What have you found effective for dyslexia?

[KingscoteStaff]

I have 3 ‘profoundly’ dyslexic children coming into my Year 6 class in September.

In our handover, their Year 5 teacher was very down about all of their progress in Reading, Writing and SPAG.

So what actually works? Coloured overlays? Remedial phonics? Whole word recognition? Laptop? Reading Recovery? Handwriting groups? Relearning high frequency words? Small motor skills/OT groups?

To make it worse, I feel that I failed with a dyslexic girl this year - I know there isn’t a magic bullet, but I’m sure I could have done more.

I am a TA not a teacher but just completing a specialised qualification relating to language difficulties. From what I know, there is no research evidence in favour of coloured overlays, but anecdotally a lot of children feel that they help, and it's a fairly easy thing to try.
From what I understand of the research base, the underlying difficulties are with phonological processes so back to basic phonics may help.
Our school has been using IDL computer based resources as an intervervention idlcloud.co.uk/ Some children are also using Toe-by-toe.
www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/ has a good practice guide which may be useful for you.
The ideal would probably be early intervention with children in Foundation/KS1 who show problems with phonological awareness, but in my experience they are sometimes just given more of the same until they reach KS2 and can be officially diagnosed. At least with 3 children with similar difficulties you can hopefully find something to put in place to help all three simultaneously.

Apples and Pears at home (but would have been better at school) for year 3, followed by a programme of ‘precision teaching’ for KS1 then year 3/4 spelling lists has really made a dramatic difference with my DD, now at the end of year 4.

The difference was an interested teacher who was determined to find time to do this without excluding DD from lessons where she could be successful. She has been firm on using spell checkers and wordmats/ lists for words that she expected DD to spell correctly. She has noticed effort and small steps of progress.

DD has become an avid reader in KS2 and her introduction to this was through audiobooks. She hated learning to read and it was a huge challenge - who wants Biff when you could have Harry Potter? She still can’t read single words out of context and her dyslexia is not ‘cured’ but she has found ways to work, for now.

Thank you so much for looking into this and trying different things, especially when you need to recharge, thank you

I meant precision teaching of the ks1 lists then the year 3/4 if that didn’t make sense. I firmly believe that DD being ‘coached’ for year 1 phonics screen, which she passed, did her a huge disservice. The class had been learning ‘nonsense words’ all year. We have since moved schools anyway but DS’s year 1 teacher did the same. Fortunately, he does not have the same difficulties. I have raised the practice as a concern though.

parrot, I was planning to put a laminated sheet of 'non-negotiable' words in their books that they must find, check and correct during our editing time, but which words?

I was thinking of there/their/they're, your/you're, when/went, but from what you're saying, perhaps it would be better to start with the High Frequency words from KS1 - house/some/baby etc.

But how many is manageable? If a Year 6 child has written a page of A4, is it reasonable to expect them to find and correct 10 words multiple times (4 different spellings of 'people', 6 different spellings of 'their', 5 different spellings of 'thinking' etc OR just to make 10 corrections of individual mis-spelled words?

Don’t you have an outreach service/specialist teacher who can advise? You sound so very caring and yet it can be right that you and these kids are left floundering.

Also have a read of “the gift of dyslexia”. Very insightful. There’s a huge overlap with attention issues and repetitive tasks are excruciating for many kids with dyslexia.

itchy our LEA's outreach service has been cut, sadly. We buy in outreach services, but our money largely goes on behaviour interventions and support for children arriving in KS2 with no English at all.

Have ordered that book.

There’s a font specially developed for dyslexia and it’s free. I use it on all ppt and worksheets. I think it’s called open dyslexia or something.

I’m a teacher and a mother of a dyslexic child.
The very fact that you are asking is a huge step in the right direction.
At school, I teach transition classes (secondary), many of whom have dyslexia/poor literacy. My PowerPoints are always made on a coloured background using open dyslexia font. I give a copy of the PowerPoint so they don’t have to copy or make notes to the same extent.
Give clear, written instructions to help with low short term memory and let them use a laptop or an iPad. I also use lots of visuals and always get them to repeat instructions after me.
My son is doing the Nessy OG system with me at home (schools do use this) and is having precision teaching at school. We did try toe by toe but he was resistant and prefers Nessy.
The biggest factor by far though, speaking as a mother, is to be aware of their mental health. I cannot reiterate this enough! It sounds as though the year 5 teacher gave up. This is one of the biggest barriers. By year 6, your children are likely to have massively poor self esteem. You’re going to have to try and build this but it won’t be easy!

OP, what does your SENCO have to say about this?

Dyslexia is characterised by poor phonological awareness, poor verbal short term memory and slow processing speed. No 2 children will be the same and difficulties are mediated by factors such as home environment and their individual profile. Children with dyslexia may be competent readers, but have weaknesses in other areas eg spelling

As children with dyslexia have a phonological deficit, an intervention such as Sound Linkage which provides activities to promote phonological awareness alongside a reading is ideal. This is an evidenced based intervention (phonology with reading).

Poor verbal short term memory may make copy from the board difficult and also following verbal instructions.

Slow processing speed means they may need extra thinking time in class.

Children with dyslexia need opportunities for over learning and multisensory learning. They often have poor metacognition and often do not learn through incidental learning. They learn most effectively when teaching is explicit and strategies and thinking modelled. Explicit links should be made with previous learning.

Coloured overlays are nothing to do with dyslexia. However, some children with dyslexia also have visual difficulties. Coloured overlays help some children who experience visual stress (letters moving and blurring)

Peri lessons with a dyslexia specialist.

We share a Senco with 2 other schools, so she is only in 1.5 days a week.
Most of that time is spent dealing with our statemented children (1 per class in the infants, 1 per year in the Juniors). She also spends a lot of time liaising with SS and Early Help and helping organise parenting support.

My three dyslexic kids all have supportive families and good health, so they are quite far back in the queue for limited resources.

However, I’ve got 4 more weeks to educate myself on the best way to support them! (and to learn basic Albanian for my new boy!)

Can you find out what areas they are weakest in and go from there? E.g. for DD whose worst area is working memory, correcting spellings is a nightmare as it requires her to scan her writing for an incorrectly spelled word whilst holding a correctly spelled word in her head. She has had to learn spellings by heart - Nessy was hugely helpful in primary school and I would really recommend it (I'm a TA).

Other stuff that is helpful for her:
Having a print out of stuff that's on the board so she can use it with her overlays (visual stress is not the same as dyslexia but there is overlap- we had her tested at a specialist optician and it made a huge difference for her. There is an optician locally that will do this now for free but it cost us £35).
Not expecting her to be able to process powerpoint presentations with moving parts/mixed fonts
Getting all extra time and help available in tests
Not expecting her to copy from the whiteboard - broken down and directly in front of her works best.
Not giving her 5 step tasks - breaking down instructions because she'll panic and forget the first bit.

She uses Open Dyslexic (as mentioned upthread) where possible e.g. to read on her phone/tablet.

Well done for doing this!

Do they have EHCPs? What do their IEPs say?

Here’s a link to a (free) online module you can do about dyslexia - I haven’t done it but am planning to to develop my own knowledge!

www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk/news/free-open-university-module-1-now-live

Hi. I a, assuming and hoping you have a TA,.

You need a mix of things that they access themselves and things that they can do with support that give them chance to fly.

I suggest laminated lists on the desks of the processes you require so date on right side, underline. Heading in centre. Whatever else.

Then for spelling, I really recommend Violet Brand - by year 6 I would be hoping it would orange book but if they are very very weak, then green. It's really old fashoned but it works because it uses dictation. It will work as a small group too - include your Albanian and other weaker literacy students. Practice using playdoh - they make letters by forming them from soft stuff or by using magnetc letters.

Toe by Toe is very good but is individual and needs doing little but often.

For maths and humanities, they could have a reader. Also for longer writing, like in science - writing up an experiment, can this be scribed. When they are scribing then they must say when the punctuation comes. This then means they can show their understanding properly of subjects, which they so rarely can. Also works brilliantly for creative writing. You could apportion time with the TA or volunteer for this?

Slow things down for them. Repetition and over learning is your friend. Be prepared for good days and bad days so one day they can read quite well, next day, cant read basics. Ensure that 100 and 200 most common words are in place for reading and spelling.

Some dyslexics just can't do phonics ever but may learn words through sight and shape.

Spotlight on blends are really good resources as is The Lifeboat seried (expensive but so worth it). Cut out all homework apart from that thst improves literacy. Clicker computer programmes and Read Write Gold are ok. Don't touch Units of Sound.

Have you or the senco contacted the SEN team at your LA? They have a legal duty to identify and meet Educational need even without EHCP, and fabulous though you sound, you really need backup. What did the kids’ diagnostics letters say? Usually they will include suitable interventions and resources targeted for the child.

As Mum of a child with severe dyslexia and with experience of teaching / assessing dyslexia I would reiterate the comments about maintaining/ developing self esteem being fundamental .Think opportunities to shine and show understanding whether that be verbally , using ICT /TA scribing or much reduced writing using writing frames.Lots of praise for ideas etc .Be aware dyslexia can also effect organisational skills ,sequencing , telling the time / awareness of time and often occurs with other spld.Learing can be very inconsistent , one day it’s there , the next it’s gone, very frustrating especially for the child.Extra sessions or missing other curriculum areas will be exhausting and counter productive for most .The Nessy program if you can access it is very motivating , can target individual needs and most kids love it , and should be used daily for best effect.Wouldn't recommend repeating strategies that haven’t worked before eg copying out spellings , repeating the same phonic program etc .Spellings are better approached in a multi sensory way e.g.mnemonics , different colours / funny pictures to match spelling patterns , onset and rhyme where memory is an issue .Think 3 new , 2 revised not a long list. I wish you well and hope you can get some support.Parental pressure might help gain further support , unfortunately this might mean a private assessment by an educational psychologist and will cost at least £400.

My very dyslexic ds is now 21 and the thing that helped him the most was his teacher's belief in his ability in year 5/6. She saw him as an able boy who struggled with some stuff rather than a slow learner. It saw him through grammar school OK.
I like Crossbow reading rulers - helpful but not in the way. I also agree that phonics isn't the way for everyone. Lots of letter/word work (practically) and loads and loads of access to higher level texts through tapes/ reading to them/ R4 whatever. That rich vocabulary - far beyond what they read - can be absorbed aurally.

Am interested by the comments about EHCPs and LA SEN teams. I'm a SENCO and in my county (which has very low EHCP rates despite high deprivation) these children would certainly not qualify unless they had other additional needs that resulted in agency/specialidy involvement for a second area of need. Similarly, LA specialist support is only available in Y6 to children working at Y1 level and below. Sadly, like in many schools our TAs are shared across classes so although we could offer precision teaching, we definitely couldn't offer much else in the way of additional intervention, though there would obviously be additional teacher support in class (using many of the strategies mentioned here). It's just interesting how much things differ from county to county. I often see advice about EHCPs linked to funding but ours are not - we have to bid for it separately. And finally, our county stopped testing for dyslexia long ago and our parents generally cannot afford to pursue a private diagnosis. Do other counties really offer all this or is this based on experiences from a few years ago?

Certainly no EHCP for dyslexia in our county, or any I’ve worked in.

DD’s school have managed to provide half an hour of small group TA support each day and for that I’m thankful.

What has worked in school has been a keen and interested teacher with, as a PP said, belief in her ability.

I’m a TA and a parents of two ASD kids. Re: the EHCPs mentioned in the two posts above, there are only 2 legal measures for a needs assessment for an EHCP - that’s a child MAY have a special educational need and that they MAY need extra support for this need in class. . Pushing for a needs assessment would necessarily bring diagnosis and proper EP input. Are these children on SEN support? I’d get the parent to ask for a provision map to see how this money is being spent. If they are not in Sen support - I think that’s a concern - that money should pay for specialist teacher intervention.

This is why parent groups are taking LAs to court over SEND spending. It’s depressing to hear that there is inadequate SENCO time to help forumulate an IEP, when it seems OP will be a fantastic teacher for these children.

My son’s is about to start year 8 and loves his ACE dictionary. He can’t use a regular dictionary easily (due to not knowing how to spell the words) and ACE is phonetic so perfect for him and we’d recommend for others.