Learning Environments and Strategies to Support Literacy Learning in Students with Dyslexia

When supporting our students with dyslexia, we want to create an environment where students feel safe and supported. Being diagnosed with dyslexia can be a scary experience; therefore, it is important that students feel comfortable and that their specific needs are being met. Building a student’s confidence is central to support literacy learning in students with dyslexia. Below is a list of ways to improve learning environments for our students with dyslexia.

Sea of Strengths Model or Positive Niche Construction

When we think of learning disabilities, we too often think about the ways in which students are lacking. We focus on their deficits. However, research shows that in order to best support students with learning disabilities, including our students with dyslexia, we need to think of them in terms of their strengths, which is also known as Positive Niche Construction (Armstrong, 2011) or, specifically designed to suit the needs of students with dyslexia, the Sea of Strengths Model (Shaywitz, 2020). Students with dyslexia often have many gifts, such as creative and problem solving abilities and advanced vocabulary or critical thinking skills. These gifts can be used to help the student overcome those challenges they are presented with when learning. Parents and teachers need to focus on the student’s strengths to build confidence and improve the student’s beliefs about who they are as a learner. The decoding of language may be difficult for the student with dyslexia; however, their cognitive abilities are strong enough to counter the obstacles they experience as readers.

Sea of Strengths Model

Self-Advocacy Skills

One of the best things we can do to support our students with dyslexia is to help them develop their self-advocacy skills. Kirwan and Leather (2011) assert that because dyslexia is often misunderstood and there is a lack of knowledge in many learning institutions in regard to this disability, that it is particularly important that students with dyslexia be able to advocate for themselves. They need to be able to tell their teachers what they need to thrive. Therefore, teachers and parents need to support their child in understanding dyslexia and being able to communicate what they need as learners. Metacognitive interventions that allow students to explore learning styles, study and organizational skills, and self-advocacy skills could be beneficial (Pitt & Soni, 2017).

Sharing Success Stories

Steven Spielberg, Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein, Whoopi Goldgerg, Thomas Edison and Jennifer Aniston all have something in common! While it is true that each of them were wildly successful in their fields, most people don’t know that each of these famous people had dyslexia. Students with disabilities need to see examples of people who overcame the challenges with which they were presented (Armstrong, 2012). When students (and parents) begin to see and understand that many successful people have dyslexia, it can play a major role in how they view the disability. It is important to give students with dyslexia opportunities to read about and research people with dyslexia. They need to meet successful adults who can share their own stories of facing challenges. They need to be exposed to the reality that dyslexia has no power over their goals or dreams.

Assistive Technology

Using assistive technologies is a great strategy for supporting students with dyslexia (Bayless, 2021). Over the last two decades, our technological advances have improved dramatically. It is now not uncommon for every child in a school district to have a personal device assigned to them in the same way we would once assign students textbooks. Assistive technologies such as text-to-speech software and spell checkers can support students with language difficulties (Armstrong, 2011). In fact, Shaywitiz (2020) suggests that students with dyslexia learn to touch type and keyboard as soon as possible (first grade) in order to be able to navigate technologies that will assist them in learning. Note-taking apps, text-to-speech, and speech-to-text applications, and digitized books and periodicals can be valuable assets to our students with dyslexia. Research reveals that providing appropriate technologies to students with dyslexia supports them in feeling more control of their learning (Bjorklund, 2011). Therefore, parents, teachers, and schools need to keep an open mind when considering how technology can be used to create a more equitable learning environment for students with disabilities.

Flexibility

Every child is different, and every child with dyslexia is different. It is important to listen to the child in order to give them what they need to be a successful student who feels good about their learning and learning environment. There is not a one size fits all approach to creating the best learning environment for every student with dyslexia. Whether it be assistive technologies, accommodations, or implementing self-advocacy training, there are a plethora of ways to create positive learning environments for our students with disabilities. It’s important to keep an open mind and do what is best for the student. There are many ways for students to show their knowledge outside of pencil and paper assignments, and we need to give students a range of ways to learn, share, and present information. Embracing creative approaches and empowering our students with dyslexia are key steps in supporting their literacy learning.

When thinking about creating positive learning environments for our students with dyslexia, remember to focus on their strengths, help them develop confidence and self-advocacy skills, give them examples of people who have overcome similar challenges, consider how assistive technologies might equalize the playing field, and, finally, just keep an open mind and be flexible! Children with dyslexia learn differently; therefore, we have to be open to teaching them differently as well!

In our next blog, we will be sharing materials and resources to support teachers and families in learning more about how to support children with dyslexia. Check it out!

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