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What Teachers Can Do

Bear in mind that dyslexia can be masked by the normal problems caused for many children by bilingualism and constant change of school.

• Make it clear from the outset what your expectations are. For example, is it acceptable for the child to ask questions during the lesson? Are your directions understood?
• Dyslexic pupils can succeed at school – they just need different kinds of teaching.
• Be positive and constructive.
• Recognise the child with specific learning difficulties may take up to three times longer to learn and will tire quickly.
• ‘Labelling is disabling’ (Richard Lavoie) when you label the person rather than the behavior. Do not call the student stupid or lazy, and do not use sarcasm. This will defeat your educational purpose and may have a lasting negative effect on the child and his performance.
• Ensure that the educational environment is structured, predictable and orderly: children with learning difficulties respond most favorably in this setting.
• You will not motivate the child with specific learning difficulties with bribes or threats or appeals to ‘try harder.’ This will not improve his performance when what he needs is clearer input, maybe at a slower speed, or with repetition.
• Accentuate the child’s abilities and teach through his strengths.

Facts about dyslexia
Teachers should know that:

• The problems associated with dyslexia are roughly similar in some 10% of the population.
• This holds across all countries and languages.
• The dyslexia group is one of the largest single disability groups of all.
• It has a strong gender bias (four times more males appear to suffer from dyslexia).
• There is a genetic link.
• While most dyslexia is developmental in nature, it can also be acquired due to brain trauma or disease.
• Dyslexia is a syndrome manifesting a constellation of many of the following characteristics:
• discrepancy between general ability and performance
  • difficulties in visual and/or auditory discrimination
  • difficulties in phonemic identification and discrimination
  • difficulties in acquisition and use of word recognition with text: reading, spelling and writing difficulties
  • difficulties in comprehending what has been decoded
  • difficulties in writing in spite of acceptable reading levels
  • history of early language acquisition problems, and poor phonological development
  • deficits in working (short-term) memory for auditory and/or visual material
  • phonological processing deficits – for encoding, and decoding (use and retrieval)
  • sensory-motor integration difficulties
  • sensory-motor co-ordination problems
  • auditory and/or visual sequencing problems
  • uneven brain function showing deficits in some areas and strengths in other areas (such as in art, drawing, physical education, 3-D construction)
  • self-management and organisation problems
  • organisation problems in academic areas, particularly relating to written language and especially paragraphs and essay writing conventions
  • algorithm and procedural problems in mathematical operations.
• There is a characteristic dyslexic profile as seen, for example, in the ‘ACID’ profile (weakness in Arithmetic, Coding, Information and Digit) of the Wechsler Verbal and Non-Verbal Tests.
• Dyslexia may affect some or all subject areas of the curriculum including:
  • mathematical operations and understanding
  • technical graphics
  • mechanical drawing
  • science and social studies
  • second language learning
  • vocational subjects such as metal and woodwork and domestic science
  • music.
• There may sometimes be exceptional strengths in art or sports and physical education.

The causes of learning difficulties or delay in readiness to learn
In the event of a manifest learning difficulty, teachers should understand that it may due to:

• general and/or specific low-cognitive ability
• physical disability (including sensory deficits, e.g. deafness)
• emotional problems
• psychoses
• socio-economic factors and cycles of disadvantage
• multilingualism
• culture shock
• environmental factors such as inconstant home care and/or parental illness
• specific learning difficulties.

Background reading guidelines
Teachers should:

• Read about the historical background to the identification and understanding of dyslexia in their own and other countries.
• Read about early case studies in ‘word blindness.’
• Read papers on the formulation and evolution of good teaching practice for addressing the needs of dyslexics.
• Learn about definitions of dyslexia from the neurological, psychological and educational angles.
• Learn of the cluster of characteristics in the dyslexic syndrome.
• Be aware that dyslexia has neurological, biological, microbiological, cognitive, behavioral, psychological and educational implications.

Allied conditions
Be aware of allied conditions such as:

• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
• Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADHD)
• Hyperactivity
• Hypoactivity
• Aphasia
• Dysphasia
• Specific Learning Impairment
• Dysgraphia
• Dyscalculia
• Dyspraxia
• Behavioral disorders
• Secondary emotional disorders.

Required knowledge of normal development
Be aware of normal child development at the level of:

• brain functional systems
• brain laterality
• brain hemisphericity
• sensory development and integration
• perceptual and cognitive development
• fine and gross motor development
• expressive (oral) language acquisition
• written language acquisition – decoding and encoding
• short (working) and long-term memory
• self-image and self-esteem
• motivation
• attention allocation and concentration duration limits
• bilingualism and multilingualism
• culture ethnicity.

Recommended personal skills development for teachers
Be aware of the need for personal skills development during your educational career through:

• on-going education and research
• assertiveness training
• counseling courses
• communication training and public speaking and presentation
• observation training
• assessment and test administration
• report writing skills
• personal and time management effectiveness
• inter-professional communication skills.

The dyslexic child in the primary classroom
Be aware that there may be a dyslexic child in your class in primary school. You should:

• get an explanation of the problems encountered by the dyslexic child in the primary curriculum
• recognise that skilled targeted teaching, using structured multi-sensory methods, can help
• recognise the frustration felt by the dyslexic student
• recognise that performance may be well below the student’s potential
• recognise possible behavioral and/or self-esteem problems
• show sympathy, concern and understanding
• develop a good teacher-student rapport
• develop a good teacher-parent rapport
• remember this child learns in a different way but he can learn
• look out for the student who may read well and contribute orally but who shows huge gaps between hese verbal skills and written work
• see that the peer group understands the nature of dyslexia so that the child is not mocked or bullied
• actively encourage the child and point out his skills and talents
• assign a responsible child to take care of the new dyslexic child in the class.

The dyslexic child in the secondary classroom
Be aware that there may be a dyslexic student in your class in secondary school. You should:

• get an explanation of the problems encountered by the dyslexic adolescent in the secondary school curriculum
• recognise that skilled multi-sensory teaching can help
• recognise the compounded frustration problems felt by the dyslexic teenager
• remember the dyslexic student learns in a different way
• recognise that there may be attendant self-esteem problems
• recognise that there may be attendant behavior or truancy problems
• recognise that there probably is a performance/potential gap
• show sympathy, concern and understanding
• use diagrams and mind-maps when teaching
• appoint a mentor-teacher for each dyslexic student – mentors should prevent assignment overload and liaise with specialist teachers
• develop a good pupil-teacher relationship
• develop a good home-school relationship
• ensure students’ legal rights are adhered to in respect of teaching and examination provision such as rest breaks, extra time, reader provision, etc.
• be aware that a dyslexic may be undiagnosed as late as secondary school
• be aware that compensatory strategies which the (un)diagnosed student evolved at the elementary level may be inadequate for the more complex and multi-faceted secondary school curriculum
• be aware that remedial materials should be relevant to the maturity of the student and not to his academic level
• give the dyslexic clear notes on lesson plans to reinforce his chances of learning the material that is being taught
• be aware that a dyslexic child does have problems reading an unseen text aloud in class – asking him to do this can ruin his self-esteem
• ensure that your teaching is carefully structured to prevent failure.

The dyslexic student at university
Be aware that there may be a dyslexic student in your university/college class. You should:

• be aware that he learns in a different way from the conventional ways
• get an explanation of problems encountered by the dyslexic student at college, especially in relation to:
  • self-management
  • organisation
  • note-taking
  • time management
  • project and assignment management
  • uni-dimensional teaching (the talking head)
• recognise the frustration felt by the dyslexic college student
• recognise that college grades may be well below potential
• recognise self-esteem/depression problems
• show sympathy, concern and understanding
• offer to be or appoint a mentor/note-taker
• use clear diagrams and mind-maps when teaching
• be a good listener and give drop-in and counseling time
• help orchestrate and space out student assignments
• assign projects with time-draft requirements (e.g., first copy of 1st chapter to be handed in by date x – second draft by date y – final copy by date z) and so on for each chapter assignment
• provide copies of overhead projector or lecture notes to the dyslexic student or even all the students
• indicate required reading on reading lists
• ensure the students’ legal rights are adhered to in examination provision with respect to extra time, rest periods, readers, use of lap-top computers, etc.
• help students fill in forms and apply for their entitlements
• insist on building up strengths.

Teacher training courses for specific learning difficulties
Be aware of the possibility of training opportunities – courses in the teaching and management of dyslexia (SLD/SpLD).

Student teachers:

• should look out for core courses in teaching and good practice techniques to address the needs of dyslexic students across a range of age groups
• must be taught to recognise what are normal stages of a child’s development and readiness to learn before they are expected to recognise what is not normal, i.e. dyslexia.

Previously trained teachers should take advantage of:

• in-service training of class and specialist teachers
• correspondence and other distance-learning courses
• back-to-college courses
• secondment to schools for dyslexic students
• in-house study groups.

All training courses should afford practice for a specified time in:

• administering first-level tests as required
• drawing up an individualised educational programme (IEP) for each dyslexic student
• note-taking
• observational techniques
• record-keeping
• drawing up short- and long-term objectives
• teaching methods
• choosing materials and texts.

Teacher training courses should stress:

• the relationship between oral and written language
• phoneme/grapheme correspondence
• phonemic structure
• spelling rules
• syntax
• semantics
• the reading process from
  • the top-down (holistic methods)
  • bottom-up (phonic methods)
  • interactive models of the reading process
• the implications of these models of the reading process for reading difficulties and remedial intervention
• written language style from the perspectives of:
  • history and evolution of written language
  • structure, temporal sequencing and semantics
  • developing word recognition skills
  • developing reading accuracy, fluency speed and literal and inferential comprehension
  • developing spelling skills
  • learning spelling rules
  • developing cursive handwriting skills
  • the pre-writing process, followed by composition skills
  • developing and increasing functional writing speed
  • various learning and teaching styles from the perspectives of identification, matching, and adapting teaching style to the learner’s style.

Teachers in training should know that:

• the curriculum as a whole may create difficulties for the dyslexic
• the curriculum should be adapted to suit the dyslexic’s needs
• textbooks and materials should be selected and/or adapted with the dyslexic in mind
• teaching methods should be specially adapted and multi-sensory in nature to reach all students, especially the dyslexic student
• in particular, a cumulative, highly structured, sequential, multi-sensory approach is needed
• learning is best when brought through the modalities of hearing, sight, touch and movement
• development of fine and gross motor skills alongside multi-sensory teaching is best
• a ‘mini-max’ technique is best – take minimal steps for maximum practice and effect
• the development and application of short-term (working) memory and various kinds of long-term memory – semantic, episodic and procedural – are essential for attention, storage, cross-referencing and retrieval of information.

To obtain information on teacher training courses for teachers of dyslexic children:

• apply to your Ministry of Education
• apply to your National Dyslexia Association (see National Provisions from EU Member States)
• contact the European Dyslexia Association
• access information regarding dyslexia on the Internet, including:
  • the International Book of Dyslexia, edited by Robin Salter and Ian Smythe, at the World Dyslexia Network Foundation (WDNF) – wdnf@ukonline.co.uk.

   

Dyslexia and Information Technology
The power of IT may be harnessed to enhance a dyslexic’s performance by fostering:

• keyboard and word processing skills
• use of spell-check software
• use of IT as an aid to learning
• use of commercial software for teaching materials.

Parent-teacher-school transparency awareness
Be aware of the need for parent-teacher-school transparency in treating and managing the dyslexic student:

• information and school records should be passed on in good time
• when a child is in transition from one teacher to another
• when a child is in transition from one year to another
• when a child is in transition from one school or country to another.

Assessment and the teacher of the dyslexic student

First-level assessment
When a teacher suspects that a child is having learning problems, he should assess the child at the class level first by one of the methods listed below.

• Cognitive testing – some tests for literacy/numeracy problem identification are available to teachers and other professionals (other tests are restricted to use by educational psychologists).
• Attainment testing – standardised group and individual tests of literacy/numeracy are available in most countries.
• Informal testing – methods include criterion or referenced tests, and miscue analysis.

Referral and second-level assessment
When the teacher is fairly sure there is a problem the child is referred via the family doctor or directly to an educational psychologist, who will make a second-level assessment.

Cognitive testing (tests restricted to use by educational psychologists) will be done, after which a cognitive profile will be drawn up and the child may be referred to the other professionals involved in treating dyslexics, such as:

• general practitioners
• ophthalmologists/optometrists
• audiologists
• ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists
• speech and language therapists
• occupational therapists
• psychomotor therapists
• teachers specially trained in dealing with dyslexia.

Teachers should understand:

• the purpose of psychological reports
• the interpretation of psychological reports
• the terminology of the reports
• the recommendations and applications of the psychological report, so they can construct targeted, structured, multi-sensory teaching.

Intervention and treating the dyslexic student’s needs
There are many possible kinds of interventions following cognitive assessment:

• medical intervention
• chiropractic exercises
• sensory, perceptual, motor or proprioceptive therapy
• direct behavioural intervention
• precision teaching
• cognitive approaches to teaching
• multi-modal teaching
• sequential, cumulative multi-sensory teaching with multi-sensory materials and software
• phonic and visual whole-word learning techniques
• phonemic awareness approaches
• phoneme-grapheme correspondence
• cumulative and highly structured language teaching approaches
• home-school programmes for emotional and learning/teaching support for parents and students
• development of non-threatening games and play which facilitate learning for the wider family
• emotional, educational and socio-cultural support for dyslexic parents

Teachers must know how to develop strategies to enhance learning in the following sub-skill areas:

• attention and concentration
• metacognition (knowing what you don’t or do know)
• self-esteem
• interpersonal skills
• social skills and rules
• motivation
• speech and language
• visual and auditory sequencing
• visual and auditory processing
• working (short-term) memory
• episodic, procedural and semantic memory
• sequencing
• directionality and orientation
• visual motor skills
• gross and fine motor skills
• organisation of self, environment and thinking skills.

Good practice

• Recognise the child’s individual style of thinking.
• Help the child to succeed. Avoid failure, be constructive and positive. Praise helps boost flagging self-esteem.
• Encourage the use of computers to help the child get over the hurdle of producing text, but remember that not all children relate to technology.
• Be aware of and responsive to difficulties – know the child.
• Structure lessons to meet his needs; for example, break the time down into different activities.
• Provide ‘scaffolding’ (educational aids) for the child and progressively remove them as he becomes able to cope without them.
• Check the readability of all texts. Consider offering alternatives, such as voice output software and audio tapes.
• Build up a bank of resources for the child. He will not be your last dyslexic pupil and you will be more prepared for the next.
• Adopt a multidisciplinary approach and work closely with everyone involved in the child’s education. Be prepared to learn from colleagues with special expertise (educational psychologists, special needs teachers) and from parents.
• Provide a tutor specially trained to teach children with dyslexia to work alongside the child and/or a ‘big brother.’
• Wherever possible, foster links with a centre of excellence where research into dyslexia is being carried out. This will help keep you abreast of all the new developments in the field and thus benefit the dyslexic children in your school