Digital Promise Signature Workspace

Megan Gross' Workspace on Dyslexia

Megan Gross, CA State Teacher of the Year 2017, selected the following evidence-based strategies you can weave into your classrooms to provide the support students with dyslexia need to meet their potential. Follow Megan on Twitter @MegNGross.

emotions, social supports & stereotype threat

Foster Growth Mindset

Literacy 4-6

Teachers can help students understand that learning involves effort, mistakes, and reflection by teaching them about their malleable brain and modeling their own learning process.

Family Engagement

Literacy PK-3

Family engagement happens when educators and schools collaborate with families to collectively support their child's learning in meaningful ways, both at school and at home.

Encourage Student Self-advocacy

Math 7-10

Actively and authentically encouraging all students to seek support, ask questions, and advocate for what they believe in creates a safe space for risk-taking and skill development and supports a Sense of Belonging.

Predictability: Environment & Structure

Literacy 7-12

Maintaining consistent routines, structures, and supports ensures that students are able to trust and predict what will happen next.

decoding, orthographic, phonological, and morphological processing

Direct Instruction: Phonics

Literacy PK-3

As students are learning to read, they benefit from explicit, systematic phonics instruction.

Reading Conferences

Literacy 4-6

Through one-on-one conferences, teachers can provide individual support to each student to deepen comprehension and interest in reading.

Direct Instruction: Spelling

Literacy 4-6

Formal spelling instruction improves not only students' spelling skills but also their reading skills.

Multimodal Instruction

Literacy PK-3

Instruction in multiple formats allows students to activate different cognitive skills to understand and remember the steps they are to take in their reading work.

memory & fluency

Audiobooks

Literacy PK-3

Listening comprehension and Decoding are the foundational components of reading comprehension.

Dictation/Speech-to-text

Literacy 4-6

Dictation, also referred to as speech-to-text, an assistive communication technology that translates voice dictation to digital text, provides students with transcription difficulties the opportunity to participate in the writing process by allowing them to use their voice to generate and record ideas.

Text-to-speech Software

Literacy 4-6

Providing tools so learners can choose to listen to a text supports individual strengths and needs.

Games

Literacy 7-12

Games help students practice their literacy skills in a fun, applied context.

Numeracy and math communication

Peer Teaching

Math 7-10

Having students teach their knowledge, skills, and understanding to their classmates strengthens learning.

Math Talks

Math 3-6

When students have meaningful conversations about math and use math vocabulary, they develop the thinking, questioning, and explanation skills needed to master mathematical concepts.

Multiple Representations: Manipulatives

Math PK-2

Providing physical representations of numbers and math concepts helps activate mental processes.

Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA)

Math 3-6

CRA is a sequential instructional approach during which students move from working with concrete materials to creating representational drawings to using abstract symbols.