Vowel sounds have been my arch nemesis lately. My youngest son has a condition called speech apraxia, which just makes speech in general hard and makes vowel pronunciation particularly challenging. For him, that vowel challenge has transferred to reading. Dig comes out dug and bat comes out bet, etc…
I was feeling particularly tired of this vowel trouble a few weeks ago and complained to my sons speech therapist, “Isn’t there an easy solution you have to these vowels?”
His amazing speech therapist has worked with him 4 days a week for years now. She has spent months of her life practicing making the /l/ sound and /th/ sound and well pretty much every sound and thanks to her, complete strangers can finally understand my son when he speaks. So when I whined to hear about vowels a few weeks ago, she gently reminded me that all the progress my son has made is the result of practice and that he needs more practice.
Sigh…
I mean 2 years feels like enough practice, right?
We all wish there was an Easy Button here but there is not.
Progress comes with practice. For struggling learners, it comes with A LOT of practice.
It can be easy to give up on progress when we don’t see progress. We’ve been through phases where progress is less than glacial. Sometimes, that is just how it is but there are some proven practice strategies that help dyslexic kids. They are by no means an Easy Button, but we will take what we can!
#1 Combine Sound And Letter: Phonemic awareness where the sound is combined with the letter has been found to be twice as effective as practicing the sounds without the letter. This looks different at different ages.
For young kids, we wouldn’t want to just look at a picture of a cat while we break out the sounds. We would also want to be sure the letters for each sound were identified.
For older kids, as they write out a word it would be best if they said the sound and not the letter name. If they refuse, you can say the sound. It turns out to be critical that they think of the sound and not the letter name as they write.
#2 Mix it Up: Research has steadily shown that multisensory strategies improve learning for all learners and particularly for those with learning disabilities. Multisensory learning just means that we involve more than one of our senses in our practice.
My daughter and I often walk as we call out the spelling of high-frequency words. Animal walks are also fun!
We turn letters and words into pictures, stories, cute sayings, and more. We have also baked cookies shaped like letters, drawn words in sand (as we say the sounds, of course!), and more.
Games have been an exceptional way to engage multiple senses. One of my kids really benefits from matching a sound to hand gesture. Games have also been a fun way for us to engage multiple senses.
#3 Have an Explicit Systematic Plan: The research is overwhelming that reading needs to be explicitly and methodically taught to dyslexic kids. Thanks to the growing popularity of the Science of Reading we understand that better than ever but sometimes when it comes to practice we just do a bit of this and a bit of that without sticking to the explicit strategy of our teaching.
I realize this is easier said than done particularly for students who have a traditional classroom, school intervention, and private tutors. However, if we jump around from one topic, curriculum, or rule to another it can be really confusing! And let’s face it, the English language is confusing enough without adding any extra layers!
No one has to tell you that practicing the same things year after year stinks. It’s no wonder our kids get frustrated. It’s no wonder that we do! Unfortunately, there is no Easy Button.
I remember back about 10 years ago when my oldest started speech therapy, we were practicing the /k/ sound 100 times a day. It was dreaded daily! We practiced for months and months with no progress. I remember thinking that my daughter may never make the /k/ sound. Seven years later she graduated from speech therapy and those days are long gone now. In retrospect, it was such a small sliver of our life.
This struggle that you feel like you will be practicing forever right now will pass! One day it will be a story of overcoming struggle with persistent practice and patience.