BUSHLAND

Charity Andrews-Dyslexia Intervention 

Bushland Independent School District uses MTA for our dyslexia curriculum.  This stands for Multisensory Teaching Approach.  According to the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), multisensory teaching helps students that may have problems processing visual and auditory information.  By teaching lessons that incorporate VAKT (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile), we help our students with dyslexia learn and retain information.  If you walk by our classroom, you will see us sky writing, using hand motions for spelling procedures,  linking picture cards to every sound in the English language, stretching sounds in words with slinkies, paying attention to our pencil grips, watching our mouths in a mirror to see what happens with each sound, using flashlights to trace letters on the board, and you will definitely see us using our best cursive handwriting!! :)  

We also know it is important to explain to our students that having dyslexia does not mean they can’t learn!  They just need to learn in a different way…a multisensory way!  Everyone has talents.  I encourage my students to find theirs!  They may be very creative or artistic.  They may be an athlete or have music abilities that come easily for them.  They may be great at math or science.  Just because their talent might not be reading or spelling, does not mean they aren’t great thinkers!  Many times it is just the opposite!  We will discuss famous inventors, authors, movie directors, etc. that have become very well known and successful despite the fact that, they too, have/had dyslexia!  

When a student tells me, “I can’t read or spell.”  I say, “You mean you can’t read or spell...YET!! :)