Dyslexia and English learning Problems / solutions

Society of Boys’ Centres Chak Yan Centre School

(Primary Section) 2006- 2008

Writing issues

Problems:

Missing letter in a word

Misuse of capital letter

Students tend to write accurately but lose control of the ‘rules’ and make mistakes easily. They may produce neat work. But they are not able to work steadily with rules. Writing words is one example.

Short>> shors>>

shots

Typical dysgraphic feature: inconsistent space and position on lines-

no spacing between words, jumping letters on a line.

rulbish

The cursive writing of l and b may have caused problem.

Tree

Vs

thee

Water

Vs

watch

Mixing up similar spellings

The student needs raising line to guide his handwriting

Compare the two sentences

Misspelt words

Typical dysgraphic feature: inconsistent space and position on lines

Speaking

Gentle reminders - audio recording

• Scene 1: At hostel:

Miss Au: Who didn’t turn off the water tap after washing dishes?

Jack: It’s me.Miss Au: Do you know

that you are wasting the water?

Jack: Sorry, Miss Au. I am too careless.

• Scene 2: At School:

John: Jack, I find some old textbooks in the rubbish bin.

Jack: That’s great! We can donate the textbooks to people in need. It can help others and can save resources.

John: Your idea is good. Why don’t we contact Miss Au. She must help us.

• Scene 3: At lunch time:

Jack: Mr. Fok. I can’t finish the dish of food. I am full.

Mr. Fok.: You waste the food. You should not take too much than you can eat.

Jack: I am so sorry. I will not do it again.

• Scene 4: In the classroom:

John: What are you doing, Jack?

Jack: I am going to throw my pencil away. My pencil is very ugly. I want to have a new one.

John: You should not waste the stationery.

Speaking

1. Missing final consonants, mixing up ‘f’ in Mr. Fok with ‘d’. ‘f’ in full as ‘d’ (or weak form of ‘f’)

2. Careless (less is not pronounced)

3. Can't manage multi-syllabic words well: e.g. stationery (pronounced as tationry)

4. Missing the whole word: e.g. than in 'You should not take too much than you can eat'

• Some students have short term memory. They could not remember the sound of each word.

• They could not do the recording.

• And they gave up when seeing the recording script.

Implications for teaching

• Avoid long sentences for reading aloud

• Pay more attention to practice of final consonants (are some sounds easy to be skipped : e.g. ‘sh’ in finish, dish?)

• Pay attention to pairs of sounds when they may be mixed up: ‘f’ and ‘d’ (articulation).

Implications for teaching

• More time should be given for practice and guidance before doing a main task.

• May have less items for the recording as the students cannot digest all.

Implications for teaching

• Worksheet- add pictures to help remember the words and try to have less words on a page.

• Use A3 size paper instead of A4 paper for worksheets so the students will feel less nervous.