Dyslexic students can learn to read and it does not need to be with a struggle. If you are going to be teaching your own dyslexic child or students with dyslexia, there are some fundamentals that you need to know.
Phonology and Phonological Awareness: Phonology is the study of sounds and how they work within their environment. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a given language that can be recognized as being distinct from other sounds in the language. Phonological awareness is the understanding of the internal linguistic structure of words. An important aspect of phonological awareness is phonemic awareness or the ability to segment words into their component sounds.
Sound-Symbol Association: This is the knowledge of the various sounds in the English language and their correspondence to the letters and combinations of letters which represent those sounds. Sound-symbol association must be taught (and mastered) in two directions: visual to auditory and auditory to visual. Additionally, students must master the blending of sounds and letters into words as well as the segmenting of whole words into the individual sounds.
Syllable Instruction: A syllable is a unit of oral or written language with one vowel sound. Instruction must include the teaching of the six basic types of syllables in the
English Language: closed, vowel-consonant-e, open, consonant-le, r-controlled, and diphthong. Syllable division rules must be directly taught in relation to the word structure.
Morphology: Morphology is the study of how morphemes are combined from words. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in the language. The curriculum must include the study of base words, roots, and affixes.
To successfully teach a dyslexic child to read, you need to use a multi-sensory method. This helps reach the dyslexic reader. Simultaneous, multisensory teaching usies all learning pathways in the brain (visual/auditory, kinesthetic-tactile) simultaneously in order to enhance memory and learning. In addition, the teaching strategy should be systematic and cumulative. Multi-sensory language instruction requires that the organization of material follows the logical order of the language. The sequence must begin with the easiest and most basic elements and progress methodically to more difficult material. Each step must also be based on those already learned.
Concepts taught must be systematically reviewed to strengthen memory. The inferential learning of any concept cannot be taken for granted. Multi-sensory language instruction requires the direct teaching of all concepts with continuous student-teacher interaction.
The teacher must be adept at prescriptive or individualized teaching. The teaching plan is based on careful and continuous assessment of the individual's needs.
The content presented must be mastered to the degree of automaticity.
Multi-sensory, structured language programs need to include both synthetic and analytic instruction. Synthetic instruction presents the parts of the language and then teaches how the parts work together to form a whole. Analytic instruction presents the whole and teaches how this can be broken down into its component parts.
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About the Author:Children learning to read with dyslexia can benefit greatly from working with a good phonics program. There are good phonics programs available online.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/learning-disabilities-articles/how-to-teach-reading-to-students-with-dyslexia-746009.html
