Once it has been determined by the 504 committee that a student has met the criteria for the disability of dyslexia, the 504 committee will need to determine if the student will need:
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Accommodations based on the student's individual needs for the disability of dyslexia, |
and/or
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Interventions in reading based on student's individual needs for the disability of dyslexia. |
Components of Instruction
The intervention program should be offered in a small class setting and include reading, writing, and spelling as appropriate for each student. The major instructional strategies should utilize individualized, intensive, and multi-sensory methods as appropriate.
Components of instruction, as appropriate for the reading needs of the student, include the following:
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Phonemic awareness instruction that enables students to detect, segment, blend, and manipulate sounds in spoken language; |
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Graphophonemic knowledge (phonics) instruction that takes advantage of the letter-sound plan in which words carry meaning are made of sounds and sounds are written with letters in the right order. Students with this understanding can blend sounds associated with letters into words and can separate words into component sounds for spelling and writing; |
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Language structure instruction that encompasses morphology (the study of meaningful units of language such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots), semantics (ways that language conveys meaning), syntax (sentence structure), and pragmatics (how to use language in a particular context); |
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Linguistic instruction directed toward proficiency and fluency with the patterns of language so that words and sentences are the carriers of meaning; |
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Strategy-oriented instruction in the strategies students use for decoding, encoding, word recognition, fluency, and comprehension that students need to become independent readers. |
Instructional approaches, as appropriate to meet the instructional needs of the student, include:
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Explicit, direct instruction that is systematic (structured), sequential, and cumulative. Instruction is organized and presented in a way that follows a logical sequential plan, fits the nature of language (alphabetic principle) with no assumption of prior skills or language knowledge, and maximizes student engagement. This instruction proceeds at a rate commensurate with students' needs, ability levels, and demonstration of progress; |
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Individualized instruction that meets the specific learning needs of each individual student in a small group setting; |
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A reading curriculum that matches each student's individual ability level and contains all of the Components of Instruction listed above; |
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Intensive, highly concentrated instruction that maximizes student engagement, uses specialized methods and materials, produces results, and weekly progress monitoring to ensure adequate progress and learning, appropriate setting outside the class designated by the school; |
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Meaning-based instruction that is directed toward purposeful reading and writing, with an emphasis on comprehension and composition; |
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Multi-sensory instruction that incorporates the simultaneous use of two or more sensory pathways (auditory, visual, kinesthetic, tactile) during teacher presentations and student practice. |
Teachers of a student with dyslexia shall be prepared to utilize these techniques and strategies.