![Teaching the Structure of Language [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/public-domain-vectors-RWytIF7In_c-unsplash-400x250.jpg.webp)
Dyslexia is commonly described as a difficulty with word-level reading and spelling. Because phonological processing plays a central role in decoding, much of the research and instructional effort focuses—appropriately—on sound-symbol relationships and early reading acquisition.
![Dyslexia: What About Grammar? [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/What-about-Grammar-2-400x250.png)
![Common Irregular Words [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Common-Irregular-words-da-400x250.png)
There are many common irregular words in the English language – and although some teachers and curricula may choose to postpone learning those tricky words until later, it is good, whether you’re a parent, tutor, or teacher, to have an approach to teach students how to distinguish similar words rather than simply saying that the spellings are “exceptions.” Some students are very logical – and may learn better if they are taught exceptions whenever these situations arise. Here is an example of a tutor who uses picture associations – doodles and colors and boxes to make the different meanings and spellings of “wood” and “would” distinct: The book series Words Their Way is one popular and fairly inexpensive approach to spelling that […]
![Um.. Trouble Finding the Right Words [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Um.-Finding-the-Right-Words-400x250.jpg)
A young filmmaker, Lauren, interviewed for our movie shared that she had trouble putting her ideas into words. After the camera had shut off, I told her that many people over the years shared exactly the same thing. Lauren shared that when she reads a book, she gets vivid images of characters, events, and places. When she plans out a movie, she can visualize everything. We know that not everyone has that ability – and her visualization strengths are ideal for what she does today – make films. But there is considerable evidence that what might make you strong at generating pictures and other sensory images, may be balanced by weaker or at least more effortful generation of words. When we surveyed dyslexic […]
Don’t restrict students to decodable readers. It’s a little like trying to feed an elephant one blade of grass at a time. Reading decodable books has an important place in structured literacy programs for dyslexic students, but recently some in the reading community have been calling for “phonics-only” or “phonics-first” and this is not a good idea. Recently Emeritus Literacy Professor Timothy Shanahan from the University of Illinois at Chicago has also called these policies as overreach. From his recent blog post: “The National Reading Panel report (2000) is oft cited as the major support for phonics instruction. We found (I was a member of the panel) that explicit, systematic phonics instruction helped students to become better readers – based on a meta-analysis of […]
![Language Teaching and Dyslexia: What About Exceptions to the Rules? [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Language-Teaching-and-Dyslexia-1-Dyslexic-Advantage-2.jpg)
The English language is especially difficult to learn if you are dyslexic – because about half of its words are not predictable by simple rules. So what to do? WORD FAMILIES Learning similar words in similar groups can be motivating for students because they learn many words at one time. Dyslexic students tend to be good at recognizing patterns, so approaches like these are well-suited toward dyslexic students. One site for word family lists can be found here. DON’T OVERSIMPLIFY THE RULES Problems usually arise when students are taught an oversimplified rule like “a silent e makes a vowel say its name”. The rule works for words like bake, bike, nose, and cute, but it doesn’t work for words like have or dance. The worse […]
Brock and I were recently talking with our friend, Dr. Nicole Swedberg about how she came to focus in writing for dyslexic students when so many focus almost exclusively on helping students with reading. It was after finishing her advanced degree and training in several top structured literacy programs that she started working with a student who had finished many such programs and was a remediated reader. Although reading was now on grade-level, he couldn’t write! As an older student, too, so much of schooling was funneling into writing, that he was developing secondary problems like anxiety and work avoidance. REMEDIATING THE READING BUT NOT THE WRITING As she soon discovered, this student was the tip of an iceberg. It’s surprisingly common for schools […]
![Teaching Punctuation [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/punctuation-shutterstock.png)
Learning punctuation can be difficult for many reasons – the challenges of reading, auditory and visual processing problems, symbol confusion, and working memory overload; but usually teaching punctuation explicitly and in manageable bits using multisensory and memory associations can help students master the rules and patterns. The symbols involved in punctuation are simpler than the range of marks found in math. When students are still learning, use color coding and allow students to work with a cheat sheet that has examples when they carry out their punctuation exercises. Holly at Teachstarter has a number of cute ideas for teaching punctuation. Giving the markers personalities personalizes the symbols making it easier to remember in what contexts the symbols are used and to distinguish them from each […]
![Writing: How to Start [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/thinking-start-write.png)
WRITING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE TROUBLE STARTING Dyslexic writers who have difficulty beginning to write often suffer from knowing too much and not too little. There will be challenges of spelling and putting ideas into words, but more often there are larger structural issues like how do I narrow what I know so that I can write what is being asked of me and where do I start with what I want to say? For students who may sit with a blank piece of paper or blinking cursor for hours, having a template for responses, developing a keyword approach like the semantic map in the previous article or mind-mapping big ideas may be a way to get the writing process started. PRE-WRITING TEMPLATES Being […]
![Could it be GRAMMAR? [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2019-08-30-at-8.38.10-AM.jpg)
Hidden grammar difficulties can be common reason why older students with dyslexia hit a plateau with reading, writing, and even testing. The problem is so subtle at times that many difficulties may be missed for years if not for their entire academic careers. One of the reasons that the problem is difficult to detect is that even many standardized tests that are commonly used for assessing the possibility of dyslexia either don’t test for it or they don’t pinpoint the problems that cause the student to struggle. In the early grades, students who have “overcome dyslexia” by the mastery of decoding, may find they hit a plateau as sentences become longer and more complex. In the middle and high school years, unrecognized grammar problems may […]
