Dyslexia and Learning a Foreign Language

 My child has struggled to learn to read and write in English.  Are they really going to make her take a foreign language?!?

This is a very valid concern. 

Most public schools in the US start the introduction of a foreign language in middle school, but more and more there are elementary-level schools that teach another language. So what should we, as parents, be considering as our dyslexic children reach these points in their learning. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself and your child’s educational team:

Where is my child in their progress of reading, writing and speaking their first language?

If they are still in the process of being explicitly taught the components of words in English and building that into an understanding of word structure and sentence structure, then it would likely be too confusing to begin doing this for a second language at the same time.

What supports are in place?

If your child needed explicit teaching of letter sounds in a systematic and repetitious way (as is the usual for the structured literacy approach they get for learning to English), then we should expect they will need something similar for a new language. 

What language to choose?

The good news is that if your child is getting the hang of reading and writing English then they have already taken on one of the more complicated languages to learn.

When thinking about a second language, it probably makes sense to go with one that has a shallow orthography - meaning there are limited ways to combine to represent sounds and form words.  English has a deep orthography (think about too/two/to or there/their/they’re). Languages like Chinese and Japanese use a system of symbols, but this still requires phonology and decoding and these are considered orthologically deep languages.  

 You may also consider how many different vowel sounds a language has since vowel sounds can be more subtle to discern for the dyslexic brain than consonant sounds. 

Spanish:  5 vowel sounds represented by the same 5 vowels as English just pronounced differently

Italian:  7 vowel sounds using the same 5 vowel symbols as English

What about a language that doesn’t rely on phonemes or phonology at all, like American Sign Language. 

Are there other options to fulfill a foreign language requirement?

 Some schools may allow the study of culture and arts of another country as a substitute for taking a foreign language.  If you think your child will be college bound, you may want to explore if this will also be acceptable to colleges and universities. 

How much memorization will be involved in the curriculum?

Memorization of rote facts is a not a strength of the dyslexic brain. It just doesn’t work well that way.  It does better with broad context and big picture thinking. So if memorization of conjugation rules or vocabulary lists are a big part of the curriculum, then talk to the school about what modifications or accommodations should go into the IEP.

Can they have a conjugation rule sheet similar to the multiplication table supplied for math?

Can they have a word bank for assessments?

What is your child interested in?

Learning a second language is hard for most people, dyslexic or not.  And the willingness to put in the work to overcome the challenges is easier to find when your child is really truly interested in learning the topic.  If your child is truly passionate about learning a more orthographically complex language, then let them go for it!