Young Heirs of Africa Heritage

DYSLEXIA

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that among other things, can impact on an individual’s ability to break words down into their component phonemes, a crucial skill involved in reading, writing and spelling. People with dyslexia may be highly intelligent and creative individuals but still struggle with basic literacy skills.

With the right help, these challenges can be overcome, but because no two dyslexic students present the same set of symptoms, it is sometimes difficult for educators to identify the most effective teaching solutions.

That’s one of the reasons why researchers have attempted to group commonly observed forms into different categories, to make finding treatment easier and ensure dyslexic children of all types don’t fall behind their peers.

However, knowing how to identify dyslexia early on is just as important as being familiar with the different types. A child with dyslexia may be quite bright, but his written work will often not reflect the extent of his vocabulary.

He may present symptoms such as reversed numbers and letters, find it hard to remember the spelling of common words, especially sight words, and can struggle with reading, copying work and following instructions. He may also be disruptive in class and in some instances even adopt an anti-academic attitude as a way of dealing with the feelings of frustration and low self-confidence that result when children with learning difficulties are labelled as lazy, slow or even “not good” at reading.

But there are ways teachers and parents can help dyslexic children achieve confidence in an academic environment. One of the most effective approaches is via a touch-typing course that provides opportunities to overlearn the spelling of common vocabulary and other words that reinforce sound-letter correspondence.

Taking a multi-sensory approach also makes it easier for written assignments to be completed on a computer, which is helpful for dyslexic children who also struggle with dyspraxia. More importantly, when a child can learn at a pace that’s just right for them, they feel more in control of their learning and build positive associations with reading, which are then carried over into the classroom.

Even adults with dyslexia can benefit from a typing and spelling course, and it’s never too late to learn.


Symptoms may vary but reading skills are impacted in most types
6 Types of dyslexia

Phonological Dyslexia

Did you know that 75% of people who have dyslexia experience difficulty in breaking speech into individual sounds? Every language has a set of commons sounds that it reuses over and over again to form words. People with dyslexia have no trouble producing and processing the sounds they need to speak their native language. The difficulty comes with identifying the individual sounds that make up a word.

It may not seem like sounds are important in reading, but one of the first steps children must take in learning how to read is decoding words. This involves sounding them out one letter or group of letters at a time, which is a particularly challenging activity in English as there are various ways of spelling the same sounds.

To illustrate the point, here’s a tongue in cheek alternative spelling of “fish” from the pen of George Bernard Shaw: Take the f sound from tough, the i sound from women, and the sh sound from nation, and there you have it - the way to spell fish is “ghoti.” If you struggle to hear the sequence of sounds that come together to form a word, you won’t necessarily know a word when you see it or be able to spell it when it comes time to write it down.

Surface Dyslexia

Some individuals also experience Surface Dyslexia, which can cause them to take longer to process language when they move beyond the decoding stage. Not all words are spelled as they sound in English and sometimes we meet a word that gives us no clues as to how it is pronounced.

This can happen to all native speakers in English, which is why we memorize irregular spelling so a word can be recognized when it is next encountered. But children with Surface Dyslexia have trouble seeing the whole word. This causes comprehension difficulties and greatly increases processing time required for reading.

Visual Dyslexia

Symptoms often include trouble reading and remembering what has been seen on a page. That’s because of all types of dyslexia, Visual Dyslexia affects visual processing, meaning the brain doesn’t receive the full picture of what the eyes are seeing. This can have severe implications for learning to form letters and also mastering spelling, a process in which remembering the correct letter sequences in words is key.

Primary dyslexia is inherited where as secondary and trauma dyslexia are acquired.

Primary Dyslexia

The “primary” label refers to dyslexia when it is a result of a genetically inherited condition. This means if a child has a parent with dyslexia, they are more likely to have the learning difficulty themselves. Primary Dyslexia can cause difficulties processing sounds, letters and numbers, which negatively affects a child’s abilities in spelling, reading and math. Dyslexia not only runs in families but tends to be seen more often in males, particularly those who are left-handed.

Secondary Dyslexia

Before they are born some babies experience brain development issues in the womb which can cause neurological impairment and result in dyslexia. Of the many types of dyslexia, "secondary" has been shown to respond best to treatment, including targeted phonics work through computer programs.

Note that both Primary and Secondary Dyslexia are considered developmental, as they are present at birth and remain lifelong conditions.
Trauma Dyslexia also referred to as Acquired Dyslexia

When an adult or child has a brain injury from trauma or disease, they can sometimes develop difficulties with language processing, which result in dyslexia.

There are other types too.

Perceptual Dyslexia, is when people have trouble recognizing whole words, which causes slow reading. Linguistic Dyslexia is when they read quickly but make mistakes. Individuals may also present with Auditory, Spatial or even Math Dyslexia.
Teaching solutions for dyslexia

Teachers can help dyslexic students in the classroom by being aware of learning difficulties and providing extra time for students to process and learn new material. For example, children can benefit greatly by specifically learning how to read sight words.

These are service words and prepositions that are commonly found in classroom reading materials. Nonetheless, they can be difficult words for dyslexic children to remember as they are less amenable to mnemonic devices. Teaching sight words through extensive repetition via a computer spelling programme is often the best solution.

Learning solutions and technology for dyslexia

Allowing students to type assignments when possible is another good strategy. It can help reduce the time a dyslexic child needs to complete assignments by removing the mechanics of writing from the task, and giving them access to Spell Checkers.

You may also try to teach specific strategies for spelling. Above all, provide plenty of praise. Developing literacy skills is a challenge and your students will need the encouragement.

Approaches may vary depending on the symptoms, but most dyslexics respond well to technology that breaks learning down into bite-size units. It allows them to proceed through a course at their own pace, learning one step at a time and repeating modules until they are ready to move on.

This type of overlearning is very helpful and can also benefit children with attention deficit disorder/ attention hyperactive disorder and other specific learning difficulties.

Touch-type Read and Spell

Touch-type Read and Spell was developed to help children and adults with dyslexia learn to type in a multi-sensory way that strengthens their reading and spelling skills at the same time as it improves self-esteem. The course aims to help learners feel and be successful while making computers more accessible.

I am Anthony Chukwuemeka, I 21st Century teacher, Behavioural Analyst and a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO).

If you need a specialist help, you can contact me on;
Phone: 08055013363
Email: [email protected]

Learning difficulties

For Dyslexia
For Dysgraphia
For Dyspraxia
For ADD/ADHD
For Autism (ASD)

The society needs to know about this...
Teachers need to know about this...
Parents need to know about this and how to support the 21st century children...

YOU NEED TO BE THERE...

Dear Teachers, your importance in the design of nation building can never be overemphasized. I am proud of you all and with a deep sense of pride I say to YOU that the world couldn't have assisted and developed without your creative input. May GOD bless us all, Amen.
Having said that, it is also expedient that we take our vocation very serious. Yes, I call it a vocation and not just a job.
In the military camp they will say 'there's no bad soldier but a bad officer'. We can also take a toll on that by saying that 'there's no bad student but a bad teacher'.
A child is only but what we make of him, how we help them organize the way they perceive the world cognitively, socially and emotionally.
Let us put in more effort in creating more fun activities at school that is taylored to fit into the learning styles of all learner under our care.
We are great teachers because we have decided to use the God's given talents in us for the service of humanity.

May God bless us all, Amen

From Tony Chuks

A vision/goal/idea can not be raised in the same place in which it was conceived. Move it from your head and heart and put it in your hands. Your goal matters more than you may realize. You never know who's inspired by watching you transform your dreams into reality. A goal without action is just wishful thinking. Today be sure to engage in activities that transform your vision into reality. You are able!

Tony Chuks

Children are suffering. Schools aren't providing enough learning support.
HOW DO WE HELP, TEACHERS?

What Does Multi-SensoryLearning Entail and Why is it so Effective?

Multi-sensory learning encourages students to use all orsome of their senses to gather information about a task,understand the relationship between concepts, linkinformation to already known ideas, and store informationfor later recall. Multisensory teaching techniques helpstudents learn using more than one sense. Children withlearning diffculties can benefit from multi-sensoryeducation as it engages more than one sense at a time.Unlike traditional methods of teaching, multi-sensorylearning maximizes on individual areas of strength to helpstudents learn effectively and perform better in academics.This article gives an in-depth view of multi-sensory learning and explains some of the reasons why it is so effective

Goals of Multi-Sensory Learning Multi-sensory instruction organizes learning activities in a way that students can read and understand concepts through active participation, self-effort, and spirited involvement in learning activities. It makes the entire module of learning quite clear to students by involving some or all of their senses through cooperative planning and independent efforts. Characteristics of a Multi-Sensory Approach to Learning The multi-sensory method goes beyond the traditional ways of teaching as it calls for the use of some media, techniques, and devices for learning purposes. It involves the simultaneous use of auditory, visual and kinesthetictactile approaches to enhance memory. Students can store information in the brain since links are consistently made between what we hear (auditory), what we see (visual), and what we do or feel (kinesthetic-tactile).
Multi-sensory learning is a coherent representation of objects that provide meaningful perceptual experiences through a combination of different modalities. Most teaching techniques used in multi-sensory learning involve auditory and visual senses since a child’s sight is used to look at a text, images, or reading information from the board.

Types of Learners

Auditory Learners

Children under this category use their ears more to learn, comprehend and recall pieces of information presented to them. This means that they learn better through sound regardless of their sight. Students with an auditory modality not only want to hear what is being taught but also need to hear themselves speak what they have learned. Auditory learners may require amplification devices to hear themselves clearly when repeating new content aloud. As a result, auditory learners understand better, when they explain what they have been taught to other students or a small group of peers.

Visual Learners

Visual learners use their eyes to learn, comprehend, and remember pieces of information. They are more dependent on their sense of sight because they make use of what they know best in the form of colors, text, pictures, and shapes. They make use of visual thinking or imaginations to understand what they are learning. Children with hearing diffculties may prefer optical media as it helps them perceive and remember information from what they see and imagine. The content needs to be organized carefully to help them discover a pattern and illustrate what they have learned.

Tactile Learners

Children with tactile modality learn through the sense of touch and may have to use their hands more often to demonstrate what they have been taught. Tactile learners can move things around to make meaning or represent the learnt concepts by manipulating objects. Some of the tactile materials used in multi-sensory learning include fraction pieces, base ten materials and math counting chips. This type of learning is beneficial to children with poor vision or those who have lost their sense of sight.

Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learners can only learn and focus by moving in ways that imitate the concepts they have learned. For instance, they can use body gestures that reflect the meaning of a word or the shape of alphabet letters. The name of a letter is often tied to their sounds and symbols for them to learn easily and remember pieces of information.

Why is Multi-Sensory Learning so Effective?

Multi-sensory teaching increases active participation of students in a classroom and their understanding of necessary skills through a variety of media. It is an effective method of teaching since students learn from any method that suits them most based on their ability to see, hear, and demonstrate what they have learned. The process of learning becomes lively and exciting by meeting the learning ability of a student. The use of a multi-sensory approach to learning helps to achieve the affective, cognitive and psychomotor domains of educational goals. It considers the aspects of learning diffculties and individual differences to satisfy the various needs of a child.
Multi-sensory learning is very effective because it encourages students to be active participants in their learning rather than passive recipients of knowledge.

Tony Chuks

To some learners their greatest asset is Reasoning (mental strength), to some their greatest is their physical strength while to others its both. When you know your learners, you will be able to create suitable learning support for them.

Tony Chuks

DYSLEXIA SIGNS AT DIFFERENT AGES

Having dyslexia doesn’t mean people aren’t smart. It means they
have trouble with reading and other skills that involve language.

PRESCHOOL

• Mispronouncing words, like saying beddy tear instead of teddy bear
• Saying thing and stuff instead of naming common objects
• Trouble learning nursery rhymes or singing the alphabet
• Telling stories that are hard to follow
• Difficulty following directions with multiple steps

GRADES K–2

• Trouble learning letter names and remembering the sounds they make
• Confusing letters that look similar (like b and d) or sound similar (like f and v)
• Struggling to read familiar words (like cat), especially if there aren’t pictures
• Substituting words when reading aloud, like house when the story says home
• Trouble separating the sounds in words and blending sounds to make words
• Struggling to remember how words are spelled

GRADES 3–5

• Confusing or skipping small words like for and of when reading aloud
• Trouble sounding out new words and recognizing common ones
• Struggling to explain what happened in a story or answer questions about it
• Frequently making the same kinds of mistakes, like reversing letters
• Spelling the same word correctly and incorrectly in the same exercise
• Avoiding reading whenever possible or getting frustrated or upset when reading

TWEENS, TEENS AND ADULTS

• Reading slowly or skipping small words or parts of words when reading aloud
• Often searching for words or using substitutes like gate instead of fence
• Trouble “getting” jokes or understanding idioms, puns, and abbreviations
• Taking a very long time to complete reading assignments
• Having an easier time answering questions about text that’s read aloud.

This is just a few tips.
You want to know more!, chat me.

Tony Chuks
SEN Coordinator