Do You Know How Dyslexics Read?

When most people hear the word ‘dyslexia’ they usually think it means that the person sees words written  backwards on the page -- almost like trying to read while holding a book up to a mirror.  While that may be a symptom for some dyslexics,  it’s not true for all.  Dyslexia itself is a complicated learning disability that hinders the ability to read.  Dyslexics can learn to read,  it just takes special strategies and dyslexia toolkits. So the next question is how dyslexics read?

Reading is a very complex process.  No one is born knowing how to read.  We all must learn.  Usually around kindergarten or first grade, you start to learn the sounds of letters and how to put them together in order to form words.  Those words turn into sentences, paragraphs, and comprehending what you are reading when everything is put together.  Your brain does a lot of things all at once. If Instead of just seeing c-a-t and reading it as ‘cat’, your brain also needs to make the connection that c-a-t is a small, four legged animal that meows.  Dyslexics’ brains take longer to make the letters to word to comprehension connections while reading or does it in more steps.  Reading becomes a terrifying, even embarrassing process. Instead of seeing the words in a straight forward, logical order,  dyslexics might see words like this:

No wonder it’s a struggle to read!  There are strategies to show how dyslexics read easier and more fluidly.  Some great ideas to implement if you or someone you know has dyslexia include:

• Use the Phonetic Alphabet Code Chart - How well you decode words makes a huge difference on how easily you learn to read. The Phonetic Alphabet Code Chart shows what sounds go with what letter combinations.  Keeping the code chart with you will make reading much easier.

• Use Font Software - Technology is making a huge impact on reading for dyslexic students. Special designed teachers fonts, like EZ Read/EZ Write/Brain Games, are having a great impact on the education of dyslexics and reading.

• Use strategies to decode words - If you have trouble breaking words down syllable by syllable, break it down even further. Try two letters at a time.  If a long word is giving you a lot of trouble,  try breaking it down into different 2 and 3 word combinations.  For example: sec-ret-ary or se-cre-tary.

• Look for context clues - Sometimes the easiest way to figure out unfamiliar words and what they mean for the big picture of reading comprehension is to look for words around it that you do recognize and know what they mean. The words you know will give you “clues” on what the other words mean.

• Improve eye tracking - Place a ruler or piece of paper under the sentence that you’re reading.  Move it along as you read.  If you get to a hard or unfamiliar word, cover it with the paper and read it one syllable at a time.  Narrowing the reading down to one line at a time will help your brain focus. See some fantastic dyslexia worksheets here.

• Practice reading out loud - This is a great strategy whether you’re dyslexic or not. Hearing your own voice out loud will force your eyes and brain to work together.

Being diagnosed with dyslexia doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to learn to read...It just means you are going to have to work harder at it than some people.  Follow the strategies above and don’t get discouraged.

You can do this!

Happy reading.

Teaching Dyslexic Kids to Read the Easy Way

What is the best way for teaching dyslexic kids to read?

When it comes to teaching dyslexic students to read you will need to take a modified approach. Dyslexia is a condition that causes a person to struggle with reading and writing.  It can also cause a person to struggle when they focus, their memory skills, and their organization.  Because of these it is important to help build a student’s self-awareness, cognitive skills, and use modified teaching methods that have a multi-sensory approach. 

 When it comes to teaching dyslexic students to read, the Orton Gillingham approach is one of the oldest and one of the best researched for dyslexia reading programs.  This program was developed in the 1930s by Samuel Torrey Orton and Anna Gillingham and is most often used because of its effectiveness. Some teachers like using the Multi-sensory Structured Language [MSL] approach when helping teach dyslexic students how to read.  This method is often used most for teaching children with dyslexia and it is beneficial for all children.  MSL will teach phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, and accuracy in writing and spelling.  

The student is encouraged to use tough, sight, movement, and sound as a part of this learning process. Through these programs teachers and parents can receive MSL training and certification. When teaching dyslexic students to read BE direct and explicit.  

Explicit means teaching including describing, modeling, breaking the skills down into steps, providing clear instructions and feedback, providing demonstrations, and presenting all the information in a logical order.  

While this may be a tedious step it will greatly help the dyslexic student to understand.  These steps and process must be done until the student masters the skill.  Never assume that the student has any previous knowledge or understanding of the subject matter. 

 It is far better to have to repeat a few steps when teaching a dyslexic student how to read than to forge ahead and have them not understand the material. 

 When teaching dyslexic students how to read be sure to repeat yourself often.  Some dyslexic children struggle with short term memory so they may have difficulty remembering what you said.  Be sure to take extra time to repeat the instructions, key words, and concepts so they will be more likely to remember what you said and write it down. 

 As you build these new skills continue to use any previously learned information.  The repetition will help reinforce older skills. 

 When teaching a dyslexic student how to read you will want to use something known as “diagnostic teaching.”  Be sure to continuously assess how well your student understands what’s being taught.  If something is not understood you should re-teach the skill.  Students with dyslexia, when learning how to read, may require more time and intense instruction to learn.  

When teaching dyslexic students how to read you may have to modify your teaching approach as something may be caught on quickly while another takes some time. Be sure to use time wisely when working with dyslexic students.  Avoid rushing through a lesson as this can confuse them and not make the information stick. During your time of teaching dyslexic students how to read, DO your best to stick to a daily routine.  If you can write down and illustrate each day’s lesson on the wall so the students can see what they can expect each day.  

These routines should include information from previous lessons to help reinforce the lessons. Be sure to use lots of positive reinforcement when helping dyslexic students.  Children with dyslexia may suffer from low self-esteem or feel that they are not as smart as their classmates.  Because of this it is very important to build them up and to use positive reinforcement. There are some programs that are NOT meant for teaching dyslexic students how to read.  This is NOT saying that these programs are bad or ineffective but they are not equipped or meant for teaching dyslexic students how to read. These programs are:

• Kumon
• Sylvan Learning
• Hooked on Phonics
• Reading Recovery
• Accelerated Reader
• Vision Therapy
• Brain Gym
• Special Diets

Don’t be afraid to experiment around on what works the best for teaching dyslexic students how to read.  With a little work you will find what works best for teaching dyslexic students how to read!

Best Reading Tools for Dylexics

Looking for dyslexia reading tools? 

Are you or someone you know dyslexic? Is reading a chore that you think you’ll never master? Don’t worry-- there is hope! There are many tech and non-tech options to help make reading easier. Some of my favorites non-tech dyslexia reading tools for dyslexia:

 Tinted pages - black text on white background has been proven to be difficult for dyslexics to read. Instead of struggling, place a tinted or colored transparency over the book page or worksheet to make it easier on your eyes and brain.

 Rulers - Place a ruler under the line of text you’re reading. It helps you focus only on one thing at a time and helps you read in a straight line instead of having your eyes jump around the page.

 Find a topic you enjoy -- Learning about something you already are interested in can turn reading into a fun activity instead of a challenge. If you like legos, find books about legos. This reading tool works for more than just dyslexics. Any reluctant reader can benefit from this strategy.

If you’re looking for some more high tech dyslexia reading tools options, consider the following:

 Ghotit Real Writer - A bit pricey at $99 and only found in the Apple app store, Ghotit is perfect if you badly misspell words, confuse letters/words and have trouble with homophones. If you’re looking for an advanced dyslexia reading tool to help with writing more than reading, Ghotit is a good choice.

 Sam Spy Reading Series - A free series of digital books, Sam Spy Reading was created by a doctor to help his dyslexic son learn to read. The text starts out simple with only a few words on the page and progressive gets harder. It is only available on iOS.

 Play & Learn Languages - a free app to help dyslexics or any reluctant reader learn new words and even languages in a fun flash card style. It is only available for android.

 Learn To Read, Write, and Spell - another free app learning tool that helps both children and adult who struggle with dyslexia and other learning difficulties learn to read, write, and spell in a fun, engaging way. Available only on iOS.

 Special Fonts Software - Just like colored paper or tinted transparencies can be a great dyslexic reading tool, so can using special fonts. Designed for both mobile devices and computers, dyslexia friendly fonts are a great tool. One of the best options is the fonts found at http://www.fonts4dyslexia.com. There’s even over 1,200 activities you can download in addition to the fonts to help with reading challenges and many more tools that will make your life easier.

Top Dyslexia Software to Improve Reading and Writing

 

Looking for Dyslexia Software?

New and emerging technologies are helping students with dyslexia surmount learning obstacles and learn to read and write more easily and with less stress than ever before. These tools include dyslexia software and online applications, which can be used in addition to traditional therapeutic methods to help students stay engaged. With all of the dyslexia software now available for students, parents, and teachers it would appear to be easy to find the right combination of instruments to help. Instead many parents and teachers find themselves overwhelmed trying to keep track of the available options. Understanding dyslexia software is not difficult, but it’s important to become aware of the types of software available before choosing. From text-to-speech to word processors, these tools are the most common and easily accessible types of software available to dyslexic students today:

Text-to-speech:

This type of software for dyslexia reads back text using a computer generated voice and is especially helpful for dyslexics who have difficulty reading, focusing while reading, or are looking for direct feedback. Helpful features to look for in text-to-speech software include highlighting capabilities, local dialects or accents, spellchecker, and the potential to use on multiple devices. There are many text-to-speech programs currently available on the market and different programs may be helpful for different students.

Note-taking and speech-recognition:

Students with learning disabilities may have a hard time keeping up with note taking or even later on recognizing their handwriting. Tools such as the Livescribe smartpen allow student to record lectures, take pictures of all written notes during the lecture, and upload finished notes to a computer afterwards. In addition, speech-recognition aids such as Naturally Speaking for PC and Dragon Dictate for Mac allow users to dictate text directly to a computer.

Phonics and reading software:

A student who is just learning to read will get great assistance from phonics software such as Earobics. This type of reading software helps teach students basic phonics, from speech sounds all the way up to vocabulary and sentence-building. The programs are also highly customizable and suitable for a wide range of ages.

Spelling and writing software:

Word processing tools such as Franklin handheld devices and text editing software allows students to check their own writing for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. Many of these applications come with a built-in dictionary and thesaurus, while more sophisticated programs come with their own text-to-speech and note-taking abilities. Fonts 4 Dyslexia has created a fantastic toolkit to alleviate dyslexia in just months. See it here. 


 What is your favorite dyslexia software?  

Dyslexia Fonts: Easy Read - Easy Write - Easy Brain Games

Beginning readers, people with dyslexia and students that learn differently have a tendency to add, rotate, transpose, reverse, swap and confuse symbols within words throughout the learning process. Unlike other readers, dyslexics maintain these issues throughout time, making it difficult for them to properly write and to comprehend what they’re reading.

 

EasyRead/EasyWrite is a collection of 12 unique typefaces may bring some relief.  Inspired by scientific studies, good typographical design, extensive teaching experience, and keen intuition, we have developed a comprehensive collection of 12 different fonts that may help dyslexic [and students who learn differently] read, facilitating handwriting practice, and stimulating thinking skills.

These San-serif typefaces offer a standardized character width on all styles, which means lines of text remain the same length. This useful feature allows users to change type styles on-the-go without re-flowing a text body. 



Description:

A new collection of typefaces designed for dyslexics and special needs students makes it easier for them to:

• Recognize characters (improve legibility)
• Comprehend what they read better (improve readability)
• Practice their initial handwriting
• Avoid common reading and writing mistakes

EzRead/EzWrite/EzBrainGames is divided into three unique categories:
 
EzRead: 
In this category there are two fonts:


1. Dyslexia Font: EzRead Adults 
2. Dyslexia Font: EzRead Kids

Contrary to the majority of typefaces, which pay attention to aesthetics and symmetry reusing the same shapes for multiple letters (such as b, d, p and q), EzRead makes each letter significantly unique so that readers can more easily distinguish one character from another.

The form of the letter must be generic and familiar, yet still stand out and be unmistakable. Characters are simplified, meaning the “cleaner,” the better. This means NO QUIRKS and no serifs.
Other unique characteristics are (see main page in detail): greater space between letters, words and lines; open counters (the inner space of letters such as a, e, a, o, p or d); heavier capital letters, diacritic marks and punctuation marks; wider stroke at the bottom; capital letters fall slighty under the baseline; ascenders are shorter that descenders; large x-heigth; letters are heavier and flatter at the bottom and curved and thinner at the top; variable angle of inclination; letters do not all seat straight over the baseline….

This category contains two fonts variations, where three letters (a, g and q) have been adapted according to the user’s age:

EzWrite:
These typefaces focus on the child natural problem to recognize shapes and properly orienting them. The student will practice copying the character in each box or row.  You may wish to show how to form the letter before he does it on his own.

3. Dyslexia Font: EzWrite Box 
4. Dyslexia Font: EzWrite Box Dots 
5. Dyslexia Font: EzWrite Write Lines  
6. Dyslexia Font: EzWrite Lines Dots  
7. Dyslexia Font: EzWrite Dots

EzBrainGames:
These practice worksheets are very easy to create and will be very beneficial to children who tend to reverse and confuse certain letters and numbers.  These exercises are fun but can be overwhelming for the mind if the child is pressure to complete several pages at once. So, start with simple drills, and do not overload the child unless he asks for more.

8. Dyslexia Font: EzBrainGames A
9. Dyslexia Font: EzBrainGames B
10. Dyslexia Font: EzBrainGames C
11. Dyslexia Font: EzBrainGames D
12. Dyslexia Font: EzBrainGames E
 
The main goal of this category ones again  is to help readers to better decoding the characters  facilitating reading comprehension and reducing.

See some examples in comparison to other commonly used fonts in education:

 

Reteach Phonics Skills: Beginning Alphabet Sounds

Here you will find 26 fun tracing and matching activities for grades pre-k and kindergarten. Although they can be also used in first and second grade for students who are below grade level, newcomers to the country, English learners and special education. 

   
Matching activities help children develop fine motor skills, visual discrimination and critical thinking. Providing children with a strong background in simple languages arts concepts through fun activities and games will help prepare them to perform more complex tasks later. 

In this set of activities students have to trace the word and draw a line from the word to the dotted silhouette. Finally, students trace the dotted silhouette and color the pictures.