Dyslexia is a neurological disorder that affects the areas of the brain responsible for language processing. Students with dyslexia often have difficulty with phonological awareness, rapid naming, and verbal memory. Effective intervention includes systematic, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, sound-symbol relationships, sight word recognition, and fluency building. Teachers can provide scaffolds and supports like word banks, graphic organizers, assistive technology, and differentiated instruction to help dyslexic students access grade-level content. With proper identification and evidence-based intervention, dyslexia can be managed though it is a lifelong neurological difference.

2. Dyslexia is a neurological
brain-based reading disorder.

3. The areas of the brain that are responsible for speech
and language processing are in the left hemisphere of
the brain.

4. Frontal Lobe: controls speech, reasoning, planning, and
consciousness.
Parietal Lobe: controls sensory perception and links oral and
written language to memory to give it meaning (beginning
sounds, ending sounds, categorizing, rhyming).
Occipital Lobe: controls visual perception and it is important for
letter-word recognition.
Temporal Lobe: is involved in verbal memory (fluency).

5. Inferior Frontal Gyrus Region: articulation and word
analysis.
Parieto-temporal Region: word analysis (decoding words).
Occipito-temporal Region: rapid, automatic, fluent
identification of words.

6. Dyslexics have more activity in the frontal areas of
the brain and use the right side of the brain more
than non-dyslexics.

8. Research-based Intervention
Step 1: Review sound/symbol relationships
from previous lessons before introducing
new ones.
Step 2: Practice phonemic segmentation and
blending.
Step 3: Build fluency with sight words and
phonetic words learned previously.
Step 5: Write words from previously taught
patters from dictation.

10. Screening and Intervention
Administer assessments that measure
language skills, phonological awareness,
memory and rapid naming in kindergarten.
 Predictive Assessment of Reading (PAR)
 Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy
Skills (DIBELS)
 Texas Primary Reading Intervention (TPRI)

11. Then, track progress periodically to see it the
student is above the national 40th percentile.
If the student is not responding to the
intervention, a diagnostic evaluation for special
education services that includes intellectual and
academic achievement tests and receptive
(listening) and expressive language (speaking)
skills linked to Dyslexia should be administered.

12. Symptoms of Dyslexia in Elementary School
• Difficulty with rhyming, blending sounds, learning
the alphabet, linking letters with sounds
• Difficulty learning rules for spelling–spell words the
way they sound (e.g., lik for like); use the letter name
to code a sound (lafunt for elephant)
• Difficulty remembering “little” words–the, of, said–
that cannot be “sounded out”
• Listening comprehension is usually better than
reading comprehension–may understand a story
when read to him but struggles when reading the
story independently.

13. Myths About Dyslexia
 Write and read letters and words
backwards. This is common among all
children who are learning to read and
write.
 Dyslexia is not a visual processing problem,
it is a language processing problem at the
phoneme level.

14. Dyslexics struggle with fluency even after they learn to
read, and reading grade-level text is always a challenge.

15. Intelligence is Not the Issue
 Students diagnosed with Dyslexia will not be
assigned to the Confined Special Education
Classroom (Certificate of Completion, Low
IQ, Portfolio State Assessment).
 Inclusive setting with modifications and
accommodations based on individual need
(Diploma Track).

16. Supporting Students with Dyslexia
During “Pull-out” Time in the Resource
Room and in the K-2 Inclusive setting
 Strengthen areas of need based on valid
assessment data using technology-based
software (e.g. Fast Forword) and/or
nontechnology-based instruction (e.g. Fernald
Method, Orton-Gillingham Approach).
 Instruction should be systematic or follow the
logical order of language, and cumulative (each
step should be based on concepts already
learned).

17. Developmentally Appropriate Phonemic
Awareness Instruction
Use faded scaffolding – visual and tactile cues.
Use pictures before presenting words.
Syllables, onsets, and rimes develop before an awareness of
phonemes.
Segmenting syllables and sounds comes before segmenting
compound words.
Rhyming tasks are easier than onset sounds.
Sound segmenting is harder to learn than sound synthesis.

18. Continuant sounds (e.g., /m/, /s/, /i/) are easier to manipulate and
hear than stop consonants (e.g., /t/, /q/, /p/). When introducing
continuants, exaggerate by holding on to them: rrrrrring; for stop
consonants, use iteration (rapid repetition): k-k-k-k-katie.
When identifying sounds in different positions, the initial position is
easiest, followed by the final position, with the medial position
being most difficult (e.g., top, pot, setter).
Deletion of beginning and ending sounds comes after segmenting
and letter names.
When identifying or combining sound sequences, a CV pattern
should be used before a VC pattern, followed by a CVC pattern
(e.g., pie, egg, red).
Use words from a story that was read and discussed, things in the
classroom, a thematic unit, or field trip.

19. Phonemic Awareness Instruction
Onset and Rime
Rhyming books and songs with Rhyme patterns (The Cat in the Hat Knows a
Lot About That), Alliteration (the rain in Spain falls mainly on the pain), and
Assonance (here, there, and everywhere)
Word families
Phonograms: Create words by adding beginning sounds — /b/ + at =bat.
What is another word that sounds like bat?
Use letter magnets, create a chart for spelling and writing activities.
Direct instruction
Rhyming word pairs: Do these sound the same (bat/cat) or different
(man/hop)
Activities: 1) Present two pictures. Which one rhymes with the word the
teacher says? 2) Present three pictures, and ask which two rhyme.
Odd word out: Which one doesn't belong? (bat, cat, pull, hat)
Rhyming word pair concentration: Find two pictures that rhyme.

20. Simple Phonemic Awareness
Isolated sound recognition: Sammy snake sound says… (/s/)
Word/syllable/phoneme counting: How many (words/syllables/sounds) do
you hear in this (sentence/word)? Start with two and build up to three.
Activities: 1) Clapping, tapping, or marching. 2) Make horizontal boxes. Place
a token in each box as they hear the word, syllable, or sound.
Sound synthesis:
What word am I saying? Put these sounds together to make a word — /f/-/i/-
/sh/.
Activity: Use three pictures and ask students to identify the word.
Sound-to-word matching: Is there a /k/ in cat?
What is the first sound you hear in dog?
Identification of sound: Where do you hear the /g/ in pig (at the beginning
middle or end of the word)?
Sound segmentation: What sounds do you hear in the word ball? Say each
sound.
Letter-sound association: What letter goes with the first sound in this
word: book?
Activity: Ask students to select a picture, identify the letter represented by
the sound then, place it in the appropriate letter box.

21. Compound Phonemic Awareness
Word-to-word matching: Do cup and cake begin or end the same?
Activity: Create a dominoes game.
Sound deletion: Say hotdog without the dog.
What sound do you hear in meat that is missing in eat?
What word would be left if you take the /n/ off moon?
Activity: Place two colored index cards side-by-side. One color is the
target sound, and the other is the remaining word. The first card says
“moo” and the second card says “n”. What does the card say when the
second card is removed?

22. Some Dyslexic children learn early reading-
spelling tasks, but experience difficulty later
when more complex tasks are required.
These students may require more extensive explicit
instruction for metacognition, reading comprehension,
vocabulary, morphology, spelling, writing, fluency, and
word retrieval and rapid automatic naming.

23. Supporting Upper Elementary School Students
with Specific Learning Disabilities in the Inclusive
Setting
Students with Dyslexia need reinforcement, scaffolds,
and supports to fully engage in the grade-level
standards-based curriculum in the inclusive setting
when limited reading skills impede reading
comprehension and critical thought.

24. Scaffolds
• Word banks
• Partially completed graphic organizers
• Charts
• Tables
• Graphs
• Nonlinguistic representations
• Hands-on learning materials
• Guided reading
• Guided note-taking

25. Assistive technologies (AT) are not just for supporting
students with physical disabilities, they are also used to
support learning deficits.
The National Instructional Materials Accessibility
Standards (NIMAS) have been included in IDEA legislation
that supports the use of flexible digital instructional
resources in classrooms for students with disabilities.

26. Supports
• Videos
• Audio Text
• Spell check
• Grammar check
• Sentence Correction Software
• Word Prediction Software
• Word scanners
• Text-to-speech
• Speech-to-text
• Inspirational Software http://www.inspiration.com/
• UDL Resources
http://www.udlresource.com/representation.html

27. True or False?

28. 1) Only 1 in 10 dyslexics will
qualify for an IEP and
receive the special
education services in order
to get the help in reading
that they need.

29. True

30. 2) Dyslexia can be
outgrown.

31. False: Dyslexia is a lifelong
issue; yearly monitoring of
phonological skills from first
through twelfth grade shows
that the disability persists
into adulthood.

32. 3) Every child who
struggles with
reading is dyslexic.

33. False: Dyslexia is the most common cause of
difficulties with reading, but it is not the only
cause. Children with problems understanding
spoken language also have problems with
reading comprehension since oral language
precedes learning to read, spell, and write.
Dyslexia does not only cause difficulties in
reading, but may also be manifested in
challenges in spelling, verbal expression, speech,
writing, and memorization. If a child is dyslexic,
she most likely will show other warning signs
besides having trouble with reading.

34. 4) Dyslexia is caused
by a lack of phonics
instruction.

35. False: Increased phonics instruction
will not help a child with dyslexia.
Children with dyslexia are able to learn
phonics once they have the underlying
phonemic awareness abilities;
although they may continue having
trouble applying it. This is why
difficulty with phonics and word
pronunciation is a good warning sign
of dyslexia.

36. 5) If a dyslexic child
reads out loud for 20
minutes per day, it
will improve his or
her reading.

37. False: Reading out loud will not help a child
sound out unknown words. Instead, he will
continue to try to memorize the shape of a
word and use pictures and context clues to
try and guess it which will not help his
reading development. That said, being
exposed to the same texts that his or her
peers are reading and learning from is very
important, so a dyslexic child should be
read to (or read along to audiobooks)
every day.

38. 6) If you don’t teach a
dyslexic child to read
by age 9, then it’s too
late for them to ever
learn how to read.

39. False: It is never too late to
improve the reading,
spelling, and writing skills of
someone with dyslexia.

40. 7) Retaining a child
(i.e., holding them back
a grade) will improve
their academic
struggles.

41. False: There is no benefit to retention
because it has never improved a
student’s academic struggles. These
students do not need another year of
the same instruction -- they need
differentiated intervention that is
research-based, systematic, and
explicit.

42. 8) More boys
than girls have
dyslexia.

43. False

44. 9) It isn’t fair for a teacher to
make accommodations for
one dyslexic child in a
classroom when these
accommodations are not
given to every student.

45. False: A fair approach to
teaching means providing
each student with what
he/she needs in order to
succeed.

46. 10) A dyslexic child has great
difficulty learning to spell in the
traditional way, so marking off for
spelling will not teach him how to
spell. They need to be taught
spelling using alternative methods.
A dyslexic student’s papers should
be graded for content only, and not
spelling.

47. True

48. 11) Most reading and
resource teachers are
highly trained in
dyslexia and its
remediation methods.

49. False: Unfortunately, this is not
true. Recent graduate students
with a Masters degree in reading
have not had any courses on
dyslexia. Additionally, few literary
coaches and resource specialists
have had training in dyslexia either.

50. 12) Left-handedness,
difficulties with spatial
(including right-left)
orientation, trouble tying
shoelaces, and clumsiness
are associated with dyslexia.

51. False: These are certainly not core findings
that we would expect in most people with
dyslexia, but of course there are clusters of
people within the larger population of
individuals with dyslexia who are also left-
handed or who have spatial difficulties.
Whatever subgroups of dyslexia may exist,
it is clear that the vast majority of the
dyslexic population share a common
phonologic weakness.

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