SOME BASIC TEACHING SOLUTIONS FOR DYSLEXIC STUDENTS

These are some basic issues that can be resolved by appropriate teaching methods:

1. In learning to print out answers or exercises, it is helpful to teach dyslexics how to use the space on a page to fit their assignment and how to print the letters correctly.  They tend to have difficulty seeing spatial limits and where exactly to print their answers. If they're given their assignments and/or homework with two lines and a dotted line under each question they can practice how to use the appropriate space on a page.

2. To learn to spell a word, a dyslexic can learn more easily with a drawn or printed image of the whole word. Breaking words into their individual letters and letter combinations with their component phonetic sounds tends to be confusing for them. Connecting words to an image of what the word represents will help them recognize and remember the word.

3. To understand and remember a lesson, dyslexics should be taught in one sitting with an overview and an explanation of why they're learning it, and what it means or what it is. This will help them understand what was taught and retain it otherwise they are likely to forget the lesson by the next day.

For example; when learning about volcanoes, the first lesson could be an overview of what volcanoes are and what they do. The next lesson could be a short review of the work done the day before and then move to discussing the parts of a volcano and their purpose. This could be followed by a project about volcanoes showing the student an example of a completed project so they have visual map to follow.

4. To read fluently and with comprehension, dyslexics need a whole memorized visual reading vocabulary to match the level of difficulty of the material to be read. The student will need to be able to first decode the majority of the words in a passage before they can read with understanding. This can be done using a "Dyslexia Friendly" spelling and reading program.

5. To know how to write a sentence, paragraph, story, report or essay a Dyslexic needs to be taught how to see the parts of what they are writing about in a logical structured order. Because they think primarily in the "big picture" they have difficulty seeing the details and the order of them. Emphasis on "mind or word maps: or "clustering" is very helpful so they can see the whole and the parts.

6. To complete an assignment that is to be marked by the teacher a few days or weeks from now requires a complete explanation of how they are to carry out the assignment at every stage from start to handing it in. (See The Five Steps to Learning)

7. To work with mathematical word problems which are very abstract using drawings of the elements of the word problem. This will help the student see the math equation(s) in the problem.