W O M E N A I D
Commonwealth Non-Profit,
VBIDA
A Resource for Persons with Dyslexia
by Leslie Daise, VBIDA President
In 1997, Congress asked the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Secretary of
Education to convene a national panel on reading. In its assessment, the National Reading Panel recognized the importance of
a multisensory, structured language approach—the approach that the International Dyslexia Association and its many branches,
including the Virginia Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (VBIDA, vbida.org), have advocated for years.
VBIDA was formed to increase public awareness of dyslexia in the Commonwealth
learning involves the use and linkage between visual, auditory and kinesthetic-
and has been serving the community for over 30 years. Our members consist of a
tactile pathways to enhance memory and to learn the basic elements or
variety of professionals, educators and parents. Simply put, our mission is to improve
structure of language and how it works. Instruction is explicit and sequential. It
public awareness of dyslexia by disseminating the latest research-based knowledge
teaches students to see the connection between phonological (speech sounds)
of dyslexia and the most effective teaching approaches and strategies to remediate
and orthographic symbols (print). It provides explicit instruction in how to
this learning difference. Many professionals prefer to use the term “learning difference”
blend these sounds or phonemes into words and how to segment words into
as opposed to “learning disability,” since these children, with the right intervention,
sounds. Students are taught decoding strategies, spelling rules, and are often
can learn to read, achieve, and lead successful, productive lives.
provided with exercises in reading fluency. Instruction can include morphology,
So, what is dyslexia? Dyslexia is neurological in origin and is characterized by
the knowledge of meaningful units such as prefixes, suffixes and roots, which
difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition, as well as poor spelling and
assists in building vocabulary. Dr. Samuel Terry Orton was one of the first to
decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological
recognize the syndrome of dyslexia; and his colleagues, Anna Gillingham and
component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities.
Bess Stillman, developed a manual for the teaching of multisensory techniques
Some of the characteristics of persons with dyslexia may be difficulty learning to
combined with the teaching of the structure of the English language. (These
read, difficulty with rhyming, counting syllables, difficulty manipulating sounds in
methods and principles are often called the “Orton-Gillingham Approach.”)
words, transposing letters, and misreading of common sight words such as “come”
This February, VBIDA held its 34th annual conference at the University of
and “could.” Persons with dyslexia may read aloud slowly and laboriously, have
Richmond. Our all-volunteer board worked hard to bring nationally known
poor comprehension and vocabulary and may do well on weekly spelling tests, but
speakers to the area. The speakers presented on diverse topics: teaching
still make many mistakes in their daily written work. Persons with dyslexia may have
written expression to struggling students, multisensory math techniques, and
difficulty naming objects, colors and letters rapidly in a sequence; they may have a
reading comprehension. There were two presentations on parent advocacy. The
weak memory for lists, directions or facts; and they may have to see or hear concepts
annual conference is open to the public and is recommended for professionals,
many times to learn them. Many of us will have one or two of these characteristics,
parents, or anyone interested in education. VBIDA also holds mini-workshops
but a person with dyslexia will have several of them that will persist over time and
in various regions of the state, provides facts about dyslexia, offers a list of
interfere with his/her learning.
tutors, scholarships, a bi-yearly newsletter, and related helpful links. For further
What exactly is the multisensory structured language approach? Multisensory
information, visit vbida.org. V

MARCH 2010
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