1.    Understand How Dyslexia Affects the Student

2.    Help Dyslexics with Language Difficulties

3.    Focus on Dyslexics Strengths

The last way you can help dyslexic students is by helping them embrace and build the skills that come naturally to them.

Recently there has been talk in the news about our current “Creativity Crisis.” Researchers have found that over the past 20 years young people have become increasing less creative. Whether this finding is perfectly accurate or not there is a reason that creativity is a concern: it is very valuable to our society.

“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.” — Edward de Bono

Because of the strong right brain of dyslexics, they are often naturally creative and adept problem solvers. If you can help dyslexics focus on their creativity and problem solving abilities there will be many ways they will help our society progress in the future.

It is especially important for you to help dyslexics appreciate their strengths because with their struggle with language subjects, it is easy for them to undermine their potential.

“The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done – men who are creative, inventive and discoverers.” —Jean Piaget

This quote offers a sound insight into how you should approach dyslexic students (and all students in general). It is easy to teach what other people have already learned, but as Piaget said, it is more important for you to teach students how to learn things that have not yet been discovered.

By helping dyslexic students hone in on their creative abilities, you are helping them learn how to invent and discover new things. It is this ability that will likely provide success for them in the future.

“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” — George Lois

Another valuable strength of dyslexics is their empathetic abilities. Many dyslexics can easily relate and feel the emotions of others. This can be a difficult social skill for many individuals that have a dominant left brain to embody.

Dyslexics naturally possess two of arguably the most valuable abilities: creativity and social skills. When you realize this it is sad to know how susceptible they are to developing a low self-esteem. They have strengths that can lead them to success and that can enhance society in so many ways. As you work with dyslexic students be sure they know their value!

Free Dyslexia Webinar:

“Dyslexia: From Symptoms to Solutions,” presented by Reading Horizons Dyslexia Specialist, Shantell Berrett.

View the free dyslexia webinar! >

This post is part of a three part series which discusses tips for helping teachers reach dyslexic students. To read the first post of the series visit the link next to #1:

1. Understand How Dyslexia Affects the Student

2. Help Dyslexics with Language Difficulties

Although you might think helping dyslexic students improve their reading skills is a daunting task, it is possible.

As discussed in the first post of this series about understanding dyslexia, the dominance of dyslexics’ right brain is what makes language tasks difficult for them.

To know how to help your dyslexic students improve reading you must use the simple logic found in a line from one of my favorite Disney® movies, Hercules:

Hades: “How do you kill a god?”
Panic: “Um... they're immortal…?”
Hades: “Bingo! So, first we got to turn the little sun spot mortal.”

(I apologize if that is not word for word since I derived it completely from memory.)

The connection of this quote to helping dyslexics improve reading is that in their current state reading will remain difficult. However, if you help them use their brain in a different way, the task of helping them improve reading is no longer impossible.

How is this done?

Have you ever done a logic puzzle (such as a Sudoku) and gotten to the point where you feel there is no way you can figure it out or find one more answer. But, you keep trying and out of no where you have a moment of genius! The next thing you know you have solved the once deemed “impossible” puzzle. 

These “moments of genius” are a result of new connections in your brain; the same thing that is needed for dyslexics to improve their reading. 

You need to include two things in your reading instruction in order to help dyslexics make the new brain connections that will allow them to improve their reading:

1. Teach phonics with an explicit & systematic approach
2. Engage students in multisensory instruction

Explicit and systematic phonics takes a step-by-step approach to teaching students how to decode words starting with a single letter or sound before progressing to the whole word. This helps dyslexics to understand the sounds and rules of language and transfer these concepts to what they are reading.

The lack of foundational knowledge that comes from many strategies for teaching reading is what prevents many dyslexics and struggling readers from excelling with reading.

When teaching explicit phonics to dyslexics, it is important for you to realize that dyslexics have developed many coping strategies that help them get by with language tasks. Because of this, this type of instruction can feel below their level or too basic. However, the reason this instruction helps them with reading skills is not because they are unintelligent, it works because it helps them make new connections in their brain.

The other concept that you need to incorporate in your teaching is multisensory instruction. By engaging multiple senses during instruction, dyslexics are able to make new connections in their brain.

Dyslexics are not always the strongest visual or auditory learners; thus, when hands on activities are connected to visual and auditory instruction, their brain can make new connections and understand concepts in a way that didn’t make sense to them when they were only being taught through auditory channels.

To help incorporate both explicit phonics and multisensory techniques into your reading instruction for dyslexics, use Reading Horizons Online Workshop for Teaching Phonics ›

(Although these concepts are crucial for helping dyslexics improve reading, they are beneficial for any student that is learning to read.)

3.    Focus on Dyslexics Strengths

Free Dyslexia Webinar:

“Dyslexia: From Symptoms to Solutions,” presented by Reading Horizons Dyslexia Specialist, Shantell Berrett.

View the free dyslexia webinar! >

Neil J. Anderson, professor of Linguistics and English Language at Brigham Young University, recently presented at the Reading Horizons distributor seminar in Salt Lake City, Utah. He shared some interesting information about how English Language Learners (ELLs) benefit from systematic phonics instruction. Two of the reasons he cited include the following:

1) reading fluency increases as students learn to decode words; and

2) oral reading improves when students can decode words correctly.

Reading fluency, as defined by Neil Anderson, is "reading at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension" (Anderson, 2008, p. 3). This definition of reading fluency is important as teachers consider what an "appropriate reading rate" is for their students. Remember that reading at a quick pace (an "appropriate rate") without comprehending what is being read is not fluent reading. Additionally, reading super slowly and understanding everything being read ("adequate comprehension") likewise is not fluent reading. The balance between the two--reading rate and comprehension--is important to fluency.

So what constitutes an "appropriate rate"? During the presentation, Anderson referenced national averages for optimal silent and oral reading rates by grade level (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 2006). Since several distributors were interested in having access to this information, I thought I would include the information in this blog post below:

Silent Reading Rates

1st grade: 80 wpm

2nd grade: 115 wpm

3rd grade: 138 wpm

4th grade: 158 wpm

5th grade: 173 wpm

6th grade: 185 wpm

7th grade: 195 wpm

8th grade: 204 wpm

9th grade: 214 wpm

10th grade: 224 wpm

11th grade: 237 wpm

12th grade: 250 wpm

College or University: 280 wpm


Oral Reading Rates

1st grade: 53 wpm

2nd grade: 89 wpm

3rd grade: 107 wpm

4th grade: 123 wpm

5th grade: 139 wpm

6th grade: 150 wpm

7th grade: 150 wpm

8th grade: 151 wpm

Notice that oral reading rates beyond the 8th grade level are not listed. This is due to the fact that when we read aloud, we generally do not read faster than what we can read at an 8th grade reading level.

These silent and oral reading rates can be used as a guideline when discerning appropriate reading rates for students. Adjustments to these reading rates could be made to accommodate English Language Learners and students with reading difficulties.

Learn More:

What’s the Best Way to Pace Students’ Reading Instruction?

How to Get Started When Teaching Struggling Readers

Crucial Steps for Effectively Teaching Reading to Struggling Readers

4-Step Process for Helping Students Transfer Decoding Skills to Written Text

A Simple Strategy for Teaching Struggling Readers [Raised Passing Rates from 50% to 96%]

References:
Anderson, N. J. (2008). Practical English language teaching: Reading. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hasbrouck, J., & Tindal, G. A. (2006). Oral reading fluency norms: A valuable assessment tool for teaching teachers. The Reading Teacher, 59, 636-644.

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Guest post by Howard Margolis, Ed.D.

The term short-term memory is shorthand for a variety of thought processes that capture, for a few seconds or moments, information. Unless a child with reading disabilities quickly makes an active, focused, and concentrated attempt to remember the information, he will quickly lose most, if not all of it.

So, how can you, as a teacher (or parent), help a child with reading disabilities remember the fragile, fleeting information in short-term memory? If it’s important, he’ll need to remember it for quite some time. So, how can you help him do this?

At the start, encourage the child to attend to what he wants to remember. Encourage him to keep concentrating on it. This means he needs to think about it. He needs to think about why it’s important to him. He needs to think about its meaning He needs to relate it to what he already knows. He needs to put it in his own words. He needs to picture it. He needs to frequently repeat it and think about it at the moment he’s exposed to it and periodically, throughout the next few weeks, and perhaps beyond. He needs to apply it, and while doing so, think about its meaning and use. He needs to think about how it’s similar and different from what he already knows and how it changes as he thinks about it and uses it.

Notice how the previous paragraph repeated the phrase, he needs. The paragraph repeated he needs for three reasons. First, to make clear that remembering requires ongoing work, work that the child with reading disabilities needs to do. Second, to show that remembering is a complex process. Like memory, it’s a multidimensional process that the child with reading disabilities needs to frequently activate over time. And third, to encourage you, the teacher, to create lots of opportunities for the child to engage in this kind of thinking.

When working to remember something, the child with reading disabilities can use several strategies. Here’s how Margo Mastropieri and Thomas Scruggs, two outstanding scholars on memory and learning disabilities, described how teachers can use the Keyword Method to help students remember that a barrister is a lawyer:

To help students remember that barrister is another word for lawyer, first create a keyword for the unfamiliar word, barrister. Remember, a keyword is a word that sounds like the new word and is easily pictured. A good keyword for barrister, then, is bear. Then, you create a picture of the keyword and the definition doing something together. It is important that these two things actually interact and are not simply presented in the same picture. Therefore, a picture of a bear and a lawyer in one picture is not a good mnemonic [memory strategy], because the elements are not interacting. A better picture would be a bear who is acting as a lawyer in a courtroom, for example, pleading his client’s innocence.

The good news is that the Keyword Method, like many memory methods, can be effective. But like all memory methods, child with reading disabilities needs to work at remembering what he wants to remember, needs to keep thinking about it, and needs to repeat it many times, over a long time.

When developing IEPs for children with memory problems in special education, teachers need to make sure their IEPs have goals (and in some states, objectives) for memory instruction. Here’s a sample objective:

Memory Objective 1: Ryan will explain and will demonstrate how to successfully apply the Keyword Strategy to remembering 5 new social studies concepts. He will do this with new concepts on three successive occasions by the end of the first marking period.

For more information about how to strengthen children’s memories, here are three practical resources that you may want to study:

• Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E. (1998).  Enhancing school success with mnemonic strategies. Intervention in School & Clinic, 33(4), 201-208. Available for download at: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/5912.
• Medina, J. (2008). Brain Rules. Seattle Washington: Pear Press.
• The Access Center (2005). Using Mnemonic Instruction to Facilitate Access to the General Education Curriculum. Available at http://www.readingrockets.org/article/4184.
• Howard Margolis, Ed.D. (c) Reading2008 & Beyond

A version of this column was originally published by Howard Margolis, Ed.D. on www.reading2008.com/blog. Howard is the co-author of Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds, available at www.reading2008.com and at www.Amazon.com.

Guest blog post from, Reading & Other Learning Disabilities: A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Many children with reading disabilities have poor memories. Fortunately, teachers can do a great deal to improve the memory of these children, which, in turn, improves their learning. To do this, teachers must first capture and then keep the children's attention. They must then focus instruction on the acronym REMOS: Repeat It, Elaborate or Explain it, Make it Meaningful, Organize it, and engage in Spaced or Distributed Practice.

In practical terms, the teacher must get the children to:

Attend to What’s Important. Teachers have a good chance of capturing and keeping children’s attention if they're enthusiastic about what they're teaching, make it interesting, use novelty, use words the children can understand, use pictures or multimedia to illustrate what they want remembered, and assign materials the children can read comfortably.

To keep the attention of children with reading disabilities during a lecture, teachers should break the lecture into eight to ten minute blocks. Each block should focus on one concept; the first few minutes should emphasize the main point; the next few minutes should elaborate on it. After each block, the children should take a break. During the break, the teacher might tell a story to illustrate the major concept, or the children might engage in a short group activity, like scripting a podcast, or individually, they might spend five minutes illustrating the major concept. They might even spend a few minutes exercising lightly. To learn more about structuring a lecture to keep a class’s attention, read Brain Rules. In this enlightening book, John Medina describes how and why he divides his lectures into ten-minute blocks.

Repeat It. If you want to remember something, repeat it or lose it. Teachers need to structure their lessons so children with reading disabilities have many opportunities to repeat and practice what they need to remember. Repeat does not mean saying it silently one or two times. If it's important, children should say it six or seven times, maybe twelve to sixteen times, maybe seventeen to umpteen times. However, asking children to repeat what they don't understand often benefits no one. They quickly forget what's not understood, what's not meaningful to them. Elaboration can make things meaningful.

Elaborate on It. To say it another way, teachers should create lots of opportunities for children to talk about it, and talk about it, and talk about it. Children should discuss it. If it’s controversial, they might switch between the “pro” and “con” positions. Talk is important, but it should be meaningful. The more meaningful something is, the more likely it will be remembered.

Make It Meaningful. The more children understand something, the more likely they'll remember it. Teachers can give meaning to an abstract concept by helping children relate it to their lives. To reinforce and extend the meaning of the word practical, the teacher might begin a discussion by asking, “So in your house or near it, what do people do that's practical? What makes it practical? After the discussion, the teacher might ask the children to “take five minutes to draw a picture of someone doing something practical and something impractical.” To make practical even more meaningful, she can have the children share their pictures: “Show your pictures to your neighbor. Tell your neighbor what was practical and impractical in your picture. And tell them why it was practical and impractical.”

Organize the Information. When teachers help children with reading disabilities to organize information—in ways the children find meaningful—they'll remember the information better than if it's random or unorganized. Here's a list of ten words: pineapple, collie, cantaloupe, chihuahua, bulldog, apple, grape, terrier, boxer, peach. If children try to remember all the words as one list, they'll forget most of them in a week. If they organize the words into the categories of dogs and fruit, they'll remember many more of them. Even their mistakes will fall into the two groups: dogs and fruit. Try it.

The teacher must also:

Schedule Spaced or Distributed Practice. When referring to children with reading disabilities, spaced or distributed practice refers to assessing the effects of instruction a day or two after the initial instruction and then re-teaching children what they didn't remember or master. For maximum effect, teachers should repeat the process some three to four weeks later. They should assess what was taught and re-teach what was forgotten. This can have a profound effect on the children’s memory and application of skills.

The good news about gaining and maintaining children's attention and using REMOS is that the principles are straightforward. Teachers can use them—easily. So can parents.

Resources
Medina, J. (2009). Brain rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.

Howard Margolis, Ed.D. © Reading2008 & Beyond www.reading2008.com
A version of this column was originally published by Howard Margolis, Ed.D. on www.reading2008.com.  Howard is also co-author of Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds.