Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects 4 to 10 per cent of children in Singapore. Did you know that dyslexia can occur in any language, not just English? How to teach Chinese to children with dyslexia? Luckily, there’s a specialised book that can help parents with that.
In this article, you’ll read:
- Signs of dyslexia in children
- Specialised book that teaches Chinese to dyslexic children
- Tips for teaching your child with dyslexia
Challenges are part of learning at any age, but for some children, it can be especially hard. We want our children to enjoy their education and not experience unnecessary hardships. But for those with learning disabilities, even simple things like language can be an obstacle to their success.
One of the most common learning disabilities for children in Singapore is dyslexia.
According to the International Dyslexia Association,
“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.
These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.
Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”
Parents of children with dyslexia may not know how to help their children cope with their studies as these kids learn differently and require specialised literacy interventions.
In addition, they may be facing social and emotional issues such as anxiety, depression and low self-esteem, and as parents, it’s our job to manage these.
Image source: iStock
The prevalence of dyslexia amongst the school-going population in the Singapore is estimated to be between four to 10 per cent.
While it’s common for children to have dyslexia in the English language, you would be surprised to know that this learning disability can occur in any language, and it manifests differently from one language to another.
Children with dyslexia in the Chinese language, for instance, may experience no difficulties learning English.
Dyslexia results from how different languages are structured. Learning to read a language with an alphabet requires learning to sound out words, the visual form maps on to the sound of the word.
Chinese, by contrast, maps the graphic form, the character, onto the meaning. The phonetic sound of the character does not necessarily correspond to its form of it. Moreover, the letter sound conversion in English does not apply in Chinese.
Signs that your child may have dyslexia
According to Thomson Kids Specialised Learning, an educational centre for kids with learning disabilities, the following are some signs of dyslexia in the Chinese language that you should look out for:
- Poor retention of characters learnt
- Have difficulties in keeping sounds in their short-term memory, especially unfamiliar sounds. This adds to the difficulty in learning symbol-sound associations.
- Get confused with visually similar characters, such as 车/东
- Get confused with phonetically similar characters, such as 是/事
- Get confused with semantically similar characters, such as 学/校.
- Invert the components of characters 和/口禾.
- Add or omit strokes in characters 突/突with no 点 above 大.
- Have difficulty with stroke sequence
- Poor spatial awareness胖-月 半
According to Ms See Lay Yen, a senior specialist teacher for specialised Chinese at Thomson Kids, the symptoms of dyslexia can be mild, moderate or severe. Children with more severe symptoms will require more help.
Parents of children with dyslexia know the struggle of helping their child learn better despite their disability. “How do you teach Chinese to children with dyslexia?” is a question that they constantly have to grapple with.
Specialised Chinese book for children with Dyslexia
Fortunately, riding on Thomson Medical’s decades of experience in paediatric care, Thomson Kids has a special focus on helping children with learning disabilities.
“Research has shown that students with dyslexia benefits from a systematic, multisensory and language- based instructional approach such as the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach.
The Chinese curriculum at Thomson Kids adopts such approach,” says Ms See Lay Yen.
Aside from their specialised curriculum, Thomson Kids has also recently produced a book that is specially designed for young children who struggle with learning Chinese, and is especially beneficial for those with dyslexia.
“Students with dyslexia and other students who face difficulties in learning the Chinese language require support for word recognition.
We wanted to create learning materials that will be useful for students with learning difficulties and their parents, with contents written in the Singapore context and based on MOE Chinese curriculum,” said the teacher.
According to her, the book was specifically written and designed for kindergarten and lower primary school students in Singapore who struggle with learning Chinese language, to build a foundation in the language.
Image source: Thomson Kids Specialised Learning
The learning content is designed to support students struggling with word recognition, with an objective to also help students improve their oracy. The book consists of six chapters organised in exciting themes such as My Body, My Family, Nature, Animals, Things and Food – topics that appeal to students in preschool and lower primary school.
Since the contents are written in the Singapore context, young students in the country can relate to the contents more easily.
To download a free preview and learn more about the book, click here.
How to teach children with Dyslexia
According to Ms See Lay Yen, parents can help their children by explaining to them what dyslexia is.
“When children understand their reading and spelling difficulties, they are less likely to blame themselves or compare their achievements to that of their peers. In addition, they will also learn that they can learn strategies to address their learning needs,” she said.
Below she shared some tips on how parents can help their children prevail over their learning difficulties:
- Seek specialised interventions as early as possible. Specialised interventions which adopt evidence-based structured literacy approach such as the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Approach has shown to be beneficial for students with dyslexia.
- Teach them some word recognition strategies.
- Help your child learn in a multisensory manner, engaging as many senses as possible. For example, when learning to write Chinese characters, let the child sound out as he/she writes. Letting the child trace, write or make Chinese characters using various media, such as play dough, sand, ice-cream sticks etc, help the child involve the sense of sight and sense of touch and can make learning more fun.
- Revise often with your child using games and flashcards.
- Read with your child regularly. Find books that you and your child can read and enjoy. Take turns to read and encourage discussion.
- Praise and/or reward effort rather than achievement. Help your child set achievable goals and provide the necessary support for your child to achieve them.
If you want to have your child assessed for dyslexia or for other concerns with your child’s learning in English and Chinese language, visit the Thomson Kids website.
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