Dyslexia -The Shut Down Learner – Book review.

A few of you have been asking me to recommend books and I thought it will be a good idea to review books for my readers.

Dyslexia - Recognizing the genius sitting next to you...

I requested one of my readers to write an article on her personal experience with dyslexics and the following is what she wrote.

Dyslexia and Meares-Irlen Syndrome

I have been reading a few articles on dyslexia where it says that some children see words jumping around thus making it difficult for children to read. Not one of my students had complained about words jumping around.

Read to your children, whatever their ages

 

One of my readers, Heidi, left this comment on an earlier article about dyslexia:

“I read to my son every night since he was a baby. He grew up to be dyslexic. He is awful with punctuation, but I never have to change his grammar or sentence structure. It is always correct. He also likes to write stories (just for years they weren’t spelled right). Now I know the reading must have really helped his correct usage of word structure, and probably his love for writing stories.”

Notice what she emphasises: even though her son struggles with spelling and punctuation, his grammar and sentence structure are consistently strong. She attributes that foundation to the years she spent reading aloud to him from infancy.

Teach your dyslexic child to read - Phonics vs Whole word

How do we read unfamiliar words?

In English, fluent reading requires both phonics and rote memorization of high-frequency words. Phonics helps us decode unfamiliar words that follow phonetic patterns. However, many English words are not phonetic, so we must memorize them.

This is why debates over which single method to use when teaching children to read English make little sense. We should use every useful tool available.

Teaching reading without phonics reduces an alphabetic language to something more like a pictorial one from ancient times. Alphabets were invented precisely to make reading simpler and to allow us to figure out unfamiliar words.

Who says dyslexic children are phonologically unaware? & Lesson 26

Many of the articles on dyslexia say that dyslexics are phonologically unaware. A little thought will clearly reveal that this statement cannot be true.

Dyslexics - Can they become writers and authors? & Lesson 25

Many people confuse difficulties in reading and the ability to write. Many of the well known writers are dyslexic. Dyslexia affects one’s ability to read and spell (in orthographically inconsistent language) but it does not affect one’s imagination and creativity.

Dyslexia and iPhone & Lesson 24

Recently there has been a lot of articles on dyslexia and iPhones. A dyslexic had said that he could read easier on an iPhone and that has triggered many articles on how iPhones can help solve the problems of a dyslexic.

Headmistress agrees with advice given on dyslexia.

For those of you who have not read my article in the local papers on 18.4.2010 - Daily Express - you may read it here:The Daily express.

The Pygmalion effect & Lesson 22

Encouragement and expectation
The power of expectation cannot be overestimated. It is well known and has been called the Pygmalion effect. Your expectations of your student is a key factor in how well he performs in his school work.

Phonics and Lesson 21

Sounds represented by the letter O

O as in oat, obey, old and over.

O as in object, occupy, offer and office.

O as in onion.

O as in ooze

O as in orchard, orchid, order and orchestra.

For lesson 21 click here :

Phonics and lesson 20

Sounds represented by the letter “I”

I as in idea, iron, island and item.

I as in ignorant, ill, improve and in.

I as in irk

Note: I regret I was unable to post my article last Wednesday as I was out station. Similarly I will also be out station for a week from first of May.

For lesson 20 click here :

Phonics & Lesson 19

Sounds represented by the letter e

E as in each, eel, equal and evil.

E as in earn, early, earth and err.

E as in ebony, echo, elbow and elephant.

E as in eight, eighteen and eighty.

E as in elastic, elect, enough and erupt.

E as in either

E as in ewe.

For lesson 19 click here :

Phonics and Lesson 18

Sounds represented by the letter ‘U’.

U as in umbrella, under, up and ugly.

U as in uniform, unit, urine and use.

U as in urban, urchin and urge.

For today’s lesson click here:

Phonics & lesson 17

Different sounds represented by the letter “A”

It is best to explain to a dyslexic child the sounds represented by each letter in the English alphabets as and when you come across it when reading. This way he will not be confused as to why the letter “A” was pronounced one way at an earlier date and now pronounced another way.