Dyslexia & essay-writing for DS (year 12) - help!

[fluffyhamster]

DS is just coming to the end of Year 12. He has a diagnosis of dyslexia and gets extra time.
He is bright, but has very poor short term memory recall.
He (and we!) muddled through his GCSES and he got reasonably good/OK grades, including 8 in English Lang and 6 in Eng Lit.

BUT at A level it is now clear how much he struggles to write essays/ structure longer answers. I've sat with him to try to help him organise his thoughts and he just can't make sense/ find relevant information/ organise his paragraphs/ arguments etc.

At a loss with how to help him. School haven't offered much. Is there anything like pre-university skills courses for dyslexic students?

A few years ago, DD had a computer programme which helped with 'mind mapping' IIRC. Can't remember the name of it, but one of the dyslexia associations might point you in the right direction?

My dyslexic yr12 is doing 3 essay based A levels!! He has however written out essay plans on every single theme or question he can imagine throughout the year and bases his revision around those. He also uses quizlet to check his knowledge of facts in memorable chunks.

Could he be a laptop user? Ds found it easier to get his thoughts down and restructure the essay as he went. If he applies for dsa as part of his uni and student finance application he may get access to funded learning support sessions and resources such as software for recording lectures(or some put them online).

I was given a mind mapping programme as part of my equipment, it really helped me. I would think about the title, do sub-titles and then fill it in with the content. Press a button and it put it into an essay. I also got Dragon Speak so I could dictate my essays as my brain works faster than my fingers could type! That really helped me. I was given all this with a laptop and printer when I was diagnosed at uni, along with student support.

As a dyslexic with several essay based degrees it was the essay plan that saved me. 5 minutes at the started jotting down what I was going to say in bullet points then a line through once I had finished. Always then introduction - tell them what your going to say, a paragraph for each point in more detail. Conclusion tell them what you said and summarise.
Structure is everything.