Dyslexia and Foreign Language?

[kareng]

Is it possible or even beneficial to have a student with dyslexia learn a foreign language? Does it make things worse or can it help connect the dots? (I know for me that learning Spanish helped me learn grammar and vocabulary that I did not know in English.)

 

We are currently working through English From the Roots Up and while my dd can memorize the word roots, I haven't yet seen this knowledge be applied in a way that helps her with her understanding of language and words. This may or may not be related to my original question!

 

If a foreign language would be a good idea, what would you recommend? Just wondering ...

 

I just found similar posts on Latin and sign language. Sign language is as interesting possibility ...

Edited March 5, 2012 by kareng
To add some additional information

[MegP]

I wonder and worry about this, too. Don't kids need to take 2 years of a foreign language to go to college?

[myboyluvsdinos]

I think many experts will say it's very difficult for dyslexics to learn a foreign language. I've heard that some colleges will accept ASL as a substitute for the requirement. If you have to do it, sounds like Spanish is the easiest. But I'm curious if there are others out there who have successfully taught a dyslexic a foreign language. :bigear:

[RamonaQ]

Ds is taking American Sign Language. I would say it is going really well. There have been some challenges-- fingerspelling and needing to invert the grammatical order of the sentence-- but by and large this has been very successful. And even in the challenging areas, ds is improving and learning!

 

I really feel ASL has added the benefits of a traditional foreign language-- awareness of grammar, exploring the substructure of language and general exposure to language.

 

It also is a great class because there is no notetaking :001_smile:

 

ETA: Otherwise, we were told in our neuropsych report that opting out of high school/ college language is allowable (and should be considered)

[MegP]

Are you using a currriculum for this or outsourcing? I would love to learn more about how to teach this.

[RamonaQ]

ds, 12yo, is taking ASL at a public school homeschool resource center. It is a high school level course taught by a community college instructor. With additional work and a high enough grade at the end of the course, ds can earn college credit, in addition to the high school credit.

 

The instructor was born deaf and uses only ASL for communication. I HIGHLY rec. taking such a course because of the full-immersion experience. Class is taught 100% in ASL. From interpreters that have visited the class, they have shared with me that this is THE BEST way to learn. I won't lie, it has been very challenging but nothing that hard work has not made insurmountable.

 

You could check your local community college and just audit the course along with your student so that you can support him in the learning.

[Tokyomarie]

Many dyslexic students can and do learn foreign languages but the efforts will likely be more successful when multisensory strategies are used in teaching, and when students are given more time for learning, more explicit instruction, and more repetition than the typical learner. The standard classroom approaches and timeframe for teaching foreign language are often not effective for dyslexic learners.

 

Something to consider when choosing a foreign language (other than ASL) is whether the orthography (the written language) is transparent or deep. English has a "deep" orthography, which means that one letter or group of letters may have more than one sound associated with it. Some languages have a more nearly one-to-one correspondence between sounds and symbols, so are said to have "transparent" or "shallow" orthographies. Spanish is such a language. For that reason, a language like Spanish may be easier for a dyslexic student than a language like French, which has a deeper orthography, in which decoding for reading & encoding for spelling will pose a greater challenge.

 

Here is a fact sheet from the International Dyslexia Association which has some tips for teaching foreign language to "at-risk" learners.

 

My daughter with language-based learning differences grew up bilingual & was bilingual long before her LDs were identified. Even after identification, we continued her bilingual development, but stepped up the intensity and structure of her language learning in English (her community language was Japanese at the time) to make sure she developed competence. Our son has significantly more difficulty than she did & is not immersed in Japanese language daily, so it has taken him much longer to acquire even rudimentary skills in Japanese. Because he is now in school & there is no time for foreign language instruction at home or at school, I am seriously considering that we need to get him exempted from any foreign language requirement for college. Many colleges will allow a dyslexic student to substitute classes in culture for the language requirement, but it's a YMMV situation so you need to check into the specifics for any given college.

[Heathermomster]

Many dyslexic students can and do learn foreign languages but the efforts will likely be more successful when multisensory strategies are used in teaching, and when students are given more time for learning, more explicit instruction, and more repetition than the typical learner. The standard classroom approaches and timeframe for teaching foreign language are often not effective for dyslexic learners.

 

 

Do you know of any foreign language programs that teach this way out of the box?

 

My state has a list of their high school graduation requirements and 2 years of foreign language is required for the Advanced diploma. In college, Pascal and C++ programming languages were substituted for my foreign language requirement. With DS, I was hoping to teach him programming as a substitute. I'm going to have to look more into this.

[Learning Ally Mom]

Kareng-

Here is an interesting article on dyslexia and learning a foreign language: http://www.ldonline.org/article/6065/

It is an old article (1997) but I think it makes some good points.

 

I would suggest, as long as it doesn't cause your child undue stress, to go ahead and attempt a foreign language. The extent to which dyslexia hinders the adoption of a foreign language seems to vary greatly depending on the individual. For example, I know a dyslexic college student who is majoring in a foreign language. Of course, the amount of struggle involved depends on the severity of the learning disability, but it is possible and there are teaching techniques that work better for the dyslexic mind.

 

Best of luck,

-Learning Ally Mom

[Tokyomarie]

Unfortunately, I don't know any out-of-the-box programs that incorporate multisensory strategies. I have had to add my own, made from common foreign language teaching hands-on activities that I have picked up as a language learner, a casual foreign language teacher, and a (one-time) reader of materials on bilingualism & second language acquisition. In general, with my son, I have emphasized receptive language (listening & reading) first over expressive language (speaking & writing). I've used a lot of visuals- pictures and real items, and physical actions (performing or miming) to reinforce vocabulary. And so on.

 

I just came across another handout from a presentation at the British Dyslexia Association that might be useful to some who want to think about how different weaknesses in dyslexia might be taken into account during foreign language teaching.

 

As for computer programming, my son will likely be doing a couple of C++ courses before he goes off to a 4 year college, so this type of substitution is a possibility, depending on the college.

[kareng]

Has anyone used American Sign Language for their foreign language for their dyslexic child? If so, I'm looking for some options. I'd love to know what has worked for your dyslexic child. I have no idea what to use. I don't know American Sign Language so I'd be learning with her.

 

I think we're going to try that next year for our foreign language. English is a big enough hurdle for my dd that I can't see doing Spanish and being successful. But, I think it may work with ASL.

[EKS]

My son completed two years of Latin with Oak Meadow. It was *not* even remotely rigorous, but he has the foreign language credits he'll need for college.

 

As for whether it's beneficial, I'm not sure. I chose Latin because there isn't a conversational piece, which would have been way too difficult. I chose Oak Meadow because they use Cambridge Latin, which emphasizes translation from Latin to English but not the reverse. My son got by with looking everything up. He even got an A.

[PeterPan]

Has anyone used American Sign Language for their foreign language for their dyslexic child? If so, I'm looking for some options. I'd love to know what has worked for your dyslexic child. I have no idea what to use. I don't know American Sign Language so I'd be learning with her.

 

I think we're going to try that next year for our foreign language. English is a big enough hurdle for my dd that I can't see doing Spanish and being successful. But, I think it may work with ASL.

 

I've thought about having dd work through all the Signing Time videos. It would be a good starting point to see if it sticks and is enjoyable to them. There's a deaf/ASL club she could go to once a month to use what she learns. Sounds crazy, but I think there are enough Signing Time videos in our complete set to make a reasonable first year course.

[KathyBC]

Do you know of any foreign language programs that teach this way out of the box?

 

 

I have heard that The Easy French and The Easy Spanish are multi-sensory, but have not used them myself. They might be a good fit at the elementary level. They are not secular.