LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Educators discuss ways of helping dyslexic students adapt to the classroom.

A child sits in a classroom and stares at an open book with a blank expression and a look of frustration.

"Bobbi," when asked to read in class, can't pronounce the words on the page in front of her. She is trying to sound out each word and letter on the page, but she's having a rough time.

Bobbi's classmates are realizing that there is a problem. More than likely they do what every kid does when someone else is having trouble - start to laugh.

Bobbi is intelligent, but she has a disorder. She is dyslexic.

Dyslexia is not a disease but a condition in which a person processes language differently from most other people. An individual who is reading, spelling or comprehending written language below his or her overall intelligence level might have dyslexia.

Dyslexics may reverse letters or words when they read, speak or write. They also might have trouble thinking of words they want to use or be unusually clumsy or disorganized. There are degrees of dyslexia, ranging from someone who can read but has some trouble writing to people who have all these problems.

Dyslexia can be corrected, according to Nanci Bell.

Bell is the director of Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and a consultant in the area of dyslexia. She was in Indianapolis recently for the Indiana branch of the Orton Dyslexia Society's 10th Annual Conference at Cathedral High School.

Ways to overcome dyslexia

Bell teaches two methods that helps kids overcome dyslexia. The first method is "to teach people to visualize the language that comes in, so that when they're reading or when they're listening to language, they take pictures of it in their mind."

This helps dyslexics who can comprehend only a few words in a sentence, not the whole sentence, she said.

In the second method, Bell teaches students to sound out words, because dyslexics often can't hear the sounds in words. She uses colored blocks to help students see the sounds, such as the difference between "t" and "th."

She also teaches students how the different sounds feel in the mouth. For instance, students learn that the "p" sound is a lip-popper "because your lips pop when you say it."

The program usually takes four weeks to learn, four hours a day. She teaches students to visualize a word, then they go from a word to a sentence, and from sentences to paragraphs, to get the whole picture.

By doing this, the pupil can better follow directions and better comprehend what he or she reads and hears.

"We get usually a year gain in reading, and sometimes as much as a two- or three-year gain in reading, in a four-week period," Bell noted.

Shirley Kokesh also presented at the conference. She is the director of the Kildonan Lower School in Amenia, N.Y. She has been at the school for 14 years and has taught dyslexics for 34 years.

The program that the Kildonan school has is almost the same as Bell's. The main difference is the length of it and the order of what is taught, Kokesh said.

"In (Bell's) program, you first make pictures and then change the pictures to symbols and words and phrases and sentences and paragraphs," she explained.

"In ours, we start with the symbols and letters, words, phrases and sentences and paragraphs. And once the children can really unlock the words themselves, then we focus on helping them make pictures of what it is they are reading."

Kildonan has a day program for elementary school students and a boarding school for high school students. It takes on average three years for a student to catch up to grade level, Kokesh explained.

Where Bell's program involves four hours of tutoring a day for four weeks, the Kildonan school's program is one-on-one tutoring for 45 minutes a day.

Early detection vital

Kokesh emphasized that the earlier dyslexia is discovered, the easier it is to treat. When kindergartners are diagnosed with dyslexia, a specialized reading approach can get them off to the best start before they run into failure.

"You can identify these children . . . and teach them how to do cursive writing right away, and teach them the sounds for every letter - teach them to write and make the sounds at the same time. And if you do this consistently for three years, by the third grade, unless they're severely dyslexic, they read just as normally as anybody else."

Although Kokesh and Bell live on different sides of the United States, they're linked by their love of children.

Bell knew from an early age that she wanted to be an actress or a reading teacher. She decided to be a reading teacher because reading was easier for her. Kokesh has loved children since she can remember. She enjoys seeing and hearing things through the senses of children.

If a child has dyslexia, it is often hard on the parents, both women said. In most cases, parents are frustrated by the lack of understanding schools show. They want their child to get help - and it is becoming easier because schools are now more aware of what it is.

Wrong diagnosis

But sometimes dyslexia is diagnosed as ADD - attention deficit disorder - which is sometimes treated with the drug Ritalin.

"If a child is really having problems processing language or understanding language or comprehending language, then the Ritalin doesn't help the problem," Bell said.

What does help the problem, both teachers agree, is understanding and a willingness to work with the person who has dyslexia.