Dyslexia

1. Dyslexia Mississippi Handbook

2. Definition of Dyslexia: • A language processing disorder that may be manifested by difficulty processing expressive or receptive, oral or written language despite adequate intelligence, educational exposure and cultural opportunity. Specific manifestations may occur in one or more areas, including difficulty with the alphabet, reading comprehension, writing, and spelling

3. Related Disorders: • Developmental auditory imperceptions • Dysphasia • Specific developmental dyslexia • Developmental dysgraphia • Developmental spelling disability

5. Diagnosing Dyslexia • Observation is best method of diagnosis • Best people to diagnose • Parents • Teachers • Physicians • Professionals • Question if family history of similar problems

6. Common Characteristics • Learning delays • Reading Problems • Writing Difficulties • Auditory language difficulties • Speaking Difficulties • Directional Problems • Study Skills

7. Learning delays • Delay in learning to talk • Late in establishing preferred hand for writing • Problems in learning the names of the letters of the alphabet • Delays in motor milestones

8. Reading Issues • Slow reading speed • Word substitutions in oral reading • Error proneness in reading • No enjoyment of reading as a leisure activity • Difficulty in learning to read • Difficulty in reading comprehension • Difficulty in learning and remembering printed words

9. Writing Difficulties • Repeated erratic spelling errors • Difficulty in learning to write the alphabet correctly in sequence • Cramped or illegible handwriting • Poor visual memory for language symbols

10. Auditory language difficulties • Word finding • Fluency • Meaning • Sequencing

11. Speaking Difficulties • Difficulty in finding the "right" word when speaking • Difficulty speaking in public

12. Directional Problems • Difficulty transferring information from what is heard to what is seen and vice versa • Difficulty in sequencing steps or directionality • esp. in math • Reversal of letters or poor sequences of letters when read or written • Late in learning directional components • i.e. left/right or up/down

13. Study Skills • Easily distracted • Forgets or leaves assignments • Loses books, pencils, assignments, notes, etc. • Difficulty completing task within the given time limit

14. Early identification of dyslexia Offer support Encouragement Understanding Identify Strengths Set attainable goals Provide a team support approach Parents Educators Professionals First Steps to Helping Student

15. BE PATIENT Become confident that students can and will learn Exhibit empathy and understanding Call attention to the strengths of the students Provide rehearsal time before presentations Encourage classroom participation Discuss ways student can contribute to the class Provide accommoda-tions and modifications required Educator Do’s:

16. DO NOT… • Call attention to the student’s weaknesses • Require students to read and/or spell aloud in class • Become frustrated

17. Accommodations • “Any technique that alters the academic setting or environment” • Does not change the information or amount of information learned • Provision of extra time, special setting, and/or the added assistance that enables accurate assessment of the student’s real knowledge

18. Accommodation Examples: • Allow increased response time • Having un-timed or extended time for tests or assignments • Moving to a quiet, isolated location to take tests • Assigning an individual to write the student’s exact answers • Providing a reader or tape recorder to read the exact questions to the students • Larger print for assignments or tests • Special study sheets—advanced organizers

19. Modification • “Any technique which alters the work required in some way that makes it different from the work required of other students in the same class” • Helps the student cope • Allows for more accurate assessment of knowledge

20. Modification Examples: • Copies of teacher’s notes or peer note taker • Reduced or altered assignments • Composing 10 instead of 20 sentences • Alternate format for test • Modified test • Track assignments with graphic organizers • Cooperative learning

21. Suggested Interventions for Reading • Subvocalization (moving lips while reading) • Use index card, pencil, highlighter and/or window card for keeping place • Kurzweil 3000 or screen reader (convert paper handouts to digital format) • Cursive traceover • Frequently used word/phrase practice

22. Suggested Interventions for Reading: • Alter lighting conditions (usually reducing it) • Colored film overlays • Books on audiotape • Advanced organizers • Lower reading level

23. Two key strategies for the teacher in helping the student with classroom composition skills: • Encouraging and nurturing the flow of ideas through accommodation that allow the ideas to be “captured” before being written (advanced graphic organizers) • Providing models for practice

24. Study Skills: • Circle unknown words • Underline key words and phrases with a single or double line • [Bracket important info that is too long to underline] • Use graphic software to place key words and phrases into shapes • 5. Number all main ideas • *Star key ideas • ? Place a question mark by unclear parts

25. (2002) Mississippi Dyslexia Handbook: Guidelines and Procedures Concerning Dyslexia and Related Disorders. Revised. Access ERIC: FullText. Office of Reading, Early Childhood & Language Arts, Mississippi State Department of Education, 359 North West Street, P.O. Box 771, Jackson, MS 39205-0771. Tel: 601-359-3778; Web site: http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/ACAD/ID/Curriculum/LAER/index.html., Mississippi State Dept. of Education, Jackson.: 90. This handbook of procedures related to dyslexia is designed to provide guidelines for Mississippi school districts, teachers, and parents in the identification and instruction of students with dyslexia, to assist regular educators in gaining current information concerning dyslexia, accommodations and modifications, and to provide information on instructional programs designed to meet the unique needs of students with dyslexia. Following an introduction and discussion on the characteristics associated with students with dyslexia, the handbook outlines specific academic modifications and accommodations for helping students with dyslexia maintain or regain self-esteem and academic integrity. Suggested interventions are then provided for reading, spelling, handwriting, copying, writing composition, study skills, and organizational techniques. The intervention and identification process is also described, including the data gathering and review phase, provision of instructional interventions within regular education classrooms, assessment for dyslexia, and multisensory programming. Multisensory program characteristics are outlined, along with costs and contacts for programs that are currently being utilized to provide services to students with dyslexia. Appendices include provisions of state law, a referral form, a multisensory program review form, answers to frequently asked questions concerning students with dyslexia, and additional forms. (Contains 23 references.)