A child’s parent is the first person to be aware of issues with his learning abilities. It’s the parent’s sole responsibility to communicate the difficulties a child may be facing at school with the teachers in a calm way. Communicating with your child’s teacher effectively will help reap the desired results fast.

The communication between a parent and a teacher of a dyslexic child is critical for the child’s development. It is the stepping stone towards creating positive long-term outcomes for the child. Let’s take a look at some important pointers for talking to a child’s teacher regarding dyslexia:

• Book An Appointment: Be sensitive to the teacher’s schedule and book a 20 to 30 minute appointment. This much time should be sufficient for putting across your point without taking up too much of the teacher’s time. The teacher should be in a frame of mind to give you enough time and attention so as to understand your point. After-school is a good time for such an appointment.
• Be Friendly: It’s natural for a parent to be a bit anxious when discussing such matters with a teacher and may be looking for only positive responses from the teacher. If the discussion doesn’t seem to be going in the direction you intended it to go, still maintain a calm and friendly disposition.
• Be To The Point: Remember that you’ve got limited time to put across your point so do it smartly. Be specific and avoid hinting at what you think can be helpful.  After a basic introduction about the issue, move on swiftly to what you think your child needs and even give some suggestions. Share approaches that have worked and those that haven’t. Also ask the teacher if she has come across any material for dyslexic children that she thinks can be beneficial.
• Talk About Your Child’s Strengths: Shed some light on things that your child is good at doing. Dyslexia is just a part of your child, it does not define him as a whole. Talking about your child’s strengths and interests may help the teacher to focus on such activities so as to boost his morale by creating a sense of achievement.
• Express Your Willingness To Cooperate With The Teacher: Taking assistance of a teacher in helping a dyslexic child at school is a two way process. The teacher will be able to assist a parent only if the parent is equally willing to assist the teacher. Work in tandem with the teacher and reinforce the strategies your child is learning at school. Make it a point to stress on your willingness to cooperate with the teacher.

Effective reading instruction helps learners foster their strengths and shore up their weaknesses when reading. The quality of instruction offered to learners/students is the key to form a strong foundation for reading that will last a life-time. Following is a list of some components of reading instructions validated by experienced teachers:

• Phonological And Phonemic Awareness: Phonological awareness refers to the awareness of words, sounds, rhymes and syllables that make a language. Phonemic awareness on the other hand is an important component of phonological awareness. It teaches kids how to segment and manipulate individual sounds into words.
• Phonic Skills: Phonics plays a major role in making better readers and spellers. The lessons on phonics start in pre-school by making kids familiar with letter sounds, reading simple words with short vowels, visual learning with the help of blends and graphs, mastering “r” and long vowel words, learning diphthongs and other vowel teams.
• Reading Fluency: An effective reading instruction module is one that helps the learners in developing the skill of reading fast, accurately and with proper expression. This can be done by reading aloud to children, using audio recordings for kids to follow-up after reading, incorporating playful activities to practice sight words, enrolling kids in a reader’s theater, encourage buddy-reading, echo-reading, choral-reading, repeated reading, scooping phrases and so on.
• Comprehension: Comprehension helps kids to process, decode and recognize words. It is a vital component of reading. Comprehension skills can be improved by connecting experiences, movies, pictures and even other books with what is being read. Learners should be encouraged to make predictions, make mental images, they should be asked questions to keep them interested. Also they should be asked to summarize what they’ve read in a few words.
• Fix-Up Strategies: These strategies help readers when they come across unfamiliar words or cannot understand what they are reading. Students should be taught how to pause at a difficult part, re-read it, think about it and look for pictures, graphs or captions around the words that can give them a clearer understanding of what they are reading.
• Building Vocabulary: Vocabulary instruction should help students build their vocabulary without the aid of a dictionary. This will greatly improve their reading speed and also their understanding of what they read. The instruction should focus on helping kids understand a single meaning of a new word that fits the context. Learners should be engaged in fun games or incentives that teach them how to use a word in the correct context. They can also be asked to draw the meaning of a word, switch the new word with a word they know and even practice their opposites.

We, at See-N-Read Reading Tools offer a variety of reading & learning tools. For more information, call at (630) 236 – 5592.

Learning difficulties manifest in the form of problems related to learning such as difficulty in reading, listening, speaking, solving academic problems etc. Such problems make it difficult to take in new information and retain it. Learning difficulties are a common phenomenon yet many people don’t know important facts about them. Let’s take a look at some facts that throw light on important aspects of learning disabilities:

• They Have A Genetic Tendency: It is believed that learning difficulties usually run in families but can also result from factors such as too much screen time, a poor diet and in some cases childhood vaccinations.
• There Is No Medical Treatment Or Medication For Treating Learning Difficulties: Medication can be helpful but cannot cure a learning difficulty completely. When used in conjunction with other therapies, it proves to be more effective in improving focus and attention. Assistive technology, instructional interventions and accommodations can be helpful for kids with learning difficulties.
• Cognitive Training Helps, Tutoring Does Not: Cognitive training is a better way to tackle learning difficulties as compared to tutoring. Tutoring is great as a means of catching up with what is done in class but cognitive training strengthens weak cognitive skills with the help of challenging and fun mental exercises.
• Learning Difficulty Is Different From Intellectual Disability: Even smart kids can have learning difficulties. These difficulties have nothing to do with a child’s intellectual capabilities. A child can be creative, snappy and smart but still have problems at school. Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein are examples of intelligent people who had learning difficulties like Dyslexia and ADHD respectively.
• The Symptoms Differ In Boys And Girls: Boys with learning difficulties tend to be more hyperactive and impulsive whereas girls show signs of being inattentive and disorganized. Boys are more likely to be autistic as compared to girls.
• Dyslexia And Weak Cognitive Skills Are Inter-Linked: Dyslexic kids have trouble with words and reading. This manifests as having trouble with fluent reading, pronunciation etc. It is believed that such difficulties in dyslexic kids are caused by weak cognitive skills the main ones being weak phonemic awareness.
• Difficulty In Math Is Not Inherited: Children with difficulties in math do not inherit this from their parents. Weak cognitive skills are to blame. These kids have weak visual processing and memory skills. They can be helped by strengthening their core cognitive skills.

We, at See-N-Read Reading Tools offer a variety of tools to improve your child’s memory skills. For more information, call at (630) 236 – 5592.

Every child is different and unique. What works like magic for one child might not help another. When it comes to spellings, each child requires a different approach to retain what he has learnt. Kids who are slow at mastering spellings require more time and attention. Parental help at home can be immensely helpful.

Talking of help at home, let’s take a look at what parents can do to help their kids get better at spelling:

• Fun Writing Activities: Encourage your child to write more. It will help him become aware of the mistakes he makes. Get him colorful writing pads and tell him to write whatever he feels like. It could be something about his favorite movie or book. Encourage him to write for a few minutes only on a topic of his interest so that it doesn’t get boring.
• Tracing: Tracing is an effective way of teaching kids the spellings of difficult words. An adult helps the child to trace the spellings with his fingers while his eyes are closed.
• Communicate: A two-way communication channel aids in effortlessly improving a child’s language skills. Talk to your child as often as possible. Encourage him to read books. Discourage television as it is not pro-communication.
• Practice: Learning spellings takes time, effort and lots of repetition. Formulate a schedule for working on spelling practice daily for short bursts of time. For example, when your child comes back from school, practice a few words casually. Repeat the words in the evening and then again at bedtime.
• Explore The World Of Spelling Games: Games are fun and every child loves fun. Teaching kids spellings through games is a win-win strategy for parents. Your child will look forward to the game sessions and learn at the same time. There’s a wide gamut of online spelling games to explore. Examples of offline games for spellings are spelling word race, spelling puzzles, stair steps etc. Look for something your child loves and pursue it.
• Creating Pictures In The Mind: This is a well-researched trick for boosting memory. Encourage your child to remember words by creating images in their mind. For instance, if your child is trying to memorize the word ‘tank’ but spells it as ‘tanc’, tell him to imagine ‘kicking the tank’ to memorize the ‘k’ in the word.
• Use Post-Its: The more your child sees a word, the better he will remember it. Write the words your child is struggling with on sticky notes and post them strategically where your child spends a lot of his time, in his lunchbox, on the bathroom mirror, etc.

We, at See-N-Read Reading Tools offer a variety of help your child with spellings. For more information, call at (630) 236 – 5592.

Attention issues in dyslexic kids can be resolved with supportive policies and by spreading awareness among parents, teachers and communities. With the right support, kids with dyslexia can learn how to conquer their attention issues and perform better academically, be stronger emotionally and socialize more confidently. Let’s take a look at some tips that can help them solve attention issues among dyslexic kids.

1. Spreading Awareness

Awareness in and around schools helps people know more about Dyslexia. When those around the child understand what he/she is going through, they are better equipped to help the child.

2. Praising

Praising a child with Dyslexia helps in building their abilities and self-confidence. Parents and teachers should be consistent with the praises.

3. Counselling

Children with attention issues can significantly benefit from counselling. It can help them feel better about themselves, develop social skills and deal with frustration.

4. Parent-Teacher Collaboration

When parents and teachers join hands to help a child with attention issues arising due to Dyslexia, the results are astounding. Both parties can tailor an educational plan as per the child’s need. They should keep in touch with each other on a regular basis and share the child’s progress both at home and school.

5. Book Reading

Kids with attention issues can immensely benefit themselves by reading books. It has been proven to increase the attention span of kids while building up their vocabulary to a great extent. Also encourage your child to play games that require them to read and spell.

6. Create A Structured Environment

A structured, distraction free environment is essential for better attention spans. The desk on which they work should be clean and uncluttered. Distractions like TV, radio, computer etc. should be kept away to help them concentrate on the task at hand.

7. Communication

When communicating a message to a child with attention issues, try using fewer words. Encourage your child to repeat what you said and provide written reinforcement on areas like a bedroom mirror, refrigerator, a bulletin board etc. Look directly at your child when speaking and encourage him/her to do the same.

8. Assistive Tools

Assistive tools help kids to be more independent and focus better while learning. These tools boost the attention span of kids by blocking distractions while the child studies.

We, at See-N-Read Reading Tools offer a variety of tools to improve your child’s memory skills. For more information, call at (630) 236 – 5592.

Students with dyslexia usually encounter problems with reading comprehension. Due to difficulty in word recognition, they might have to read a single passage repeatedly to understand it. There are a few measures that teachers can adopt to help kids with dyslexia improve their reading skills. Let’s take a look at some of them individually –

1. Teaching Vocabulary

An increased vocabulary helps dyslexic children understand what they are reading better. It becomes easier for them to derive the meaning of a word along other similar words. Teachers can take vocabulary lessons for kids with dyslexia a step further by using additional methods to help them learn new words. Here are some things teachers can do –

• Using technology to help them with vocabulary expansion.
• Familiarize kids with new words from the text to be read, before they read it.
• Encourage kids to use new words in their daily lives.
• Use words repetitively.
• Practicing vocabulary in both oral and written form.
• Using interactive and multi-faceted approach to teach vocabulary.

2. Constructing A Mental Representation Of The Text

Encouraging kids to form a mental picture of what the text reads helps them understand it better. This approach should be used in addition to understanding what an individual word means.Once a child gets the meaning of a word, he should be slowly eased into imagining what the word means. This will greatly improve their comprehension skills. Here are some strategies to help with this –

• Teach children how to make a mental picture of what they read.
• Encourage group discussion of the comprehension.
• Use pictures and graphics to help kids understand what they are learning.
• Develop a question and answer approach towards the comprehension.
• Create a summary of what they’ve read to help them retain and memorize it.
• Adopt a multi-sensory approach as opposed to a single strategy one.

3. A Skilled Teacher

The role of a teacher in helping dyslexic kids read comprehension is pivotal. It is crucial for the teacher to understand the impact her teaching skills can have on a student. Here are some approaches that a skilled teacher can adopt to help dyslexic kids read comprehension.

• Encourage curiosity in students.
• Incorporation of playful approach to help younger kids look for important information from the text e.g. pretending to be a detective in search of new hidden words.
• Encourage class and group discussions regarding the read material.
• The teacher should regularly read aloud to demonstrate fluency and encourage students to do the same.
• Conduct vocabulary quizzes frequently.
• Help kids pick the right book from a genre of their interest. Coupling a book to read with its audio version can be extremely beneficial for students with reading difficulties. They can read and listen at the same time, thus improving their understanding.

We, at See-N-Read Reading Tools offer a variety of tools to improve your child’s memory skills. For more information, call at (630) 236 – 5592.