Dyslexia is among the most common learning disabilities. One out every 10-15 people have it, so it more than likely that someone you oversee has it. As a supervisor, it is important to ensure that the workplace is flexible enough to accommodate a person with a disability if its goal is to have an inclusive workforce. Here are some tips to help your dyslexic employee/co-worker:
As an administrator, you legally must provide accommodations to employees who have disclosed their dyslexia or learning challenge. This could include alternative formats of tests and reading materials. Dyslexics may just require more repetition and more time to learn tasks during the training period, so, be patient. Using dyslexia font or printing out material with a different color background could help dyslexics to read faster. Some people with learning challenges simply need to be provided with a voice-activated computer; all computers now have this ability. Keep in mind, dyslexia and related learning disabilities have nothing to do with intelligence.
Dyslexics are a great asset to any company, but they often get passed up. Yet, dyslexics bring unique ideas to the table and any company would lucky to have them. They have created ways to overcome the challenges their dyslexia creates every day because of their lives. Neurodiversity is important in today's world. As the world is becoming more diverse so should the workforce. Studies show a diverse workforce leads to a better business. So as supervisors we need to do better.
We have talked about supervisors but what about educators? Through no fault of the teachers, dyslexia training isn't where it should be. Dyslexia is the most common learning disability yet gets little attention during teacher training. So, let's start by talking about how to identify it.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but students with dyslexia will often have trouble with rapidly identifying words, and some will have problems manipulating sounds in spoken words also known as phonemic awareness.
Dyslexics may not only have problems identifying words but also individual letters. A teacher can spot them because they are the students that will act out in the classroom to get out of reading. For example, they may ask for bathroom breaks just before or while reading to get out it because of the anxiety reading causes.
Sloppy penmanship is also not uncommon; some use it to hide spelling errors. Letters or words may be capitalized randomly because the rules of grammar are still elusive. These problems will persist long after elementary school.
If you suspect a student may have dyslexia, you can request that they be evaluated under The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. There are also online dyslexia screeners (https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2018/10/how-find-dyslexia-screener). They won't diagnose the student, but they will informally assess whether or not the student exhibits into dyslexia characteristics.
Dyslexics often fall through the cracks. To prevent this from happening whether you're an educator or manager, we need to do better for our dyslexic counterparts. They are just as intelligent as we are if not more so, often are armed with advanced degrees and we need to stop discrimination against them and include them in the workforce. Schools need to do a better job at identifying and helping them to develop strategies around their disabilities. When we create inclusive workforces, making the world a better place.
Information from this article were taken from these websites.
https://www.cashlady.com/news/neurodiversity-different-folks-need-different-strokes/
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2018/11/4-ways-lead-dyslexia-initiative
http://www.evenbreak.co.uk/blog/admin-support-tips-for-dyslexic-employees/
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