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?

There are apps that can help with vocab. Could she record her notes and listen back?

My DC are not dyslexic but have big problems with MH, paying attention and organisation. This inevitably affects revision efficacy.

I will admit to printing out the syllabus for their exam boards and micromanaging which topics were to be covered in preparation for which exam papers. I also helped them draw up a revision timetable to ensure coverage before exams.

Long term, they would ideally be able to do this themselves but after a catastrophic science mock grade (revised wrong topics) I decided to step in with DD1. I then did the same for DD2. They were not as independent as I’d like and I hated to feel like I was spoon feeding but ultimately wanted them to pass more than I wanted to prove a point.

thekings.staffs.sch.uk/exams-and-assessments/ there are links on this school's site to the page on BBC Bitesize where you or DD can customise it for her exam board and also to an advice doc for parents about GCSE, which may be handy.

I found the Pocket Study Skills book so helpful www.amazon.co.uk/Studying-Dyslexia-Pocket-Study-Skills/dp/1352000393/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?crid=3V6M0N7C71PDY&keywords=dyslexia+how+to+study&sprefix=dyslexia+how+to+study%2Caps%2C74&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1640970684&sr=8-13

I learnt that I need to learn in small chunks, so 3-4 minutes reading maximum then I do some physical work eg hoovering, dusting, jumping on a trampoline, run up/down stairs for a few minutes to give my brain time to process it. Then back to another 3-4 minutes. It feels like I’m learning continuously when I do that.

If I try to learn for longer than 3-4 minutes I forget what I’ve been trying to study.

That’s me for reading, I struggle with it. I’m much better drawing mindmaps, pictures, anything visual. Find out what suits your DD best.

Also, discover when is best for her to learn. She may be best when it’s quiet, or in the morning, or when she’s fresh or counterintuitively when she’s tired (that’s me and my essay writing & stealth dyslexia).

She should be able to record lessons and type up or draw mind maps when she gets home. Yes it’s extra work but the very fact she’s going over the lesson in her own time is also studying

Does her school subscribe to Hegarty Maths? It’s really good. There’s a short video showing how to do the questions then 5-10 questions to do. It’s helped both my DC.

Thankyou! This is all incredibly helpful. I had no idea how hard she was finding it. And I think I was wrapped up in my own stuff- redundancy, illness- and scared of helping as I had NO idea how to. Now of course I feel super bad.

We went over her English yesterday and she hasn’t a clue. Totally illegible notes scribbled over the text, and no grasp at all of the text. I knew she finds reading hard, I had no idea how hard.
I’m so grateful that I find help here, I couldn’t seem to get anywhere with dyslexia scotland and the school, particularly.

@Feelingoood this is a very obvious suggestion but has she watched all available film / TV dramas of the key texts?

We watched animated versions of Shakespeare and film version of An Inspector Calls , for instance. This isn’t obviously a substitute for reading but can help improve overall understanding of a plot/ characters.

Can she listen to audiobooks of her set texts. Plays may make more sense in performance.

Following too, DD1 is dyslexic with processing issues, probably dyscalculia too. She’s in year 10.

She really likes quizzes to keep the facts ticking over but writing it is so hard for her. The dyslexia assessment showed one of her main problems is word retrieval - they described it as her mental filing system is a mess where most people’s are fairly organised so they can find what they need.

What strategies has she tried? Do coloured overlays help? Can you afford a tutor to give her some study skill strategies?

@Feelingoood your DD is lucky to have a parent who has helped identify this now rather than after exams have been and gone so try not to fret about having had other stuff to deal with previously.

My DD found this revision timetable planner useful last year. I helped her with the initial set up e.g. entering the exam boards and allocating material for each session but she then took it on herself. She printed out a week at a time and because it's quite visual and in small chunks, was able to stick to it. For subjects such as biology she worked through the Seneca materials to ensure she covered everything whereas for English, resources such as Mr Bruff's YouTube videos were useful.

As your DD is dyslexic and her notes are illegible, does she have a friend who would be willing to photograph their notes and share them? Your DD could then highlight things from there rather than trying to catch up on rewriting things at the moment? The Mr Bruff videos may work for your DD as he talks about characters, themes etc as well as providing summaries of the plots. When term restarts, contact the English teacher direct and ask if DD can have access to the PowerPoints or whatever is used so those can be printed at home (ideally in advance) and she can highlight relevant things during the lesson instead of trying to make notes at the same time.

My dyslexic DD has an MA. The key to her achievements was planning. Making it feel manageable. I used to sit and do things with her (but not FOR her), just helping her to break it all down before she became overwhelmed.

I also vividly remember when she was home from uni and had course choices to make, we simply went through it all and chose those with the shortest reading lists!

A lot of her achievements arrived through force of personality; you can help her by fostering her self-esteem and this will help her through. Feeling as though you are working very hard and getting nowhere is not a great place to be and I remember it so well with my DD. But we laboured hard in emphasising those things that she could do, and trying to stop dyslexia defining who she was.

Lots of good luck in helping her make her way through school - it sounds as though she has a wonderful supportive Mum.

Thank you all. I am hopefully getting somewhere, though today we went to the sales for a bit as she was so fed up, she has new trousers! It’s so tricky she has dreadful skin as well so can get quite down at the other pretty girls with great skin, nice clothes who just pick stuff up easily.
These are such great tips.
I’m cursing a bit as Seneca etc isn’t for Scotland. Why does Scotland have to be different ffs. And it looks great.
Thanks for saying I’m a good mum. Don’t feel like it! You just want them to feel confident and happy, and that seems so tricky!

Aw OP, having a lovely supportive mum is more important for success than revision websites! If you reach out to her teachers in the new term, I'm sure they'll be able to point you towards some suitable resources.

Or post this again in Staffroom - you may be able to find Scottish teachers there.

One other thing I found was that teachers would tell the class to copy down notes from the smart board, give them a bit of time to do it, and then teach the material - it took DD so long to copy and she had to concentrate so hard on making her writing legible that she missed the teaching. I phoned her head of year and we agreed that she would get the notes printed so she could listen to the teaching, which works, but I have to phone in at least once a term to remind them - I now phone the head of department for whichever subject it is. You have to be on it constantly, especially if there are student teachers. You also need your DD to tell you as soon as a problem happens.

I also seem to remember that Dyslexia Scotland have a list of dyslexia friendly tutors if you want to go down that route?

Have only read through quickly so it may have been mentioned before but Quizlet is great for learning vocabulary, quotes from set Eng Lit texts and creating flashcards for learning facts

Thanks all! She is scraping c grades ( can’t remember the percentage) for her mocks which is great, though I think there may have been some generous marking!
The school let her go back to sit the other half of her English exam. She hadn’t realised there was another question. She just finished the first q in time and mentioned to the teacher it was tight. He said,’ that’s plenty of time to do x’ Aibu in thinking that’s a little bit insensitive?

The thing that’s worked for my Dyslecis DD with 11+ revision has been clear rules. Like - in the creative writing, include these ten (high level) words. She even wrote tick boxes on the paper. We didn’t try to memorise content but tried to memorise the ‘rules’ for each thing - e.g. in maths first highlight the steps for each question. I found learning more about the technique and skills needed for a test/exam made her more confident even if she couldn’t fully memorise the content. No idea if it’ll work at gcse but it felt like a little breakthrough!