Tools for Dyslexia

Do you know anyone who isn't 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘆? It's a word a lot of students misspell. I enjoy looking it up with them and talking about where it came from, what we know, what we don't know.

We say, /bɪzi/ so why is the in this spelling? Scholars aren't sure. It comes from the Old English word 𝘣𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘨. No there.

One source (Chambers Dictionary of Etymology) says the spelling "became common in the 1500s for no apparent reason, but perhaps was popularized by some printer." Etymonline.com says that the modern English pronunciation has been around since Middle English (1100-1500). It may very well be the only English word spelled with and pronounced /ɪ/ (short-i).

Then there's 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 and 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. The 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 spelling always seems odd because I want to change that to an . It came into being to differentiate between someone's work or enterprise and a state of being busy.

I started to see if there was a term for those two. Not homo..., not hetero... different meanings, different spellings, different pronunciations. They're just two different words.

There's a Busy & Business downloadable PDF for your students at the Tools for Dyslexia site.

Do Other People Have Dyslexia? Yes, and you probably know several. There are likely some in your family and some in your class at school. As many as 1 in 5 children have dyslexia.

"The right teaching" might be at school or with a tutor or with parents working with children after school or in home school. The Tools for Dyslexia blog offers many ideas for helping children in whichever setting you're in.

It's not easy for students to spell words with a final like in FORCE. They expect it to be or . Working with word families is helpful.

We practice with several suffixes to give them opportunities to use the Final E suffixing convention. This word family provides a reminder that sometimes the final E has to remain in place for a soft pronunciation.

Star Wars Day (May the 4th) seems like a good time to practice FORCE.
Head over to the Tools for Dyslexia website for your PDF download to use with your young padawans on the 4th.

Happy Star Wars Day! May the Force Be With You!
How old were you when you first watched a Star Wars movie?

Thank you teachers for being life-long learners and sharing that love of learning and love for children. Your belief in them and support in their journey makes such a difference for our kids!