GEORGE NEWS - October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. Until the end of the month, George Herald is publishing a series of articles written by dyslexia expert, Lynne Marshall, principal of The Gift Class.
In South Africa, children are only assessed for dyslexia in Grade 3.
Educational psychologists encourage Grade 1 and Grade 2 parents to seek additional remedial support for a child who is experiencing difficulty in reading and spelling.
If these difficulties persist in Grade 3, an assessment by an educational psychologist is important.
How you will know that your child is experiencing difficulties in reading:
He/she does not know all the sounds associated with all of the letters.
He/she skips words in a sentence and does not stop to self-correct.
He/she cannot remember words and reverts to sounding out the same word every time it appears on the page.
If your Foundation Phase (Grade 1 to 3) child is dyslexic, you can supplement what they've learnt at school by helping him/her at home.
Spending time with them, reading to them every day and practising spelling and reading will help set them up for success. If your child struggles to read, you can evaluate how severe their problem is by using the concept of "frustration level".
This is when the child is making about 26 errors in a passage of 120 words.
Here are a few helpful hints/tools for homework
Spelling
Always look at the sound that is being learnt e.g. /ai/ as in snail. On the first day, sound out each spelling word and circle the sound - s-n-ai-l).
The next two days, use an A4 whiteboard so that if the child makes a mistake, it can be completely erased. It is novel for the child to use something different.
The day before a test, use paper and pencil and ask the spelling words as if it were a test.
If your child struggles to write, use plastic movable letters to spell each word and then copy that word on the whiteboard.
If your Grade 1 child is unable to remember individual sounds, use play-dough to make these letter/sounds.
Reading
A child should not be reading on a frustration level. This is when the child is making too many errors and little learning is taking place (26 errors in a passage of 120 words).
Grade 1: When I work with a child I encourage the child to sound out two unfamiliar words on a page only and all other unfamiliar words are read to the child.
Grade 2: I encourage the child to sound out four unfamiliar words on a page only and all other unfamiliar words are read to the child.
Place sight words (common words that a child reads instantly, without sounding them out, e.g. the) in a general area so that your child can read them when passing Eg: the fridge.
Also remember that reading to a young child every night is highly recommended.
Next week we will give helpful hints/tools for the Intermediate Phase (Grade 4 to 6).
Elizabeth Eyland (Gift Class Grade 5)
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