When I was working with students with dyslexia there was something that I saw quite a lot - when checking their written work, it would be common for some students to read what was implicitly in their head rather than explicitly what they had written down on paper, word for word.
I’ll give an example of a specific student I used to work with- let’s call him John. John was one of my adult students, very bright with great verbal skills. I would get him to check his written work by reading it out loud. Regularly, he would read a sentence with words added in or taken out, or he would substitute a word for another. I’d stop him and get him to repeat the sentence – again, he’d read it with the ‘errors’. He would need to read it three or four times before he noticed what he was saying wasn’t the exact same words he had written; he was saying the sentence how he meant to write it, rather than how it was written. Often what is in the head is slightly more accurate and/or better, as it is what the writer means to say. The written version, we could argue, is possibly not quite as good and doesn’t reflect the full extent of the student’s actual knowledge or ability. This can mean the difference of one or even two grades. This makes proofreading – the ability to check written work carefully for errors – very important.
Why does this happen?
When we read, our eyes take in possibly around four or five words at a time. As you are reading this, or next time you’re reading your book, take notice of what your eyes do. They don’t settle on every single word for you to consciously read – especially when reading silently. In other words, we could say we read “in chunks”.
For someone with visual/spatial processing difficulties, words can appear to “jump around” or seem distorted, making the process of reading accurately and efficiently more difficult. If a student has difficulty breaking down sounds in words and a weakness in visual short-term memory, this too can mean inaccuracies when reading.
Taking all this into consideration, it is therefore not surprising that errors can occur when proofreading; adding words that aren’t there; omitting words that are there; replacing words and muddling similar looking words.
This results in these students, particularly with severe dyslexia, finding it hard to proofread and see mistakes.
So, what’s the solution?
Students need to check work thoroughly. Easier said than done, I know!
Luckily, however, there are also some very good assistive software solutions out there. Assistive software such as Quillsoft’s WordQ, Dragon Naturally Speaking or Read Write Gold, to name a few, can help older students communicate more effectively and accurately on paper from the initial getting thoughts down on paper to the proofreading. This means students can work independently and speed up the writing and checking process, expressing themselves in a way that reflects their knowledge and ability.
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If a student doesn’t have the aid of assistive technology, there are some simple techniques students can use to improve their proofreading skills:
Read out loud and slowly: One really good way of spotting errors is to hear the text out loud - it’s easier to hear a mistake than to spot it reading silently. This is what assistive technology does for the individual, but, in its absence, the student hearing themselves can work just as well. They need to read out loud at a much slower speed – half their usual pace. Reading aloud (slowly) forces the eye to read what is there, rather than the brain’s autocorrected version. This will help the student hear mistakes and hear if a sentence doesn’t sound right. The student is much more likely not to miss anything.
Some students may like to use a finger or pen to point out the words as they read – again, this forces the eye to slow down and the student can look over the spelling, grammar and punctuation in detail.
Print it out: For some, proofreading from a print-out (after changing the font) rather than from the screen can help with error-spotting. It’s hard to know exactly why, but one theory is that the text looks less familiar, and so the student is more likely to slow down and not skim read.
Take a break: If time allows, proofreading is easier the following day. Having a break from the work makes text seem fresher and less familiar to the eye making it easier to hear it from the reader’s perspective and to spot mistakes.
List common errors: Get the student to create a list of common mistakes they make (spellings, grammar, punctuation) for reference. This will help the student become quicker and automatic in their proofreading as they’ll know what to look out for.
By improving our students’ proofreading skills, we can help them read the actual lines rather than ‘between them’, build their confidence in checking their own work and, ultimately, improve their grades.
Hannah MacLellan worked as a Dyslexia & Literacy Specialist at Dyslexia Action for many years and now works with the Units of Sound development team. She has considerable experience working with and providing advice, training and support to schools, colleges, community centers and parents.
Units of Sound has a home version, Literacy that fits, which is designed to get parents/guardians supporting their child at home without all the training that is involved with most intervention tools used in schools.
