Dyslexia in Practice

A Guide for Teachers

Dyslexia in Practice A Guide for Teachers

Edited by

Janet Townend and Martin Turner The Dyslexia Institute

Staines, United Kingdom

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publieation Data

Dyslexia in praetiee: a guide for teaehersledited by ]anet Townend and Martin Turner. p. em.

Includes bibliographieal referenees and index. ISBN 978-0-306-46252-8 ISBN 978-1-4615-4169-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-4169-1

1. Dyslexie ehildren-Edueation-Great Britain. 2. Dyslexies-Edueation-Great Britain. 3. Dyslexia-Great Britain. I. Townend, ]anet. 11. Turner, Martin, 1948-

LC471O.G7 0941999 371.91'4421-de21

ISBN 978-1-4613-6857-1

© Springer Science+Business Media New York Originaily published by Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers in

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition

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Contributors

Caroline Barwick, The Dyslexia Institute, 133 Gresham Road, Staines, Middle­sex, TW18 2AJ, UK

Pauline Clayton, Furzewood Bungalow, East Street, Turners Hill, Crawley, Sus­sex RHIO 4QQ, UK

Jennifer Cogan, Westminster School, 17 Dean's Yard, Westminster, London SWlP3PF, UK

Clare Elwell, Joules Lodge, London Road, Sunninghill, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7SB, UK

Christine Firman, SpLD Service, Education Division, The Mall, Floriana, Malta

Mary Flecker, 34 Burnaby Street, London SWlO OPL, UK

Wendy Goldup, The Dyslexia Institute, 32 Avebury Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent, TN9lUA, UK

Jenny Lee, Education Department, Community Education Service, LEAP Adult Basic Education, The LEAP Office, Witham Hall, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham DL12 8BG, UK

Helen Moss, The Dyslexia Institute, The Huntingdon Centre, The Vineyards, The Paragon, Bath BAI 5NA, UK

Angela Nicholas, The Dyslexia Institute, 133 Gresham Road, Staines, Middle­sex, TW18 2AJ, UK

Christine Ostler, The Garden Flat, Cobham Hall, Cobham, Kent DA12 3BL, UK

v

vi Contributors

Margaret Rooms, The Dyslexia Institute, 2 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1 W ODH, UK

Janet Townend, The Dyslexia Institute, 133 Gresham Road, Staines, Middlesex, TW182AJ, UK

Martin Turner, The Dyslexia Institute, 133 Gresham Road, Staines, Middlesex, TW182AJ, UK

Jean Walker, The Dyslexia Institute, 53 Queen Street, Sheffield Sl lUG, UK

Foreword

It is now widely recognized that dyslexia falls on the spectrum oflanguage disor­ders and affects individuals across the lifespan. Dyslexia is characterized by a deficit in phonological (speech) processing, but its behavioral manifestations are varied. Knowledge of the cardinal symptoms of reading and spelling difficulty has increased in recent years, yet there is still relatively little awareness of the other problems that dyslexic readers experience. These range from problems of written expression, to aspects of mathematics, verbal memory, and organizational skills. This book should clarify what these problems are and explain how they can be approached.

Collectively, these chapters provide a synthesis of current practice by focus­ing on how to assess and treat the symptoms of dyslexia, guided by a proper un­derstanding of the cognitive and linguistic weaknesses that underpin the condition. This book makes clear that the backbone of intervention for dyslexia is a highly structured. multisensory approach that teaches reading and spelling skills at the appropriate rate. Such a program must be delivered with due attention to in­dividual differences in the other cognitive skills that contribute to literacy devel­opment, and take account of the learner's style, interests, as well as their confidence and self-esteem.

This book is meant to be an important resource for teachers who wish to be­come competent in the skills required for the assessment, teaching, supporting, and counseling of dyslexic people in a variety of settings. We hope it will reach many teachers and in tum, their students and families.

vii

Margaret 1. Snowling University o/York

Preface

1. THE GROWTH OF DYSLEXIA AWARENESS

There has been a dyslexia awareness movement for thirty years in Britain. Not so long gone are the days of battling mothers in the provinces, who took on educa­tion officials, and got little support other than that from other parents or the occa­sional avuncular academic. Some ofthe heroic pioneers from this era are still with us. Some, alas, are gone. Certain things remain the same: The uphill struggle faced by families with a dyslexic child in the maintained system, though perhaps easier than in earlier years, is still very difficult. But other things are different, too. The acrid fumes of controversy have lessened, as the level of public awareness and un­derstanding has increased. Dyslexia may still be considered controversial among educational psychologists, but that is not the same thing as to say it is controversial.

The pioneers in the world of the British university were the University of North Wales at Bangor and the University of Aston in Birmingham. At present, there are many such centers of research endeavor and dyslexia studies that bring together the many contributing disciplines of the cognitive neurosciences. Dyslexia is thus a matter established in scientific research, law, public policy, and in the efforts of many teachers, as well as, long since, a fact as ineluctable in the life of a family as a failing child.

2. DEFINITIONS

Yet dyslexia has long been established in the language, too, as an acceptable lay term. The first English language author cited for the term dyslexia by the 1928 Oxford English Dictionary is WR. Gowers in A Manual of Diseases of the Ner­vous System 1886-1888 (1893). He noted dyslexia to be a

cerebral symptom ... a peculiar intermitting difficulty in reading.

The term is therefore almost as old as the Oxford English Dictionary itself. The Supplement of 1933 records the still earlier usage from R. Berlin (1883) in Med.

ix

x Preface

Correspondenz-Blatt des Wiirttemburg, though with "earlier and later examples." Today, the Chambers dictionary describes dyslexia as

word-blindness, great difficulty in learning to read or spell. unrelated to intellectual competence and of unknown cause.

Any dictionary may provide at best a slow way of learning about the world, but we immediately recognize word-blindness as an outdated usage and suppose the cause to be no longer entirely unknown. Perhaps, indeed, it is true to say that, in the great jigsaw which is scientific research into dyslexia, there are more pieces identified and fitted together correctly than there are pieces, parts of some vague sky or mass of pleasing but undifferentiated trees, that are remaining to be explained.

In November 1994, the Research Committee of the Orton Dyslexia Society (o.D.S., now the International Dyslexia Association) consolidated what appeared to be a new consensus by proposing a new definition of this "most common and best defined" learning disability:

Dyslexia is one of several distinct learning disabilities. It is a specific language-based disorder of constitutional origin characterised by difficulties in single word decoding, usually reflecting insufficient phonological processing abilities. These difficulties in single word decoding are often unexpected in relation to age and other cognitive and academic abilities; they are not the result of generalised developmental disability or sensory impairment. Dyslexia is manifested by variable difficulty with different forms of language, often including, in addition to problems reading, a conspicuous problem with acquiring proficiency in writing and spelling (O.D.S., 1994).

In March 1996, the Dyslexia Institute, following extensive consultation, launched its own revised definition:

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that hinders the learning ofliteracy skills. This problem with managing verbal codes in memory is neurologically based and tends to run in families. Other symbolic systems, such as mathematics and musical notation, can also be affected. Dyslexia can occur at any level of intellectual ability. It can ac­company, but is not a result of, lack of motivation, emotional disturbance, sensory im­pairment or meagre opportunities. The effects of dyslexia can be alleviated by skilled specialist teaching and committed learning. Moreover many dyslexic people have vi­sual and spatial abilities which enable them to be successful in a wide range of careers.

3. THE INITIAL TEACHING OF LITERACY

During the early 1990s, public concerns mounted about the initial teaching oflit­eracy in primary schools. For the first time the deleterious habits of dyslexic chil­dren-guessing at words from context and picture cues-had been elevated as a model to which all children should aspire. (That children should learn to read more slowly is claimed, by the Whole Language movement, as one of its out­comes.) When it became clear that, as a result, children were failing to learn to read in increasing numbers (Turner, 1990; Brooks, et al., 1994), a series of gov-

Preface xi

ernment-backed reforms was instituted to restore the place of phonics in initial literacy teaching. These reforms have continued, indeed intensified, under the Labour Government (elected in 1997), showing that concern about the teaching of reading transcends party divisions.

Traditional knowledge about phonics, literacy teaching, grammar, and spelling may have gradually disappeared from teacher training institutions, but there remained a reservoir of such traditional knowledge in the dyslexia commu­nity, especially in the teaching programs evolved over sixty years (e.g., Augur and Briggs, 1992; Walker and Brooks, 1993) and the courses of training for teachers that supported them. An almost monastic reverence for the written word had se­cured this knowledge from the marauders' attention.

4. FROM THEORY INTO PRACTICE

This book fulfills manifold needs. Over the years the practice of multisensory teaching did not wait on theory, but evolved as a gathering tradition in the hands of seasoned experts who directly passed on their knowledge. Because much of this knowledge concerns the alphabetic code, it now has a wider prestige and shortage value. The special educator's teaching skills have grown and accommo­dated many new areas, while stabilizing, as happens with any tradition, across dif­fering interpretations. There is thus a profound commonality among dyslexia teaching traditions, even while practitioners argue about differences of emphasis and preference.

Nowadays, however, with the success of much research investigation, there has been an unprecedented cross-fertilization between the study of dyslexia and the practice of special education. It is this interface that this book seeks to occupy. Moreover the practice of teaching and the practice of assessment have drawn closer together because practitioners have allowed their understanding of dyslexia to influence their search for its defining features. The implications of both for teaching have become clearer.

5. THEMES OF THE BOOK

Almost all the contributors to this book are associated in some way with the Dyslexia Institute. The institute is an independent organization in the voluntary sector that has innovated and developed its intellectual property over twenty-six years, finding room for innumerable tests, teaching procedures, lore, and custom that will never all see the light of day.

With the rise of the phonological account of the central language processing problem in dyslexia, research has highlighted the importance of developmental

xii Preface

foundations. Janet Townend opens this book by outlining the progress of the in­clinations that become skills, and the skills that become habits. She explores some strategies to employ when this progress fails to happen. These skills consist largely, but by no means exclusively, of the development of spoken language: at­tending and responding to speech, with a growing analytic awareness of the fine acoustic grain oflanguage.

This theme continues in Chapter 2, where Caroline Borwick elaborates on the stages of linguistic development to provide a hospitable context for the exer­cise of the most sophisticated literacy skills. She gives an account of assessment resources relevant to language and offers teaching procedures that address identi­fied deficits.

What of the bilingual or multilingual child, who has a greater learning burden? In Chapter 3 Christine Firman draws on her Maltese experience to illustrate in con­crete ways the confusions over words that can result. This chapter addresses a set of issues that is currently coming to the forefront of professional interest. Firman wisely concludes that languages are different, rather than "equal," and that in spite of children's celebrated ability to code-switch, they need a patient teacher, skilled in both languages, who can handle the interference set up between languages.

Martin Turner and Angie Nicholas show in Chapter 4 how theory evolves gracefully into practice when assessment is used to construct a teaching program. The scope of the special education teacher's assessment has greatly increased. This chapter discusses the main terms of an assessment, what features it inter­prets, and how a profile to be built up.

This leads us to a consideration of the principles of special education. In Chapter 5, Jean Walker integrates all the many strands that are drawn upon in the teaching of reading and spelling. She carefully explains the interaction between the structure of English words and the memory characteristics of dyslexic learn­ers. She provides a detailed account of dyslexia literacy teaching programs within the context of a helpful theoretical understanding.

Wendy Goldup considers the acquisition of writing skills in Chapter 6. Dis­tinguishing between mechanical and communication aspects of writing, she draws out the process of writing from its motor beginnings, discussing cursive Goined­up) script, to word-processing, e-mail, composition and artistic control. She sup­plies a generous profusion of teaching ideas and uses the National Curriculum and the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) as a background.

Helen Moss addresses, in Chapter 7, the dilemmas facing the user of any lit­eracy program. The special education teacher needs to manage an extenuated process from assessment through to evaluation, with students whose ages range from infant to adult. Moss illustrates this process with examples of actual students and teaching programs, the latter respected rather than "adapted."

In Chapter 8, Clare Elwell and Janet Townend look at the needs of more ad­vanced learners who may, nevertheless, exhibit the familiar problems. They ad­dress spelling by way of morphology and comprehension through cognitive

Preface xiii

apprenticeship and scaffolding. They review a range of strategies and study skills and take in many higher order skills of reading and writing.

Chapter 9, by Mary Flecker and Jennifer Cogan, explores the usefulness of strategies and metacognition. Their chapter is rich in practical teaching ideas and methods which address a great variety of situations, including memorization, note-taking, mind-mapping, as well as the learning of formulae, sequential infor­mation, or a foreign language.

Dyslexic students face particular problems when learning mathematics. Pauline Clayton addresses this issue in Chapter 10. Clayton, herself, was instru­mental in developing the Dyslexia Institute Mathematics Programme (DlMP). She follows the assessment of number skills with advice for patient teaching us­ing structured, multisensory, cumulative methods and involving both special edu­cation teacher and parents.

Margaret Rooms, in Chapter 11, reviews the fast-moving world of Informa­tion and Communication Technology (lCT) which offers many opportunities for the dyslexic learner. She reviews hardware, software, voice technology in a way that will not intimidate the general reader. Keyboard skills are related to spelling and literacy aids. Some of the possibilities of e-mail and the Internet are lightly sketched in.

Jenny Lee gives sympathetic consideration to the distinctive needs of adults. In Chapter 12, she records how the individuals describe their own difficulties. She shows how assessment and teaching strategies must be carefully adapted to the needs and sensitivities of adults, for whom the objective of functional literacy may be appropriate. She discusses school and work dyslexia policies. She also includes sample learning plans together with a multisensory spelling program for priority words and an essential guide to suffixes.

In this book's final chapter, Wendy Goldup and Christine Ostler look at the many possible emotional problems the dyslexic student may encounter at home and school. They suggest many helpful strategies to increase teacher sensitivity, and discuss parents' worries in a sensible, problem-solving way that can only make home-school communication and the homework nightmare more manage­able. They include a useful appendix which outlines the procedures contained in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice in England and Wales.

This book represents a full, if far from definitive, statement of the best prac­tice to be found in the many kinds of intervention that are conducted with dyslexic students. It addresses some fundamental questions that are seldom asked. Much of what the skilled teacher knows and does is here set down in print for the first time.

6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the contribution of the many colleagues whose work is represented only indirectly in these pages; the parents who bore patiently with experiment

xiv Preface

and repetition, when positive outcomes seemed for a long time far from assured; and the students themselves who gave us their commitment when, after so many setbacks, it seemed no one had the right to ask it of them, and whose steady progress has been the greatest reward for those who teach them.

Martin Turner, Janet Townend

REFERENCES

Augur, J., & Briggs, S. (eds.). (1992). The Hickey Multisensory Language Course, second edition. London: Whurr.

Brooks, G., Foxman, D., & Gorman, T. (1995). Standards In Literacy and Numeracy: 1948-1994. London: National Commission on Education (Paul Hamlyn Foundation).

Orton Dyslexia Society. (1994). A new definition of dyslexia. Bulletin of the Orton Dyslexia Society. Turner, M. (1990). Sponsored Reading Failure. Warlingham Park School, Warlingham, Surrey: lPSET,

September 1990. Walker, 1., & Brooks, 1. (1993). Dyslexia Institute Literacy Programme. London: James and James.

Contents

1. Phonological Awareness and Other Foundation Skills of Literacy

Janet Townend

Introduction Defining the Terms 2 The Research Background 3 How Do these Skills Relate to Literacy? 6 How Do these Difficulties Relate to Dyslexia? 8 The Range of Skills: The Range of Difficulties 9 Early Identification of Dyslexia 13 How Do the Principles of Specialist Teaching Relate to these Skills? 18 Teaching the Foundation Skills 20 Conclusion 27 References 27

2. Spoken Language 31

Caroline Borwick

Introduction 31 Spoken Language Development 31 The Structure of Language 34 Spoken Language Difficulties of the Dyslexic Student 39 Assessment 39 Practical Suggestions for Addressing Spoken Language Deficits 44 Conclusion 54 References 54

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xvi Contents

3. The Bilingual Dyslexic Child: An Overview of Some of the Problems Encountered 57

Christine Firman

Introduction 57 Global Concerns 57 What is Bilingualism? 58 Bilingualism in Malta 58 Bilingualism and Dyslexia 58 Learning Disability or Limited Exposure to the

English Language? 60 Assessment Measures 61 Case Studies 63 Conclusion 64 References 65

4. From Assessment to Teaching: Building a Teaching Program from a Psychological Assessment 67

Martin Turner and Angie Nicholas

Introduction 67 Can a Special Education Teacher Perform a

Psychological Assessment? 68 The Place of Assessment in Guided Teaching 69 The Place of Intelligence Quotient Tests 69 Development and the Profile of Strengths

and Weaknesses 72 The Survey of Attainments 75 Interpreting the Psychologist's Report 76 The Value of Early Intervention 76 Building a Successful Teaching Program 77 The Individual's Attitude to His or

Her Learning Difficulty 83 Liaison with the Student's School 84 The Use of Scarce Time 84 Two Case Studies 86 Summary 89 References 90

Contents xvii

5. Teaching Basic Reading and Spelling 93

Jean Walker

Introduction 93 The Normal Acquisition of Literacy 94 The Dyslexic Learner 95 Principles of Multisensory Teaching 99 Learning the Structure of English Spelling 101 Structured Language Programs 109 The Lesson 114 Problems and Solutions 116 Choosing or Making Materials for Dyslexic

Students to Read 121 Timing 122 Spelling in Prose 124 Proofreading 125 Is Structured, Cumulative, Multisensory Teaching Effective? 127 Summary 127 Teaching Resources 128 References 129

6. Developing Writing Skills 131

Wendy Goldup

Introduction 131 Mechanical Aspects 133 Writing to Communicate 140 Writing with Information Communication

Technology (I.C.T.) 150 Learning to Write: Writing to Learn 152 References 152

7. Using Literacy Development Programs 155

Helen Moss

Introduction 155 Developing Basic Literacy Skills-Active Literacy Kit 156

xviii Contents

Case Study 1: Lucy 158 Units of Sound: Audiovisual Program 163 Units of Sound: Multimedia Version 2 167 Case Study 2: Philip 170 Developing Literacy for Study and Work:

A Program for Teenagers and Adults 173 Case Study 3: George 175 Conclusion 181 Resource Materials 181 References 181

8. Higher Level Literacy Skills 183

Clare Elwell and Janet Townend

Introduction 183 What are the Higher Level Literacy Skills? 183 Literature Review 185 The Late Manifestation of Literacy Difficulties 190 Reading 191 Higher Level Spelling Skills 198 Higher Level Writing Skills 203 Summary 205 References 206

9. The Learning Skills 209

Mary Flecker and Jennifer Cogan

An Introduction to Organization 209 The Organization of Reading 211 The Organization of Words 216 The Organization of Writing 221 Memory: Putting It In 225 Memory: Keeping It In 236 Memory: Pulling It Out 239 Metacognition 242 References 249

10. Students, Dyslexia, and Mathematics 251

Pauline Clayton

Introduction 251

Contents xix

Problems for Dyslexic Pupils 252 Testing and Assessment 255 How Can We Help? 258 What Can Parents Do? 260 Conclusion 261 References 261

11. Information and Communication Technology and Dyslexia 263

Margaret Rooms

Introduction 263 Advantages of Information and Communication Technology 264 Hardware 264 Hardware and Software 265 Software 265 Keyboard Skills 269 Core Teaching Programs 270 Internet 271 Conclusion 272 References 272

12. The Challenge of Dyslexia in Adults 273

Jenny Lee

Introduction 273 Some Possible Causes and Consequences 274 The Effect Dyslexia Can Have on the Adult 276 Identifying Dyslexia in Adults 279 Negotiating Learning Programs 283 Teaching Dyslexic Adults 284 Teaching Spelling 288 Teaching Reading 292 A Word about Number 294 Functional Literacy 295 Monitoring Progress 296 A Model for Developing a Dyslexia Policy in Industry 298 Some Suggestions for a Dyslexia Policy at a University 299 Conclusion 300 References 301 Appendix 1: The Multisensory Spelling Program 303 Appendix 2: Double Vowel Power and Suffixing Logic 306 Appendix 3: Multisensory Meanings 310

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13. The Dyslexic Child at School and at Home

Wendy Goldup and Christine Ostler

The Dyslexic Child in School The Dyslexic Child at Home Appendix Resources References

About the Authors

Author Index

Subject Index

Contents

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311 325 338 339 340

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Dyslexia in Practice

A Guide for Teachers