Dyslexia and modern foreign languages

[wallyberry]

Does anyone have any advice on how to help a severely dyslexic child learn a foreign language? We're not finding it easy to help our son who is finding French very difficult. His recall is poor and he can't spell in English, let alone French. He has 3 lessons a week and since September he hasn't even grasped the basics - things like 'the', 'a', 'I' and 'and'.

My ds is dyslexic - not severely enough to be in a special school, but enough to be granted typing concessions and extra time. He has on occasion, at secondary school, spelled his own name wrong. At uni he is being offered Dragon Dictate so won't even have to touch type.

He stopped French and moved to Spanish which has the courtesy to by spelled the way it is said. Much more civilised. Is this an option?

Oh, and the other thing that is really interesting is that there is no dyslexia in Japan. Really. So a friend with a dyslexic dc is making a good living in Japan translating English, which he can read OK, into Japanese in which he is now fluent, and also doing English conversation classes in Japanese schools.

If dc really cannot write it down correctly, but can learn it for speaking/listening, then maybe see if the pressure can come off by concentrating on that and pass on the writing.

I have a Michel Thomas CD which is a marked change in approach from learning quite tedious vocabulary about school, home and hobbies. That might cheer him up, maybe. And there is no reading or writing involved.

hope this helps

Sadly Spanish isn't an option, but I'll try to get them to concentrate on the speaking/listening side. I think I'll get in touch with the head of MFL and ask him if they have any suggestions. I have a Michel Thomas Spanish CD, so maybe I could look at that for his French too.

Thank you. I desperately don't want him to give up.

Just an idea, if you learn a language together that might help, especially if it is one with relevance to dc. We are south east so can go on a ferry (vouchers in a paper at one point) to France, but actually the cheap flights to Europe may be even cheaper.

Good Luck

I've bought the Michel Thomas Basic French CD, which seems to be going quite well (and relatively painlessly) so far. At the moment there are no options over what language he studies - I'd be a lot happier with Spanish because I'm much better at it than French, but the only languages on offer at school are French and German. We're unlikely to be going to any of them in the foreseeable future, as there's no way we can afford it! I'm happy to learn along with him though. The head of languages at school has been very supportive, though, and they have extra-curricular stuff that he can get involved with, so hopefully that might help too.

There is time yet. Sometime between now and the age of 25 dc will be able to prove linguistic skills even if the writing is via dragon dictate.

Think long, and don't get caught up in the tyranny of a national curriculum that is designed for bog standard kids.

Oh and german is said to be better for dyslexia than french, but I don't think it is as good as Spanish.

There are plenty of online resources as well like BBC bitesize and stuff which might help.

Hope this helps