As a teacher, you know how difficult it is to balance a fun, healthy learning environment with reaching the standards required of you by the state. On top of that, you are constantly maneuvering the difficulties of teaching a classroom full of students with unique skills, talents, and ways of learning. When students have learning differences, it can be a hefty task getting every student of the same page and tailoring your lessons to help each student reach their maximum potential. At Jett Publishing, we work to support teachers and parents combatting the setbacks struck upon children with learning differences. That’s why we’re here to show you four classroom and dyslexia reading tools to help your students thrive. We’ve chosen these tools based off several factors, including:
From these criteria, we’ll show you how these fantastic tools can help you help your students achieve their academic goals.
Age Group: Kindergarten & Struggling Older Readers
Subject(s) for Enrichment: Reading, Phonics, Comprehension
Benefits: Helps prevent reading failure and produces higher level readers
At the root of every strong student is a foundation for reading that helps them grow academically. The Secret Codes Curriculum by Jett Publishing is the curriculum that lays this foundation for students of all ability levels. Different from other dyslexia reading tools, the Secret Codes curriculum looks to tackle reading in accordance with the science of reading, which combats roadblocks in the way of developing strong readers from the start. Some of the practices within the Secret Codes Curriculum include:
From these practices, the Secret Codes builds reading skills from the ground up, making the Secret Codes a trusted dyslexia reading tool that helps prevent reading failure in classrooms all across the United States. Curious about how the Secret Codes curriculum could help in your classroom? Learn more about the wonderful benefits of Jett Publishing’s reading curriculum here.
Age Group: 3rd Grade+
Subject(s) for Enrichment: Writing and grammar
Benefits: Provides real-time feedback on writing to improve sentence structure, grammar, and more.
Even the most skilled writers make mistakes in their writing that oftentimes are too complex for Microsoft Word spell checker to catch. Grammarly is the online plugin or download that takes your spell checking to the next level and can help make you a better writer. The free version is available on Google Chrome to download and catches spelling mistakes and basic grammar problems like comma usage, subject-verb agreement, and verb tenses. A premium subscription is available and provides a plethora of other features, including overused words, hedging, and plagiarism.
Grammarly, aside from making papers handed in easier to understand, can slowly help your students become better writers. Not only do they see their mistakes in real time, but they are given feedback on how to correct these mistakes as they are writing -- which, over time, can help cut down on the number of grammatical errors made in both typed and hand-written language. For children with learning differences, Grammarly can level the playing field for writing that often exists. Additionally, this more advanced spelling and grammar tool can assist students who have trouble defining word sounds and the way words go together through simple, real-time reinforcement while writing.
Age Group: 3rd Grade+
Subject(s) for Enrichment: Computer Skills
Benefits: Helps organize letters and reduce distractions for kids learning to type
As we move into a consistently more digitally-centered world, the ability to type on a computer is a valuable skill for students and adults of all ages. What is difficult, we find, is that students are learning to type earlier than ever before, making it easy for students without strong reading skills to learn how to type. Students with dyslexia, in particular, struggle with multiple stages of the science of reading, making it difficult to identify letter sounds, how these sounds translate into letters, and how they letters turn into words that interplay with one another. You can imagine how difficult it must be to add in a variety of symbols on a keyboard - all in an order different from how they are taught to recite their alphabet - that lacks the context to where the letters and keys exist.
Alternative keyboards are a great dyslexia reading tool because they help create organization on the keyboard. Students with dyslexia are often excellent with spatial reasoning, meaning it’s advantageous to help them create clear boundaries for where letters exist and how they are separate from numbers, symbols, and functions. These color-coded blocks on an alternative keyboard can help minimize distractions and help students with dyslexia learn how to type.
Age Group: 1st Grade+
Subject(s) for Enrichment: Basic math
Benefits: Helps hearing impaired students and students who struggle with reading be able to complete math assignments more independently.
While we many times consider dyslexia reading tools to benefit only reading and writing, it’s important to consider the effects that a reading disability to can have on a child’s ability to thrive across the board. For math, it can be equally as difficult to assign meaning to numbers and symbols that are read on a math worksheet. To help students with visual impairments, dyslexia, or dyscalculia, talking calculators are often used in the classroom. These calculators speak the numbers as they are clicked, can read symbols, and read answers to students who need assistance during math homework. Not only are talking calculators great for visually-impaired students, but can help students who struggle with dyslexia and dyscalculia assign meaning to the symbols they use on a calculator. This dyslexia reading tool can help boost math skills and increase independence for students who previously needed assistance with basic math functions on a calculator.
Bringing dyslexia reading tools into your classroom can help students of all skill levels thrive in an academic setting. See how these tools, like the Secret Codes Curriculum, can help your students be better equipped for their futures today.
