WHAT ARE MODIFICATIONS?

 In the dictionary, a modification is defined as...  
a small alteration, adjustment, adaptation, variation.

Modifying is a vehicle for matching teaching style to student's learning style respecting and accepting individual differences in learning modalities thus providing success in learning for students who learn differently as well as challenging mental potential while preventing the student's frustration in area of disability.

For the student with dyslexia modifying is adapting readability without diluting content or concepts. Modifying is a basic need, not a luxury or pampering. Modifying is accommodating differences in learning in order to prevent despair and frustration. Modifying enables a student to express what he has learned and placing emphasis on content and comprehension instead of the mechanics of reading, writing, and spelling.  

Students identified with developmental dyslexia respond to intensive, multisensory, phonics-based instruction that is both systematic and sequential. By state law, children in Texas who are identified as having dyslexia are to be provided with training using instructional strategies with the aforementioned components. Children do not have to meet eligibility criteria for special education services in order to receive this specialized instruction.

It is imperative that home and school work as a team to support a dyslexic student, provide him/her/him appropriate remediation for him/her difficulties, and encourage him/him/her to shine in him/her strengths.

Recommendations for modifications to be considered include the following:

GENERAL

1)    Avoid time-pressured and competitive activities to reduce the risk of anxiety.

2)    Seat him/her near the teacher, away from a door, a window, work centers, or stimulating displays, and call his/her name before addressing him/her or asking him/her to recite.

3)    Encourage him/her to actively participation rather than requiring him/her to memorize facts.

4)    Recognize the correct and acceptable parts of his/her work and give credit for him/her oral participation in class. Treat him/her as if he/she were a foreign student whose language skills are not yet adequate.

5)     Avoid embarrassing him/her by requiring him/her to read aloud in class, unless he/she insists. He/she must learn to value him/herself.

6)     Guide his/her thinking through teaching techniques, which include questioning and student discovery.

7)    Help him/her to organize his/her materials, notebooks, time, assignments and thinking.

8)    Break assignments into small steps.

9)    Give simple, oral directions and provide a written copy of these directions when possible.

10)  Allow the student to write larger than usual.

11)   Encourage student to learn to type. (Copying is difficult for some students and writing letter shapes requires focus of central attention.)

12)   Teach the student to highlight the main facts of the lesson and material that will be tested on.

13)   Periodically question the student briefly to be sure he/she understands.

14)   Place emphasis on oral participation, and give some oral-based grades.

15)   Encourage students not to erase anymore. Instead, he/she is to draw a neat, single line through any error and continue with their work.

16)   Encourage student to underline all words he/she knows is misspelled and let him/her know that no points will be deducted.

 ASSIGNMENTS

1)    Give extended time for, or shortened assignments in, reading, spelling, and written expression

2)    Avoid penalizing for spelling errors in subjects, excepting language arts.

3)    Allow him/her to bring a tape recorder to class on review days, as he/she cannot take complete notes or read them later for study.

4)    Accept concrete or graphic projects in substitution for written compositions. He/she is a three dimensional thinker who learns best through arts, crafts, shop, science projects, drama, and films.

NOTE TAKING

1)    Limit the amount of copying, especially in math.

2)    Allow a teacher-identified note-taking buddy so that he/she can use the buddy's notes to supplement any notes that he/she has been able to take.

3)    When possible, provide him/her with written notes or worksheets so that he/she does not have the burden of copying from the board thus minimizing the amount of material that he/she needs to copy.

4)    Since he/she may not be able to copy accurately from the board, make specific arrangements for the complete homework assignments to reach him/her home.

5)    Give the student a desk copy of what the class is to copy from the board.

TESTS

1)    Consider oral tests, when appropriate, particularly in science and social studies, and reading assistance when needed.

2)    Rather than requiring the dyslexic student to write sentences in order to convey him/her knowledge, options such as fill-in-the-blank or circling the correct response should be offered in subjects such as science and social studies.

3)    Provide an un-timed schedule, or schedule additional time for him/her to finish tests.

4)    Provide study guides or review questions ahead of time to help the student focus on the important information.

5)     Make instructions clear, concise, and direct.

6)     Consider giving separate grades for content and form (or mechanics).

7)     Use alternate ways to assess knowledge rather than always rely on traditional "tests".

8)    Evaluate the student's knowledge in less formal situations to reduce stress and accentuate the level of learning.

9)     Evaluate knowledge or competence through some form of oral testing.

10)   During the test, be available to read words, sentences, or to paraphrase questions as needed.

11)   Ask the student to repeat directions to monitor his understanding.

12)   Allow the student to respond on tape, or to dictate answers to the tutor or computer software program for your assessment.

13)   Consider giving an open book exam, with the questions arranged in the same sequence as the text.

14)   Control priority by placing the key questions first, or by starring essential items to be answered first.

15)   For essay questions, allow some answers to be expressed in symbols, illustrations, or a series of pictures, etc.  

I am providing this to you as a means of support. PLEASE do not copy this document in any way. This is simply bits and pieces of a 504 that I presented on my child's own behalf as a means to communicate the options that are available to our daughter. These are to be used as ideas that you could put on your own child's 504. On our 504, I have only a handful of these modifications in force.  (posted Sept.15,2001)