Foreign Language Options for Students with Language-Based Learning Difficulties
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Foreign Language Options for Students with Language-Based Learning Difficulties
If your student struggles with reading fluency and they want to take a foreign language
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Foreign languages can be challenging for students who learning differences, but these might be good options to help students fulfill a foreign language requirement. -
Mandarin. The first two years are more focused on learning characters, not speaking, which can be great for students who have challenges listening and speaking. Students who have difficulty memorizing words might do better with the pictures. Another benefit is that there is multi-modal instruction of repetitively drawing the characters. Of course, if the student has writing or visual processing difficulties, Mandarin might not be a good choice.
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Latin. Since Latin is no longer a spoken language, there is less emphasis on listening and speaking. In addition the vocabulary and roots learned in Latin class will readily translate to helping the student expand his or her English vocabulary. However, because Latin relies more on decoding, it might not be a good option for students with reading difficulties.
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American Sign Language (ASL). Sign language is an accepted foreign language. The reinforcement of using one's hands can make it easier to learn. It might require some effort to find a class outside of the school district and coordinate for credit. ASL might not be a good choice for students with motor difficulties.