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Reading Rockets - Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

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Reading Rockets - Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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Resources and Instructional Considerations for Dyslexia

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Resources and Instructional Considerations for Dyslexia

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South Central RPDC Dyslexia PD & Coaching Support Ask for Leanne

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South Central RPDC Dyslexia PD & Coaching Support Ask for Leanne

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Curriculum Evaluation Guidelines

The Curriculum Evaluation Guidelines are designed to highlight any non-aligned practices, or "red flags," that may be present in t he areas of word recognition, language comprehension, reading comprehension, writing, and assessment.

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Find science of reading resources, recommended books, and professional development videos to build your professional knowledge.

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From 2004 to 2010, a team of researchers and teachers at FCRR collected ideas and created Student Center Activities for use in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms. The activities are designed for students to practice, demonstrate, and extend their learning of what has already been taught, sometimes with teacher assistance and sometimes independently. Students can complete the activities in small groups, pairs, or individually.

Accompanying these Student Center Activities is a Teacher Resource Guide that offers important insights on differentiated instruction and how to use the Student Center materials.

Component

Name of the reading component: Phonological Awareness (PA), Phonics (P), Fluency (F), Vocabulary (V), or Comprehension (C). Each component is color coded: PA is purple, P is orange, F is red, V is green, C is blue.

Subcomponent

Name of the reading subcomponent, which is a subskill of the component.

Activity Name

Activity Number

The letters correspond with the reading component (PA, P, F, V, or C). The numbers are listed in ascending order within each component. The activities are sequenced from simple to more complex within each component and subcomponent.

Student Icon

The suggested number of students for the activity. One student icon indicates that students may work independently or with a small group. Two student icons indicate that the activity requires students to work in pairs. Two student icons with a plus sign indicate that the activity requires two or more students.

Objective

States the goal of the activity, which is aligned with the subcomponent.

Materials

Materials are located on the pages that follow the Activity Plan. Most materials are non-consumable to be prepared and used repeatedly (e.g., word cards can be laminated). Some materials are consumable and will need to be duplicated for each student doing the activity. Other materials, such as counters, are commonly found in most classrooms.

Activity Statement

One sentence explanation of the purpose of the activity and what students do to complete the activity.

Activity Steps

The first step describes how to setup the center. The second step begins with: The student, Students, Working in pairs, or Taking turns depending on the number of students needed to complete the activity. The second step also starts the series of steps to complete the activity. The next steps explain what the student does to complete the activity. The last step lists one of three accountability methods: Self-check, Peer evaluation, or Teacher evaluation.

Example

A visual of the activity and key materials.

Extensions and Adaptations

Suggestions that extend or provide an adaptation for additional practice on the skill addressed in the activity. Materials for the extensions and adaptations are included after the pages that align to the Activity Plan.

Users may use the FCRR Student Center Activities resources as long as modifications are not made, the resources will only be used for non-profit educational purposes, and the copyright belong jointly to the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Center for Reading Research. These resources may not be used for any commercial purposes. These resources on our site may be linked to but not reposted, reproduced, modified, or copied to other sites. For questions about the use of these resources, please contact The Florida Center for Reading Research at fcrr@fcrr.org.

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From 2004 to 2010, a team of researchers and teachers at FCRR collected ideas and created Student Center Activities for use in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms. The activities are designed for students to practice, demonstrate, and extend their learning of what has already been taught, sometimes with teacher assistance and sometimes independently.

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Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability that affects reading. Children with dyslexia often have poor phonological skills, resulting in difficulties with decoding, reading fluency, and spelling. Dyslexia can also impact reading comprehension and writing. Learn about the early warning signs for dyslexia, common myths, and how to help children with dyslexia become successful readers.

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Success Stories From International Dyslexia Association

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Success Stories From International Dyslexia Association

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Having dyslexia makes reading, and sometimes other skills, more difficult to acquire, but having dyslexia is not necessarily a barrier to success. In fact, many individuals with dyslexia have not only been successful, they have changed the world. Research has shown that wiring in the brains of people with dyslexia is different, and many believe that this different wiring of the brain causes people with dyslexia to see problems in different ways that can support innovation and success. Whether or not you consider dyslexia a gift, clearly dyslexia is no barrier to success. Here are just a few examples of men and women with dyslexia who have found success in their lives.

Jared Blank

Marathon runner Jared Blank was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was five years old. As he moved through school, he learned that, for him, academic success would be a matter of hard work and endurance. When working with tutors he discovered that tasks that took someone else one hour, might take him three. Today, Blank has a career in collegiate athletics and advanced degrees from two universities. Blank runs for IDA's TeamQuest to help raise awareness about dyslexia.

Fred Forsley

There's a good chance that you know who Fred Forsley is, even if you have never heard his name. He is the founder of Shipyard Brewing Company, the biggest craft beer brewer in Maine and a national leader in the industry. Established almost 25 years ago, Forsley's Shipyard Brewing Company was an early pioneer in the craft brewing movement. Some of Forsley's other accomplishments include being a successful real estate broker since the age of 19, and an avid runner and sponsor of road races through Shipyard. He is also dyslexic.

Cameron Herold

Cameron Herold is one of the most sought-after business minds in North America. He has built several million-dollar companies from the ground up, as well as being a mentor to top-rated CEOs in the business world. Throughout his career, Cameron has been instrumental in the successful sale, branding, and integration of a remarkable 500 business locations with three major companies. In 2014, Cameron was the recipient of the Pinnacle Award, which was created to recognize an individual with dyslexia who has publicly acknowledged his dyslexia, made significant achievements in his field of interest, is leading a successful life, and is a role model for others with dyslexia.

Lindsay Leavitt

At only age 13, Lindsay Leavitt knew she wanted to use her "Mitzvah" project to raise awareness around dyslexia. Lindsay, who has dyslexia, launched a campaign to increase dyslexia awareness and also set fundraising goals to raise money for the International Dyslexia Association. She soon exceeded her donations goals.

Anthony Raneri

When Anthony Raneri-lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist for the punk band Bayside-was doing a Facebook Live chat with some of the band's more than 200,000 followers on the social media site, he could finally, publicly, put a name to what used to undermine his confidence: He told his fans he has dyslexia.

Kendra Thomas

Kendra Thomas would tell herself, "I can't be a writer, I can't do this, I can't do that-I'll never be a straight-A student." She didn't think of herself as an intelligent person. But three published books and one play later, despite her struggles with dyslexia and ADD, Kendra is a successful principal at a school in Texas working on her dissertation and a fourth book.
Do you have a success story you would like to share? IDA would love to hear your story. Contact us at communications@DyslexiaIDA.org

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Success Stories - International Dyslexia Association

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Having dyslexia makes reading, and sometimes other skills, more difficult to acquire, but having dyslexia is not necessarily a barrier to success. In fact,

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Do you know someone who has been diagnosed with dyslexia? You're not alone. Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disabilities, affecting millions of people in the U.S. It can be tough to know where to start when it comes to finding resources and help, but don't worry - we've got you covered. Check out these 25 great dyslexia resources for parents and teachers!

There's no question that dyslexia can pose unique challenges for students and their families. But with the right tools and resources, parents and teachers can help make a real difference in the lives of kids with dyslexia. To get you started, we've gathered 25 of the best resources for dyslexia from around the web. Check them out below! They provide a great starting place and reliable information to help you find what you need. There are many more fantastic resources available, so drop me a comment and share your favorites.

My Favorite Websites for Dyslexia Resources

This is my go-to site for teachers and parents. Bookmark it and be prepared to stay for a while. You can find useful information such as classroom strategies, reading basics, professional development, lesson planning, tips from reading experts, and so much more.

This a great site to help everyone understand what those with learning and attention issues experience. Their mission is to help parents understand their children's issues and relate to their experiences. Get practical information, expert advice, resources, and a parent tool kit. Take their simulations to find out why learning and attention issues can be incredibly frustrating.

This is one of the leading educator's guides to learning disabilities (LD) and ADHD. One of my favorite places to find information and tips on anything LD related.

The International Dyslexia Association

University of Michigan. This is another place I love for finding just the right resources. Great for parents and teachers. My favorites on this site include a comparison of reading and spelling programs for those with dyslexia and a great list of books to get kids reading.

The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity Visit their site to learn more about cutting edge research and get concrete tips for parents, educators and individuals with dyslexia.

This is a reading program with resources for struggling readers and those with dyslexia. They have helpful information, online-games, workbooks, and print resources for instruction.

The place for great human-narrated audio books and textbooks as well as parent webinars, and a wealth of resources. Learning Ally requires proof of eligibility for membership and a yearly fee.

Bookshare makes reading easier for people with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading obstacles. They can customize their experience with ebooks in audio and audio + highlighted text, braille, large font, and other formats. Find virtually any book you need for school, work, or enjoyment. Free to schools and students. Non-students pay a low fee. Bookshare requires proof of disability.

→ Check out my post on Dyslexia and Orton-Gillingham Instruction for a list of other great websites on dyslexia. You can also download a printable list here.

My Favorite Books About Dyslexia for Parents and Teachers

It was almost impossible to narrow down the list of great books to a few. Here are some favorites from my bookshelf. (This post contains affiliate links.)

Overcoming Dyslexia offers the latest information about reading problems and proven, practical techniques that, along with hard work and the right help, can enable anyone to overcome them.

In this book, Ben Foss discusses his dyslexia, his triumphs and failures, and his approach to success.

This is a comprehensive guide to recognizing and overcoming childhood reading difficulties. It was written by the mother of a struggling reader and an educational researcher to provide everyday tips and practical solutions.

This book delves into how different minds learn differently and how to strengthen abilities and overcome weaknesses.

Understand what it's really like to be a child with dyslexia.

Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills, By J.R. Birsh and S Carreker.

This is a comprehensive textbook on using multisensory techniques and evidence-based approaches to improve reading and language skills.

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25 Dyslexia Resources for Parents and Teachers - Tammys Teaching Tools best 2022

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Here are 25 of my favorite dyslexia educational resources for parents and teachers that help teach kids with dyslexia.

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About the Book: Overcoming Dyslexia, 2nd Edition
From Dr. Sally Shaywitz, one of the world's preeminent experts on reading and dyslexia, the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and practical book available on identifying, understanding, and overcoming reading problems-now revised to reflect the latest research and evidence-based approaches.
Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder on the planet, affecting about one in five individuals, regardless of age or gender. Now world-renowned expert Sally Shaywitz gives us a substantially updated and augmented edition of her classic work: drawing on an additional fifteen years of cutting-edge research, offering new information on all aspects of dyslexia and reading problems, and providing the tools that parents, teachers, and all dyslexic individuals need. This new edition also offers:

New material on the challenges faced by dyslexic individuals across all ages

Rich information on ongoing advances in digital technology that have dramatically increased dyslexics' ability to help themselves

New chapters on diagnosing dyslexia, choosing schools and colleges for dyslexic students, the co-implications of anxiety, ADHD, and dyslexia, and dyslexia in post-menopausal women

Extensively updated information on helping both dyslexic children and adults become better readers, with a detailed home program to enhance reading

Evidence-based universal screening for dyslexia as early as kindergarten and first grade - why and how

New information on how to identify dyslexia in all age ranges

Exercises to help children strengthen the brain areas that control reading

Ways to raise a child's self-esteem and reveal her strengths

Stories of successful men, women, and young adults who are dyslexic

Click here to order your copy today.

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From Dr. Sally Shaywitz, one of the world's preeminent experts on reading and dyslexia, the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and practical book available on identifying, understanding, and overcoming reading problems-now revised to reflect the latest research and evidence-based approaches. Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder on the planet, affecting about one in five individuals, regardless of age or gender.

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A New “Fireside Chat” with Dr. Sally Shaywitz

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A New “Fireside Chat” with Dr. Sally Shaywitz

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A New “Fireside Chat” with Dr. Sally Shaywitz - Yale Dyslexia

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Watch a powerful new video featuring YCDC Co-Director Dr. Sally Shaywitz as she delves into her award-winning book …

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Some of Our Favorite Videos | The Dyslexia Initiative

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There is SO MUCH great media available that, like our Recommended Reading List, we thought we’d have a page dedicated to our favorite videos and other internet content. The list will grow and expand as we locate some of our favs and as more is developed. We hope you find these films useful in your advocacy.

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MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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A distinctive neural signature found in the brains of people with dyslexia may explain why these individuals have difficulty learning to read, according to a new study from MIT neuroscientists.

The researchers discovered that in people with dyslexia, the brain has a diminished ability to acclimate to a repeated input - a trait known as neural adaptation. For example, when dyslexic students see the same word repeatedly, brain regions involved in reading do not show the same adaptation seen in typical readers.

This suggests that the brain's plasticity, which underpins its ability to learn new things, is reduced, says John Gabrieli, the Grover M. Hermann Professor in Health Sciences and Technology, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences, and a member of MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research.

"It's a difference in the brain that's not about reading per se, but it's a difference in perceptual learning that's pretty broad," says Gabrieli, who is the study's senior author. "This is a path by which a brain difference could influence learning to read, which involves so many demands on plasticity."

Former MIT graduate student Tyler Perrachione, who is now an assistant professor at Boston University, is the lead author of the study, which appears in the Dec. 21 issue of Neuron.
Reduced plasticity
The MIT team used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of young adults with and without reading difficulties as they performed a variety of tasks. In the first experiment, the subjects listened to a series of words read by either four different speakers or a single speaker.

The MRI scans revealed distinctive patterns of activity in each group of subjects. In nondyslexic people, areas of the brain that are involved in language showed neural adaption after hearing words said by the same speaker, but not when different speakers said the words. However, the dyslexic subjects showed much less adaptation to hearing words said by a single speaker.

Neurons that respond to a particular sensory input usually react strongly at first, but their response becomes muted as the input continues. This neural adaptation reflects chemical changes in neurons that make it easier for them to respond to a familiar stimulus, Gabrieli says. This phenomenon, known as plasticity, is key to learning new skills.

"You learn something upon the initial presentation that makes you better able to do it the second time, and the ease is marked by reduced neural activity," Gabrieli says. "Because you've done something before, it's easier to do it again."

The researchers then ran a series of experiments to test how broad this effect might be. They asked subjects to look at series of the same word or different words; pictures of the same object or different objects; and pictures of the same face or different faces. In each case, they found that in people with dyslexia, brain regions devoted to interpreting words, objects, and faces, respectively, did not show neural adaptation when the same stimuli were repeated multiple times.

"The brain location changed depending on the nature of the content that was being perceived, but the reduced adaptation was consistent across very different domains," Gabrieli says.

He was surprised to see that this effect was so widespread, appearing even during tasks that have nothing to do with reading; people with dyslexia have no documented difficulties in recognizing objects or faces.

He hypothesizes that the impairment shows up primarily in reading because deciphering letters and mapping them to sounds is such a demanding cognitive task. "There are probably few tasks people undertake that require as much plasticity as reading," Gabrieli says.
Early appearance
In their final experiment, the researchers tested first and second graders with and without reading difficulties, and they found the same disparity in neural adaptation.

"We got almost the identical reduction in plasticity, which suggests that this is occurring quite early in learning to read," Gabrieli says. "It's not a consequence of a different learning experience over the years in struggling to read."

Guinevere Eden, a professor of pediatrics and director of the Center for the Study of Learning at Georgetown University Medical Center, described the study as "groundbreaking."

"For children with dyslexia, we know that the brain looks different in terms of anatomy and function, but we have not been able to establish why," says Eden, who was not involved in the research. "This study makes an important step in that direction: It gets to the true characteristics of the properties of the neurons in these brain regions, not just their outward appearance."

Gabrieli's lab now plans to study younger children to see if these differences might be apparent even before children begin to learn to read. They also hope to use other types of brain measurements such as magnetoencephalography (MEG) to follow the time course of the neural adaptation more closely.

The research was funded by the Ellison Medical Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

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Distinctive brain pattern may underlie dyslexia

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A distinctive neural signature found in the brains of people with dyslexia may explain why they have difficulty learning to read, according to a new study from MIT neuroscientists. The researchers discovered that in dyslexic individuals, the brain has a diminished ability to acclimate to a repeated input - a trait known as neural adaptation.

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Adams, M.J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

American Optometric Association. (2004). The use of tinted lenses and colored overlays for the treatment of dyslexia and other related reading and learning disorders. St. Louis, MO: Author. Retrieved on June 12, 2005, from www.aoa.org/documents/TintedLenses.pdf

Aylward, E.H., Richards, T.L., Berninger, V.W., Nagy, W.E., Field, K.M., Grimme, A.C., et al. (2003). Instructional treatment associated with changes in brain activation in children with dyslexia. Neurology, 61, 212-219.

Blachman, B.A., Schatschneider, C., Fletcher, J.M., Francis, D.J., Clonan, S.M., Shaywitz, et al. (2004). Effects of intensive reading remediation for second and third graders and a 1-year follow-up. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 444-461.

Booth, J.R., & Burman, D.D. (2001). Development and disorders of neurocognitive systems for oral language and reading. Learning Disability Quarterly, 24, 205-215.

Catts, H.W., & Kamhi, A.G. (2005). Language and reading disabilities (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Deutsch, G.K., Dougherty, R.F., Bammer, R., Siok, W.T., Gabrieli, J.D., & Wandell, B. (2005). Children's reading performance is correlated with white matter structure measured by diffusion tensor imaging. Cortex, 41, 354-363.

Francis, D.J., Shaywitz, S.E., Stuebing, K.K., Shaywitz, B.A., & Fletcher, J.M. (1996). Developmental lag versus deficit models of reading disability: A longitudinal, individual growth curves analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 3-17.

Heim, S., & Keil, A. (2004). Large-scale neural correlates of developmental dyslexia. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 13, 125-140.

Iovino, I., Fletcher, J.M., Breitmeyer, B.G., & Foorman, B.R. (1998). Colored overlays for visual perceptual deficits in children with reading disability and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Are they differentially effective? Journal of Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology, 20, 791-806.

Joseph, J., Noble, K., & Eden, G. (2001). The neurobiological basis of reading. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34, 566-579.

Lyon, G.R., Shaywitz, S.E., & Shaywitz, B.A. (2003). Defining dyslexia, comorbidity, teachers' knowledge of language and reading. Annals of Dyslexia, 53, 1-14.

Morris, R.D., Stuebing, K.K., Fletcher, J.M., Shaywitz, S.E., Shankweiler, D.P., Katz, L., et al. (1998). Subtypes of reading disability: Variability around a phonological core. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 347-373.

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Dyslexia and the Brain: What Does Current Research Tell Us?

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The identification of a child with dyslexia is a difficult process, but there are ways that parents and teachers can learn more about the reading difficulty and support the child's learning.

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Researchers are continually conducting studies to learn more about the causes of dyslexia, early identification of dyslexia, and the most effective treatments for dyslexia.
Developmental dyslexia is associated with difficulty in processing the orthography (the written form) and phonology (the sound structure) of language. As a way to understand the origin of these problems, neuroimaging studies have examined brain anatomy and function of people with and without dyslexia. These studies are also contributing to our understanding of the role of the brain in dyslexia, which can provide useful information for developing successful reading interventions and pinpointing certain genes that may also be involved.

What is brain imaging?

A number of techniques are available to visualize brain anatomy and function. A commonly used tool is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which creates images that can reveal information about brain anatomy (e.g., the amount of gray and white matter, the integrity of white matter), brain metabolites (chemicals used in the brain for communication between brain cells), and brain function (where large pools of neurons are active). Functional MRI (fMRI) is based on the physiological principle that activity in the brain (where neurons are "firing") is associated with an increase of blood flow to that specific part of the brain. The MRI signal bears indirect information about increases in blood flow. From this signal, researchers infer the location and amount of activity that is associated with a task, such as reading single words, that the research participants are performing in the scanner. Data from these studies are typically collected on groups of people rather than individuals for research purposes only-not to diagnose individuals with dyslexia.

Which brain areas are involved in reading?

Since reading is a cultural invention that arose after the evolution of modern humans, no single location within the brain serves as a reading center. Instead, brain regions that sub serve other functions, such as spoken language and object recognition, are redirected (rather than innately specified) for the purpose of reading (Dehaene & Cohen, 2007). Reading involves multiple cognitive processes, two of which have been of particular interest to researchers: 1) grapheme-phoneme mapping in which combinations of letters (graphemes) are mapped onto their corresponding sounds (phonemes) and the words are thus "decoded," and 2) visual word form recognition for mapping of familiar words onto their mental representations. Together, these processes allow us to pronounce words and gain access to meaning. In accordance with these cognitive processes, studies in adults and children have demonstrated that reading is supported by a network of regions in the left hemisphere (Price, 2012), including the occipito-temporal, temporo-parietal, and inferior frontal cortices. The occipito-temporal cortex holds the "visual word form area." Both the temporo-parietal and inferior frontal cortices play a role in phonological and semantic processing of words, with inferior frontal cortex also involved in the formation of speech sounds. These areas have been shown to change as we age (Turkeltaub, et al., 2003) and are altered in people with dyslexia (Richlan et al., 2011).

What have brain images revealed about brain structure in dyslexia?

Evidence of a connection between dyslexia and the structure of the brain was first discovered by examining the anatomy of brains of deceased adults who had dyslexia during their lifetimes. The left-greater-than-right asymmetry typically seen in the left hemisphere temporal lobe (planum temporale) was not found in these brains (Galaburda & Kemper, 1979), and ectopias (a displacement of brain tissue to the surface of the brain) were noted (Galaburda, et al., 1985). Then investigators began to use MRI to search for structural images in the brains of research volunteers with and without dyslexia. Current imaging techniques have revealed less gray and white matter volume and altered white matter integrity in left hemisphere occipito-temporal and temporo-parietal areas. Researchers are still investigating how these findings are influenced by a person's language and writing systems.

What have brain images revealed about brain function in dyslexia?

Early functional studies were limited to adults because they employed invasive techniques that require radioactive materials. The field of human brain mapping greatly benefited from the invention of fMRI. fMRI does not require the use of radioactive tracers, so it is safe for children and adults and can be used repeatedly which facilitates longitudinal studies of development and intervention. First used to study dyslexia in 1996 (Eden et al., 1996), fMRI has since been widely used to study the brain's role in reading and its components (phonology, orthography, and semantics). Studies from different countries have converged in findings of altered left-hemisphere areas (Richlan et al., 2011), including ventral occipito-temporal, temporo-parietal, and inferior frontal cortices (and their connections). Results of these studies confirm the universality of dyslexia across different world languages.

What about genes, brain chemistry, and brain function?

Several genetic variants are associated with dyslexia, and their impact on the brain has been investigated in people and mice. Using animals that have been bred to have genes associated with dyslexia, researchers are investigating how these genes might affect development of and communication among brain regions (Che, et. al., 2014; Galaburda, et al., 2006). These investigations dove-tail with studies in humans. Differences in brain anatomy (Darki, et al., 2012; Meda et al., 2008) and brain function (Cope et al., 2012; Pinel et al., 2012) have been observed in people who carry dyslexia-associated genes, even those people who have good reading skills. In addition to these investigations at the anatomical, physiological, and molecular levels, researchers are trying to pinpoint the chemical connection to dyslexia. For example, brain metabolites that play a role in allowing neurons to communicate can be visualized using another MRI-based technique called spectroscopy. Several metabolites (for example, choline) are thought to be different in people with dyslexia (Pugh et al., 2014). Researchers continue to explore the connections between these findings and are hopeful that what they learn will help to determine the causes of dyslexia. This is a difficult aspect of research because differences in the brains of people with dyslexia are not necessarily the cause of their reading difficulties (for example, it could also be a consequence of reading less).

Changes in Reading, Changes in the Brain

Brain imaging research has revealed anatomical and functional changes in typically developing readers as they learn to read (e.g. Turkeltaub et al., 2003), and in children and adults with dyslexia following effective reading instruction (Krafnick, et al., 2011; Eden et al., 2004). Such studies also shed light onto the brain-based differences of those children with dyslexia who benefit from reading instruction compared to those who fail to make gains (Davis et al., 2011; Odegard, et al., 2008). Neuroimaging data have also been used to predict long-term reading success for children with and without dyslexia (Hoeft et al., 2011).

Cause versus Consequence

An important aspect of research on the brain and reading is to determine whether the findings are the cause or the consequence of dyslexia. Some of the brain regions known to be involved in dyslexia are also altered by learning to read, as demonstrated by comparisons of adults who were illiterate but then learned to read (Carreiras et al., 2009). Longitudinal studies in typical readers reveal anatomical changes with age, some of which are related to development (Giedd et al., 1999) and others to the firming up of language skills (Sowell et al., 2004) in correlation with improvements in phonological skills (Lu et al., 2007). As such, researchers are teasing apart the brain-based differences that can be observed before children begin to learn to read from differences that may occur as a consequence of less reading by people with dyslexia. For example, researchers have found altered brain anatomy (Raschle, et al., 2011) and function (Raschle, et al., 2012) in pre-reading children with a family history of dyslexia. Future studies using longitudinal designs (i.e., long term), will inform the timeline of these changes and clarify cause and consequences of anatomical and functional differences in dyslexia.

Summary

The role of the brain in developmental dyslexia has been studied in the context of brain anatomy, brain chemistry, and brain function-and in combination with interventions to improve reading and information about genetic influences. Together with results of behavioral studies, this information will help researchers to identify the causes of dyslexia, continue to explore early identification of dyslexia, and determine the best avenues for its treatment.

References

Carreiras, M., Seghier, M. L., Baquero, S., Estévez, A., Lozano, A., Devlin, J. T., & Price, C. J. (2009). An anatomical signature for literacy. Nature, 461(7266), 983-986. doi:10.1038/nature08461

Che, A., Girgenti, M. J., & Loturco, J. (2014). The Dyslexia-Associated Gene Dcdc2 is required for spike-timing precision in mouse neocortex. Biological Psychiatry, in press. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.08.018

Cope, N., Eicher, J. D., Meng, H., Gibson, C. J., Hager, K., Lacadie, C., ... Gruen, J. R. (2012). Variants in the DYX2 locus are associated with altered brain activation in reading-related brain regions in subjects with reading disability. NeuroImage, 63(1), 148-156. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.037

Darki, F., Peyrard-Janvid, M., Matsson, H., Kere, J., & Klingberg, T. (2012). Three Dyslexia Susceptibility Genes, DYX1C1, DCDC2, and KIAA0319, affect temporo-parietal white matter structure. Biological Psychiatry, 72(8), 671-676. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.05.008

Dehaene, S., & Cohen, L. (2007). Cultural recycling of cortical maps. Neuron, 56(2), 384-398. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2007.10.004

Eden, G. F., Jones, K. M., Cappell, K., Gareau, L., Wood, F. B., Zeffiro, T. A., ... Flowers, D. L. (2004). Neural changes following remediation in adult developmental dyslexia. Neuron, 44(3), 411-422.

Eden, G. F., VanMeter, J. W., Rumsey, J. M., Maisog, J. M., Woods, R. P., & Zeffiro, T. A. (1996). Abnormal processing of visual motion in dyslexia revealed by functional brain imaging. Nature, 382(6586), 66-69. doi:10.1038/382066a0

Flowers, D. L., Wood, F. B., & Naylor, C. E. (1991). Regional cerebral blood flow correlates of language processes in reading disability. Archives of Neurology, 48(6), 637-643.

Galaburda, A. M., & Kemper, T. L. (1979). Cytoarchitectonic abnormalities in developmental dyslexia: a case study. Annals of Neurology, 6(2), 94-100. doi:10.1002/ana.410060203

Galaburda, A. M., Sherman, G. F., Rosen, G. D., Aboitiz, F., & Geschwind, N. (1985). Developmental dyslexia: four consecutive patients with cortical anomalies. Annals of Neurology, 18(2), 222-233. doi:10.1002/ana.410180210

Galaburda, A. M., LoTurco, J., Ramus, F., Fitch, R. H., & Rosen, G. D. (2006). From genes to behavior in developmental dyslexia. Nature Neuroscience, 9(10), 1213-1217. doi:10.1038/nn1772

Giedd, J. N., Blumenthal, J., Jeffries, N. O., Castellanos, F. X., Liu, H., Zijdenbos, A., ... Rapoport, J. L. (1999). Brain development during childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 2(10), 861-863. doi:10.1038/13158

Gross-Glenn, K., Duara, R., Barker, W. W., Loewenstein, D., Chang, J. Y., Yoshii, F., ... Sevush, S. (1991). Positron emission tomographic studies during serial word-reading by normal and dyslexic adults. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 13(4), 531-544. doi:10.1080/01688639108401069

Hoeft, F., McCandliss, B. D., Black, J. M., Gantman, A., Zakerani, N., Hulme, C., ... Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2011). Neural systems predicting long-term outcome in dyslexia. PNAS, 108(1), 361-6. doi:10.1073/pnas.1008950108

Krafnick, A. J., Flowers, D. L., Napoliello, E. M., & Eden, G. F. (2011). Gray matter volume changes following reading intervention in dyslexic children. NeuroImage, 57(3), 733-741. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.062

Lu, L. H., Leonard, C. M., Thompson, P. M., Kan, E., Jolley, J., Welcome, S. E., ... Sowell, E. R. (2007). Normal developmental changes in inferior frontal gray matter are associated with improvement in phonological processing: a longitudinal MRI analysis. Cerebral Cortex, 17(5), 1092-9. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhl019

Meda, S. A., Gelernter, J., Gruen, J. R., Calhoun, V. D., Meng, H., Cope, N. A., & Pearlson, G. D. (2008). Polymorphism of DCDC2 reveals differences in cortical morphology of healthy individuals-A preliminary voxel based morphometry study. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2(1), 21-26. doi:10.1007/s11682-007-9012-1

Pinel, P., Fauchereau, F., Moreno, A., Barbot, A., Lathrop, M., Zelenika, D., ... Dehaene, S. (2012). Genetic variants of FOXP2 and KIAA0319/TTRAP/THEM2 locus are associated with altered brain activation in distinct language-related regions. The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32(3), 817-825. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5996-10.2012

Price, C. J. (2012). A review and synthesis of the first 20years of PET and fMRI studies of heard speech, spoken language and reading. Neuroimage, 62(2), 816-847.

Pugh, K. R., Frost, S. J., Rothman, D. L., Hoeft, F., Tufo, S. N. D., Mason, G. F., ... Fulbright, R. K. (2014). Glutamate and choline levels predict individual differences in reading ability in emergent readers. The Journal of Neuroscience, 34(11), 4082-4089. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3907-13.2014

Raschle, N. M., Chang, M., & Gaab, N. (2011). Structural brain alterations associated with dyslexia predate reading onset. Neuroimage, 57(3), 742-749.

Raschle, N. M., Zuk, J., & Gaab, N. (2012). Functional characteristics of developmental dyslexia in left-hemispheric posterior brain regions predate reading onset. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(6), 2156-2161. doi:10.1073/pnas.1107721109

Richlan, F., Kronbichler, M., & Wimmer, H. (2011). Meta-analyzing brain dysfunctions in dyslexic children and adults. Neuroimage, 56(3), 1735-1742. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.02.040
p style="text-indent: -0.5in; margin-left: 0.5in;">Richlan, F., Kronbichler, M., & Wimmer, H. (2013). Structural abnormalities in the dyslexic brain: A meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometry studies. Human Brain Mapping, 34(11), 3055-3065. doi:10.1002/hbm.22127

Rumsey, J. M., Andreason, P., Zametkin, A. J., Aquino, T., King, A. C., Hamburger, S. D., ... Cohen, R. M. (1992). Failure to activate the left temporoparietal cortex in dyslexia. An oxygen 15 positron emission tomographic study. Archives of Neurology, 49, 527-534.

Sowell, E. R., Thompson, P. M., Leonard, C. M., Welcome, S. E., Kan, E., & Toga, A. W. (2004). Longitudinal mapping of cortical thickness and brain growth in normal children. The Journal of Neuroscience, 24(38), 8223-8231. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1798-04.2004

Turkeltaub, P. E., Gareau, L., Flowers, D. L., Zeffiro, T. A., & Eden, G. F. (2003). Development of neural mechanisms for reading. Nature Neuroscience, 6(7), 767-773. doi:10.1038/nn1065
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) thanks Guinevere F. Eden, Ph.D., for her assistance in the preparation of this fact sheet. © Copyright The International Dyslexia Association (IDA). For copyright information, please click here.

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Researchers are continually conducting studies to learn more about the causes of dyslexia, early identification of dyslexia, and the most effective treatments for dyslexia. Developmental dyslexia is associated with difficulty in processing the orthography (the written form) and phonology (the sound structure) of language.

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Success & Inspirational Stories From Dyslexia Help

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Success & Inspirational Stories From Dyslexia Help

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Success & Inspirational Stories - Dyslexia Help

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Overcoming Dyslexia and Addressing The Reading Crisis with Sally Shaywitz, MD

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Overcoming Dyslexia and Addressing The Reading Crisis with Sally Shaywitz, MD

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Ep. 208: Overcoming Dyslexia and Addressing The Reading Crisis with Sally Shaywitz, MD

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2025 Dyslexia Definition Project - International Dyslexia Association

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“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability characterized by difficulties in word reading and/or spelling that involve accuracy, speed, or both and vary

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Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Needs to Know

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Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Needs to Know

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Many elementary school teachers have limited resources related to dyslexia and other learning differences. Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Needs to Know was developed to open the door for these educators to a better understanding of dyslexia.

This handbook is intended to support all teachers in their passion to help every child reach his or her fullest potential. Use it to raise awareness, share best practices, and be a resource to your school's administration and staff.

Inside you'll learn more about find topics such as:

Signs and symptoms of dyslexia

Classroom strategies, tips, and tools

Components of effective reading instruction

Screening, evaluation, and diagnosis

We encourage you to share this handbook with as many people as possible. The more educators we can inform, the more children we can help!

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Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Needs to Know - International Dyslexia Association

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Many elementary school teachers have limited resources related to dyslexia and other learning differences. Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Needs

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You are welcome to print copies for non-commercial use, or a limited number for educational purposes, as long as credit is given to Reading Rockets and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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Do you think your child or student might have dyslexia? This fact sheet provides a definition of dyslexia, symptoms, prevalence, signs, and effects, as well as ways to help your child.

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What is dyslexia definition - Learning Ally

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Dyslexia, as defined by The National Institute of Health, is “a brain-based type of learning disability that specifically impairs a person’s ability to read. Individuals with dyslexia typically read at levels significantly lower than expected despite having normal intelligence. Although the disorder varies from person to person, common characteristics among people with dyslexia are difficulty with phonological processing (the manipulation of sounds), spelling, and/or rapid visual-verbal responding. Dyslexia can be inherited in some families, and recent studies have identified a number of genes that may predispose an individual to developing dyslexia.” While 20 states have adopted various definitions of dyslexia, Learning Ally supports this research founded, nationally recognized definition.
Take the dyslexia screener to see whether you or your child show signs of dyslexia. This screener is not a substitute for an evaluation by a professional dyslexia specialist.

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Strategies and Resources | Addressing Dyslexia Addressing Dyslexia

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Free Resources to Support Learners A range of resources are available in this section. The resources have been categorised into sections where po…

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Dyslexia Success Stories From Understood.org

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Dyslexia Success Stories From Understood.org

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Dyslexia Success Stories | Children and Famous People With Dyslexia

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Share these dyslexia success stories with your child. These stories of children, adults, and celebrities with dyslexia can inspire your child with dyslexia.

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Dyslexia Overview with Dr. Sally Shaywitz

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Dyslexia Overview with Dr. Sally Shaywitz

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Dyslexia Overview with Dr. Sally Shaywitz

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What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia refers to a cluster of symptoms, which result in people having difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading. Students with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and pronouncing words. Dyslexia affects individuals throughout their lives; however, its impact can change at different stages in a person's life. It is referred to as a learning disability because dyslexia can make it very difficult for a student to succeed academically in the typical instructional environment, and in its more severe forms, will qualify a student for special education, special accommodations, or extra support services.

What causes dyslexia?

The exact causes of dyslexia are still not completely clear, but anatomical and brain imagery studies show differences in the way the brain of a person with dyslexia develops and functions. Moreover, most people with dyslexia have been found to have problems with identifying the separate speech sounds within a word and/or learning how letters represent those sounds, a key factor in their reading difficulties. Dyslexia is not due to either lack of intelligence or desire to learn; with appropriate teaching methods, students with dyslexia can learn successfully.

How widespread is dyslexia?

About 13-14% of the school population nationwide has a handicapping condition that qualifies them for special education. Current studies indicate that one half of all the students who qualify for special education are classified as having a learning disability (LD) (6-7%). About 85% of those students have a primary learning disability in reading and language processing. Nevertheless, many more people- perhaps as many as 15-20% of the population as a whole-have some of the symptoms of dyslexia, including slow or inaccurate reading, poor spelling, poor writing, or mixing up similar words. Not all of these will qualify for special education, but they are likely to struggle with many aspects of academic learning and are likely to benefit from systematic, explicit, instruction in reading, writing, and language.

Dyslexia occurs in people of all backgrounds and intellectual levels. People with dyslexia can be very bright. They are often capable or even gifted in areas such as art, computer science, design, drama, electronics, math, mechanics, music, physics, sales, and sports.

In addition, dyslexia runs in families; parents with dyslexia are very likely to have children with dyslexia. For some people, their dyslexia is identified early in their lives, but for others, their dyslexia goes unidentified until they get older.

What are the effects of dyslexia?

The impact that dyslexia has is different for each person and depends on the severity of the condition and the effectiveness of instruction or remediation. The core difficulty is with word recognition and reading fluency, spelling, and writing. Some individuals with dyslexia manage to learn early reading and spelling tasks, especially with excellent instruction, but later experience their most debilitating problems when more complex language skills are required, such as grammar, understanding textbook material, and writing essays.

People with dyslexia can also have problems with spoken language, even after they have been exposed to good language models in their homes and good language instruction in school. They may find it difficult to express themselves clearly, or to fully comprehend what others mean when they speak. Such language problems are often difficult to recognize, but they can lead to major problems in school, in the workplace, and in relating to other people. The effects of dyslexia reach well beyond the classroom.

Dyslexia can also affect a person's self-image. Students with dyslexia often end up feeling "dumb" and less capable than they actually are. After experiencing a great deal of stress due to academic problems, a student may become discouraged about continuing in school.

How is dyslexia diagnosed?

Before referring a student for a comprehensive evaluation, a school or district may choose to track a student's progress with a brief screening test and identify whether the student is progressing at a "benchmark" level that predicts success in reading. If a student is below that benchmark (which is equivalent to about the 40th percentile nationally), the school may immediately deliver intensive and individualized supplemental reading instruction before determining whether the student needs a comprehensive evaluation that would lead to a designation of special education eligibility. Some students simply need more structured and systematic instruction to get back on track; they do not have learning disabilities. For those students and even for those with dyslexia, putting the emphasis on preventive or early intervention makes sense. There is no benefit to the child if special instruction is delayed for months while waiting for an involved testing process to occur. These practices of teaching first, and then determining who needs diagnostic testing based on response to instruction, are encouraged by federal policies known as Response to Intervention (RTI). Parents should know, however, that at any point they have the right to request a comprehensive evaluation under the IDEA law, whether or not the student is receiving instruction under an RTI model.

A comprehensive evaluation typically includes intellectual and academic achievement testing, as well as an assessment of the critical underlying language skills that are closely linked to dyslexia. These include receptive (listening) and expressive language skills, phonological skills including phonemic awareness, and also a student's ability to rapidly name letters and numbers. A student's ability to read lists of words in isolation, as well as words in context, should also be assessed. If a profile emerges that is characteristic of readers with dyslexia, an individualized intervention plan should be developed, which should include appropriate accommodations, such as extended time. The testing can be conducted by trained school or outside specialists. (See the Dyslexia Assessment Fact Sheet for more information.)

What are the signs of dyslexia?

The problems displayed by individuals with dyslexia involve difficulties in acquiring and using written language. It is a myth that individuals with dyslexia "read backwards," although spelling can look quite jumbled at times because students have trouble remembering letter symbols for sounds and forming memories for words. Other problems experienced by people with dyslexia include the following:

Learning to speak

Learning letters and their sounds

Organizing written and spoken language

Memorizing number facts

Reading quickly enough to comprehend

Persisting with and comprehending longer reading assignments

Spelling

Learning a foreign language

Correctly doing math operations

Not all students who have difficulties with these skills have dyslexia. Formal testing of reading, language, and writing skills is the only way to confirm a diagnosis of suspected dyslexia.

How is dyslexia treated?

Dyslexia is a lifelong condition. With proper help, many people with dyslexia can learn to read and write well. Early identification and treatment is the key to helping individuals with dyslexia achieve in school and in life. Most people with dyslexia need help from a teacher, tutor, or therapist specially trained in using a multisensory, structured language approach. It is important for these individuals to be taught by a systematic and explicit method that involves several senses (hearing, seeing, touching) at the same time. Many individuals with dyslexia need one-on-one help so that they can move forward at their own pace. In addition, students with dyslexia often need a great deal of structured practice and immediate, corrective feedback to develop automatic word recognition skills. For students with dyslexia, it is helpful if their outside academic therapists work closely with classroom teachers.

Schools can implement academic accommodations and modifications to help students with dyslexia succeed. For example, a student with dyslexia can be given extra time to complete tasks, help with taking notes, and work assignments that are modified appropriately. Teachers can give recorded tests or allow students with dyslexia to use alternative means of assessment.

Students can benefit from listening to audiobooks and using text reading and word processing computer programs. Students may also need help with emotional issues that sometimes arise as a consequence of difficulties in school. Mental health specialists can help students cope with their struggles.

What are the rights of a person with dyslexia?

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) define the rights of students with dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities. These individuals are legally entitled to special services to help them overcome and accommodate their learning problems. Such services include education programs designed to meet the needs of these students. The Acts also protect people with dyslexia against unfair and illegal discrimination.

Suggested Readings

Moats, L. C., & Dakin, K. E. (2008). Basic facts about dyslexia and other reading problems. Baltimore: The International Dyslexia Association.

Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming dyslexia: A new and complete science-based program for reading problems at any level. New York: Knopf.
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) thanks Louisa C. Moats, Ed.D., and Karen E. Dakin, M.Ed., for their assistance in the preparation of this fact sheet.
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA). IDA encourages the reproduction and distribution of this fact sheet.

If portions of the text are cited, appropriate reference must be made. Fact sheets may not be reprinted for the purpose of resale.
© Copyright 2020. The International Dyslexia Association (IDA). For copyright information, please click here.

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Dyslexia Basics - International Dyslexia Association

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Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia refers to a cluster of symptoms, which result in people having difficulties with specific language

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National Center on Improving Literacy - Dyslexia

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National Center on Improving Literacy - Dyslexia

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Dyslexia Support and Evidence-based Resources | National Center on Improving Literacy

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Evidence-based information about dyslexia for parents and educators from The National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL).

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Download your free dyslexia support power pack to understand the facts on dyslexia, identify at-risk individuals early, and provide effective support.

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Dyslexia Video Links from The Literacy Ladies Padlet

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Dyslexia Video Links from The Literacy Ladies Padlet

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Dyslexic Logic provides specialist dyslexia support - dyslexia interventions, staff training in dyslexia intervention provision and programme development. We also produce specialist dyslexia teaching resources and dyslexia and literacy difficulties support programmes. Dyslexic Logic’s free resources include the Unforgettable Alphabet and Fabulous Phonics Sound-Cards and are available for free download from the site.

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Stories From Dyslexics The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity

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Stories From Dyslexics The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity

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Dyslexia is defined as an unexpected difficulty in learning to read. Dyslexia takes away an individual's ability to read quickly and automatically, and to retrieve spoken words easily, but it does not dampen their creativity and ingenuity.

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How I Learned to Embrace My Dyslexia and Thrive in and Beyond the Classroom

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How I Learned to Embrace My Dyslexia and Thrive in and Beyond the Classroom

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This manual includes information about DIBELS 8, how DIBELS 8 differs from previous editions of DIBELS, how to administer and score DIBELS 8 subtests, and how to use DIBELS 8 data to inform instructional decision-making.

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This manual includes information about DIBELS 8, how DIBELS 8 differs from previous editions of DIBELS, how to administer and score DIBELS 8 subtests, and how to use DIBELS 8 data to inform instructional decision-making.

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In accordance with the recommendations of the Legislative Task Force on Dyslexia the following guidance was developed to assist LEA's in screening and supporting students at risk for dyslexia.

Definition of Dyslexia
"Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge." (IDA/NICHD, 2002)
Structured Literacy

Structured Literacy refers to programs that contain the following components which are evidentially proven to improve reading skills and are appropriate for all students.

Phonology. Phonology is the study of sound structure of spoken words and is a critical element of Structured Language instruction. Phonological awareness includes rhyming, counting words in spoken sentence, and clapping syllables in spoken words. An important aspect of phonological awareness is phonemic awareness or the ability to segment words into their component sounds, which are called phonemes. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a given language that can be recognized as being distinct from other sounds in the language. For example, the word cap has three phonemes (/k/, /ă/, /p/), and the word clasp has five phonemes (/k/, /l/, /ă/, /s/, /p/).

Sound-Symbol Association. Once students have developed the awareness of phonemes of spoken language, they must learn how to map the phonemes to symbols or printed letters. Sound-symbol association must be taught and mastered in two directions: visual to auditory (reading) and auditory to visual (spelling). Additionally, students must master the blending of sounds and letters into words as well as the segmenting of whole words into the individual sounds. The instruction of sound-symbol associations is often referred to as phonics. Although phonics is a component of Structured Literacy, it is embedded within a rich and deep language context.

Syllable Instruction. A syllable is a unit of oral or written language with one vowel sound. Instruction includes teaching of the six basic syllable types in the English language: closed, vowel-consonant- e, open, consonant- le, r-controlled, and vowel pair. Knowledge of syllable types is an important organizing idea. By knowing the syllable type, the reader can better determine the sound of the vowel in the syllable. Syllable division rules heighten the reader's awareness of where a long, unfamiliar word may be divided for great accuracy in reading the word.

Morphology. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in the language. The Structured Literacy curriculum includes the study of base words, roots, prefixes, and suffixes. The word instructor, for example, is contains the root struct, which means to build, the prefix in, which means in or into, and the suffix or, which means one who. An instructor is one who builds knowledge in his or her students.

Syntax. Syntax is the set of principles that dictate the sequence and function of words in a sentence in order to convey meaning. This includes grammar, sentence variation, and the mechanics of language.

Semantics. Semantics is that aspect of language concerned with meaning. The curriculum (from the beginning) must include instruction in the comprehension of written language.
Structured Literacy is distinctive in the principles that guide how critical elements are taught:
Systematic and Cumulative. Structured Literacy instruction is systematic and cumulative. Systematic means that the organization of material follows the logical order of the language. The sequence must begin with the easiest and most basic concepts and elements and progress methodically to more difficult concepts and elements. Cumulative means each step must be based on concepts previously learned.

Explicit Instruction. Structured Literacy instruction requires the deliberate teaching of all concepts with continuous student-teacher interaction. It is not assumed that students will naturally deduce these concepts on their own.

Diagnostic Teaching. The teacher must be adept at individualized instruction. That is instruction that meets a student's needs. The instruction is based on careful and continuous assessment, both informally (for example, observation) and formally (for example, with standardized measures). The content presented must be mastered to the degree of automaticity. Automaticity is critical to freeing all the student's attention and cognitive resources for comprehension and expression.

Research Based vs. Evidence Based programs

Although these terms are often used interchangeably they refer to distinct differences in that research based interventions and programs contain theoretical components of research. Whereas, evidence based programs have proven effective over time when implemented.
Dr. Sally Shaywitz video
Infographic on Structured Literacy

Resources for families:

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In accordance with the recommendations of the Legislative Task Force on Dyslexia the following guidance was developed to assist LEA's in screening and supporting students at risk for dyslexia. "Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.

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Dyslexia Professional Development Options | Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

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205 Jefferson St.
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Map(link is external)

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A friend who has dyslexia described to me how she experiences reading. She can read, but it takes a lot of concentration, and the letters seems to "jump around".

I remembered reading about typoglycemia. Wouldn't it be possible to do it interactively on a website with Javascript? Sure it would.

Feel like making a bookmarklet of this or something? Fork it on github.

Dyslexia is characterized by difficulty with learning to read fluently and with accurate comprehension despite normal intelligence. This includes difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, processing speed, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, language skills/verbal comprehension, and/or rapid naming.

Developmental reading disorder (DRD) is the most common learning disability. Dyslexia is the most recognized of reading disorders, however not all reading disorders are linked to dyslexia.

Some see dyslexia as distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or poor or inadequate reading instruction. There are three proposed cognitive subtypes of dyslexia (auditory, visual and attentional), although individual cases of dyslexia are better explained by specific underlying neuropsychological deficits and co-occurring learning disabilities (e.g. attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, math disability, etc.). Although it is considered to be a receptive language-based learning disability in the research literature, dyslexia also affects one's expressive language skills. Researchers at MIT found that people with dyslexia exhibited impaired voice-recognition abilities.

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A friend who has dyslexia described to me how she experiences reading. She can read, but it takes a lot of concentration, and the letters seems to “jump around”.

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More Self-Assessment Tools for Dyslexia - International Dyslexia Association

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The following self-assessment tools were developed to provide additional information specific to the following age groups.

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As a child, Roberto Olivardia didn't enjoy reading. Processing the words on a page fatigued him. But Olivardia - now a psychologist at McLean Hospital and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School - never considered that he might have dyslexia. He remembers watching an episode of the ABC Afterschool Specials series about a boy with dyslexia who wrote words backwards. Since Olivardia's writing looked normal, he thought "that's not me.

Decades later, Olivardia witnessed his six-year-old son experiencing a similar fatigue. Only the six-year-old's was worse. "His vocabulary was off the charts, it was so extensive," Olivardia recalls, "but with reading, there was a real difference between him and other kids." Only after his son's diagnosis of dyslexia did Olivardia become aware of the condition's complexities: how misunderstood it is among parents, teachers, and doctors; how it manifests in myriad ways; and how a diagnosis can change everything.

Yet getting that diagnosis is not always easy because physicians and scientists are still putting together the many puzzle pieces of dyslexia, a language-based learning disability that affects an estimated 7 to 10 percent of the population. The condition is marked by a person's difficulty to accurately and fluently read words and to accurately decode and spell words.

Although the causes for dyslexia are complex, a main factor is a person's difficulty with phonological and phonemic awareness; that is, their ability to recognize and manipulate the spoken parts of words, which sets the stage for decoding, blending, and, ultimately, reading words. Imagine, for example, being presented a word from a language other than your native language, written using symbols or an alphabet associated with that language. It may be possible to get a sense of the sounds in the word - but remembering all of them and blending them together could be hard. Each letter would need to be deciphered, and their sounds stitched together to form a word. It's a process that can take time.

Doctors in Europe began talking about dyslexia in the nineteenth century - around the time compulsory schooling became more common. They described a curious paradox: cases of individuals who, despite being otherwise healthy, had trouble reading. In 1896 in the British Medical Journal, physician William Pringle Morgan wrote about a 14-year-old patient who he described as a bright and intelligent boy whose "great difficulty has always been ... [an] inability to learn to read."

In the ensuing decades, various hypotheses for the causes came and went. It wasn't laziness. It wasn't a vision problem. It wasn't the result of an infection. Some scientists began to suspect structural differences in the brain.

Searching for dyslexia clues in the brain is not simple. In part, that's because there isn't a single region of the brain devoted to reading. In the course of human history, reading is a relatively recent innovation. Unlike with spoken language, humans haven't evolved a natural capacity for learning to read through exposure. Instead, learning to read requires that different areas of the brain that evolved for other purposes - including vision and sound perception - be retrained to work together to recognize and interpret written words. If scientists wanted to pinpoint the basis of dyslexia, they would need to explore the many brain regions involved in reading, as well as the neural pathways connecting them.

How does the brain learn to read? This short video explains.

Another hurdle? "It's not really a disease," says Albert Galaburda , the Emily Fisher Landau Professor of Neurology, Emeritus, at HMS. When Galaburda began searching for brain evidence of dyslexia back in the 1970s, advanced imaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were not yet available; instead, researchers studied postmortem brains. And since people didn't typically die of dyslexia, it was rare to find a donated brain linked to a recorded case of the condition.

In 1979, Galaburda found an exception: a donated brain from a young man who had fallen through an elevator shaft to his death because his dyslexia prevented him from reading a cautionary sign. In one of the first studies exploring anatomical brain differences in people with dyslexia, published in Annals of Neurology in 1979, Galaburda and a colleague highlighted some interesting patterns that he would later also find in brains of other dyslexic people, including unusual symmetry between the two hemispheres and anomalies in the development of the cortex. Along with his mentor, Norman Geschwind, MD '51, Galaburda's work raised myriad associations for researchers to test, such as links between dyslexia and autoimmune disorders or levels of sex hormones.

"Geschwind and Galaburda were among the first ones thinking about a multifactorial model - looking at all the different factors that sort of work together to cause atypical reading development," says Nadine Gaab, an associate professor of pediatrics at HMS and a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Clues found in the developing brain

By the time Gaab began her own research into dyslexia in 2007, new neuroimaging techniques were available for researchers to examine the brains of children living with dyslexia or those who had a familial risk for the condition - that is, a biological parent or sibling with dyslexia. At that point, "we knew a lot about how the brain of a person with dyslexia differed in activation patterns and different tasks," Galaburda says. But an important question remained: Did dyslexia cause these differences, or did these differences cause dyslexia?

Gaab focused on answering this question. An MIT research group she was a part of focused its study on one white matter tract called the arcuate fasciculus, or the "the arc," which connects key brain areas involved in reading: those related to vision and sound processing at the back of the brain and the inferior frontal gyrus, an area responsible for comprehension and meaning. In a subsequent longitudinal study in which the brains of kindergartners were scanned, Gaab and colleagues demonstrated that children who had lower phonological processing skills, a risk factor for dyslexia, also had smaller arcs.

Nadine Gaab

After identifying that link, Gaab and colleagues set out to learn when these differences emerge. They compared brain scans from children with a familial risk for dyslexia with those from children without the familial risk and found that children at risk for the condition showed differences in the arc even before beginning formal schooling. Moreover, the rate of the structure's development was slower among those who later developed poor reading skills regardless of familial risk. To the researchers, this suggested that some children began kindergarten with brains that were less well equipped for learning to read.

To explore how early these differences emerged, the researchers examined the brains of participants who had thus far been largely neglected in dyslexia studies: babies. Their initial study, published in Cerebral Cortex in 2017, found that infants of parents who had struggled with reading showed alterations the arc compared to infants of parents who hadn't struggled to read. In subsequent studies, they observed a link between these alterations and phonological processing and oral language skills in kindergarten. They also found that the microstructure of the arc can be shaped by lifestyle factors, such as how early and often a child is read to.

We now know that some kids who step into kindergarten on their first day, with their little backpacks, have a heightened risk for struggling with learning to read.

While the arc is only one of several brain areas exhibiting differences in people with dyslexia, Gaab's findings have provided an impetus for action. In addition to linking risk factors for dyslexia to specific parts of the brain, her work shows that some of these risks can be inherited. And the findings indicate that while genetics matter, environment can matter, too. Perhaps more important, they suggest that risk factors for dyslexia exist early - very early. "We now know that some kids who step into kindergarten on their first day, with their little backpacks, have a heightened risk for struggling with learning to read," Gaab says. "That's a really important distinction in terms of policy and how early we should find these kids and intervene."

The value of early intervention

Despite so many children already at risk before starting school, U.S. school systems tend to identify children with dyslexia only after it's clear that something is wrong - at around nine or ten years old. Gaab, who describes herself as a "translational neuroscientist," has become a tireless proponent of early intervention. She advocated for a new Massachusetts law that was signed by the governor in 2018, requiring screening for dyslexia for children in kindergarten. And she's been developing a tablet-based tool that can be used to screen children for reading problems as early as age four. This latter tool is especially useful because fMRI data, while good for exploring overall patterns of brain differences between groups, is impractical in educational contexts and does not have the sensitivity and specificity necessary to identify at-risk children.

Gaab hopes that pediatricians - who often screen for autism and ADHD - will adopt dyslexia risk screening, too. "We embrace preventive medicine; we get mammograms and checkups to identify risk factors and try to address them so that we don't get sick," she says. "That's the same idea with dyslexia, to find at-risk kids early and intervene early, so that they never develop problems with reading. We call it preventive education."

Dyslexia itself is not hazardous to anyone's health. It really is the fact that they're not being identified, they're not being diagnosed, and they're not getting the services that they need.

Proper early identification is key, adds Gaab, because studies indicate that 50 to 90 percent of at-risk readers can reach average levels of performance with targeted instruction, and that interventions are more effective in kindergarten and first grade than later on.

According to Olivardia, children who are never identified, or who live in communities without access to these interventions, might get lumped into generic remedial reading classes. But if their instruction isn't tailored to dyslexia, "it's as if you don't understand the language someone is speaking, so they just speak louder," he says. "You're like, that doesn't help me at all."

Early intervention does more than help get reading levels on track. Children with dyslexia are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. But that's not due to differences in their brains; it's because in our society, literacy is key to academic and workplace success. "Dyslexia itself is not hazardous to anyone's health," says Olivardia, whose private psychotherapy practice specializes in treating children with learning disabilities. "It really is the fact that they're not being identified, they're not being diagnosed, and they're not getting the services that they need."

Education provides perspective

Olivardia understands the importance of reframing dyslexia for his patients. He talks to them about the many successful people who are thought to have had dyslexia - from Einstein to Picasso to British business magnate Richard Branson - and stresses his own observations that people with dyslexia exhibit above-average creativity and entrepreneurial skills. Research backs this up: A 2009 study in found a prevalence of dyslexia three times higher among entrepreneurs than people in the general population, while a higher prevalence of dyslexia has also been identified among students who pursue art or engineering. Other research points to a superior ability to connect unusual combinations of ideas among people with dyslexia.

Olivardia also draws from his experience parenting a child with dyslexia. Following his son's diagnosis, they practiced role-playing conversations with teachers and peers about the learning disability. One day, a few weeks after diagnosis, Olivardia's son was given lyrics to read in music class, but his dyslexia was so severe at that point that he couldn't read the words at all.

Olivardia's son asked a classmate to sit and sing along with him. The girl, confused, asked him why he couldn't read. Instead of shrinking away, he calmly explained that his brain was just different - and pointed out that Tom Cruise has the same thing. "She was like, oh, OK, and that was it," Olivardia says. "And he sat next to her. And when I picked him up, he said, 'Dad, it was a great day.'"

"There's a lot of hope in a label and a name," Olivardia adds. "It gives parents, teachers, and doctors the opportunity to emphasize that these kids' brains are wired differently - but that different does not mean they are defective."

Molly McDonough is the associate editor of Harvard Medicine
Images: John Soares (Olivardia); courtesy of Anna Olivella and the Harvard Brain Science Initiative (Gaab)

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Research on dyslexia is identifying the many factors - neural to societal - that are linked to the condition

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Dyslexia: neurobiology, clinical features, evaluation and management

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Neurobiology helps us understand the processes that drive neurological processes including dyslexia. This article outlines the neurobiology underpinning typical reading skills and those seen in dyslexia, which is characterized by problems with…

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Dyslexia Assessment: What Is It and How Can It Help? - International Dyslexia Association

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COMPLETELY REVISED AND UPDATEDFrom one of the world’s preeminent experts on reading and dyslexia, the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and practical book available on identifying, understanding, and overcoming reading problems--now revised to reflect the latest research and evidence-based approaches.Dyslexia is the most common learning disorder on the planet, affecting about one in five individuals, regardless of age or gender. Now a world-renowned expert gives us a substantially updated and augmented edition of her classic work: drawing on an additional fifteen years of cutting-edge research, offering new information on all aspects of dyslexia and reading problems, and providing the tools that parents, teachers, and all dyslexic individuals need. This new edition also offers: • New material on the challenges faced by dyslexic individuals across all ages • Rich information on ongoing advances in digital technology that have dramatically increased dyslexics’ ability to help themselves • New chapters on diagnosing dyslexia, choosing schools and colleges for dyslexic students, the co-implications of anxiety, ADHD, and dyslexia, and dyslexia in post-menopausal women • Extensively updated information on helping both dyslexic children and adults become better readers, with a detailed home program to enhance reading • Evidence-based universal screening for dyslexia as early as kindergarten and first grade – why and how • New information on how to identify dyslexia in all age ranges • Exercises to help children strengthen the brain areas that control reading • Ways to raise a child’s self-esteem and reveal her strengths • Stories of successful men, women, and young adults who are dyslexic

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Understood.org is the resource that helps the 70 million people with learning and thinking differences anticipate the challenges, barriers, or opportunities in life and confidently reach their potential.

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South Central Literacy Padlet for PD Support 

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South Central Literacy Padlet for PD Support 

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Websites

The Academy of Orton‐Gillingham Practitioners and Educators (Official OG site) ‐
Information about OG Approach, Directory of training programs, certified tutors and schools.
www.ortonacademy.org

Books
A Guide to Helping Your Child at Home
Diana Hanbury King, WVC Ed., 2015.
Basic Facts About Dyslexia & Other Reading Problems
Louisa Cook Moats, Karen Daken, The International Dyslexia Association, 2008.

Straight Talk About Reading: How parents can make a difference during the early years
Susan Hall & Louisa C. Moats, McGraw Hill, 2006.

Recipe for Reading Intervention Strategies for Struggling ReadersFrances Bloom & Nina Traub, EPS, 2005.

Overcoming Dyslexia
Sally Shaywitz, M.D., Vintage, 2003.
For Educators & Administrators:
Wrightsaw: From Emotions to Advocacy
Pam Wright & Pete Wright, 2006

Dyslexia in the Classroom - What Every Teacher Needs to Know International Dyslexia Association Handbook

Knowledge & Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading
International Dyslexia Association Professional Standards & Practices Committee

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Recommended Websites & Books - Dyslexia Resource Center

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The Academy of Orton‐Gillingham Practitioners and Educators (Official OG site) ‐Information about OG Approach, Directory of training programs, certified tutors and schools. www.ortonacademy.org A Guide to Helping Your Child at Home Diana Hanbury King, WVC Ed., 2015. Basic Facts About Dyslexia & Other Reading Problems Louisa Cook Moats, Karen Daken, The International Dyslexia Association, 2008.

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Strategies to Support Struggling Readers Which Don’t Require a Ph.D. in Neuropsychology

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Strategies to Support Struggling Readers Which Don’t Require a Ph.D. in Neuropsychology

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Strategies to Support Struggling Readers Which Don't Require a Ph.D. in Neuropsychology

I have a confession to make. It involves a basic failure on my behalf. What's worse, my failure impacted students whom I care deeply about: students with dyslexia and other language-based learning challenges. It involved waiting for test results before putting accommodations in place for students who were struggling in my class. Of course I didn't fail them intentionally, and by about the third time I got an evaluation back that pretty much said what I imagined it would, I started putting help in place for the student right away. The discovery of my own blind spot led me to wonder if other teachers were accidentally failing their students in similar ways.

For many years, this is what I did: I would identify a student who was having problems, make some basic observations about what was particularly difficult for him, and then request further information about the student in the form of screening, special tests, and/or a learning evaluation. I would then wait for a report before taking further action. I am often haunted by memories of a particular former eighth-grade history student whose contributions to our discussions put him at the top of the class, but his written answers on tests and essays were always weak and minimalist and put him only in the high C range. At the time, I thought it was sufficient to label this descrepancy and recommend that he get a formal evaluation. I suspected a test would reveal that he was dyslexic. His English teacher concurred. Unfortunately, his father would have nothing to do with outside testing, so my brilliant student received low Bs in my class and never got the help he needed to express what he knew.

But really, what was I waiting for? If asked, I would have responded that I needed more specific information about the student before I could know best how to support him. To many readers, I am sure that response sounds legitimate and reasonable. However, my confession is aimed at fellow teachers who will understand why my delay was unnecessary. I know that I am not alone when I admit that I can usually make general assumptions about what a learning evaluation is going to say before the results are in. Most often the report confirms what I had intuitively guessed about the student. As personally validating and satisfying as that confirmation often is, it should not be a prerequisite to providing timely critical accommodations to my students.

Immediately employing accommodations makes sense for many reasons. First, evaluations take time to schedule and complete. Why waste time waiting to have suspicions confirmed before helping a student? Secondly, there are those untidy problems of cost and access. Testing and evaluations are expensive and for many an unobtainable luxury. For a variety of reasons, public schools can be stingy with these resources, and many independent schools wrongly assume that parents can afford this expense on top of the cost of the school's tuition. Consequently, many students who need the help that an evaluation can provide are denied it.

I need to be clear about something-I remain an enthusiastic proponent of testing and evaluations. Teachers are greatly assisted by the critical information that they yield. Outside testing provided by learning specialists offers a unique opportunity to isolate many classroom variables and specifically reveal and identify students' academic strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, testing helps assess how extreme students' gaps are, and what level of response is necessary. That information is a real gift to teachers, parents, and most importantly, students, and it is a gift that keeps on giving because tests allow future teachers to understand the student's profile. Lastly, evaluations are required for students to qualify for accommodations on high-stakes tests such as SATs, ACTs and state exams. All indentified students should be provided access to them.

Meanwhile, without test results in hand, here is what teachers can do to support their struggling students (in addition to trusting their instincts)...

For A Student Struggling with Understanding the Classroom Reading Assignments

Suggest listening to audiobooks or identify a willing adult to read the assigned book to the student. Recommend that students read along with the audiobook version or to follow the words alongside the reader. The more often a struggling reader is exposed to the way they words look, the better. Exposure to the page helps students learn the architecture of sentences. This also helps with spelling and conventions.

Suggest use of assistive technologies currently available that read material aloud to the student. The Kindle, the iPad, or Google's Nexus tablet, would be examples of this kind of technology, but there are many similar devices being introduced into the market all the time. Click here to read a comparison of these tablets.

If the book/content has been made into a film or covered in a film, suggest that the student watch it to help give a context to the story or content.

Offer extra time to finish reading assignments. Dyslexic and struggling readers need more time to read assigned material.

Provide class syllabuses in advance. Allow the student to read assignments ahead over the school breaks and the summer. This can help the student get a head start so that when the school year takes on its full momentum she is prepared and has had an opportunity to work ahead to absorb the increased volume of work.

Recommend reading books with larger fonts. Hardback versions from the library are visually easier and E-readers offers the ability to adjust the font size as well.

Recommend books that may be shorter or less dense but equally rich in ideas and story for independent reading time. (Click here for a kid-tested reading list.) It is important to recommend the book with enthusiasm, the same enthusiasm typically reserved for more sophisticated titles. Read well-written, easier books yourself, out loud to the class, and recommend them to all students so the struggling students can read them without shame. The objective is to get struggling readers to read AND to like it. (For more on creating a classroom culture for struggling readers, click here.)

Recommend graphic novels. (Click here for a listing of kid-approved ones.) Graphic novels provide struggling readers with a way of strengthening their vocabularies, build their reading confidence, and foster their appreciation of story. Graphic novels can also help support a reader's understanding of everything from Greek Mythology to Shakespheare.Dictating ideas to an adult can help a student get started with their writing by generating an idea bank that they can draw from. (They also won't get caught up worrying about how to spell those words).

For a Student Struggling with Written Expression

Suggest that the student dictate an outline or brainstorm ideas to another adult (teacher or parent) who can record them. Depending on the circumstances, this can help students get started with their writing and help launch their ideas by generating an idea bank that they can draw from (they also won't get caught up worrying about how to spell those words).

Offer an opportunity to do work on a keyboard.If students are so labored in their handwriting and/or symbolic memory that everything they write is minimalist and/or incomplete, keyboarding can free up expression. Instead of worrying about what shape each letter is, the computer determines that for them. Word processing also helps record ideas in a standard readable font and allows a student to recognize more readily what they have just written. Note: if students are better served on the computer, have them immediately get to work on their keyboarding skills. This is not only a very important mechanical skill for all students, but also crucial for students who have handwriting issues.

Suggest and/or provide the use of assistive technologies and software for help with spelling. Something as basic as Microsoft Word can help with regularly misspelled words. It is a huge relief for students not to have to worry about the correct spelling of every word. It corrects basic words automatically. Franklin Spellers or similar handheld devices that assist in the spelling of words are also helpful, particularly when students are not using a computer to write.

If the classroom has access to iPads or other tablets with speech-to-text capabilities, encourage struggling writers to use speech-to-text apps to help them get their words down on the page. They can brainstorm or do the actual composing without being hung up about spelling and the mechanical struggle of writing. (Learn about how using speech-to-text on the iPad transformed a student's fifth-grade year...click here.)

Encourage the student to find a personal spelling strategy that doesn't depend on memorization of word lists. Some students are never going to be spellers, regardless of their heroic outcomes on Friday tests. Take the time to reassure those students that spelling is a mechanical, not an intellectual, skill. Because misspelled words do negatively impact clarity, students need to understand that it is important to find ways to identify misspellings and correct them. Editing may involve using the spell check on a computer, a handheld speller, or a helpful peer or adult in their lives. Every poor speller needs to find his/her most efficient and effective proofreading strategies. The world is full of people who will judge students negatively if they turn in work with misspellings. Consequently, they must figure out how to get the help they need, aside from carrying the correct spellings around in their heads.

Students who Struggle with Written Assessments and Tests

Experiment with offering ways to provide EXTRA TIME... . Students who struggle often need extra time. In fact, sometimes, extra time is all they need. Is there a way to offer your student who lacks a formal diagnosis extra time in a way that doesn't create equity issues or logistical ones? Aside from timed tests that are designed to check automaticity of a special skill, there are few instances that justify making speed more important than giving a student a full opportunity to express understanding. However, this can be challenging. Sometimes offering a chance for all students to return to finish an assessment up at recess, or during a study hall, is a way to make that work. Most often, students who do not need extra time will not take it. This is obviously an individual call because in certain situations extending the test time may raise the potential for cheating or equity complaints.

Make it transparent to the student what is being assessed. Is it automaticity? Is it a spelling test? Is it understanding of the material? Is it a measure of writing skills? The student should be clear about what is being evaluated and so should the teacher. For example, if the student can orally explain what he or she knows, but cannot make that clear in writing, consider having the student demonstrate his knowledge orally, in addition to the written version. If testing for geographical knowledge and the student mispells many of the countries, yet it is obvious that he knows the correct answer, that should count. Conversely, if the student turns in a final draft of a paper with misspellings, penalties should stand. Students need to find effective editing strategies. Giving struggling students a pass in that situation is misleading and doesn't ultimately help them.

Provide typed class notes for students who can't listen and write at the same time. This is not cheating. Some students need to focus all their attention on listening and attending to the information being explained. Writing impedes their ability to take the information in. If teachers are interested in facilitating an understanding of the content, then we need to be willing to do whatever is necessary to make sure that happens. Sharing notes can liberate struggling students to concentrate in class, while note-taking helps others consolidate the information through another modality. Students who use the teacher's notes should also read them aloud into a recorder and play them back, discuss them, or rewrite them on their own time in order to reinforce their learning through another form of processing.

Another modified option is to provide the whole class with a structured outline of the main ideas with room for students to fill in the rest (it also helps to model a note-taking format).Each student is different, but everyone benefits from processing information in multiple forms (listening, discussing, writing, drawing, reshaping, rhyming, applying, sorting, etc.). The teacher's job is to help students identify how they process information most efficiently and effectively.

Employing these strategies has allowed me to proactively help students reach the goals that I have set for the class. In many cases, these changes have been humbling as well as validating. For instance, when I allowed a child extra time on a test and discovered she did in fact know more then she had been demonstrating in the timed situation, or when a student brilliantly explained orally what he had failed to convey in writing, I felt thrilled for the student, but shamed by the missed opportunities to make earlier adaptations.

Most importantly, these strategies help me address the access gap between the haves and the have-nots with learning issues in my class. Since no one can claim that every student who deserves accommodations is receiving them, I want to know that I offer my students who don't have formal evaluations whatever tools they need to succeed, particularly when I intuitively know they need something different. I will continue to recommend formal evaluations whenever I can, but I don't predicate certain accommodations on them anymore, and neither the gods of teaching nor my division head has struck me down for not waiting to help a student.

See more study tips- from dyslexic students for dyslexic students.
updated 4/29/14

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Kids Can't Wait: Strategies to Support Struggling Readers - Yale Dyslexia

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The discovery of my own blind spot led me to wonder if other teachers were accidentally failing their students in similar ways.

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Fabulous Phonics resources- Specialist Dyslexia resources, freely downloadable, to support teaching phonics and spelling to children with dyslexia or literacy difficulties. Follows synesthetic learning principles of multi-modal learning. Uses pictures and gesture cues to support memory with integrat

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Resources to Support Students With Dyslexia

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Dyslexia is a hidden disability that can affect how children learn. The following resources can help offer support.

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Lesson Resources

The UFLI Foundations Toolbox contains all the lesson resources to accompany the lesson plans provided in the UFLI Foundations manual. (Don't have a manual yet? Click here to order one) Every lesson has companion resources that will help you implement the lessons efficiently, effectively, and consistently.

Some of the companion lesson resources you will find below include:

Lesson slide decks (in PowerPoint and Google Slide formats)

Decodable passages

Homework sheets

Games and activities for additional practice

We have grouped the lessons into smaller units so you can access these resources more easily. Scroll down to use the buttons below to find the resources for each lesson or groups of lessons.

Please note that we are still building out these free resources, and we will be editing this page over the next few weeks. We wanted you to be able to access some materials as soon as possible, but be sure to come back later to see the rest!
New to UFLI Foundations? Learn about its development, check out a sample lesson plan, view the scope and sequence, and more.

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The UFLI Foundations Toolbox contains all the lesson resources to accompany the lesson plans provided in the UFLI Foundations manual. (Don't have a manual yet? Click here to order one) Every lesson has companion resources that will help you implement the lessons efficiently, effectively, and consistently.

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Our E-Book Library is a resource designed for teachers and families to share with their young learners.

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List of Free Decodables

The short vowels skill explainer has everything you need to teach this, including lesson plans, student practice activities, and videos of great classroom instruction.

Review of All Patterns Previously Taught

One-Syllable Magic 'e' (also known as Silent 'e') Words

Related Content

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Reading Universe | Free Decodable Texts for Each Phonics Skill

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Decodable texts are simple passages or books made for beginning readers that offer practice with specific phonics patterns.

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Science of Reading decodable books with relatable characters, memorable stories, colorful illustrations, and following a rigorous phonics progression.

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Reading Doctor | Apps for teaching kids to read and spell

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(Click on an image below to read the book)
The goal of these decodable readers is to teach children to work out words for themselves when they are reading. Children should use their knowledge of English letter-sound relationships to say the sounds in the words from left to right to decode the words.
Note that words in these books are presented to your child before your child turns the page to see the picture! This is so that they can check to see if they read the word correctly rather than relying on the picture to guess the word!
Encourage your child to work the word out using their sounds instead of guessing. If your child cannot read the word, point to the letters and say the sounds for them. If your child gets stuck on one of the tricky 'sight' words, just say, "Good try!" and tell them the tricky word!
Have fun, and don't forget to talk about the pictures! Your child's language skills will benefit from lots of discussion!

Level 1A - CVC Words
(Click on an image to read the book)

Book 1

Ant nap.
CVC Words | Students should be given this book after completing Level 1A in ReadingDoctor® Online. It should not be attempted until the letter-sound patterns and tricky 'sight' words listed above have been taught to the student. s, a, t, p, i, n, e | a, the

Book 3

A fin is on the man.
CVC Words | Students should be given this book after completing Level 1A in ReadingDoctor® Online. It should not be attempted until the letter-sound patterns and tricky 'sight' words listed above have been taught to the student. b, m, w, f, g | a, the, is

Book 4

A yak is in the jet.
CVC Words | Students should be given this book after completing Level 1A in ReadingDoctor® Online. It should not be attempted until the letter-sound patterns and tricky 'sight' words listed above have been taught to the student. v, k, x, j, z | a, the, is

Level 1B - CCVC Words
(Click on an image to read the book)

Book 6

Stan will spin the spud.
CCVC Words | Consonant blends st, sp, sn, pl | a, the, has, have, he Students should be given this book after completing Level 1B in ReadingDoctor® Online. It should not be attempted until the letter-sound patterns and tricky 'sight' words listed above have been taught to the student.

Book 7

A crab is in the pram.
CCVC Words | Consonant blends tr, bl, pr , cr, cl | a, the, is, she, he

Book 8

This frog gran will drum.
CCVC Words | Consonant blends fl, gr, dr, fr, sk, sw, br | a, the, this, is, she, he, I, you, to, was, has, have Students should be given this book after completing Level 1B in ReadingDoctor® Online. It should not be attempted until the letter-sound patterns and tricky 'sight' words listed above have been taught to the student.

More books coming soon!

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Free Decodable Readers - Reading Doctor | Apps for teaching kids to read and spell

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(Click on an image below to read the book) The goal of these decodable readers is to teach children to work out words for themselves when they are reading. Children should use their knowledge of English letter-sound relationships to say the sounds in the words from left to right to decode the words.

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Free Decodable Texts | Right to Read Initiative

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Right to Read Inquiry in an EFI Special Ed Classroom

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Literacy Learn: Includes Links to Free Decodables

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Literacy Learn: Includes Links to Free Decodables

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Hundreds of Free Decodable Readers, Books, PDFs, & eBooks

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The ultimate list of FREE Decodable Readers, texts, books, e-books & PDFs available online, compiled in a list with direct links for access.

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Dyslexia is the most common learning disability in the United States. It's not about lacking comprehension, having a low IQ or being deprived of a good education. It's about having a really hard time reading.

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10 Podcasts for Dyslexia Awareness from The Literacy Nest

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10 Podcasts for Dyslexia Awareness from The Literacy Nest

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Podcasts are a great way to incorporate media consumption into your daily life. Unlike video or reading from books, podcasts are made to be listened to "on the go". The listening format is particularly accessible for people with dyslexia and those who find themselves super busy. I enjoy listening to podcasts in the car and while exercising.

While you can find podcasts about virtually ANY topic, it is worthwhile for teachers to listen to dyslexia podcasts for two reasons.

First, they are learning more about dyslexia and how best to meet the needs of their learners.

Second, when teachers hear the words and voices of students with dyslexia or of adults about their experiences growing up with dyslexia, I think it motivates us as teachers to do better. It humanizes the statistics and gives voices to students that may not yet have the confidence or words to speak for themselves. For students, listening to these podcasts reassures them that they are not alone and gives them the tools to self-advocate.

Dyslexia awareness goes on all year long. It HAS to. Last month I published a post with 12 books with dyslexic characters you can't miss for Dyslexia Awareness Month. There was a huge response! So I started digging even deeper. I thought, "Emily, you have to do a second list." So I did! (This post contains affiliate links.)Here,...

During these strange times we live in, many of us are wearing multiple hats. Parent, employee, teacher, student, educational guide. If your child is doing hybrid or remote schooling, then it is highly likely that some adult in your household is overseeing your child's learning. For children with dyslexia and accompanying challenges, this style of...

Part of being a successful Orton-Gillingham teacher or tutor means being prescriptive. This means you tailor your Orton-Gillingham lesson plans to meet the specific needs of your struggling readers. Just as important as being prescriptive is being diagnostic. This means that based on a student's performance within a particular task, you are able to make...

Explaining Orton-Gillingham to Families It can be a challenge when talking about dyslexia and the parts of an Orton-Gillingham lesson to avoid using a lot of technical language and jargon. Many times, parents seeking tutoring services have been told their child should receive Orton-Gillingham instruction or sometimes a specific O-G based program, without really...

If you do an online search for reading interventions, your head will start to spin. The marketplace is full of products, programs and philosophies of reading. As an educator for over twenty years, I have used my fair share of different programs and products. Nothing compares to the success I have seen since I began...

I recently asked my email subscribers to participate in a brief survey about why you are thankful for Orton Gillingham. I asked, and you certainly did answer! There were so many wonderful thoughts shared about the ways in which OG has been a powerful influence on so many lives. From being a foundational part of...

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10 Podcasts for Dyslexia Awareness - The Literacy Nest

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Podcasts are a great way to incorporate media consumption into your daily life. Unlike video or reading from books, podcasts are made to be listened to "on the go". The listening format is particularly accessible for people with dyslexia and those who find themselves super busy.

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Dyslexia and Comprehension: When the Words Don’t Stick

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Is Dyslexia just about words moving on a page? What if it was more about the comprehension of letters and words the mind is processing? It can lead to getting tired easier and so much more. We dig deeper in this article.

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Featured Podcasts with a positive outlook on Dyslexia

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The Dyslexia Life Hacks Show is a podcast exploring themes around dyslexia. Each episode takes a theme and looks into how being dyslexic assist or affects a person in that situation. From dyslexia correction programs to being a lawyer and dyslexic, here is the place to find out what its like.

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This is part 2 of the Learning At The Beach series. Click HERE to read part 1.

We made it back home from our fun-filled week at the beach with buckets of shells and happy hearts. While it was a week full of fun, we also snuck in some learning. Last week, I shared how we played activities like "Beat the Wave" and "Sandy Sound Dictation." This week, I'm sharing some more activities that we played in the sand as part 2 of the mini-series, Learning at the beach.

One of the powerful reminders for us as parents and educators is that it is possible to play with a purpose. Playful learning can set the stage for enjoyable interactions, reduce the stress sometimes associated with reading, and engage students in reading tasks while still focusing on a learning objective. Here are some additional games/activities that we played at the beach. Whether you are headed to the beach this summer or spending it at home or elsewhere, you can certainly bring these activities into your...

Continue Reading...

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This is part 2 of the Learning At The Beach series. Click HERE to read part 1. We made it back home from our fun-filled week at the beach with buckets of shells and happy hearts. While it was a week full of fun, we also snuck in some learning.

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Towards a Consensus for Dyslexia Practice

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Towards a Consensus for Dyslexia Practice

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Towards a Consensus for Dyslexia Practice: Findings of a Delphi Study on Assessment and Identification

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This paper discusses the findings of a Delphi study in which dyslexia experts, including academics, specialist teachers, educational psychologists, and individuals with dyslexia, were asked for their agreement with a set of key statements about…

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The Dyslexia & Neurodiversity Blog: Supporting Struggling Readers - GoLexic

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This blog is a dedicated space where we dive into the world of dyslexia and reading acquisition. Here, we ask how we can better help children with learning differences: whether it is with dyslexia, reading struggles or neurodiversity.

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Learning to Read Is Not Enough for Dyslexics

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Dyslexia Articles - Author Don Winn Blog

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A collection of Don M. Winn’s archived dyslexia articles from this blog. Includes articles about children and adults with dyslexia.

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Untangling Dyslexia Myths and Misconceptions

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Untangling Dyslexia Myths and Misconceptions

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Persistent misunderstandings about reading struggles have impeded progress in diagnosis and treatment

Cite This Article

Sohn, E. (2024, September 1). Untangling dyslexia myths and misconceptions. Monitor on Psychology, 55(6). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2024/09/dyslexia-myths

Key points

There is no link between dyslexia and IQ.

Promising research showing the differences in dyslexic brains may lead to more objective testing and treatments.

With early and effective interventions-and absent any other disability-all children can learn to read.

When Tim Odegard was a third grader struggling to learn to read, his parents were told that his IQ score made him "too stupid" to have dyslexia, a learning disability that interferes with the ability to decipher written language. At the time, in the early 1980s, IQ scores for children who were struggling to read needed to be above a certain level for experts to diagnose dyslexia. Other struggling readers often heard instead that they weren't reading because they were lazy or stupid. Although plenty of scientific evidence has since debunked the idea that intelligence has anything to do with dyslexia, it remains one of many misconceptions about the disorder that have impeded progress in teaching children to read.

Today, studies suggest that as many as 20% of people in the United States have dyslexia, which accounts for up to 90% of learning disabilities ( Shaywitz, S. E., et al.,Current Opinion in Psychiatry, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2021). Through studies of brains, genetics, and educational strategies, scientists are better understanding causes of reading troubles. But disagreement, debate, and misunderstandings rage on about many details, including how to define dyslexia, how to diagnose it, and how best to teach reading to struggling readers. These disagreements often incorporate politics as well as science.

Nevertheless, consensus is building that dyslexia impacts mental health, interventions can boost self-esteem, and there are clear ways of improving reading abilities for most people ( Georgiou, G. K., et al., Annals of Dyslexia, Vol. 74, No. 1, 2024).

"We've come a long way in trying to raise awareness and dispel the negative stereotype of dyslexia," said Odegard, who is now a developmental cognitive psychologist and professor of psychology at Middle Tennessee State University and editor-in-chief of the journal Annals of Dyslexia. He learned the results of his third-grade IQ test after earning his PhD. "Although, that negative stereotype is still out there."

Cascading consequences

In the context of tens of thousands of years of human history, reading and writing are extremely new technologies-emerging just a few thousand years ago and becoming available to much of society far more recently than that. Our brains did not evolve to handle the task of hearing individual speech sounds, and only a small percentage of children, maybe 5%, learn to read with very little support, said Daniel Willingham, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Virginia. Those students tend to have strong oral language skills and a good ability to distinguishing between sounds, such as the difference between "big" and "pig."

How best to teach children to read has fueled decades of debate, often called the "reading wars." That debate is particularly salient for children with dyslexia, which is in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) and generally considered to be a deficit in the ability to accurately and fluently decode, or turn printed words into speech. This disconnect essentially represents a bottleneck in the process of bridging the visual system and the language system, according to Kenneth Pugh, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist at the Yale Child Study Center. "I always say if each word takes your entire soul to pull off the page," he said, "then by the time you get to the end of the sentence, you kind of forgot the beginning."

Studies indicate that dyslexia can have significant mental health consequences. Social anxiety, for one, was more prevalent in fifth-grade students who had literacy struggles in the second and third grades, compared with peers who didn't have the same challenges early on, found a 2023 study of Greek children published in a special issue of the Annals of Dyslexia on dyslexia and mental health ( Kargiotidis, A., & Manolitsis, G., Annals of Dyslexia, Vol. 74, No. 1, 2024). Children with dyslexia who also had inattention or hyperactivity, which commonly co-occur, were particularly vulnerable to social anxiety, found another study in the same issue (Annals of Dyslexia, Vol. 74, No. 1, 2024). Dyslexia has also been linked to depression and low self-esteem.

The disorder and its reverberations can affect the trajectory of a person's life dramatically. Children with learning disabilities tend to lag behind in academic achievement, and social-emotional struggles can persist into adulthood ( Schwartz, A. E., et al., Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 40, No. 2, 2021; Haft, S. L., et al., Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 56, No. 3, 2023). Dyslexia is overrepresented in prisons, according to a report by the criminal justice research firm JFA Associates, and some 70% of inmates read at or below a fourth-grade level.

Stereotypes and stigma contribute to such negative outcomes, found a 2023 review of 16 studies that considered the psychological and academic outcomes for students with learning disabilities, including dyslexia. Stigma arises from the label that characterizes a person as "different," the researchers wrote, which can play out in a variety of ways. Students might be physically separated from their peers during the school day. Teachers and parents might develop lower expectations of them, the researchers posited. And children might experience bullying from classmates while internalizing the belief that something is wrong with them. Overall, the review found that stigma contributes to low self-esteem in children with learning disabilities ( Haft, S. L., et al., Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 56, No. 3, 2023).

Still, dyslexia often goes unidentified. In a sample of close to 10,000 fourth graders in Italy, nearly 2 out of 3 students with the disorder had not been diagnosed ( Barbiero, C., et al., PLOS ONE, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2019). Despite legislation in most U.S. states that governs screening, intervention, and other dyslexia-related services, non-White students and children who go to schools with predominantly non-White populations are also less likely than others to get diagnosed via dyslexia screening programs, Odegard and colleagues found in an analysis of data from 7,947 second-grade students in 126 schools in Arkansas (Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 53, No. 5, 2020). Students attending majority-White schools, on the other hand, had access to more reading supports than other schools, found research in Boston, according to an article in the Hechinger Report, an education publication.

Those disparities reflect and likely exacerbate gaps in reading ability, studies suggest. According to 2022 data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), just 33% of fourth-grade students and 31% of eighth-grade students are at or above proficiency levels in reading. Proficiency levels were 38% for White eighth graders compared with 16% for their Black classmates. Some of those children are likely to have dyslexia and other learning disorders and would benefit from extra intervention.

The interaction of reading troubles and self-esteem troubles can have cascading consequences beginning in elementary school, when struggles with reading begin to become highly visible, said Mark Seidenberg, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist and professor of psychology who recently retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Seidenberg has studied language, reading, and dyslexia for more than 40 years and has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers on the topic. Adults with dyslexia can learn to read, but issues with confidence can begin in childhood. "By the time they are in fourth to sixth grade, if they're still failing, their motivation to continue drops off and they disengage," Seidenberg said. "The consequences of not being able to read are huge."
[Related: Treating patients with dyslexia]

Understanding dyslexia

Diagnosing dyslexia early on is important because it can make the difference in whether or not a student qualifies for school-based educational services to improve reading, Pugh said. But diagnosis can be challenging because there is no definitive test that can determine whether someone does or does not have dyslexia. Like other forms of neurodiversity, the disorder occurs on a spectrum, and diagnoses usually involve screening assessments with cut-off points and a subjective evaluation by assessors who vary in their reliance on different models of the disorder.

Meanwhile, false stereotypes still get in the way of accurate diagnoses. The idea that people with dyslexia see letters backward, for example, is a myth that has persisted and proliferated, according to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. What Odegard experienced as a child-the belief that there must be a significant difference between a child's cognitive abilities and reading abilities in order to diagnose dyslexia-has also persisted even though the standard, known as the discrepancy model, has been debunked, Odegard said.

In the search for more objective measures, some researchers are looking to the brain, where studies using MRI and EEG are showing patterns that distinguish the brain of a person with dyslexia from the brain of a person without dyslexia. Scientists have long known that multiple brain areas are involved in reading. These regions, which regulate processes like speaking and object recognition, are predominantly in the left side of the brain, in areas such as the parietotemporal and occipitotemporal regions. In people with dyslexia, studies have indicated a smaller amount of gray matter and less brain activity in these regions. Dyslexic brains also show different patterns of activation in a variety of regions while reading compared with non-dyslexic brains ( Richlan, F., Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 11, No. 155, 2020).

These patterns appear to be consistent across languages and writing systems, suggesting some universal signatures in the way the brain struggles to learn to read, Pugh said. (Although brain-imaging studies can't yet be used for diagnosis, his group and others are looking into brain-stimulating techniques that might give specific neurons a kick, especially in children with dyslexia who struggle the most.) "If you're typically developing, you develop a certain left hemisphere connection, particularly between the left occiptotemporal cortex and Wernicke's and Broca's [language areas]. They have to sort of strengthen each other and connect," he said. "In the absence of treatment, dyslexia presents very often with a failure to see that."

Genetics also plays a role in determining who develops dyslexia. Twin and family studies indicate that genes explain 40% to 60% of the risk for developing dyslexia ( Gialluisi, A., et al., Molecular Psychiatry, Vol. 26, No. 7, 2021). Multiple genes are involved, and studies are ongoing to understand the mechanisms and the ways that home and school environments influence the effect these genes have on the brain.

Richard Wagner's group at Florida State University has proposed viewing dyslexia as a spectrum of severity and acknowledging that dyslexia has many causes that can interact with each other (Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 53, No. 5, 2020). "As opposed to thinking that there's a dyslexia test or that there's a single indicator, it's a constellation of risk factors," Odegard said, "some of them being your language skills, others being aspects around you."

Overcoming reading struggles

Identifying who has dyslexia is only half the battle. Next comes the task of teaching these individuals to read. In general, studies indicate that for children with dyslexia, it is particularly important to address specific components of reading, Pugh said, including a focus on phonics, which makes the link between letters and sounds explicit.

In addition, the most successful instructional reading interventions include work on spelling, vocabulary, and connected-text reading (or reading multiple sentences that are related to each other), found a 2022 meta-analysis of 53 studies. And dose matters. For students with dyslexia or at risk for dyslexia, the study suggested that every extra hour of intervention helped improve outcomes ( Hall, C., et al., Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 2, 2023). Extra intensive and sustained instruction matters most for the 3% to 5% of children with dyslexia who struggle the most, Odegard added.

Managing stress and addressing mental health might be part of the solution, too, experts said, although research is still new and studies are small. Because anxiety is prevalent in children with learning disabilities and can interfere with learning, some experts advocate for strategies such as exercise, meditation, and mindfulness ( Tarrasch, R., et al., Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 7, No. 578, 2016). Mentoring programs that connect children with similar struggles can also reduce depression and improve self-esteem, Stephanie Haft, a clinical psychology doctoral intern at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues found in an evaluation of a program that paired elementary and middle school students who have learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with mentors in high school or college who have the same conditions (Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2019).

Instituting these approaches will require overcoming ingrained educational ideas, Seidenberg said. Instead of an explicit focus on phonics and other useful strategies, for instance, many schools continue to use curriculum known as "balanced literacy," which is based on outdated ideas that children will learn to read if you hand them books and teach them to guess at what the words are based on letter and picture clues. It can be hard to persuade teachers to change when it seems that what they have been doing has worked for most students.

Researchers are also working to overcome a long history of skepticism about dyslexia. For decades, Seidenberg said, some influential educators argued that the disorder was simply an excuse made by ineffective teachers and that every child could learn to read if they were just taught correctly. As a result, dyslexia became a "dirty word" in education. Another persistent and harmful myth, he said, is the idea that dyslexia is an advantage or "desirable difficulty" that may produce extraordinary achievement ( Odegard, T. N., & Dye, M., Annals of Dyslexia, 2024). "We need neuro-realities," Odegard said, that don't sugarcoat reality and instead "acknowledge what we really need as a community to help our children." Knowing they have dyslexia can help children understand why they are having more trouble than their peers in school, and that can be heartening, Willingham added.

Given the obstacles to change, some advocates are pushing for policies that legislate evidence-based reading interventions. "You have generations of educators who've been taught that dyslexia was a thing that was invented by people to excuse the failures of the educational system," Seidenberg said. "As opposed to, it's a condition that actually affects people."

Changing perceptions

As evidence accumulates about the most effective interventions, researchers are also gathering evidence about what makes some children resilient, even when they are at risk of dyslexia-with the hopes of boosting the same kind of resilience in others. Those factors can include social and emotional strengths and high-quality instruction early in life, wrote University of California, Los Angeles literacy researcher Maryann Wolf and colleagues in a 2023 review of the history and future of dyslexia (Annals of Dyslexia, 2024).

On the cognitive side, Haft and a colleague wrote in a 2016 article for the International Dyslexia Association, it is important to nurture oral language skills, vocabulary knowledge, and goal-setting strategies. From a social-emotional perspective, it helps to give children with dyslexia a sense of control and self-worth (see Treating patients with dyslexia).

Debate continues about whether dyslexia is associated with different ways of thinking or certain kinds of strengths. Based on anecdotal observations, people have long suggested that dyslexia is overrepresented among entrepreneurs and in creative fields. And a variety of pop culture books, including The Dyslexic Advantage, argue that understanding these differences can help people find workarounds, compensatory techniques, and useful technologies to succeed at school and in the workplace. "If you know who you are, you know how your mind works, you'll know the best way to learn," said coauthor Brock Eide in a lecture to The Lab School in Washington, D.C. "The key to success is building on your strengths."

However, many of those theories remain speculative and based on correlations, Odegard said, and run the risk of causing harm through stereotyping. "The kids I work with tell me that these myths make them feel like impostors for not having one of these abilities or ways of thinking differently," he said. For now, there are not enough data to say whether trends are real and biological, or if observations are based on "the fact that so many dyslexic kids have to fight like hell for everything, making some of them extra highly motivated," Pugh said. "There are good reasons to explore this question further."

Most studies on hypothetical strengths in dyslexia fail to acknowledge the heterogeneity of people with the learning disorder, Wolf added. "There needs to be far more and far better research on the putative strengths of individuals with dyslexia," she said. In the meantime, students with dyslexia need to know that they are as talented and intelligent as their peers, wrote Wolf and colleagues in their 2024 paper arguing for a new definition of the disorder (Annals of Dyslexia, 2024). As other studies have shown, there is no link between dyslexia and IQ, they pointed out ( Tanaka, H., et al., Psychological Science, Vol. 22, No. 11, 2011). As a difference, dyslexia becomes a disability only in the context of disabling environments.

Despite the challenges that dyslexia presents for students, structured reading programs that emphasize resilience, persistence, and self-esteem can set children up for success, Wolf and colleagues concluded. "The history of rigorous reading intervention studies in the last twenty years underscores how well we can remediate children at risk for dyslexia, regardless of their race, socioeconomic background, or IQ," they wrote. With early and effective interventions, they added, children can learn to read.

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Untangling dyslexia myths and misconceptions

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Persistent misunderstandings about reading struggles have impeded progress in diagnosis and treatment.

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As a child, Roberto Olivardia didn't enjoy reading. Processing the words on a page fatigued him. But Olivardia - now a psychologist at McLean Hospital and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School - never considered that he might have dyslexia. He remembers watching an episode of the ABC Afterschool Specials series about a boy with dyslexia who wrote words backwards. Since Olivardia's writing looked normal, he thought "that's not me.

Decades later, Olivardia witnessed his six-year-old son experiencing a similar fatigue. Only the six-year-old's was worse. "His vocabulary was off the charts, it was so extensive," Olivardia recalls, "but with reading, there was a real difference between him and other kids." Only after his son's diagnosis of dyslexia did Olivardia become aware of the condition's complexities: how misunderstood it is among parents, teachers, and doctors; how it manifests in myriad ways; and how a diagnosis can change everything.

Yet getting that diagnosis is not always easy because physicians and scientists are still putting together the many puzzle pieces of dyslexia, a language-based learning disability that affects an estimated 7 to 10 percent of the population. The condition is marked by a person's difficulty to accurately and fluently read words and to accurately decode and spell words.

Although the causes for dyslexia are complex, a main factor is a person's difficulty with phonological and phonemic awareness; that is, their ability to recognize and manipulate the spoken parts of words, which sets the stage for decoding, blending, and, ultimately, reading words. Imagine, for example, being presented a word from a language other than your native language, written using symbols or an alphabet associated with that language. It may be possible to get a sense of the sounds in the word - but remembering all of them and blending them together could be hard. Each letter would need to be deciphered, and their sounds stitched together to form a word. It's a process that can take time.

Doctors in Europe began talking about dyslexia in the nineteenth century - around the time compulsory schooling became more common. They described a curious paradox: cases of individuals who, despite being otherwise healthy, had trouble reading. In 1896 in the British Medical Journal, physician William Pringle Morgan wrote about a 14-year-old patient who he described as a bright and intelligent boy whose "great difficulty has always been ... [an] inability to learn to read."

In the ensuing decades, various hypotheses for the causes came and went. It wasn't laziness. It wasn't a vision problem. It wasn't the result of an infection. Some scientists began to suspect structural differences in the brain.

Searching for dyslexia clues in the brain is not simple. In part, that's because there isn't a single region of the brain devoted to reading. In the course of human history, reading is a relatively recent innovation. Unlike with spoken language, humans haven't evolved a natural capacity for learning to read through exposure. Instead, learning to read requires that different areas of the brain that evolved for other purposes - including vision and sound perception - be retrained to work together to recognize and interpret written words. If scientists wanted to pinpoint the basis of dyslexia, they would need to explore the many brain regions involved in reading, as well as the neural pathways connecting them.

How does the brain learn to read? This short video explains.

Another hurdle? "It's not really a disease," says Albert Galaburda , the Emily Fisher Landau Professor of Neurology, Emeritus, at HMS. When Galaburda began searching for brain evidence of dyslexia back in the 1970s, advanced imaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were not yet available; instead, researchers studied postmortem brains. And since people didn't typically die of dyslexia, it was rare to find a donated brain linked to a recorded case of the condition.

In 1979, Galaburda found an exception: a donated brain from a young man who had fallen through an elevator shaft to his death because his dyslexia prevented him from reading a cautionary sign. In one of the first studies exploring anatomical brain differences in people with dyslexia, published in Annals of Neurology in 1979, Galaburda and a colleague highlighted some interesting patterns that he would later also find in brains of other dyslexic people, including unusual symmetry between the two hemispheres and anomalies in the development of the cortex. Along with his mentor, Norman Geschwind, MD '51, Galaburda's work raised myriad associations for researchers to test, such as links between dyslexia and autoimmune disorders or levels of sex hormones.

"Geschwind and Galaburda were among the first ones thinking about a multifactorial model - looking at all the different factors that sort of work together to cause atypical reading development," says Nadine Gaab, an associate professor of pediatrics at HMS and a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Clues found in the developing brain

By the time Gaab began her own research into dyslexia in 2007, new neuroimaging techniques were available for researchers to examine the brains of children living with dyslexia or those who had a familial risk for the condition - that is, a biological parent or sibling with dyslexia. At that point, "we knew a lot about how the brain of a person with dyslexia differed in activation patterns and different tasks," Galaburda says. But an important question remained: Did dyslexia cause these differences, or did these differences cause dyslexia?

Gaab focused on answering this question. An MIT research group she was a part of focused its study on one white matter tract called the arcuate fasciculus, or the "the arc," which connects key brain areas involved in reading: those related to vision and sound processing at the back of the brain and the inferior frontal gyrus, an area responsible for comprehension and meaning. In a subsequent longitudinal study in which the brains of kindergartners were scanned, Gaab and colleagues demonstrated that children who had lower phonological processing skills, a risk factor for dyslexia, also had smaller arcs.

Nadine Gaab

After identifying that link, Gaab and colleagues set out to learn when these differences emerge. They compared brain scans from children with a familial risk for dyslexia with those from children without the familial risk and found that children at risk for the condition showed differences in the arc even before beginning formal schooling. Moreover, the rate of the structure's development was slower among those who later developed poor reading skills regardless of familial risk. To the researchers, this suggested that some children began kindergarten with brains that were less well equipped for learning to read.

To explore how early these differences emerged, the researchers examined the brains of participants who had thus far been largely neglected in dyslexia studies: babies. Their initial study, published in Cerebral Cortex in 2017, found that infants of parents who had struggled with reading showed alterations the arc compared to infants of parents who hadn't struggled to read. In subsequent studies, they observed a link between these alterations and phonological processing and oral language skills in kindergarten. They also found that the microstructure of the arc can be shaped by lifestyle factors, such as how early and often a child is read to.

We now know that some kids who step into kindergarten on their first day, with their little backpacks, have a heightened risk for struggling with learning to read.

While the arc is only one of several brain areas exhibiting differences in people with dyslexia, Gaab's findings have provided an impetus for action. In addition to linking risk factors for dyslexia to specific parts of the brain, her work shows that some of these risks can be inherited. And the findings indicate that while genetics matter, environment can matter, too. Perhaps more important, they suggest that risk factors for dyslexia exist early - very early. "We now know that some kids who step into kindergarten on their first day, with their little backpacks, have a heightened risk for struggling with learning to read," Gaab says. "That's a really important distinction in terms of policy and how early we should find these kids and intervene."

The value of early intervention

Despite so many children already at risk before starting school, U.S. school systems tend to identify children with dyslexia only after it's clear that something is wrong - at around nine or ten years old. Gaab, who describes herself as a "translational neuroscientist," has become a tireless proponent of early intervention. She advocated for a new Massachusetts law that was signed by the governor in 2018, requiring screening for dyslexia for children in kindergarten. And she's been developing a tablet-based tool that can be used to screen children for reading problems as early as age four. This latter tool is especially useful because fMRI data, while good for exploring overall patterns of brain differences between groups, is impractical in educational contexts and does not have the sensitivity and specificity necessary to identify at-risk children.

Gaab hopes that pediatricians - who often screen for autism and ADHD - will adopt dyslexia risk screening, too. "We embrace preventive medicine; we get mammograms and checkups to identify risk factors and try to address them so that we don't get sick," she says. "That's the same idea with dyslexia, to find at-risk kids early and intervene early, so that they never develop problems with reading. We call it preventive education."

Dyslexia itself is not hazardous to anyone's health. It really is the fact that they're not being identified, they're not being diagnosed, and they're not getting the services that they need.

Proper early identification is key, adds Gaab, because studies indicate that 50 to 90 percent of at-risk readers can reach average levels of performance with targeted instruction, and that interventions are more effective in kindergarten and first grade than later on.

According to Olivardia, children who are never identified, or who live in communities without access to these interventions, might get lumped into generic remedial reading classes. But if their instruction isn't tailored to dyslexia, "it's as if you don't understand the language someone is speaking, so they just speak louder," he says. "You're like, that doesn't help me at all."

Early intervention does more than help get reading levels on track. Children with dyslexia are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. But that's not due to differences in their brains; it's because in our society, literacy is key to academic and workplace success. "Dyslexia itself is not hazardous to anyone's health," says Olivardia, whose private psychotherapy practice specializes in treating children with learning disabilities. "It really is the fact that they're not being identified, they're not being diagnosed, and they're not getting the services that they need."

Education provides perspective

Olivardia understands the importance of reframing dyslexia for his patients. He talks to them about the many successful people who are thought to have had dyslexia - from Einstein to Picasso to British business magnate Richard Branson - and stresses his own observations that people with dyslexia exhibit above-average creativity and entrepreneurial skills. Research backs this up: A 2009 study in found a prevalence of dyslexia three times higher among entrepreneurs than people in the general population, while a higher prevalence of dyslexia has also been identified among students who pursue art or engineering. Other research points to a superior ability to connect unusual combinations of ideas among people with dyslexia.

Olivardia also draws from his experience parenting a child with dyslexia. Following his son's diagnosis, they practiced role-playing conversations with teachers and peers about the learning disability. One day, a few weeks after diagnosis, Olivardia's son was given lyrics to read in music class, but his dyslexia was so severe at that point that he couldn't read the words at all.

Olivardia's son asked a classmate to sit and sing along with him. The girl, confused, asked him why he couldn't read. Instead of shrinking away, he calmly explained that his brain was just different - and pointed out that Tom Cruise has the same thing. "She was like, oh, OK, and that was it," Olivardia says. "And he sat next to her. And when I picked him up, he said, 'Dad, it was a great day.'"

"There's a lot of hope in a label and a name," Olivardia adds. "It gives parents, teachers, and doctors the opportunity to emphasize that these kids' brains are wired differently - but that different does not mean they are defective."

Molly McDonough is the associate editor of Harvard Medicine
Images: John Soares (Olivardia); courtesy of Anna Olivella and the Harvard Brain Science Initiative (Gaab)

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Research on dyslexia is identifying the many factors - neural to societal - that are linked to the condition

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Dyslexia Support and Evidence-based Resources | National Center on Improving Literacy

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Evidence-based information about dyslexia for parents and educators from The National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL).

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Brain Scans Show Dyslexics Read Better with Alternative Strategies

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Brain Scans Show Dyslexics Read Better with Alternative Strategies

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Dyslexia the Gift | Davis Dyslexia Association International

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Brain Scans Show Dyslexics Read Better with Alternative Strategies | Dyslexia the Gift

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Research shows that dyslexic readers use different neural pathways than typical readers, improving through use of right brain regions.

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Understandings and Misunderstandings About Dyslexia: Introduction to the Special Issue

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Understandings and Misunderstandings About Dyslexia: Introduction to the Special Issue

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Welcome to dese.mo.gov. We hope you enjoy the site, and we welcome your feedback.

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The Dyslexic Advantage (Revised and Updated)

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Amazon.com: The Dyslexic Advantage (Revised and Updated) (Audible Audio Edition): Brock L. Eide MD MA, Fernette F. Eide MD, Tristan Morris, Tantor Audio: Books

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16 Dyslexia Success Stories from Real Families From EDUBLOX Online Tutor

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16 Dyslexia Success Stories from Real Families From EDUBLOX Online Tutor

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Edublox Online Tutor | Development, Reading, Writing, and Math Solutions

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Most dyslexia success stories in the press are of famous people who have been successful despite dyslexia. Our students aren't renowned. They are ordinary people who overcame or are in the process of overcoming dyslexia symptoms.

The importance of reading

Reading is the skill by which students get information from books, computers, worksheets, and boards to learn math, science, literature, social studies, and more. As much as 85 percent of the curriculum is taught by reading. Therefore, children who are not reading on grade level by the end of third grade struggle in every class, year after year. The struggling reader at school usually continues to struggle into adulthood.

Dyslexia is a common cause of reading failure. Dyslexia is a reading disability and refers to persons for whom reading appears beyond their grasp. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (5th edition), dyslexia is a specific learning disability not caused by any profound sensory, neurological and intellectual disorders or socio-cultural factors.

Dyslexia cannot be treated with medication. Instead, specialized help is required to treat the disorder. Below are stories of twelve children who received specialized help and overcame their dyslexia symptoms.

Dyslexia success stories that inspire

Abraham, a student with dyslexia, failed his fourth grade and did not improve for two years. His mother read about the Edublox system and gave it a try. His improvement was remarkable, going on to eventually earn a master's degree at university.

In the video, a mom shares her journey of helping her son beat the symptoms of visual dyslexia. Visual dyslexia is a subtype that refers to children who struggle with reading because they have problems remembering and discriminating visual gestalts. Synonyms are surface dyslexia, dyseidetic dyslexia, and orthographic dyslexia.

In 2015, Maddie was diagnosed with dyslexia. This diagnosis was changed to severe dyslexia in 2016, and diagnoses of moderate dyscalculia and ADHD were added. On top of that, Maddie's Full Scale IQ score was 81, which is in the Low Average range. Three years of treatment yielded little results. Finally, in February 2018, Maddie embarked on the Edublox program. Her IQ score increased to 103, and she improved by 54 percentiles in reading.

Amy was diagnosed with severe dyslexia and dyscalculia. She got so behind in school that her parents started homeschooling her. She also started with Edublox's live online tutoring. Amy overcame many obstacles. Her reading improved from being unable to read to reading in the 46th percentile when tested on the 8th-grade level. Her mom, Sandy, shares Amy's progress over a period of three years.

Vivienne is an 11-year-old American girl adopted from China at age five. Her mother, Susan, tried many avenues to help Vivienne catch up on her developmental delays. While progress was made in certain areas, Vivienne's academics continued to lag. They embarked on the Edublox program, and in 13 weeks, Vivienne learned more than she had in her entire life.

After her daughter's dyslexia diagnosis in 4th grade, Elize recalled hearing about Edublox on the radio and went for training to help her. Marie-Louise passed 12th grade with four distinctions, passed her BA degree in Social Work with good marks, and is pursuing her MA degree in Social Work.

A developmental optometrist contacted Edublox and requested help for his 9-year-old patient who struggled with dyseidetic dyslexia - also called orthographic dyslexia and surface dyslexia. Rief, the patient, improved from the 34th to the 60th percentile in reading. His grades are outstanding.

A mother in Fullerton, United States, shares her dyslexic daughter's progress after two weeks on the Edublox program. Her daughter started to love reading, and her handwriting improved overnight. Four years later, her daughter is in her first year of high school and honors English and geometry, and AP (Advanced Placement) History.

Hannah was diagnosed with severe dyslexia. Follow her progress after starting Edublox, as witnessed by an occupational therapist, her mom, and a remedial practitioner. She has made "excellent and pleasing improvement in areas of sensory motor function as well as visual perception" and "remarkable progress in terms of her academic and emotional development."

Jeremie, a boy in Canada, had been struggling to learn to read and write since kindergarten. This took a big toll on his self-esteem. Then, in Grade 2, Jeremie was diagnosed with dyslexia. After testing various dyslexia methods that failed to help, Jeremie's mom, Laura Trudel, heard about Edublox. After only three weeks, Jeremie began to show progress.

Anne, a girl in Hertz, UK, was showing dyslexia symptoms. She scored one year behind the average for reading on a national standard assessment test. After Edublox, Anne scored a reading age of 10.02 years against a chronological age of 9.6.

Preneil was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of thirteen. The diagnosis caused his self-esteem to suffer and filled his mom with anger, annoyance, sadness, and despair. After Preneil failed English, his mom discovered Edublox. His Language Arts score improved by 21%, he achieved an A in math and was allowed to enter university.

Edublox offers specialized help for children with dyslexia

Edublox is an educational method that integrates cognitive training with reading or math tutoring and solid learning principles. Edublox offers live online tutoring to students with phonological and orthographic dyslexia - mild, moderate, and severe.

Edublox assists students to become life-long learners and empowers them to realize their highest educational goals. While Edublox is not a quick fix, its use can permanently alleviate the symptoms of learning disabilities like dyslexia and dyscalculia.

Book a free consultation to discuss your child's learning needs.

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12 Dyslexia Success Stories of Children and Students - Edublox Online Tutor

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Twelve children who overcame dyslexia symptoms and how their parents helped them do it.

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Teaching Phonological Awareness - Dyslexia Help

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be able to distinguish between phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics. learn the difference between these terms, and receive actual exercises for addressing phonological awareness skills with your students. How to Teach Phonological Awareness
Just like phonics skills, there is a developmental sequence to teaching phonological awareness skills. Teaching phonological and phonemic

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Reading Rockets - Phonemic Awareness Instruction

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Reading Rockets - Phonemic Awareness Instruction

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National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

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Alphabetics is a term for the letter-sound elements of learning to read, including phonemic awareness and phonics. In this summary, find out what practices for teaching alphabetics have been proven effective by research.

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Reading Rockets - Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines

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Reading Rockets - Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines

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Research-based guidelines for teaching phonological awareness and phonemic awareness to all children are described. Additional instructional design guidelines are offered for teaching children with learning disabilities who are experiencing difficulties with early reading.

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14 Phonemic Awareness Activities for Students

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14 Phonemic Awareness Activities for Students

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14 phonemic awareness activities for students

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Phonemic awareness activities can help kids of all ages build their phonemic awareness. Dive into 14 of our favorites!

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Fun Phonological Awareness Activities for Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade

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Fun Phonological Awareness Activities for Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade

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Phonological awareness is an essential skill, without which students cannot become strong, independent readers. The Science of Reading identifies phonological awareness as one of the critical elements of reading, along with phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.

However, because phonological awareness primarily deals with spoken language, rather than written language, it can be challenging to find classroom-friendly activities that provide students with engaging, targeted practice with this foundational skill.

Luckily, we've collected 50 of our favorite phonological awareness activities in one guide! These ready-to-use activities are the perfect addition to any kindergarten, first grade, or second grade classroom.

Complete the short form on this page to access your free copy of 50 Fun Phonological Activities for the full list of activities, or keep reading to see 15 sample activities from the guide.

What is phonological awareness?

At a high level, phonological awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the sounds in the spoken language.

Broken down into more detail, phonological awareness encompasses five key skills:

Word Awareness: Understanding that sentences and phrases can be broken down into individual words; counting words in a sentence or phrase

Rhyme awareness: Identifying and later producing words that rhyme

Syllable awareness: Dividing a word into its component syllables; counting syllables in a word; manipulating syllables

Onset and rime awareness: Identifying words that start (onset) or end (rime) with the same sound, often practiced via alliteration

Phonemic awareness: The term phonemic awareness comprises six discrete skills

What is phonemic awareness?

Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds (or phonemes) in words. Phonemic awareness is part of the larger category of phonological awareness.

Phonemic awareness describes six distinct skills:

Isolation: Identifying the specific phonemes within words

Segmenting: Dividing a word into its component phonemes

Blending: Combining sounds to form syllables or words

Deletion: Removing a phoneme from a word

Addition: Adding a phoneme to a word

Manipulation or substitution: Replacing one phoneme in a word with another phoneme

Try these fun phonological awareness activities!

1. Word Awareness: Clap Along

Before children can start identifying the sounds in words, they need to be able to divide sentences and phrases into individual words.

One fun activity is to have students clap once for each word in a sentence. Start by speaking a simple sentence out loud, such as " He walks." Clap as you say each word. Then model the activity again, this time with a longer sentence such as " He walks to school. "

Now have students practice by clapping once for each word as you speak simple sentences out loud.

Tip: Make this more motivating for children by using their names in the sentences. For example, "Jayden waves to his friend." or "Kali rides her bike."

2. Rhyme Awareness: Rhyme Match

For this, you will need picture cards with common animals and objects on them, such as bat, cat, can, fan, man, pan. Show the cards one at a time and identify the word each picture represents.

Now, hold up two picture cards at the same time. Say the words out loud or have the students say the words out loud. Ask students to stand up if the words rhyme, or sit down if they do not rhyme. Repeat until you have gone through all card combinations.

3. Rhyme Awareness: Stand and Rhyme

You will need one set of picture cards for this activity. One at a time, hold up a picture card. Have students stand if they can think of a word that rhymes with the word represented by the picture card.

Ask a student who stood up to share the rhyming word they thought of. Tell students to sit down if the word shared was the rhyming word they thought of, but remain standing if they thought of a different rhyming word. Have students share rhyming words one at a time until the entire class is sitting, then repeat the activity with a new picture card.

Tip: If a student provides a rhyming nonsense word, explain: "That word rhymes, but it is a silly word! It doesn't have a meaning that we know."

4. Syllable Awareness: Syllable Sort

Kids can do this activity independently or in pairs. Provide a set of picture cards representing one-, two-, and three-syllable words such as ball, baseball, basketball, sun, sunset, bag, banana, pan, potato. Have children sort the picture cards into piles based on how many syllables each word has.

5. Onset and Rime Awareness: Lost Beginnings

Explain to children that you found a bunch of words that are missing their beginning sounds. Can children find beginning sounds that will make these words complete again? Practice with the following onsets (example answers provided in parentheses):

6. Phonemic Awareness - Isolation: Initial Sound Sort

Separate students into pairs or small groups, and give each group a set of picture cards for simple three-phoneme words. Explain to students that they will first say the name of each picture card, and then identify the beginning sound in each word.

Next, working as a group, students will sort the picture cards according to their initial sounds. For example, map, man, and mug should together be in one pile, and pan, pig, and pen should be in another pile.

Tip: Use this activity to practice medial and final sounds, too!

7. Phonemic Awareness - Isolation: Medial Sound Match

Identifying medial sounds can be more challenging for children than identifying initial sounds, so it can be beneficial to give children extra practice with this skill. In your classroom, display picture cards: pan, men, wig, hot, and mug. Work with children to identify the medial sound of each word: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/.

Now, one by one, give each student a new picture card, such as fan. Help the student sound out the word, and then ask the student to identify the middle sound in the word. Have the student stand next to the displayed picture card with the same middle sound (so the child holding the fan picture card should stand next to the displayed pan picture card).

8. Phonemic Awareness - Isolation: Final Sound, Activate!

Explain to children that they are on the hunt for the final sound /k/, like in duck. You are going to say a list of words out, and if the word ends with the final sound /k/, the children should act out that sound. (Remind children to stay in their own spaces as they act out words.) If the word does not end with the final sound /k/, children should remain still.

One by one, say the following action words: walk, hop, sit, look, write, shake, bake, stand, run.

9. Phonemic Awareness - Segmenting: Team Sound

Divide the class into three teams: Beginning, Middle, and Ending. Say a three-phoneme word such as pen or duck. Ask Team Beginning to pronounce the beginning sound, then have Team Middle pronounce the middle sound and Team Ending pronounce the ending sound. After several rounds, mix up the teams so students have to listen for sounds in different word positions.

10. Phonemic Awareness - Blending: Simon Says Blend

Tell students that you're going to play a special version of Simon Says. Instead of telling them what to do, Simon is going to sound out the commands! For example, you'll say: "Simon Says /s/ /i/ /t/" and students will need to blend the sounds. Once they have blended the sounds into a new word, they should act out the word (sit). (Remind children to stay in their own spaces as they act out words.) Use commands like hop, spin, swim, run, look, eat.

11. Phonemic Awareness - Addition: Sound Thief

Tell children that a thief came in and stole the /t/ sound from a group of words, and you need their help restoring the /t/ sound to these words! Ask children to help you decide if the /t/ sound should be added to the beginning or end of each word. One by one, go through the following words: pan (pant), ten (tent), rain (train), rap (trap), in (tin), win (twin), car (cart), and rim (trim).

Tip: Add extra challenge by including words where the /t/ sound could be added to the beginning or end of a word. For example, an (tan / ant) and are (art, tar).

12. Phonemic Awareness - Deletion: Beanbag Toss: Remove /s/

Explain to children that they're going to practice removing /s/ from the beginning of words. When a child catches the beanbag, you're going to give them a word, and they will remove the /s/ from the front of that word. The child can then (gently) toss the beanbag to another child. For this activity, use: slow (low), slip (lip), sand (and), seat (eat), snap (nap), sold (old), stop (top), spin (pin), span (pan), slap (lap), scan (can), sink (ink), self (elf), scar (car), spot (pot), and spit (pit).

Tip: Reinforce vocabulary by having children discuss the meaning of each word. Explain any words students are not familiar with.

13. Phonemic Awareness - Addition & Deletion: Concentration

For this game, you will need pairs of picture cards where a phoneme has been removed or added, such as leg and egg, deer and ear, mice and ice, pot and spot, lip and clip. Put children in pairs, then have partners play "Concentration" by turning over two cards and making matches when they find two words where one word in the pair is made by adding a sound to the beginning of the other word in the pair. When children make a match, they keep the cards. When they don't, children return the cards where they were, facedown. Play continues until children have matched all the cards.

Tip: You can also plan this game with final phonemes, using words like car and cart, bell and belt, bee and bead, ten and tent, pass and past.

14. Phonemic Awareness - Manipulation & Substitution: Backwards Words

Oh no! You had a list of words, but somehow the sounds in your words have been put together backwards. One by one, ask children to help you sound out each word, then put the word back together in the reverse order. Practice with these words: tab / bat, sick / kiss, pit / tip, lime / mile, pack / cap, pot / top, sale / lace, tell / let, back / cab, net / ten, feel / leaf.

15. Phonemic Awareness - Manipulation & Substitution: Word Creation

Give students a starting word, such as pan. Put students in small groups and ask them to work together to come up with as many new words as possible by changing one sound in the starting word. For example, pan can become ban, can, fan, man, ran, tan, van (initial phoneme substitution), pen, pin, pun (medial phoneme substitution), and pad, pack, pal, pat (final phoneme substitution).

Tip: Reinforce phonics by having students write down the new words. Depending on students' skill level, accept approximate spellings.

Ready for more phonological awareness activities, games, and fun?

Be sure to complete the form at the top of this page to get your free copy of 50 Fun Phonological Awareness Activities!

You can find even more activities - plus interactive digital practice, educational games, articulation videos, and so much more - in Savvas Essentials™: Foundational Reading, a new supplemental program designed just for Grades K-2.

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Help students master phonological awareness and phonemic awareness with these 50 fun, free activities!

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3rd-5th Grade Phonemic Awareness Activities

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3rd-5th Grade Phonemic Awareness Activities

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3rd-5th Grade Phonemic Awareness Activities

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50 Fun Phonics Activities and Games for Early Readers

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50 Fun Phonics Activities and Games for Early Readers

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Phonics is one of the five essential components of the science of reading, along with phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Phonics activities help young learners break words into their constituent sounds so they build their literacy skills, bit by bit. Here are some of our favorite ways to teach these key skills.

1. Sing a phonics song

Singing songs is such a fun and effective way to learn! Kids will love to watch and sing along, and might not even realize they're learning along the way.

Learn more: 15 Phonics Songs for Kids at We Are Teachers

2. Color in the beginning sounds

Most kids start learning phonics by mastering the beginning sounds of words. Have kids color in the words that start with the matching sound on these cute and free worksheets.

Learn more: Beginning Sounds Coloring Pages at The Measured Mom

3. Use Google Slides

Google Slides has tons of fun phonics activities kids can use in the classroom or at home.

Learn more: 18 Interactive Google Slides for Teaching Phonics and Sight Words at We Are Teachers

4. Hang phonics anchor charts

When it comes to phonics, there's a lot to learn. Post anchor charts around the room to help kids remember important rules like silent E, vowel blends, and hard and soft C and G.

Learn more: 20 Perfect Anchor Charts for Teaching Phonics and Blends at We Are Teachers

5. Build words with a chart of beginning sounds

Grab this free printable chart and print out copies for your students to use with their phonics activities. There's a version for rimes too.

Learn more: Beginning Sounds Chart at This Reading Mama

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6. Learn digraphs with clip wheels

Combine fine motor skills practice with phonics work with these free beginning digraph wheels. Tip: Add small dots on the back to mark the right answers so kids can self-correct their work.

Learn more: Digraph Wheels at Playdough to Plato

7. Slap the letter sounds

Sounding out words letter by letter is a lot more fun when you slap each letter with a flyswatter! This is a great idea for active learners.

Learn more: Letter Sound Slap at Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

8. Walk the word

This one will also keep active learners moving and happy! Write words in sidewalk chalk, then walk (or hop or skip) along them, sounding the word out along the way. Simple but fun!

Learn more: Gross Motor Phonics Game: Walk the Word at Coffee Cups and Crayons

9. Fill in the missing letters

This active game combines a scavenger hunt with phonics! Hide sticky notes around the room with various vowels. Then, write CVC words with the vowels missing. Have kids hunt for the missing sounds and fill them in. Fun!

Learn more: Missing Sounds Reading Activity at Busy Toddler

10. Just swap one letter

As students move from box to box, they change one letter to make the new word represented by the picture. They might need to change the first, middle, or last letter, so it's a real challenge!

Learn more: Just Swap One at This Reading Mama

11. Make magic spoons

Pick up a pack of plastic spoons at the dollar store, then use them to practice building words by combining beginning sounds with word endings.

Learn more: Activities To Teach Phonics and Math at Education to the Core

12. Toss and blend with plastic cups

Grab a stack of plastic cups and some Ping-Pong balls for this fun phonics game. Label the cups with different letter blends and set them out (tape them down if they tend to fall over). Kids toss a ball into a cup, then come up with a word that uses that letter blend to earn a point.

Learn more: Toss and Blend at Education.com

13. Flip the pages

Divide the pages of a small notebook into thirds, then write letters on each page. Flip them to form new words.

Learn more: Phoneme Substitution Activities at Tickled Pink in Primary

14. Mix and match cups to make words

If you've still got some cups left over, label them with more letters or letter blends, then use them to mix and match words. This is an especially fun way to work on CVC and sight words.

Learn more: CVC Cups at Inspired Elementary

15. Hack pool noodles into phonics tools

This has got to be one of our favorite phonics activities. Cut a pool noodle into pieces and label it with letters. Then stack and spin for learning fun!

Learn more: Pool Noodle Phonics at We Are Teachers

16. Spin and rhyme

Here's a different spin (pun intended!) on Pool Noodle Phonics. All you need is a cardboard tube, a wire pants hanger, scissors, and a marker to make this fun DIY rhyming activity.

Learn more: Spin and Rhyme at No Time for Flash Cards

17. Make some phonics cubes

Slide the free printable inserts into a set of photo cubes, then roll until you get the correct combination of letter and word ending.

Learn more: Phonics Cubes at This Reading Mama

18. Use paint stirrers to make word pull-outs

These clever phonics tools are easy to make using paint stirrer sticks and paper towel tubes. Simply slide the stick in and out to make new words!

Learn more: Word Family Pull-Out Activity at I Can Teach My Child

19. Play a flip-top phonics game

If you go through packages of wipes like most parents do, you'll appreciate this idea. Save the flip tops and use them for DIY phonics activities.

Learn more: Flip Top Phonics Games for Kids at No Time for Flash Cards

20. Use a pocket chart for phonics activities

Here's another reason teachers love pocket charts: They're great for phonics centers. Sort and match cards to practice beginning sounds, blends, short and long vowels, and so much more.

Learn more: Short A Activities and Resources at Miss Giraffe's Class

21. Compete at Blends and Digraphs Bingo

Every kid loves a good game of bingo! Snag these free printable bingo cards and use them to practice blends and digraphs.

Learn more: Blends and Digraph Bingo at The Measured Mom

22. Toss some phonics water balloons

This one almost seems too fun to count as learning! Tape up beginning sounds, then toss water balloons to complete the words.

Learn more: Water Balloon Phonics at Mess for Less

23. Race to the Top with blends and digraphs

Play this free printable game to practice consonant blends. Toss a chip onto the board and say that word out loud. Then move the counter for the correct blend up one space. First to the top wins!

Learn more: Blends and Digraphs Games at This Reading Mama

24. Try locks and keys to learn phonics

This self-correcting phonics activity is also a good way to practice fine motor skills ... and a lot of fun to boot! Label keys with beginning sounds and locks with word endings, then match them up and try the key to see if you're right.

Learn more: Unlock and Learn Game at We Are Teachers

25. Play Phonogram Connect 4

Draw a word card and find an open phonogram slot on the board. Your goal is to get four in a row!

Learn more: Phonogram Connect Four at Mrs. T's First Grade Class

26. Teach them the Soft C & G Chant

Simple little chants like this will help kids remember some of those confusing language rules. Pair it with other favorites like " I before E, except after C."

Learn more: Soft C and G at This Reading Mama

27. Mix, color, and spell

We can't get enough of games that reinforce CVC words with short vowels-it's such an important early literacy skill! Practice identifying and distinguishing between vowels by coloring in the middle sound from pictures of CVC words.

Learn more: Teaching CVC Words at Susan Jones Teaching

28. Write the Room: Digraphs

Use this fun little letter scavenger hunt to move around the room to search for pictures with digraphs. First, mark the ones you find with a dot marker and then use another sheet to write the digraphs.

Learn more: Beginning Digraphs Write the Room at ABC's of Literacy

29. Use disappearing ink for letter formation

One of the first keys to early reading success is letter identification and formation. Keep it fresh by using "disappearing ink" (aka water) so students have to trace letters multiple times to prevent them from disappearing too fast. With so few materials and such high engagement, what's not to love?

Learn more: 3 Simple Play-Based Phonics Activities at Research and Play

30. Do word sorts

Word sorts are great for comparing word patterns that make the same sound, like vowel teams. They can also help reinforce so many different phonics skills, making them the perfect activity that can be easy differentiated for learners of all stages.

Learn more: Using Word Sorts for Phonics Instruction at Mrs. Winter's Bliss

31. Roll and Read

Roll a die and read the word from the corresponding column. Play with a partner or do it solo by coloring in the words as you read them.

Learn more: Lesson 79 Roll and Read at UFLI. While you're there, check out the UFLI free lesson resources, which include decodable passages and games for almost every phonics skill!

32. Roll letter dice

A perfect DIY idea for old blocks! Use three blocks and write consonants on two of them and vowels on the other. Have some fun rolling and blending CVC words.

Learn more: DIY Phonics Games at Early Impact Learning

33. Sort syllable types

If you are teaching the different syllable types, this word sort helps students practice their knowledge of the six types and shows you what they know.

Learn more: Six-Way Syllable Sort at Florida Center for Reading Research. Also, check out the many other phonics resources available by grade level: Kindergarten and First Grade or Second and Third Grades.

Get all the latest teaching tips and ideas straight to your inbox when you sign up for our free newsletters!

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33 Fun Phonics Activities and Games for Early Readers

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Help kids learn to read with phonics activities that break words into their basic sounds, like phonemes, digraphs, diphthongs, and more.

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Teaching phonics is one of the most effective ways to help children learn how to read. A key component of the Science of Reading, phonics instruction teaches children how to correlate sounds with letters or groups of letters, empowering them to decode and encode words. Phonics instruction is essential to helping students learn how to read and write; without this foundational reading skill, students will struggle to read with fluency and comprehension.

Unfortunately, phonics instruction also has a reputation for being boring, repetitive, and dull.

The good news is that it doesn't have to be! There are a wide variety of activities that can make phonics practice fun and engaging for all learners. We've collected 50 of our favorite phonics activities for you to try in your classroom.

Whether you need phonics activities for kindergarteners that build letter recognition, phonics activities for first graders that teach decoding and encoding vowels and consonants, or phonics activities for second graders that focus on syllable and spelling patterns, you're sure to find a fun activity to integrate into your lesson planning.

Complete the short form on this page to access your free copy of 50 Fun Phonics Activities for the full list, or keep reading to see 15 sample activities from the guide.

1. Letter Labels

Post images of different animals, foods, and other objects around the room. Give students sticky notes with letters on them. Have students attach the letter sticky notes to the images whose names start with that letter (so the sticky note with the letter C would be attached to the image of a carrot).

Tip: Repeat this activity, but using final sounds (now the sticky note with the letter T is attached to the image of the carrot).

2. Go Fish!

Create a set of flash cards with the uppercase and lowercase for 8 letters (16 cards total per set). Separate students into groups of two or three, with each child receiving three cards, with the remaining cards going into the pile. Have children play Go Fish. Each child should ask another member of their group for a letter to try to make a match. If there is no match, they draw a new card from the pile to add to their hand.

3. Letter Says

Try this phonics-friendly version of Simon Says: Give each child a card with an uppercase or lowercase letter (limit to no more than 6 total, such as C, c, S, s, O, o). Give instructions based on letters: "Simon Says, if you're holding an uppercase C, touch your nose!"

Tip: For an easier version, use only uppercase (or only lowercase) letters.

4. Letter Swap

Write a word on your board, such as POT. One by one, let kids erase one of the existing letters and replace it with a new letter to form a new word. For example, POT could become COT, PIT, or POD. COT could become CAT, PIT could become SIT, or POD could become NOD. Continue until kids are unable to form new words.

Tip: Add complexity by allowing students to add or delete letters (POT could become SPOT or POST).

5. Letter Line Up

Many letters are formed with straight lines, such as A, M, and T. Create a set of uppercase letters, and challenge students to sort them according to how they're formed: only straight lines (like X and W), only curvy lines (like S and C), and a mix of straight and curvy (like B and P).

Tip: Repeat this activity with lowercase letter cards. Have kids discuss which letters only use straight lines in uppercase, but use curvy lines (or a mix of straight and curvy) in lowercase (like A / a and E / e).

6. Spelling Challenge

Get a little friendly competition going on in the classroom! Put students in small groups. Give each group the same set of letter cards (for example, a, d, g, h, i, l, r, u). Set a timer and have each group come up with as many words as they can with the provided letters. At the end, have each group read and spell their words aloud. The group with the largest number of correctly spelled words wins!

7. Vowels Up, Thumbs Up!

To help children differentiate between vowels, pick a vowel and then instruct children to put their thumbs up when they hear the vowel. For example, for short vowel o / o/, use words like pat, pot, pod, pad, sad, sod, tap, top, lot, lit. After the game, have students help you write the words on the board to reinforce spelling.

8. Silent Simon

This is a version of Simon Says that's completely silent! Create large cards with decodable action words (such as stand, sit, wave, spin) and body parts (such as hand, face, nose, chest, leg). One by one, silently display the cards. If it's an action word, students should perform the action. If it's a body part, students should point to the corresponding body part.

9. Eyes on OO!

The vowel digraph oo can be challenging for some children. Slowly read aloud a list of words, and have children form the two o's with their hands and hold them up to their eyes like binoculars when they hear the sound. For example, your list may contain ruff, roof, room, rope, hop, hoop, bat, and boot. Go through the list a second time, asking children to help you spell each word.

10. Reading Hopscotch

Use masking tape to create squares on the floor. Next to each square, place a card with a decodable word. Have children line up and play hopscotch one by one, jumping forward one square for each word they read correctly.

Tip: This is a helpful activity to strengthen students' proficiency with tricky spelling patterns, such as - le (as seen in candle, sample, table, tickle, etc.).

11. Human Syllable Bee

Have a small group of students come up to the front, and give each one a letter card. First challenge the group to spell a word with their letters. Then have one more student come to the front and give them a card with a slash on it. Have the remaining children determine where the syllable break is and direct the "slash" to stand in that position. Swap out the letter cards and repeat with a new word.

Every few words, have children change positions (between holding cards and sitting at their desks).

12. Syllable Boxes

To help students strengthen their understanding of closed syllables, give them a worksheet with a list of words with a closed syllable, such as lemon, visit, model, and topic. Have students draw a box around the closed syllable.

Tip: Include words that do not have closed syllables, such as hero and baby. Have students try pronouncing these words with closed syllables (such as her/o and bab/y) to see how silly they sound!

13. Word Bingo

Create a 4 x 4 grid. Have students write high-frequency words (such as he, be, we, go, so, no, me) in the spaces; encourage students to put the words in a random order. Then read the words aloud one by one, having students marking off a word when they hear it. When a student has a straight line marked, they have BINGO!

14. Flash Card Race

Write or print high-frequency words on a set of flash cards. Distribute one set to each student. Say a high-frequency word and challenge children to hold up the corresponding flash card as fast as they can.

15. Mystery Sentences

At the beginning of the week, display a "Mystery Sentence" in your classroom. This should be a sentence that is missing the phonics components that you will be teaching that week. For example, for the week that you are teaching diphthong ou and the vowel sound that appears in ball (spellings: aw, au, al, ough), the Mystery Sentence could be: "I s__ a sm___ m__se, and it made no s__nd. It might h__l away my lunch or put its p___s on my desk. What ___t I do?"

As the week goes on and skills are learned, fill in the missing blanks. For example, this sentence would be revealed: "I saw a small mouse, and it made no sound. It might haul away my lunch or put its paws on my desk. What ought I do?"

Ready for more phonics activities, games, and fun?
Be sure to complete the form at the top of this page to get your free copy of 50 Fun Phonics Activities!
You can find even more activities-plus interactive digital practice, educational games, articulation videos, and so much more-in Savvas Essentials™: Foundational Reading, the new supplemental K-2 curriculum. Take a quick interactive tour today to see all that Foundational Reading offers!

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Access your free copy of 50 Fun Phonics Activities for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.

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What is Phonics?

Phonics refers to the ability to learn the individual sounds in spoken language and map those sounds to specific written letters in the English language. Students who have strong phonics skills are able to connect individual sounds with letters and use those sounds to read words. ( Definition from University of Oregon)

In 3rd grade, readers will be able to read multisyllabic and irregularly spelled words. They will know the 6 syllable types and be able to apply them when they are breaking words down. Third graders can apply word analysis skills to read grade appropriate words, including using the meaning from common Greek and Latin roots and affixes.

What Does it Look Like?

What is phonics and why is it important for your child to read?

Help your child sound out a tough word.

Practice Activities

Looking for the Smaller Words: Help look for smaller words the child knows when they come to a word that is unfamiliar. This can help the child decode the unfamiliar word. For example, if the child comes to the word "exclaimed", help them cover the "ex" and "ed" revealing only "claim". Next, cover "claim" and work to decipher the other parts. Once they know each part, put the word back together and read.

Change the Meaning with Prefixes and Suffixes (Affixes): Notice when you or the child comes to a word with a prefix or suffix and pause to discuss it. Isolate the word and break it down into the base word and prefix or suffix (e.g., nonfiction is "non" and "fiction"). Talk about the meaning of the base word and the prefix or suffix (e.g., "non" means not and "fiction" means invented or imagined). Talk about how the meaning of the word changes when combined (e.g., nonfiction means not imagined). Think of other words that have the same suffix or prefix and guide your child to look for patterns in spelling and meaning. Access a list of common prefixes and suffixes here.

Making New Words: Use small pieces of paper or index cards to jot down a collection of base words (words in their simplest form) and common prefixes and suffixes. Take turns selecting a base word and then a prefix or suffix to create a new word. See how many different combinations you each can make. Discuss the meaning of each new word as they are made. Optional printable materials can be found here.

Sharing Our Writing: Consider connecting the child with a relative or pen-pal as a meaningful opportunity to practice their writing skills. This could be through email or hand-written letters. Encourage the child to add descriptive words throughout and to incorporate new vocabulary they have been learning.

Practice Activities (with Printables)
If you don't have a printer, your child's school will print these for you.
Spell and Sort with Vowel Digraphs: Use this sorting activity to identify vowel digraphs. Access printable materials here: Spell and Sort (ai, ay, ea, ee, oa, ow, and ui), Spell and Sort (ea, oa, ai, ay, oo).

Syllable Share: Play this game to make multiple words with the same syllable. Syllable Share

Map a Word: Describe that each box represents each sound (not letter) in a word. Have the child say each sound in a word and then write each sound in one box. Watch Map a Word. Map a Word

Silent Letters: Show the child a word with a silent letter (e.g., comb) and explain the b is silent because we do not hear its sound. Read more words and have the child sort the words according to whether or not there is a silent letter. Watch Silent Letters. Silent Letters

Syllable Scoops: Have the child segment and sort words according to how many syllables there are. When applicable, discuss root words, prefixes, and suffixes.Syllable Scoops

Word Spinner: Combine two word parts to make new words. Then, determine if the word is a real word or a nonsense word. Spinners can be made by placing the point of a pencil in a paperclip if brads are unavailable. Another option is to cut each of the sounds individually and use as cards. Word Spinner

Online Activities

Rough Riders: This game has players track down diamond thieves while practicing digraphs, vowel sounds, compound words, and syllables.

Vowel Team Sentence Sort: This activity allows children to sort sentences by the vowel teams included in the sentences.

Spin and Read: Practice reading words with the follow spelling patterns: ew, ue.

Multisyllabic Words: This game provides practice matching open and closed syllables to build a new word with game cards. A second game allows children to match open and closed syllables as well. A quick overview of syllable types can be found here.

Grammar Police: This game provides practice with compound words and affixes while policing the highways.

Grammar Gladiator: This game provides practice with articles, verbs, homophones, and punctuation while unleashing fireballs.

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Phonics refers to the ability to learn the individual sounds in spoken language and map those sounds to specific written letters in the English language. Students who have strong phonics skills are able to connect individual sounds with letters and use those sounds to read words.

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What is phonics?

Phonics refers to the ability to learn the individual sounds in spoken language and map those sounds to specific written letters in the English language. Students who have strong phonics skills are able to connect individual sounds with letters and use those sounds to read words. ( Definition from University of Oregon)

In 4th and 5th grades, children are combining their knowledge of letter-sound relationships, syllable patterns, and word/segment meanings to read unfamiliar multisyllabic words. They can break words into their parts and analyze each component to help them read and understand grade appropriate words.

What Does it Look Like?

Watch this fun, parody video with decoding strategies.

Spelling pattern videos are linked below. Refer to these when reading and writing.

Practice activities

Syllable Hunt: Use newspapers, magazines, and books to hunt for words with a specific syllable type with the child. List the words found and discuss the syllable types (e.g., "Look! I found table and apple to go under Consonant-le, because ta/ble and ap/ple both have consonants followed by the letters -le in the second syllable!" ). Syllable Types (optional)

Break it Down: Stop and help the child find base words when they come to an unfamiliar word. Sometimes there may be two base words, as are found in compound words (e.g., baseball, mailbox, railroad). Other times, a root word may be used and have additional beginnings or endings attached (prefixes or suffixes) that change the meaning of the word. Being able to break an unfamiliar word into its parts can help children figure out how to read the word and uncover its meaning.

Making New Words: Use small pieces of paper or index cards to jot down a collection of base words (words in their simplest form) and common prefixes and suffixes. Take turns selecting a base word and then a prefix or suffix to create a new word. See how many different combinations you each can make. Discuss the meaning of each new word as they are made. Prefixes and Suffixes (optional)

Word Building Games: Play word building board games such as Scrabble©, Boggle©, or Word Up© with the child.

Sharing Our Writing: Consider connecting the child with a relative or pen-pal as a meaningful opportunity to practice their writing skills. This could be through email or hand-written letters. Encourage the child to add descriptive words throughout and to incorporate new vocabulary they have been learning.

H, H, & H: As your child is reading or through your conversations, take notice of the three unique word types listed below. Isolate the word and discuss how variations can differ in spelling, pronunciation, and meaning.

Practice Activities (with Printables)
If you don't have a printer, your child's school will print these for you.
Four Word: Play this game by determining if words on the provided cards are derived from a set of base words. Four Word

Domino Duo: Combine various letter combinations that can make the same sound while using the domino-like cards provided. Domino Duo

Homophone Bingo: Find and match common homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings). Homophone Bingo

Syllable Score: Practice breaking apart syllables in words and recording the number of syllables. Check the child's responses with the included answer key. Syllable Score

Select Syllables: Sort the included cards into two categories, initial syllables and final syllables. Each player selects 5 cards from the initial syllable pile and 5 cards from the final syllable pattern. Then each player makes as many words as they can by combining an initial syllable with a final syllable. If desired, set a timer and challenge one another. Select Syllables

Online Activities

Rough Riders: This game has players track down diamond thieves while practicing digraphs, vowel sounds, compound words, and syllables.

Multisyllabic Words: This game provides practice matching open and closed syllables to build a new word with game cards. This similar game allows children to match open and closed syllables as well. A quick overview of syllable types can be found here.

Grammar Police: This game provides practice with compound words and affixes while policing the highways.

Grammar Gladiator: This game provides practice with articles, verbs, homophones, and punctuation while unleashing fireballs.

Prefix Popper: This game has children match a prefix to its meaning while popping balloons.

Bounce: This game has players smash boxes that contain misspelled words.

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Phonics refers to the ability to learn the individual sounds in spoken language and map those sounds to specific written letters in the English language. Students who have strong phonics skills are able to connect individual sounds with letters and use those sounds to read words.

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Hi, friends! I'm back this week chatting about a popular topic that I've been discussing with The Dyslexia Classroom Community over on Instagram. Many have reached out to me asking for strategies on building fluency. I asked the community if this is something that would be helpful, and the resounding answer was yes. In this post, I will be discussing what fluency is, how to build it, and providing you with resources to help. Reading fluency is essential to our students' success because research has found that developing it is one of the five pillars of reading instruction.

🤔 So, what is fluency?

Fluency is NOT the skill of reading fast! When we read fluently, we read words accurately and at a rate that allows proper expression, phrasing, and intonation. This ability to read well, or automatically, aids in deeper comprehension.

When students struggle to read fluently, reading comprehension can be affected. This happens because the reader exerts a great deal of cognitive energy and focus on decoding the words, resulting in limited or lost meaning.

Many struggling readers will get to the end of a paragraph, or page, with little knowledge of what was actually read. Decoding with automaticity frees up our cognitive ability to focus on the passage and task.

There are many steps to building fluent reading, moving from sound-symbol correspondence to sight word decoding to phrases and sentences. 🗣-->📖

An effective strategy to help students develop prosody (appropriate rhythm and intonation), is to take phrases from a passage/text and have students read and scoop them appropriately. Through this, reading phrases become part of our fluency practice. 🌟 🌟

The focused work on phrasing helps students shift their focus of "reading fast", to what fluency truly is; the ability to read with automaticity, expression, and accuracy to comprehend what is being read.

How Can We Build Fluency in Our Students?

Next, let's look at some strategies that you can use with your students.

⭐️ Start with the Alphabet

Using the alphabet to teach punctuation is a great way to build fluency, phrasing, and even tone with young learners. Teach students what each punctuation mark means and how your voice should sound when you encounter a punctuation mark. Practicing with the alphabet is an easy way for students to focus on punctuation while removing the cognitive load of decoding. This quick resource is one that I have used to scaffold learning for my students of all ages. Check it out here .

Once students are familiar with punctuation, or if they continue to struggle with heading periods, commas, etc., have students highlight the ending marks prior to reading. Reference to an anchor chart for what each of these marks means for fluent reading. Having students note the punctuation ahead of reading can bring attention to the writing conventions and their usage.

Solidify Sound-Letter Linkages

Solidify sound-letter correspondences by using explicit and systematic instruction. The way that our brain solidifies words is through the process of orthographic mapping. Orthographic mapping is the process we use to become successful readers. It involves linking spoken sound units to written letter representations within our language. This process also connects spelling, pronunciation, and meaning to have immediate retrieval of words and then connects this knowledge to unknown words when reading.

We don't directly teach orthographic mapping, but we explicitly teach sound-letter correspondences, which is where students begin this process. There is a wide array of how quickly this process occurs from learner to learner. Students with dyslexia will need ample opportunities to map sounds to letters, as this phonological deficit is often the primary hurdle in breaking the reading code.

Build Automaticity at the Word-Reading Level

Automaticity is the part of fluency instruction where we focus on accurate and speedy word recognition. For this reason, words are read in isolation. During this task, students are not focusing on prosody or expression, but on accurately and quickly reading words in which they have had direct teaching of the phonemes (sounds) linked to the graphemes (letter/s). Reading words with accuracy and automaticity is only one part of fluency instruction, but often the one that dyslexic and struggling readers need additional practice with.

There are several ways in which you can have students practice automaticity in word reading. Word lists, blending boards, and word reading games are all easy to implement with students. The easiest way that I have found to practice this with students is by providing students with a grid or list of 5-10 words repeated in the grid that contains the focused sound-spelling pattern within the structured literacy lesson or mixed word patterns from the text/passage. Let's chat about what this looks like.

1. Provide each student with a copy of the chart for the lesson. Students will practice reading the words for 30 seconds, while the teacher, or peer, listens to the reading. ⭐️ In therapy and intervention lessons, providing immediate, corrective feedback is necessary for this task. If a student makes an error in reading, provide the word, and have the child repeat the word and continue as the timer continues.

2. Once the 30 seconds is up, have the students count the number of words read. I have the students count all words read as long as they echoed any miscues as they were reading.

3. Have the student mark their number in the data box on the bottom right-hand side of the chart. The student does this 3-5 times within one lesson. Students will try to beat their number each time.

For your own data collection, you can multiply the number by 2 to provide you with a 1-minute timing to record for progress monitoring. I've got a FREE automaticity data recording sheet for you to download. Click here to become part of The Dyslexia Classroom Community and get access to this resource.

These automaticity charts are not intended to replace fluency instruction but to be an essential piece in bridging the knowledge of the sound-to-letter application.

Providing students with activities to practice known sounds in word reading builds fluency and automaticity. In addition, word reading charts are a hit with students who may be overwhelmed when encountering traditional word lists in therapy, intervention, or reading groups. Click the image below for a fun activity bundle that helps with just that!

Moving Students Beyond Single-Word Reading

Phrases to Build Automaticity

When we practice fluency, there is a natural rhythm in which we group words into phrases to aid in expression and meaning. This prosody, or the intonation, rhythm, and emphasis is key in fluency. Phrase reading becomes a bridge from word reading to more fluency reading. A phrase is a group of words that have meaning but does not express a complete thought. Therefore, you can explicitly teach phrasing to your students with some or all of these:

Echo Phrases

These provide students with and ear for the rhythm in our language. Many students with dyslexia struggle with this. So, following the I Do-We Do-You Do model is beneficial. Pull some phrases from a decodable text, reading passage, or even create phrases with words from the Fry or Dolch list and decodable words, such as "away with you", "have this", and "or this one". Timothy Rasinski has made many sight word phrase lists available and has many more in his book The Fluency Reader. I will blog more about what sight words are at another time (hint, it's ANY word that is read with automaticity 😉), but today we will focus on those high-frequency words found on the Fry and Dolch lists.

Research shows that all words should be mapped from their sound to the print, showing students how sound-spelling align and noting where something unexpected occurs, usually from word origin or spelling conventions. If you are interested in systematically teaching high-frequency words and mapping the sounds to the spelling, you can check out my resource or read Ehri's work on sound-spelling matings of sight words, which I have linked at the end of this post.

Scoop Phrases

Scooping phrases allows students to add a multi-sensory approach to the concept that groups of words go together, how groupings can shift meaning, and how the rhythm of the phrases builds fluent reading. Again, follow the I Do-We Do-You Do model, explicitly teach students how to scoop or make a swooping mark under each phrase. Begin with the echo phrases that you had already taught/practiced, and add this to your lesson plans. My students practice scooping lists of phrases that contain their assigned high-frequency words throughout the week. If you want to take data on the progress, you can conduct a 30-second timing like the single-word reading monitoring. Don't forget to join the community to download my Automaticity Data Form. 😉

Scooping Phrases in Sentences

Scooping phrases within sentences builds on the concept of isolated phrases and allows students to begin to transfer this knowledge to text reading. Using the I Do-We Do-You Do model, show students how scooping phrases as we read, assists in fluent reading. Using choral reading or echo reading to model this through the I Do-We Do-You Do practice of fluency work is helpful.

Scooping Phrases in a Text

If you pull phrases from a text passage, have students locate the same phrases within the main text and scoop them. This practice helps students transfer their prosody work to their repeated readings of the passage, allowing phrasing to become more automatic for the student which builds fluency.

Create Opportunities for Practice

In addition, you can have students practice scooping phrases as they are reading a passage and noting how fluency sounds. Poems, songs, and rhymes are great for modeling prosody in language both orally and in written form. Students can often hear the rhythm of the phrases in these formats, and scooping phrases in stanzas is fairly easy to do.

Play Games with Phrases

Jenga is a favorite for practicing reading phrases. Write a phrase on each Jenga block, and read away! I like to use colored wooden blocks and phrases on strips of colored paper. This allows me to use my colored wooden blocks in a lot of different ways.

Use emoji phrases or character voices. Some students really get into this one. Have a chart with different emoji faces (happy, sad, mad, silly, etc.), and have students roll or choose an emotion to read the phrase or sentence. This one is sure to get giggles from both you and your students. 😃

Use Apps for Fluency Work

One of my favorite and engaging apps to use for fluency practice is the Chatter Pix app. Kids LOVE it! 😍 Have students read words, phrases, paragraphs, etc. The app records for 30 seconds. Students can take a photo, draw a mouth on the photo, record the reading, and then playback the recording. The mouth will move along with the reading. It's a lot of fun and may even get your reluctant readers excited about fluency practice.! Click the video at the beginning of this post, to see it in action. ⬆️

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Fluency work for struggling dyslexic readers is a continuous piece of structured literacy lessons and is part of our weekly lesson. Scaffolding instruction with the strategies above, providing support and corrective feedback as needed, and gradually releasing responsibility to the student should be monitored and included within weekly lessons. Remembering that fluency comes from the ability to decode on the single-word level along with prosody, one can see how these skills are linked and for our struggling readers, explicit and systematic instruction is essential.

I hope these strategies help you support your students. Let me know how they've helped in the comments below. Don't forget to join the community to download your resources this week. You can do that . As students are building their knowledge of sound-letter relationships, we can have them build reading fluency in tandem, beginning at the word level through rapid automatic practice.

Have a great week!

Casey

Reference

Linnea, C. E. (2014). Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word reading: Spelling, memory, and vocabulary learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 5-21. https://doi.10.1080/10888438.2013.819356

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I will discussing what fluency is, how to build it, and providing you with resources to help. Reading fluency is essential to our students' success because research has found that developing it is one of the five pillars of reading instruction.

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Meyer and Felton (1999) define fluency as "the ability to read connected text rapidly, smoothly, effortlessly, and automatically with little conscious attention to the mechanics of reading, such as decoding" (p. 284).
Fluency combines rate and accuracy along with prosody. It provides "a bridge between word recognition and comprehension" (National Institute for Literacy, 2001, p. 22). A fluent reader does not need to give their attention on decoding the words. Instead, he can concentrate on what the text means and develop his comprehension skills (e.g., making connections, asking questions, etc.).

To build reading fluency there needs to be four essential components:

1. Focus on a child's oral reading by being a good model

2. Give support using various techniques-choral, recorded material, etc.

3. Provide ample opportunities for practice-repeated readings

4. Give ongoing, positive, and constructive feedback as the person reads aloud

In order for an individual to be proficient with reading he first must be able to read a word correctly before he can read it fluently. Being able to read fluently usually emerges by the middle of second grade. When a student is first learning he uses substantial effort to decode words; however, as word recognition increases the process of reading becomes easier and more automatic. The ability to read fluently is an important aspect of how the reader plans, directs, and integrates the various cognitive and linguistic strategies needed for accurate comprehension (Gaskins, Satlow, & Pressley, 2007; Wolf, 2007).

Fluency develops gradually over time and through substantial practice. At the earliest stage of reading development, students' oral reading is slow and labored because students are just learning to "break the code"-to attach sounds to letters and to blend letter sounds into recognizable words. Intervention needs to be systematic and intense. Intensity will provide the student with more exposure to print and therefore, increased opportunities to practice reading words. As skills begin to emerge in therapy they must be practiced and developed with ease. Improving reading fluency is important for improving reading comprehension. Strategies to improve reading fluency may include:

determining syllable boundaries in words,

improving reading rate by working on automaticity,

increasing sight word vocabulary, and

self-monitoring while reading.

On this website we have provided a list and brief description of various systematic programs. These can be used as a supplement to direct and systematic instruction.

Best results to improve fluency are through consistent repetition, drill, and practice. It is not difficult to target fluency everyday for short periods of time (i.e., minutes). Repeated oral reading significantly improves word recognition and fluency (i.e., speed and accuracy). Remember to practice at a level that the student is already able to decode easily. The student should feel confident and comfortable with the text selected. A good way to determine the level of material is to be able to read all of the words on a given page with minimal errors (e.g., 1-2). A good way to help motivate your student is to use material that is of interest to the student. A good way to measure progress is to use a graph and have him chart his progress so he is able to visually see improvement. Providing feedback will not only build a student's skill level, but also his self-confidence.

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Understand reading fluency and how it affects dyslexics Learn strategies to help students in individual therapy Be aware of programs and activities to integrate in therapy Meyer and Felton (1999) define fluency as “the ability to