Latin success with Dyslexics

I can’t give you data but studying Latin has been helpful for my dyslexic son. It helped him to understand the structure of language.

Latin helps because it forms a large segment of morphology. Dyslexics seem to benefit greatly from a systematic study of the way language “works”, and that is what morphology is all about. Many of our words are derived from Latin, which is why studying Latin helps. However, many words also come from Anglo-Saxon, from French, and many come from Greek roots. Morphology covers all of them.

My daughter’s spelling is being helped greatly by a study of orthography, but I can see that we will soon need to get into morphology. For example, she can finally spell “walk” but spells walked as “walkt”. That’s because she doesn’t understand how roots and suffixes work — an aspect of morphology. Latin uses roots and suffixes, and many of our words are derived in a similar fashion. For example, “cent” is a root from which century and centimeter are derived, retaining the meaning of 100.

A truly wonderful book for dyslexics that explains some of this in a practical manner is “Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills”, edited by Judith Birsh. This book is *well* worth getting via inter-library loan or purchase ($59 at Amazon).

You could probably make a case for studying Latin by using the resources in this book, but it would likely be a tough sell to a school that isn’t interested in either Latin or morphology!

Mary

Does anyone know of any home studies for Latin? I would be intrested in trying to teach my daughter Latin to see if it helps her with her dyslexia (retaining her spelling).

TIA (thanks in advance)

How old is your daughter? If she is in junior high or high school, she may have had the grammar fundamentals to understand how Latin works. In that case, you might start with your public library. They may have books on elementary Latin in the children’s or adult’s section and you and she could try them out to see which ones seem to best get the ideas in a form she likes. And you can’t beat free! If she likes one enough to stick with it, you could try ordering your own copy (or maybe 2 — one for each of you).

If neither of you is particularly into the grammar rules and you just want to use it as a vocabulary / comprehension booster, there are some books that explain common Latin phrases that she could just read at a more leisurely pace. Again, the library would be where I’d recommend starting.

If your daughter is young or struggling with grammar in her English classes, then maybe I’d start with asking a Latin teacher if her school has one or perhaps asking a a local college.

My son, who is a h.s. freshman, has failed quite miserably at his attempts at French (7th grade) and Spanish (9th grade). Now the guidance office recommends Latin, or possibly a “waiver” of the foreign language requirement. If your dyslexic student has had success with learning Latin, can you tell me if this is after attempting other foreign languages? Was your public school willing to make accommodations in the Latin curriciulum? or was the teacher able to make adjustments? What were they? I think that his time might be better spent on another non-language course. If you’ve already been down this foreign language road, I would appreciate hearing from you.