Neuhaus

This page lays out some of the activities we use in the dyslexia program.  Each day, students will review what they have learned and either learn a new skill or practice the last skill they learned.  They also have daily opportunities within the lessons to apply what they have learned to reading and spelling.  The program moves slowly, but it is intense and highly repetitive.  The best part is that it works.   

 

Below is our lesson plan format. There are some short videos that show what the process looks like--the content will not be the same at first, but the process will be.

 

ABC 3-5 minutes:  This is a warm-up time.  This is when students read the rapid reading charts to help with fluency. We start out with letter charts and work up to sight words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Handwriting  3-5 minutes:  This is time to practice cursive handwriting.  Students can create words (or nonwords) using these letters to practice their handwriting.  In 2nd grade, we start teaching the cursive letters within the first couple of weeks of the program; in 3rd grade, we review them.  The reason this is good for dyslexic students is that letters that letters that are harder to distinguish in print are easier to distinguish in cursive because they are formed very differently in cursive than they are in print (b, p, and d for example). I encourage my students to use their cursive any time they are writing--not just in my classroom.

 

 

 

i   3-5 minutes:  Reading deck and Suffix deck.  I will show these and students read them aloud, even though it may be a bit awkward at first.

 

 

(i)  3-5 minutes:  Spelling deck.  I will say a sound and students write the letter or letters used to spell that sound.

 

 

 

Concept  10 minutes:  This is where new learning occurs.  Students will learn what sounds the letters and groups of letters (ch, -ckle, and -tion for example) make.  They learn how to code them based upon the rules of English, how to write them, and how to use them in spelling. 

 

 

Reading Practice  5 minutes:  Normally I give students a page with words that they code before I have them look for words with certain features.  As they progress through the program, they will read sentences and short passages.

 

Spelling Practice  5 minutes:  I say a word.  Students break the sounds apart, name the letters, and then name the letters as they write the words.  Finally, they read to check.  They know this as SOS.  This can be used anytime they are writing to help them spell words they are writing.  

 

 

 

 

Writing/Dictation 5 minutes:  I will say some phrases and students write what I say.