October is Dyslexia Month! Our team of Educational Specialists are celebrating by sharing their expertise.
Amy Hanna MAT is an educational specialist at Child and Family Development.- Pineville and Midtown. She shares:
Thus far for National Dyslexia Awareness Month, we have discussed identifying dyslexia, providing support through accommodations, and the importance of finding a program like Orton Gillingham designed to meet the specific needs of dyslexic students. This week, we’ll take a look at the components of effective reading instruction for students with dyslexia.
What should you expect from a program designed specifically for dyslexic students? The program will be:
- Individualized – assesses each student’s individual needs through a pre-test, observation during lessons, and other formal tasks throughout the program
- Deliberate – teaches concepts explicitly and deliberately (The tutor does not assume the student already knows something or will just “get it” eventually.)
- Systematic – starts with the most basic concepts of language and progresses to more advanced through a structured, familiar lesson sequence
- Cumulative – builds on the skills the student has mastered
- Continuous – reviews previously mastered skills at the beginning of each lesson, and provides additional practice through listening, reading, spelling, and writing tasks
An effective program should address skills such as:
- Phonemic Awareness– the sound structure of language
- Phonological Awareness– associating sounds with letters
- Syllabification– segmenting words into syllables
- Morphology– prefixes, suffixes, roots, etc.
- Syntax– arrangement/role of words in sentences
- Semantics– meaning
As mentioned last week, Orton Gillingham is one well-known and highly respected program that supports the needs of students with dyslexia. All Child and Family Development educators/ tutors have training in the Orton-Gillingham method.
Read more about Amy here.
Read more about our educational services here.
Read more about dyslexia on the National Institute of Learning Development website here.
