Questions surrounding how to best help dyslexic learners in your piano studio is one of the most common questions we receive.. and probably rightly so! Statistics show us that 1 in 5 children have a language-based learning difficulty and dyslexia is the most common of these challenges.
For piano teachers, who don’t normally receive any sort of training in how to work with learning difficulties, dyslexia can often show up in ways that we wouldn’t normally expect. It’s not just about reversing numbers or reading backwards.
So, as you are very likely to come across a piano student who has dyslexia, here our our top 10 strategies for helping him or her to achieve success in their piano lessons.
Top 10 Reminders When Teaching Piano to Dyslexic Learners
1. Avoid assuming that slow progress is simply due to lack of effort. Sometimes our most frustrating students who appear to never practice, who lose focus in lessons and who forget instructions almost immediately may be dealing with something more than just behavior issues (or those behavior issues are caused by a learning-challenge that creates frustration).
2. Children with dyslexia often have difficulties with short-term auditory memory. This should govern both the way you give instructions, but also how much of their music they can “take in” at one time. Speak slowly and keep your directions simple and to a minimum of 2 items at a time. “Take your 1 finger and put it on C”. Then wait. Don’t add in information about rhythm, what the left hand is doing, dynamics etc.
In addition, keep the sections of music you work on to small chunks that will eventually be put together. Break everything you say or do into small and easy-to-memorize bits of information or material.
3. Watch your levelling carefully. Keep his feelings of success in tact by avoiding anything too challenging before he is 100% ready. Just because his method book says your student should now learn about flats doesn’t mean that he is ready. Use lots of supplementary material to really solidify his abilities before moving into more difficult concepts so his self-esteem stays high.
4. Use a dyslexic-friendly font for lesson notes and type them out instead of writing them by hand (and use this font for any worksheets, game cards etc). Find opensource dyslexic-typeface here. It’s fine to use for all students – but is especially helpful to those who may be dyslexic.
5. Make use of senses other than just visual. Find multi-sensory ways of engaging his sense of touch; quarter notes can be drawn on a salt-table, created out of playdough, tapped on a drum etc.
6. Use color as cues on his page instead of written words. For example, a green circle could mean two beats instead of writing 1-2 on their page. An orange star could mean a hand-position change etc.
7. Keep his piano binder tidy and use post-it tags to mark which pieces he is supposed to practice at home. Organization and simplicity is key to successful home practice. Keep weekly tasks to a maximum of 3 and write them (preferably in the font mentioned above) clearly in his binder.
8. Continually take stock of his successes and weaknesses. Do you notice a trend in what is difficult? Focus in on these difficulties (in a positive way) and find multi-sensory ways of helping him to break through these challenges.
9. Maintain routines in your lesson time. Follow the same progression of tasks each and every lesson but find the variety kids crave in how you approach each of those tasks.
10. Above all else, stay positive. Having a learning difficulty affects more than just a child’s learning. It can also affect his self-esteem and overall enjoyment of activities. For just a taste of what the written world could look like for a dyslexic child, try to read the paragraph below.
What to Do About Un-diagnosed Dyslexia
As piano teachers we are often put in the awkward position of picking up on a learning challenge that may have gone unnoticed in other areas of the child’s life. Suggesting to a parent that their child may have a learning difficulty is never easy. However, for the best interests of the struggling child it is always a good idea to bring your observations to a parents’ attention. Choose your wording carefully, and avoid “labels” like ADHD or dyslexia when first bringing your concerns to the parents, but do pass on what you’ve observed and keep an open dialogue going as the student progresses.
Remember… you can apply all of the 10 strategies above to any struggling child in your studio as many of these strategies help children with other learning difficulties (or without!) as well.
Thanks for the advice. Any more tips would be appreciated. I have at least two students with dyslexia – possibly more. Parents often are reluctant to provide this information.
Your last paragraph about talking to parents was worded well, I thought. I have also found that many parents do not want “labels” attached to their children but are willing to give your information when you ask gently about your observations. As long as I don’t sound accusatory all is well when they realize I just want to help their child progress more easily.
Thank you for the link to the downloads! This may be invaluable. My husband is a graphic artist and I will see if he already knew about these fonts! Some of this info will also be really good for kids with ADHD. Thanks again!
Hi Susan – great comment! Yes, you want to avoid phoning a parent and saying “I think your daughter is dyslexic”. There’s no better way to get someone’s back up (and then nothing gets done for the sake of the child). It’s all in your approach, but making that approach is so important in that triangle of parent/teacher/student teamwork. Thanks for your insights!
Hi Robbin – we’re fortunate to have a lot of comments with some great advice on this post. Parents can be reluctant, but they also sometimes just don’t know. As a piano teacher you are one of very few adults who spends one-on-one learning time with this child (one of very very few!) and so your insights can be invaluable to parents if you can encourage open dialogue with them. Thanks for reading!
Thank you for this! I just want to encourage all teachers to talk with parents when you see these signs – trust your instincts and gently push for parents to seek help from other specialists. I have a 2 year student who came in diagnosed with “bad behavior/not paying attention” and many problems in school in the first years of elementary school. She began lessons with me and I noticed the dyslexia immediately. I probed with the parents on certain things and suggested she be seen by a specialist. She was officially diagnosed with severe dyslexia. Since then many things have happened that were not being addressed by the public school.
This child is no longer “not paying attention/bad behavior” student. She’s doing better in school, she now has glasses and extra reading tutoring. She just came in last week with a huge book from the library that was several years above her grade level. She said she likes to read a “real story” not just a kids’ book!! Using the iPad is helping me with her in many ways. She is still not your “traditional music student” but what an improvement from where we first started!
Some of your tips can also be pertinent when working with autistic children.
Yay Heather! Kudos to you for being an advocate for that child. What a difference you have made in her life. There is always an underlying reason for behaviour issues – I applaud you for rooting it out and making a point of helping her 🙂 Yes, many of these tips apply to kids with ADHD and Austism. We did blog about that if you’re interested https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2012/11/01/8-strategies-for-teaching-piano-to-students-with-add-or-adhd/ and https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2013/08/04/one-super-strategy-for-teaching-piano-to-children-with-autism-adhd-or-behavioral-problems/
Thanks so much for this Andrea! It’s so important to remember to keep each students needs in mind and design lessons specifically for them, not just stick to what the method book says you should be doing.
Hi Nicola – glad you found it helpful! Yes, it’s easy to get into the routine of just turning pages in a method book but our jobs actually become much easier when we let the students’ needs guide our pacing instead. Thanks for your comment and insights!
Such great information. It’s such a touchy subject to bring up.
I had a hunch about a few students so I started asking on my yearly enrollment forms for comments from parents about “Anything about your child that I should know that will help me teach them in the best way possible”. So many parents left me comments that completely changed the way I dealt with their child and lead to so much more success!
This is a great tip Kristen! I ask this as well and it’s amazing what I wouldn’t have known without asking. I used to not ask a long time ago and once, after several confusing months with a student, her mom offered up the information that her daughter has fairly severe hearing loss!… would have been helpful to know 🙂
I teach at a music store and have minimal input regarding what students I get to teach. However, the lesson coordinator is quick to assign me the students who sound like they don’t fit the cookie cutter approach to teaching…I frequently feel inadequate, yet honored that I have been trusted with these students who process concepts in a different way. Being somewhat dyslexic with numbers, I can sympathize with them, but it’s good to learn new how-to’s, as my tricks don’t always work for others! Thanks for the timely advice. And the supplementary materials, too!
Hi Beth – I love your attitude towards teaching these “outside the box” children – a breath of fresh air 🙂 Your students are lucky to have you.
Excellent blog post! As a mother of a dyslexic child I am especially alert to signs of dyslexia in my students. There are so many things that the average person takes for granted that are problematic for a kid with learning disabilities.
A frequent issue I have encountered is poor tracking ability. Their eyes jerk and not only do they skip notes, but their gaze might shift to the next line. I used to do tracking exercises with my son, Take an object like a stick with a coloured circle glued to the top. Move slowly horizontally, vertically and even on the diagonal and watch the movement of the child’s eyes. You can see right away if the movement is uncoordinated and jerky. Sometimes ordinary kids can have this problem. It is a developmental issue.
Some kids have trouble with reading left to right when the notes themselves are actually descending on both the staff and the keys.
In all cases, as you have said so well, patience and a gentle approach are called for.
Hi Sandra – such valuable information! Thank you for sharing. I can only imagine how difficult tracking problems would make reading music – especially as it gets harder. Yes, all things we take for granted ourselves. Thank you so much for your comment!
I have had one dyslexic student in my over 40 years of teaching. I did some digging on line and found that color coding all of her notes worked for her-each note had its own unique color-so all C’s were red, D’s blue, etc. It meant extra work for me, as I had to rewrite all of her music-it was also stated that removing any distractions was good-so the lack of pictures on her music was a plus. I put the music in a 3 ring binder with the rings at the top of the piano rack when she came. I did this through at least 2 levels and one day, she asked me if she could go back to the “regular” books and did ok with that. She ended up studying with me for 12 years, with flute and piano and eventually moving over to just flute-she was such a joy to teach!
Mary – I have to tell you how much I admire your dedication to your student. What a gift you gave her by spending that extra time.
Mary, do you have to color the piano keys to match the note colors?
Thank you!
This is a great reminder!
Do you have any solutions for a student that can read the note names on the staff, but applies them in the wrong order? Example: playing in an incorrect octave, switching hands, reversing intervals (high c, low g… instead of low c, high g).
I’m still trying to work this one out.
Hi Cassie – have you tried color coding? One of my students used to do this with all the different C’s. We choose one colour that would always mean middle C, one for treble C and one for bass C. She had it sorted out within minutes and I just always would circle her notes for her where it might be problematic. You can do the same with kids who reverse treble and bass clef – either color the stems all the same (so all the bass clef stems are blue etc and all the treble clef stems are red) or draw brackets around each set of notes that correspond to a clef color. I’m betting this will work for your student – it has for many of mine (even without dyslexia).
I will try this! Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this. As a new(ish) teacher, I haven’t dealt with any dyslexic pupils yet, but I know music lessons are often a place where these issues come up as it’s a one to one environment. I’ll be keeping a copy of this for future reference, so I can adapt the tips for singing teaching.
My daughter is taking piano and loves it. she has now made it where the letters are not on the page. with her dyslexia Memory issue this is a problem. so a suggestion is to allow them to write the letters to the notes repetitively until they make the connection visually this really took the frustration and discouragement out of the picture. this also allowes her to put to long term memory. thank you for this article.
Music teachers, thanks for working with our dyslexic kids! The one thing I would suggest is NOT to take the approach my child’s violin teacher took when she said, “Well, she’s not exactly a goldfish, but she’s just not getting it.” We left immediately (leaving behind pre-paid lessons) and never looked back. Please be gentle!
What a horrible horrible thing to say! This person should not be let near any student! 🙁
I was told I ‘just wasn’t musical’…. my dyslexia wasn’t diagnosed until I was 17, but then, neither was my double astygmatism…
My experience is that every child needs lessonst tailored to their learning style (I’m a great believer in Vark), so dyslexic students just need an even more different approach…. that, and the teacher needs to spot the difference between “I can’t see it’, and “I didn’t practice, but I can get away with it, if I blame my dyslexia”… 😉
This is an old post and I realize that I may not get any answers, but my seven year old son, who has visual tracking issues and trouble with focusing on small details (as noted by a developmental optometrist) is really struggling with sight reading music. He used to hate piano lessons, since his teacher often kept him on the same pieces for several months at a time and he got bored. He can actually learn to play the pieces from memory pretty quickly, and now that a new piece is being introduced each week he is finally enjoying his practice and will often sit down and practice voluntarily during the day. Playing by memory and figuring out notes by ear has worked beautifully for a while now, but he is getting to the point where he really needs to be able to read the music to continue to the next level.
Any ideas? As I said, progressing slowly and sticking to the same pieces for a long time, just left him unmotivated and hating piano. We are considering a dyslexia evaluation for him, as he also has issues with reading, but he is receiving intensive reading support and that seems to be helping. What we do know is that he has a visual tracking issue, which would make reading music really difficult.
Thoughts we have had is whether it is possible to enlarge the sheet music, and whether we should switch him to an instrument with only one clef. I would appreciate input.
I have a new student – an adult – who is dyslectix, and will be better off now that I have read all this. Thank you so much. gap
Well, as a 74 year old dyslexic trying to transfer musical knowledge from the guitar to the piano, I was really moved by the effort made in this list of tips. Kindness, a willingness to see that all square pegs do not fit into your round holes, and a willingness to see something other than laziness or willfulness in a child’s behavior is very important—not just for the child’s understanding of music or the piano, but for the child’s struggling sense of self worth. Take it from this old dyslexic dog, a dyslexic child is facing a struggle and it is a struggle that will last his or her entire life. You can be a blessing in that child’s life, a door opener, or you can be one in a long chain of judgmental and punishing adults. These tips are a wonderful way to be a decent teacher and a decent human being.
Hi Robert – I’m so glad that you enjoyed the article. Thanks for your helpful perspective!