Dyslexia and Ed Tech

When the pandemic hit, I was working in a lovely one-of-a-kind Waldorf inspired school in Playa del Carmen. As this article “ A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute” from the New York Times states, Waldorf schools have “no screens at all”.

Due to the unimagined urgency of remote learning and online teaching, educators worldwide were forced to innovate and shift their mindset. I myself witnessed how one-on-one sessions in front of a screen were beneficial to students with reading difficulties, even though I had never been one to champion online learning to such a degree. There is something to be said about a child reading in their private space, not being compared to anyone else, absolute concentration on the teacher and on the text in front of them.

The ability to avoid being observed by classmates also makes this learning time special and worthwhile. It was then that my feelings began to change. From frowning upon the use of technology in child development, to considering it a particularly beneficial resource for certain students when used wisely and with moderation. With this shift, I’ve uncovered the benefits of technology in regard to reading development.

In Waldorf education, similar to education in Finland, the official age at which reading acquisition begins is 6–7 years old.

Before this age, learners do not complete traditional paper-and-pencil exercises or work with letters or number forms. Focus is dedicated to the fundamental stages in a child’s development such as learning to move and control their bodies, experiment with artistic activities, and develop language and imagination through creative play and natural experiences. These initial abilities will all have a positive impact on cognitive growth later on.

As mentioned in the article, “The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland”, “[Children] learn so well through play. They don’t even realize that they are learning because they’re so interested.”

Working in the area of learning support, I saw year after year how a group of graduated Kindergarten students entered the pre-first classroom (a grade of transition between the play focused Kindergarten and the more academic intended first grade) with ENORMOUS excitement, anticipating that they would learn how to read and wanting to use notebooks and books. They even showed a great desire to have homework for the first time in their little lives. I had never seen so much elation in wanting homework before this!

Each year, the pre-first teacher starts teaching the letter sounds in August through storytelling, visual images, and artistic activities. When students come back after Christmas break, (only 5 months after their FIRST encounter with reading and writing) it is a pleasure to see how most of the students are already reading and writing. The break gives the brain time to engrain what they have learned in that short period of time, and, like magic, they start decoding and encoding symbols. Although it is not perfect, they understand that the letters on the page are communicating ideas. They attribute meaning to these symbols, and they begin expressing their thoughts and feelings on paper.

Every year though, there are 4–5 students, who for some reason or another, do not achieve this first educational milestone. By now, they know what letters are intended for, but they have not been able to learn the code. I am certain that these students have put the same effort and desire into learning as each one of their classmates, and maybe even more. This causes much confusion and is emotionally challenging for these little ones. They don’t understand why, but they know there is a clear difference between what is happening in their learning versus that of their peers.

At this point, I would start working individually or in small groups with these 4–5 kids. With a bit of extra instruction and use of varied multi-sensory strategies, 2 students of the group would quickly start understanding the code, and by the end of the school year, they would arrive at a similar learning level as their peers. These students likely had another learning disability such as ADHD or auditory processing difficulties, but not a direct reading issue. But why haven’t the remaining 2 or 3 learners leveled up with their peers? This is when the suspicion of dyslexia usually begins to make its way to the forefront.

Due to the quarantine and Covid-19, I had to improvise using a new strategy…a new way of approaching these learners. I was not familiar with online teaching and neither were my students. I literally took pictures of the reading material I usually work with and shared my screen with the student through zoom. After a few weeks I was astonished. First of all, I noticed that the students I usually worked with in a one-on-one setting seemed more relaxed and confident than usual. During each session, their attention was 100% on the reading activity. Also, for the first time, parents of these students had the opportunity to actually see the individualized work being done in sessions with me, as well as listen and observe their child when working with the whole group. Parents were able to clearly visualize the differences in their children’s learning process for the first time.

I definitely noticed huge improvements in the struggling learners that year. Words we had worked on for months suddenly integrated and were assimilated in a matter of weeks. I attribute this to 3 main factors.

1. The external emotional support they were receiving from their parents.
2. The positive emotions they were experiencing such as more confidence, motivation and tranquility from not struggling to keep up with their classmates, like what would occur in the regular classroom.
3. The support of educational technology.

There are several simple strategies that allow sharing a screen with the learner to be meaningful, personalized and interesting. In contrast, working with a text book in a “traditional” sense keeps the learning process static, often “rigid”, and unadaptable without having to go to great lengths to adapt text, content, etc. Through the use of technology, I could now adapt the font, size and color of the text in a matter of seconds using a simple Google doc. I could also easily create sentences and look for images which appealed to the learners interests and seek out topics that were meaningful to them on social and emotional levels. On top of this, I was able to save and send any completed work to the parents easily through Whatsapp for practice during the week. All of this sounds quite simple now, but a year ago, this was unthought off for me and many educators.

Several months later, I discovered Simbi. A reading platform with a diverse global library. Simbi shelves thousands of leveled books that can be filtered by grade, reading level and interest to support individual learners. I started using this amazing resource to work with my students in private practice and am eager for more educators to learn about all of the amazing tools it has to offer. These are some of Simbi’s top-notch features:

• Readers can change the font, text size, background page color, line height, line spacing allowing them to select the best option for their individual needs.
• A digital word highlighter accompanies the text when the reader listens to a proficient narrator, helping to reduce losing track of the line of the text.
• Learners can record their voice when reading a book which allows educators to keep track of reading progress and easily identify strengths and weaknesses by listening to the saved narrations.
• Narrations from readers around the world are saved into a global library empowering learners to add their own voice to a story for others to listen to.
• Students increase reading confidence in a meaningful and impactful way.
• Simbi’s global library can be accessed anytime and anywhere!

Education has seen a huge shift this past year. Parents, students, and educators have had to embrace many changes, overcome challenges, and innovate.. I don’t believe education tech is the only solution in and of itself to support education, and I believe that it should never be used as an absolute and solitary resource. However, there are many additional resources available, and if chosen wisely, they can be used to take education to new heights. Struggling readers and learners with dyslexia need individualized and specific strategies, and having access to a wide range of resources is particularly important for the students’ progress.