This comprehensive article explores a variety of techniques educators can utilize to effectively teach children with dyslexia. Therapies for dyslexia focus on making improvements in 5 domains:

  • Phonological awareness: The ability to associate letters with their corresponding sounds.
  • Phonics: Understanding that a string of letters makes up words and recognizing the basic structure of reading.
  • Decoding: The ability to break unfamiliar words into smaller parts and sound out the word.
  • Comprehension: The ability to understand what you read.
  • Vocabulary: Knowing the meaning of many different words.

The Orton-Gillingham (OG) approach is the most popular and effective reading program for children with dyslexia. Because it incorporates both multisensory and step-by-step approach (see “Treatment and Interventions for Children”). OG techniques help in the areas of phonological awareness, phonics, and decoding. Meanwhile, multisensory techniques are used to solidify learning, as well as to improve comprehension and vocabulary. Below you will find some tips on how to incorporate effective teaching techniques in each of the 5 areas mentioned previously.

Phonological Awareness and Phonics

Though they sound similar, phonological awareness and phonics are two different things. The first focuses on being able to recognize the sounds that go with each letter, and then the second focuses on how those individual sounds come together to make words. Both are considered the building blocks of learning how to read. 

For children with dyslexia, teachers need to focus on reinforcing letter-sound relationships, teaching the rules of spelling, as well as explaining vowel patterns and the meanings of root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

Some ideas on how to improve phonics using a multisensory approach include:

  • Writing words in tactile materials, i.e. materials with different textures. You can ask them to draw letters in glitter, sand or even shaving cream. You could even ask them to color in letters or make them out of beads.
  • Practice spelling with movement: Ask children to clap out syllables in a word as they say it (e.g. if you tell them to clap out the word “happy” they should clap after “hap-” and then after “-py”. Two claps for two syllables.) Or you could ask them to jump rope as they spell out words, awarding points for each correctly spelled word.
  • Hunt for letters and words: Hide alphabet cards around the classroom and then ask children to find the letters that make up a word you have assigned to them. Once they find the letters, ask them to glue them in their notebooks in the correct order to make the word.
  • Sing nursery rhymes and then ask the child to recognize what sounds make up the rhyme, e.g. “cat”, “hat”, and “mat” all have the “-at” sound in common

With enough reinforcement, encouragement, and practice, there is a likelihood of significant improvement.

Decoding

For children with decoding weaknesses, phonological awareness and phonics skills are crucial to develop, since the two go hand in hand. If they understand the general structure of how reading works, they are more likely to be able to apply those skills and knowledge to more complex and unfamiliar words.

How to improve decoding skills in children with dyslexia:

  • Listen to a simple story on tape and then ask them to trace out the shapes of letters in the words they just heard. Children with dyslexia tend to be much stronger in their verbal and listening skills than their reading and writing, and this is a good way to get all of these skills on an equal field.

Comprehension and Vocabulary

Since children with dyslexia tend to be very slow readers, their comprehension and vocabulary may be compromised. If a child spend all of their time and energy trying to decode words and sound them out, by the time they finish, they may have completely forgotten what the passage was about in the first place. Similarly, vocabulary is developed through reading as a child gets exposed to more and more words. To resolve this issue:

  • Determine the source of the problem: Do they have decoding difficulties? Are they unable to connect to the material? Focus on improving these specific issues.
  • Consider play-acting stories: If your child cannot understand the words they read because they take such a long time to read it all that they have forgotten what they read, try acting out sentences as your child reads them, so they can make a visual connection to the material. You might even want to play a few games of charades in which you ask the child to read a word and then act it out while friends or family guess it. This is an excellent way to improve both comprehension and vocabulary.
  • Be patient and keep practicing: With enough repetition, your child will eventually get the hang of things and gain confidence and speed.
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