Dyslexia is a common learning disability which causes difficulties with reading and writing words and letters. The symptoms can range from mild difficulty spelling or sounding out words to the inability to memorize or recognize the letters of the alphabet. Even with the most severe cases, a good tutor can help a dyslexic student improve his reading level significantly.
Instructions
Getting to Know Your Student
1. Find out everything you can about the strengths and weaknesses of your student. How severe is her learning disability? Does she have problems with sight words (short words like "play" and "who" which are often irregular and difficult to sound out)? What about longer words? Does she have difficulty reading? Spelling? Both? Use word lists, books at different levels of difficulty and writing tasks as well as conversations with the student and her parents.
2. Consult his record. Your student has probably already jumped through a few hoops before coming to you! There may be teacher notes, records from a therapist or an Individual Education Plan or IEP. These records are a great way to find out important information that the student might not give you, such as problems difficulty turning in assignments on time or behavior problems.
3. Create a program with the student and his parents. Dyslexics need to practice their reading every day and, if possible, to meet with their tutors 2 to 3 times a week. Arrange to have enough time to help with homework and to work on improving reading skills.
Tutoring Your Student
4. Make sure all assignments are done on time. This is your number one priority! You may have to read to your student and help her write her write essays. In many cases, the parents can help with the reading, leaving you more time to work on improving reading levels or writing skills.
5. Address all of the student's learning issues every day if possible. Most students with dyslexia do well with some comfort-level (easy) reading to help them improve their confidence as well as some more challenging reading to build up their skills and word lists to help them recognize sound patterns in English.
6. Be sure to take into account other issues that the student may have. Many dyslexic students also suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder, Dysgraphia, comprehension problems or other learning issues. As a learning disabilities tutor, your job is to treat the student not the condition.
7. Be supportive. Keeping a positive attitude and encouraging your student to do the same is one of the best things you can do! A positive, motivated student with severe symptoms will often show better progress than a negative, unmotivated student with mild symptoms.
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