Characteristics of Students with Dyslexia

 

Introduction

Classroom teachers around the world face many challenges while teaching students to read. Many of these challenges can be overcome with the interventions and strategies applied by general education teachers, reading specialists, and special education teachers. One of these challenges is dyslexia and helping those students to become readers that are able to interact with all text in order to gain information.  Dyslexia is a neurobiological-specific learning disability that directly affects learning to read (Wagner et al., 2020). This is a life-long disability that does not go away over time, but with evidence-based interventions, students can flourish in school and be successful in life. Evidence of dyslexia can be traced back to the 1800s when “word-blindness” was recorded when Dr. Morgan first made note of it as an acquired condition in an adult and then in its congenital form in a child. Dr. Hinshelwood, an ophthalmologist,  later identified the need for early detection so that intense training could help these children that also possessed many strengths but struggled with reading  (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). It is estimated that 3-5% of struggling readers are accurately diagnosed as dyslexic (Hruby, 2019). Although, dyslexia is mostly thought of as extreme difficulty in learning to read Adolf and Hogan (2018) pointed out that students with dyslexia also have language needs outside the phonological domain (Adlof & Hogan, 2018).  I believe that to truly be able to assist students to the best of our ability educators need to have an understanding of the definition of dyslexia and the characteristics displayed by students diagnosed as having dyslexia in order to properly plan instruction while providing helpful accommodations in order to help ensure future school and life successes. 

   

 

Speech Development 

     

The earliest signs of dyslexia can happen in the years before a child enters school and begins formal reading instruction. Parents and caretakers work together to create experience and funds of knowledge to be used in educational settings to promote literacy learning and development. However, speech development can be the first signs that are evident in a child with dyslexia, therefore parents should be vigilant and aware of milestone developments as children grow and progress from toddlers to preschool children. The earliest language development skill that could indicate dyslexia are late talking and moving from single words to phrases, As a child continues to grow and uses speech more regularly issues with speech development can include mispronunciation, word retrieval, and the learning of nursery rhymes  (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). Shaywitz (2020) recommends parents listen and notice speech development in their children (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020).

 

Effects of Dyslexia on Reading Development

 

Although students with dyslexia have a tremendous struggle in learning to read, it is important to remember these characteristics are often unexpected because the struggles with reading do not reflect the student’s intellectual abilities or other aspects of development. Often students with dyslexia have high IQs and even qualify as gifted learners that excel in other academic areas (Adlof & Hogan, 2018). Difficulty in reading does not match the expectations for reading success that early childhood teachers and parents have for children with dyslexia based upon the strengths used regularly in and out of the classroom by the child (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). The core of dyslexia is the deficit presented in phonological awareness as this deficit is present in both children and adults identified to have dyslexia (Cavalli et al., 2017). A phonological awareness deficit does not stand alone as the only symptom for dyslexia, as the students display symptoms in multiple areas along and also a weakness in phonological awareness (Catts et al., 2017). 

 

 

 

 

What does this mean for our students with dyslexia?

 

Students that struggle to learn to read and struggle with phonological awareness may show a developmental delay, but those with dyslexia have an atypical development in this area (Kuppen & Goswami, 2016). Phonological awareness allows young children to recognize and manipulate the sounds of a spoken language. Students with a deficit in phonological awareness in kindergarten are more likely to be identified as having dyslexia by the end of second grade (Catts et al., 2017). This weakness is located in the bottom layer of the hierarchy of the language system, therefore at times, it is also noticed in speech when an individual is unable to correctly identify the word or hear the phoneme in speech that needs to be used (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020).

 

Examples of Phonological Awareness

 

Children must then use phonological knowledge to master phonics in which sound is then associated and matched with letter symbols used in texts. Connecting letters to sounds to correctly blend those sounds together to form words allows individuals to identify words from print that are then transferred to the language system. Students with dyslexia struggle to do this because of the difficulty in connecting letters to sounds (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). The disconnect between letters and sounds to form words from print results in weak spelling skills. Weak spelling will often persist way past a child with dyslexia learning to read as it remains a constant struggle throughout life (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). With the inability to connect sound to letter symbols to enable blending, readers are subsequently unable to use phonics to become accurate decoders necessary for reading. Fluency is necessary for readers to fully comprehend text as it is read. When students read fluently or with prosody, the reading is accurate, smooth, and utilizes phrasing and expression. Fluency allows for quick accurate reading that allows energy to be used on comprehension instead of decoding and word identification (Young et al., 2018).  Phonological and phonemic awareness, spelling, phonics/decoding skills, and fluency are the building blocks that early childhood literacy teachers use to guide students toward becoming readers that use print to learn and make sense of the world around them. Unfortunately, all of these skills link to phonological awareness making it evident why learning to read is an uphill battle for students with dyslexia in classrooms around the world.

 

What happens as students progress through school?

 

 In the upper elementary years, there is typically a change in learning to read to reading to learn. These reading skills will be further developed in middle school and high school so that reading to learn becomes a life-long skill. On the infographic above I included issues surrounding comprehension as symptoms for students with dyslexia. Through my reading from Wagner’s article and Shaywitz’s book, I have determined that this is a result of less reading experience that has affected the growth of vocabulary as well as background knowledge. Vocabulary is essential to comprehension as it provides readers with more options when encountering an unknown word. Life experiences, as well as more exposure to print and reading, provide an opportunity to also build background knowledge to assist in vocabulary growth.  A dyslexia diagnosis is not the result of poor comprehension because young adults with dyslexia are able to employ individual strengths to strategically use context clues to assist with unknown words leading to accurate comprehension of text (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). The inability to use the vital components of reading, phonological awareness, decoding,  and fluency, to become readers students with dyslexia are left with a continuous struggle to accurately read (Young et al., 2018). Young readers avoid reading, therefore, a result is the lack of vocabulary growth that will assist with comprehension in later school years (Wagner et al., 2020). These readers then become struggling readers that have avoided reading and failed to develop necessary skills such as vocabulary to aid comprehension of text.

   

 

Conclusion

 

I became a teacher so that I could help every student that passes through my classroom throughout my teaching career to be the best version of themselves equipped for successful skills for futures choices. For me, that means I will use data collected through observation, daily tasks, assessments, and relationships with my students to recognize their strengths and weaknesses to help my students be prepared for the next step of their educational journey. Dyslexia has been left out of the conversation in the state in which I have taught. However, several things have piqued my interest in this topic in the last several years. New state legislation, an effort toward staff development in this area within my district, current students with diagnoses of dyslexia, and my participation in my master’s program are among the events that have created an interest in working to better serve this population. Educators must use their own knowledge to identify any and all issues to help all learners reach full potential and that includes students with dyslexia. By using resources available teachers and parents can recognize the symptoms of dyslexia and act accordingly to provide the best educational path for students. 

   

 

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