Reading skills are much more difficult to acquire and retain, compared to their non-dyslexic peers. Without ongoing cumulative review and lots of repetition with newly introduced reading skills, progress can stall, or worse, the student may even regress. In dyslexia, multiple inefficiencies in the brain's reading circuit interfere with the critical processes involved in learning to read. Overcoming these inefficiencies requires such an intense effort, that any interruption in instruction can result in learning loss.
THE PLAN
Remembering how even a short two-week holiday break had impacted Alec's progress, his mother was worried that a summer break could create a significant setback for Alec. She discussed the situation with his tutor.
The decision was made to work out a compromise with Alec. Instead of two tutoring sessions per week, they would only do one
during the summer, with the caveat that Alec would complete assigned work from the tutor, twice a week. His mother would need to supervise this work to address another feature of dyslexia - a weak error-detection mechanism in both reading and spelling. Every component of a dyslexia intervention requires supervision, so that errors are not overlooked.
Since fluency is especially impacted during tutoring breaks, Alec's tutor gave his mother 30-minute fluency drills each week, to use for his supervised work. These drills were based on the instructional content from their weekly tutoring session. Alec could do all 30 minutes at one time or break it into two 15-minute drills. This plan would at least maintain the momentum he had established during the school year. It was also possible that he would even make gains with this plan.
Studies have found that a focus on fluency during dyslexia interventions can actually accelerate gains in every reading measure –
GET A GRIP : TEN TIPS TO PROTECT YOUR DYSLEXIC CHILD FROM THE SUMMER READING SLIDE
- Avoid changing the tutoring schedule that was in place during the school year, if at all possible. If the intervention only took place in school, you could still follow Tips 2-10.
- Add 30 minutes of supervised fluency drills (as described above), at least 2 days per week. Record the time it takes to complete each repeated task. Make it a game, encouraging your child to “beat” their previous reading and handwriting rates.
- Keep it fun! Waterproof the writing paper, word lists, and sentences so that the drills can be taken to the beach, pool, waterslide, and other enjoyable activities. You may want to save the handwriting drills for the kitchen table.
- Set a goal of adding 45+ Words Correct per Minute (WCPM) over the summer and reward your child with a small prize for achieving that goal or even coming close to it. You can use an online Words Correct per Minute (WCPM) reading calculator to make this easy. https://calculator.academy/wcpm-calculator/#f1p1 Or use the following formula: To calculate WCPM, subtract the number of mistakes made from the total number of words read, then divide by the total time in minutes.
- Let your child track their own WCPM progress on a chart.
- Don’t neglect the handwriting component of the fluency drills. It’s just as important as the reading component, in terms of building the reading circuit in the brain.
- Encourage your child to listen to self-selected audiobooks to build vocabulary and comprehension, and to foster a love for books.
- Find decodable readers for your child to read in their spare time. Talk to their teacher/tutor about decodable readers that would match their current phonics skills. This will usually prevent the word-guessing habit, but it’s still wise to listen in, to monitor for accuracy.
- Let your child select books for reading aloud (you do the reading). Minimize unsupervised reading, unless your child is far advanced in their intervention.
- Create a special space in the house just for your child to listen to audiobooks.