Dyslexia provides a complex challenge for both learners and tutors alike, but there are several techniques you can use when teaching people with the disorder. You'll have to adapt them to your learner's learning style, but here are some basics to use as a starting point.
As we discussed in a previous post on dyslexia, dyslexia is a term for a variety of language processing disorders which mainly affect reading and writing. If your learner has dyslexia, it poses a unique challenge for tutoring English as a second language. English is one of the toughest languages for a dyslexic learner to master, and you'll need to have a few strategies in place to help you. In this post I'll cover some basic strategies to effectively teach those with the disorder involving a common approach known as the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach.
The Orton-Gillingham Approach, developed by Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham in the 1930s, focuses on teaching basic elements of language to dyslexic learners. It works best in one-on-one tutor/learning situations, which is why it fits our model very well. A study on the effectiveness of the OG approach shows mostly positive results, and indicates that the approach generally helps students with learning disorders. You'll have to decide if it's a good fit for you and your learner, and even if it isn't, you may want to borrow some of the concepts.
The OG approach to teaching is rooted in multi-sensory learning. Learners with dyslexia can struggle with word processing, but they are often highly creative, and by involving multiple senses in the learning process, you'll increase the effectiveness of your lesson. Orton and Gillingham recognized this.
Here are a couple examples of a multi-sensory teaching style. It's important to realize that while these are activities that might be used by kids when learning language skills at a young age, there is nothing childish about them. The reason they're used is because they're effective, regardless of who's using them. It can be off-putting to use these approaches, because we don't want to seem trivial, but it's really the results that matter. With a dyslexic learner, they need more senses to be involved in learning. Just remember: there's a difference between fun and childish, and you can definitely have fun with an activity while also providing valuable, effective tutoring for your learner.
1. Write words out using clay or Playdoh. This involves the sense of touch, which is a very strong sense, and allows for repeated mistakes. (You can always push the letters back into a big blob!) There are different colors available; this is useful when you're trying to teach different groups or categories of words and sounds. Playdoh letters also allow for a bit of artistic freedom and flair, which can be fun.
2. Use fridge/magnetic letters. If you didn't use these as a kid, they're colorful block letters that can be stuck onto a magnetic board and rearranged in various ways to create different letter groups and words. They are easy to use, reusable and similar to Playdoh, they come in different colors for categorization.
3. Trace letters and words in a sand tray. You can also substitute sugar or flour for sand if you don't feel like going out to buy sand. Grab a plate or tray and fill it up with some colorful sand. Your learner will be able to trace the letters and words you're teaching them in the sand, and the tray can always be smoothed over to start anew. This is a very visual, interactive and easy way to teach dyslexic learners, and you can even tell them that writing in the sand is something everyone likes to do at the beach with bare feet!
The OG Approach focuses heavily on the use of phonics - it tries to explain the relationship between sounds and letters in language. This is a very important area, and one which often causes problems for English learners especially. English has many more sounds than letters, and numerous words which can't be sounded out unless you know what sound a group of letters makes. It is also essential to memorize the most common words, sometimes known as sight words, which make up about half of the English language. If your learner can recognize these words on sight, it will really speed up their reading and fluency. Some common but difficult sight words include:
These words may seem very simple, but imagine for a second that you only knew the sounds each letter of the alphabet made, and hadn't seen these words before. Now sound them out in your head. "With" turns into "wi-ta-ha" and "that" becomes "ta-ha-at". The multi-sensory learning techniques are effective in teaching sight words.
Conceptually, the Orton-Gillingham Approach teaches material in a sequential and cognitive way. It's sequential in that it's always moving from less complex to more complex material and cognitive because it explains the link between what the student is learning and what they have already learned. The approach always tries to tell the student why things are the way they are, and this is key because dyslexic individuals tend to reach a greater understanding when they are shown the greater picture. It aims to build up learners' confidence and ability and structures each lesson based on how they're doing at each point in time.
You can become certified to teach the OG Approach through a 30-hour training session, which takes place over several days. There's a training schedule list which includes trainings in Boston as well as many other major cities. More information about this can be found at Orton-Gillingham.com, and if you're not interested in the training or if it's not worth the price tag for you, the website also includes many useful resources and products which you can adapt to fit your own personal tutoring approach.
Happy tutoring!
Kris
Kristofer Pieper
Programs and Social Media Intern, English At Large
Tufts University, Class of 2016
ENGLISH AT LARGE
Literacy and Learning for Life
Join the conversation
As we discussed in a previous post on dyslexia, dyslexia is a term for a variety of language processing disorders which mainly affect reading and writing. If your learner has dyslexia, it poses a unique challenge for tutoring English as a second language. English is one of the toughest languages for a dyslexic learner to master, and you'll need to have a few strategies in place to help you. In this post I'll cover some basic strategies to effectively teach those with the disorder involving a common approach known as the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach.
The Orton-Gillingham Approach, developed by Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham in the 1930s, focuses on teaching basic elements of language to dyslexic learners. It works best in one-on-one tutor/learning situations, which is why it fits our model very well. A study on the effectiveness of the OG approach shows mostly positive results, and indicates that the approach generally helps students with learning disorders. You'll have to decide if it's a good fit for you and your learner, and even if it isn't, you may want to borrow some of the concepts.
The OG approach to teaching is rooted in multi-sensory learning. Learners with dyslexia can struggle with word processing, but they are often highly creative, and by involving multiple senses in the learning process, you'll increase the effectiveness of your lesson. Orton and Gillingham recognized this.
Here are a couple examples of a multi-sensory teaching style. It's important to realize that while these are activities that might be used by kids when learning language skills at a young age, there is nothing childish about them. The reason they're used is because they're effective, regardless of who's using them. It can be off-putting to use these approaches, because we don't want to seem trivial, but it's really the results that matter. With a dyslexic learner, they need more senses to be involved in learning. Just remember: there's a difference between fun and childish, and you can definitely have fun with an activity while also providing valuable, effective tutoring for your learner.
2. Use fridge/magnetic letters. If you didn't use these as a kid, they're colorful block letters that can be stuck onto a magnetic board and rearranged in various ways to create different letter groups and words. They are easy to use, reusable and similar to Playdoh, they come in different colors for categorization.
3. Trace letters and words in a sand tray. You can also substitute sugar or flour for sand if you don't feel like going out to buy sand. Grab a plate or tray and fill it up with some colorful sand. Your learner will be able to trace the letters and words you're teaching them in the sand, and the tray can always be smoothed over to start anew. This is a very visual, interactive and easy way to teach dyslexic learners, and you can even tell them that writing in the sand is something everyone likes to do at the beach with bare feet!
The OG Approach focuses heavily on the use of phonics - it tries to explain the relationship between sounds and letters in language. This is a very important area, and one which often causes problems for English learners especially. English has many more sounds than letters, and numerous words which can't be sounded out unless you know what sound a group of letters makes. It is also essential to memorize the most common words, sometimes known as sight words, which make up about half of the English language. If your learner can recognize these words on sight, it will really speed up their reading and fluency. Some common but difficult sight words include:
The, you, of, was, said, that, his, they, with.
These words may seem very simple, but imagine for a second that you only knew the sounds each letter of the alphabet made, and hadn't seen these words before. Now sound them out in your head. "With" turns into "wi-ta-ha" and "that" becomes "ta-ha-at". The multi-sensory learning techniques are effective in teaching sight words.
Conceptually, the Orton-Gillingham Approach teaches material in a sequential and cognitive way. It's sequential in that it's always moving from less complex to more complex material and cognitive because it explains the link between what the student is learning and what they have already learned. The approach always tries to tell the student why things are the way they are, and this is key because dyslexic individuals tend to reach a greater understanding when they are shown the greater picture. It aims to build up learners' confidence and ability and structures each lesson based on how they're doing at each point in time.
You can become certified to teach the OG Approach through a 30-hour training session, which takes place over several days. There's a training schedule list which includes trainings in Boston as well as many other major cities. More information about this can be found at Orton-Gillingham.com, and if you're not interested in the training or if it's not worth the price tag for you, the website also includes many useful resources and products which you can adapt to fit your own personal tutoring approach.
Happy tutoring!
Kris
Kristofer Pieper
Programs and Social Media Intern, English At Large
Tufts University, Class of 2016
ENGLISH AT LARGE
Literacy and Learning for Life
Join the conversation
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