Because dyslexia's most salient symptom is childhood difficulty with learning to read, the most common form of treatment is through specialized tutoring or teaching tailored to meet the particular learning characteristics of the student. Most teaching is geared to remediating specific areas of weakness, such as addressing difficulties with phonetic decoding by providing phonics-based tutoring. Some teaching is geared to specific reading skill areas, such as phonetic decoding; whereas other approaches are more comprehensive in scope, combining techniques to address basic skills along with strategies to improve comprehension and literary appreciation. Many programs are multisensory in design, meaning that instruction includes visual, auditory, and kinesthetic or tactile elements; as it is generally believed that such forms of instruction are more effective for dyslexic learners.[1] Despite claims of some programs to be "research based", there is very little empirical or quantitative research supporting the use of any particular approach to reading instruction as compared to another when used with dyslexic children.[2][3]
| Although there are no treatments or quick cures for dyslexia there are several techniques that can be used to cope with the struggles of dyslexia.
1. Over-learning or repetition is necessary to reinforce new material.
2. Paired reading or with another person helps develop fluency and enhance comprehension.
3. Colored paper is very helpful for many students or if the paper is white to have color layovers.
4. Layout is very important and should not be visually overcrowded. Font size is also important, and should not be too small. It is suggested that Sassoon and Comic Sans are the most dyslexia-friendly fonts, with Times New Roman being one of the least.
5. Minimize the need to read out loud. [4]
6. Get books on tape
7. Get teacher handouts to supplement the notes taken.
8. Request extra time on tests.
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Recent Developments
Accessible publishing works to make reading easier for all that struggle with the standard one-size-fits-all method of book publishing. Accessible publishing works with publishers and Print on Demand technology which allows the reader to choose how the books will be published. Available format variations include choosing the font size (from 11 point font through to 28 point font), whether the font is bold, italic or regular, and choosing the amount of line spacing[5]. There are also a variety of special fonts being developed for dyslexia, eye tracking problems and other conditions[6]. Accessible publishers, such as ReadHowYouWant, also work to make books available in Braille, e-books, audiobooks and DAISY.
See also
References
- ^ Henry, M.K. (1998). "Structured, sequential, multisensory teaching: the Orton legacy". Annals of Dyslexia 48: 3–26. doi:10.1007/s11881-998-0002-9. ISSN 0736-9387, http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ585703. Retrieved on 2 August 2007.
- ^ Ritchey, K.D.; Goeke, J.L. (2006). "Orton-Gillingham and Orton-Gillingham Based Reading Instruction: A Review of the Literature". The Journal of Special Education 40 (3): 171–183 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/proedcw/jse/2006/00000040/00000003/art00005. doi:10.1177/00224669060400030501.
- ^ Connor, C.M.D.; Morrison, F.J.; Fishman, B.J.; Schatschneider, C.; Underwood, P. (2007-01-26). "THE EARLY YEARS: Algorithm-Guided Individualized Reading Instruction". Science 315 (5811): 464. doi:10.1126/science.1134513, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/315/5811/464. Retrieved on 2 August 2007.
- ^ Reid, Gavin. Dyslexia 2nd edition. New York: Continuum International.(2007).Pages 41-95
- ^ http://www.readhowyouwant.com/Format/index.aspx
- ^ http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/making-reading-easier/
