Sally Shaywitz of The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity says, “Dyslexia is an island of weakness in a sea of strengths.” Dyslexia is on a spectrum from mild to profound. It shows up most in reading and spelling, but there are other indicators that can be recognized as younger children.

According to the International Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”

In Preschool

• delayed speech

• mixing up the sounds and syllables in long words

• chronic ear infections

• severe reactions to childhood illnesses

• constant confusion of left versus right

• late establishing a dominant hand

• difficulty learning to tie shoes

• trouble memorizing their address, phone number, or the alphabet

• can’t create words that rhyme

• a close relative with dyslexia

In Elementary School

• dysgraphia (slow, non-automatic handwriting that is difficult to read)

• letter or number reversals continuing past the end of first grade

• extreme difficulty learning cursive

• slow, choppy, inaccurate reading:

- guesses based on shape or context

- skips or misreads prepositions (at, to, of)

- ignores suffixes

- can’t sound out unknown words

• terrible spelling

• often can’t remember sight words (they, were, does) or homonyms (their, they’re, and there)

• difficulty telling time with a clock with hands

• trouble with math

- memorizing multiplication tables

- memorizing a sequence of steps

- directionality

• when speaking, difficulty finding the correct word - lots of “whatyamacallits” and “thingies”

- common sayings come out slightly twisted

• extremely messy bedroom, backpack, and desk

• dreads going to school

- complains of stomach aches or headaches - may have nightmares about school

In High School

All of the above symptoms plus:

• limited vocabulary

• extremely poor written expression

- large discrepancy between verbal skills

and written compositions

• unable to master a foreign language

• difficulty reading printed music

• poor grades in many classes

• may drop out of high school

In Adults

Education history similar to above, plus:

• slow reader

• may have to read a page 2 or 3 times to

understand it

• terrible speller

• difficulty putting thoughts onto paper

- dreads writing memos or letters

• still has difficulty with right versus left

• often gets lost, even in a familiar city

• sometimes confuses b and d, especially when tired or sick

Dyslexia is not caused by a lack of motivation.

Dyslexia is not a visual problem.

Dyslexia is not a problem of laziness.

Dyslexia is not outgrown.

Dyslexia is not caused by parents not reading to their child.

Dyslexia is not seeing letters backward.

Dyslexia is not rare.

Dyslexia is not a problem of intelligence.

Phonological Awareness (PA) allows us to recognize, identify, and manipulate sounds within words. This aids in decoding, isolating sounds, blending sounds, and reading. It has been demonstrated to be an early predictor of reading success. Whether dyslexic or not, good PA skills improve reading and spelling. Over time, even students who struggled with speech issues and severe dyslexia are able to hear the error and isolate its location within a word - a powerful skill to aid in spelling.

Hope Education’s full Dyslexia Screening is an assessment that takes 1 ½ - 2 hours. Through a battery of short tests (including auditory memory, long-term memory, alphabetic principle, spelling, writing, and the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing), parent interviews, and a review of school records, our executive director (also a certified dyslexia screener) writes a thorough report detailing whether or not the student exhibits traits of dyslexia, a summary of the testing results, and a list of recommended accommodations.

Dyslexics are not sequential learners (tying shoes, long division, organizing a binder all require a lot of sequential detail), but they can be wildly effective when learning is approached using appropriate strategies. One favorite book on Dyslexia is The Dyslexic Advantage by Drs. Brock & Fernette Eide. There are companies that recruit dyslexics because of their unique way of "seeing" the world. However, it does take significant advocacy and investment throughout the student’s learning career. It is essential that students be identified as early as possible, so appropriate interventions can be put in place. The sooner the intervention, the earlier dyslexia's impact on reading and writing may be lessened.

In The Dyslexic Advantage by Drs. Brock & Fernette Eide, they talk about the MIND strengths of dyslexics. It is important to note that not all strengths will be exhibited in the same proportion with every person, but these do tend to rise to the surface.

M - Material Reasoning - able to move objects mentally in space

I - Interconnected Reasoning - connected subjects for enhanced learning

N - Narrative Reasoning - thinking in story format, using story to learn

D - Dynamic Reasoning - watching and “experiencing” someone else going through something and feeling as if you have learned similar lessons

Dyslexics are exceptionally creative, whether that creativity comes in sports, engineering, art, or writing screenplays. Often they display higher quotients of empathy and connection. This is one of the reasons it is vital to not shame or embarrass these kids in the classroom. Reading aloud or peer edits in the classroom can be a potential for classmates making fun of their weaknesses. It is important that a dyslexic student feels safe to admit weakness and feels confident that they are not alone in their struggle. It is also essential that these students get a chance to display their exceptional strengths.

Having spent the last 30 years living and working in a poor neighborhood, I am well acquainted with the issues that schools face. How do you address reading when kids are cold? hot? hungry? sleepy? dealing with a personal trauma or family emergency? The physical needs must be addressed in order to have the foundation to begin decoding a reading passage. This is hard work. Every day there are obstacles to learning, and the teachers are doing their best to provide stability to students who need them.

Sometimes class size makes it very difficult to meet the students where they are academically. Often student mobility impacts learning as the continuity of lessons within schools can vary despite efforts to establish consistency among grade levels. Changes in administration and teachers greatly affect continuity.

This is one way that Hope Education can jump in and meet the academic needs of students one on one. Students feel valued and begin to make progress as they slowly and steadily gain rapport with their tutors.

Read Aloud to Your Student. Let them just listen until they feel comfortable jumping in to read a sentence, then two, then a paragraph. Allow them to follow along for 5-10 minutes unless they enjoy this. Remember that for many dyslexics looking at pages of text causes anxiety, but all can comprehend far above their reading level. Start out with picture books. Read and talk about them. Move quickly to chapter books, discussing as you go and listening to them retell the story in their own words. (Retelling is wonderful for building good writing skills for the future.) As soon as you can, get them to read a page, then you read a page and gradually allow them to do more of the reading. You can also practice retelling / writing a simple paragraph with science and history type TV or Youtube videos, too.

When Your Student is Reading to You:

Play with sounds in the car as you are doing errands. (Parent: Tell me the sound that A represents. Student: /a/. Parent: Can you blend /m/ and /a/ together? Now try to add on the P sound. Later, Parent: can you tell me other words in which you hear the /a/ sound - apple, ant, aggravate, antonym. OR Can you tell me other words in which you hear the A sound - grape, inflate, congratulate.)

Choose the right books to give them success. As students are just beginning to crack the reading code, Decodables are best. Start with closed syllable words - with consonants at the end of syllables (CVC, CCVCC, etc). As they build momentum, try library books that interest them. The most important part is to get them reading to you.

Be patient, encouraging and stay present as they struggle. Reassure them that reading takes time and that they can do it. Don’t sigh or show frustration. Even when it takes time, your affirming presence and coaching is what they most need.

Coach them in keeping their eyes on the words. This is hard, but slowly this ability will strengthen over time. Use a finger, a guided reading strip, or a simple note card to slide below the words.

Encourage them to say each sound as they read. By touching each sound and saying the sound the letter(s) represents, the student is reinforcing good decoding skills and lessening the tendency to guess.

Advocate for your student at home and at school. These students need our support which often includes extra accommodations in the classroom. This helps to keep their interest (listening to grade level content) as they are learning the mechanics of reading. Send a note to teachers at the beginning of the year, explaining your student’s strengths and weaknesses and warning them not to embarrass your student by sharing papers or calling on them to read aloud.