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Four Elms Primary School

Four Elms Primary School

Strategies for Dyslexia

Here are many easy, practical strategies that can support children with dyslexia both at school and at home. Small adaptations to day-to-day practice can make a huge difference and ensure that they are learning effectively:

  • Sit your child where they can see you and ask for help easily
  • Give your child ‘thinking time’ to process information and respond
  • Make instructions short and simple.
  • Break tasks down into small manageable steps (My Task Board- see below)
  • Explain and present information many times in various ways (pictures, flow charts, diagrams)
  • Ask your child to repeat instructions so you can check their understanding
  • Display prompts and reminders about what to do, where to find things, useful words
  • Label equipment - always keep this in the same place, indicate items when mentioned
  • Provide alphabet strips, word banks, numbered prompts of what to do 
  • Provide - and demonstrate how to use - practical aids (calculator, number/tables squares)
  • Use multi-sensory  approaches to ensure that information is absorbed and stored.
  • Many children with dyslexia are kinaesthetic learners (they learn by doing). Engage them in purposeful movement, using rhythm and visual activities to stimulate memory and trigger recall
  • Encourage alternatives to writing - respond by drawing or dictating/recording answers.
  • Check your child’s learning by  non-written responses - draw, act out, sing, dictate answers
  • Give plenty of time to complete written work- encourage typing skills
  • Encourage the use of books in audio/digital format to support individual access to texts
  • Minimise the number of errors you highlight – perhaps only one of each type. Suggest how to avoid these in the future.

(Dyslexia: How Teachers Can Help) 

https://www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk/sites/default/files/page_content/howteacherscanhelp.pdf

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