Jake making the letters of the alphabet.

Two of my children were recently diagnosed with dyslexia.  I immediately went to work researching, talking to experts, and reading on the subject.  My favorite source so far is The Gift of Dyslexia by Ronald Davis.  Mr. Davis gives practical step-by-step instructions for helping someone with dyslexia.

One of the first things to understand is that people with dyslexia are extremely visual people.  They need to create pictures in their head of things they read, stories they hear, etc.  This explains why so many experts have found that a multi-sensory instruction receives the best results.  As a parent and teacher, I have found that this type of learning is also the most fun.

We began with the alphabet.  Yes, regardless of the age of the student/person, Mr. Davis recommends to start from the beginning.  I made some play dough and printed off the alphabet strips given in the book.  With a little encouragement, both of my children agreed to try the exercise.  They began building our 26 letters in their capital form.

Mr. Davis explains that most people with dyslexia do not know the alphabet.  They know the song, and the song knows the alphabet.  So, they sing the song anytime they have to look up a name in the phone book.

Some lower case letters in reverse order.

Building the letters out of play dough helps them remember the shape of the letter, the correct direction of the letter, etc.  The alphabet becomes their alphabet because they made it with their own hands.  Once they can create the letters correctly from a mound of clay.  We work on reciting the letters in order.  Without any hint of the alphabet song, they say the letters from A-Z and then from Z-A.  He wants them to know the alphabet backwards and forwards.

Next, you randomly call out a letter.  They have to tell you which letters are immediately before and after the letter.  For example, the letter I give you is B.  So, the answer is A and C.  It is not as easy as it sounds.  Being part of this process, I can honestly say that I have never known our alphabet so well.

You build both the capital and lowercase letters.  While looking at the letters you can discuss which letters are the most alike.  There are several letters that are almost the exact opposite of another.  For example, b’s and d’s can be confusing.  Talking about them, touching them, and building them seems to help in letter recognition.

The whole point of the exercise is to create mental pictures of each letter.  When you have to recall the letter, you can see in your head the letter you created as well as its position in the alphabet.  So far, so good.  We have moved on to the next step which is writing the letters on paper.

I might sound elementary, but I am already seeing results in their schoolwork.  It was a fun to step back and get our hands dirty.  Before I knew it, there were several of us playing with the dough.  When learning is fun, mastery can occur.  I will probably use these techniques with my smallest two boys when they are ready for school regardless if they are dyslexic or not.

Gluten-Free Play Dough

1 cup rice flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup salt
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 cups water
2 tsp oil
food coloring, optional

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan.  Cook on low heat and stir until the mixture forms a ball.  It takes a few minutes.  Cool completely.  Keep it in an air-tight container or a sealed plastic bag.

Tags: dyslexia, Gift of Dyslexia, gluten free playdough recipe, Ronald Davis, teaching the alphabet

This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 5:50 am and is filed under Food Allergies, Homeschooling, Homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.