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Tutoring Writers with Dyslexia

By: Izzy Rothberg and Nawaal Farooq

There are a lot of common misconceptions about those who have dyslexia and this is especially perpetuated by how people with it tend to be portrayed in the media. Dyslexia is highly complex and can affect each person who has it but with completely different symptoms. 

Not to worry, though! We have created this helpful guide to both understand and tutoring a writer with dyslexia!

Part One: What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is different for everyone but is usually a combination of difficulty in audio and visual situations. While most people tend to associate dyslexia with trouble dealing with letters and numbers, dyslexia can also affect multiple other facets of one’s everyday life, learning style, and writing. 

Instead of looking at dyslexia as a monolithic whole, it can be helpful to split it into specific sub-categories. As mentioned before, dyslexia presents itself differently in everyone who has it; even between two dyslexic people they may find that they struggle with completely different things. 

The six most common ways in which dyslexia can manifest are:

  1. Writing
  • Difficulties getting ideas on paper
  • Organizational problems
  • Trouble finding the right word(s)
  1. Listening 
  • Problems note taking
  • Easily distracted by background noise
  1. Spelling
  • Difficulty ‘hearing’ sounds
  • Can’t remember what words look like
  • Switching letters without noticing
  • Mixing up how different words are spelled
  1. Reading
  • Needing to re-read
  • Moving/overlapping text
  • Often losing place in text
  1. Memory 
  • Frequently running late
  • Quickly forgetting instructions/prompts after they are given 
  • Difficulties with dates, sequences, and keeping track of time
  1. Spatial/Temporal 
  • Getting lost easily
  • Confusion between left and right
  • Difficulties noticing the passage of time

This is where we, as tutors, can focus in on developing strategies to help writers with these more general issues that anyone could struggle with, not just people with dyslexia specifically. This in turn, will not only prepare us for tutoring writers with dyslexia, but will make us more prepared to make adjustments and have more tutoring strategies on hand for any appointment. 

Part Two: Application in Tutoring

Be Flexible

Not every student with a disability will let you know right away, or at all. It’s important to keep in mind that students may not disclose their disability until you have established a strong rapport and/or met multiple times. You should also take care to not pressure any students you work with, let them decide when and where it’s most appropriate for them to share such personal information with you.

It’s for this reason that we as tutors should be prepared to adapt to students preferences as they come up and be open-minded if or when a tutee opens up about a disability.

Flexible tutoring strategies which are easily applicable to any appointment:

  • Reading a paper out loud 
  • Taking notes on the writer’s ideas and musings
  • Providing more time and patience per student
  • Rephrasing questions and suggestions for clarity
  • Being patient and understanding with what is often seen as “laziness” (ie: lateness, trouble getting words down on paper, etc.)

Ask Guiding Questions

Regardless of if you know you are tutoring a student with dyslexia, it can always be a helpful addition to ask guiding questions in order to better facilitate communication. Some are included below!

  • What part of the assignment do you want to focus on?  
  • Where in our space would you most prefer to work?  
  • What tools or technologies do you tend to use most frequently when you write?  
  • Are you comfortable reading your paper out loud or would you prefer if I read it?  
  • How do you learn best (i.e. Do you learn best by doing, seeing, or hearing)?  
  • What are your goals for our session? 

There Is No Specific Procedure

There is, nor never will be, one way of tutoring a student with dyslexia. In fact, this mentality of the ‘one right approach’ can be harmful to your tutoring because it treats a students disability as an obstacle to overcome. Instead, to be the most effective tutor that you can be, it is best to be educated on the multiple facets of dyslexia and be prepared to adjust your tutoring practices if they surface.

Knowing about a student’s disability shouldn’t impact how you treat them as a person because our tutoring goals should always revolve around how we can work with a writer to address their main concerns and use the tools and strategies at our disposal to support them the best we can. 

This could mean doing the following to support a student, even if it might not seem an obvious tutoring technique:

  • taking notes on the ideas they express 
  • finding a quieter place to work
  • giving them time to vent their anxiety

Moving Forward

In conclusion, dyslexia is different for everyone. People with dyslexia may experience issues with any of the following while writing/revising: Writing, Listening, Spelling, Reading, Memory. It is important to remember that not every student with a disability will feel comfortable disclosing that information to a tutor, so it is best to be flexible and prepared to adjust your tutoring strategies in order to help students to the best of your ability.

There is no one way to tutor someone with dyslexia, but with these tools and the help of the very scholarship of writing centers, we can work to personalize each writer’s experience and the support which we provide to them.

Works Cited

Babcock, R. (2015). DISABILITIES IN THE WRITING CENTER. Praxis: A Writing Center Journal,Vol 13(No 1).

Batt, A. (2018). WELCOMING AND MANAGING NEURODIVERGENCE IN THE WRITING CENTER. Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, Vol 15(No 2).

Drinks, T. (2020, October 30). 9 Terms to Know If Your Child Has Trouble With Reading. Retrieved November 09, 2020, from https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/dyslexia/9-terms-to-know-if-your-child-struggles-with-reading

Murphy, S. (2020). Dyslexia in the Writing Center: Multimodal Strategies. The Peer Review, Vol 4.

Velutino, F., & Scanlon, D. (1998). Research in the Study of Reading Disability: What Have We Learned in the Past Four Decades? Child Research and Study Center The University at Albany.