This virtual one-day workshop will focus on how to support students with both DLD and dyslexia in developing their foundational literacy skills (i.e., phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, and spelling). Given that reading and writing are language-based skills, it will likely come as no surprise that there is a high degree of co-occurrence between reading disabilities and oral language challenges. In fact, approximately half of individuals with dyslexia also present with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)–a disorder in which individuals struggle to use and/or comprehend spoken language. In this workshop, participants will learn how to adapt and/or modify basic decoding/spelling lessons to support these students and to help build their oral language skills.
Upon completion, participants will be able to:
- Describe Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and how it impacts listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills
- Identify ways that students with DLD might struggle with a typical decoding/spelling lesson
- Describe and explain scaffolds and/or modifications that can be used to support these students’ progress and learning
- Describe and explain ways to build oral language skills throughout a decoding/spelling lesson
