau of the University of Texas, discovered that because of the dominance of dyslexics right brain, it is also the area that is activated when dyslexics are performing language tasks. Typically the left brain where the “language center” of the brain is accessed is used for language tasks. This is the reason dyslexics have a difficulty with many language tasks.

Papanicolau described the difficulty of performing language tasks with the right side of the brain by comparing it to “an artist trying to paint with their toes.”

Understanding how difficult language tasks can be for dyslexic students can help you be patient with these students and to be more realistic about your expectations.

2.    Help Dyslexics with Language Difficulties

3.    Focus on Dyslexics Strengths

Recent research confirmed that dyslexic brains can be rewired to improve reading with proper reading instruction. The research is summarized in this video summarizing the research of Dr. Papanicolau from the University of Texas. I thought this video was really interesting and it was exciting to hear the results:

I found Dr. Papanicolau’s analogies of what reading is like for those with dyslexia very effective and informative. It was interesting to hear him explain that dyslexics read with the right side of their brain, as opposed to the norm of using the left side, which is comparable to “an artist trying to paint with their toes.” He further added clarity by explaining they have the right equipment to become strong readers, their brains just aren’t wired to use the right parts- but it can be rewired to use the right parts of the brain.

Picture of Dyslexic Brain

As Reading Horizons has found, as well as Dr. Papanicolau, dyslexics can become strong readers with the right type of reading instruction. The video covered a lot of the same teaching techniques that are used in Reading Horizons program: blends, connecting letters to phonetic sounds, phonemic awareness, etc.. It’s always exciting to hear about research that can help dyslexics improve reading.

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