Some children have both dyslexia and ADHD--a difficult combination for tutors. How can you teach a dyslexic child how to read and write properly if his concentration only lasts for ten or fifteen minutes at a time?
First of all, keep the lessons short! Yes, children with ADHD need breaks, even if the tutoring class only lasts 45 minutes. Try to break everything you teach into short sections of maybe ten to fifteen minutes each. Rule of thumb: If you notice your student's concentration is getting worse, give him a short break.
Diversify the type of exercises you do with your student! Say, you started with making him write a short text. When you notice his concentration is wavering, stop it and give him a short break, then have him do something different for a short while (yes, even if the text wasn't done). You can come back to the first exercise later.
Make his tutoring lessons fun! This is even more important with dyslexic children, and with children who have ADHD. If you can find a way to make learning fun for them, it will be a lot easier for them to stay focused and to practise difficult skills.
Be positive! Your student concentrated well on the task but still made a few mistakes? Praise him nonetheless. He did something well, after all. Let him know that you noticed even the slightest improvement. Your goal should be to motivate him, not demotivate him by always pointing out every single mistake. Chances are, your student will never be able to produce a text without any mistakes, so just a few mistakes instead of many is a great achievement for him and should be treated accordingly.
Tutoring children with both dyslexia and ADHD can be very rewarding if you have enough patience and heed my advice.
Language ... the bridge of communication, the magic creator of worlds, the brush and paint of authors. Language is magic. It gives us power. It is something you just have to love.
Showing posts with label dyslexia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dyslexia. Show all posts
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Monday, 14 February 2011
How to Help a Dyslexic Child
Dyslexia is one of those problems which easily lead to frustration and start a vicious cicle:
Frustration -> Losing Desire to Learn -> More Mistakes -> Frustration
So what can we, the friends, parents or teachers, do to help children who suffer from dyslexia?
First of all, strengthen the child's self-esteem. Focus on the things he's good at. Maybe even start with things which have nothing to do with writing or reading at all.
Rule of thumb: Praise the child even for small successes but do not chide him for his mistakes!
Dyslexia is a learning disorder. It has nothing to do with being lazy or dumb. Thus, it doesn't help to force the child to do excercises over and over again as long as he doesn't understand the rules behind them.
The most important part: Talk to the child!
You need to find out how he thinks, which rules he understands and where exactly his problems are. No two dyslexic children have exactly the same problems. Question everything he writes, his mistakes and, even more important, the words he wrote correctly. Check whether it was learning by heart, pure chance at guessing or real understanding which led to the correct spelling.
Lead by example!
Dyslexic children often have no interest in reading. No wonder, it means hard work and even more frustration for them. However, reading can play a great part in learning how to spell correctly. Try to awake your child's interest in reading. Children are curious by nature, and books are such a great source of enjoyment and knowledge. Thus said, read yourself. Show him that reading can be a pleasure by doing it yourself. Look for books which might be interesting for him and offer to read them aloud. After a time, you can take turns. The child's turns should be very short in the beginning while your turns are longer so that the child really gets an incentive to read: "If I read this short sentence, my mother/father/friend will read the whole next page to me." Slowly, as the child gets better, make his turns longer. However, always watch out that he still has fun. By no means, make reading a strain or a duty!
Answer questions!
Whenever the child comes to you to ask how a word is spelled/read aloud, help him. Show him that asking for help and posing questions is good and that you are willing to help him. If the child asks you about topics of interest to him but you can't tell him much, show him where he can find more information: in the library, in the internet, in books you have at home.
When you manage to turn the frustration into desire to learn again, you have won. Granted, the child will still need help and will most likely always have problems with reading and writing, but you have turned the vicious circle into a positive circle:
Desire to Learn -> Spending Time Reading and Writing -> Rewards (better grades, information, pleasure) -> Desire to Learn
Frustration -> Losing Desire to Learn -> More Mistakes -> Frustration
So what can we, the friends, parents or teachers, do to help children who suffer from dyslexia?
First of all, strengthen the child's self-esteem. Focus on the things he's good at. Maybe even start with things which have nothing to do with writing or reading at all.
Rule of thumb: Praise the child even for small successes but do not chide him for his mistakes!
Dyslexia is a learning disorder. It has nothing to do with being lazy or dumb. Thus, it doesn't help to force the child to do excercises over and over again as long as he doesn't understand the rules behind them.
The most important part: Talk to the child!
You need to find out how he thinks, which rules he understands and where exactly his problems are. No two dyslexic children have exactly the same problems. Question everything he writes, his mistakes and, even more important, the words he wrote correctly. Check whether it was learning by heart, pure chance at guessing or real understanding which led to the correct spelling.
Lead by example!
Dyslexic children often have no interest in reading. No wonder, it means hard work and even more frustration for them. However, reading can play a great part in learning how to spell correctly. Try to awake your child's interest in reading. Children are curious by nature, and books are such a great source of enjoyment and knowledge. Thus said, read yourself. Show him that reading can be a pleasure by doing it yourself. Look for books which might be interesting for him and offer to read them aloud. After a time, you can take turns. The child's turns should be very short in the beginning while your turns are longer so that the child really gets an incentive to read: "If I read this short sentence, my mother/father/friend will read the whole next page to me." Slowly, as the child gets better, make his turns longer. However, always watch out that he still has fun. By no means, make reading a strain or a duty!
Answer questions!
Whenever the child comes to you to ask how a word is spelled/read aloud, help him. Show him that asking for help and posing questions is good and that you are willing to help him. If the child asks you about topics of interest to him but you can't tell him much, show him where he can find more information: in the library, in the internet, in books you have at home.
When you manage to turn the frustration into desire to learn again, you have won. Granted, the child will still need help and will most likely always have problems with reading and writing, but you have turned the vicious circle into a positive circle:
Desire to Learn -> Spending Time Reading and Writing -> Rewards (better grades, information, pleasure) -> Desire to Learn
Monday, 7 February 2011
Symptoms of Dyslexia
Do you suspect your child to have dyslexia? Or are you just curious?
Dyslexia has some specific symptoms which can begin to show in early childhood. The stronger the dyslexia is, the earlier the first symptoms can be noticed.
Common symptoms in reading are difficulties in connecting letters to words, switching syllables, "forgetting" syllables or drawing two or more words together into one word. Children with dyslexia struggle very much when they are asked to read aloud. They are very slow, even for beginning readers, and get easily frustrated. Even if they manage to read something out aloud, they often don't connect the letters and sounds with their meaning.
In writing, dyslexic children mix up the letters of a word, forget letters (e.g. the vowels), write some letters mirrored and others normal, write all words without spaces in between and often have a generally difficult to read handwriting. Writing, as reading, is straining for them. When they get more training in writing, their skills will probably increase, but most dyspexic people have difficulties with spelling and punctuation for their whole life.
Some children manage to hide their problems for several years. They learn words by heart in order to "learn" their spelling and they learn reading texts by heart at home so that no one notices how slow they read. Dyslexic children can become really clever when it comes to hide their difficulties. They don't want to appear dumb. If the child's dyslexia is weak, he might be able to hide it completely. Usually, those people will choose occupations which don't require reading or writing.
If you suspect your child to have dyslexia, go to a specialist to make sure. Sometimes, other problems show similar symptoms, such as a hearing or vision impairment. Once you are sure it is dyslexia, there are ways how you can help your child. Read more about how next Monday.
Dyslexia has some specific symptoms which can begin to show in early childhood. The stronger the dyslexia is, the earlier the first symptoms can be noticed.
Common symptoms in reading are difficulties in connecting letters to words, switching syllables, "forgetting" syllables or drawing two or more words together into one word. Children with dyslexia struggle very much when they are asked to read aloud. They are very slow, even for beginning readers, and get easily frustrated. Even if they manage to read something out aloud, they often don't connect the letters and sounds with their meaning.
In writing, dyslexic children mix up the letters of a word, forget letters (e.g. the vowels), write some letters mirrored and others normal, write all words without spaces in between and often have a generally difficult to read handwriting. Writing, as reading, is straining for them. When they get more training in writing, their skills will probably increase, but most dyspexic people have difficulties with spelling and punctuation for their whole life.
Some children manage to hide their problems for several years. They learn words by heart in order to "learn" their spelling and they learn reading texts by heart at home so that no one notices how slow they read. Dyslexic children can become really clever when it comes to hide their difficulties. They don't want to appear dumb. If the child's dyslexia is weak, he might be able to hide it completely. Usually, those people will choose occupations which don't require reading or writing.
If you suspect your child to have dyslexia, go to a specialist to make sure. Sometimes, other problems show similar symptoms, such as a hearing or vision impairment. Once you are sure it is dyslexia, there are ways how you can help your child. Read more about how next Monday.
Monday, 31 January 2011
What Is Dyslexia and What Causes It?
Dyslexia is a so-called learning disorder. It can be due to heritage or hormonal development in the fetal stage. In some rare cases, it is caused by some sort of brain injury. Both primary (through heritage) and secondary (through hormonal development) dyslexia are more common in boys.
It is caused by an impairment in the brain. Dyslexic people have difficulties to match visual marks (letters) with sounds and meanings.
There are believed to be three subtypes of dyslexia: visual dyslexia, auditory dyslexia and dysgraphia.
Learn more about the symptoms of dyslexia next Monday!
It is caused by an impairment in the brain. Dyslexic people have difficulties to match visual marks (letters) with sounds and meanings.
There are believed to be three subtypes of dyslexia: visual dyslexia, auditory dyslexia and dysgraphia.
- Visual dyslexia means that the dyslexic person has difficulties to bring letters and numbers into the correct order.
- Auditory dyslexia has to do with the perception of sounds. People with auditory dyslexia have difficulties to distinguish the different sounds within a word or sentence and have therefore difficulties to match the sounds to the written words.
- Dysgraphia is the difficulty to control a pencil to make the right written marks. The person knows what it looks like but can't make his hand to write it properly.
Learn more about the symptoms of dyslexia next Monday!
Monday, 24 January 2011
Dyslexia - Too Stupid to Read?
Yes, the heading is provocative. I know. So...which reaction does it provoke in you? Is it a "yes", accompanied by a sneer? Or is it a clear "no"? Are you undecided?
Here is my answer: NO!
Children with dyslexia are not stupid. They are only slower than others when it comes to reading and writing. They need more help when they learn to connect letters and sounds. They need more time when they try to connect written words with their meanings. But they are definitely not stupid. Full stop.
Dyslexia belongs to the so-called learning disorders. Its impact on a person's life varies greatly. It can be as simple as making slightly more mistakes when writing and a slower reading speed than the average people, and it can be as grave as not being able to read and write at all (mostly because it was too difficult so they just stopped trying).
During the next few weeks, we will have a closer look on dyslexia. What causes it? How can you recognise it in your child? What can you as a parent/teacher/friend do to help a dyslexic person?
I want to invite you to share your own experiences with dyslexia or dyslexic people with us to help raise awareness to the fact that dyslexic people are not stupid. You can share here or on the follow-up posts directly via the comment function, or you can send me a guest blog post with your experiences. If you don't want to write your own post, you can simply write me your experiences and allow me to use them for a blog post. Of course, you can remain anonymous.
I am looking forward to your reactions and experiences!
Here is my answer: NO!
Children with dyslexia are not stupid. They are only slower than others when it comes to reading and writing. They need more help when they learn to connect letters and sounds. They need more time when they try to connect written words with their meanings. But they are definitely not stupid. Full stop.
Dyslexia belongs to the so-called learning disorders. Its impact on a person's life varies greatly. It can be as simple as making slightly more mistakes when writing and a slower reading speed than the average people, and it can be as grave as not being able to read and write at all (mostly because it was too difficult so they just stopped trying).
During the next few weeks, we will have a closer look on dyslexia. What causes it? How can you recognise it in your child? What can you as a parent/teacher/friend do to help a dyslexic person?
I want to invite you to share your own experiences with dyslexia or dyslexic people with us to help raise awareness to the fact that dyslexic people are not stupid. You can share here or on the follow-up posts directly via the comment function, or you can send me a guest blog post with your experiences. If you don't want to write your own post, you can simply write me your experiences and allow me to use them for a blog post. Of course, you can remain anonymous.
I am looking forward to your reactions and experiences!
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