help!!!!

Greetings M. Ellison,

I’m not sure what you mean by being unable to change the format for the reading assignments. Could you please clarify and then we might have some suggestions.

Blessings, momo

Why would one want to fail any student?

Past that question, who is it who told you can’t change the reading assignments and why?

In any case, have you considered reading out loud to him? Dyslexics can understand the material - they just can’t read it. Is a book that would exist on tape? He could listen to it. You could also discuss the reading with him to give him a more sound understanding of it.

There would be ways to help your son and any other student faced with this challenge.

dyslexia, which means difficulty reading (decoding) text, and comprehension, which means difficulty understanding text. Many dyslexics have no trouble with comprehension. If they could decode, they could comprehend just fine.

If your son has trouble decoding, then I would suggest that you buy the book “Reading Reflex” (available at most bookstores for $16) and use that approach at home to develop his decoding skills. It tends to work fairly quickly.

You don’t sound like a professional teacher, or is that my imagination?

Mary

My daughter is dyslexic and goes to a private school, and they made some adjustments for her learning. she has test read to her when needed, extra time on her work, etc. Although this does not correct the problem, (take MaryMN’s suggestion or get professional help) but there are accomedations that can be made HAVE to made by law. So I’d really be concerned about that school that won’t allow you to make adjustments

I recently purchased Reading Reflex, but I must admit….I’m a little overwhelmed…I don’t know where to start. I have a 13 yr old dyslexic son….reading on a 3rd grade level. I myself was never taught phonics, but I want to help him. Any suggestions?

Don’t bother with the manipulatives. At that age and reading level, you can just start with a white board and markers. Start at the beginning with basic code, to make sure you cover everything, but do it fast. You should be able to get through all of basic code in one to two hours. As soon as you see that he knows something, move on.

Mapping and sound target searches are both very useful at this stage — especially, in my experience, mapping. I found that Pokemon books were about right for reading at this stage — easy enough to insist on accurate decoding, but with a few challenging words on each page. You might need to drop back one level from them at first (we used Berenstain Bears books prior to Pokemon, but they won’t appeal to a 13yo!).

The hardest thing about doing RR is starting. Once you get into it, you tend to catch on and go with the flow.

Error correction techniques are important. A child can get irritated at being stopped at every single word, so you may have to pick and choose a bit. The most important errors to correct are the phonological errors — dropping a sound, adding a sound, or substituting a sound. You may want to ignore minor errors at first to concentrate on the major ones. It can be helpful to use a mechanical pencil with point retracted to “flow” along words while the child reads. When an error is made, you can either stop at that word (cueing the child to go back and correct the error) or circle the error. This is often very useful at the beginning.

Mary