12th December 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A lady in the Wisconsin State Journal writes about her motivations and experience in tutoring dyslexic students. Her son was diagnosed as being dyslexic when in kindergarten, and it was then that she decided to take courses with the International Dyslexia Association to learn how to teach in a primary school, specifically how to help students with dyslexia.
The lady says that dyslexia is a specific disability that affects one’s ability to read, write and spell, and that it’s something caused by the structure of the brain, and can be seen on an MRI scan. When tutoring, she uses reading programs that help to change the way that a student thinks, employing visual, aural, kinaesthetic and tactile learning methods to active all of the brain’s learning pathways.
The article continues to explain that training is vital for any tutor who wants to teach dyslexic students, and that all students are different, and they benefit from different techniques, and improve at different rates.
As a general rule, Blue Tutors does not comment on the validity of articles, but in this case we feel that it is important to rebut some of the contentions above. The way dyslexia is tested for in the UK, and as far as we’re aware in the rest of the world too, does not make it a medically diagnosable condition, and there is no evidence to show that an MRI can conclusively differentiate between a diagnosed dyslexic, and someone who has not been diagnosed with the condition. Also, whereas we applaud training for tutors, it is not the case that someone without specific training in tutoring for dyslexia is necessary a bad tutor for a dyslexic student. Any good teaching training will highlight the four learning methods of a student’s brain, encouraging the tutor to teach according to the student’s strengths.