What's a great effective way to help dyslexic kids learn?

Question

Me and my friends have a heart for these kids! We just thought about it recently--to help tutor dyslexic kids--we feel that passion; something we can't explain! Anyways, we're excited to do just that! How do we help these kids???

Answer 1

As an adult who suffered with dyslexia through childhood, I was taught with the Slingerland Reading and writing program. It helped me de-code the way words appeared to me. It has been proven to help kids (and adults) with Dyslexia. I wouldn't be able to read today without this program. Good Luck!

Answer 2

As the others have said, many dyslexic students benefit from a specific, phonics based approach to reading, such as the Orton-Gillingham approach.  Programs such as the Wilson reading program and the Slingerland reading program fall under the Orton-Gillingham umbrella, applying the phonics approach.

One of my current students is dyslexic and he is finally learning to read using the Wilson.  That being said, you do need specific training to be able to use these programs.

If you really want to help these students, the best thing you can do is to be there for them, be patient, and help them with whatever they need.  Often they just need to know that someone is there if needed.

Just a tip--'b' and 'd' are often confused, but if you make a circle with your thumbs and pointer finger on each hand, with fingers straight up (think of an "ok" sign!), your left hand looks like a b and right looks like a d....and in the alphabet b comes before d.

Answer 3

When I was in school it was called developmental reading.

The teacher turned on a machine that illuminated a sentence.

We read the sentence and then the machine would continue

through the paragraph.  Use a ruler, blocking out all other,

words from the paragraph and read a sentence at a time,

moving  the ruler down, read, follow, read follow, moving

the ruler a line at a time.  This trains the brain to read the

words individually and not to miss or skip one.  Good luck.

Answer 4

Typically professionals use a multi-sensory approach to teaching students with dyslexia.  The first real program to develop a program was Orton-Gillingham.  Other programs came after such as Preventing Academic Failure (PAF) and Wilson.  Usually you have to be certified or at least trained in some way to use the programs.  Some of the tools or strategies, howvever, can be used by any teacher.