Failing First Grade: What Next?
As a parent, you might have identified signs of dyslexia in your child. You may have a family member with dyslexia (dyslexia runs in families). Or they are just struggling in school, and you know something is just not right. If you approach your school, they might say your child is at an acceptable reading level for their grade or a regular part of development. The school told me that my youngest was a delayed reader since I must not read him at home. When I protested, saying we read daily, they asked if I displayed good reading habits in front of him. When I said no, I didn't have time to relax and read in front of them; I said I read when they are in bed. They proceeded to blame me for his poor reading. Did you know that 1 in 5 children have dyslexia, but 1 in 100 teachers understand or are trained on the signs? Don't accept the pushback from the school. You know your child better than anyone. The question, however, is what is next?
It starts with a complete evaluation. The school psychologist can perform the assessment. If the school administration balks about it, know your rights. Put the request in writing and insist on the need to take these steps. My oldest son was in fourth grade when I finally put my foot down. They tested my child, but the report came back saying he is gifted based on his IQ but performing two grade levels below in reading. The public school said that was acceptable. I, in turn, went to an outside psychologist to get another evaluation. The report came back stating he has dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Our son, who was suffering from depression, was relieved that he now knew the issue and we could develop a plan.
The first step is to find a suitable school environment for teaching and learning. The psychologist’s recommendation to us was to home-school him. Unfortunately, that would not be an option. I do not have the patience or skills to be a good teacher based on how I tried to help him with homework over the years. We did pull our children out of public school and found a private school with a class size of 18 or less. Just having a small class can make a difference. This was a painful process to evaluate the schools. We looked at parochial schools, gifted schools, dyslexic-specific schools, and even sports schools. We landed on a private school that fits all three of our children's needs. It focused on ALL learning styles, not just dyslexic or gifted. I recommend you come up with a list of requirements before venturing into shopping for a school. Examples of conditions: dyslexia awareness, learning differences, location, family impact (both financial and time). My most important requirement was to have a school to accommodate the needs of all of my children.
What would be included in accommodations for a dyslexic student? Audiobooks are a great resource. You can get just about anything on Recordings for the Blind and Print Disabled. But now, Audible has a good amount of quality books for everyone's reading/listening pleasure. Our boys listened to the books and followed along with the print. This allowed them to understand words they had never seen before and get through long reading assignments with ease.
Use technology as much as possible and insist on it in the classroom. Things have come a long way in technology since our boys were young. Voice to text was at its beginning stages. Now everyone is using Alexa to get information. Voice recognition software has dramatically improved. Use the technology for writing papers or reading school assignments. And if the voice recognition is too disruptive in the classroom, at least allow the student to type directly into a computer or tablet instead of physically writing things out, especially on tests. The autocorrect feature can ease getting the correct information on paper. The calendar feature on the phone is a helpful tool too. Our son was told that technology was not an option. The school policy was no phones or computers in the classroom for anyone. Insist on this accommodation since it is a vital part of your child's success. Either they change their policy or consider switching schools.
Drill sight words with your early reader. Dyslexic children are usually great at memorizing. If they can quickly identify their sight words, it will give them the self-esteem to figure out some of the other words. Use multi-sensory techniques to assist with the endeavor. Physically have them act out their word. Have them jump, run or play when you use flashcards for that word. It is much harder for words that don't have a picture associated with it. Where or were, for example, are difficult to differentiate. We would have our child blow on their arm when they said the word. Where has a breath, were does not. A word that confused our son for the longest time was "why." He didn't understand why there were three letters for saying the letter "y." At 28, he still cannot spell the word "queue." Autocorrect is not always a friend.
A small class size of 18 or less is a must-have accommodation. A teacher can observe much more of what is going on in a classroom and assist when necessary. In 4th grade, our youngest son had 14 children in a class with him. His teacher was trained in learning differences, and he had a learning expert who worked with him individually on specific reading techniques for dyslexia. Needless to say, he had a great year.
On the other hand, when our oldest was in 4th grade, he had 30 children in his classroom. He had a teacher with 30 plus years of experience, but none around learning differences. When they had science class, the size doubled to 60 children since they combined two classes. Our son began failing in his favorite subject, science. Class size makes a difference.
A school that uses a variety of instruction methods makes a difference. I already mentioned that multi-sensory learning is helpful, but experimenting with how your child learns best is essential. Writing out words in the sand is a fabulous multi-sensory experience but is not the only accommodation. A teacher needs to be aware of how they explain something to a student, so they understand. I know our youngest son's teacher would always tell how she would explain something to the class. Everyone would nod that they understood except our son, who would look confused. She would explain it a little differently than our son would understand, but sometimes the other kids would look confused. It could be a word she used he didn't understand, or just conceptually, he was on a different page.
Use the OpenDyslexic font instead of other more difficult-to-read fonts. The OpenDyslexic font is a free typeface/font designed to mitigate some of the expected reading errors caused by dyslexia. Some experts argue it doesn't help. Having two dyslexic children that say it does help would have me question the "experts." My adult children explained how it grounds the letters, so they don't jump around the page. My oldest even installed the font to his browser, so everything he reads is in that font. I am not claiming that your child can instantly read with the font, but I have seen how different fonts caused our boys reading difficulties. For instance, reading a book with all caps was impossible for them. Having the serif fonts is the most difficult for dyslexic children to read. We wrote our book, The Marshmallow Mystery, in the OpenDyslexic font to encourage early reading and dyslexia awareness.
Knowledge is your superpower. Learn about all the ways to accommodate your dyslexic child. If you would like more resources, go to our website www.cjcorki.com/resources or join us for our discussion.
