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Dyslexia Classroom Strategies for Teachers
Discover practical accommodations for dyslexic students using existing classroom resources. These strategies help students grasp skills like spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic from a big-picture perspective, rather than a step-by-step approach. Empower every student to thrive with supportive, easy-to-implement methods that make sense to them.
Effective Home & School Accommodations
There are many simple, inexpensive accommodations and adjustments that can be made in both home and school environments to support dyslexic students.
Creating an Optimal Learning Environment
Background Noise for Focus
Contrary to common belief, some dyslexic students find that background noise, like music or TV, actually helps them concentrate. In independent classroom settings, some find noise from peers or even extreme quiet distracting.
Music for Concentration
We suggest allowing students to use cell phones, iPads or other appropriate electronic devices.
with appropriate music. This can significantly improve their focus and help them complete assignments more easily.
Pacing Assignments
Allow students to work at a non-stressful pace. This means permitting fewer assignments or providing more time to complete them adequately.
Oral Testing Options
If a student's handwriting is slow or difficult, test them orally. Auditory input is often their strongest learning channel, allowing them to demonstrate knowledge without written barriers.
Embracing Technology for Writing
Permit the use of a computer for written work if the student can type comfortably. Computers offer significant advantages for dyslexic learners, whereas handwriting often creates more problems.
Another Useful Technology for Writing
Speech-to-text apps help dyslexics communicate more easily by eliminating the need to write or type. Examples include cell phone speech-to-text features and Speechify
Adapting Teaching Methods & Expectations
Designing Concrete Questions
Always structure your questions and assignments around a given conclusion or known fact. Dyslexic students often think in concrete wholes, preferring to work backward from a known outcome to fill in the details.
Avoiding Abstract Open-Ended Questions
Do not give them open-ended questions with abstract instructions that demand a sequential, logical step-by-step process, unless they have been thoroughly prepared for that specific approach.
Prioritizing Ideas Over Mechanics
Do not primarily base a student's marks on spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors. While errors should be corrected, these are abstract concepts that the right brain struggles to visualize or process easily. Apps for grammar and punctuation are available such as Grammarly.
Inconsistent School Programs Lead to Student Failure
These errors are not the student's fault; rather, they reflect a school system that may not teach these skills in a way that aligns with their learning style.
Supporting Mechanical Corrections
If assignments must be error-free before submission or grading, permit someone else (like a parent) to edit for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. This ensures the student's ideas are assessed fairly.
Emphasizing Core Ideas
Focus on the student's ideas and content, not just clerical errors. Getting thoughts down on paper is far more crucial than worrying excessively about spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Consequences of Refusing Accommodation
Refusing these accommodations can slow students down, frighten them, and stifle their freedom to think and reach their full potential. Without proper support, they may become depressed and give up on intellectual pursuits.
Grammar & Spelling Improvement Varies
Their ability to use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling may or may not improve with age, depending heavily on the teaching methods and understanding they receive.
Navigating Dictionary Use & Communication
Dictionary Use Challenges
Do not expect students to be able to effectively use a dictionary to correct spelling errors. This task demands sequencing at its most difficult and can be nearly impossible for many.
Why Dictionary Use is Difficult
For the right-brained learner, using a dictionary is an exhausting, frustrating waste of time. Their brain needs a complete image to work with. To find a word, they would need a full mental image of the entire dictionary page, or even the whole dictionary, then the complex process of singling out individual letters and sequencing words on that page.
Building Word Structure
Unless they have received extensive training in word building (using prefixes, stems, roots, and suffixes), finding words in a dictionary creates immense stress and wastes valuable time.
Effective Word Support
The solution is to manually provide the correct spellings for students to copy. Follow this by teaching them to use a computer thesaurus for synonyms or online dictionaries that present one word at a time for definitions.
Concise and Concrete Answers
Answer student questions as often as possible, but keep your responses very short, clear, and specific. Be precise.
Avoiding Explanations
Do not repeat answers unless specifically asked. Avoid long explanations, different approaches, wordy definitions, or abstract thinking. These are tiring and difficult for students who are searching for a concrete image to understand the word or concept.
Structuring Lessons & Fostering Self-Esteem
Completing Lessons in One Sitting
Try to complete a lesson in one sitting. For dyslexic learners, an incomplete lesson can be entirely lost.
Alternatives for Incomplete Lessons
If a lesson can’t be completed in one sitting, provide a summary of the first part when continuing the next part. Long division is an example of too much information for a single lesson.
Avoiding Misinterpretations of Behavior
Do not criticize students for appearing inattentive or lazy. If they seem to be daydreaming, they might be actively learning through listening, or they may have lost comprehension and are trying to cope with the situation.
Understanding Daydreaming/Coping
They are genuinely working hard to understand. Excessive talking without concrete pictures, examples, or diagrams will hinder their concentration and ability to make sense of what you're saying.
Building Self-Esteem
Build their self-esteem. Do not punish them for behaviors and learning styles that are normal and typical for right-brained students.
Addressing Learning Gaps
Answer their questions, but avoid lecturing or criticizing them for not understanding. The problem may lie in the teaching methods used. Be open to finding alternative approaches.
Encouraging Student Input on Learning Style
Many different methods work. Allow students to tell you what works best for them—perhaps oral discussion or hands-on demonstration, rather than reading.
Multi-Sensory Project-Based Learning
Instead of lengthy written assignments, transform tasks into multisensory projects. These should be done on large, colored paper, incorporating real objects, pictures, drawings, sketches, photos, explanatory words, and an oral report. Dyslexic students learn best through projects that engage their visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses (seeing, listening, discussing, and using their hands).
Teaching Tools
Dyslexic Font
Reading Focus Tools
Educational Apps
Family Math Fun for Dyslexics
Dyslexic children often find abstract mathematical concepts challenging. The key to unlocking their understanding lies in connecting these ideas to tangible, real-world experiences that hold personal meaning.
The Power of Concrete Math
Bridging the Abstract Gap
Young dyslexic children frequently encounter confusion when learning abstract math ideas such as arithmetic, measurement, time, and money. They struggle with skills based on sequences and artificial systems designed to quantify elements of our lives, like tracking time.
Visualizing Math Concepts
One highly effective way to help dyslexic children grasp these abstract mathematical concepts is to relate them directly to real objects or situations. This enables them to visualize and more easily process the mathematical problems they encounter in the classroom.
Discovering "Family Math Fun"
Introducing a Valuable Resource
We've found a wonderful math manual, ideal for children from preschool through second or third grade, that benefits all young learners, especially those with dyslexia. It's called "Family Math Fun" by Kate Nonesuch.
Real-World Math Activities
This manual is packed with activities rooted in real-world applications, teaching children diverse mathematical concepts. Kate Nonesuch skillfully shows how to use our everyday environment to explore counting, addition, numeral recognition, the varied purposes of numbers (like names, addresses, phone numbers), measurement, and practical money skills.
Accessing Your Free Guide
"Family Math Fun" is available as a free download. Please note that it is copyrighted and intended solely for personal and educational use. You can find it on Kate Nonesuch's website, on her Teaching Math page.
A Practical Activity Example
Hands-On Learning: Setting the Table
Here's a sample activity demonstrating how to integrate math into a familiar routine: "Setting the Dishes Out." Imagine you're handling the plates, and a little one helps with the cutlery.
Counting by Naming
For very young children who aren't yet counting numbers, you might ask, "How many plates do we need?" Then, as you name each person ("One for Grandma, one for Grandpa..."), pull out a plate for each name.
Extending the Count
Next, apply the same method for forks: "How many forks?" Let the child pick out a fork for each person as you name them again. Repeat for knives.
Group Counting Introduction
As children begin to count, you can start by counting the number of people for supper, naming each one. For example, if there are seven people, count out seven plates. Then ask, "How many forks?"
Reinforcing Quantity
You might need to count the people or plates again, or the child might recall the number. Let them count out the forks. Repeat for knives. This process allows you to naturally check that everyone has what they need and celebrate their counting skills during the meal.
Dyslexia Teacher Resources
For more comprehensive ideas on understanding how dyslexic individuals perceive mathematical concepts and effective teaching strategies, we highly recommend our books, “Dyslexia or Being Right-brained” and “How the Right Brain Learns.”