Dyslexia

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 2

Dyslexia

By Rachel Nijsink, Stephanie van Dalfzen & Henrieke van Werven

28-05-2020

Today:

- What is dyslexia?                                    - The role of the parents
- Symptoms                                                 - Referrals
- Causes                                                        - Treatment
- Comorbidity                                             - Personal experiences
- Prevalence                                                - Protocol
- Student experience                              - Links to extra info
- Teacher experience                              - Quiz!
- Helping the dyslectic student

What is dyslexia?

What is it like to live with dyslexia?

What is dyslexia?

- Reading disablity , caused in parts of the brain that process language

- Normal intelligence, succeed perfectly in school with the right help and support

- Very common, affecting almost up to 20% of the worlds population

Symptoms in children

• Trouble reading
• Difficulty spelling
• Difficulty processing what they hear
• Inable to sound out a unfamiliar word

In adults

• Difficulty memorizing
• Difficulty with maths
• Trouble learning a new language
• Difficulty summarizing a story
• Trouble understanding jokes with idiom/expressions

Causes:

- Genetic cause, tends to run in the family, together with environmental risk factors

- Risk factors: alcohol, drugs, nicotine or infection during pregnancy > affect brain development of the baby

- Premature birth

- Other differences in the brain that have no clear cause

Comorbidity

30-45% comorbidity with other learning differences. It often occurs with:

- ADD/ADHD

- Dysgraphia and/or Dyscalculia

- DCD

Prevalence

- Males appear to  be 2 to 3 times more likely to have dyslexia than females

- Men only use their left side of the brain to process language

- Females use both sides of their brain

Problems in the classroom

- Good and bad days

- Hypersensitivity

- The ability to surprise

- Motivational problems

- Fear of failure

- Low self-esteem

- Avoiding new, unpredictable situations

- Poor short-term memory

- Lack of time-awareness and time management

- Difficulty maintaining focus

In the foreign language classroom

- Intricate code breaking

- Confusing words and sounds

- Misspelling words, phonemic spelling

Students might run into the following
specific problems in the classroom: 

- Read inaccurately 

- Have problems with spelling: especially getting tied up in long words 

- Confuse places, times, dates 

- Having difficulties to plan and write longer texts like essays 

- Having difficulties remembering formulas 

- Needing instructions to be repeated

- Suffer poor confidence and a low self-esteem 

This can lead to students showing the following behaviors: 

- Forgetting (which) books to bring to class

- Difficulty organizing life with and around a timetable

- Misunderstanding complex instructions

- Problems keeping up with note-taking

- Actively avoiding hard tasks whenever possible:

- Student feeling strained, tired and irritable, unmotivated, distracted

- Student may complain of stomach or headaches

- Challenging behaviors in the classroom 

More postivive behaviors
in the classroom:

           

                  - Solving puzzles 

                  - Seeing the bigger picture, being able to visualize images  

                  - Coming up with creative solutions 

Helping the dyslectic student in the classroom

No cure

Dyslectic students can be helped by being taught certain strategies and techniques. 

 Holistic approach  

Strengths & weaknesses, motivations  

(Technical) aids:
test time, environment, reading texts out loud and visualizing instructions.

Dyslectic students learn best from teachers when: 

- They understand them and spend time helping them

- They are prepared to repeat instructions and are happy to answer questions and smile when they ask for help.

- They proactively check on them when instructing or working on tasks

- They try to visualize instructions with pictures or writing things down clearly or recording instructions for them to listen to later.

- They teach the basic information, try not to ramble on about other things 

Role of the parents  

• Involved in learning 
• Address the problem 
• Work with school 
• Be supportive 
• Take steps to help at home 
• Stay in contact with teachers

Referrals: 

who can parents/pupils/school turn to?

• Parents & school: support > equivalent but not equal 
• Pediatrician/Family doctor 
• Specialist teacher 

Treatment 

• Learning strategies & techniques 
• Holistic Approach 
• Psychological testing 

Pupils can be helped by:

• Recognize & use phonemes
• Understanding phonics
• Comprehend 
• Read aloud
• Tutoring with reading specialist 

Personal experiences

Personal experience of the learning difference. 

Protocol in TP schools 

Rachel

• Extra time 
• Written tests: spelling mistakes don't count 

Henrieke 

• Extra time 
• Separate tests 

Stephanie

• Arial 12 
• 25% extra time 
• Oral tests 

Videos for extra information

Teachers TV: Secondary SEN Dyslexia Friendly Classroom
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/teachers-tv-secondary-sen-dyslexia-friendly-classroom-6039033

Teachers TV: Teaching the Dyslexic Child

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/teachers-tv-teaching-the-dyslexic-child-6049239 

Leraar24: Leerlingen met dyslexie geven tips aan leraren

https://www.leraar24.nl/360579/leerlingen-met-dyslexie-geven-leraren-tips/

Choose the correct answer:
1. Research has shown that pupils whose parents are involved are not successful

1. True
2. False

True or false?
2. Dyslexia is more common among males

1. True
2. False

True or false?
3. Dyslexia can affect a child's self-esteem.

1. True
2. False

True or false?
4. Dyslectic students always have "bad days"

1. True
2. False

True or False?
5. Dyslexia is curable

1. True
2. False

True or False?
6. Students with dyslexia have a worse short term memory

1. True
2. False