“How can I help dyslexic children specifically in the symptom area, especially in word formulation?”

This question concerns every interested teacher and parents of affected children. This collection “Word Formulation using the AFS Method” is a unique and comprehensive working material for anyone teaching and learning the English language. It’s a practical and useful collection with many hands-on ideas for teaching and concrete training with dyslexic people, as well as for people with other individual learning needs. The word formulation can either be done online or printed as a PDF and collected.

The author, Dr. Astrid Kopp-Duller, who has been working with the phenomenon of dyslexia for many years, developed the AFS Method – Attention training – Function training – Symptom training Method.

This method emerged from careful observation and characterization of dyslexic individuals and from the consequence of helping them in all areas that cause their problems. This practical collection represents a valuable tool for certified dyslexia trainers, learning didacticians, teachers, or parents of dyslexic children and for people with other individual learning needs in their practical work.

Many years – several decades of intensive work with countless people at a pedagogical-didactic level – have brought valuable experiences. These should be passed on so that other specialists can use them to benefit as many people as possible who need help in this area.

As a mediator of knowledge and skills, one always relies on strategies and tools. While there are many, they are usually very limited in use and incomplete. Therefore, the goal was to compile a compact toolkit containing everything necessary at a glance for teaching word formulation.

This unique compact collection, found nowhere else, is intended to support specialists working at a pedagogical-didactic level with those seeking help. For grammatical use, not only was the systematics of grammar incorporated, but there are also suggestions for explaining word meanings and the context of words.

The knowledge that dyslexia and other learning problems can be managed through precise work led to the development of the A(Attention) F(Function) S(Symptom)-Method and subsequently to this material collection.

Word formulation is an important point within the symptom part of the AFS Method. Understanding not only the word image and word sound but also the meaning of a word in all details is crucial for learning correct spelling. The plan is to constantly supplement and expand the work, which is why it is not static. It started with common error words, followed by core and basic vocabulary. New parts are continuously added to support the learning process.

My granddaughter Emily Grace has contributed very enthusiastically and with great interest in the creation and brought in ideas; she continues to do so. She is not dyslexic, but this work has helped her also tremendously in learning to read and write. This fact is very pleasing!

The present working materials should support dyslexia trainers, learning didacticians, media didacticians, teachers, and also parents, both in regular teaching and in working with dyslexic children or people with individual learning needs, to conduct targeted training so that writing can be mastered more easily.

Dr. Astrid Kopp-Duller

In practice, it has been shown that dyslexic children who have learned to consciously use and direct their thoughts are capable of significantly better performance in writing and reading.

The requirement for merging thinking and action processes, which usually doesn’t occur simultaneously in dyslexic children due to lack of practice when they encounter symbols, is one of the foundations on which the AFS Method is based.

People can generally direct their thoughts better or worse. We speak of people who can concentrate well or not so well, which actually means that a person is more or less attentive to something. Now, this gift is not inherent to dyslexic people, or at least not when it comes to writing, reading, or arithmetic.

Those affected should be made aware through exercises or even just verbal means that it is highly advantageous for them to be mentally intensively involved in writing and reading activities, to be “focused on the task,” so to speak. Once children, adolescents, or adults have mastered this, a larger part of the support has already happened than a layperson or non-affected person can imagine. Particularly impressive are always the “aha moments” of those affected when they have managed to consciously direct their thoughts to the letters or words, and thus suddenly were able to perform better over a longer period or complete tasks more quickly. To achieve this, very extensive guidance and training are necessary, which in any case involves intensive time investment. Because anyone who thinks that directing thoughts is an easily learned skill is mistaken. Not only intensive work is required here, but above all, an indomitable will to want to improve one’s situation. Only when dyslexics are aware of their situation and absolutely want to bring about change can an improvement in their abilities be achieved.

The technique of directing thoughts must penetrate very deeply into the subconscious of the affected person. When this is achieved, the application ultimately happens automatically.

Through continuous improvement of sensory perception abilities, essential prerequisites for better reading and writing performance are created.

As the term suggests, these activities require sensory performance. Only perfect functioning of this interplay of sensory perceptions ensures error-free functioning of these activities. If even one part of sensory perceptions is differently developed, difficulties in writing and reading arise.

Sensory Perceptions

Visual perception

Visual differentiation: The ability to distinguish similar letters (e.g., D and B or b and d)

Visual memory: Helps remember word images and recall them

Visual seriality: Knowing letter sequence in words

Auditory Perception

Auditory differentiation: Ability to distinguish similar words (e.g., “sand” and “rand”)

Auditory memory: Ability to remember what’s heard

Auditory seriality: Hearing word order in sentences

Spatial Perception

Spatial orientation and body scheme: Knowing where to begin writing in a notebook or how much space remains in a line

Writing motor skills for converting heard content into written form

It’s rare for a dyslexic child to have differences in all sensory perceptions.

Improvement requires:

Precise diagnosis and ongoing observation

Identifying specific performance areas needing training

Recognizing that deficits vary in strength and combination for each child

Function training is crucial in the AFS Method.

Progress in reading and writing is only possible when significant changes occur in visual attention, listening skills, and spatial orientation. Training exercises must be tailored to each child’s needs, based on AFS testing and careful progress monitoring. Even the most experienced dyslexia trainers must first identify each dyslexic child’s individual needs.

From Letter to Word

ABC Training

Learning letters is not particularly challenging for unaffected children and is typically mastered in the first months of school. This is not true for dyslexic children. Learning these skills in conventional ways can present seemingly insurmountable problems for them. Help is necessary!

The earlier this help begins, the faster the learning process will proceed. Learning the ABC, the letter symbolism, is the foundation for learning words that are then connected into sentences. Unfortunately, this difficult process of letter learning in dyslexic children is often completely underestimated.

It’s impossible to teach word images to dyslexic children without deeply learning these symbols first. It’s known that dyslexics need two full years to learn one writing style of letters. It’s advantageous to start with block letters. If this requirement isn’t met, the first problems arise.

In school operations, even the best classroom teacher cannot adequately meet this requirement. It would be unreasonable to demand this; the teacher would be permanently overwhelmed. Therefore, it’s crucial that parents participate in helping their dyslexic children. Of course, it’s also legitimate to seek help from specialists, whether in school or outside the school environment.

Word formulation represents a crucial part of the AFS Method. The realization that dyslexic children often have difficulty remembering frequently used words led to considerations about how these words can be positioned in the long-term memory of someone with dyslexia or other learning challenges.

Those working with dyslexic people know that repeatedly writing or reading a word doesn’t lead to long-term retention. This inability to consistently remember “simple words” sometimes leads to dyslexic people being viewed as lazy or unintelligent. For a layperson, it’s difficult to understand why words might be remembered immediately but cannot be correctly reproduced shortly after.

For specialists, this phenomenon is understandable. To prevent this occurrence, specific work must be done to store words in long-term memory. When certain guidelines are followed, this problem can be solved.

The AFS Method prescribes specific steps for word formulation:

• Step 1: Developing the word image
• Step 2: Developing the word sound
• Step 3: Developing the word meaning

The three-dimensional representation of the word image is a fundamental principle of the AFS Method. Here are the key steps:

• Count the number of letters in the word
• Carefully and intensively observe the word image
• Break down and reassemble the word image multiple times
• Visualize the word with closed eyes
• Feel the word with closed eyes
• Represent the word through sound gestures
• Trace the word on kraft paper or board
• Write the word in the air
• Stamp the word
• Display the word on computer in various sizes and fonts
• Space out letters widely, speak slowly while pointing to each letter
• Transition to word sound!
• Various materials can be used for 3D representation:
• Clay
• Wooden letters
• Tiles
• Whipped cream
• Puzzles of different sizes
• Word search games
• The Easy Reading template is available for reading example sentences.

Various materials can be used for 3D representation:

• Clay
• Wooden letters
• Tiles
• Whipped cream
• Puzzles of different sizes
• Word search games

The Easy Reading template is available for reading example sentences.

Developing the word sound is crucial for sustainable word learning. Online options are available to hear how the word sounds and how each word is “spelled” or “phonetically pronounced”. Words can be listened to repeatedly or spoken along with.

Key exercises:

• Child and trainer clearly pronounce the word
• Phonetic pronunciation or spelling by both child and trainer (following school technique)

• Spelling with eyes closed
• Varying voice:
  • Whispering
  • Shouting
  • Singing
  • Deep voice
  • High voice
  • Speaking into tube/glass
  • Happy/sad voice
• Word structure:
  • Breaking down
  • Building up
  • Speaking in syllables (with clapping/jumping)
• Recognition:
  • Trainer reads text, child signals when target word appears
  • Recording various pronunciations (phonetic, spelled, syllables) and listening back

Word Meaning

In this area, components are developed that contribute to better and deeper understanding of the word. This is an essential part containing various information so that a word can be categorized by the learner and then used correctly.

The word lists were compiled building on basic vocabulary. Common error words known from experience, which cause great difficulties for many people, were also included.

First Steps to Understanding a Word

The word is assigned to a word type. In English, words can belong to multiple word types. For example, adverbs can also be pronouns, prepositions, or conjunctions, etc.

The meaning of the word is explained in detail. How intensive this explanation is plays a crucial role in further work. It must be noted that the description of each word’s meaning provides only a general basis and assistance for trainers and teachers. Many words can have extensive descriptions due to multiple meanings. No claim to completeness can be made, as this is almost impossible given the often diverse circumstances of the English language.

How the word meaning is conveyed to the child is the task of the person teaching the child. The age and prior knowledge of the learner are decisive factors. To understand a word’s meaning, example sentences must be used and, when possible, the word should be explained with synonyms. Some words have little meaning when standing alone. In these cases, sentence work must be intensified to develop word meaning. Formulating own sentences with the word to be learned deepens the learning effect. It has also proven effective to encourage learners to find their own word with the same meaning.

More detailed grammatical descriptions of the word are made:

• For nouns: Article, gender, plural form, and all cases are determined
• For verbs: Basic form in all persons and tenses (present, past, perfect, future)
• For adjectives: Comparative forms and adjectival or adverbial usage
• Adverbs are assigned to various subgroups of this word type
• For pronouns and prepositions: Different groupings are developed
• Definite and indefinite articles, definite and indefinite numerals, conjunctions, and interjections are primarily developed in context

It’s highly recommended to point out certain grammatical features that can contribute to better understanding. For example, the fact that verb forms in perfect tense and future tense (Future I) are the same for all persons.

• Development of word family words, also using three-dimensional representation
• Mind mapping to support word family development
• Development of word meaning through various sentence examples
• The image that forms in the child’s imagination must be discussed immediately
• A drawing of the image can be made
• The word and entire word family can be entered into a word index, where words can be retrieved, discussed, and applied as needed

After this intensive development, the trainer must ensure the transition to the writing phase of this word:

The child should be encouraged to repeat the word and word family at appropriate intervals. This ensures the word enters long-term memory. It can then be correctly and automatically retrieved when needed.

The sequence of various word development stages can be varied by the trainer. However, it should absolutely begin with the three-dimensional representation of the word!

Creating a personal error list is advisable to close knowledge gaps faster. This should be prioritized.