How children with dyslexia are conquering the written word in school

In a bustling classroom in Punggol View Primary School, young Shermaine Mun faced a silent struggle. Letters danced, mocking her attempts to read and write. As she struggled to sound out long words during the English lesson, Mrs Joyce Ng, Senior Teacher for English, sensed her student’s frustration. 

Approaching the girl with a smile, Mrs Ng reassured her. “It’s okay, Shermaine. Dyslexia makes reading a bit tricky, but by applying the strategies taught and with repeated practice, we will improve in our reading.”

Shermaine sighed, doubtful. “But others find it easy.” Mrs Ng nodded, then pointed out. “Think of learning like advancing through a game – it takes time to master the skills at each level to move forward.”

And that was how Mrs Ng, who was also a School-based Dyslexia Remediation (SDR) teacher, helped Shermaine find a way to make sense of the written word.

After school, Mrs Ng used tools such as interactive posters and student cards to guide Shermaine to read. They illustrated how to apply reading strategies step-by-step, which Shermaine diligently referred to while she practised reading. 

Each time Shermaine sounded out a word correctly, her face would light up. Armed with strategies that she learnt from Mrs Ng, Shermaine not only improved her reading skills, but she also discovered a love for reading and renewed confidence in herself.

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. Students might reverse letters (for example, they may read ‘pot’ as ‘top’) or have trouble sounding new words and recognising the ones they know.

These difficulties persist despite appropriate learning opportunities. To date, students with dyslexia form the largest group of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. 

From Mrs Ng’s experience, developing literacy skills is not the only hurdle that students with dyslexia face; they may feel frustrated or embarrassed while navigating the learning process, which is why providing plenty of emotional support is just as important. 

“Praise their hard work, celebrate their strengths in other areas, and remind them that dyslexia has nothing to do with their intelligence,” Mrs Ng advises parents and teachers of children with dyslexia. 

While children with dyslexia face unique challenges in school, early, targeted support and the right strategies can make a huge difference in their learning journey.

Schools provide support for all students with literacy needs, starting from Primary 1 through the Learning Support Programme (LSP). The SDR programme, an MOE literacy intervention from Primary 3 to Primary 4, is another form of support available in primary schools. 

A closer look at how the SDR programme works

Teacher personalising learning for the SDR students. (Source: Canberra Primary School)

Seamless transition: Because the programme is run in school, SDR teachers can easily update other teachers about each student’s progress in reading and spelling. This helps make sure that students transfer and apply their new reading and spelling skills across all their classes, not just in the SDR classroom.

Parent-teacher collaboration: The programme encourages parents to be actively involved in their child’s learning. SDR teachers not only keep parents informed about their child’s progress in the SDR programme, but may also equip them with knowledge and strategies to support their child at home, creating a connection between school and home environments.

Parents of children who have gone through the SDR programme share that the support has significantly improved their child’s literacy skills. 

Mr Gary Loh, whose child is in Yishun Primary School, says: “My son’s reading and writing skills have improved so much and he is much more confident now.” He adds that each SDR session is an hour long, so it is not tiring for his son.

During SDR lessons, children learn strategies for reading, spelling, and comprehension from the teachers. This boosts their literacy skills as well as their self-confidence. Regardless of their learning differences, every child is given the support required.

Parent Mrs Merlyn Yeo, whose child is in Canberra Primary School, says that the benefits of the programme extend beyond the classroom. Her daughter’s reading skills improved after she was introduced to word attack strategies, which help learners break apart, pronounce, and understand unfamiliar words. Her child also finds the Word Attack Strategy cards useful and refers to them when reading on her own. “She even uses them when reading books at home!” Mrs Yeo says.

Dive deeper into an ex-SDR student’s educational journey in this YouTube video.