Teaching Strategies for Students with Dyslexia - Jacqueline Rasnic

There are numerous interventions and strategies that can be used by teachers and reading specialists to specifically support students with dyslexia in overcoming their reading deficiencies. Decoding, comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and self-advocacy are all important skills students need to be successful in the classroom. However, it is important to remember that the primary goal when teaching children with dyslexia is preserving their self-esteem (Shaywitz, 2020). In this blog, I have listed a variety of specific strategies with links to resources to teach students with dyslexia how to survive and thrive. 

 Strategy: Fluency Development Lesson 
(Rasinski, 2017)

Purpose: The Fluency Development Lesson (FDL) is designed to support students in become more fluent readers through practicing reading a text several times in a variety of contexts. This is a great strategy for a variety of students who may have trouble with fluency; however, students with dyslexia respond well to repeated reading activities.

Target: Fluency

Implementation Directions:

1. Teacher selects a text above the students’ reading level.  

2. The teacher reads the text several times while students follow along. 

3. Teacher leads discussion over text.

4. Teacher and students read the text chorally two or three times. 

5. Students work in groups of 2 or 3 to practice reading the text. One student reads while the other follows along. 

6. Students individually read the text aloud to an audience. 

7. Teachers and students select 5-10 words from the text to engage word study activities. 

8. Students are asked to read the passage at home for a family audience. 

9. The next day, students practice the previous day’s passage and a new FDL is implemented. 

Assessment: Teachers can gauge fluency by doing pre and post words per minute assessments. However, more informal assessments can be used in small groups.  

Materials: Teacher must select a daily text that is just above the student reading level for practice in class and at home.  

Expected Outcomes: Fluency skills will increase as students continue daily practice. 

Links: FDL Lessons/ Scholastic

           A Poem a Day Can Keep Fluency Problems at Bay

 Strategy: The STEPS Framework

(Smartt & Glaser, 2010)

Purpose: The STEPS Framework gives teachers a strategy for supporting students during small groups. Implementing the use of small groups (three to four students) can be as effective as individual tutoring in bringing students with dyslexia into average reading range (Griffiths & Stuart, 2011).

Literacy Target: Decoding, Comprehension, Spelling & Vocabulary

Implementation Directions:

1. S - Set Up for Learning (3-5 minutes)

           Begin the lesson with a review of the skills you have been working on.

2. T - Teach (3-5 Minutes)

The teacher explicitly teaches the skill through explanation, modeling,

showing, and telling.

3. E - Engage (3-5 Minutes) 

          With teacher support, students engage and practice the new skill. 

4. P - Practice (15-20 Minutes)

          Students practice the skill multiple times. Teacher supports students through coaching,            correction, feedback, re-teaching, and praise. 

5. S - Show you Know (3-5 Minutes)

          Teacher quickly assesses student mastery of skill. 

Assessment: Teachers can quickly assess skills in a number of ways, which should be dependent on the skill learned. Students can read words or passages, spell new words, or use words in context to show mastery.

Materials: No specific materials are needed for this strategy. This is a skills-focused strategy for helping readers in small groups.  

Expected Outcomes: This practice and coaching approach

Links: STEPS Framework

 Strategy: Improving Self-Advocacy Skills

(Pitt & Soni, 2018)

Purpose: Research is revealing the relationship between student success and academic self-concept in students with dyslexia. Improving academic self-concept and advocacy skills support students in controlling their educational outcomes. A positive dyslexic identity correlates with student success (Pitt & Soni, 2018).

Literacy Target: Student self-concept or Literate Identity

Implementation Directions:

Reading specialists, teachers, and other stakeholders need to lead students through discussions to help them better understand what dyslexia is and how they can identify how they learn best. Consider asking students with dyslexia the following questions to promote advocacy:

How do you think your dyslexia affects you in all the areas of your life?

How do you think you learn the best?

Are there any strategies that seem to help you?

What do you know about your IEP/504?

Are you familiar with your goals and accommodations?

Do you know where to go for learning support?

Do you know your legal rights?

* Questions sourced from http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/

Assessment: Teachers can quickly assess how students feel about themselves and their literate identity through discussion.

Materials: No specific materials are needed for this strategy. However, after speaking to children with dyslexia about how they can be supported, acquire the specific materials that they may need to feel successful. For instance, students who struggle with organization may need planners or other organization resources.

Expected Outcomes: Students with positive feelings about who they are as learners and the skills to advocate for themselves are prepared to tackle any learning environment. Self advocacy skills are integral for students with dyslexia entering college.

Links: Dyslexia Help: Teaching Self-Advocacy to Your Child

 Strategy: Building Word-Rich Environments

(Redford, 2017)

Purpose: According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), there is no better way to build vocabulary than independent reading. Therefore, because independent reading is challenging for students with dyslexia, we must support them in building word-rich lives (Redford, 2017).

Literacy Target: Vocabulary

Implementation Directions:

1. Read Aloud to Students - Reading aloud to students is beneficial in supporting them with developing vocabulary. While reading may be difficult, they will still acquire vocabulary through listening. Audio books are also a useful tool in supporting vocabulary acquisition.

2. Illustrating & Sketchnotes - When learning vocabulary, allow students to draw, illustrate, and sketch in order to learn and retain new vocabulary. Sketchnotes can be useful for students to take notes and also as a way for them to share their knowledge.

3. Using flashcards - Make flashcards or even use flashcard apps to support students in vocabulary growth.

4. Word Walls - Exhibit interesting words in a specific area of the room in large and easy to read letters. Think of it as a Word Bank in the room where students can find interesting words to use during reading and writing activities.

Assessment: Vocabulary growth can be assessed formally through vocabulary quizzes or through writing projects. It can also be assessed informally through asking students about words they have learned through the week.

Materials: All of these implementation plans can be easily created at school. Flashcards, Sketchnotes, and Word Walls can be made using index cards or construction paper. Read Alouds can be performed by the teacher.

Expected Outcomes: As students become more exposed to rich vocabulary, they will use more advanced vocabulary in speaking and writing. Additionally, the vocabulary words will become easier to recognize when reading texts.

Links: Sketchnotes

           How Teachers Can Build a Word-Rich Life for Dyslexics

           Word Walls

             Strategy: Spelling Dictation Activities

                         (Herbert et al., 2018)

Purpose: Dictation activities that allow for students to use phoneme parts as they build the word can support them in gaining phonemic awareness. For this activity, students spell the word one unit at a time. Improving spelling actually supports students with dyslexia in becoming stronger writers (Herbert et al., 2018).

Literacy Target: Decoding, Spelling & Phonemic Awareness

Implementation Directions:

1. Teacher coaches students through the spelling of the words starting with the first sound.

2. Teacher provides students with images with phonemes to help them identify the correct spellings.

3. Teachers continues coaching students through the spelling of the word.

*See Figure below for implementation ideas.

 

Assessment: Formal or informal spelling checks can be used to assess if students are improving in spelling. However, dictation activities can also be utilized using self-assessment where students evaluate their own work.

Materials: Teacher will need to supply students with visual phonemic cards in order to support them with learning the phonemes as they practice spelling.

Expected Outcomes: Dictation should supports students with dyslexia in becoming stronger decoders and spellers. Additionally, spelling improvement is linked to improvement in composition.

Links: Dictation in Spelling Activity

Bibliography

Teaching Strategies for Students with Dyslexia - Kimberly Hager

Post by Kimberly Hager  

Phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, spelling, phonics/decoding skills, and fluency are essential skills learned during the earliest years of instruction. These skills develop readers that are able to accurately comprehend text. For students with dyslexia, these building blocks are difficult to acquire because of the inability to correlate letter symbols to sound. Intense instruction and repeated practice are necessary for students with dyslexia (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). Educators across the world must apply evidence-based strategies to the instruction of all students. Strategies vary across student populations to help reach specific needs so that academic goals can be achieved. Teaching students with dyslexia is no different. Specialized strategies and practices can help these students become successful readers and equip them with literacy skills used throughout life. I have included strategies for the areas of literacy instruction that are vital to helping students become readers. Within this post, you will find strategies to use for decoding, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, phonological awareness, and phonemic awareness.

Read more »

Materials for Parents

Materials for Parents

In this blog, we will be sharing a wide variety of materials that parents can use to support their children with dyslexia at home. The materials listed are for a wide range of age groups. Whether your child is at the beginning of their educational journey or preparing to graduate high school, there are some useful resources that can be used to support them as they grow as learners.

Parent Materials

Sight Words

Reading with fluency and prosody allows students to focus on the meaning of the text as they are putting in less effort to read each word (Young et al., 2018). Helping students to build a bank of sight words is important to fluency. Sight words are words that often do not follow phonics rules, therefore, making decoding difficult (Young et al., 2018). When parents can reinforce sight word practice at home teachers can use time at school to embed sight word practice while focusing on other key parts of literacy instruction.

Try Sight words with an Artistic Flair

1. On an index card write a sight word on both sides of the card.

2. On one side, let your child add their art to help them remember the word; for example, the word through could have a cave going through the letter o.

Phonological Awareness

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). Creating fun games to help children build phonological awareness skills can support readers with dyslexia in this area by offering engaging but intense practice. Parents can assist teachers in this area by providing at-home practice for a student with dyslexia. This PreKinders site has free downloads that parents can use to create games at home.

(Cox et al., 2020)

Self-Confidence

We often forget the important role that self-confidence plays in supporting our students with learning difficulties. The challenges of learning can wear our students with dyslexia down; therefore, it is vital that we do all that we can in order to help them build confidence and self-esteem (Shaywitz, 2020). The I am Awesome: A 90 Day Empowerment Workbook for Kids is a great resource for helping children feel grateful for who they are and their ability to overcome the obstacles they may face. Each activity takes children (ages 6-12) about three minutes per day to complete. The workbook allows students to draw or write and even provides them with a word bank to support them in putting their thoughts into words.

$7.99

Letter Recognition

Early in school prekindergarten and kindergarten students move through clearly defined stages of reading development that is obvious by shifts of knowledge as new skills are used by students. Students have reached the full-alphabetic phase when they can accurately read words using letter and sound knowledge (Handsfield, 2016). At home, parents can support literacy learning by practicing letter and sound knowledge to help their child become accurate word readers. Lakeshore has a fun-filled family game to practice just this! This hands-on game will increase the ability to identify letters. This game includes instructions, a game board, 52 fish tiles, a timer, and two bags.

$29.99

Decoding

Once early readers have grasped the full-alphabetic phase the speed and accuracy of reading will increase as students gain phonics skills (Handsfield, 2016). This Phonics Grab-and-Play game from Lakeshore includes three memory-style phonics challenges in which players turn over cards to match pictures with their correct word. Skills practice with this game are consonant-vowel-consonant words (cat, dug), short and long vowel sounds, digraphs (/sh/, /th/, etc.), and blends (/tr/, /bl/, etc.). Everything is in the box to enjoy this game. You can expect a game board, 60 cards, an answer card, and an activity guide. This game is best with 2-4 players.

Spelling

By using larger units of letter-sound correspondence to read words students are beginning to recognize and use spelling patterns in the consolidated-alphabetic phase (orthographic phase) (Handsfield, 2016). This is an important step to becoming an automatic reader. Word Scramble is a fun way to repeatedly practice spelling patterns of words using manipulative letters that parents can engage children in quick and daily practice. Parents should pick a pattern and focus on some words and practice until those are mastered before moving to a new spelling pattern. If your child brings home a spelling list use those lists as your guide for what to practice (Alex, 2021).

Additionally, These magnetic letters are found on the WalMart website. I like them because both lowercase and uppercase letters can be purchased in one set; however, there are a variety of options. Magnetic letters are a great way to help children practice spelling at home.

Activities, Printables & Games

The Dyslexia and Literacy International website offers a plethora of free and ready-to-use materials for parents to support their children with dyslexia. All of the resources are evidence based and non-commercial. This source links to activities and games, printable materials, and even e-books. It is truly a treasure trove of free materials for anyone needing resources that will help learners with dyslexia.

Text-to-Speech Converters & E-Books

Additionally, the Dyslexia and Literacy International website links to some wonderful assistive technology sources. Research shows that students who use e-books with audio support as well as traditional books developed into stronger readers (Fox, 2014). Especially as students get older and the amount of reading required for students multiplies, text to speech converters give students with dyslexia a means to digest all of the words needed to be successful in their courses. One of the free speech converters that this site includes is NaturalReader, which has a free version as well a paid version with more options. Dspeech is another speech converter that can be incredibly helpful for students with dyslexia. Furthermore, this site has links to several e-books site such as E-books for All, which is a wonderful free and legal site with hundreds of e-books.  Reading Planet offers great free e-books to our younger readers. When using assistive technologies, it is important to remember that there is a learning curve, and students should start practicing using them before a school year begins (Shaywitz, 2020).

Organization and Planning

As students with dyslexia get older and are transitioning into adulthood, organization and planning become vital skills. It is important for students to start practicing these skills before they leave the nest (Shaywitz, 2020). Good Sensory Learning offers a variety of materials that will allow students with dyslexia more opportunities to focus on those skills that are most challenging for them. For instance, this planning and time management organizer is a great resource to help students with dyslexia stay organized. Organization can be a key skill set when it comes to thriving as a student.

$29.97

Bibliography

Resources for Parents and Teachers

      Parents and teachers face the challenge of supporting students with dyslexia. The children face the difficult battle of learning to read in order to comprehend and gain knowledge. Students with dyslexia depend on a hero to advocate and support them throughout this journey (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). Therefore it is essential for parents and teachers to utilize resources to research for information and ideas to support students so that they can stand beside a child educated on the subject of dyslexia and have the knowledge of what and how to provide effective interventions to best serve the child. The following blog is meant to provide some resources for parents and teachers in this endeavor. Together we have found a list of resources that consists of videos, podcasts, websites, and blogs in the hope to provide some easy-to-find resources. We have highlighted each resource with a description, a cost if any, and some strengths and weaknesses in order to offer assistance to parents and teachers in their efforts to find helpful resources.

 

Websites & Blogs - Kim Hager

 

Videos & Podcasts - Jackie Rasnic 

 

Bibliography

 

 

 

 

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!

Bibliography

Research on Literacy Learning Possibilities for Students with Dyslexia

 

Introduction

     

Children with dyslexia can become readers that achieve great success in life. Successes of individuals with dyslexia are documented in studies, books, and personal stories. Adults with dyslexia have grown to be professionals in many areas. Some of those areas include writing, law, medicine, science, poetry, and more. Patricia Polacco is one of those authors and has illustrated her struggle with learning to read in her children’s book, Thank, Mr. Falker.  Students with dyslexia need many things, but perhaps the most important can be found in parents and teachers that become their advocate and support system while understanding the struggle presented by dyslexia and continue to stand beside the student throughout the process of learning to read and beyond (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). Below I have provided a link to a book review in which author, Patricia Polacco, highlighted the hero and advocate, Mr. Falker, that stood beside her through her own journey as a child struggling with dyslexia and the difficulties it brings to one’s life. Through her struggles, Patricia not only became a reader, but she also became a teacher and then a successful author as an adult with dyslexia. 

Book Review

Students with Dyslexia can Learn to Read

   

    Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that directly affects learning to read and is neuro-biological in nature. These struggles are marked by inaccurate word recognition, weak spelling skills, the inability to use phonics to decode words, and the lack of fluency while reading aloud. Dyslexia is the result of a deficit in phonological awareness that can be first noticed in speech development and later in an unexpected struggle in learning to read (Wagner et al., 2020). Perhaps if educators and society, in general, changed the idea of what is considered normal the symptoms of dyslexia would be embraced and the language of good versus bad students would as a result also change (Cosenza, 2014). Self-efficacy is vital for the development of all students despite if the student is a typically developing student or student with disabilities such as dyslexia. My earliest days of teaching were spent in PreK and kindergarten classrooms. It was there that I identified and truly believed what I had learned in my early childhood education classes in college, it is our priority to foster a love for learning and a deep attachment to school and the community it provides for learning. Students with dyslexia struggle with self-efficacy as they watch their peers learn to read and they are left behind struggling with attaching letters to sound that provides students with the ability to accurately decode words to create meaning from text and explore the worlds of each opened book while finding the love for reading. However different it may be students with dyslexia can learn to read. Although, the process will take extra time, patience, and perseverance while being supported by strong supporters that work to build up the self-efficacy of students with dyslexia (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020).

 

As students begin school and formal literacy instruction they bring with them a wealth of knowledge available through experience that has built a usable fund of knowledge. Early screening to identify students at risk for dyslexia sets up the best possibilities for students that are diagnosed with dyslexia (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). Beginning in prekindergarten and kindergarten students move through stages of reading development that is clearly defined by shifts of knowledge and skills used by students (Handsfield, 2016). The graph below will help to show the stages described in the stage theories and spelling development that show the progression of skills all students must go through in the journey of becoming readers. This journey presents difficulties for many with disabilities such as dyslexia but nonetheless is part of becoming a reader.

 

Stage Theories and Spelling Development

 

 

                                     (Handsfield, 2016)

                

Learning to Read with a Team and a Plan

When students become readers phonological and phonemic awareness, spelling, phonics/decoding skills, and fluency are the building blocks provided by the earliest years of literacy instruction to create and grow readers that make sense of text and the world around them. This is a difficult process for students with dyslexia because of the inability to connect letters to sounds but with intense instruction and practice, and partnership between home and school, these students can also learn to read (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). As discussed in earlier posts dyslexia is a result of a phonological awareness deficit that leads to the inability to connect letters and sounds. Difficulties in learning to read for those with disabilities such as dyslexia involve issues with the cognitive processes accessed during reading and not the general intelligence, therefore, individual strengths should guide plans and accommodations for students with dyslexia (Bell et al., 2011). An early diagnosis will help students with dyslexia receive more intense instruction earlier in school. Evidence-based strategies are strategies proven effective through practice, research and data analysis.  Educators should use evidence-based strategies that include decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension with persistent monitoring to ensure needs are met, reteaching is provided as needed, or progression of instruction continues in order to meet new goals so that the achievement gap between students with dyslexia and their peers can decrease so that positive gains will be evident as reading abilities increase (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). A reading plan for students with dyslexia should be lead by a highly qualified teacher and created using the strengths of the students while partnering with parents and tutors to ensure success and growth for the students(Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). After repeated instruction that provides much practice through school and home students with dyslexia become readers.

 

A Quick Glance at Students with Dyslexia Becoming a Reader

 

 

 

 

College and Beyond

    Students with dyslexia can proceed to successful career paths or college after the completion of high school and have unlimited opportunities. A literacy plan during the high school years for students with dyslexia should include accommodations such as extra time to read, scheduling details to ensure assignments and tests are not to be completed on the same day, as well as instruction in self-advocacy so that students can advocate for themselves in order to receive or allow themselves necessary accommodations to help ensure success in the future (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). The recognition of personal needs and self-advocacy can be used by individuals as they go through life utilizing literacy skills to continue learning throughout life. When students leave high school with positive self-efficacy and awareness of personal needs life success awaits. College students have found small communities for students with dyslexia in order to learn about themselves, digital text that includes photos and videos, and peer connections are useful to guide learning and growth in college (Barden, 2014). Shaywitz (2020) provided an example of self-advocacy in which a student, Kayla, at Yale University requested an extra semester to extend her studies to provide time to be certain she had gained all necessary knowledge. She explained to officials a great deal of time was spent early in her college career reading at a slow pace and it took great effort to keep up and she feared she would not finish her final semester accurately reflecting her intellectual abilities due to the struggle of time to keep up. Kayla was awarded permission for an extra semester at Yale graduating the next semester and becoming a successful screenwriter with many movie and television credits. (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). Without self-regulation, recognition of needs, and self-advocacy skills Kayla perhaps would not have finished her time at Yale and not experienced the many successful experiences her future held for. 

Conclusion 

    As an educator, I believe that all children can learn and that it is my responsibility as a teacher to help students reach their full potential while gaining academic knowledge and social skills. When I think of my students with disabilities this belief is even more strong. As students with dyslexia proceed through school and face the realization of the struggle of learning to read while watching peers become readers, it must affect their whole being and all that they know about themselves. By fiercely standing beside students with dyslexia, becoming an advocate, creating a school to home connection, recognizing the struggle of learning to read, building self-efficacy, and providing the appropriate instruction to help this student population become readers educators like myself can lead students with dyslexia to successful futures that include life-long learning.

    Bibliography