Dyslexia Friendly Classrooms Network

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Dyslexia Friendly Classrooms Network
Claire Ridsdale, Teaching and Learning Adviser
(Literacy) Jackie Muggleton, Inclusion
Support Coordinator
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Aims

• To share successes and findings from cohorts 1
  2
• To discuss teaching and learning strategies that
  support
• the development of a dyslexia friendly ethos
• To identify strategies and developments that
  would
• support school priorities from the school
  improvement
• plan

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Gap Task

• Before session 2
• Identify a focus group in each class
• Complete questionnaires with the focus group
• Collect benchmark level info. for the focus
  group
• Read through school improvement plan

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Strategies Teaching Approaches
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A Dyslexia-Friendly Classroom Resources
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Resources Seat Wedges
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Resources Transparencies
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Resources Writing Implements
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Resources Writing Implements
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Resources Raised Writing Surface
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Resources Reading Rulers
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A Dyslexia-Friendly Classroom Organisation
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A Dyslexia-Friendly Classroom Organisation

• No distractions
• Visual timetables
• Seating plans
• Memory joggers
• Colour coding
• Good light
• Eye contact
• AfL
• Develops self-esteem

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Visual Timetables
Widgit Clicker 5
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Teaching Approaches
You have 1 minute! Share with a partner
strategies you have found successful when
teaching dyslexic pupils. Write on post it
notes
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Teaching Approaches/Strategies

• Oral work to stimulate ideas, as planning, to
• sequence
• Does it need to be written down?
• Posters/vocabulary displayed
• Mind maps
• Visual and kinaesthetic approaches
• Paired work
• Joined handwriting memory of the hand

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Teaching Approaches/Strategies

• Give copies as well as looking at the board
• Present information in a range of ways, (eg.
  pictures,
• flow charts, diagrams, charts, drama, cards)
• Display prompts and reminders
• Use ICT (digital cameras, voice recorders,
  software)
• Easy access to resources, clearly labelled
• Use colour (distinguishing ideas, paper, sticky
  notes)
• Choice of homework activities - VAK

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Teaching Approaches/Strategies

• Pupil involvement in target setting
• Good communication with parents
• Not rocket science! Important thing is that use
  of these strategies is consistent throughout the
  school and that children are regularly reminded
  about them

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In Detail
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Building Self-Esteem
Learning is an emotionally high risk activity and
failure is often extremely painful.
Kyriacou, C. (1991) Essential teaching skills
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Building Self-Esteem

• Use specific praise
• Praise ideas, content and effort
• Value the childs work and make sure that the
  child
• and their peers do too
• Notice and use the childs strengths
• Avoid exposing childrens weaknesses in front of
  peers
• Make sure everyone in the class understands what
  
• dyslexia is, and knows about some of the
  talented
• or famous people who were/are dyslexic

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Building Self-Esteem
The Language of Success Signal confidence in
their ability to succeed I know you can The
Language of Hope Create an ethos where its ok to
try and ask for help You can do it What
helps you do it? The Language of
Possibility Reduce limiting statements such as,
I always get it wrong. Yes, you were a bit
confused but lets see which bit is causing you
problems
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Self-Esteem
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VAK
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VAK - Visual

• Visual, auditory and kinaesthetic are NOT
  learning styles, they are ways we take in
  information.
• The way we process information is our learning
  style. (Activist, reflector, theorist,
  pragmatist).

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VAK - Visual

• Ensure that all classrooms support visual
  learning
• Display subject specific vocabulary and
  resources
• routinely
• Use colour - to separate information, record
  organise
• ideas
• Use diagrams/flow charts etc. to represent
  ideas
• Use images to support work in class (Google
  image)
• Allow children to record their ideas visually

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Examples
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How Does Mind Mapping Help?

• The brain works best when both hemispheres
  function in harmony
• Mind mapping combines the words, order of things
  and details with images and colour BIG PICTURE
• Many children can only learn well when they know
  the whole context
• Mind maps keep you focussed on the main idea and
  all the additional ideas
• Radiant notes can be turned into linear writing

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How Visual is Your Classroom?

• Quiz

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VAK - Auditory
Use a range of speaking listening strategies
Use children as teachers to embed understanding
memory
Sing information to rhythm, as a whole-class
group
Record sound using PCs/mp3s. Attach the
recordings to files so that pupils can hear
instructions or information
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Speaking Listening
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VAK - Kinaesthetic

• Invent actions to correspond with the learning
  (e.g.
• tables aerobics!)
• Teach joined handwriting from the start
• Use role play, freeze framing and drama
  techniques
• Address the same learning objective in
  practical ways
• Use whole body movements writing in the air,
  
• jumping along number lines on the floor

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VAK in Practice
Youre teaching how rivers transport and deposit
materials. (QCA geography unit 14) How could
this be taught using visual, auditory
kinaesthetic approaches?
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Coffee
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Memory Strategies
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Memory Difficulties Dyslexic Children May

• Not retain a series of instructions
• Remember something one day forget it the next
• Not retain spellings, tables, lists
• Have poor short term memory
• Struggle with rote learning

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Memory Strategies From last time!

• What is the national rail symbol?
• Look at mespell your name
• Now spell
• Now spell
• What strategies do we use?
• How can these be used in the classroom?

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MOSS
Muliti-sensory, Over-learning using a Structured,
Sequential approach

• Muliti-sensory
• Use a range of V, A, K approaches together
• Over-learning
• Constant repetition to revise, re-visit and apply
  skills until
• they become automatic. Pre-tutoring
• Structured
• Chunking the learning easier for short term
  memory
• Children see progress
• Sequential
• Learning in an order that makes sense and builds
  
• on skills

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MOSS
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I.C.T.
Penfriend XP
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I.C.T.
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NEW! Write Online

• Subscription pupils have passwords and can
  access this
• scaffolded word processor anywhere as long as
  they are
• on line.

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Presenting Written Information
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Presenting Written Information
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Presenting Written Information

• Use off-white coloured paper
• Use a minimum of 14pt text
• Use rounded fonts such as Arial, Tahoma
• Keep lines left justified with a ragged right
  edge
• Use line spacing to break up text
• Use wide margins and headings. Highlight
  margins.
• Use bold to highlight (not italics or
  underlining)
• Use bullet points instead of numbered lists
• Write clear, concise sentences and
  instructions
• Use flow charts to represent information
  visually

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Guided Work
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Guided Work

• Why Guided Work? It
• Engages pupils
• Supports at the point of need
• Provides a structured strategy that pupils can
  then
• apply independently
• Promotes communication, experimentation and
  risk
• taking in a trusted small group setting
• Enables explicit modelling of key skills
• Provides assessment and target setting
  opportunities

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Guided Work

• Supporting Success in Reading and Writing
  documents
• Identify where children are and next steps
• Skills based not content based
• Regular assessment to inform teaching and
  learning

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Letters and Sounds
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Access Strategies
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Access Strategies

• Use of TAs
• Pre-tutoring
• Buddies
• Talk opportunities explicit in planning
• Individual resource bags
• VAK homework multiple choice

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Cohorts 1 and 2
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Key Successes

• Individual learning packs
• Resource boxes
• Memory cards, visual prompts
• Acetates
• Reading rulers
• Seat wedges
• Alternative forms of recording
• Greater use of kinaesthetic approaches in
  planning
• Learning styles smarts website
• Teaching about roles in a group different
• strengths

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Key Successes

• Homework options, starting in school
• Talk partners
• Compliment corners
• 2type
• Joined writing
• Consistent and systematic phonic teaching
• Involving parents
• Questionnaires/surveys

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Key Successes

• Improvement in reading and writing, (although
  this was less
• evident than the SE impact needs more
  time)
• Consistency for the children
• ALL children benefited
• Supported work with parents/queries form
• parents

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Impact

• Happier children
• More comfortable in school
• Better quality homework, more of it, more
• enthusiastic and handed in on time!
• Greater motivation and engagement during
• afternoon sessions due to practical activities
• More on task for a significant proportion of
  the time
• Social emotional development much improved
• self-esteem

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Key Recommendations
Get the whole staff on board you need
commitment from everyone to make it work
Share your purpose and direction
Share with parents from the start
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Key Recommendations
Think about how TAs can best be used
Provide 11 clarification/reassurance where its
needed
Offer as wide a range of clubs as possible
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Key Recommendations

• Review progress as a whole staff throughout the
  year the impetus can be lost otherwise

Be open to new ideas and trying them out
Keep at it!
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School Priorities
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Development Planning

• Look through your schools development plan
• What are the key priorities?
• What elements of the Dyslexia Friendly Classroom
  
• network could be implemented to support these?
• What could be trialled throughout the whole
  school?
• What additional approaches could be developed in
  the
• focus classes?

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Gap Task

• Before session 3
• Deliver whole school training (staff
  meeting/INSET)
• Identify approaches to be trialled throughout
  the whole
• school
• Agree additional strategies to be developed in
  focus
• classes
• Next time 29th January 2009, 9.00-12.00, Rodford
  Primary
• Bring the form indicating the strategies youre
  
• going to develop