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I just learned that there is a Dyslexia checklist by grade level.  How convenient.  :-)

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I just learned that there is a Dyslexia checklist by grade level.  How convenient.  :-)

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I reaffirmed that when kids are struggling in class there may be an underlying reason. I appreciate having the checklist to use to help check for dyslexia.

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I reaffirmed that when kids are struggling in class there may be an underlying reason. I appreciate having the checklist to use to help check for dyslexia.

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Only reading teachers have to worry about identifying and helping students with dyslexia

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Only reading teachers have to worry about identifying and helping students with dyslexia

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I learned that students with dyslexia often get lost easily and have difficulty 'hearing' sounds. 

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I learned that students with dyslexia often get lost easily and have difficulty 'hearing' sounds. 

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How to identify this in a student when we are seeing so many students that have similar struggles.

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Reviewing the dyslexia screening process for Crossroads was helpful to ensure I am prepared to serve students who require support.

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The dyslexia checklist organized by grade level.

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The dyslexia checklist organized by grade level.

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Specific strategies with students who have already been identified.

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dyslexia can effect social and emotional development in students as much as reading and writing

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dyslexia can effect social and emotional development in students as much as reading and writing

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I just learned that Dyslexia is genetic.

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I just learned that Dyslexia is genetic.

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Specific strategies to help students understand non-fiction texts

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Specific strategies to help students understand non-fiction texts

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I learned dyslexia can cause difficulty with social and emotional development.

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One thing that I learned is that younger students who have dyslexia may also have difficulty expressing themselves verbally.

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I learned that Dyslexia runs in families. 

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I learned that Dyslexia runs in families. 

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I learned that dyslexia can present itself in many different ways besides just mixing up letters.

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I identified with some of the multi-sensory learning techniques.

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Dyslexia is so more than just the confusion of letters when reading.

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Dyslexia is so more than just the confusion of letters when reading.

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Dyslexia goes beyond struggling with reading.  It can cause emotional and social struggles.

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Dyslexia only impacts students in academic achievement. A student with Dyslexia may also experience social and emotional challenges.

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Strategies to help students once we know they have dyslexia.

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Strategies to help students once we know they have dyslexia.

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How to support students with dyslexia in math and what their struggles in math might be.

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Students with dyslexia do not confuse the letters B and D or read "backwards". Instead, they have a phonological processing issue and struggle with decoding.

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I learned that dyslexia is experienced in different ways and can be difficult to distinguish from other reading difficulties.

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I learned that dyslexia is experienced in different ways and can be difficult to distinguish from other reading difficulties.

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I have learned that the strategies of Dyslexia can actually help the student change their ways of thinking and rewire their brains to help with the problems of Dyslexia

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These multi sensory is a lot like how World Language teachers teach their languages already.

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Children can exhibit signs of dyslexia in the early pre-k, Kindergarten years. Early detection and intervention can greatly impact a child's ability to successfully read.

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Distinguishing between a student struggling because of dyslexia verses a student who has less experience reading in general.

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Distinguishing between a student struggling because of dyslexia verses a student who has less experience reading in general.

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Thus goes way deeper than reading and writing.  It also includes social and emotional struggles.

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Thus goes way deeper than reading and writing.  It also includes social and emotional struggles.

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If there is a connection between ADHD and anxiety and dyslexia after reading the social and emotional indicators.

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If there is a connection between ADHD and anxiety and dyslexia after reading the social and emotional indicators.

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We have a student with Dyslexia this year.  More specific strategies to help him on different types of assignments would be helpful.

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We have a student with Dyslexia this year.  More specific strategies to help him on different types of assignments would be helpful.

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The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Brock L. Eide and Fernette Eide

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The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Brock L. Eide and Fernette Eide

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I think students and many adults do not even consider this may be why they struggle or struggled in school bc of past perceptions.  I would bet a lot of adults would be relieved to find out this was why they may continue to struggle reading.

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I think students and many adults do not even consider this may be why they struggle or struggled in school bc of past perceptions.  I would bet a lot of adults would be relieved to find out this was why they may continue to struggle reading.

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Students with dyslexia do not always need an IEP.  They can have a dyslexia plan or a 504 plan.

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Students with dyslexia do not always need an IEP.  They can have a dyslexia plan or a 504 plan.

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Multi-sensory reading is just a great strategy for ALL types of learners- particularly for kids who struggle with dyslexia.

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I fond this site very helpful. There is even information for helping older students prepare for college which can be helpful to parents as well.

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Children each learn and develop at their own pace, and reading is no different from other skill building. It's common for kids to find reading challenging at one point or another. But if learning to read becomes an ongoing struggle that leaves a child falling behind their peers, it's possible that they have a learning disorder known as dyslexia.

Dyslexia is most commonly associated with trouble learning to read. It affects a child's ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in language. Kids with dyslexia have a hard time decoding new words, or breaking them down into manageable chunks they can then sound out. This causes difficulty with reading, writing and spelling. They may compensate by memorizing words, but they'll have trouble recognizing new words and may be slow in retrieving even familiar ones.

Dyslexia is not a reflection of a child's intelligence - in fact it's defined as a gap between a student's ability and achievement. Some youngsters with dyslexia are able to keep up with their peers with extra effort at least for the first few grades. But by the third grade or so, when they need to be able to read quickly and fluently in order to keep up with their work, they run into trouble.

With help and strategies for compensating for their weakness in decoding, students with dyslexia can learn to read and thrive academically. But dyslexia is not something one grows out of.

How common is dyslexia?

It is estimated that as many as one in five kids has dyslexia, and that 80 to 90 percent of kids with learning disorders have it. Sally Shaywitz, MD, co-director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, notes that many children go undiagnosed as struggles in school are incorrectly attributed to intelligence, level of effort or environmental factors.

Although experts used to say that dyslexia occurred more often in boys than in girls, current research indicates that it affects boys and girls equally.

A young person with dyslexia may:

Struggle with learning even simple rhymes

Have a speech delay

Have trouble following directions

Repeat or omit short words such as and, the, but

Find it difficult to tell left from right

In school, children with dyslexia are likely to:

Have difficulty sounding out new words

Lack fluency compared to other children their age

Reverse letters and numbers when reading (read saw as was, for example)

Find it difficult to take notes and copy down words from the board

Struggle with rhyming, associating sounds with letters, and sequencing and ordering sounds

Stumble and have difficulty spelling even common words; frequently they will spell them phonetically (hrbr instead of harbor)

Avoid being called on to read out loud in front of classmates

Become tired or frustrated from reading

Dyslexia affects children outside of school as well. Kids with dyslexia may also:

Find it difficult to decode logos and signs

Struggle when trying to learn the rules to games

Have difficulty keeping track of multi-step directions

Struggle with getting the hang of telling time

Find it especially challenging to learn another language

Become incredibly frustrated, which can effect their mood and emotional stability

Social and emotional impacts of dyslexia

Dyslexia affects a lot more than reading - it can also impact a child socially. "A dyslexic person who has word-finding difficulties can have trouble with their expressive language," says Scott Bezsylko, the executive director of Winston Preparatory School, which specializes in teaching kids with learning disorders. "That has a social impact, in addition to your difficulties with reading and writing, that make you feel not so good about yourself."

Kids with dyslexia - particularly those who have yet to be diagnosed - often suffer from low self-esteem because they worry that there is something wrong with them, and are often accused of not trying hard enough to learn to read. "A lot of our work with dyslexic kids is to help them rediscover that they are smart and capable," notes Beszylko, "because they've stopped believing in themselves."

How is dyslexia diagnosed?

If your child isn't meeting expectations for reading, as parents you can ask the school district to perform an evaluation and share the results with you. The evaluation will test your child's intellectual capacity and reading skills, to see if there is an achievement gap. It should also rule out other potential causes like environmental factors or hearing impairment.

The school should then make recommendations on how they can support your child and maximize her learning.

If you are unhappy with the quality of the evaluation, you can also secure a private evaluation by a psychologist, a neuropsychologist, a reading specialist, a speech and language therapist, an educational evaluator or a school psychologist. This external evaluation can also be used to advocate for your child and get the accommodations and services she might need.

When should a child be evaluated?

Dyslexia can begin to reveal itself at a young age, and there are preschool evaluations that look at the child's awareness of the sounds that make up words, and ability at word retrieval. However, Matthew Cruger, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Child Mind Institute, suggests waiting until kids are at least six years old and have had some formal instruction in reading to seek out a formal evaluation.

But Dr. Shaywitz notes that as soon as a gap between intelligence and reading skills is apparent - and evidence shows it can be seen in first grade - it's a good idea to get help. Schools sometimes encourage parents to wait until the third grade to see if their child truly needs an intervention, but Dr. Shaywitz argues that the earlier intervention is important not only to help kids catch up but to boost their fragile self-image, which is damaged by continuing struggle in school and comparisons with peers.

How to help kids with dyslexia

A dyslexia diagnosis does not mean your child will never learn to read. Dr. Cruger says there are a number of programs that can help, which might include these features:

Multi-sensory instruction in decoding skills

Repetition and review of skills

Intensity of intervention - that is, more than being pulled out of class once a week for extra help

Small group or individual instruction

Teaching decoding skills

Drilling sight words

Teaching comprehension strategies, to help kids derive meaning from what they're reading

Reading programs that been shown to help kids with dyslexia include:

Dr. Cruger points out that traditional tutoring may actually be counter-productive for a child with dyslexia, particularly if it is not a positive experience. "If the child hates the experience of reading help, it's not helpful," Dr. Cruger notes. "And it's not treating the source of the problem, the decoding weakness."

Instead, Dr. Cruger emphasizes that one of the most important ways to help kids with dyslexia is to make them more comfortable reading. This can be done in part by celebrating even small victories and accomplishments, while focusing less on correcting their errors.

Accommodations for kids with dyslexia

Kids with demonstrated dyslexia are eligible for accommodations in school. "Dyslexia robs a person of time," Dr. Shaywitz explains, "and accommodations give the time back to her." Accommodations may include:

Extra time on tests

A quiet space to work

The option to record lectures

The option to give verbal, rather than written, answers (when appropriate)

Elimination of oral reading in class

Exemption from foreign language learning

Other ways to support a child with dyslexia

One of the best ways to support a child with dyslexia - or any child who is struggling - is to encourage those activities that they like and feel good at, whether it is music, joining a sports team or anything else that helps build her confidence.

To help reinforce that dyslexia is not a marker of intelligence, it can also be helpful to talk about successful people - like Whoopi Goldberg and Steven Spielberg - who have also been diagnosed with dyslexia.

Other things that may help your child with dyslexia include:

Listening to audio books as an alternative to reading

Typing on a computer or tablet instead of writing

Apps that can make learning fun by turning decoding into a game

Using a ruler to help kids read in a straight line, which can help keep them focused

Emotional support

Dyslexia can result in frustration, embarrassment, avoidance and low self-esteem as a result of difficulties performing tasks that seem to come naturally to others. Demystifying the learning disorder with your child can help him develop the tools - and resilience - necessary to manage it, both in school and in social circumstances. Some things you can do to help include:

Discuss the specific challenges that result from dyslexia: "You know how you have a hard time reading signs or copying notes from the board? That's dyslexia."

Acknowledge their effort and celebrate hard work, even if there are still mistakes: "I know how difficult that reading homework was. I am so proud of how hard you tried."

Help them recognize their strengths: "You showed such great sportsmanship and teamwork in the soccer game the other night, and that was a great goal you scored!"

Combat negative self-talk: If your child starts saying things like, "I'm just stupid," don't ignore it. Instead, check out these ideas for helping kids who are too hard on themselves.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does dyslexia work?

How common is dyslexia?

What helps students with dyslexia?

What are the signs of dyslexia?

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Understanding Dyslexia - Child Mind Institute

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Find out how to recognize dyslexia, the most common learning disability. The Child Mind Institute on how to help kids who have trouble learning to read.

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More strategies for math

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children who struggle with dyslexia also struggle with self confidence issues which makes a lot of sense, but also is something we may forget as teachers.

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children who struggle with dyslexia also struggle with self confidence issues which makes a lot of sense, but also is something we may forget as teachers.

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One common misconception is that a math teacher wouldn't be able to detect a potential sign of dyslexia as well as an english teacher.

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It seems that multi-sensory strategies would really help our students with dyslexia. I'm wondering how I can implement some of those strategies in my lessons.

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We need to look at social cues and behaviors when making diagnosis and intervention plans, not just reading and language skills.

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I learned some examples of multi sensory reading instruction.  I also learned a few more indicators to look for.

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I learned some examples of multi sensory reading instruction.  I also learned a few more indicators to look for.

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This is not just about academic functions.  It's also about motor skills and memory.

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This is not just about academic functions.  It's also about motor skills and memory.

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Kinesthetic reading strategies.

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from recent experience, I have learned that children with dyslexia who are "high achievers" or who are eager to please, often learn so many strategies to cope with dyslexia and can go undiagnosed all the way into high school. Diagnosis often "frees" them and helps them to realize there is a reason why they have struggled so much and that there are strategies that can help. It is unfortunate that some of these children are overlooked because they appear to "have it all together." 

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from recent experience, I have learned that children with dyslexia who are "high achievers" or who are eager to please, often learn so many strategies to cope with dyslexia and can go undiagnosed all the way into high school. Diagnosis often "frees" them and helps them to realize there is a reason why they have struggled so much and that there are strategies that can help. It is unfortunate that some of these children are overlooked because they appear to "have it all together." 

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I'm interested in learning more multi sensory strategies for math and how that can be facilitated in small groups for students who need the visual or kinesthetic representation of those topics... I could see it being really helpful for getting automaticity of math facts similar to how the videos were showing letter sounds. 

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I'm interested in learning more multi sensory strategies for math and how that can be facilitated in small groups for students who need the visual or kinesthetic representation of those topics... I could see it being really helpful for getting automaticity of math facts similar to how the videos were showing letter sounds. 

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The Dyslexia checklist and the video were both very helpful in learning more about Dyslexia and multi sensory instruction.

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The Dyslexia checklist and the video were both very helpful in learning more about Dyslexia and multi sensory instruction.

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I learned that our students with dyslexia may have difficulty interpreting non-verbal cues, body language, mood and tone of voice.  I think that is very interesting.   

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I learned that our students with dyslexia may have difficulty interpreting non-verbal cues, body language, mood and tone of voice.  I think that is very interesting.   

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~ Tina Ezzo

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Using a combination of pictures and text, along with gestures and choral reading seems like a great strategy for getting kids to enjoy storytelling.

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 New Jersey code states that all students are screened for indicators of dyslexia no later than the completion of the first semester of second grade.

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 New Jersey code states that all students are screened for indicators of dyslexia no later than the completion of the first semester of second grade.

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Good for All Strategies when working with kids during a single trimester.

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Were all of our "Champions" students been screened for dyslexia in elementary school?  If not, will we be screening them?  Could an early screening miss a dyslexia identification?  Is it something that could be/should be repeated in middle school? 

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Were all of our "Champions" students been screened for dyslexia in elementary school?  If not, will we be screening them?  Could an early screening miss a dyslexia identification?  Is it something that could be/should be repeated in middle school? 

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~ Tina Ezzo

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I had no idea that dyslexia has a genetic component. I reaffirmed that students struggle for a variety of reasons that are beyond their control.

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Dyslexia can have an impact in other classes not just reading/ writing. Someone with dyslexia might also show signs in the social/emotional area too. The checklist is helpful.

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I didn't realize before today that all students are screened for dyslexia.

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Specific strategies to use with students.