Dyslexia is a disorder of neurobiological origin that affects the acquisition of reading and writing. It is a persistent disorder that occurs in people with a normal IQ and adequate access to education, and without the presence of other physical or mental disorders that can justify it. However, the obstacles they have in reading and writing can influence their academic performance, if it is not detected in time and learning is adapted.
Dyslexia is more common than you think. In Spain, between 5 and 10% of the population has dyslexia, despite this its detection continues to be a challenge. For this reason, from the Professional College of Speech Therapists of the Community of Madrid (CPLCM) warns that its detection is essential in the early childhood education stage and during the beginning of primary education to develop the skills and processes involved in reading and writing. and adapt learning to the needs of that person.”
Speech therapists teach people with dyslexia study techniques and practical tools to deal with study difficulties and improve learning. With this objective, the CPLCM Education Commission recommends the following:
Think about your skills. The person with dyslexia must know what her aptitudes are and recognize what is her most effective way of inputting information. There are several learning styles, but the most common are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Generally, people with dyslexia tend to have a greater visual learning capacity, so study techniques can include mental maps, diagrams, diagrams, etc. However, get to know yourself and think about which learning style benefits you the most.
Find the best time to study and concentrate. The capacity for attention and concentration varies greatly from one person to another. The same person can have variable attention and concentration times throughout the day. Therefore, find the best time to study and apply techniques such as the Pomodoro method: study for 25 minutes in a row and take a break of 5. And, after 4 study times, take a longer rest period of about 30 minutes.
Organize your time. Another important aspect is the organization. It is key not to leave everything for the last moment. The daily reviews of what was learned that day in class will help you gradually establish your knowledge and free up your workload when the exam date approaches.
Write to internalize what you have learned. To review, use all the materials you have developed so far and use blank sheets to write down everything you know about a topic. Remember that people internalize much more what they have learned if, in addition to reading it, we write it down.
Adaptation measures that teachers can apply
Accommodations are also essential to improve learning for people with dyslexia. From the CPLCM they consider that teachers should take into account that following a series of guidelines to evaluate will greatly benefit students with dyslexia. For example:
- Use of a continuous evaluation that rewards the daily effort instead of the results of a test.
- Take only one exam per day. Sometimes we find students who have two or three exams on the same day, this makes it difficult to do a good review of each subject.
- Let them use the material they have prepared for the study such as mind maps in the exam.
- Use easy language in question statements and use visual clues when possible.
- Make sure that you have understood the activity to be carried out.
- Avoid that all the questions are to write. Varying with matching questions, completing with a word, multiple choice, or even oral tests.
- Avoid photocopied exams or those that are poorly legible.
- Use a clear font like open dislexic (free download font).
- Do not penalize for misspelling or bad handwriting.
- Provide the notes on the subject of the exam and avoid that the student is the one who has to take the notes in class.
.
