https://www.noodle.com/articles/the-right-schools-for-students-with-dyslexia
School Culture and Philosophy
How a school understands its mission may be the most critical element of how dyslexia-friendly it is. Does the school recognize and support a variety of learning styles? Does it have strategies in place to accommodate students with
learning challenges?
Does the school see the potential in its students with dyslexia? If someone with dyslexia attends a school that has high academic expectations for students with her learning profile, it will positively inform her sense of potential.
Use of the Word “Dyslexia”
This is a more significant indicator than one may initially think. Using the word helps to demystify and validate the condition. If teachers and administrators use the word regularly, and without hesitation, it reassures students that there is nothing to be ashamed of and that dyslexia is not something to hide. It also sets a tone that encourages students to self-advocate in their classes.
Support for Students with Dyslexia
Most parents immediately think about sports, the arts, leadership, service, or some other non-academic pursuit as potential areas in which their dyslexic child may excel in school. Those areas are important, but it is also likely that a struggling reader may want to focus deeply in academic areas.
Dyslexia-friendly schools support a student with dyslexia to develop her creative-thinking abilities as well as her passions for
math,
literature,
history, and
science. Dyslexia-friendly schools can readily point to their high-achieving students with dyslexia.
Access to Accommodations
This is probably the most important element of all. Academic success for a dyslexic student is commonly related to access to accommodations, either via a
504 plan or an
Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
Extra Time
The most critical accommodation for a dyslexic student is the provision of extra time — to read books, complete assessments, and finish certain assignments. Because reading and writing take longer for students with dyslexia, they often require additional time to access content and express their understanding.
Audiobooks
Keyboarding and Speech-to-Text Software
Students with dyslexia are typically poor spellers with labored and barely legible handwriting. Using a keyboard or
another device with speech-to-text software frees students with dyslexia to focus their energies on the content, rather than the form, of their writing. It also makes their work readable.
Yes, dyslexics will still need to learn handwriting, but that will not likely be their standard mode of expression. With spell-checking and editing programs, dyslexics who compose on a keyboard are liberated from many of the challenges that often diminish the quality and volume of their written expression.
Second Language Waiver
Foreign languages are often very difficult for dyslexics. Most
middle schools and
high schools will provide alternative courses or ways of meeting a foreign language requirement. Generally, it is not an effective use of time to have students with dyslexia involved in foreign language study when they are struggling with deficits in English.
The 21st-Century Classroom
The 21st-century classroom celebrates student abilities to exercise big-picture ideation, creativity, collaboration,
critical thinking, and communication while questioning the traditional value placed on rapid regurgitation of memorized information. Twenty-first century
teaching styles employ a variety of meaningful measures to facilitate and gauge student understanding, abilities, and achievement.
These pedagogical changes profoundly benefit the dyslexic learner — but they also obviously benefit all learners. Ultimately, dyslexia-friendly schools are student-friendly schools.
