Dyslexia Commonly Asked Questions
November 2018
Monitoring Progress
Thank you for your hard work and dedication, your student center focus/mindset is evident. As the year progresses, I am approached with great questions from our staff. Here are a few that I believe we can all benefit from. As always, let me know if you need any assistance and thank you for always reaching out for support.
Running Records/IRI
Fact: Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and decoding abilities.
Answer: If the student struggles to read the content, but is appropriately comprehending the text, no we do not hold them back.
Next step: Create a fluency goal for the student
Dyslexia in Math
Fact: Dyslexic students struggle with math facts, especially multiplication, confuses signs of operation, time, and understanding directions.
Answer: One of the accommodations that we provide for students with Dyslexia is extra time. Rapid naming is a common characteristic within this disability; therefore we provide students with extra time to complete work, including timed quizzes. If a student is writing the number 13 as 31 that is a reversal, points should not be deducted. Please remember to read the questions and answer choices to our students during class work and assessments.
Dyslexia and Writing Struggles
Have you noticed your student can tell you a story orally and can explain exactly what they want to say. Yet, when they try to write it, they can not put words on paper. Everything becomes jumbled to them.
Suggestion: Focus on the content more so than the grammar. Grammar will come with practice and encouragement. Allow the students to record their oral think and replay it for them so they can write their thoughts down. Common characteristics to consider in our struggling writers:
- miss place capitalization in words
- absence of paragraphs
- spacing
Fluency Tips
- partner read
- echo reading
- readers theater
- timed repeated reading and charting
Teach the students to read in phrases:
The black dog/ chased the mailman/ when he rang/ our doorbell.
Provide prompts when the student is reading.
"Pause when you see a period.'
"Notice the exclamation mark. Read that part again with excitement."
Read aloud to your class to model expressive reading.
This helps develop their word knowledge, comprehension and fluency.
Finally, remind the students that we are reading for comprehension not speed.