Célia : Hello, today in our podcast we will talk about learning disabilities. I will introduce the notion of dys
disorders with some theoretical aspects. We will talk about dyslexia and dysorthography and we will listen
to a school psychologist who will share with us the recommendations that can be applied to teachers in the
case of a dyslexic child. In learning disabilities, we often hear the notion of “DYS disorders”. DYS disorders
include specific cognitive disorders and associated learning disorders. Generally, specific cognitive disorders
appear during the child’s development and often persist into adulthood. These specific disorders have many
repercussions on daily life, particularly in school, work and social life, and can have an impact on the psychoaffective development of the child. Also, specific cognitive disorders have an impact on the development of
written and spoken language for example. This is what is known as a specific learning disability.
Justine : Hello everyone, as a school psychologist, I would like to ask you if you could clarify the different
categories of specific cognitive disorders so that everything is clear to our listeners?
Célia : Of course, there are six categories :
- specific disorders of written language acquisition : dyslexia and dysorthography
- specific disorders of oral language development : dysphasia
- Specific motor development disorders: dyspraxia
- specific disorders of attentional development : TDAH
- specific disorders in the development of memory processes
- specific disorders of numerical activities : dyscalculia
- It is important to work as a team with other professionals in order to diagnose learning difficulties and not to
wait until the child is failing at school before providing support. For example, in the case of dyslexia and
dysorthographia, there are a number of signs that may indicate the onset of these disorders.
Justine : Just to interrupt you on that point, I would like to clarify the distinction between dyslexia and
dysorthographia: Dyslexia is a specific and significant impairment of reading, whereas dysorthographia is a
specific impairment of writing production. Can you share with us the manifestations of these specific
disorders?
Célia : The following are, of course, the most important ones: - Difficulty in identifying words
- Difficulty in reading without error and in a fluent manner
- Difficulty in breaking down words in a sentence
- Exaggerated slowness in reading.
- Difficulty in understanding texts.
- Slow and difficult writing
- Numerous spelling mistakes
- Significant fatigue related to reading and writing activities because the cognitive load is too heavy
As mentioned earlier, it is important to make a diagnosis in a team with other specialized professionals. The
diagnosis is therefore an important step for the person with the disorder but also for those around him/her.
The diagnosis will enable the child/adult to understand that they are not responsible for their learning
difficulties. Also, those around the person will be able to understand why the DYS person had difficulties in
learning, speaking, reading, writing, etc. Then, once a diagnosis of learning difficulties has been made,
teachers can implement the recommendations made by the school psychologist. This is where you can shed
some light on the subject! - Justine : Absolutely! As we have already mentioned, it is essential to understand the difficulties of children
in the school context. I will now present some of the tools and recommendations I have for teachers regarding
their practice. First, we know that learning to read is based on abilities such as phonological skills.
Phonological skills can be defined as the ability to identify and manipulate the sound units of language such
as syllables, rhymes and phonemes. - Célia : do you have any recommendations for training these skills?
- Justine : Yes, teachers can suggest several types of activities, I will introduce two major ones:
-playful activities involving other sensory modalitiessuch as a sound lotto with syllables, discovering
the shape of letters through the tactile modality in sand
-activities that involve the child’s body: clapping, talking and
walking like a robot following the rhythm of the sound units
Moreover, teachers can use methods like the Alpha method. This method is based on a story that illustrates
Alphas on their planet, this method enables to link each letter with a character to better visualize and associate
them (for example, the letter B is symbolized by a boot) - Célia : Do you have an idea of a certain routine that could be added to the daily practice of kindergarten
teachers for example? - Justine : For sure, To develop children’s metaphonemic skills from an early age, the teacher can add an
activity to the morning ritual that consists of making collections with boxes: the children must come and put
in a box all the objects in the classroom that begin with the same letter.
These activities can be done with the whole class in order not to exclude less comfortable children. The
teacher can also change the rules and propose these activities in pairs to develop mutual aid between the
children.
It is also known that the dyslexic child is a child who reads less. To expose the child to reading, the teacher
can suggest bringing books home, organizing shared reading with
classmates, working in collaboration with laybraries - Célia : Ok, thanks for sharing all these recommendations with us and thanks for listening! see you next week
with a podcast on another topic !