Teaching Strategies for Dyslexia: How to Empower Students

• Fixed pacing: When class moves forward according to a predetermined schedule or a single “average” page, a student who needs additional time to master a reading or language concept may fall behind.
• One-size-does-not-fit-all teaching: The same explanation or activity won't work equally well for every student. Students with dyslexia may benefit from explicit, structured, and multisensory instruction that gives them more than one way to process and practice a concept.
• Peer judgment: Reading aloud, spelling, or completing written work in front of classmates can create additional pressure for students who already find these tasks difficult. That pressure may make students less willing to participate or ask for help.
• Classroom distractions: Typical classrooms are filled with noise, movement, and transitions that make it harder to concentrate on reading and language tasks.
• Ignoring giftedness: A student's difficulty with reading or writing does not determine their overall academic ability. When instruction focuses primarily on areas of difficulty, students' strengths and advanced abilities can be overlooked.

For these reasons, many parents of dyslexic students turn to alternative schools built with their child in mind.

Essential Teaching Strategies for Dyslexia

Multisensory instruction

Using sight, hearing, movement, and touch simultaneously connects spoken language to cognitive processing. For students with dyslexia, using multiple pathways to practice language skills can make concepts more concrete and easier to remember.

Examples of multisensory instruction include:

• Sand writing: Tracing letters or words in sand while saying the corresponding sounds.
• Blending boards: Moving letters or sounds together to practice blending them into words.
• Arm tapping: Using movement to break words into individual sounds and blend them together.

The Orton-Gillingham method

The Orton-Gillingham approach is a “direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive way to teach literacy to individuals for whom reading, writing, and spelling do not come easily, such as those with dyslexia.”

It focuses on building each of the five pillars of literacy:

• Phonological awareness: Understanding and working with the individual sounds in spoken language.
• Phonics: The relationship between letters and the sounds they represent.
• Fluency: The ability to read accurately, smoothly, and at an appropriate pace.
• Vocabulary: Building knowledge of words and their meanings.
• Comprehension: Understanding and making meaning from what is read.

The approach is most common in one-to-one classrooms, where teachers can continuously monitor individuals’ progress and adapt the next lesson based on real-time mastery of the concepts.

Accessible tools and assistive technology

The goal of assistive technology is to make the material more accessible. For students with dyslexia, tools that reduce the demands of decoding, spelling, or writing can help them spend more energy on demonstrating what they know.

Popular teaching tools for students with dyslexia include:

• Speech-to-text and text-to-speech tools
• Large-text books
• Line readers
• Pocket spellcheckers

Mastery-based learning and custom pacing

While traditional classrooms move ahead according to an arbitrary calendar, students with dyslexia often need extra time in certain areas. With mastery-based pacing, students only move forward once they have demonstrated complete understanding of a topic. This allows them to spend additional time on areas that are difficult while moving more quickly through subjects or  skills they understand well.

For a student who struggles with language-based subjects, that flexibility can help build a stronger foundation rather than continually adding new material on top of skills that haven't been fully developed.

Personalized learning programs

Many of these teaching strategies are difficult to implement consistently in a classroom with 20 or more students. One student may need additional phonics practice while another needs assistive technology or a different explanation of the same concept. 

A one-to-one learning environment gives teachers the ability to adjust instruction around the individual student. They can modify the instructional approach, pacing, practice, and schedule based on what the student needs rather than requiring the student to keep pace with the rest of the class. 

For students with dyslexia, that can mean more targeted instruction and fewer barriers between what they know and what they are able to demonstrate.

How Brightmont Academy Helps Students with Dyslexia Succeed

Brightmont Academy transforms the educational journey for students with dyslexia by replacing the traditional classroom with a one-to-one instruction model. Our full-time school and part-time tutoring programs have helped students with learning differences achieve greater academic success while building their confidence.

With just one teacher and one student in every classroom, Brightmont ensures neurodivergent students achieve deep academic mastery while rebuilding their love for learning.

Benefits of a Brightmont education for students with dyslexia include:

• Personalized instruction: Brightmont teachers adjust instructional methods, pacing, and practice based on the student's individual learning needs and current level of understanding.
• Deep understanding of learning differences: For over 25 years, Brightmont has been helping students with learning differences build their confidence and achieve more. Instruction can account for the ways dyslexia affects a student's reading, writing, processing, and academic experience rather than treating the learning difference as a single set of challenges.
• Holistic emotional support: Academic struggles can affect how students feel about themselves as learners. A one-to-one environment gives teachers more opportunities to recognize frustration, encourage progress, and help students work through challenges.
• Mastery-based approach: Students can spend more time on concepts they haven't mastered yet and move more quickly through areas they already understand.
• Technology accommodations: Assistive technology helps students access course materials and demonstrate their understanding while they continue developing foundational reading and writing skills.
• Judgment-free learning environment: Students can ask questions, make mistakes, and practice skills without the added pressure of a large group of peers watching.
• Nationally accredited education: Brightmont Academy’s one-to-one school is Cognia-accredited. 

Learn more about how Brightmont supports students with learning differences in the video below:

Additional Resources for Parents

True academic mastery for dyslexic students requires a tailored environment that supports their unique cognitive and emotional needs. 

Rebuilding confidence and ensuring lasting educational success starts with understanding that your child can succeed and needs targeted educational support to reach their full potential.

Want to learn more about the difference one-to-one education makes? Check out the resources below:

• How One-to-One Learning Improves Students’ Outcomes: Discover how personalized learning classrooms work and why more and more families are turning to one-to-one instruction.
• The Top Personalized Learning Program for Grades 1–12: Explore Brightmont’s approach to personalized instruction.
• What Does Twice-Exceptional Mean? What Do 2E Students Need?: Suspect your student with dyslexia is also gifted? Learn about twice-exceptional students and what support they need to succeed.