Dyslexic Learners

How can I best help my dyslexic child?
Experts agree that best practice for teaching dyslexic learners is to teach them via all their senses (multisensory teaching). This means using visuals, motions, body movement, hands-on, and auditory elements in their learning. Studies have shown that dyslexic children draw from various regions in their brains while engaging in reading, so it stands to reason that using teaching approaches that stimulate various regions in the brain would ensure success for these learners.
 
RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Incorporate visual elements in learning
• Involve body movement in learning
• Use a multisensory teaching approach to reading (used all at one time)
• Focus on teaching phonemic awareness and manipulation
• Summarize and give the big picture first - then start with the details
• Utilize visuals in books and prompt the child to visualize in his mind as he reads
•  Read outloud in order to utilize the auditory pathway to the brain
•   Use an explicit, systematic approach to teaching reading to be sure that everything is taught that needs to be

“Children with dyslexia have a difficult time learning to read and write in a typical classroom setting. Most teachers often gear their lessons to students with auditory learning styles. The teacher relies mostly on talking to teach. Teachers lecture, explain and answer questions orally. The dyslexic learner cannot process this information using only his auditory modality. For this reason, dyslexic learners need to learn using an approach that simultaneously combines auditory, visual, and tactile learning strategies to teach skills and concepts.

Another reason that dyslexics struggle with the regular classroom reading programs is that the dyslexic child tends to have difficulties applying and using phonetic rules to decode words. In order for the dyslexic child to become a good reader he/she will need to first learn decoding and word recognition skills and then develop fluency and comprehension skills. That is why early intervention is so important. Phonemic awareness is a learned skill; it is not something that comes naturally to a child. The National Reading Panel found that children who are taught phonics systematically and also explicitly make greater progress in reading than those who are taught with any other type of reading instructions."

 ~ Karina Richmond, MA
Pride Learning Center

HOW WE CAN HELP YOU:

Our products are multisensory which simply means that we have created materials that will utilize as many avenues to the brain as possible for the benefit of visual learners. Many children who have been labeled with a particular learning disability are actually highly visual learners who need multisensory instruction in reading. These identified disabilities include autism, aspergers, and dyslexia.

Alphabet

ABCs taught through visuals, jingles, body motions, stories & hands-on activities so that all those left brained symbols are surrounded in wonderful right brained elements. 

Reading Program

• Body motions combined with auditory exercises, and visual elements all at one time
• Phonics and phonemic awareness taught systematically
• Patterns, stories, cartoons, visuals are utilized to maximize the learning benefit for children who are not left brain learners.
• Hands-on activities that will provide practice, books that provide the "goal" for learning sounds and words, and so much more!

Sight Words

SnapWords™ (multisensory Dolch sight words combined with other high frequency words) help visual, right brained learners, and children with learning disabilities learn to read more easily. SnapWords™ allow the mental camera to snap a picture of the words, sentence on reverse lends meaning to the word, while the body motion grabs those children that need movement to learn! (kinesthetic learners)

Math

Our math materials are brain friendly because they're consistent with how young children learn most easily: with patterns, puzzles, and visual and kinesthetic elements. Stories also play a big role in helping children understand and remember concepts. When working from our math materials, children don't realize they are laying important groundwork for understanding future mathematical concepts; they think they are playing!

Multisensory Aids
Toobaloo® and WhisperPhone® are acoustical voice-feedback tools that enable learners of all ages to focus and hear the sounds that make up words (phonemes) more clearly as they learn to read, spell, or process the language aloud. Great for those children who must hear sounds clearly in order to learn.