Touch-type, read & spell proves hit with dyslexic kids
ENGAGED: Thirteen-year-old Lewis wearing headphones that help students concentrate. Photo by Krissy Dwyer
ENGAGED: Thirteen-year-old Lewis wearing headphones that help students concentrate. Photo by Krissy Dwyer
When 14-year-old Khalia was diagnosed with dyslexia in the late years of primary school, her parents needed to find a solution.
Khalia’s poor handwriting led them to a computer-based solution, but it wasn’t until years of trying several programmes that she has found her match.
Touch-Type, Read and Spell (TTRS), a course she has been attending on a weekly basis for nearly a year, has helped improve her reading, writing and spelling.
The multi-sensory computer-based programme aims to promote learning by seeing, listening, speaking and typing.
Kahlia sees and hears different words, such as “teacher” or “patience” as they are typed out on the screen and then re-types them at rapid pace.
If she makes a mistake, the computer allows for immediate self-correction.
“The course really helped me. It’s been a lot easier in class, and it makes me a lot more confident in terms of spelling. I don’t have to ask people how to do things anymore,” she says.
Since May last year, Khalia has finished 34 lessons – all of which have been developed by a speech and language pathologist.
“It is actually a really good course. It is fun! The other touch typing courses I have done don’t do anything. Just writing out poems over and over again was just too hard.
“This one starts at the beginning and gradually builds up, which makes it a lot easier,” Khalia says referring to the different sequential modules
available.
Asked whether she recognises words more easily, she says: “If I haven’t seen it here [on the computer], I probably just ignore it. But if I have, I will remember it.”
Brian O’Shea, who leads the weekly one-hour session, says the programme’s kinaesthetic approach lets the “students learn through their fingers”.
“The repetition of typing brings automaticity. I have seen a huge change in self-confidence over the months,” he says.
Thirteen-year-old Lewis, who also attends the programme, says he is also much more confident in reading and spelling now.
“Instead of recognising words, you remember fingers when you see words. So it helps with reading. I started to read through my fingers,” he says.
The biggest change he noticed came unexpected.
“In English, I’m not sitting at the back of the class anymore,” he smiles.
For Khalia, this week will be a challenging one. On Friday, she will have to read a self-written speech to her class.
“I’ll have to read it many times before because my mind goes everywhere at once. I try to memorise it to help me.”
Asked whether she was scared, she says confidently: “No, I’m actually quite excited!”