Dyslexia & Sequencing
Does your child struggle with left and right? Before and after? Reciting a phone number or address? Initial and final position? The seasons of the year? Recognizing patterns? Reciting the alphabet?
Sequence is the ability to recognize items in a specific order and remember that order. Sequencing requires automaticity when identifying objects. Automaticity is the ability to quickly and efficiently recall items: a child sees a letter or number and immediately recalls the letter or number name. Our working memories are key to remembering the sequential order of items. Often children with characteristics of dyslexia struggle with working memory. More on that in a later post…
The part of the brain that’s in charge of automaticity is the same part of the brain that doesn’t work properly for a person with dyslexia. This weakened automaticity ability directly correlates to a weakened sequencing ability. We encounter sequential order when we are completing everyday tasks such as counting, saying the days of the week or the months of the year, when we are reciting our address or phone number, and when we are reciting the alphabet.
Children with dyslexia can struggle with…
Reversing the order of words when speaking or reading (is it for it is)
Writing letters in the correct order (stop for spot, pack for cap, skrit for skirt, reverse for reserve)
Saying or reading multisyllabic words: syllables are in the wrong order or omitted (fatasic for fantastic, inrupt for interrupt, inpedendent for independent)
Omitting or inserting a sound or letter in a word when reading or writing (stop for stomp, lamp for lap)
Recalling the days of the week, months of the year, seasons in the year
Learning handwriting strokes for forming letters or numbers
Activities with multi-step directions such as daily tasks like tying shoes, hygiene routines (brushing teeth, washing hands), tidying up their desk, backpack, or bedroom
Academic tasks with multi-step directions (long division, subtracting 3 digit numbers with borrowing and regrouping)
Place Value (one-to-one correspondence)
Directionality (left vs. right, beginning vs. ending, before vs. after)
How do we support children who struggle with sequencing?
That’s the topic of my second blog post. Stay tuned! ❤️🔤 -Niki
