Six Apps for National Dyslexia Awareness Month and Everyday

October is National Dyslexia Awareness Month and special education teachers are important resources for other educators to consult when trying reach and assess students who have dyslexia. In addition to various books and educational experts, teachers can also find software to enhance their students' learning.  

What is dyslexia?

According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, dyslexia is a language processing disorder that can "hinder reading, writing, spelling, and sometimes even speaking."

Dyslexia at a Glance:

The National Center for Learning Disabilities said dyslexia can be the following:

• Dyslexia is the name for specific learning disabilities in reading.
• Dyslexia is often characterized by difficulties with accurate word recognition, decoding and spelling.
• Dyslexia may cause problems with reading comprehension and slow down vocabulary growth.
• Dyslexia may result in poor reading fluency and reading out loud. Dyslexia is neurological and often genetic.
• Dyslexia is not the result of poor instruction.
• With the proper support, almost all people with dyslexia can become good readers and writers.

With the help of technology, teachers may find ways to help their students through interactive games and tools. EducationWorld has curated a list of six apps available on iTunes that teachers can introduce to their students with dyslexia along with their whole class.

1. SoundLiteracy: SoundLiteracy, iTunes says, "provides a teacher, tutor, speech therapist, or parent a tool for enhancing literacy lessons." Some of its features includes: "blank tiles for counting, ordering, and manipulating the graphemes or any other word part" and "sound maps that indicate various ways to spell each phoneme; spellings are ordered from the most common to the least common."

With SoundLiteracy, students can be able to distinguish sounds, pronological processing, and enhance their speech. 

2. ModMath: ModMath, iTunes says, is a math app where students can "type math problems right onto the touch screen on an iPad rather than write them out long-hand." The app was created by parents whose child has dyslexia.

"Our son has both dyslexia and dysgraphia," said makers from Hirsch/Denberg LLC on the iTunes website. "So writing legibly is nearly impossible. And that makes learning basic math skills difficult...We are well aware of the struggles of a child with a learning disability. Our goal in creating an assistive technology was to make things easier not just for our son, but for any child that struggles with a learning disability or a physical disability. And, yes, that’s why we’re giving it away."

3. Dyslexia Quest: In this interactive game, iTunes says, "the games are designed to assess working memory, phonological awareness, processing speed, visual memory, auditory memory and sequencing skills." There are six games in the app that "each develop a different learning ability."
4. Reading Intro by Oz Phonics: This app reflects on letter-sound relationships, including short vowels and up to 10 consonants, iTunes says "dyslexic children and adults who struggle with reading can use this app. Phonics has been shown to be particularly effective for teaching dyslexics." 
5. Notability: With Notability, iTunes says users can "create, share, and manage your notes." According to iTunes, those who use Notability can hand write their notes, record audio, replay notes through audio, and more. This app would be great for those with dyslexia for it has text to speech and font control as well as organizational tools. 
6. Inpspiration Maps VPP: For those looking for help with organization, iTunes says users can "build diagrams and graphic organizers, brainstorm ideas, strengthen understanding and build retention, take notes and more." 

The International Dyslexia Association recommends teachers to use Inspiration Maps in the classroom in its article about apps to use for literary instruction.

"Inspiration Maps is a portable version of the popular Inspiration composition software; it helps organize topics for writing or studying with graphic organizers," said IDA. "It includes dozens of pre-made templates in a variety of forms, both expository (e.g., compare and contrast) and narrative."

Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor