How much does dyslexia affect a person's ability to read music?
I expect it can vary a lot from person to person.
What suggestions do you have?
Re: dyslexia
Posted by xbdxbd on 11/7/2022, 7:29 pm, in reply to "dyslexia"
I had moderate success with colored paper, much better results with colored overlays. Get as many colors as you can find, and keep the whole set. I had different results with different colors for different students. The school can provide the overlays for the student(s). When it works, the parents will love it!
Re: dyslexia
Posted by Dyslexia Dave on 11/7/2022, 5:24 pm, in reply to "dyslexia"
I was always a slow reader and didn't realize I had mild dyslexia until until high school. Books like Moby Dick were beyond me. I was a poor sight reader in band and choir but I believe reading music helped my overall reading ability. (I've made more ones in sight reading than anything else). Sightreading music is very much like a reading machine I've heard.
Re: dyslexia
Posted by Bigger Question on 11/7/2022, 2:47 pm, in reply to "dyslexia"
I think this points to a bigger question in music education. I do not believe we do enough to truly work within our student's educational accommodations.
When has (if ever) someone in a higher position than our own really taken a deep look at what were are supposed to be providing our students VS what we actually do in the band world.
For the most part, I have seen band directors take a "one size fits all" approach when it comes to teaching our students.
Why do we expect a student who has struggled at reading the english language since kindergarten to suddenly be able to read a completely different language(music notation) without having some serious struggles and no accommodations. Sure, keep barking at that kid about writing in his note names... let me know how that works out for you.
On the flip side, when have the people creating those accommodations truly taken a look at what it takes to participate in our activity. (my guess...never)
Re: dyslexia
Posted by Houston on 11/8/2022, 7:42 am, in reply to "Re: dyslexia"
Cy Fair is marching at state with a blind student. I judged a middle school contest with a student that used braille music in the sight-reading room.
I think a lot of time we don't have to make accommodations because music does that naturally, (less technical parts for some, different level ensembles, Instrument placement based on cognitive/physical abilities, choosing S/E literature based on their ability as opposed to their age, etc.).
we've seen kids in wheelchairs on the marching field, overlays and colored paper for dyslexia students, and I had admin observe my class because I had twins that could fully function in my rehearsal, (3rd band) but couldn't sit still for 10 seconds in their core classes. Truth be told, these kids needed to be working with their hands and I offered that with by the nature of the kids playing Flute/Percussion. I think band does a great job of working around kids individual learning. At the same time, the world can't always accommodate that and maybe people should choose careers like they get placed on an instrument. If you are ADHD, accounting probably isn't for you but fast paced sales might or customer service where things change frequently might be.
Re: dyslexia
Posted by BorderBD on 11/7/2022, 12:19 pm, in reply to "dyslexia"
Ask the student, ask the dyslexia teacher. I have had kids who needed colored paper to focus on the music better. Everything, including sight reading, was on colored paper (we had the documentation and provided the colored paper). Student was successfully able to read and participate. I've had students who needed large print music to understand it better. We just enlarged it on the copier. Bottom line, ask.
Re: dyslexia
Posted by Resources on 11/7/2022, 11:49 am, in reply to "dyslexia"
Ask the student's counselor or dyslexia teacher. Sometimes it can impact how they read music and colored overlays or even printing music on different colored paper can help. Each person is different so it is best to work with that student and their aides to see what works best for them.
