Homeschool Using Your Child's Learning Style & Multi-Sensory Teaching

Learning Style and Dyslexia - Multi-Sensory approaches ARE best...

There are reasons to avoid being too focused on one "style" when teaching persons with dyslexia, and any person for that matter, and multi-sensory teaching is the best means for teaching anyone. One factor is that there are multiple conditions that people label as "dyslexia", only one of which is "true" dyslexia, which is defined as difficulty with phonemic awareness, short-term memory, and processing issues with a neurological origin (International Dyslexia Association).

People also have occular motor difficulties, inability of the eyes to track well together in spite of a person having 20/20 vision, which is often labeled as dyslexia. This, however, is a medical condition requiring therapy, not a neurological processing problem.

There is also the Irlen Syndrome, which is a sensitivity to certain portions of the light spectrum making it difficult to read the written word on certain color papers and/or under certain lighting conditions. These problems are treated with color-spectrum altering lenses or overlays. This condition is also "medical" in nature, not a neurological processing issue, but sometimes labeled as "dyslexia".

The first type of dyslexia, "true" dyslexia as defined by the International Dyslexia Association, shows most learners are "visual" because problems with phonemic awareness are linguistic in nature. Persons with true dyslexia are not strong auditorily, so are seldom auditory learners. Their primary and secondary learning styles are generally, but not necessarily always, visual and kinesthetic. (continued below..)

The other two conditions, sometimes labeled as dyslexia, are visual problems, in which case the person MAY actually be stronger auditorily, rather than visually. These persons may be auditory learners, so teaching them strictly through a "visual" style would be detrimental their ability to learn.

One must be cautious about whether a child with dyslexia has true dyslexia, or pseudo-dyslexia. It is also important to note that children also may have BOTH true dyslexia AND visual problems. This makes teaching through multisensory means even more critical.

A multisensory teaching study by M. Martini revealed that "all students had significantly better achievements with multisensory approaches than with either auditory or visual approaches," ("Effects of Traditional Versus Learning-Styles Instructional Methods in Middle School Students", Rhonda Dawn Farkus, 2003, The Journal of Educational Research, Vol 97, No. 1). In her learning styles, multisensory study, Rhonda Farkus states, "The power of evidence supporting the benefits of learning-style methodology is compelling," (Farkus, 2003).

"Achievement scores of students who were taught with instructional resources that matched their preferred modalities were statistically higher than were the scores attained by students who were not taught with learning-styles methods. Moreover, when students were taught with multisensory instructional resources, although initially through their most preferred modality, and then received reinforcement through their secondary or tertiary modality, scores further increased," (Farkus, 2003).

So, Multi-Sensory instruction is best.. Reinforcement of learning through multiple channels is well proved through study data. The most compelling study I've read to date on simultaneous multisensory teaching is "Sensory Mode and 'Information Load"; Examining the Effects of Timing on Multisensory Processing" by Drew Tiene, Kent State University, International Journal of Instructional Media, Vol 27(2), 2000. This study shows clearly that hearing information, presented simultaneously with iconic visual input, is the most effective means of instructing. Using two channels of processing simultaneously allows the brain to process all at once and improves recall pathways through one channel or the other. (continued below..)

As far as teaching a person with dyslexia goes, the most effective methods are based upon Orton-Gillingham multisensory instruction geared towards simulaneous presentation to the auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and tactile modes of learning. You might find the study "Teaching Reading in an Inner City School through a Multisensory Teaching Approach" (2002, Bouware-Gooden, Dahlgren, & Joshi, Annals of Dyslexia, Vol 52), interesting to read. Or perhaps, "Reflections. Teaching the secondary language functions of writing, spelling, and reading" (2003, Post, Y.V., Annals of Dyslexia, Vol 53).

One of my favorite studies is "Effects of Traditional Versus Learning-Styles Instructional Methods on Middle School Students" (2003, Farkus, R.D., The Journal of Educational Research, Vol.97 No 1). Farkus conveys, "Achievement scores of students who were taught with instructional resources that matched their preferred modalities were statistically higher than were the scores attained by students who were not taught with learning-styles methods. Moreover, when students were taught with multisensory instructional resources, although initially through their most preferred modality, and then received reinforcement through their secondary or tertiary modality, scores further increased," (Farkus, 2003).

Specifically for teaching persons with dyslexia, looking for the Orton Gillingham Manual and other Orton-Gillingham related resources will help you find information on teaching reading via learning styles based instruction.

So, I hope this information helps you further reach your focus in determining how best to teach persons with dyslexia.

Best Wishes!
Sandy

Learning Style and Dyslexia - Multi-Sensory is best..