Children with dyslexia
An informational blog for educators
Dyslexia does not define a child's level of intelligence.
What is Dyslexia?
A general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.
What are their learning styles?
Kinaesthetic Learners
Dyslexic children tend to be kinaesthetic learners (practical, hands-on) rather than auditory learners and learn more efficiently if they are using all sensory pathways. Sitting for long periods just listening is not one of them! Weighting should be towards the visual and hands-on rather than the auditory mode. Instead of conducting a lesson in the classroom, teachers can play a game of letter hopscotch to further help children who learn better kinaesthetically.
Visual Learners
Dyslexics are visual learners with inherent mental gifts and talents. People who develop dyslexia think in pictures rather than words; they are imaginative, creative, and solve problems by looking at the whole picture rather than working step-by-step. Dyslexic children also tend to be big picture thinkers, but may be less adept at processing and remembering detail. To help them maximise their potential, special education teachers can create activities that help them to visualise the letters by using materials such as pasta, sand, lego or blocks.
Accommodating to their learning styles
Teach one thing at a time in bite size chunks.Be prepared to demonstrate and give examples.Allow time for over-learning – practice, practice, practice.Be prepared to work to the learner’s learning and working style.Make your training as multi-sensory as possible and be creative. If a learner just can’t retain a point use humour, put it into a funny or ridiculous story. Or get them to associate a smell or taste with the action; you can do this by asking them what their favourite smell or taste is and get them to close their eyes and imagine doing the task whilst smelling or tasting their favourite thing..For kinaesthetic learners, give them something to hold in their hands whilst listening to instruction: this will improve their listening skills.Get learners to visualise doing the task or demonstrate it to them; then get them to say what they are doing whilst doing it. This gives the memory more to latch on to, to embed learning.
What are the issues and concerns with children with dyslexia?
Speaks like a young child:
Young children with dyslexia frequently mispronounce words, “animals” becomes “aminals” and does not seem to know as much words as other children their age should know.
This delayed language development is often one of the first warning signs of dyslexia.
Has trouble calling things by the right name:
Young children with dyslexia often have mix up names such as if you ask the child for a fork, they hand you a spoon. They struggle learning and naming alphabets, colours or numbers.
This is caused because dyslexia affects the way the brain processes language and makes it hard for dyslexic children to attach the correct labels to objects or symbols.
Struggling with Rhymes
Children with dyslexia also encounter issues with rhymes such as having trouble filling up the rhyming word in a rhyme or has difficulty making up rhymes on their own and does not recognize rhyming patterns “log, dog, hog”.
This is due to their difficulty in isolating or breaking words into individual sounds.
Can't seem to follow directions
Children with dyslexia also have difficulties in following instructions and directions and frequently need reminders due to their difficulty in grasping long commands as they are able to only “hear” the first few words of a sentence.
Social and Emotional problems in children with dyslexia
According to a research by Samuel T. Orton, M.D., most dyslexic preschoolers are happy and well adjusted. However, they start to feel frustration when they realise that their reading skills and learning skills differ from their friends.
When they feel left out or when parents are not accepting of them and feel like their child can do better, this triggers a start in social and emotional problems. Poor self-image and less peer acceptance causes them to become awkward in social situations.
One of the most serious mental disorder that can occur to a dyslexic child is depression. As young children have different symptoms when they are depressed, they become much more active and misbehave to cover up whatever painful feeling they have and start to have a negative image of themselves and view everything negatively.
Dyslexic children may also learn that they are inferior to others due to their dyslexia and ends up feeling powerless and incompetent in this society.
This negative thoughts can lead to many problems later on in life or concurrently such as self-harming, suicidal thoughts or attempts.
Providing emotional support
In order to prevent children with dyslexia from growing up with stress, insecurity or any mental health problems, teachers in preschool needs to frequently interact with the child and understand the problems they face, rather than critiquing them and not giving them the time they need.
These are some support that the teacher can provide the children with dyslexia in class:
Acknowledge their effort and celebrate hard work, even if there are still mistakes.
Correct them immediately and not demoralise them.
Recognise their strengths and compliment them or encourage them.
Combating negative thoughts. If a child with dyslexia calls themselves stupid, don't ignore it. The teacher should have a positive talk with the child and increase positive reinforcement, letting them know that they are not useless or stupid just because they have dyslexia.
Support for pre-school children with dyslexia in Singapore
Specialised Educational Services (SES) is a division of the Dyslexia Association of Singapore. SES programmes are tailored to fit the learning needs of students with a learning difference.
The programs offered helps preschoolers to achieve a good foundation in alphabet knowledge and phonograms which leads up to learning sight words needed for reading. In class, the child will be taught about rules, facts and generalisation about the English language which enables them to read and spell more effectively.
The components covered in lessons are:
Alphabet Knowledge
Phonograms
Learnt Word Knowledge (e.g. said)
Reading
Spelling
Intervention strategies used in classrooms
Pre-schools can implement academic accommodations and modifications to help children with dyslexia succeed.
Materials
Clarify or simplify written directions
Information or directions that have too many words or paragraphs can be overwhelming and difficult for children with dyslexia. Highlighting, underlining significant parts or removing irrelevant points can be helpful.
Present a small amount of work
Rather than having too much written work, having hands on activities for the children can benefits them much more as they are able to actively learn.
Interactive Instructions
Using explicit teaching methods
The teacher should demonstrate the skills or show how a game or activity is done to the children with dyslexia such that they can learn through visual and auditory.
Repeat directions
Children with dyslexia tend to forget or only "hear" the first few words of a sentence. This may affect their knowledge of the instructions given, thus, the teacher should repeat the instructions given and break down the steps individually.
Maintaining daily routine
Teachers should ensure that schedules and routine in the preschool classroom should always be maintain and avoid unnecessary changes. Children with dyslexia requires to understand and know the structured routine to avoid further confusion and stress them.