How dyslexics think, learn
Dec 09, 2003
LAST week, in this column, you wrote eloquently about the frustrations you experience teaching dyslexic children. You asked the question: What do we do for our children?
LETTER FROM TORONTO
Opiyo Oloya
LAST week, in this column, you wrote eloquently about the frustrations you experience teaching dyslexic children. You asked the question: What do we do for our children?
To answer that question, let me pose one of my own. What did Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Muhammad Ali have in common early in their school lives?
The answer is simple-they had trouble reading, writing and following classroom instructions. Churchill hated his early school life at Harrow outside of London, had difficulty spelling and would later write that he was “out-classed and left behind.†John F. Kennedy had difficulty spelling and writing in school. Thomas Edison who invented the phonograph was yanked out of school because teachers thought he was retarded.
For years, Leonardo da Vinci, the great Italian artist and scientist wrote from right to left — you needed a mirror to read what he wrote. Einstein did not speak until he was three years old, could not express his thought in writing, and flunked maths in high school.
Muhammad Ali recalls being labelled “dumb†in high school, and was at first rejected by the US army because he failed psychological tests. Years later, he would say, “I barely graduated from high school. There was no way I was going to college — I never even thought about it. I could barely read my textbooks.â€
The frustrations that these famous people experienced in early school lives are shared by millions of children worldwide due to a genetic condition resulting in dyslexia. The word ‘dyslexia’ comes from the Greek language, which means 'difficulty with words'. The brains of dyslexic children are wired in such a way that they experience difficulties with the normal reading, writing, spelling and/or speaking. Studies suggest that between 5 to 8% of the population suffer from dyslexia ranging from mild to severe disabilities. Based on government-sponsored studies, the British Dyslexia Association estimates that 10% of British children have some degree of dyslexia, while about 4% will be affected severely (an average of one in every class).
Meanwhile, US government studies cite 1 in 10 people being illiterate, a situation attributed to dyslexia and other learning disabilities. In 2001, Statistics Canada reported that over 100,000 Canadian children aged 5 to 14, or 2.6% of all children in that age group, had learning disabilities related to attention, dyslexia or hyperactivity.
A dyslexic child often cannot keep up with schoolwork, loses self-esteem, is frustrated, and becomes depressed. Meanwhile the parents of a dyslexic child are equally confused, angry as they grope in the dark trying to understand why a normal child cannot read or write.
According to studies from the US-based National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, parents and teachers can suspect dyslexia where a bright child has difficulty reading or writing, there is a family history of learning difficulties, difficulties with spelling, confusion over left and right, writing letters or numbers backwards, difficulties with math and difficulty following 2- or 3-step instructions. For example, a dyslexic child may spell words based on the way they actually sound such as does /dus, please/pleeze, knock/nock, search/serch, journey/jerney and so forth. It’s also usual for dyslexic children to reverse letters and numbers when reading and writing, for example “car park†becomes “par carkâ€, “14†becomes “41†and the letter “p†appears as “b†or “qâ€.
Though there are no magic bullets, children with dyslexia can be taught strategies to overcome learning difficulties. The first step is for the entire education system, from the Ministry of Education, teacher training and school
communities to embrace the idea of inclusive education — there must be a willingness to accept children with learning disabilities as teachable. A coherent plan for tackling the issue should look at standard identification policy so that children are not misdiagnosed. In the context of developing countries, and especially in Africa where school systems reward cramming information in order to pass examinations, it's imperative that more resources be devoted to developing programs for screening and supporting children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Secondly, at the classroom level, this translates into reassuring the dyslexic student that he/she is not dumb, thick or retarded, and that his/her condition can be accommodated.
In practical terms, teachers need to harness the child's strength, namely, determine what the child is good at-often, the dyslexic child has a “giftâ€, a unique ability for fine arts, building models and so on. Use the child's success in one area to build confidence in the deficient area-turn the artwork into a basis for story writing, reading and spelling.
Thirdly, the inclusive educator needs to give small amounts of work that the child can successfully complete, provide more time for the work to be completed, encourage the child to first “think through†the work that is at hand, and promote a variety of ways by which the child can complete the given work. Don’t forget to celebrate every small success — praise rings louder than ridicule.
Remember that the famous people named above and many like them would not have risen to success without someone recognising their special abilities.
As the saying goes: If
children cannot learn the way we teach them, then we must teach the way they learn.
oloyao@ycdsb.edu.on.ca
Opiyo Oloya
LAST week, in this column, you wrote eloquently about the frustrations you experience teaching dyslexic children. You asked the question: What do we do for our children?
To answer that question, let me pose one of my own. What did Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Muhammad Ali have in common early in their school lives?
The answer is simple-they had trouble reading, writing and following classroom instructions. Churchill hated his early school life at Harrow outside of London, had difficulty spelling and would later write that he was “out-classed and left behind.†John F. Kennedy had difficulty spelling and writing in school. Thomas Edison who invented the phonograph was yanked out of school because teachers thought he was retarded.
For years, Leonardo da Vinci, the great Italian artist and scientist wrote from right to left — you needed a mirror to read what he wrote. Einstein did not speak until he was three years old, could not express his thought in writing, and flunked maths in high school.
Muhammad Ali recalls being labelled “dumb†in high school, and was at first rejected by the US army because he failed psychological tests. Years later, he would say, “I barely graduated from high school. There was no way I was going to college — I never even thought about it. I could barely read my textbooks.â€
The frustrations that these famous people experienced in early school lives are shared by millions of children worldwide due to a genetic condition resulting in dyslexia. The word ‘dyslexia’ comes from the Greek language, which means 'difficulty with words'. The brains of dyslexic children are wired in such a way that they experience difficulties with the normal reading, writing, spelling and/or speaking. Studies suggest that between 5 to 8% of the population suffer from dyslexia ranging from mild to severe disabilities. Based on government-sponsored studies, the British Dyslexia Association estimates that 10% of British children have some degree of dyslexia, while about 4% will be affected severely (an average of one in every class).
Meanwhile, US government studies cite 1 in 10 people being illiterate, a situation attributed to dyslexia and other learning disabilities. In 2001, Statistics Canada reported that over 100,000 Canadian children aged 5 to 14, or 2.6% of all children in that age group, had learning disabilities related to attention, dyslexia or hyperactivity.
A dyslexic child often cannot keep up with schoolwork, loses self-esteem, is frustrated, and becomes depressed. Meanwhile the parents of a dyslexic child are equally confused, angry as they grope in the dark trying to understand why a normal child cannot read or write.
According to studies from the US-based National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, parents and teachers can suspect dyslexia where a bright child has difficulty reading or writing, there is a family history of learning difficulties, difficulties with spelling, confusion over left and right, writing letters or numbers backwards, difficulties with math and difficulty following 2- or 3-step instructions. For example, a dyslexic child may spell words based on the way they actually sound such as does /dus, please/pleeze, knock/nock, search/serch, journey/jerney and so forth. It’s also usual for dyslexic children to reverse letters and numbers when reading and writing, for example “car park†becomes “par carkâ€, “14†becomes “41†and the letter “p†appears as “b†or “qâ€.
Though there are no magic bullets, children with dyslexia can be taught strategies to overcome learning difficulties. The first step is for the entire education system, from the Ministry of Education, teacher training and school
communities to embrace the idea of inclusive education — there must be a willingness to accept children with learning disabilities as teachable. A coherent plan for tackling the issue should look at standard identification policy so that children are not misdiagnosed. In the context of developing countries, and especially in Africa where school systems reward cramming information in order to pass examinations, it's imperative that more resources be devoted to developing programs for screening and supporting children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Secondly, at the classroom level, this translates into reassuring the dyslexic student that he/she is not dumb, thick or retarded, and that his/her condition can be accommodated.
In practical terms, teachers need to harness the child's strength, namely, determine what the child is good at-often, the dyslexic child has a “giftâ€, a unique ability for fine arts, building models and so on. Use the child's success in one area to build confidence in the deficient area-turn the artwork into a basis for story writing, reading and spelling.
Thirdly, the inclusive educator needs to give small amounts of work that the child can successfully complete, provide more time for the work to be completed, encourage the child to first “think through†the work that is at hand, and promote a variety of ways by which the child can complete the given work. Don’t forget to celebrate every small success — praise rings louder than ridicule.
Remember that the famous people named above and many like them would not have risen to success without someone recognising their special abilities.
As the saying goes: If
children cannot learn the way we teach them, then we must teach the way they learn.
oloyao@ycdsb.edu.on.ca