October is National Dyslexia Awareness Month. All across the country, communities will be making efforts to spotlight a range of dyslexic needs, struggles, and signs. Dyslexia is one of the most common language-based learning disabilities. What can we do to help ? Talk about it -get diagnosed and find answers, .
Some facts :
- It is estimated that 1 in 10 people have dyslexia
- Over 40 million American Adults are dyslexic – and only 2 million know it
- Dyslexia is not tied to IQ – Einstein was dyslexic and had an estimated IQ of 160
- Dyslexia in not just about getting letters or numbers mixed up or out of order https://www.austinlearningsolutions.com/blog/38-dyslexia-facts-and-statistics.html
What is Dyslexia
From reading to writing to spelling, dyslexia affects how a person absorbs information. Dyslexia isn’t necessarily how a person sees a word, but how they process, manipulate, and decoding the letters. Dyslexia affects how the brain handles information it sees and hears. Symptoms include:
- Matching letters to sounds
- Remembering how to spell words
- Trouble telling left from right
- A harder time following a lot of instructions
- Memorizing sequences
How to Help Students with Dyslexia at the Library and at home :
Affecting 5 to 17% of students, Dyslexia is genetically passed through families. Dyslexia occurs on a spectrum, so some students may fly under the radar with a mild case while others are profoundly impacted. Dyslexia does not impact intelligence or IQ, and no matter how hard a student tries, dyslexia impairs their ability to learn in a specific way.
Using an individual’s strengths is the best approach to helping a dyslexic learner. Dyslexic thinking, which is the byproduct of dyslexia, is the combination of some or all of the following:
- Exploring
- Connecting
- Reasoning
- Communicating
- Imagining
- Visualizing
So at the library I help the kids find books that are both visual and fun. Another way is to steer them toward the books with Read along CDs, At home our school uses a text to speech program as well as books that are audio enhanced. Here\s a free one https://ttsreader.com
Tuesday Book Picks :
Books Plus their Audio Companion
Readers can follow along on the latest Toy Story adventure with word-for-word narration, character voices, and sound effects from the film in this thrilling read-along and CD set. https://www.amazon.com/Disney-Book-Group/e/B00JZCJZ5K/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
Jurassic Adventure: Dyslexia Friendly Books for Kids
At Dyslexit, we use a modern approach to design books for kids who struggle with dyslexia:https://www.amazon.com/Jurassic-Adventure-Dyslexia-Friendly-Books/dp/1080360794/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1571754885&sr=1-1
✓ Uniquely designed colored font → Fluency
✓ Text/illustration separation → Focus
✓ Low-contrast text/background → Perception
We use a dyslexic font where letters have different colors, which helps children to subconsciously remember and connect the letters, resulting in improved fluency. Letters won’t dance around anymore since attention will be kept on one letter at the time.
Text is separated from illustrations on independent pages, which keeps your child’s focus on the text and prevents the loss of concentration that occurs when text is inside an illustration. Since text inside an illustration creates an unwanted distraction, this also facilitates reading in children with ADHD and autism.
Visual perception is facilitated with a low contrast between text and background, which improves your child’s readability. The carefully selected low-contrast background behind our letters will also create a huge reading improvement for children with Irlen Syndrome.
Since illustrations are separate, there is enough space for larger more readable text, so there is no need for tools like colored overlays, rulers, or dyslexia glasses.
Your child will experience overall improved reading comprehension and will be able to practice long, difficult dinosaur names. Dyslexit provides a reading solution, where there is no need for decodable chapter division. Your child can practice long sentences without waging an irritating battle with letters.
Jurassic Adventure is a short story about an important, yet dangerous journey of a group of dinosaurs with some emotional scenes about friendship. It is an educational story that teaches children that they can always find friends, no matter what.
Our mission is to help your child become a joyful reader, who will gain the skills and confidence needed to enter the world of self-reliant reading.
