In this dyslexia blog article I want to talk about using a thesaurus.Many dyslexics find it difficult to find a word in a dictionary because if they don’t know the first few letters then they can’t find the correct word easily. In a earlier article I referred to some specialized dictionaries that might be more useful for the dyslexic student to use than the standard dictionary.
Another useful strategy is to teach your child to use a thesaurus so that they can identify spellings.
What is a thesaurus ?
A thesaurus is a collection of synonyms (words or phrases with a similar meaning ) and antonyms ( words or phrases with a opposite meaning ) .
There are two types of thesaurus one which is like a dictionary were the words are in alphabetical order.The other lists the words in a index form which is in the back of the book.
Microsoft word has its own thesaurus which students can make use of in their studies. There are also some online versions of a thesaurus like :
reference thesaurus com
There is also a Visual Thesaurus available online which gives visual diagrams of all similar meaning words.
Your child must first think of a easier word which they able to spell, but which has a similar meaning to the word they are looking for. Eg sad
After they look in the thesaurus under sad to find a more difficult word that they can’t spell eg morose .
Other examples :Small – miniscule
Thin – gaunt
Dictionary – thesaurus
Here in this Dyslexia Blog article is a useful strategy if your child has trouble looking words up in dictionaries and other reference books that are arranged in alphabetical order.
Make an alphabet arc using a protractor.
First draw an arc onto a piece of card.Divide the arc into 4 roughly equal sections..
Write the alphabet in the four quarters :
A- F
G- M
N- S
T- Z
You could cut the arc out and fold it along the lines into quarters if you want.
They can carry it with them in their school bag.
It makes looking things up quicker and more accurate, and your child won’t have to start from the beginning of the alphabet for each word.
You could make up a mnemonic to remember the first 4 letters in each section eg : All gorillas need tomatoes
Play some games with them to test their skills.- eg they have to find a word within a certain time.
This can even be used with older students.
Still Blogger is playing up - spent 3 hours just adding one blog article.. Its driving me crazy!! So bear with me ....
If you ask dyslexic children to check spellings in a normal dictionary they find it difficult .To look up a word in a dictionary, you have to know how the word is spelt in the first place – or at least the first part of the word..
The Ace Spelling Dictionary ( David Moseley ) is great for children who cannot use an ordinary dictionary.
Using the unique index ,children need only think how a word sounds to find out how to spell it. By simply identifying the first vowel sound , the speller is instantly sent to the page where the problem word is found.
Children just need a basic knowledge of vowel sounds and to know what a syllable is .There are clear instructions at the beginning explaining how to use the book correctly. The ACE Index has a table of 16 vowel sounds and the A-Z alphabet .It contains animal cartoons which will appeal to children.
If you want to look inside this book go to amazon.com where you can see customer images of the book. Go to Google and type in “Customer images gallery for Ace Spelling”
Another useful item for dyslexic children who have trouble with spelling is the electronic Franklin spellchecker.
It has a built in phonetic spell correction. This feature allows users to type in a word the way it sounds and receive a correction list. For example : from "nolij" to "knowledge";from "kaufee" to "coffee" from "fizix" to "physics" and so on.
You can buy Franklin spellcheckers from Amazon.com.
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