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