Teaching Children with Dyslexia

A Practical Guide

Philomena Ott

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781134345908
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica generale

Teaching Children with Dyslexia is essential reading for any teacher, Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator or teaching assistant who wants an insider's account of what dealing successfully with dyslexia entails.Written by one of the most well-regarded practitioners in the field with over twenty-five years' experience, this book is packed full with photocopiable exercises, activities and recommendations for resources, tests, teaching methods, advice and suggestions for strategies and techniques that are instantly transferable to classroom environments. This essential teaching companion includes chapters on:

• how to spot dyslexia
• screening and assessment tests
• why it does not have to be hell to learn to spell
• strategies for success for reluctant writers
• meeting the challenge of dyslexia in adolescence.

Written specifically to bolster teachers' confidence and empower them with the key to unlocking literacy problems in their most challenging pupils, this resource book should be on the shelf of every staff room.

Chapter 1
The really useful guide for parents, carers, teachers and professionals dealing with dyslexia and dyspraxia at home and in pre-school settings

Outline • What is dyslexia? • What are the early warning signs of SEN? Guidelines for concerned parents and carers • Who’s who of educational and healthcare professionals • What is the significance of early intervention for those with SpLD? • Extrinsic factors that may affect language acquisition • Checklist to help identify children at risk of dyslexia/dyspraxia • What speaking and listening skills do children need to function effectively? • Speech and language disorders indicative of SEN with suggestions to help compensate and overcome them. • Activities to help with sequencing and with fine and gross motor difficulties • What is dyspraxia (DCD)? • Indications of dyspraxia with suggestions to help • Difficulties associated with laterality, directionality and time; suggestions to help compensate and overcome them • Terms and conditions to include in a happy family’s ‘homework treaty’ • Websites for pre-school activities, homework and revision • Checklist for resources and a shopping list for dyslexic and dyspraxic pupils • Hints on why and how to use ICT resources • Summary and conclusions

The word ‘dyslexia’ has entered into mainstream conversation and is commonly used, but it still generates controversy. A crossword puzzle in The Times gave the letters ‘dy’, ‘x’ and ‘a’ as a clue for ‘dyslexia’ and the answer was ‘a reading disorder’. This pinpoints the inaccuracies, misinformation and folklore that still surround a condition that:

implies vastly more than a delay in learning to read, which is but the tip of the iceberg. [It also should be applied to] the use of words, how they are identified, what they signify, how they are handled in combination, how they are pronounced and how they are spelt.

(Critchley, 1981)

Years after this was written, a Working Party of the Division of Educational and Child Psychology (DECP, 1999) of the British Psychological Society (BPS) concluded that ‘dyslexia is evident when accurate and fluent reading and/or spelling develops very incompletely or with great difficulty. This focuses on literacy learning at the “word level” and implies that the problem is severe and persistent despite appropriate learning opportunities.’ This definition forms the basis for LEAs’ policies. Its narrowness and superficiality dismayed practitioners (Johnson et al., 2001), resulting in strong criticism from fellow psychologists. Pumfrey (2002) conceded that ‘even at the level of single word decoding it is unlikely that all workers would agree that this represents a comprehensive analysis of the situation’. Fawcett (2003) pointed out that it ‘overlooks research findings’. Thomson (2003) broadened the argument, saying: ‘it is my view that children are being misidentified and barred from receiving appropriate help due to misconceptions arising from the BPS Working Party Report.’ He quoted evidence from an LEA psychologist’s report which argued that a child was not dyslexic according to the BPS definition because it was not necessary to have ‘a significant discrepancy between cognitive ability and attainments scores’ and ‘a particular pattern of cognitive scores’. Educational policies are based on definitions, and assessment and provision depend on interpretation. McGuinness (1998) admonished readers to ‘clear your minds of notions like “dyslexia” and “learning difficulties” and claimed that ‘there is no validity to the diagnosis of dyslexia’. Elliott’s (2005) claim, in an interview for the Channel 4 documentary Dispatches: The Dyslexia Myth, that ‘dyslexia is no more than a snobbish label and a myth which hides the scale and scandal of the reading disability’ caused world-wide reaction including rage among academics and insult among sufferers.

This shows that the condition is still shrouded in misunderstanding and polarised opinions about causation, the nature of the condition, and the extent of the problem; there is no universally accepted definition. Some would argue that different definitions serve different purposes including identification, assessment, research and legal issues.

What is dyslexia?

The word dyslexia is derived from dys, which is a Greek prefix meaning ‘poor’ or ‘inadequate’, and lexis which is Greek for ‘words’ or ‘language’, and so means literally a ‘trouble with words’ (Cox, 1985).

The International Dyslexia Association (1998) expanded this, saying:

Dyslexia is a learning disability characterised by problems in expressive or receptive, oral or written language. Problems may emerge in reading, spelling, writing, speaking or listening. Dyslexia is not a disease, it has no cure. Dyslexia describes a different kind of mind, often gifted and productive, that learns differently. Dyslexia is not the result of low intelligence. Intelligence is not the problem. An unexpected gap exists between learning aptitude and achievement in school. The problem is not behavioural, psychological, motivational or social. It is not a problem of vision; people with dyslexia do not ‘see backwards’. Dyslexia results from differences in the structure and function of the brain. People with dyslexia are unique, each having individual strengths and weaknesses. Many dyslexics are creative and have unusual talents in areas such as art, athletics, architecture, graphics, electronics, mechanics, drama, music or engineering. Dyslexics often show special talent in areas that require visual, spatial, and motor integration. Their problems in language processing distinguish them as a group. This means that the dyslexic has problems translating languages...