Dyslexia PD – Follow up Questions
Answered…
1. How do I help with
reversals? Is it worth having a visual?
Reversals are quite common with
dyslexic students. The most commented on seems to be the b/d confusion.
However, students may also confuse b/p, u/n, p/q, d/q. They may do this when they are decoding or
encoding.
Visuals can be helpful. If you click
on this link you will find some useful pictures from sparklebox
You can use this to print out and
have in their book for when they are proof reading and you could set that as a
personal learning intention. In this way
you are increasing their awareness and independence.
Some other multisensory strategies
you can try are:
· Make the letter in clay/playdough but only do one letter
a day. Get them to put a model of something that begins with that sound with
the letter. You can download re-made playdough mats at Sparklebox too for
younger students. For older students,
they could create their own mat with a stiff piece of card and a stencil of the
letter they want to work on.
· Write the letter in a sand or sugar tray. As they form the letter get them to say the
sound that the letter makes each time.
· In handwriting time, ensure that they are starting in the
correct place and forming the letter correctly. You can use the Casey
Caterpillar terminology to guide them e.g. for the letter “b” you would say
tall stick, tunnel, close it up. For “d” is open mouth, close it up, tall
stick.
Again they can say the
sound as they write it. Only teach one confusing letter at a time.
2. Spelling Strategies
The best way for any student to
learn spellings is in a multisensory way and to try to have fun with it. There are some good resources around for
spelling programmes. Students can also use computers, ipads etc to practise. Spelling
city is one well known resource but you will find others on a Google search. Remember,
one size doesn’t fit all. Find what your students need. With an ideal spelling
program, children would:
• learn strategies that will help
them spell or read any word
• make connections among words in
many ways
• internalize basic spelling
patterns
• be engaged in the process and
have an opportunity to exercise choice
• be challenged at their
individual levels
• master words and spelling
patterns that can be generalized to other words.
• quickly
and efficiently transfer spelling words to their writing
Strategies to try:
· Look, say, cover, write, check
· Mnemonics are techniques that assist memory
(metacognitive) – get students to create their own mnemonics for words they
find hard to spell
· Chunking – get
students to build their spelling list from a chunk
e.g. give then the chunk
“ink”. Go through the alphabet sounds
and see what words you can make e.g. l-ink, m-ink, p-ink, r-ink etc. Then go through a beginning blends list and
see what words you can make e.g. br-ink, dr-ink, cli-ink, th-ink shr-ink etc.
Finally can you think of any longer or compound words that have the ink chunk
in them e.g. thinking, linked, sprinkle etc.
Student can choose 10 words to learn from the list they have created. The power in this approach is the student
thinking about how the words are constructed and manipulating initial sounds
etc.
- Click this link for
details: https://docs.google.com/a/pakurangaint.school.nz/document/d/1O7oij5eKmRQnxBT8cYYPJ6ylQIXViDJcz6tCvr25K4Y/edit?usp=sharing
- Click this link for a list of word families:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/wordfamilies/
Possible Resources:
· Snip programme – click the link to be taken to a free 3
part complete printable and downloadable programme. Repetition is built into
the lists. Contains activities which encourage visual memory but doesn’t
explicitly teach patterns and rules so this would still need to be part of classroom teaching
- Click here for some
research on this method
- click here for links to
the actual programme Part 1
- part 2
- part 3
· Switch On To Spelling – Joy Allcock. Complete with
spelling rules and activities.
Contains some good
assessment resources too
3. Great phonics resources for exercises to use in
classroom?
Good complete book I can recommend is by Tom Nicholson
called the Phonics Handbook.
The book will tell you what to teach, when to teach it
and to some extent how. This is a bit dry though so you will need to pad it out
with some games. Look on the internet for premade games activities for the
phonics pattern you are teaching.
4. Ways to deal with it early on?
· Explicitly teach the full range of phonological awareness
skills.
Check out this free and complete and well researched
programme from Professor Gail Gillon (University of Canterbury). Can be used
with older students too.
· Also see Tom Nicholson’s book “At the Cutting Edge” for
advice on developing phonological awareness
5. If we suspect a child has dyslexia we can talk
to our SENCO, but then is there a test the children can do to get a black and
white diagnosis? If so, do RTLBs do this
test or who would?
Early recognition is definitely helpful. Doing an assessment of a student’s
phonological awareness is a good indicator for literacy difficulties (not
specific to dyslexia). A popular
assessment is the Gough Kastler Roper. This is available on line and is also in
the Tom Nicholson book (see above). Only
an Educational Psychologist can diagnose dyslexia. RTLB can do a screening test to assess for
dyslexic tendencies but this is not a diagnosis. For most primary children a diagnosis is not
necessary. If you suspect a student is dyslexic then you can respond by assisting
them within your normal literacy and classroom programme with the resources and
strategies suggested here, with advice from RTLB/RTlit and your SENCO as well
as organisations such as the Dyslexia Foundation.
6. Other practical strategies or sharing of
examples that other teachers have had.
For example, some that were successful and others that weren't for whatever
reason.
This is a great idea and could be an ongoing
activity/focus for your team of staff meetings. Perhaps you could start with
the strategies that you said you would try at the end of the PD session.
7. How to help 'teach' the
differentiation of letters. What can parents do at home to help their child?
Not sure what you mean by the
differentiation of letters. If it is about reversals, see the answer at the top
of the page.
What parents can do…
· Encourage a love of reading by reading to their
child.
· Paired reading/writing
· Support (not nagging) with homework.
· Advocate for their child with their school
· Find something they can feel successful with e.g. sport,
dance, arts
· Encourage their interests and work with their strengths
· Have high expectations
