Dyslexia Friendly Classroom

When parents of a dyslexic child ask that their son’s or daughter’s school will become dyslexia friendly, a common response is that turning an educational institution to a dyslexia friendly school is very expensive.

My answer to their wish is straightforward, instead, ask your teacher to make his or her study-room a dyslexia friendly classroom, and in order to do so you mainly need awareness.

1. When you print or send an e-mail use dyslexia friendly font such as Arial, Verdana, Tahoma
2. Use colored paper for your printouts instead of white paper.
3. Make sure that pupils with dyslexia can see your face when you speak in classroom.
4. Give pupils with dyslexia time to get organized before starting the lesson.
5. Don’t make a student with dyslexia read out loud before he is ready

Dyslexic Kids and Mobile Messaging

We are communicating with each other using text with messaging more now than we ever have before. Not long ago the main means of communication was speaking to one another but today text messaging has come to the fore.

Who doesn’t use today mobile messaging- Facebook messaging, iMessage, Whatsapp, Skype etc. to communicate? We all do and our kids much more than we.

Here are some mobile messaging statistics regarding kids:

– 75% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 have a cell phone.

– Kids between the ages of 13 and 17 send an average of 3364 text messages per month.

– Half of teenagers send 50 text messages or more every day. One third send 100 or more texts a day.

Mobile texting usually adopts a very informal language. Keyboard errors resulting in spelling mistakes, the wish to be concise (type less) even at the expense of correct English and grammar – is very common in mobile texting.

So when our dyslexic kids write text messaging with errors should we encourage them to stop and review their text before sending the message? My answer is that it depends …

Dyslexics Deserve Extra Exam Time – Part 2

A few years back, I wrote a blog No Ifs or Buts – Dyslexics Deserve Extra Exam Time claiming that there is no question about it – dyslexics deserve extra exam time.

As my kids grow, I hear many discussions regarding the fairness and the pros/cons of providing extra exam time.

My view is simple: if a kid needs the extra time to succeed than we as parents must do all we can to enable them this extra time. It is important for a child to grow with the feeling of success, and though grades are not everything they do provide our children a scale to judge their success.

Other parents may claim that this is not fair. That some parents/kids abuse this benefit. But as parents of dyslexic children, this is not our concern. We must make sure that our smart and talented kids will succeed despite their reading and writing difficulties.

 

3 Educational Activities That Will Benefit Children With Dyslexia

By Joyce Wilson

Dyslexia is one of the most well-known learning disabilities, with 1 in 5 students facing the challenges it presents. Although it used to be widely believed that boys were more likely to be dyslexic than girls, recent studies from Yale University show the disorder affects both boys and girls equally. While dyslexia can present some roadblocks to the intellectual development of many children, it can be overcome with creative approaches to learning. Here are three activities that can help children get beyond their struggle with dyslexia.

Play Word Games

A great way to help children pick up new words and phrases is to play a game that engages their minds in different ways. Whether it’s Scrabble, a crossword puzzle or a homemade flash card memory game, by adding an element of fun to the learning process you encourage them to develop new strategies in recognizing different words and making connections to words they already know. Games like these put more focus on a single word, instead of sentences and paragraphs, which helps young students stay focused on the basic elements of language. Word memorization games can be highly effective to help dyslexic children get ahead.

Read Aloud

While reading is typically a solitary activity, having children read aloud can help them approach the text in a new way and inspire them to develop their reading comprehension abilities. When dyslexic children read out loud, they must externalize their thought process, which makes it easier for you to recognize which words or phrases trip them up and provides you with the opportunity to help guide them along in real time. As children become better at reading out loud, you can have them memorize short monologues or poems and perform them for a small group, which will improve their public speaking ability while forcing them to internalize the syntax and semantics of the text they’re reading. Another activity akin to reading aloud is to put the words into song, and whether you go with songs written for children or a karaoke machine with the latest pop songs, music is a powerful mnemonic device not only for remembering words, but also the order they go in.

Practice in the Real World

The classroom isn’t the only place where children can develop better reading skills. One of the most effective strategies for helping dyslexic youngsters boost their reading comprehension is to have them practice in a real-life environment. Walk through public spaces and read anything you encounter while out and about. Street signs, menus, advertisements and food labels all give children a chance to practice their reading in a practical way, which will help them not only improve their abilities, but it will also help them make the connection of how reading can be applied in the everyday situations.

Joyce Wilson loved being a teacher, and though she has recently retired, she hasn’t lost that passion. She continues to educate (and help educators) by mentoring teachers in her area. She is also the co-creator of TeacherSpark.org, a resource for teachers to gather fun, engaging lesson