Dyslexia-friendly Strategies for Reading, Spelling and Handwriting

A Toolkit for Teachers

Diane Montgomery

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781138223158
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315405568
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Many pupils with dyslexia have poor spelling and handwriting, even when their reading is adequate. This practical yet evidence-based book shows teachers who work with pupils with dyslexia how they can effectively address these areas of weakness. Diane Montgomery introduces her popular Cognitive Process Strategies for Spelling (CPSS) and provides guidance on how this direct action can be successfully used in both primary and secondary contexts.

The book describes dyslexia-friendly approaches in Logographic, Alphabetic and Orthographic phases – 'the three faces' of dyslexia. Best literacy practice for all children is illustrated in a developmental reading and spelling approach, handwriting as a support to literacy teaching is explained and strategies for overcoming handwriting difficulties are detailed from Reception onwards.

Dyslexia-friendly Strategies for Reading, Spelling and Handwriting is full of new research, case examples and practical methods that have been tried and tested in the classroom. This is a must-read guide for all teachers and SENCOs in primary and secondary settings working with pupils with dyslexia.

Contents

1. Preface
2. Acknowledgements
3. Introduction to dyslexia, dysgraphia and underachievement
4. 1 Dyslexia-friendly teaching of reading
5. 2 Identifying and remediating dyslexia in the logographic phase
6. 3 How to assess and use handwriting samples to diagnose difficulties across the age ranges
7. 4 The contribution of handwriting to literacy development and how handwriting difficulties can be overcome
8. 5 Remediating dyslexia in the alphabetic phase
9. 6 Remediating dyslexia in the orthographic phase
10. 7 Teaching dictionary skills and the ‘Spelling Detective's Dictionary’
11. References
12. Index

Preface

It has been ten years since Spelling, Handwriting and Dyslexia (Montgomery, 2007) was published. It discussed dyslexia research and practice and in the last chapter identified ways in which the practical implications of the research would be developed. This book contains those developments, some of which were prefaced in Teaching Gifted Children with SEN (Montgomery, 2015).

In the interim, research has confirmed the pervasive effect of handwriting difficulties across the ability range in causing underachievement. It is a difficulty in plain sight and its role in literacy development and cognition had been greatly underestimated and frequently ignored in some schools. This has been especially so since computers have become widely used from pre-school onwards. The need to learn handwriting has been questioned when the time can be given to other subjects. Neglecting handwriting will be shown to be an unwise choice based on new evidence from neurological research.

Recent research on spelling difficulties has shown that there is also a wide range of individuals who have spelling problems without necessarily having any reading difficulties. These spelling problems are similar to those of dyslexics but are overlooked as carelessness and want of effort when the authors desperately need some structured help.

Spelling problems also limit achievement as writers have to find vocabulary they can spell and this limits their ability to think about the message and argument they are trying to make. It places a cognitive overload on the system just as handwriting coordination difficulties can also do.

The situation regarding reading teaching and reading standards appears to have changed very little in many schools since the 1950s (Tymms, 2004), despite the National Literacy Strategy (DFEE, 1998) and many other corrective guidelines since. There is in the guidelines a strong emphasis on reading teaching with phonics now introduced at the outset. Remedial support follows a similar pattern focusing on reading teaching and more phonics but with small groups or one-to-one support. It will be argued that the type of phonics and methods used are not yet fit for purpose.

This text will seek to show how the problems experienced by dyslexics and dysgraphics lead to some different strategies than those currently employed and that have been shown to be effective in helping overcome their problems. The recommendations are based upon analysis of multiple case studies as well as cohort research.

The incidence of dyslexia varies in the different countries with a lower incidence in languages that are ‘transparent’, meaning they have a simple sound-to-symbol association to learn – one letter one sound as in Turkish and Italian. In English there are 26 letters of the alphabet (graphemes) and 44 sounds or ‘phonemes’. It is also an ‘opaque’ language and has a complex orthography (spelling system) – not only because of this but also because it has roots in many languages such as Celtic from the original settlers, Latin from the Roman invasion, Anglo-Saxon (Old English) from seventh-century settlers, Norse from later invaders, French from the Norman conquest, and borrowings from Greek, Spanish, Hindi and so on.

It is said that 10 per cent of people in the UK have dyslexia, with 4 per cent being severe cases (BDA, 2017). Studies for this book suggest the incidence is higher, at around 20 per cent.

The book begins with a profile of 35-year-old James, a severe dyslexic, his experiences of school and his advice to us. In the opening chapter we learn from Nicholas what reading and remedial teaching methods involved for him two decades later. Unfortunately these still bore little relationship to his needs but show what dyslexic children are still generally offered by schools.

Nicholas was fortunate in that his support teacher was on a specialist MA SpLD programme and decided to evaluate what was reported as a dyslexia-friendly approach as part of her coursework.

However, looking at the new casework from 2012 to 2016 it would seem that many schools and dyslexia research are still caught up in a cycle of failure to address the needs that dyslexics actually have. Why this might be so is explored in Chapter 4.

Katy (aged seven) wrote the message below (Figure 0.1) to me in 2006. Like others in her class she did not enjoy writing and this was the general picture discovered by Alston in 1993 and across the decades during appraisal research in 1,250 classrooms (Montgomery, 2002). Teachers were widely observed to experience the groan that would follow when they said, ‘Now write that down’.

Katy's view was borne out in the contents of the 20-minute essays for a handwritng research project in 2008 (N=531) when many pupils chose to write about writing. When we might expect children to want to write and to enjoy it they regard it as a chore and many find it difficult and even painful.

The original book (Montgomery, 2007) contained the background theory and research with implications for practice. But for all the books and all the research on dyslexia we seem to have failed them. We have not paid the necessary close attention to their needs or what they know of what we do to them. We seem not to have learnt from them but keep applying our own theories of what is dyslexia-friendly.

Figure 0.1 Katy, aged seven

This book emphasises case analysis as a way of revealing pupils' needs, linking this information to relevant practice and research. It aims to be a hands-on book for teachers and mentors or adults interested in self-help and family help. It also draws on recent research with families in Potential Plus UK who have been concerned about their gifted children's hitherto unexplained underachievement and their writing problems.

Below is James's experience and advice.

James R., aged 35 in 2016

HI PROF,

WRITING FOR THIS LONG IS GOING TO BE THE LONGES I H WRITER FO SINS I DID MY GCSES!

WHEN AT PRIMARY SCHOOL I FOUND MOST THINGS NOT TO CHALENGIN.

X EXSEPT THE 3R

IT WAS HARD TO GET ACROS THAT IT WAS NOT JUST LAZYNES.

IN SECONDRY SHOOL I RECEVD A STATMENT AND STARTED GETTING 1 2 1 SUPORT. THIS WAS IN THE FOR OF AN AMANUENSES AND 1 2 1 TO BILD ON LITERY SKIS.

X

X I AChVED 9 GCSES C – A AND 3 A LEVES. I THEN WENT TO ROHAMPTON UNIVERSATY A TO DO A BSC BIOLO LOCI CAL SCIENES. AS AT THIS TIME AND STIL TODAY I HAD NOT RED A BOOK SO ALL OF MY ESAS AND NOTES WHER ACHVED BT WItH HELP.

I FIND THE //

James wanted to share his experiences of dyslexia with us and joined in the writing research project. Here he is writing at a speed of 13.4 words per minute in a ten-minute test and 46.7 letters per minute. The average speed for a university-educated adult is between 35 and 45 words per minute.

His speed is at the average speed of pupils in Year 7 and this is not surprising given his dyslexic history and failure for this to have been identified and given support until the secondary stage. He has therefore done very well to achieve so much.

He has written the whole piece in capital letters, which is also typical of unremediated dyslexics or to which they revert under stress. The script shows that considerable effort and pressure has been exerted in the act of writing and demonstrates a lack of fluency that would lead to fatigue.

James's spelling is in what is termed the alphabetic phase (Frith, 1985) where he uses a phonetic skeletal basis for spelling, adding to it some of the more complex word structures that he has acquired over time. It is more typical of a beginning speller.

Because he came so late to obtaining support his development was arrested before full phonic and more correct orthography had been achieved. He has therefore done exceptionally well to obtain his impressive list of GCSEs, A-level qualifications, his degree and now a career in teaching.

At the age of nine he started playing the saxophone and had no problem reading musical notation. He gained Grade 5.

Figure 0.2 James's handwritten notes fo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents