What is Dyslexia?

    According to the Mayo Clinic, students with dyslexia have difficulties identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words causing reading difficulties. Although they have average ability and normal vision, they may struggle at school because the reading and writing difficulties cause frustration in other subjects that require reading, such as math, science, and social studies.

early indicators

    Before school, the child may be late speaking and may learn new words slowly. They may have difficulty forming words correctly. During pre-school years, they may have problems naming letters and may have trouble with numbers and even colors. Learning nursery rhymes can even be difficult to learn. 

Classroom Difficulties

    By the end of kindergarten and first grade, the child may be reading below level. They may have been in RTI groups and making little progress in reading. 

    They may also have difficulties processing and understanding what they hear or difficulty finding the right word when speaking and forming responses to what they want to share verbally. 

    Another sign is problems remembering things in sequence. They may also have trouble seeing similarities and differences in letters and words. 

    When trying to decode, they may not be able to phonetically sounds out unfamiliar words. They may learn sight words through memorization, and the dyslexia may be masked.   

Complications

    A child with dyslexia may have frustration and embarrassment that can cause he/she to avoid activities that involve reading, even games.

    By second grade, students are starting to read to learn and are moving beyond learning to read.  This causes a child with dyslexia to be at a disadvantage. Without early intervention, the child’s reading difficulties cause difficulties in every subject area.

    Dyslexia may cause a child to feel frustrated and less capable than peers. He/she may be embarrassed to share or read aloud when called on.  

How can I Help?

    If you have a reading specialist in your building, follow the procedure for referring the child for evaluation. If the child is not making the necessary progress through RTI intervention, consider if the child might benefit from special education reading or writing services specific to the child. The child might qualify for an individual education plan where trained special educators can give the child small group, individual, or a specific reading program. Then follow guidelines to provide the modifications and accommodations for the child’s learning plan.   

Readers\’ Theater

    How can Readers\’ Theater help the child with dyslexia? Readers\’ Theater can help all types of readers to gain confidence when reading aloud. Parts can be differentiated allowing each child to have a part at just the right reading level. Everyone gets a part, from your strongest reader to your most reluctant reader. You can use Readers\’ Theater to create a safe non-judgmental environment where everyone is comfortable reading aloud.

    When reading aloud in whole group, give the student a chance to practice ahead if you know you are going to call on them to read. Reader’s Theater is excellent for this. If the child knows what part he/she will have, or can choose a preferred part, he/she can practice and read beautifully when taking a turn. 

    All readers can be successful and proud to take a part if they get a chance to practice in advance.   Often students with dyslexia are most expressive readers when taking on the persona of the character. 

    Use Readers\’ Theater to help build confidence in your students with dyslexia and your reluctant readers.

Free Resources

    Watch our site for readers’ theater passages to use in your classroom.

Pause To Ponder!

    Dyslexia may be an obstacle to overcome, but it is not something that should be educational orlife limiting. A long list of brilliant people have been known to have dyslexia: Albert Einstein, Mozart, Alexander Graham Bell, Winston Churchill, Benjamin Franklin, and many more.

    What can you do to help your student overcome the dyslexia obstacles?

Struggling Student?

    As teachers we must intervene with our struggling students. Response to Invention (RIT) has a distinct learning plan in small groups for those children using research-based resources.

The rest Of The Class

    What are the remainder of the students supposed to do when the teacher is busy with those struggling learners? Maybe a better term for the Response to Intervention time would be What I Need “WIN”. 

    For each student to get what they need during RIT, the teacher needs a plan. Other students should not be stuck with busy work. They also should get what they need.

    How does a teacher juggle it all? Create challenge folders for all learners. Challenge for a struggling student is going to be different for a typical learner and different for an advanced or gifted learner.

Challenge Folders

    What is in a challenge folder? Using data, the teacher can find a starting point each student in order to create a challenge folder.

• A beginning reader might need phonics or short passages. 
• A typical student might need word work or reading comprehension passages or contextual math work. 
• An advanced or gifted learner might benefit from logic puzzles, more advanced reading comprehension passages, or more advanced contextual problems. 

    When a student gets what is just right at his/her instructional level, he/she will feel challenged and eager to complete the work!

    You start with a limited amount of material in the challenge folder. After the student completes their challenge folder, you review it to determine if the material was too easy, too hard, or just right. Based on that you put the next set of the material in the challenge folder. 

    Challenge folders not only work during RTI, but anytime a student might complete their work before the other students. Shortly after school starts each year, discount stores often sell three-hole folders for a very low cost. I purchase whatever they have and store them in my cubbies for when I need them. Sometimes I make two for each student, one for language arts, and one for math. 

Free Resources

    We\’ll be sharing free original resources that your students can look forward to completing in their challenge folders! Make sure to regularly visit K5Teachers.com for more!

Pause To Ponder!

    During time set aside for Response to Intervention, can every child in the class say,  “I am getting What I Need?”

Fun Foam

    Fun Foam is a great resource. You can cut any single color fun foam for consonants for each Kindergarten student.  Take the fun foam to the paper cutter and cut the pieces into one-inch squares. Use a permanent marker to write lower case alphabet letters. Put dots along the bottom of each piece so that students will be able to easily turn them the correct direction and won’t get some sideways or upside down.

    Choose a second color for the vowels. Have the students put them in a, b, c order. As they become proficient, have them make simple words such as cat, fat, hat, bat, rat, using the letters. Put each child’s set of fun foam into a baggy with his/her class number on it.  Have fun with fun foam! 

A first person account

    My name is Aaron Kirby, and I\’m the graphic designer and animator for this website. I\’m here to give my first hand account of growing up as a gifted and anxious child.

Erasers & fingernails

    Anxiety and perfectionism often walk hand in hand. Swinging between them, legs off the ground, is my younger self, reluctantly dragged along for the ride. There’s never been a time in my life where I haven’t voraciously chewed my fingernails (and never for nutritional value, mind you), nor have I ever had a pencil eraser that\’s lasted more than a few precious days.

In retrospect

    My parents playfully remind me I drove AT LEAST a few of my elementary school teachers into early retirement, due to my relentlessness. With that said, it’s only in retrospect that I’m able to fully appreciate the patience of my teachers (and family, of course) and their ability to help channel my drive/energy into challenging and creative learning experiences. Similarly, I encourage every educator/parent to give the gift of patience and encouragement to your high-strung learners. If not for that, my lifelong passion for learning and education would never have been fully nourished, and I\’m deeply grateful it was. Also, I have nothing but the highest regard for all the erasers who bravely gave their lives for my cause… may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.