Teaching & Learning Strategies

Inclusion practices mean that students with and without identified learning disabilities will be taught in the same classroom. Thus, all teachers need to be prepared to reach all students. Specific teaching methods are not one size fits all. To be an effective teacher, varying teaching styles, strategies, and methods will reach more students. Students may respond differently to interventions, and the teacher may need to try numerous styles until they find one that works for the student they are working with. Continual learning on the part of the teacher is essential to stay fresh, inspired, and best equipped to reach the students in each classroom. Teaching strategies continue to evolve, and current practices include such strategies as direct instruction, universal design for learning, and cooperative learning.

The ability to develop letter-speech sound (LSS) recognition is crucial to reading. People with dyslexia struggle with automated LSS (Richlan, 2019). One method of assisting people with dyslexia is to work on the basics of grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence (Liebig et al., 2021). Children learn to speak one sound at a time. Learning to read works on the same continuum. The brain must transfer its auditory learning into print recognition through grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence (Liebig et al., 2021).

Treatment and strategies for dysgraphia include controlling the movement of hands and writing utensils while writing. Additional strategies include playing with clay to strengthen hand muscles, using mazes to assist with motor control, tracing dotted letters for formation practice, pencil grips, and apps or software (International Dyslexia Association, n.d.). Depending on the severity of the dysgraphia, using technology for writing instead of longhand writing can help lessen the struggles that students may experience. Students’ writing ability may improve, but the disorder will remain (What is dysgraphia?, n.d.).

A student diagnosed with dyscalculia has more than math anxiety. Math classes and tests seem so far out of their grasp that this disability can affect not only their academic success, but also their self-esteem. Here are five strategies that can make math concepts easier to understand:

1. Talk or write out a problem. This helps concretize mathematical abstractions and help students see the relationships among mathematical equations.
2. Draw the problem. This also helps create visual representations to understand concepts.
3. Break down tasks into subsets. Separating a problem into parts and working through each part one at a time can help students with focus, connections, and overload.
4. Use “real-life” cues and physical objects. Relating math to daily life helps students make sense of math concepts.
5. Review often. Short, frequent reviews help keep the information relevant. Creating review cards or diagrams can help with reviews.

(Brain Balance, 2023)

Whether it be dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, or other specific learning disabilities, the interventions and instructions you provide will alleviate the stress of learning that these students are experiencing. A simple yet effective strategy for many learners is to use wait time. This may be difficult for you as the teacher, but simply providing time for a learner to digest the question, think it through, and formulate an answer can help students immensely.