Dyslexia is a life-long condition. You don’t cure it, you overcome it.
When evaluating children Anne Hahnel, a speech language pathologist in St. Elizabeth Healthcare’s Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, says she often hears their parents say, “I was the same way.”
“When I ask them how they coped I’ll hear things like, ‘I always dated the smartest girl,’ or ‘I had so and so write papers for me,’ or ‘I learned how to listen really well.'” Fortunately – once people identify their dyslexia – there are a lot of common tools they can use to help them cope.
Thanks to technological advances, people with dyslexia have a growing number of tools at their disposal.
Get an evaluation. A formal assessment is often the first step to getting accommodations in school – such as extra test time or having tests read aloud – it will also help you identify specific trouble spots that need to be addressed, says Hahnel.
Get a tutor. “The underlying core of dyslexia is that you can’t make sense of words and sounds,” says Hahnel. Find a tutor with dyslexia training.
Use technology. Dyslexia makes reading hard: watching movies based on books and listening to audio books in conjunction with reading can help. “If you have to read Macbeth in high school, see the movie to get the concepts first,” says Hahnel. “You want a student to get the information so give them the tools they need to learn it.” Learning Ally, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people with dyslexia has more than 80,000 audiobooks available for download.
Get a computer or tablet. Spell check, grammar check, and Dragon dictation are great built in tools and typing on a keyboard cultivates muscle memory.
Make learning multisensory. Trace words with your finger, walk around while trying to commit something to memory. “See it, do it, hear it, feel it,” says Hahnel.
Learn about the condition. Hahnel recommends Overcoming Dyslexia by Dr. Sally Shaywitz.
Explore your resources. There are lots of organizations that can help people with dyslexia, including the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity, the International Dyslexia Association and the Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati. Explore what they have to offer.
Be patient. “It does get easier,” says Hahnel.
