There are lots of ways to support your child if they have dyslexia or delayed literacy skills.
One of the most commonly used strategies that a dyslexia specialist will use is the rainbow arc. The rainbow arc has been used for a very long time.
We can use the rainbow arc to help with alphabet order, spelling, upper case (capitals) and lowercase letter formation, sound and name of a letter, memory and onset and rime (changing the beginning sound of a word- late, date, fate, gate etc). Whilst this is used for dyslexia it is useful for anyone who needs a little bit of extra support. A specialist quickly learns about gaps in learning while constantly assessing understanding and knowledge of phonological ability.
The alphabet arc is a tool used to build student knowledge of letter sequence and promote the learning of the many skills surrounding letter identification, reading, and spelling. These are easy to scaffold as students gain automaticity in their letter recognition and ordering skills.
Automaticity – often described as an ‘effortless performance’ is key for dyslexia students as the more they know without applying effort or using their memory capacity the better it is for them. For example – knowing how to form every capital letter means they don’t have to think/recall this information when starting a sentence.
In a focussed dyslexia support session we would carry out the rainbow arc each time. It works well to do the rainbow arc a minimum of 3 times a week- little and often is key for a dyslexic student. You can easily carry out the rainbow arc at home a couple of times a week with your child.
The tactile experience helps both kinesthetic and visual learners and reinforces letter recognition and the connection between letters and sounds. Additionally, alphabet arcs can help with letter formation as students can trace the different letters of the alphabet in both lowercase and uppercase.
What you will need
You will need a rainbow arc and a set of letters these are links to the ones we advise:
https://www.thedyslexiashop.co.uk/products/alphabet
https://www.thedyslexiashop.co.uk/products/rainbow-letters-
If you don’t want to purchase a rainbow arc, you can print this one and use paper letters.
Tips for rainbow success
• Make the rainbow arc session an enjoyable time for both of you. Set a visible timer to show the lesson will only last 15 minutes (make it somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes). This means the child knows there is an end point by looking at a countdown timer or a sandtimer. You could even have a special drink or snacks.
• Spend time completing a rainbow arc strip. Colour in the letters as shown in a different colour. This highlights significant parts of the alphabet as well as known letter reversals.
• Start with alphabet side and start matching up letters. Then check whether your child knows the name and the sound for each letter by pointing to each letter out of order and writing down the answer. If your child says fuh, luh, muh, nuh, ruh, suh, vuh, zuh correct this to the pure sound ff,lll,mmm,nnn,rrr,sss,vvv,zzzz,
• The pure sound is very important. If a child says the sound with an ‘uh sound after we call this ‘uh’ sound the schwa. Pure sounds refers to the way of sounding phonemes without adding an extra ‘uh’, known as a schwa, at the end of each letter. Using pure sounds helps children to blend sounds for reading and segment words for writing, as no extra sounds are accidentally inserted into words.
• You need to know if you child knows the sound for each letter and also the name (ABC) you need to learn this in order of the alphabet and out of order. They need to know how the capital is written for each letter sound. They need to be able to look at a capital and know the name and the sounds (so ‘a’ is ‘ay’ and ‘ah’ – ‘A’ is ‘ay’ and ‘ah’)
• Give the child each letter one at a time so they can place it on the rainbow – we do not want the child repeating the alphabet again and again as this is tiring so it’s best to say is it the beginning middle or end of the rainbow – don’t worry of it wrong we will sort it out at the end. Once the whole alphabet is on the arc you can reorganise it accurately together using the strip. The progress with this can be very fast. Don’t underestimate the importance of knowing each letter back to front – it helps in so many areas of a child’s work.
Working with your child is not easy – don’t push it if your child becomes resentful. It won’t help if they are finding it stressful. But if you can create a nice experience then go for it as it really helps to add this even once a week. If you have any questions about using the rainbow arc get in touch here