This year you may have a child in your class whose -

• reading is virtually non-existent

• spelling is, to put it charitably, bizarre

• handwriting is - well, hard to describe.

This child has been tested and found to have an average, or an above average intelligence, and his inadequacies in language arts are well beyond either his control or yours. He is, in fact, dyslectic, and without some specially designed remediation, outside of his regular classroom, he is doomed to years of misery in school, perilously low self-esteem, semi- or total illiteracy, and future employment for which he is intellectually over-qualified.

If you are sharp and aware of dyslexia, he will have been enrolled in a special program for getting dyslectic children up to or beyond grade level in reading skill within a year of training. However, it takes the whole year to do this, and for awhile the child will still be producing substandard work. During the period while he is learning to read, write, and spell properly, he will need a good deal of patience and understanding from his classroom teacher.

For instance, if, when the other kids have 20 spelling words to memorize, he might be allowed to do 10 (without reducing his marks!).

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD HE EVER BE CALLED ON TO READ OUT LOUD IN CLASS. Of course, later in the year when he has improved and asks to be called on, by all means do. If you can wait until he raises his hand and volunteers, you can save him from the kind of embarrassment that makes a kid have a sick stomach every morning before he goes to school.

Dyslectic kids often know a lot of things they have heard their parents talk about, so if you find an area in which he is knowledgeable, by all means let him show his stuff.

The main thing is to save him from embarrassment or from teasing from the other kids. If you can let him know you think he is a super kid and you understand that he will need time to get straightened out, he will probably remember you for the rest of his life as the nicest teacher he ever had!

The method used by his tutor should be designed to by-pass the neurological anomaly in his brain that is preventing him from learning to read. It consists of exercises that force him to use the left hemisphere, which is programmed to handle written language, but which he is not using.

The exercises are somewhat analogous to push-ups for football players. The game itself can be compared to reading: we give him the push-ups; when he is "strong" enough, you can help him learn to play the game. Thus there is no overlap in the two types of training and no need to worry about having him confused by being exposed to two different methods.

Then there is the business of homework. This is where tolerance on the part of his teacher is invaluable. The same thing is true for written tests. If he must read something for science or social studies homework, it works well if his mother is expected, and indeed, encouraged, to read it to him until his own skill picks up. Until then, he must get his education through his ears. Perhaps have a good reader fill him in on what the story has been so far, or whatever.

For more information please contact ADDBE.

Action Dyslexia Delhi - Beyond Education
(A non-government organisation working for promoting educational, vocational, etc. interests of dyslexic children in Delhi)