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After talking with Alessandra Luci, psychologist, psychotherapist and speech therapist on the general problems of dyslexia and dysgraphia. (Remember that these are specific learning disorders that manifest themselves from the first years of primary school) Let’s try to provide some didactic suggestions.
Dr. Luci, what can be done for dyslexic and dysgraphic children?
In the first place, entering the specificity of the reading-writing teaching-learning method, it is important to underline that the most accredited scientific literature does not recommend the global method, showing that it delays the acquisition of adequate reading fluency and correction.
What is the best alternative?
To meet the special educational needs of the student with SLD, the phono-syllabic method, or the purely syllabic method, can be used. In which, each consonant is illustrated as derived from the shape of a particular object or element of nature, the initial of the word that denotes it is similar to that letter, for example. the mountain for em (printed!).
The consonants are presented according to graphic affinities, to highlight the differences. Initially they will be P and B; the D and the R; then L and F, M and N, and so on. We start with the left-hand writing, we proceed with the other right-wing writing (CGS), leaving the Q and H for last (always printed!).
Is it true that capital letters can even predispose to dyslexia or dysgraphia?
No. On the contrary, capital letters, as a type of bilinear writing, in which all the letters have the same height, starting with the upper staff and ending in the lower one, are easier to discriminate visually (in reading), and simpler to perform at the level of the graphic engine (in writing) than lowercase letter and cursive, which are quadrilateral types of writing, therefore articulated in three spatial bands, in which the space demarcation lines are four, as there is a central band of letters like a or c, an upper band in which letters like al or b are pressed, a lower band occupied by letters like go q.
meIn fact, even the Ministry Guidelines seem to embrace this proposal …
Yes, in the Guidelines it actually says that “… it would be desirable to start with capital letters, the perceptually simpler form of writing, while printed lower case letters, as well as cursive, are forms of writing that are perceptually much more complex”.
Still: “Then you should avoid presenting the same letter to the child expressed graphically in several characters (lower case, upper case, lower case italic, upper case italic), but it is convenient to stop at only one of these modalities until the student has acquired a safe and stable mental representation of the shape of that letter ”.
But based on your experience and knowledge, what do you think?
Professionally, and in line with what other colleagues and associations dealing with SLD have suggested, I recommend the introduction of italics in the second grade of primary school, once the child has stabilized and automated phoneme-grapheme correspondence in printed material . If the child in question is unable to learn efficiently (due to speed and intelligibility) cursive calligraphy and in the presence of a diagnosis of dysgraphia, in accordance with the provisions of Law 170/2010, I recommend, from the third class, the dispensation Simultaneous use of the four characters (uppercase, lowercase, lowercase italic, uppercase italic) allowing the use of the preferred writing character and / or, as a compensatory tool, the use of the computer with a word processing program.
One last question: How useful can research on learning disabilities be to everyone else?
A lot, because the right teaching methods for children with SLD are valid for all children.
In other words: if a methodology is recommended because it is effective and efficient in promoting learning in a child who has a learning disorder, it will promote learning effectively and efficiently even in a child who does not have that disorder, whereas, alas, the opposite is not true!
