Does your child not take notes during class, and doesn’t have test study guides filled out? This is a warning sign of a learning disability and can be a symptom of dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD. Below is common reasons why your child may not be taking notes in school.
- Students with dyslexia find it almost impossible to take notes during a class lecture.
- Dyslexia is a language-based learning disorder. Dyslexia makes it hard to read, write and spell.
- Taking notes during a lecture causes the dyslexic student to make a choice – do I listen and absorb the information, or do I try to take notes?
- Students with dyslexia who try to take notes report getting so lost in the writing process of spelling, that they sacrifice cognitive thought used to understand what the teacher is saying, and end up with a lousy copy of notes at the end. Most dyslexic students choose not to take notes.
- William Van Cleve, a writing instructor who taught English at US dyslexia schools, states that for dyslexics, writing rarely becomes a “back burner” activity. Meaning that the brain of a student with dyslexia, will spend so much energy thinking about letter formation, spelling, spacing, etc. that they sacrifice the cognitive ability to listen while writing down what a teacher is saying.
The most common and MOST HELPFUL 504 accommodation for a middle-school and high school student with dyslexia is providing pre-printed notes and study guides. It is also the one that schools and teachers balk at providing the most.
For traditional students, writing notes is a key tool for learning material. It reinforces what they have heard. However, for a child with a language-based learning disorder like dyslexia, dysgraphia, or disorder of written expression, writing down information hurts the learning process instead of improving it.
Alternatives that work:
- Students with dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD receive the study guide with the answers pre-filled out, and they highlight the material as the teacher goes over it in class.
- Students who have tablet technology are allowed to record the lecture when the study guide is discussed
- The student can receive a copy of the test study-guide from a student who is an excellent note-taker anonymously. (This is done at colleges and universities routinely)
- Pre-printed/pre-filled out study guides is an allowable 504 accommodation for students with dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD. It should not be refused.
The inability to take notes during class is a symptom that your child may have dyslexia, dysgraphia and/or ADHD. Many children fly under the radar because they are high performers in some subjects, but not reading. If this article describes your child, take our dyslexia symptom checklist, or read about why some students are frequently labeled as under-achievers.
I run a dyslexia learning center, and I have a child with dyslexia. He could never take notes, and he never wanted to miss a day of school because if he didn’t hear the lecture, he could not pass the class. Imagine the stress of knowing you can’t take notes, and that you must memorize and learn the information a teacher is giving, the moment it falls from her lips? My son, by his junior year, learned to study in groups, with students who were good note takers. They knew he had dyslexia, and they didn’t mind sharing their resources and studying together. But, prior to his junior year, he was too embarrassed to employ this technique. I, despite all my knowledge of dyslexia, was never able to convince his middle or high school to grant him filled-out study guides for his classes.
College students are able to print out powerpoints of lectures before class, and have them as a resource during lecture and for test prep. They are also allowed to have note-taking services if they have a 504 plan. Middle and high school students with dyslexia deserve this accommodation.
