Successful Steps Intervention
Heidi Lee, M.Ed.
Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner
Recommended Resources
It's so hard to watch someone struggle and not know how to help them. This is a growing list of links and resources to educate yourself about language-based learning disabilities, such as dyslexia. There are also many helpful interventions that you can use at home. Just click on the underlined resources to link to the site.
Dyslexia Digital Library
Handwriting
Resources
Handwriting Resources- Handwriting is very important to teach, especially for kids with dyslexia or dysgraphia. Here is a great article from the Dyslexia Classroom with helpful tips. I also recommend this handwriting resource for students who don't like handwriting. It is created by Pencils and Poppies. If you are looking for a curriculum, many people recommend Handwriting without Tears or Fundations Handwriting. Cursive is also highly recommended for students with dysgraphia.
Cool tech tools
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Digital Word Mapping Tool- You can type a word, and the program will show you the phonemes and graphemes in the word.
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How Many Syllables?- You can type in your word, and this syllable dictionary will break down the syllables in the word.
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Check Syllable Division-Check syllables using American Heritage Dictionary or Word Help (Syllable Counter)
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Virtual word work mat- You can use this tool to build words and word chains.
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Flesch Kincaid Calculator- This calculator allows you to determine text readability according to grade level. Just copy and paste text onto website and click calculate. This is designed for passages and not meant for simple decodable text.
letter reversals
pqbd confusion
letter reversals
pqbd confusion
fricative confusion
(ie. v,f,th,s,z)
Sound Confusion Resources
Twin Speech Language and Literacy-Check out this site for fantastic resources created by two speech-language pathologists. I highly recommend their TPT resource for F/ TH confusion here.
Picture sound cards with mouth positions
If your child is struggling with differentiating between sounds (such as i and e), you can use picture cards showing the different mouth positions. This is a helpful intervention to add to your toolbox of strategies.
Here are my top recommendations for mouth cards:
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Purchase LIPS Picture Cards (These only include consonants, but they also have little sketches of the air movements. The added sketch can help kids who struggle between sounds that have similar mouth positions like /sh/ and /ch/.)
IMSE Structured Literacy Resources
The Institute of Multi-Sensory Education website has lots of great structured literacy resources. Click here to check out their digital resources. There are also holiday and seasonal activities.
Phoneme Pronunciation
Watch this video to make sure that you are pronouncing the 44 phonemes correctly.
Blending
If your learner struggles with blending, these resources may help.
Books to read at home
If you are looking for decodable books to read with your child at home, here are some recommended sites to check out:
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