In the course of my daily work at a local public school with students, I continue to refine my own understanding of dyslexia. In this, final, installment I want to draw attention to several issues and leave you with a link I hope you will explore. I think it is the best source of information on beginning reading and it includes dyslexia information.
Please allow time to get to know this resource that you will likely return to time and again. This morning while working with a dyslexic 7-year-old and a dyslexic 12-year old I observed the same characteristic in both students, just manifesting at different levels of sophistication. The 7-year-old is being stretched a little bit to read three-letter short vowel words (hat, big) that include more than one medial vowel sound. Because he experiences difficulty homing in on the specific sounds in words (phonemic awareness, a characteristic of phonological processing), and attending to the sequence of the letters in words requires mental energy, he is easily frustrated. Being asked to do something that you are not good at is hard work and he would prefer to look and guess with fingers crossed. The problem is, his guesses don’t match the letters in the word he is attempting. Without intervention and support, he will reinforce this ineffective approach every time he makes a guess and is not redirected to read the word. In time it will be well established and resistant to correction. This is the fate of too many dyslexic children. 
He has not mastered the alphabetic principle, the notion that in an alphabetic language, letters represent sounds and we “read” words from left to right, sound by sound (until we have fully mapped the word’s spelling to its pronunciation and turned it into an instantly recognizable sight word). Recall, dyslexic readers are just as bright as anyone else, but their brains do not activate in the same way when reading words as the brains of typically developing readers, so reading words is hard mental work requiring much effort.
The twelve year old, who was never coached to build the “mental muscle” to read words accurately and carefully, is an example of a student who was allowed to build and reinforce ineffective word reading habits. He did not receive the much more structured and intensive instruction he needed to become a proficient reader. His disability also impacts spelling. Often he reads the first syllable of a word accurately, and then guesses “wildly” at the remainder (he is working on reading multi-syllabic words). I am seeing the development of ineffective word reading skills in two dyslexic readers of different ages. If the deficits are not addressed early, they become ingrained and retraining becomes more difficult.
Now, the typically developing reader also must be taught the alphabetic principle and how to read simple, phonetically decodable words. However, she will learn in the course of normal general education classroom reading instruction (some will require less instruction and some a little more), during kindergarten and first grade. But, dyslexic children make little progress within the regular education classroom and require more time and more intensive explicit instruction, coupled with more practice. The students I described in the opening both fall in the more severe range of dyslexia, despite their average to high average intelligence. They are truly dyslexic.
When these students do not receive appropriate intervention, they get “stuck” around a second-grade reading level. They never reach functional literacy. Even with all of the assists and supports we can deliver today with technology, they are handicapped and may not reach their potential, impacting their overall quality of life.
The emotional toll on our dyslexic children, particularly those who are not provided with effective instruction, can be devastating. I don’t need to spell this out for you in detail and I don’t have handy statistics. I believe you can predict where this can go. Our dyslexic children need support, in the form of early identification, preferably by grade two. They need appropriate instructional interventions and accommodations throughout their school days and years. We recognize up to 15-20% of all children may be dyslexic and outcomes will vary, even with intervention. Some children who are deemed at risk, with early intervention, will reach grade-level reading proficiency. Others will progress more slowly and require more intensive instruction over a longer period of time to achieve functional literacy. While we may not be able to accurately predict outcomes, we are confident that evidence-based interventions make a positive difference.
What can a parent do?
First, I would suggest that all parents do as much as they can to help their children develop phonological awareness during their preschool years. In lieu of attempting to share a primer on how that is done, I refer you to the website linked below. You may find more resources than you will need. However, many quality children’s books are written in rhyme and rhythm and offer a good starting point in pursuit of this goal. Dyslexic children will need you to call attention to the sound properties of words to a much greater degree than children whose phonological awareness is developing typically. At first, you may not know whether your child is at risk for dyslexia. It may not show itself until he is exposed to reading instruction. One useful indicator is a family history of dyslexia. When one parent is dyslexic, there is a 50% chance the child will be also. If there is no dyslexia in either family, then it is unlikely your child will be dyslexic, but please do keep an eye out for indicators: such as trouble identifying rhyme, poor retention of alphabet letters, and difficulty discriminating words beginning with the same sound. The website linked below contains articles and videos addressing the normal development of these phonological awareness skills that are almost always problematic for dyslexic people.
When your child starts school, stay on top of his progress and development. His kindergarten teacher should be taking regular data on skills like alphabet knowledge, letter/sound mastery, and phonological awareness skills (identifying rhyme, segmenting words into sounds, blending sounds together, hearing initial and final sounds…). If your child has received instruction and is falling in the bottom 20-30% of her class, it is appropriate to discuss intervention with the teacher. If you can assist at home for a few minutes per day, so much the better. This will give you better insight into where your child is having difficulty. You also can and should inquire about any interventions available at the school to further support your child. Finally, should your child fail to respond to interventions provided in the general education program, you may want to discuss other options with her teacher, which may culminate in assessing your child to determine if a learning disability is the cause of the reading delays (dyslexia is defined in the law as a learning disability).
Dyslexia is predominantly a word reading disability and we must read words accurately to comprehend text. However, please do continue reading good literature and content area material aloud to your child. Your child needs to hear a variety of sentence structures, new vocabulary and written language structures. This will build language comprehension, which is the foundation upon which reading comprehension is built. Additionally, children who are exposed to rich and varied language models are able to draw upon this when expected to express themselves in writing at school. All children benefit from this exposure and it may be continued into the elementary school years, especially when you choose to read aloud materials that are beyond your child’s current ability to access.
In closing, I hope you have gained an understanding of what dyslexia involves and some appreciation for the real challenges dyslexic children and adults face. Please take the time to explore Reading Rockets, linked below. I am not selling any services at this time, but I welcome inquiries if you have additional questions. I can be contacted at:DyslexiaSpecialist91701@gmail.com.
Reading Rockets | Launching Young Readers
Julia Lewis is a Reading Specialist and Special Education Teacher
This article is the final part of a four-week series Macaroni Kid Upland, Claremont & La Verne is featuring on Dyslexia this month. We hope to bring awareness and education regarding dyslexia to our community. For more information regarding dyslexia visit Decoding Dyslexia
Part One: What Is Dyslexia?
Part Two: Dyslexia Awareness?
Part Three: Early Identification of Dyslexia
