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Help for Dyslexia: Reading and Spelling
Comment on this Talk
Leslie on 12/01/2010
To add to the comment from Jim are approaches such as synthetic phonics useful more for dyslexia reading or do they impact dyslexia spelling as well. What works well to help with dyslexia spelling?
Jim on 12/01/2010
I was wondering what the latest research is on dyslexia reading approaches. I heard that the Conservatives in the UK are very keen on synthetic phonics as an approach to teach reading to dyslexics? Is this the best approach for developing dyslexia reading skills?
About this talk: Jane Emerson describes the methods available for teaching dyslexics how to read and spell. She considers phonic approaches and provides recommendations for how parents can help their children in the early years.
About the speaker: Jane Emerson, the founder of Emerson House, is a speech and language therapist with more than 25 years' experience of working with children. She is an expert in dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Talk Topics - Dyslexia
Further information about this Talk
For more information about Emerson House please click here.
Key Points Covered in This Talk:
- Helping dyslexics with reading and spelling: There has been a debate over whether "look and say" or a phonic approach is most effective. The safest and best way is to help children develop both skills. Children may be very good at phonically decoding words that are regular but struggle with irregular words. Or you can get children who can learn words wholistically but then they can't sound them out or work out what the sounds are within them and that begins to effect spelling. There are many children with dyslexia who struggle spelling phonetically so a lot of training to help them learn to perceive sounds is required, using individual letters then practicing putting them together. For children who have a poor visual memory it's a question of repetition and not introducing too many irregular words too quickly. It helps to learn words in a multi-sensory way (using as many senses as you can) so you might get a child to say the word, hear the word, paint the word (perhaps in the air), bake the word with dough. Touch-typing is another way of seeing the word. Putting words in context can also be extremely helpful. This can be achieved by using carefully selected reading books where children can get the gist from a picture or from the story and from predicting what might happen and getting to know the characters. Therefore they do not have to work hard on every single word which can be very tiring for those who struggle with reading.
- What parents should be doing: Children who have good oral language skills often get off to a good start. Therefore reading to your child from an early age gives a rich sense of grammar and vocabulary as well as helping to learn irregular verbs. Many dyslexics carry on saying "the man runned" for many years because they don't remember the irregular word "ran". Therefore reading to your child, playing games with sounds (such as I Spy) and being increasingly complex with these games is helpful. Labeling things around the house or having a blackboard with very common words can be effective.
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What to Watch Next
Dyslexia Overlays: Using Coloured Lenses: Professor John Stein considers how colour overlays can be used to help those with dyslexia. He describes how yellow and blue filters can help dyslexics with reading as well as other difficulties.
Who To See About Dyslexia In The Early Years: Jane Emerson discusses who should be consulted if a child is showing the signs of dyslexia. She considers when a speech and language therapist or an educational psychologist should be used to assess a child.
Dyslexia Help: What Dyslexia Parents Can Do: Dr Valerie Muter gives and insight into how parents can help their children to cope with dyslexia and provide dyslexia help. She gives a view of both what can be done in the early years and the middle years.