Dyslexia Scotland Home Page
The human brain is a powerful learning
machine; success in any activity is rewarded by a flood of chemicals which
produce a ‘feel good factor’ - and that’s addictive. Harnessing this
mechanism to ensure that all children frequently experience success means they
will become keen and enthusiastic learners with the confidence to engage in new
and challenging tasks. The converse is equally true; where children experience
recurring failure, they will learn to dread new learning, feel inadequate and
seek to develop ways of avoiding tasks where their failures might be revealed.
This is particularly pertinent for children with Dyslexia for, although we live
in a world increasingly swamped with graphic information, much of the curriculum
in our schools remains heavily textual, thus presenting an inescapable threat to
the child who struggles to process written information. Providing opportunities
where learners will experience success is therefore vital in planning effective
programmes of support. The Workshop for Literacy grew from the need to
devise learning which delivers
success for all.
Factors which predict how well a child will learn to read and write, can be identified at a very young age. Pre-school and early years teachers, observing children at play, can detect strengths and weaknesses in the developmental areas which are vital for the acquisition of core literacy skills - language, auditory perception, visual perception and motor skills. A good, structured observational checklist will include questions such as these:-
· How clearly articulated are his/her speech sounds?
· How well does s/he ‘tune in’ and respond when listening to stories?
· Can s/he retell main events sequentially?
· Can s/he clap syllables in children’s names?
· Is s/he aware of rhyme
· How extensive is his/her oral vocabulary
· How quickly can s/he recognise and name shapes, colours or details in pictures?
· How well can s/he perform cross-lateral movements such as crawling or skipping?
Having identified children who struggle with any of these aspects, practitioners can act immediately to introduce the most appropriate measures to foster development. For example-
· where a child has difficulty recalling the main events of a story, ask him/her to arrange picture cards to show the sequence - talk through or re-enact the story as you go.
· if a child does not perceive syllables in spoken words, introduce marching, clapping, percussion instruments - work alongside to help him/her feel the beat physically as you articulate the syllables together.
This is an ideal time to involve parents who can be invited to share in the observations, help to identify the approaches that are most effective and from that point become involved in positive dialogue focused on their child’s progress. This is a potent way to enlist the partnership of parents who, like their children might otherwise become disaffected if failure is allowed to creep in.
The importance of very early identification cannot be overstated. Teachers need not worry about prematurely ‘labelling’ a child as having a specific learning difficulty as the emphasis at this stage is on identification in order to provide the vital learning and teaching which will help develop the foundation skills for literacy. Having Dyslexia does not mean that a child can’t learn to read and write, but it might mean that s/he needs to learn in specific ways. It is imperative for the individual that personally effective learning approaches are established early, if failure in the reading lesson is to be avoided.
The Workshop for Literacy
Responding to strengths and weaknesses identified in the Nursery and first few weeks in P1, the Workshop for Literacy is introduced to provide opportunities for young ‘apprentice’ readers to develop core skills for reading and writing in a practical, enjoyable way. A range of stimulating, multi-sensory activities, carefully planned to acknowledge individual needs and learning preferences, is offered to learners who are encouraged to sample different approaches and find which suit them best. Content is closely linked to current class topics so learning always has a purpose beyond mere skill development and learners don’t feel that an alternative curriculum is being imposed. Learning is practical and active; activities may be oral or games based, texts may be presented on computer screens, audiotapes and MP3 players as well as in books. Worksheets are seldom used. Above all, Workshop sessions are fun for everyone - teachers as well as pupils.
Workshop Sessions
The class teacher and learning support teacher share the
planning and devise topic-related content on a weekly basis. As it is designed
to deliver practical learning across a wide range of literacy skills, the
Workshop is available to all and can deliver challenge to the very able learners
as well as support to those whose learning is more gradual, in a wholly
inclusive approach. Support assistants help to deliver the daily sessions to
small groups within the classroom. Computer technology reduces the burden of
producing customised resources.
Workshop sessions always begin with practice in phonological awareness – simple games involving listening to identify specific sounds in spoken words. For example, an activity linked to a story about sea creatures might include asking -
· Which one begins with ‘t’ ? -
turtle / dolphin, ferry / tugboat lobster / tiddler
· Spot the odd-one-out -
Ten tiny turtles swim
Tiddler told funny tales
Sound-letter correspondence is developed by using magnetic letters to represent spoken words or phonic clusters. The precise nature of any difficulty can be seen at a glance and dealt with as a teacher works with a small group for five or ten minutes every day. Learning is entirely practical, phonic worksheets are never used. The ‘forty plus’ core sounds of our language are introduced very early, enabling children to make good phonic spellings when they begin to write.
Key word in sentences: developing Semantics and Syntax
Dyslexic learners need ‘overlearning’ - the opportunity to practise the same words many times before they become internalised as sight vocabulary. Using Breakthrough to Literacy materials or Clicker Grids to create sentences, allows key words to be used in different, stimulating contexts whilst also helping children to deal with one-to-one matching of spoken to ‘written’ words, word order and punctuation.
Responding to texts
Short passages of unfamiliar texts at appropriate levels are presented daily, encouraging children to use phonic skills along with contextual cues when tackling new text.
The use of a structured, observational checklist whilst hearing reading, enables the teacher to recognise emergent skills as well as aspects that require further support. In the Workshop, these checklists are used on a daily basis and evaluated after one to two weeks when the information is used to inform the next piece of planning,
Main points to look for when hearing a child read include:-
· Does s/he match one-to-one, spoken words to print?
· Does s/he use phonic cues?
· Does s/he recognise some key words at sight?
· Is there evidence of over-reliance on pictures / context?
Many children with Dyslexia are greatly disadvantaged by being unable to access the wealth of books available to their peers. Texts that they can access comfortably often lack the quality of language and literary complexity appropriate to their age and intellectual capability. In the Workshop, high quality stories are read aloud to the whole class, passages are made available on computers with text-to-audio support and paired reading is an option. Thus no one is excluded from experiencing language-rich texts. Higher order thinking and comprehension skills are developed through oral discussion of these texts.
Writing skill
Because the Workshop places great emphasis on phonological awareness and phonemic tracking in particular, its young participants develop competence in making phonic representations and are confident to write independently. Keyboard skills and handwriting skills are given equal prominence at this early stage so that those who might require secretarial support later will be able to benefit from the abundance of good software.
Contextual Assessment
Approaches and resources in the Workshop are chosen to make learning ’transparent’ so assessment is entirely contextual; teachers can see whether or not individuals have internalised essential processes as everyday activities unfold. For example-
· Working with magnetic letters, when asked to identify one sound and change the corresponding letter to make ‘pet’ say ‘met,’ a child might select the correct letter - in this case ‘m’ - but put it in the wrong position, perhaps at the end of the word, producing ‘pem’ or even ‘petm.’ This informs the observer that although the child has learned to make good sound-letter correspondence, further work is needed to develop skill in identifying and tracking the sequence of sounds in spoken words.
Children who have participated in
Workshop activities, working at appropriate levels have become enthusiastic,
eager readers whose expectation is that they will succeed and who are able to
use appropriate strategies to tackle new learning with confidence. By focusing
on specific learning differences and finding ways for individuals
to learn successfully, the Workshop helps to negate potential difficulties
which could mark a child for life.