How is Dyslexia Remediated?
While dyslexia isn’t something that can be “fixed,” there are ways to help young students living with dyslexia to thrive in the classroom.
In fact, there are multiple approaches to helping students with dyslexia learn. Each form of intervention is tailored to the individual student’s needs, so one approach is never the complete answer for every student.
So how do you help remediate dyslexia and help your child get on the path to success in school? Today we’re going to take a look at remediation and support options for your student and help you choose your next steps.
What Is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disability that leads those diagnosed with it to struggle with reading at a solid pace. Often, dyslexia can lead to other academic issues, including issues with reading comprehension, spelling, writing, and math.
The issue isn’t because the student lacks intelligence, but that they struggle to read fluently. More mistakes are made, and as such, the student struggles to comprehend what they read as they get hung up on the mistakes they’re making.
There are a few approaches to teaching students with dyslexia that can help children improve their reading skills and tackle some of the challenging effects they face.
What Is The Orton-Gillingham Approach?
The Orton-Gillingham Approach is one way that schools and teachers can screen students for dyslexia and help teach students the reading comprehension skills they need who live with it.
This strategy prioritizes multisensory teaching and helps students use all of their senses to aid in their comprehension of words and phrases. Then, the program gradually builds upon itself and helps students gain more understanding of language each day.
This approach is not only used in classrooms but it is used by private tutors as well. The Orton-Gillingham approach works best when done one-on-one or in small groups, so it may be more difficult for teachers to implement this proven program in a large-form classroom setting.
Where Can My Student Get Support?
Students can get support not just in school but in outside-of-school programs. In school, your student will likely be learning with an individualized education plan (IEP). This plan is individualized and designed specifically to meet the needs of your student.
While your child is obligated to be provided support in appropriate ways, there is no obligation for your child’s school to offer any specific dyslexia treatment or intervention. This occurs for many reasons, but usually boils down to board-level financial restrictions and limits on human resources.
When Should I Seek Help?
As such, many families seek assistance in programs outside of the school. Students often struggle because they don’t receive direct help for their dyslexia until they’re already being buried under piles of homework in the 5th or 6th grade.
It’s recommended that you begin seeking out evaluative help for your student before they’re overwhelmed with coursework. Seek assistance early, rather than late. This will help your student handle the tasks posed to them much better than if you wait until they’re already in middle school, and acting early means you’ll be setting them up for success, rather than struggle.
If you suspect your student is struggling, don’t wait for your child’s school to say it’s gotten very bad. Reach out to professionals and get them enrolled in a targeted program to aid in their reading success.
Find Specialized Help
Many parents assume that the school system is failing their children and pull their students out in favor of homeschooling. Many homeschool approaches, however, rely on the same methods that your student may be struggling with.
In most cases, students can survive and even thrive in public school settings so long as they receive targeted assistance in their reading and comprehension skills. In short, so long as your child is receiving good help outside of school from a professional trained in educating children with dyslexia, the school system itself will be more accessible for your student to navigate.
What’s the Next Step?
The key to assisting a student with dyslexia is to recognize the symptoms as early as possible and find a team of supportive professionals to get your student set up on a track to academic success. Your job as a parent is to help prevent them from burning out early and get them the help they need.
How do you know that the tutor you found is prepared to help your child comprehend reading, though? At Sunrise Reading Solutions in Toronto, Canada, we can help your student take on the challenges that come with being diagnosed with dyslexia and help them succeed in all areas of academic life.
Our tutors use the Orton-Gillingham approach because it is science-backed and proven to be effective, and can be tailored to your student’s exact needs. Our customized approach is sure to help your student achieve great things, regardless of any difficulties they are currently facing when learning how to read.
Contact us today to learn about all tutoring services we offer and to get your young reader on the right track.
