One of my students was having a hard time with her finger numbers today. She kept confusing numbers 1 and 5 from hand to hand. So I pulled out my trusty flashcards (and if I was more computer savvy, that link would allow you to print out your own.  But unfortunately, I’m not, so you’ll just have to visit the link, get the idea, and make your own.  They aren’t hard- I promise!).

After we drilled with those flashcards, I timed her for a minute while I called out silly things to do with each finger and kept track of the ones she got right.  “Touch your ears with fingers 1.  Wiggle fingers 4…”

That game got her really excited, and we played it a few times to see if she could beat her scores from before.  At the end of the lesson, I drilled her on just Fingers 1 and 5.  I said, “Hold up fingers 1.  Fingers 5.  Fingers 5.  Fingers 1.”  I tried to trip her up, which made her laugh a lot.

I don’t think the battle was won, because I think she has a slight learning disability.  I’m not a doctor, so I can’t diagnose her, but I do notice (what I think are) dyslexic issues from time to time.  I do think these drills helped her quite a bit though.

Have you ever taught somebody who you thought had dyslexia?