Online School is Hard on Kids with Dyslexia
Obviously, online school work presents special challenges for all students and teachers. But there’s an extra challenge for students with dyslexia and the teachers who are doing their best to provide a great education under difficult circumstances. Students with dyslexia often depend on classroom discussion to correct misconceptions that garbled reading (or not reading) produced. Group projects allow students with strong people skills to shine. Zoom classes or Google classroom can provide some discussion, but it’s not as robust as in-person. Additionally, an online school may have more reading than the classroom setting, since readings are easier to post than interactive group learning activities.
Audio Books are Essential
Students with dyslexia need audiobooks of their assigned readings. During online schooling, this becomes even more essential! Thankfully, computer technology now provides easy access to audio for almost any text. For textbooks and assigned books, a great source is Learning Ally. Many other sources provide audiobooks, often for free. Youtube, the local library, and Open culture are examples. Classics can be downloaded free from Librivox. The student can just listen to the audio. But to get the best results, the student needs to track along; look at the text while the reader says the words. This way, the student improves sight reading vocabulary painlessly while hearing the needed information.
Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text Help Level the Field
Almost any text on a screen can be highlighted and read aloud by the computer. This isn’t as satisfying as a human reader, but it’s a wonderful tool that every dyslexic student needs in order to do well in online school. Likewise, all word processors worth having now include speech-to-text capabilities. Sometimes it’s necessary to add an app or turn on “voice typing.” This tool allows students to speak to the computer and watch their words appear on the screen. It’s important that students also get editing assistance since errors will be extensive while learning to speak clearly to the machine. It’s worth taking time to master this tool; it will be valuable all through school, college, and career.
Breaks for Body and Eyes
Young eyes and bodies need to move, dyslexic or not. Sitting in front of a computer for hours each day produces mental and physical fatigue and eventually, students reach a “quit point
Discussions are Better Than Quizzes
Teachers need some sort of assessment tool to know if the students comprehend the material. Unfortunately, the easiest tool for online school seems to be multiple choice quizzes. These make grading easy since the computer scores the quizzes. However, this sort of test is notoriously inaccurate for students with dyslexia. The questions lack context, which big-picture thinkers depend on. Skipping one word, such as “not,” causes a missed answer when the student may actually understand the concept quite well.
A better approach to assessment uses discussion with the teacher and responses such as student-produced posters or videos. This requires subjective judgment by the teacher if a grade is assigned. But, most teachers easily ascertain whether the student understands or not; whether he or she is ready to move on to the next concept. If quizzes and tests must be used to satisfy school requirements, I recommend allowing students to retake the test as many times as needed or desired. This makes the test a learning opportunity and removes stress.
Online School Can Be a Positive Experience
In my experience, many of my students with dyslexia flourish in an online school. The key to success is appropriate support. This includes access to audio for all text assignments, coaching in the use of Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text tools, assessment that doesn’t penalize them for their dyslexia, and frequent movement breaks. With these powerful dyslexia tools
by Yvonna Graham, M.Ed., www.dyslexiakit.net
@GrahamYvonna
The most important tool of all for dyslexic students: audiobooks! You can download classics read by volunteers for free at Librivox. Newer titles professionally read are available at Audible for $15/mo. Textbooks come from Learning Ally if you have a diagnosis. Best of all — your public library can probably get any book you need on audio with some notice.