As a teacher you have the ability to help students with dyslexia who have reading problems. Keep reading to see specific strategies you can use to improve reading skills for students with dyslexia in your classroom.
Homework assignments
When you are setting a homework assignment schedule, you will have to make sure that each student writes down exactly the task on a calendar with expected page numbers and outcomes. Keep in mind that it may take a dyslexic student 3 times more time to complete his/her homework. This is why you should reduce the quantity of homework assignments if indicated in the student's IEP (Individualized Education Plan) under modification of assignments to provide students with time and success in completing homework assignments.
Good organization
As their teacher you should give them some organizational tips. This will help the students improve reading skills by organizing learning materials into academic content areas and scheduled readings for scheduled classes. Remember that it may take a lot of time and hard work for a student with dyslexia to read better just as it would for any student with reading deficiencies or difficulties. It’s important that you create a daily classroom routine to create consistency in instruction and expectations. Stress and chaos in the classroom will only slow down any student's learning ability and knowledge acquisition.
Use colors
When you want them to copy something from the board you should use a different color for each important line. Make sure your writing is well spaced, clear and visible for students who may have dyslexic reading difficulties due to visual issues. The writing should stay on the blackboard long enough for the students to copy everything. If you are providing students with typed copies of schedules and assignment agendas, you can use different colors of paper for math, language arts, science and other reading assignments.
The reading scheme
The best reading scheme for dyslexic students might be the repetitive one. You should slowly add new words and reading concepts. This will give them enough time to assimilate the new words and apply new concepts.
The student with reading difficulties might have difficulty in the retention of reading and understanding new words in different reading venues. This is why if you are using the repetitive scheme they will gain more self confidence in their reading skills and processing. You should move onto the next lesson only when you see the student has mastered the previous reading lessons.
It’s better to ask the student to read with a loud voice only in your presence for practice. If you ask him to read in front of all the group he might feel embarrassed to do so in front of peers, so do private reading first to build public reading skills.
Reading books
The books must be appropriate to their reading level. If they will spend a lot of time trying to figure out individual words, they will forget the meaning of the sentence and the words in context within the sentence. It’s also important to have them read books that are grade level appropriate and ones that will maintain the student's interest. Reading should be progressive and fun.
As a teacher of students with reading difficulties you will have to be very flexible. Be ready to use a different strategy for each student. Each of them have special needs and individualized reading levels. To be able to help them better, you should communicate with the parents. Together you both can find the best solution to help the student with reading problems become successful in and beyond the classroom.