How help dyslexic daughter revise?

[Feelingoood]

Shes16 and dyslexic so feels like she works very hard and gets nowhere. She’s also very disorganised and finds concentrating hard.
How can I help?

I'm following this one. My DC is a few years younger but I can see it becoming a real issue. Even homework is very overwhelming despite accommodations and adjustments.
A colleague used to bank on coursework counting for percentage of grades and literally do all assignments with her DC, and abandon any notion of passing exams.

Let's hope someone comes along with good advice.

When Dc1 did gcses ds made lots of flash cards with pictures on, also got some of the English texts in comic book form, also watched film versions of films if available.
For science, geography and maths in particular he watched lots of YouTube videos. Ds is a very visual learner so the less written material the better. The teachers were excellent on the whole at pointing us in the right direction. We did have a few issues with organising self so did do a lot in school/after school as he found this environment better to learn in. Also may be worth asking senco if there's a particular area of struggle we got a 1:1 session for a one hour a week for a whole term to bring physics mark up from a 2 in end of year 10 mocks to a 5 in actual exams.

Firstly, help her with the actual physical organisation of her notes etc
Secondly, get revision study books ( eg cgp) for subject.
Thirdly help her draw up a realistic revision timetable that includes breaks/leisure time.
These form the main structure of revision.

Then have a look at things like mind maps as these can be useful particularly for dyslexic students. There are lots of 'how to revise' books out there that help with methods and ideas.
Then use some of the revision time doing practice questions. Look at where marks were not gained and help your dd learn from these.

Thank you. These are great suggestions.
I realise as I’m reading this that I have a problem too, in that I’ve always not known how to help, panicked, freeze and can’t act. If anyone has ideas to help with this too!
I’m guessing I should get past papers and read them. Maybe get her to practice questions off them? It all seems so impenetrable, don’t know where to start.
Ok, I’ll stop being wet. I will, physically organise notes.
Get a book/ print out for each subject. ( how anyone learns off a screen is beyond me)
Draw up timetable.
Me - read up on each subject so that I know what is involved and what they are looking for.
Persuede dd that I can help! ( can I ?)
I could..test her on Spanish vocabulary.
Watch film of the book ( she doesn’t want to, and has a mental block about it)
Set up paints for her to paint when she wants to.
Read up on maths.
Anything else?

P.S. thanks. I love that I can ask and super helpful mums come out of nowhere to help. Unbelievable.

Try FB dyslexia groups.

I also knew DS wouldn’t pass any exams! Although he did scrape some.

What she needs is practice for exams - check out which exam board the school use and print of past papers, don’t time them, but practice reading the question twice over and asking ‘what are they looking for? You’ll see most papers follow a pattern of questions.

Is she awarded extra ti?

In my experience for GSCEs and A levels for science and maths subjects, the best revision is past papers. Get the answer sheets to. Do them the first time through with answer sheets to hand bit write out the answers as we would in an exam. Go back to the same paper after a couple of days and do as much as you can without answer sheet then complete coping answer sheet. Keep rotating the exam papers and doing this and eventually you will be able to do more and more of the paper. You will cover majority of syllabus just by doing this and also learn exam technique. For essay questions, do a spider diagram/mind map first. Great to do in an exam too. Remember the extra time people with diagnosed dyslexia get too.

Sorry many typos but hopefully makes sense.

Thanks both of you, that does make sense.
Would you print out, say English for a few days then another subject? Or mix them up.
Would you..do this for a few hours each day? And how long? Say 11- 1? Or much longer? I have no idea!
She seems to spend quite a lot of time in her room, I have no idea if she’s getting distracted. Or even revising.

www.amazon.co.uk/How-Revise-GCSE-Planner-Revision/dp/1789082803/ref=asc_df_1789082803/?hvlocphy=9046612&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=311004742540&hvpone&hvlocint&th=1&hvpos&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-661166237925&hvrand=17596710984335082096

You might find a book like this one really useful. It is aimed at the students but also is really useful for parents to support students too!

Mix up subjects or topics within subjects. Spend about 30 mins on one thing then move onto another.

Make sure now that she has got extra time in exams, if she needs a scribe or a reader or a laptop, make sure that is all organised and that she has practice using them.

For my DS we bought him a white board and he used that as a visual reminder of what he needed to do when. He also used an academic diary to help him plan his time and Redmond him of any work or revision that needed doing.

Find out what exam board she's using and buy the relevant revision books. My son used highlighters to bring out anything that he particularly wanted to remember. Ask the school for past papers and just do 1 or 2 a week so that your daughter gets used to how things are phrased and how she needs to answer them.

Don't stress, if she fails she can always re take them. Because of this we asked our son to concentrate on Maths and English as they are the ones that he really needed. This may reduce stress for her if she knows that this is an option.

She/you should split it up - several subjects a day and even then into smaller chunks.

This is the video I should my gcse students. A lot of students work hard but not effectively, so there is a lot of effort for low reward.

From these guys: www.learningscientists.org/

For students who struggle to concentrate then timers are great - 10 minutes focused then a short break is better than 1 hour staring around not really starting. You have to find a balance between long enough to make progress but not too long you lose focus, each subject might be different.. 20 minutes is a common one. Loads of timers on YouTube here’s one.

Think of studying in a similar way as training for a race - you don’t train for a marathon by just putting on shoes and running 26 miles! You have a structured plan with different exercises and rest days built in. Some high intensity interval training and some easier more relaxed runs. Studying should be the same, keep mixing it up.

SenecaLearning is free (you can pay for extra) and is good for basic recall. Students like you can dip in and out and they feel successful with it so want to do more.

Thanks guys. I will knuckle down and get this all into my brain. Not quite so daunting now. Well, it is but the stuff you have suggested looks really helpful.

My ASD teen is currently revising for mocks OP. She is very disorganised, fairly bright but doesn't put much effort in.

I engaged a mentor at the start of September who helps her organise her time and it definitely works.

I do have to chivvy her along though 😬, so today I asked her for a list of what she would achieve today, subjects and time spent and I got a list of six subjects/areas that would be worked on for 20-30 mins at a time with a 40 min break after each session, double break for lunch.

She uses Seneca too.

I find it a really hard slog tbh, motivating a child who is really capable but not capable of motivation/organisation. I'm not pushy, I don't think every child is necessarily destined to achieve at 16, but I know how much she wants to join her friends at sixth form and how crushed she would be by not being able to/not getting the grades.

DD1 has dyspraxia, couldn't organise her way out of a paper bag.
I organised revision timetable for her - mix up subjects for variety.

In science (except some physics perhaps), no point doing practice questions until topic has attempted to be learned. I did most revision 1-1 with her using the CGP guides (& I wrote revision cards). You need to revisit things also to get them to stick.

1. I would help her organise her time, you could

Write a revision timetable together. 40 min on a subject, 10 min break then a different subject

1. I would help her organise her folders/books/revision notes so she has everything she needs to revise from in one place per subject. Personally, I just used the revision guides for each subject- make sure they are the right examining board. Ask the school if they have any revision resources

1. Make sure she has a calm dedicated area to study in

1. Show different ways of revisiting- flash cards/mind maps/trying past papers/ made an audio pod caste she can listen to out and about

1. Teach her ways to relax

When doing a revision timetable, for the 'short term' don't just put a subject, put a topic. e.g. ionic & covalent bonding, or 3 themes in Macbeth.

Highlighters are useful. Then once she has found a section she needs its easy to find again with out everything swimming (SEND TA here).

I was diagnosed with dyslexia at uni. The help that I received that made the most difference was - helping me to get organised..I would help with her revision timetable. I spent so long on mine it detracted from revision! I was told that because my reading and retention were not so strong, I needed to use alternative methods to actually get the information in.
I used to rewrite all my notes up, that way the notes I had were clear (I rushed to write down in class) and it goes in again as I typed it up. I was told to record myself reading my notes and then listen back while re-reading my notes. Cringey but it helped. I also used lots of coloured highlighters to help the info go in. Finally I used to burn Rosemary oil in an incense burner because Rosemary is meant to aid memory. Then I’d take a hanky with some Rosemary oil into the exam. Basically it’s about using alternative processing routes to get the information in.

Top tip - the deadline for the school SENCO to apply for extra time in public exams is normally in January, so if she doesn't already get extra time, request the required testing is done ASAP in January. Also, January mocks could be used as evidence for exam boards if exams are cancelled, so check carefully which papers will be set, look at examples of questions (the exam boards have papers on their websites) and look over any information provided by subject teachers.

This is all brilliant, thank you. I had a good chat with her today, what I thought was her being a truculent teenager that didn’t want help was actually a totally overwhelmed teenager that’s convinced she’s an idiot. I think I’m the idiot for not realising how much she was struggling. She can’t read the notes she takes in class, so typing them up is a great idea. As is being very definite about what you’re learning, eg covalent bonding. Audio recordings are another one, There are so many really great tips here, that I had no idea about.
’we sorted out her papers today and started on a proper plan for tomorrow. I think if we do 3 hours morning and 3 hours afternoon is that about right? I really have no idea what she should be aiming for. Luckily she has just got maths and English straight after Xmas. She did the rest before, but I think I neglected her.
She enjoyed biology because she’d got mind maps,and coloured highlighters but she can’t see how to transpose this to her English and maths. There must be a way.
She struggles especially with numbers ( can’t use money very well or tell the time) so all and any maths advise very welcome ( she is doing applied maths, - so it’s a lot of,’ Peter bought two apples …’ sort of thing. we are in Scotland. Any maths revision tops especially welcome. She has had lots of teachers but we struggled to find people that didn’t get frustrated with her ( who does that?) or who were dyslexia trained.
Cannot thank you all enough.

www.tes.com/teaching-resource/gcse-maths-surds-summary-and-revision-12579681
Here is an example of a mind map used for maths.

I don’t think it’s been mentioned yet, but having a really clear study space really helps my dyslexic DD. There’s too much interesting stuff in her room so she uses my office space. Making her own flash cards and walking up and down the hall reading them aloud works for her. She finds mind maps too overwhelming but they work for some.

If you post in Staffroom then @noblegiraffe and @mrshamlet may have tips for Maths and English respectively. In the meantime, try BBC Bitesize - I would hope they would have material for the Scottish syllabuses. In terms of key texts, students of mine with SEN have sometimes benefitted from cartoon book retellings, which are easy to find on Amazon. My students also speak highly of Seneca. I'm not an English or a Maths specialists though!