Teachers understand that not all dyslexic learners are the same. When they know their learners and their needs, it helps young people feel confident and comfortable in the classroom.
Practical tips
- Accessibility boxes which could contain useful tools such as:
- Highlighters
- Coloured overlays
- Coloured paper
- Headphones
- Pen grips
- Use blue pens on a parchment/cream background on whiteboards to avoid visual stress
- Use dyslexia friendly fonts (Comic Sans, Trebuchet and Arial) and font will be size 14 on documents and size 28 on PowerPoint
- Dyslexic learners may find a specific colour of paper easier to work with. Be aware of the colour learners require and copy printed materials on this colour of paper
- Instructions (both written and verbal) – make these short and concise
- Try to ensure that classroom displays are not too ‘busy’
- Understand that homework and assessments can cause anxiety, discuss this with learners so that there is a shared understanding of expectations
- Encourage use of flash cards, available on the I pad for some subjects or encourage student to make their own.
- Present information using bullet points
- Encourage the use of mind mapping
- Check people can hear and see what is required clearly
- Avoid asking dyslexic students to read aloud unless they are happy to do so
- Multi sensory approaches can meet the needs of students who may not typically learn from one method
- Encourage students to use highlighter pens
- Bear in mind dyslexic students may not be able to complete work copied from a board and they may copy it incorrectly; electronic and paper copies of this work could be made available for their reference
Learner needs
- Give thinking time to process information
- Give time for the completion of written work
- Encourage open dialogue with young people in order to meet their needs
- Allow photos of the board to be taken with iPads instead of writing things down
- Encourage dyslexia students to access learning materials in other ways, e.g. audio or screen reader
- Young people may ‘mask’ challenges they are experiencing, be aware of and look out for this
- Be consistent when writing down exam times and dates, and also when setting homework deadlines due to poor working memory