As a dual language teacher, I wanted to understand why my students, who came from Spanish speaking homes, struggled to learn Spanish. They were able to read sílabas, and could sometimes read multisyllabic words like “mariposa”, but boy did it take them a long time to get through a few sentences. Their fluency was low and they struggled with reading comprehension. They would also make errors when speaking in Spanish, such as swapping the sílabas (ex., mapirosa for mariposa). They also were struggling in English. I needed answers on how to help my struggling students.
Spanish IS phonetic in nature:
“Spanish is easy to learn!” is a common phrase we hear all of the time. It’s phonetic and a transparent language, so students should be able to learn it, right? So why are they having such a hard time?
Dyslexia is a neurobiological reading disability that makes it difficult for people to accurately and fluently recognize words, spell, and decode. It's often associated with poor phonological processing, which is the ability to identify and manipulate the sounds of spoken language. People with dyslexia may have other strengths, such as critical thinking, reasoning, and vocabulary. IDEA, 2024
Dyslexia is characterized as a language disability, and people identified with dyslexia have deficits in phonological awareness. Remember, Spanish is phonetic, therefore, students who are native Spanish speakers, being raised in an English speaking country, are going to struggle to learn the language that their parents and family speak at home.
What to Look For:
As an educator it is important to know what characteristics to look for when suspecting that a student may be dyslexic.
Native Spanish Speaker: | English Native Speaker DL Student: |
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If you notice, the lists are similar. If a student shows characteristics in one language, they will show it in the other. The big difference between these two is that a Spanish speaker’s fluency will seem on target at first, but typically, when they get to 1st grade they hit a wall. In Spanish they begin to read multisyllabic words sooner, like “calabaza”, but they may be slower at sounding out each syllable, “caaaa-laa-baaa-saaa- calabaza”. With English speakers, the fluency is noticed right away, because they are expected to decode so many different vowel sounds and word patterns, whereas in Spanish we start with sílabas and, as previously mentioned, it’s phonetic in nature.
Strengths:
We’ve talked about what to look for as far as weaknesses, but they have strengths too. A student with dyslexia will typically have average verbal skills (great conversationalists), usually an auditory and/or visual learner, and have average to above average cognitive abilities. They usually have great stories to tell, but usually have difficulties in getting them down on paper. Many students with dyslexia demonstrate strong vocabulary skills. However, it is not uncommon for language learners to have relatively lower vocabulary development, which can be attributed to the challenges of learning two languages and the varied language experiences they may have.
Learning Disability or Language Acquisition?
One of the most common questions I get asked is “Should the student be removed from a dual language class?”
Each child and situation is unique, however studies show that Spanish may help a child with reading and spelling tasks due to its transparent nature. So it is really important to determine if this is a language acquisition difficulty or is there really something else impeding their reading progress, such as a specific learning disability.
Once a child is identified as a student with dyslexia, consider this from the International Dyslexia Association before removing a child from a DL program:
“studies comparing bilinguals learning English and a language with a more phonologically-transparent orthography (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian) have shown that these bilinguals outperform English monolinguals on phonological literacy tasks, such as nonword reading (Kovelman et al., 2008; Siegel, in press). Evidence of the benefits of cross-linguistic transfer has also been found for speakers of similar languages (e.g., Spanish-English) as well as more distal languages (e.g., Arabic-English and Chinese-English). The implication of this evidence is that bilingualism might improve the flexibility of children’s metalinguistic cognition for learning to read (Siegel, in press).” In other words, being in a bilingual classroom is a positive rather than a negative, however, we never want a student to fall further behind, so make decisions based on the student’s unique needs and the resources your campus and district have available.
Typically, individuals with dyslexia are very bright and intelligent people. They struggle to learn to read and write, but once given the right strategies and tools to be successful, they can accomplish anything! As we close Hispanic Heritage Month, I thought it would be fitting to highlight some successful Latinos that just happen to be dyslexic too!
Understanding the intersection of dyslexia and language acquisition is crucial for supporting emergent bilingual students. Rather than seeing bilingualism as a hindrance, it should be embraced as a potential strength in their literacy development. By leveraging the transparency of Spanish and providing targeted interventions, we can ensure that dyslexic students thrive academically. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, let’s remember that many successful individuals, like Salma Hayek and Edward James Olmos, have overcome dyslexia to achieve great things. With the right support, so can our students.
Kind regards,
Michelle Carrera
Featured Author for Espericueta Bilingual Education Consultancy, LLC
About the author:
With over 16 years of experience in education, Michelle Carrera has dedicated her career to supporting diverse learners. She has held various roles, including dual language teacher and dyslexia specialist, focusing on interventions and identification. Currently, she serves as a Bilingual Educational Diagnostician, where she applies her expertise in language acquisition and learning disabilities to assess and support bilingual students. Her extensive background enables her to provide valuable insights into effective educational strategies for students with unique needs.
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