1. Presented by Kara Bratton Lutheran Special Education Ministries
Dyslexia 101
Presented by Kara Bratton
Lutheran Special Education Ministries

2. Dyslexia: Simulation When you see: Pronounce as: q d or t z m p b b p
ys er
a, as in bat e, as in pet
e, as in pet a, as in bat
I’m going to start by giving you a glimpse of what a person with dyslexia may experience when trying to read. This may help you start to understand dyslexia before we dive into educational jargon and definitions. This simulation is taken from the pbs website listed at the bottom of the screen. So, first, take a look at the letters on the left and see how that sound is pronounced in our simulation as referenced on the right. You’ll need all these sounds as you read so make sure you get them all down!

3. Dyslexia: Simulation Passage:
We pegin our qrib eq a faziliar blace, a poqy like yours enq zine.
Iq conqains a hunqraq qrillion calls qheq work qogaqhys py qasign.
Enq wiqhin each one of qhese zany calls, each one qheq hes QNA,
Qhe QNA coqe is axecqly qhe saze, a zess-broquceq rasuze.
So qhe coqe in each call is iqanqical, a razarkaple puq veliq claiz.
Qhis zeans qheq qhe calls are nearly alike, puq noq axecqly qhe saze.
Qake, for insqence, qhe calls of qhe inqasqines; qheq qhey're viqal is cysqainly blain.
Now qhink apouq qhe way you woulq qhink if qhose calls wyse qhe calls in your prain.
Now that you know all the sounds needed, take a minute and read this passage to yourself. We just went over all those sounds, so you shouldn’t have any trouble.

4. Dyslexia: Simulation Here is the translation:
We begin our trip at a familiar place, a body like yours and mine.
It contains a hundred trillion cells that work together by design.
And within each one of these many cells, each one that has DNA,
The DNA code is exactly the same, a mass-produced resume.
So the code in each cell is identical, a remarkable but valid claim.
This means that the cells are nearly alike, but not exactly the same.
Take, for instance, the cells of the intestines; that they're vital is certainly plain.
Now think about the way you would think if those cells were the cells in your brain.
(Excerpt from "Journey into DNA" on the "Cracking the Code" Web site, NOVA Online.)
So how did you do? Assuming you found the exercise difficult (that was our intention), consider that we disguised only eight of the forty-four known phonemes in the English language. And imagine if this weren't a game.
Now that you’ve tried to read the passage yourself with different levels of success depending on each of you individually, read what the passage actually would have said if you remembered all the letter-sound correspondences. How did each of you do? Was it frustrating? Time consuming? Would you have been able to answer questions about that passage based on your initial reading? As we spend some time going through facts and information about dyslexia this evening, refer back to the experience you just had and realize that this is what students in your classroom with dyslexia go through every time they have to read.

5. Dyslexia: Definition
“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological 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 the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”
(International Dyslexia Association,
I won’t spend too much time on the long definition of dyslexia, but it is good to know or have an idea of the full definition from the International Dyslexia Association, focusing on the few highlighted area that we’ll talk about in more detail as we go on this hour.

6. Dyslexia: Just the Facts
Dyslexia IS:
An unexpected difficulty with reading, spelling, writing
A language-based learning disability affecting 15-20% of the population
A difficulty with phonological processing
A lifelong difficulty
Hereditary
Dyslexia is NOT:
A visual difficulty (“seeing” letters backwards/differently)
Low intelligence
Laziness
Caused by parents not reading to their child
Something to be “cured” or “outgrown”
Go through list addressing some of the common thoughts and misconceptions about what dyslexia is and isn’t. First bullet: “unexpected difficulty” refers to many individuals with dyslexia having average to above average intelligence so one wouldn’t expect reading to be such as issue given that profile. Second Bullet: When I say 15-20% of the population, understand that this covers a large spectrum, including those who haven’t been formally identified, but have struggled to some degree with reading, spelling and/or writing. First bullet point on what dyslexia is not: dyslexia is a difficulty with phonological processing and has a neurological base, not a visual base so even though it may “appear” that students are seeing things incorrectly or backward, that is just a result of the difficulties their brain has in processing written letters, words and sounds, not visually seeing the word. Second bullet point: most dyslexia individual have average to above average intelligence so dyslexia is not due to a lack of intelligence or a lack of being read to at home or being lazy and if they just try harder they would get it. Last bullet point: Despite what you may hear Tom Cruise say, dyslexia can not be “cured”. Remediation can be done to lessen the effects of dyslexia and help students become better at these skills, but effects of dyslexia will be lifelong, whether that means things will always take individuals longer or spelling will always be somewhat of an issue, etc.

7. Dyslexia: Sea of Strengths
The Sea of Strengths Model of Dyslexia was coined by Sally Shaywitz, leading dyslexia researcher at the Yale Center for dyslexia and creativity. Even though individuals with dyslexia typically have a weakness in word decoding, there are many strengths and gifts exhibited by people with dyslexia, such as art, design, drama, electronics, music and sports just to name a few. Talk about example of Christian, dyslexic boy I have tutored who made World Speed Skating Team even though severely dyslexic and still has trouble reading. Ask participants to think of children they know who struggle to read and think of other strengths they have in these areas and areas of art, sports, music. Lots of research done in this area to show that in many individuals with dyslexia, right side of brain is more highly activated than in non-dyslexic individuals, accounting for many strengths that individuals with dyslexia have. See “Successful Dyslexics” page in resource section to get an idea of people with dyslexia who show other strengths that the world easily recognizes.

8. Dyslexia: Signs Difficulty with phonological and phonemic awareness
Difficulty learning letters and their sounds
Difficulty recognizing and remembering common sight words and words previously seen in writing
Difficulty blending and/or segmenting sounds and words
Difficulty spelling
Difficulty organizing written and spoken language
Difficulty with fluent, accurate reading and oral reading
Important to note that not all students with any or all of these difficulties have dyslexia and that not all students with dyslexia exhibit all of these signs. Individuals with dyslexia are all unique and may show different signs to varying degrees and at different times. Some young children show signs very early on while others seem to learn how to read initially and hit a wall later on, or just continue to read at a slower rate or show more difficulty with written work and spelling. The impact dyslexia has on an individual will be different for each individual depending on the severity of the dyslexia and also depending on what remediation was done and when in the individual’s education remediation began. The earlier intervention begins, the better it will be for the individual. If students begin showing signs in preschool or kindergarten, DO NOT WAIT to begin remediation or working on skills that are difficult. Do not think the child will outgrow it or that you need to wait until the child is in 3rd grade for the reading disability to be identified. It is possible with school screenings and assessments to identify potential reading difficulties in young children before the difficulties turn into reading failure and before dyslexia may be formally identified also. Screenings such as DIBELS, AIMSWeb can help identify areas a child is struggling with and remediation can be planned based on that information before a formal evaluation is done.

9. Dyslexia: Signs
Difficulty memorizing number facts and other rote memory items
Pronunciation difficulties and difficulty with word retrieval
Difficulty remembering spoken directions or names of people and places
Difficulty with sense of direction
Difficulty with sequences
Inconsistent with reading and/or spelling

10. Dyslexia: Diagnosis
Evaluation necessary by professional (educational psychologist, neuropsychologist, etc.)
Evaluation typically includes intellectual and academic tests, focusing on language skills and also a dyslexia screener is often used
Listening skills, expressive language skills, phonological skills, rapid naming skills, reading words in isolation and in context, etc.
Evaluation is important to understand the unique strengths and weaknesses of a student to develop a plan, not to create a “label”
If you as a teacher or a parent suspects a reading disability or dyslexia, it is important to get an evaluation done, not so that the student receives a “label”, but so more about how the child will learn best and what the strengths as well as weaknesses are in a student. Example of students I’ve seen tested who read very low but their oral comprehension is through the roof so I know instructionally he can understand a lot if he hears it versus just thinking he won’t understand anything because his reading skills and reading comprehension are low. Teachers should avoid throwing out labels to parents, but rather explain the difficulties you see in the classroom and let the appropriate professional talk about diagnoses and help point parents to a professional who has the credentials to diagnose, even though you might say “ I would like the doctor to look at the signs for a reading disability, etc.”.

11. Dyslexia: Classroom Accommodations
“Far and away the most critical accommodation for the dyslexic reader is the provision of extra time. Dyslexia robs a person of time; accommodations return it” (Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia).
“For the dyslexic reader, accommodations represent the bridge that connects him to his strengths, and, in the process, allows him to reach his potential. By themselves accommodations do not produce success; they are the catalyst for success” (Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia).
“Extra time is not an advantage, it is an attempt to level the playing field. Even with additional time, a slow reader will continue to feel at least the same or more time pressure compared to the ordinary reader” (Sally Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia).
These are some important points/quotes to think about when you as a teacher think about classroom accommodations. Many times, teachers or other students may see making accommodations for one or a few students as being something that is unfair or gives them an advantage. This first quote is so important when thinking about students who are dyslexic in your classroom because time is also an issue when you’re teaching. You may be ready to move on to the next topic, next subject, next class period and you still have a child working or trying to figure something out. Without going into too much detail, the way an individual with dyslexia’s brain is wired, the brain is typically very inefficient at quickly retrieving information. So figuring out a word, a problem, etc. is a much longer process for an individual with dyslexia because it is not automatic like it is for many non-dyslexic readers. It doesn’t mean that they CAN’T figure it out, but it means more time is needed to figure things out quite often. It is very difficult to assign an arbitrary amount of extra time that is appropriate. So much depends on the individual because everyone is different. Standardized tests often consider time and a half to be “extended time”, but for some students, they may need more than that for classwork and homework. Second quote also always makes me think of individuals who need glasses. You wouldn’t take glasses away from a student who needed them to read a test or the whiteboard. 3rd quote really just addresses the idea of extra time being an “advantage” or “unfair” and the researchers at Yale have done plenty of research to support this quote.

12. Dyslexia: Classroom Accommodations
Extended time
Recorded texts (Learning Ally, Bookshare, iPad)
Alternate test formats and tests read out loud (VoxDox or Prismo app)
Allow student to dictate longer writing assignments and essays (Dragon Dictation app)
Recording lectures (Notability and other apps)
Class notes or study guides given by teacher
Spelling list modification
Allow student to practice reading passages before reading out loud
When students have dyslexia, they will most likely benefit from systematic, multisensory, explicit phonics instruction which I’ll talk about in a few minutes, but they also benefit from classroom accommodations to help them understand content area material that they may not be able to fluently read on their own with comprehension. As quotes from the previous slide indicate, incorporating some of these accommodations are the catalyst for success in the classroom. Extended time: applies to tests, homework, classwork. As the teacher, you have to be ok with a student with dyslexia not getting as much done in the same amount of time and that might mean picking and choosing which assignments or which questions are the most important. Students with dyslexia should be penalized for needing additional time by staying in from recess to finish, or having extra homework because they didn’t finish in class. Having recorded texts available for students with dyslexia is crucial as content area materials becomes heavier. Students can and should still follow along while the text is being read, but this allows them access to grade level material and vocabulary that often they can understand when given the appropriate tools. Learning Ally was formerly called Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic and has recording of text books available as does bookshare.org where individuals with dyslexia and vision impairments can register for a free account and download texts and novels onto their computer or ipad. And ipads and other tablets have available accessibility options that read the text on the screen to the student. With giving tests to a student with dyslexia, certain formats can sometimes be difficult. Tests that have matching with more than 4-5 items grouped together can create a lot of difficulty reading through long lists over and over again and then remembering where words are, so cutting down matching to a few items in a group is helpful. Also, multiple choice questions that are worded in a confusing way such as “all of the following EXCEPT…” should be eliminated or rephrased. Fill in the blank questions with no word bank can also be difficult for many students with dyslexia who have poor word recall. Having a word bank to choose from helps students recall the words that they often know the meaning of. Also, to test content rather than the students’ reading skills, have tests read out lout to the student, giving extended time and also allowing a scribe for longer written answers. A student with dyslexia may not be willing to write all they know about a topic because of poor spelling and difficulties with writing, so they write limited amounts of info. An app like Dragon Dictation which is free allows a student to dictate responses, then edit, and either or print the responses. Such an app is also helpful for longer writing assignments or written answers. VoxDox and prismo apps allow you to take a picture of a test or assignment or VoxDox allows you to upload a saved document also and then reads it out loud, so could set a student up with a test and earbuds to take tests if no one can read to them. For older students, allowing them to record lectures so they can review info auditorally before a test and not read all of it is helpful. Notability also has the student take notes while recording the lecture and tapping on words in the notes can trigger that part of the lecture to play back. Having a copy of class notes or a study guide to give students rather than them having to write everything is also very helpful so they can focus on what is being said rather than focus on the more difficult task of writing and then having to read what they wrote at home. Could even give more of an outline for notes where student has to listen and fill in some items so they stay on task. For weekly spelling lists, modifying the number of words given to a student is helpful, but also be aware of spelling patterns. If the class list has 25 words mixing 5 different ways to spell the long e sound, give the student just the spelling words with ea and nothing else so they start to learn spelling patterns and rules. If as the teacher, you want a students with dyslexia to read out loud to the class, allow the student to practice the passage first and give plenty of time. Reading out loud is often very stressful for a student with dyslexia and you might choose to avoid it all together. Or allow student to read with a partner they feel comfortable with.

13. Dyslexia: Strategies Finger Tapping for Spelling
Sound Cards & Blending
The few strategies I’m going to briefly go over and from the Orton Gillingham methodology but really do benefit all readers and can be adapted for different elementary levels. So even doing these things with non-dyslexic readers will help reinforce their skills and teachers can add more difficult skills in for higher level students. Finger Tapping: either make a hand like the one pictured, or use own fingers and tap to thumb to “tap” out sounds in a word or syllable before spelling. For example, an easy word like “cat”, the student would tap a finger either down on the premade hand or tap their own finger to thumb for each sound, verbalizing each sound before writing anything /c/, /a/, /t// reduces number of errors and also allows teacher to make sure students are correctly hearing and processing all sounds in a word or syllable (do each syllable separately if multisyllabic word) before they write.
Sound Cards and blending: quick way to review sounds known or recently worked on. Teacher has card deck with ABC cards, or more advanced vowel teams like ‘ai’, etc. and just shows students card and has them say the sound. Can practice writing sounds in air with hand saying “e says /e/” for example or writing in sand, other tactile substance. After cards are reviewed, can put cards into piles, as shown (vowels always in middle!) and have students practice saying each sound inidividually then blending it. Switch cards to make new words and nonsense words. Nonsense words coming up in blending are great practice for all readers because forces them to use decoding skills.

14. Dyslexia: Strategies Syllabification “Red” words/Non-phonetic words
The Fantastic Syllable Division Word Book
(orton-gillingham.com)
“Red” words/Non-phonetic words
Children need to be taught how to divide larger words into syllables. Many times I see syllables being taught assuming the child already knows the word in print, but if the child can’t read the word fantastic for example, how are they supposed to know how too divide the word and how to pronounce it?? Multi-syllabic words are generally too long for children to hold each individual sound in their mind and then blend together. The resource on your slide from Orton Gillingham is a $20 book that walks through how to teach the different syllable division patterns systematically and provides word list. This is a must for children with dyslexia who need specific strategies for figuring out unknown words. Teaching what Orton Gillingham calls “red” words, or non-phonetic words requires a different strategy because students can not sound these out and should not be encouraged to do so. It’s difficult to see in the picture on the slide, but arm tapping is a great multisensory method for teaching these words. Students have the word printed in red on a card in their non-dominant hand (so they have a visual in front of them). Starting at their shoulder, they name each letter in the word out loud (so they have auditory also)while tapping down their arm, such as “d-o-e-s says does” and return to shoulder and sweep down arm while repeating whole word. Have student do this multiple times to practice a word. If reviewing red words and a child gets stuck, before telling them word, have them arm tap and see if that triggers brain to remember the word. Many time they’ll get it if taught to arm tap that specific red word in instruction!

15. Dyslexia: Strategies Auditory Practice
Final strategy is called an auditory drill, often done with sand trays, such as one pictured from Orton Gillingham.com For this practice, each student has a sand tray or other tactile substance to write in and the teacher gives a sound, such as /b/ and the students would repeat the sound, then write the letter or letters (for sounds like /k/ that have multiple answers) in the sand that make that sound, verbalizing “b says /b/” as they write. This can be used to review all learned sounds, vowel teams, etc. before spelling practice. Seems like it would be too easy, but many dyslexic students will have trouble with this for phonics skills that may be giving them trouble.

16. Dyslexia: Remediation
Multisensory, explicit, systematic phonics instruction
Orton Gillingham or any system based on Orton Gillingham
Wilson Reading, Barton System, Alphabetic Phonics, Project Read, Slingerland, Spalding, etc.
Lindamood-Bell
Trained teacher in these systems is best
Spelling: focus on patterns and spelling rules
Class screenings: DIBELS, AIMSWeb
Florida Center for Reading Research Student Center Activities:
Children’s Dyslexia Centers (locations around country for Orton Gillingham tutoring) childrensdyslexiacenters.org
Class screenings help teachers identify students who may be at-risk and what specific areas the students are struggling with. Teacher could use this info to work on specific skills with the struggling students during small group times, center times, etc. The Florida Center for Reading Research has free student center activities divided up into grade level (K-5) and also skills (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocab and comprehension) that are appropriate for small group or center activities.

17. Dyslexia: Resources
ditpro5/upload/DyslexiaInTheCl assroom.pdf
disability-resources/ebooks- guides-toolkits/dyslexia-toolkit
uldyslexics.html

18. Dyslexia: Resources Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz
“The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia”- movie
Children’s Dyslexia Centers (locations around country for Orton Gillingham tutoring) s.org
en/tools/through-your-childs- eyes

19. Sign up for FREE e-newsletters at www.luthsped.org
Kara Bratton, LSEM Resource Center Director
Find us on Facebook and Twitter!