Dyslexia tutors tend to see certain things again and again when they are tutoring. One of these things is fatigue in their students. For a child with dyslexia, reading and spelling can be very tiring. The amount of focus and concentration that is required for a dyslexic student to read and spell, particularly when they are in the early stages of dyslexia tutoring, can cause them to become fatigued quickly. Every dyslexia tutor has had students who yawn, sometimes constantly, during their dyslexia tutoring sessions. For anyone working with dyslexics, it is important to understand that the yawning is not necessarily caused by them trying to be rude or the fact that they are bored; it is the result of them being worn out by the task at hand.
For dyslexia tutors, and anyone else working with dyslexics, there isn’t necessarily a clear cut method for stopping the yawning; however, there are some strategies that may help. First of all, you can try to vary the material that they are working on. In a dyslexia tutoring session, I try to give my students enough variety of materials and activities to keep them engaged. With our online dyslexia tutoring program, we pay particular attention to this, and it work very well. Additionally, if the child you are working with is yawning excessively, you can also have them get up and walk around for a minute, or do a few jumping jacks. Sometimes, a little physical activity is enough to help refresh them and make their mind more alert.
Peter
