Introducing dyslexia and some basic principles in order to raise awareness for International students plus an activity - how it feels to be dyslexic. A presentation for MA TEFL

1. DYSLEXIA
PSYCHOLINGUISTICS TEFL5022
SHARON NOSELEY
MODULE LEADER: SUSAN BARWICK

2. WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF DYSLEXICS
• HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE DYSLEXIC.
• DECODING WORDS AND COMPREHENSION.
• WHY AND HOW DYSLEXIA OCCURS – THE THEORY OF A PHONOLOGICAL
PROCESS.
• FAMOUS DYSLEXICS.
• TYPES OF DYSLEXIA AND OTHER ASSOCIATED DIFFICULTIES,
• REFERENCES.
• CLASS ACTIVITY.
• QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION – HAND OUT FOR YOUR INFORMATION.

3. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE DYSLEXIC ?

4. READ THIS….
‘The bottoob line it thit it doet exit, no bitter whit nibe teotle give it (i.e. ttecific learning ditibility,
etc) .
Inficit, iccording to Tilly Thiywittz (2003), itt trevilence it ictuility one in five children, which it
twenty tercent.’
‘The bottom line is that it does exist, no matter what name people give it (.i.e. special learning
disability, etc).
In fact, according to Sally Shaywitz (2003), its prevalence is one in five children, which is
twenty per cent.’
Dyslexics have to slowly decode each word every time they read...it is not an automatic
function….slow/frustrating?
Accessed from video Http://www.Ncld.Org/types-learning-disabilities/dyslexia/what-is-it-like-to-be-dyslexic-videos

5. WHY AND HOW DYSLEXIA OCCURS
THEORY
NEURODIVERSITY
Krupska & Klein 1995
Broca (1860s) Patients
who lost facility for receptive
speech ( aphasia) had
damage to a particular area
in the left side of the brain.
Wernicke (1874) patients
could articulate speech,
but could not understand
what was said to them and
their spoken
communication became
meaningless. This area
was named Wernicke's
area.

6. WHY? IT IS A
PHONOLOGICAL PROCESS
– THE BRAIN SEES THE
LETTERS BUT DOESN’T
PROCESS THEM
Dyslexics rely on the right and frontal
lobe rather than the left.
Therefore, when they read a word the
journey takes a longer time through
the brain and gets delayed in the
frontal lobe – read with difficulty.
This can be changed through multi-
sensory learning and breaking down
the language into syllables. It
strengthens the Broca area.
(Understanding and Managing Dyslexia for
Dummies 2009)
Understand their brains and they can learn!

7. FAMOUS DYSLEXICS
SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS
ALBERT EINSTEIN
THOMAS EDISON
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
BUISNESS MOGULS AND
POLITICIANS
STEVE JOBS
RICHARD BRANSON
JOHN F KENNEDY
WINSTON CHURCHILL
ARTISTS/MUSICIANS/WRITERS/
SPORT STARS
LEONARDO DE VINCI
PABLO PICASSO
JOHN LENNON
STEVEN SPIELBERG
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
MUHAMMAD ALI

8. TYPES OF DYSLEXIA – HOW TO RECOGNISE SOME
ASPECTS
Phonological Dyslexia
• The most common type.
• Trouble with identifying phonemes (sounds within words) and matching letters to
sounds.
• Grapheme – Phoneme Correspondence difficulty . (Field 2003)
• Struggles to read nonsense words/pseudo words . E.g. ( Harley 2014)
• Poor spelling with impossible letter combinations. E.g
• Ask the learner if you take p off pat and put c ..what do you get?
(Understanding and Managing Dyslexia for Dummies 2009)

9. Visual Dyslexia
• Can sound out words but has trouble with words that do not sound out regularly. E.g.
and so has to learn by sight.
• Reads slowly.
• Spells phonetically. E.g. Daughter = Through =
• Not the same as Visual Stress or Scoptic Sensitivity Syndrome when letters can ‘jump’ off the
page.
( Understanding and Managing Dyslexia for Dummies 2009)

10.  Mixed dyslexia
• Combination of visual and phonological dyslexia.
• Severe deficits in reading, cognitive functions such as visual motor integration. Visual
perception and working memory is short – only a few words can be remembered at a
time.(Auditory memory)
• Like phonological dyslexics, ‘ they make visual and derivation errors but they also make
semantic errors (semantic paralexia) when they produce a word related in meaning to
the target word instead of the target ‘
E.g. daughter = sister rose = flower
( Harley 2014 p.223 )

11.  Dysnomia
• Semantic or naming –speed deficit.
• Trouble finding the right word, even though they knew it before they can not always
recall it.
• Uses less appropriate word such as ‘thingy’ or a non-appropriate word.
 Dysgraphia
• Illegible , messy handwriting. Upper and lower case letters mixed, no punctuation.
• Erratic spelling/drawing also problematic.
(Understanding and Managing Dyslexia for Dummies 2009)

12. LEARNERS MAY HAVE DIFFICULTIES WITH..
Telling the time
Spatial confusion
– left/right
Mathematical
problems – times
tables
Following
instructions
Dialling the
wrong phone
number
Organising
folders/desk/work
load
Saying the days of the
week or months of the
year in order
Writing ideas down on
paper in a logical order
Tying shoe laces or riding a bike

13. DYSLEXIA AND DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
• Dyslexia is an international concern.
• Dyslexia occurs in at least 10 % and probably up to 15 % of any population depending
on the orthographic system, type and degree of dyslexia, aged assessed and sampling
methods used. (Dyslexia International 2012)
• Different languages use different principles to translate sounds into words and use
different translations of what is dyslexia. ( Peer & Reid 2000)

14. REFERENCES
BOOKS
FIELD, J. (2003) Psycholinguistics: A resource book for students. Oxon: Routledge
HARLEY, T. (2014) The Psychology of language from data to theory. East Sussex: Psychology Press
KORMOS, J and SMITH, A. (2012) Teaching languages to students with specific learning differences.
Bristol: Multilingual Matters
KRUPSKA, M and KLEIN, C. (1995) Demystifying Dyslexia: Raising awareness and developing support for dyslexic young people
and adults. London: London Language and Literacy Unit
PEER, L and REID, G. (2000) Multilingualism, Literacy and Dyslexia: A challenge for educators. London: David Fullerton Publishers
Ltd.
REID, G. et al. (2009) The Routledge companion to dyslexia. Oxon: Routledge
WOOD, T. (2009) Understanding and Managing dyslexia for Dummies. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
MEDIA (VIDEOS)
• Http://www.Ncld.Org/types-learning-disabilities/dyslexia/what-is-it-like-to-be-dyslexic-videos [Retrieved 20/2/2014]
IMAGES Available fromhttp://www.google.com/imghp [ Retrieved 24/2/2014]

15. ACTIVITY TO RAISE AWARENESS OF A
SPECIAL LEARNING DIFFICULTY (SPLD)
(ADAPTED FROM KORMAS & SMITH 2012)
TEXT 1
COPY THE TEXT AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN:
This is a very easy exercise. Just copy these sentences
down as quickly as you can, writing with the hand you
normally use. How long does it take you?

16. TEXT 2
NOW COPY THIS USING THE HAND YOU DO NOT NORMALLY WRITE WITH, AS QUICKLY AS
YOU CAN.
Now copy this text as quickly as you can,
writing with you weaker hand. Why is it so
much harder?

17. TEXT 3
NOW COPY THIS TEXT AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN.
To jest bardzo proste ćwiczenie. Wystarczy skopiować poniższe
zdania, tak szybko jak to tylko możliwe, w piśmie z ręki
normalnie można wykorzystać. Jak długo to zajmie?

18. THINK ABOUT…..
 How long it took you each time.
 Did you employ the same strategies for copying text 3?
 How much could you remember at a time?
 Text 3 was Polish!
 For dyslexic learners, that is how it feels to copy from the board .
 Their working memory span is shorter. This is how it feels to write in L1.
Imagine how it must feel to write L2?

19. DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS
Does Dyslexia exist in your country?
 What is the attitude towards SpLDs?
 Please take time to read your hand outs for extra information on dyslexia
and your learners.
Thank you…..Any questions ?