ADVANCING LEARNING through INCLUSION
dyslexia
What does dyslexia involve?
People with dyslexia experience significant and prolonged difficulties reading and writing, despite an average or above average IQ, appropriate schooling or auditory, visual or physical problems to explain it.
Characteristics
The first characteristic is an alteration in phonological processing that creates difficulties to remember and interiorise sound and letter correspondence. For this reason, people with dyslexia find reading difficult given that when we read, we must put sounds together, interpret and understand them simultaneously.
Another characteristic is difficulty with working memory and executive functions.
Bearing in mind that each case is different and not all symptoms need be present, the most frequent signs are:
Slow and hesitant reading.
Difficulties with reading comprehension.
Students may skip lines when reading or invent words.
Recurring spelling errors with letters that may have the same sound but are written differently.
Omission, substitution or invention of words or letters.
Illegible handwriting at times.
Difficulty with working memory.
Difficulty distinguishing left from right.
Difficulty organising and planning.
Difficulty writing and finding the right words.
Difficulty paying attention.
Dyslexia not only affects reading and writing, but also executive functions such as planning, organising, working memory, lateral confusion, difficulties with space-time notions.
There are no two people with dyslexia the same and, therefore, each case is unique. Moreover, different degrees can be present and can also be accompanied by other disorders.
Dyslexia is considered to be a neurodevelopment disorder.
ENABLING STRATEGIES
Intervention needs to occur in all the stages of education and in all subjects to ensure that students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD) have an equal opportunity to learn. The most important measures to be taken are:
Multisensory learning
Multisensory learning offers activities that involve various senses at the same time with the aim of improving comprehension and recall of information.
E-readers
If possible, allow students to use e-readers to read and understand text.
Digital books
Give students the option of a digital book whenever possible.
Avoid note talking
Offer students the content without them having to copy from the whiteboard.
More time for exams
Give students more time to do exams and written tests.
Oral exams
Give students the option of being examined orally.
Clear, unadorned type face
Use clear and unadorned type face (sans-serif) to facilitate reading.
Don’t penalise spelling errors
Not penalising spelling errors is very important given that students with dyslexia also present dysortograhy, the latter being a symptom of the disorder.
“No two people with dyslexia are the same. Each case is unique.”
With the collaboration of…
DISFAM
International Dyslexia and Family Organisation
DISFAM is the first non-profit Latin American organisation founded in Spain at the end of 2001. It is made up of families of children with dyslexia, adults with dyslexia and professionals from different fields that decided to join together because of their concern with problems faced by children and adults and also the emotional consequences of the disorder.
DISFAM belongs to the European Dyslexia Association (EDA) and the Federación de Dislexia Española (FEDIS). It is present in most Latin American countries.
