Teaching Phonics to Students with Dyslexia: My Interview with Becky from SMART ALEC Resources

March 24, 2018

Have you ever suspected that one of your students has dyslexia or some type of reading disability?

Today’s post is all about supporting these students during phonics and word work activities!

Recently, I’ve been learning a lot more about interventions for students with dyslexia. But I’m definitely not an expert or a special education teacher, so I thought it would be helpful to bring in another perspective for today’s post.

My friend Becky Newell works specifically with readers with dyslexia. And she generously offered to do an interview with me for this post!

During our video chat, I asked Becky to cover some effective strategies we can use with students with dyslexia / reading issues. The strategies she shared with me are effective for ALL of our students, so they’ll be helpful to you whether you are a general education teacher or specialist.

Listen for:

Red flags to look for when observing students who may have dyslexia / learning issues
How we can reach 100% of our students with our reading instruction, rather than just 80%
What it means to “clip” your sounds when teaching letter sounds or modeling segmentation

Resources & Freebies From Our Interview

Becky’s website: https://www.smartalecresources.com/

Red flags blog post and identifying at-risk readers freebie: https://www.smartalecresources.com/blog/2018/1/11/5-clues-your-student-may-need-a-different-approach-to-reading

Our regular freebie page – click on freebie Friday for a new freebie each week, but scroll down for the permanent collection of free resources! https://www.smartalecresources.com/free-resources/

If you’re interested in going more in-depth on working with struggling readers during centers, Becky shared another quick video with us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMIVDUZozrw&feature=youtu.be

I so appreciate Becky’s generosity in sharing her knowledge with us. I hope you enjoyed watching the interview—and make sure to grab some freebies from the Smart Alec blog! Happy teaching!

Alison

Trello is a FREE tool that you can use in your classroom! Use it for organizing student data, anecdotal notes, and your to-do lists. The best part is that you can also use it on your phone and tablet!

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RUTH

6 years ago

I am 64 years old, and retired; but struggled through school and employment…finally training to be a pre school teacher; because I had pre school level skills in english and maths. Now that I have seen your videos and read your resources everything makes sooooo much sense! I regret having such resources for my sons, all of whom have specific learning difficulties, probably inherited from myself. How wonderful it is to know that others will have this help. Keep up the wonderful work!

RUTH

6 years ago

Reply to RUTH

Of course it should read “I regret not having…”

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Alison

6 years ago

Reply to RUTH

Ruth, thank you so much for your kind words! Congrats to you on your training. It sounds like you will make a wonderful and dedicated teacher!

Alison