Dyslexia on Demand makes dyslexia treatment and tutoring accessible to students all over the country. But how does it work, and how effective is it?
Dyslexia on Demand seeks to provide accessible and effective dyslexia therapy for learners struggling to find certified instructors. But how effective are the programs at meeting student needs and providing special education services?
Dyslexia on Demand Therapy: what it does for dyslexia and how it works
Dyslexia on Demand reading programs are designed to help students with reading problems develop their language skills and keep up with their peers.
Dyslexia on Demand methods are usually all about individualized education programs and put most emphasis on one-on-one sessions with a certified and trained reading specialist.
The specialist provides systematic instruction and employs a wide variety of assistive technology and strategies to work on each individual student’s phonological processing and literacy skills, phonics, cognitive abilities necessary for fluent reading, etc.
Therapy is typically conducted online, as one of the main goals of the company is to eliminate geographical limitations from the equation.
Assessment and progress monitoring are done online, too, but in cases when intensive intervention is needed, it can all be done in person as well.
What is dyslexia therapy, and how it’s different from dyslexia tutoring
Dyslexia or remediation therapy is a specific kind of therapy meant to aid those with dyslexia in their language development.
Dyslexia therapy is a long-term solution. It consists of reading, writing, and spelling exercises assigned and completed over a longer period of time, and it is conducted by highly trained instructors or classroom teachers relying on research-based evidence and assistive technology when organizing their curricula and providing reading instructions.
Dyslexia tutoring, however, is more about providing additional help to those struggling with a specific aspect of language learning due to their learning impairment. Thus, dyslexia tutors typically use the same kind of tools as therapists, but their goal is improving a narrower range of skills, for example, rhyming, sight word reading, and rapid automatic naming, or fixing poor spelling, letter naming, or character encoding.
In addition to improving reading skills, the general aim of both dyslexia therapy and tutoring is to provide phonics instruction, teach word and phoneme segmentation, as well as to improve phonemic awareness, morphology, and syntax in young children.
The difference between a dyslexic and a person who has a reading disability
Although some people use the term dyslexia as an umbrella term that covers all kinds of reading disabilities and language decoding skills, the truth of the matter is much different.
The definition of dyslexia is much narrower. It is a specific type of learning disorder that entails difficulties with reading, spelling, and writing.
What causes dyslexia precisely is a matter of debate. Some believe the root of the problem lies in neurological differences between people responsible for how the brain processes linguistic information. What is known, however, is that those with dyslexic parents are much more likely to develop the disorder themselves.
Now, other types of reading disabilities may or may not entail the same kinds of problems as dyslexia. A reading disability may be due to other factors, for example, visual impairment, a disorder such as ADHD, or impaired cognitive skills.
There are also disabilities with roots similar to those of dyslexia. Those include, for example, dysgraphia (the inability to write) and dyscalculia (the inability to work with numbers).
What people say about using Dyslexia on Demand for specific learning disabilities
The effectiveness of any form of dyslexia therapy at any grade level will depend on a large number of factors. Those include the skill of the instructor, the strategies they employ, their experience, and, of course, the learning style and needs of each individual student.
However, those who have used Dyslexia on Demand services generally report positive results. Dyslexia on Demand employees are all highly professional and well-trained, and they use evidence-based methods to teach cumulative language skills in a systematic fashion.
Likewise, almost every student learning how to read following Dyslexia on Demands curricula finds their structured approach beneficial in helping them process language better. Those who don’t typically find the predominant Orton-Gillingham methods to be a bit slow-paced, boring, and repetitive.
Additional tools for word recognition and phonological awareness
Text to speech (TTS)
TTS apps are terrific tools that convert written text into audio files that can help children learn more about the alphabetic principle, teach them how to spell words, and allow them to practice listening to the spoken word.
We recommend Speechify. It was designed specifically to support students and people with reading difficulties, and it has a ton of customizable features that will aid learners of all ages in listening comprehension and encourage independent learning.
The app comes with built-in OCR features, so you can use it to hear printed materials read aloud, it has word highlighting options too, and its high-quality AI voices can be adjusted to mimic different accents and speech rates.
The app can in used individually or in small groups.
Teaching reading programs
Relying on pre-made programs and methods such as Orton-Gillingham is a fantastic and proven method of improving written and oral language competence. These methods make use of a variety of auditory problem-solving exercises, letter-sound relationship drills, and general English language tasks to provide students with a systematic, evidence-based plan on their journey to reading comprehension.
Games and activities
Learning by playing is more fun than solving an endless number of repetitive tasks. If you are creative enough, you can come up with different multi-sensory activities and quiz games to incorporate into your classroom instructions. Ideally, you’ll make sure the games are not only engaging but effective at teaching rhyme and sound blending skills, as well as increasing students’ background knowledge and providing them with a general education in the area of linguistics and language acquisition. You can also use audiobooks to get your students interested in literature.
FAQs
What is the first thing that a person should do if they think they might have dyslexia?
Early identification and early intervention are crucial when it comes to any reading disability. One of the characteristics of dyslexia is that it affects people of all ages, so don’t hesitate to book an appointment with a language therapist if you notice any kind of symptom that might indicate you have dyslexia, especially if you have a family history of related disorders. Ignoring it will hinder your professional development and impair your oral-reading fluency, which is detrimental both in academic and business environments.
What is the best way to treat dyslexia?
Treating any kind of difficulty learning requires a specific approach in each individual case. Those in high school, for example, will not be treated the same as those in primary school. The best way to treat dyslexia is to inform yourself about it and seek professional assistance. If you are in a public school, there is probably a language therapist in your school district that you can visit. Otherwise, contact the National Center on Improving Literacy or The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) to look into Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).
