TC242: Understanding Dyslexia: How Teaching Language Relates to Teaching Music with Becki Laurent

Did you know that 1 in 5 people in the USA have dyslexia? So, if you’ve got 20 students, the odds are pretty high that at least four are dyslexic. Therefore, understanding dyslexia is an important tool to have.

In today’s episode, Becki Laurent joins us to talk about how we can better reach our music students that struggle with this learning challenge.

We discuss myths, misconceptions and tips for teaching students with dyslexia. Becki also shares the components of the Orton Gillingham method of teaching reading and how we can incorporate these in music teaching.

It’s a super informative and interesting episode you won’t want to miss.

[03:13] Becki shares how she got on the journey of teaching music to kids with dyslexia and ADHD.
[13:41] The conversation you need to have with your students’ parents.
[15:54] Top 5 Myths for teaching students with dyslexia.
[23:03] Understanding dyslexia and why rhythm is so important in teaching dyslexics.
[28:02] How using the process of teaching dyslexics can help any student become better.
[34:42] Components of the Orton Gillingham teaching method and how we can apply it to music.
[43:19] Sample strategies you can use to teach students.
[51:02] Tips for making the process of learning fun for students.

Transcript of the show

If you’d like to download a PDF transcript of this episode, please click below.

Links Mentioned

Becki Laurent LinkedIn

About our Guest

Becki Laurent is the director of a music school in West Texas. Her superpowers include ADHD, listening, analyzing and getting things done. She doesn’t sleep much and can often be found on Facebook at all hours of the day and night in all the time zones of the world.

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