Dyslexia

“While the components of instruction for students with dyslexia include good teaching principles for all teachers, the explicitness and intensity of the instruction, fidelity to program descriptors, grouping formats, and training and skill of the teachers are wholly different from core classroom instruction and must be considered when making individual placement decisions.”    (Texas Dyslexia Handbook, 2024, page 38)

After a child is diagnosed with dyslexia, a committee, including the parents, meets to discuss the individual child’s needs.  Accommodations may be needed in the classroom.  Often the decision is that the child participate in one of the dyslexia classes during the day.

At the elementary level, we have faculty who are trained to implement several different dyslexia programs including -

•   Scottish Rite Build for kindergarten and first grade and Take Flight for second through fifth grade
•   SPIRE Foundational (Sound Sensible) for kindergarten and first grade and SPIRE for second through fifth grade.
•   Reading by Design, developed by the Texas Education Agency, for all grade levels

Dyslexia support is also available at the secondary campus.

Each of these programs follows the Orton-Gillingham approach and meets recommended criteria:

•   Multi-sensory
•   Evidence-based
•   Explicit
•   Systematic
•   Comprehensive
•   Structured
•   Sequential and Cumulative
•   Synthetic and Analytic

The lessons address the following literacy skills:

• Phonemic Awareness –  A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can be recognized as being distinct from other sounds. Phonemic Awareness is the ability to play with and manipulate the sounds in words. 

• Sound-symbol association— Sound-symbol association (alphabetic principle) is the knowledge of the various speech sounds with the corresponding letter or letter combinations that represent those speech sounds. 

• Syllabication— A syllable is a unit of language with one vowel sound. There are six basic types of syllables in the English language; closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, r-controlled, vowel pair (or vowel team), and final stable syllable. Syllable division rules need to be directly taught in relation to the word structure.

• Orthography— Orthography is the written spelling patterns and rules of a language. Instruction should be  integrated with phonology and sound- symbol knowledge.

• Morphology— A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in the language including prefixes, suffixes, and roots.  Understanding morphemes helps to build vocabulary.  

• Syntax— Syntax determines the sequence and function of words in a sentence. Syntax includes grammar, sentence variation, and the mechanics of language.  

• Reading fluency— Reading fluency is the ability to read text with speed and accuracy Fluency also includes prosody, reading with expression.

• Reading comprehension—Reading comprehension is understanding what is read with depth. Reading comprehension depends on accurate and fluent word recognition, oral language development including vocabulary and listening comprehension, background knowledge, use of appropriate strategies to make corrections, and the reader’s interest and motivation.

 The variety of video sources are provided to encourage seeking additional resources      independently.

On the first day of attending the dyslexia class, students often wonder why they are in the class.  Parents may not have said anything to their child.  Parents may not know what to say.  From experience, if a child knows there is an explanation for why they struggle with reading, and knows that all the testing indicated they have a healthy, smart brain, they feel relief.  Knowing that they can learn to read with specialized instruction helps them to begin to understand their learning needs.  Students begin to advocate for themselves.  A transformation to self-confidence begins.

When you speak with your child, help them understand that having dyslexia is something they were born with and that they will always have dyslexia.  Assure them that they have a wonderful, healthy, intelligent brain.  All the testing proves that.  Everyone’s brain works differently.  With dyslexia, their brain struggles with learning to read.  Scientists have been studying dyslexia for a very long time.  They have figured out how to teach people with dyslexia how to read. 

In the book, Overcoming Dyslexia, Dr. Shawitz discusses “protecting and nourishing your child’s soul” by