Teaching Russian to a Dyslexic student

[Edwina Cruise]

Based on my experiences:
    1.  Learning disabilities take many different forms.  At Mount 
Holyoke a student  may take a short diagnostic to help isolate specific 
problems.  But whatever, the problem, I have found that it is helpful:
    1) to prepare written materials in 14 (rather than the standard 12) 
font;
    2) to  encourage the student to place a staright edge or ruler 
underneath the line that needs to be read;
    3) to use different color chalks to visiually distinguish like from 
unlike (verbs from nouns or to isolate endings from stems) when 
presenting material on the board;
     4) to work with the student 1 on 1 reading aloud frequently.

I have had LD students go on to do distinguished work in Russian.   
Alas, the opposite has also been true.  More women  than men come to 
college with undiagnosed LDs.

I would urge your college to invest in at least the short testing that 
can help to isolate the source of processing problems.

Edwina Cruise

Laura Kline wrote:

>Dear All,
>Does anyone have experience teaching Russian to a student with Dyslexia? I
>have a very committed third-year student who is becoming very frustrated
>because she is still having trouble reading Russian. Is there any sort of
>special approach anyone knows of? Perhaps with a focus on audio materials? I
>have no experience teaching students with Dyslexia, and would appreciate any
>advice.
>Thank you,
>Laura Kline
>
>Laura Kline, Ph.D
>Lecturer in Russian
>Department of German and Slavic Studies
>443 Manoogian Hall
>906 W. Warren
>Detroit, MI  48202
>fax: 313-577-3266
>
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