An effective curriculum for homeschooled students
Plenty of homeschooling parents question their child's progress with reading. Teaching it when dyslexia is involved can be incredibly challenging, as it may seem like the student just isn't catching on. But instead of switcing the reading curricula around, it may be a good time to get creative with styles.
According to What To Do When Your Reading Curriculum ‘Isn’t Working’ , consistency, intensity, and maybe an intervention with a dyslexia tutor are potential options. Dyslexic students need time to focus on what they are good at, and opportunities to pursue their interests. Interest-led learning is the best remedy for a child who doesn’t learn best from books, so quality literature can come from audio books. Most importantly, proven researched-based methods for teaching styles are worth implementing.
The Orton-Gillingham method
Kids with profound dyslexia, especially if they are getting older, can benefit from hiring an experienced tutor, particularly one experienced in the Orton-Gillingham research-based reading method. In this method, students work at their own progress. Even when it seems like they are on a slow path and other methods would promote faster results, forcing methods on students that aren't best for them only slows them down more. Many Orton-Gillingham tutors treat the underlying weaknesses associated with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, rather than focusing on the actual difficulties.
Technology for homeschooling
Certain technology is helpful for dyslexics, too. The article Homeschool Reading Curriculum for Kids With Dyslexia discusses how children with dyslexia will able to learn to read with the right program. A program used with dyslexic students should include work with phonemic awareness, sound-symbol association, and syllabication instruction. That way they can pick out basic syllable types, morphology, and semantics.
For example, All About Reading and their spelling program All About Spelling are hands-on, with multi-sensory integration into the written word. Lessons are completely scripted, so there is little prep time for parents. Better yet, it is specifically designed for the homeschooled student that struggles with reading, and has all of the elements of an Orton-Gillingham reading program.
Alternative ways to teach a homeschooled dyslexic student
Homeschooling children with dyslexia used to be very difficult, but with all of the technology saturating the market, there are many programs that present material in better ways. Concepts that are presented in a multi-sensory manner, even using several senses at once, are much easier for students to process and retain. Rules work better when taught directly, and material should be presented in a systematic, logical manner. Orton-Gillingham is a program that uses these different methods, and they have been tested by researchers.
If you or someone you know is having a reading or comprehension difficulty, then you’ll want to try our free assessment -- especially if you think dyslexia might be the problem. Learn how to get to the root of the problem, and find out which micro-skills need strengthening and increase reading ability. Take our assessment by clicking here.