DENVER - Students who struggle with reading may find out from their teachers dyslexia could be to blame. House Bill 1223, sponsored by Representative Michael Merrifield (D-Manitou Springs/Colorado Springs) unanimously passed through the House education committee on Thursday afternoon. The legislation would give teachers the training needed to identify literacy challenges, such as dyslexia.
"I was diagnosed with dyslexia in second grade," says 11-year-old Holmes Middle School sixth grader Theo Reitwiesner.
"Theo came to me in second grade and told me, ‘I'm done with school,'" says Theo's mom Patricia.
Theo started meeting with a tutor soon after his mom told him state law required him to go to school.
"I miss little words like ‘in,' ‘as,' the,' and I'll just skip them completely," says Theo. "There'd be a sentence and you'd read it, then it wouldn't make any sense cause you couldn't figure out one of the words, and you'd read it over like seven or eight times and then it'd finally click, and then you understood it, and that still happens to me today."
Dyslexia is much more than reading a word backwards, it's trying not to confuse letters that look alike, like a lower case ‘b' and a lower case ‘d.' It's trying to understand a word when you're not exactly sure what each letter of the alphabet sounds like on its own. Theo used to memorize words so that he knew how to say it later.
"If you hear the word ‘cat' it's three syllables cah-ah-tah,' so then you can't break apart the sounds in words and you can't blend them together," says Patricia.
"I didn't learn how to pronounce each syllable of every word," says Theo.
Patricia was one of more than a dozen who testified in front of the education committee about the need for literacy training.
"It gives us a chance just to elevate awareness to dyslexia," says Patricia. "This isn't just a problem for special education teachers, this is a problem for everybody in education."
Sydney Hough is a former teacher in the Lewis-Palmer School District. She told the committee about how the word ‘dyslexia' was basically taboo.
"I was not allowed to use the word dyslexia when I was speaking to parents about their child's struggles," says Hough. "I now understand why Joey and Brianna and several other students never learned how to read in my first grade class."
"They're accused of being lazy, not trying hard enough or just plain dumb," says Ellen Steinberg, from the Rocky Mountain Dyslexia Association.
Karen Brass is a 44-year-old mother with dyslexia. While testifying in support of the bill, she couldn't remember a certain word.
If I can't see it, I can't say it," says Brass. "That's a dyslexic mind for you."
"Having taught for 30 years, now that I've learned so much about it, I can recall students that I'm sure must have had dyslexia," says Merrifield. "This does provide training for teachers to recognize certain symptoms."
Merrifield wants to catch learning disabilities early in a student's life, so they can see a specialist and get the tutoring they need.
"From 40,000 to 150,000 students in Colorado have some form of dyslexia," says Merrifield. "This could have a huge impact on the dropout rate, on our graduation rate."
"We graduate far too many kids, able kids, with third and fourth grade reading levels," says Dr. Ed Steinberg of the Colorado Department of Education. "Our kindergarten through third grade teachers in general education, need this training probably desperately in the sense of the preventative aspects of this."
Today, Theo the sixth grader, reads at a seventh grade reading level. He loves to read the Harry Potter books.
"I've worked my butt off all year," says Theo.
By Marshall Zelinger
m.zelinger@krdo.com
Dyslexia Training For Teachers
EMOTIONS
Dyslexic people are increasingly encouraged to view their dyslexia in a positive light. However, many dyslexics feel a number of distressing emotions about their difficulties and their situation. Most commonly reported are the following:
Confusion and bewilderment
Many adult dyslexics are unaware that they have a recognizable pattern of difficulties which can be significantly alleviated through the learning of appropriate skills and strategies. Typically, therefore, an adult dyslexic feels thoroughly confused. He/she seems to be quite bright and quick-thinking in some ways, but apparently quite slow and 'stupid' in others.
Embarrassment, shame and guilt
Feelings of embarrassment about dyslexia can deepen into shame, and, whereas embarrassment is often specific to a particular situation, shame seems to seep through the whole personality. Often dyslexic people come to feel that they have a guilty secret. Ella, a successful potter, describes it thus:
“I had a secret inside me. I kept 'it' in a box; and would only open the lid very cautiously. You may well laugh when you know the contents of the box: it was dyslexia. That word, that almost indescribable thing, lived in the box and pervaded almost every part of my life, but no one could see it. It was a living nightmare.”
Lack of confidence, low self-esteem.
The emotions described above – bewilderment, shame, guilt – deal a crippling blow to confidence and self-esteem. Lack of confidence manifests itself both in relation to specific tasks that a dyslexic person finds difficult, and in a more general way. At work there is a feeling of not being competent to hold down one's job. There is also a nervousness about applying for promotion, or for another job. In interviews, particularly, lack of confidence can be very damaging.
The daily questionings of one's own abilities and capacities will slowly but surely erode one's self-esteem. Among all the problems, the difficulties, the inefficiencies, the traumas, where is the person who is of worth? Is there such a person in there somewhere? Lack of confidence may result in aggressive or defensive behavior. Then the dyslexic person becomes trapped in a pattern of interaction, or rather reaction, which imprisons him/her in a lonely and distressing world.
Frustration and anger.
A sense of being imprisoned, trapped, impotent is often reported by dyslexic adults. George, a long-distance lorry driver, describes it thus: “I felt I couldn't move in any direction. In my job I was always moving, going in all directions, but in myself I couldn't go anywhere. I was grounded. That's why I liked the driving – I would drive and drive and drive to try and get away from the frustration, but however far you drive, you can't get away from yourself.”
In human beings, frustration soon turns to anger. But who should the anger be directed against? Who is to blame? All too often dyslexic adults end up blaming themselves.
Anxiety, fear and panic.
Whatever difficulties one may have in life, anxiety usually makes them worse, and this is certainly true of dyslexic difficulties: adult dyslexics become locked in a vicious circle of anxiety and inefficiency. Anxiety and stress can also precipitate physical symptoms: panic attacks, nausea, migraine, susceptibility to illness. Being physically below par naturally further reduces efficiency and so the downward spiral continues.
Despondency, depression and despair.
If the difficulties continue to go unrecognised, if there is continual failure in attempts to study and hold down jobs, then the dyslexic person may lose hope and sink into depression.
Relief, determination and hope.
It perhaps seems as if this paper has been full of doom and gloom. Yet all the emotions that have been described here are commonly reported by dyslexic adults. However, once dyslexic difficulties have been recognized, and strategies for dealing with them put in place, life can often take a turn for the better. All the energy that previously went into worrying about the problems, and covering them up, can now be channeled into developing effective ways of dealing with them, both practically and emotionally. What usually emerges most strongly is a sense of hope and a feeling of determination to turn one’s life around.
As James, who was recently diagnosed as dyslexic, said: “I felt as if the prison doors had been opened. I looked out and saw paths leading in all directions. I didn't know which of the paths was mine. All I did know was that I would have a path in future and that the years of confinement were over.”
- Dyslexia in the Workplace, by Diana Bartlett and Sylvia Moody, published by Whurr.
- Dyslexia at College, by Tim Miles and Dorothy Gilroy, published by Routledge.
- Dyslexia and Stress, edited by Tim Miles and Ved Varma, published by Whurr.
Perception and Movement
Dyslexia denotes difficulty with reading and writing, and it is often supposed that this difficulty must stem from poor phonology (ability to recognise, produce and sequence letter sounds). However, dyslexia may also be associated with perceptual and motor (movement) difficulties. Such difficulties are often grouped together under the term ‘dyspraxia’.
General difficulties.
· poor balance and posture
· clumsy gait and movement
· difficulty with bat and ball games
· tendency to fall, trip, bump into things and people
· poor handwriting and typing
· lack of manual dexterity (needed in tasks such as cooking)
· over-sensitivity to light and noise
· discriminating between left and right
· judging distance
· finding one’s way about
· doing numerical and spatial tasks
· planning and organising thought, and expressing thoughts
· organising daily life
· social interaction
· presentation of written work
· keeping place when reading
· keeping overall structure of essay in mind
Workplace difficulties.
· using machines such as photocopiers, faxes
· entering data on a computer / calculator
· copying down figures correctly and in the proper columns
· remembering where things have been put
· taking messages
· using a date stamp
· keeping papers in order
· carrying trays, eg, of coffee mugs
Managing the difficulties.
· use a ruler to keep place on page
· photocopy text onto coloured paper
· colour-mark layout of tables of numbers
· systematically scan each part of graphs, charts, tables of numbers
· keep operating instructions for fax machine, etc. by the machine
· use an ergonomic keyboard
· use keyboard shortcuts / slow down the mouse
· plan a daily, weekly and monthly work schedule
· carefully pre-plan before going to a new place
· use upside-down maps
· make a note of routes, eg, to photocopying room
· request a quiet workspace
· get a tray with high sides and a long central handle (from disability organisations)· use specially adapted utensils for cooking / tools for DIY
Assessment.
Dyspraxic difficulties can usually be identified in a psychological assessment (eg, using the WAIS test).
If physical clumsiness is a marked feature, it is advisable to seek an assessment also from a physiotherapist or occupational therapist who specialises in adult dyspraxia.
If perceptual difficulties are marked, then a referral to a perception therapist would be useful.
Further reading.
Living with Dyspraxia: A guide for adults with developmental dyspraxia, ed. Mary Colley; available from the Dyspraxia Foundation. (Some of the material in this paper has been taken from this book.)
Dyslexia in the Workplace, by Diana Bartlett and Sylvia Moody, published by Whurr.
Dyslexia at College, by Tim Miles and Dorothy Gilroy, published by Routledge.
