Core Instruction for Students with Dyslexia
The Lake Oswego School District is committed to providing high quality core instruction for all students. Students with dyslexia benefit tremendously from having access to both a strong comprehensive literacy program as well as structured responsive language intervention to address specific areas of need.
Evidence based instructional practices that support reading development in grades K-5 are the foundational pillars of core instruction. The integral elements of a comprehensive literacy program include explicit and systematic instruction in the following domains:
Phonological Awareness: Students are taught the skills of listening for, distinguishing, and manipulating words, word parts, and individual sounds in spoken language. Phonological awareness proficiency is the strongest indicator of a student’s future reading success. “Every point of a child’s development of word level reading is substantially affected by phonological awareness skills, from learning letter names all the way up to efficiently adding new, multisyllabic words to the sight vocabulary” (Kilpatrick 2015). Direct instruction and early intervention of phonological awareness can greatly reduce and alleviate a student’s reading and spelling difficulties.
Phonemic Awareness: Phonemic awareness refers to the specific ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. Phonemes are the smallest units comprising spoken language. Phonemes combine to form syllables and words. Acquiring phonemic awareness is important because it is the foundation for spelling and word recognition skills.
Phonics & Word Study: Students are taught the relationship between printed letters and phonemes (the sounds they make) and how to apply this knowledge to reading and spelling. By being taught common and complex phonetic patterns, syllabication types, and morphological word structures, students can apply these relationships to decode (read) and encode (spell) increasingly complex text and multisyllabic words.
Fluency: Students are taught to read high frequency words automatically. They are also given explicit instruction in and opportunities to practice appropriate phrasing, intonation, and attention to punctuation in order to support comprehension of text, grammar, and the mechanics of language.
Vocabulary: Students are taught the meaning of academic and unknown words to help them respond to a variety of complex texts. They are given word analysis (morphology) instruction to use root words, affixes and origins to better understand unfamiliar and content vocabulary.
Comprehension: Students are taught reading comprehension practices to scaffold their understanding of literary and informational text. Students read, listen to, understand, and critically analyze a variety of texts to develop a deep knowledge of oral and written language and its structure, meaning, and purpose.
Speaking and Listening: Students engage in actively communicating ideas and opinions in formal and informal settings for a variety of audiences and purposes. They are able to receive and utilize information as a means to build knowledge and understand the information and ideas presented by others.
Writing: Students receive direct and systematic instruction of writing as a means to respond to literature and content instruction through interactive, shared, guided, and independent writing opportunities. Writing encompasses communication of ideas both verbally and written in order to support opinions, demonstrate understanding of cross curricular subjects, and convey real and imagined experiences and events through reading, writing, and speaking practice.
Instructional Practices: Teachers initiate ALL student learning through high yield instructional strategies and routines. By providing quality, engaging instructional practices and differentiation within core instruction, teachers make objectives visible to actively involve students in their learning.
Responsive Instruction: Student learning is continually measured and carefully monitored to inform new and challenging reading goals for each individual student’s ongoing reading progress. Specific response to student needs is skill targeted, intentional, and intensively appropriate to support student mastery of cumulative skills.
Motivation: Students are provided opportunities to access a variety of texts and build motivation to read for enjoyment and the learning of new information. Students are given opportunities to display proficiency through multiple processes. The ultimate goal of independent reading for multiple purposes across content areas is paramount for all students.