HINTS AND TIPS

Email us -- details at the bottom of the page -- to send in your methods, little tricks you have developed, and other hints and tips you find helpful in supporting a dyslexic child. (You may choose to remain anonymous.)

Information for parents - I offered to find out for Louise's parents information about the nearest Dyslexia Centre and local support groups, as I felt that talking to other parents of dyslexic children would benefit, help and support the whole family. I rang up the local Dyslexia Centre. They sent me details of their courses and local support groups which I passed on to Louise's parents. I also wrote down relevant websites. A few days later Louise's mother eagerly told me that she had already signed up for a two-day workshop at the local Dyslexia Centre. She said she found the websites particularly useful as she was able to access the information when it fitted in with her. Because of her enthusiasm I made several posters giving contact names and numbers, websites and the National Dyslexia Association address and telephone number. I put the posters in the staffroom, on the parents' noticeboard and in the school entrance hall. (J.E., Surrey, UK)

Say each word they hesitate on - Since the beginning of the school year I have had reading groups each day, separating the class into small groups in which the students are all reading about the same level. One group (usually made up of 4 students) was struggling through each word. I tried to coach them through the words to the frustration of everyone. After each story, not one of the students could say what the story was about and they could not keep their place while others read. I started saying each word they hesitated on and instructed the parents and my helpers to do the same. As a treat at the end of the session, I will read a page or two to them. It was hard for me to overcome old habits, but there has been such a positive change: I have had several parents tell me they have noticed their child’s reading improving. I have noticed the students are not asking to leave to go to the bathroom, get a drink or go to the office because they don’t feel well. They seem to actually enjoy the time and eventually pick the word up when it is repeated throughout the story. (R.J., Oregon, USA)

Sitting at the back of the class - Jason tends to choose to sit near the back of the class. I noticed that he screws up his eyes when trying to find his place on the whiteboard. Jason takes longer than other children to finish copying from the board, making spelling errors, missing out words and whole lines. Often Jason does not finish copying from the whiteboard before the work is rubbed off and so he tries to copy from whoever is next to him. Sometimes his mother comes in to get the week's homework spellings because Jason had not finished copying them from the board at the end of the day. Jason told me he sat at the back because he didn't want to read out aloud or answer questions. I made the teacher aware of Jason's comments and my observations and she is going to encourage him to sit near her in class. (J.E., Surrey, UK)

Copying from the board - Tom is a slow writer: very often he cannot copy down all the homework from the board. He says that his teacher writes the homework towards the end of the lesson. She also writes in cursive handwriting. He has difficulty with understanding everything written down on the board and then copying it. When he gets home he cannot understand the exact homework to be done, so his homework is incomplete or not done. I spoke to his subject teacher and explained to her about his problem. Now she gives the homework early on in the lesson, so that he has enough time to note it down and also ask any questions about it, for example, if he does not understand her handwriting or the content of the homework. (L.T., Mauritius)

Reading a part in a play - Mark desperately wanted to join in and read a character from a play during an English lesson but didn¹t have the confidence to do so. I spoke to the English teacher after the lesson had ended and arranged it so that he could take the book home and practise reading with his parents. At the next English lesson, he read with confidence. He said he had thoroughly enjoyed participating and had a great feeling of achievement. (N.A., Kent, UK)

Fishing game - Sam and I use a 'Fishing Game' to learn new words. Newly learned words are written onto cards shaped like fish. A paper clip is then attached to each card. These cards are later strewn into a large cardboard cover (this is the 'pond') Sam holds a rod with a magnet tied to the end of the line. When the game starts, his job is to catch a 'fish' and read the word written. He keeps the 'fish' when he correctly reads the word. (M.H.C., Singapore)

Interactive whiteboards - At the school I teach in, we have interactive white boards in each classroom. I have found that along with all the other benefits of these, an added bonus is when it comes to copying from the board, I can simply print the screen for those who find this difficult. This has also been useful when homework needs to copied down, it is quickly and legibly able to be put into their diaries! (R.D., Suffolk, UK)

The Reading/Book Corner - Reading in the wrong environment can seem so daunting to a dyslexic child. Our Reading/Book Corner has been designed by the pupils themselves, with comfortable seating, colourful posters and essentially a screen separating the corner from the rest of the class. The brightly painted bookcase holds carefully selected reading material, categorised and labelled by the children themselves. They have mutually discussed and agreed rules including 'No Noise'! It is their own space, a safe, comfortable, and peaceful area, where they can read without feeling ridiculed. This corner is used for independent reading, peer reading, and Small Group Discussions, providing an excellent 'chill out', relaxed, environment.(S.D., Kincardineshire, Scotland)

Telling a child the words they cannot read yet - I was hearing Peter read and telling him any words he hesitated on. Peter made a deal with me that I will only tell him the words that he genuinely had problems with. He would tap my hand and I would read him the words he had a problem with. (H.N., New Delhi, India)

Saying numbers out loud - I was helping a class once, the class teacher did not allowed anybody to make any noise in the class including me. I was working with 2 children at the time, I could see their frustration at not being able to talk about what they were doing. I asked the class teacher to allow me to work with the 2 children out of the classroom. When we were working outside, the children looked relaxed and were able to do the sums because they could verbalise what they were doing. Dyslexic children learn through multi-sensory best in all situation, they need to use all their senses when learning, so it is always good to provide them with multi-sensory learning. (M.P., Singapore)

Multi-sensory letters - Last year I worked with a child who had difficulty remembering the formation of some letters. He became angry, cried and was frustrated when he could not remember what certain letters looked like and how to write them. I provided him with lots of tactile objects, e.g. pipe cleaners, plasticine, ribbons, clothes, sponge, etc. We worked on one letter a day: he chose one object, e.g. a pipe cleaner, to make the shape of the letter, and glued it onto a cardboard book, which I had prepared earlier. I got him to feel the shape of the letter with his eyes closed, say the sound of the letter and asked him to write it on the same page. We worked on the project for a few weeks and every day we started the lesson by getting him to feel the letter. Each letter was shaped from different materials, so it helped him to remember better. After a few weeks, he could match the sound to the letter and write it correctly. (M.P., Singapore)

Resource class - Many teachers report the embarrassment dyslexic children experience going to the resource class or withdrawal group. However, if children enjoy the range of activities - games, matching, etc - they take part in when in the resource class, along with all the praise they receive, the children will enjoy going, and the other children in their class may even start to feel a little envious of them. (John Bradford, Direct Learning)

Tray game - For this game you need alphabet letters and an assortment of objects. Place one object at a time on the table, together with a selection of letters, one of which is the initial letter of the object (e.g. a plastic dog - with the letters 'a', 'c', 'd', 'h', 'm'). The child must find the letter whose sound the object begins with. Alternatively, you can put out one letter and five objects, the child having to pick the object beginning with the letter. This game can include the use of consonant blends and digraphs as initial, medial or final phonemes. (D.P.M, Bedfordshire, UK)

Reading with a teenager - Use functional reading activities to motivate your teenager to enjoy reading. Reading the television guide together to find their favourite programs, reading shopping lists or diaries to help organise their time - write letters to each other to give out chores in the home - use humor and make the chore of reading fun! Talking books are also a great way of encouraging the enjoyment of stories with accompanying books that you can read to them, and share together once the young person becomes more familiar with the story. (S.C., Bexhill-on-Sea, UK)

Making a window - one of my strategies for helping students improve their visual skills during reading is to cut a piece of paper as a window the size of one word. I then expand it as the student improves and so on till s/he is able to read a full sentence. (J.B., Oman)

Sending home a reading book the child already knows - I have found that a good reading experience for homework is sending home a carefully chosen book, which I have used all week for the Literacy Hour. In class the child has had a whole week of fun activities and sensitive support based on and using the book. If the learning experience has been pleasurable, they enjoy sharing the story - which they have become familiar and confident using - with their family at home during the weekend. (J.D., Bexhill-on-Sea, UK)

Using a Spidergram or Mind Map - The boy I am working with found creative writing in the literacy lessons extremely difficult and tended to get frustrated and anxious about writing his own stories. Using a writing frame helped but I found that drawing a simple Spidergram/Mind Map of his ideas first helped tremendously. He could see clearly all of his ideas and could decide which ones he wanted to use and which he wanted to get rid of. He could then transfer his chosen ideas to his writing frame to give structure to his story. Using the spidergram/mind map and writing frame allowed him to visually see his ideas without trying to remember them in his head. (K.H., Berkshire, UK)

A specific learning condition - I explain to parents what we mean by a 'specific learning condition' (rather than a 'specific learning difficulty') and why, as a school, we prefer not to use ‘difficulty’ in the description, as this can be seen as negative, as a hurdle or barrier rather than a challenge. (P.H., Shropshire, UK)

The 'bed' trick to help with 'b' and 'd' - My dyslexic students have learned to do the 'bed trick' when confused with b/d. They have learned to make the letter b with their left hand (forefinger comes to the thumb to make the circle of the b while the other fingers are straight) and their right hand forms the letter d using the same method. Initially I taught them they could imagine the 'e' for the word bed between their right and left hands. Quickly they learned to apply this method on their own. Now when a student is confused with a b/d, if they do not do the bed trick on their own, I just ask them to do the trick. When prompted to do the trick they quickly realize they have been using the wrong letter and can determine the correct one! . (Cathy, Columbia, Missouri)

Helping with confusion over 'b' and 'd' (1) - A strategy I have used successfully is to give individual pupils blank flashcards. They are asked to draw a picture of something they like or identify with beginning with ‘d’ and ‘b’ for example a dragon to illustrate the ‘d’ card and a bear to illustrate the ‘b’ card. (The letters ‘d’ and ‘b’ are also clearly written on the appropriate card). Pupils can keep these on or in their desks to refer to when needed. I have also used this strategy successfully with the vowel sounds. The pictures drawn are personal and individual to each particular child, often reflecting their own interests such as foods or animals for example. (J. D., Bexhill-on-Sea, UK)

Helping with confusion over 'b' and 'd' (2) - Two young dyslexic children in my class were constantly confusing the letters 'b' and 'd', so I decided to try a tactile, kinetic and visual approach to see if the problem could be alleviated. I gave them some plasticine to make the letter 'b' (tactile); I got them to draw a large letter 'b' on the carpet using their whole body (kinetic) and lastly, I wrote 'bed' on a whiteboard with someone lying on it and then showed the boys how to hold up their fingers and thumbs to make the word 'bed', but omitting the 'e'. Providing the children with a multi-sensory approach to distinguishing the letter 'b' from 'd' seems to have done the trick, and now there are very few instances when these letters are confused. (D.M., Bedfordshire, UK)

'Reading Buddy' - Each day after lunch the first 15 minutes are quiet reading time, when the teacher can hear readers and the children can settle down after lunch time! We use a Reading Buddy idea, where children pair up and take it in turns to read a page/paragraph to each other. We also use audio books and headphones which allow the poorer readers to “read” the same books as others in the class, when doing an author study. (Rebecca, UK).

The Golden Rule for reading - I asked A.P’s. mother to come and listen to him read, while I watched. She started by trying to get him to sound out all the difficult words. It was plain that A.P. was loosing the meaning of the text, by the nature of the attempts he was making. Then I told her about the Golden Rule for hearing a child read - 'Tell the child the word if he hesitates for more than one second, and come back to read the book again the next day'. She then went back over the paragraph and told him the words he didn’t know as he read. The story flowed and at the end of the chapter A.P. wanted to carry on to find out what happened next. A.P’s. mother was pleased as she said she really dreaded their reading time, as they quite often ended up fighting! (G.K., New Zealand) [Full details of using the Golden Rule for reading are to be found inthe Dyslexia Certificate course - Ed.]

Sight, sound, touch and movement - The young children at my school are introduced to sounds and letters by drawing them in the air, in sand, making them out of playdough and “treasure hunting” the classroom for items beginning with this sound. This involves sight, sound, touch and movement and gives the children a greater range of memories to use. This is the policy for all the children, but obviously benefits dyslexic child! (R.T., California)

Which font face? I produce worksheets in Comic Sans or Century Gothic fonts as these have the same ‘a’ and ‘g’ as the children are expected to use. However, the most generally used font outside school is Times New Roman and they will encounter this in reading and reference books at school. (Troy, Ohio)

Have you got your mouth ready? - When I take A.P. for reading and he gets to a difficult word I always say to him, “Have you got your mouth ready. ’That seems to help him to look at the first sound of the word. When I first started with A.P. he would more often than not say the final sound first. I asked him if that was what he actually saw when he looked at a word. He said it was, so I tried a strip of paper under the line of words. That didn’t help. In the end we found that if I pointed to the beginning of the words with a pencil, then he would get his mouth ready for the sound. In this way we have trained his eyes to look at the first sounds and not the end sounds. With using phonic prompts, especially learning the short sounding vowels, this has really helped A.P. to decipher the difficult words with confidenc. He knows now that he can help himself! (G.K., New Zealand)

Cloze procedures - I find using cloze procedures helpful as the stress of spelling correctly is removed. I have produced interactive cloze procedures, where they can lift and drop the words into the correct places and then print off their completed work. They particularly enjoy this but it can be time consuming to setup. (Mary D., Australia)

Letter sounds and colors - Teaching a child with many difficulties, including no knowledge of color names, I taught her letter sounds and colors at the same time, by making large fabric letters. S (her initial letter) was silver, soft and shiny, with a squeaker inside it. B was big and blue, covered in bubblewrap and enclosed a bell Red was rough and raggy, patchwork, enclosing a plastic bag that rustled.... Yellow was more difficult: yummy yellow sweets were the answer.... G - green grass of the type used in shop displays.... After she had the idea, other letters needed less specific teaching, and went in with more conventional letters, covered in objects she found in catalogues. (Alis, Wales)

Stevenson Language Program - I use the Stevenson Language Program which incorporates visual cues such as a snaky s, fins on a fish are made with f's, a rope is made in the shape of an r, etc. This program also focuses on phoenimic awareness. (N.N., Bartlesville, Oklahoma)

A special folder - Each of the dyslexic pupils at the special school where I work is issued with a folder containing all the materials they need to be able to work and self correct as independently as possible. Each folder includes: colored overlay, reading window for tracking text, alphabetical list of high frequency words, helpful word lists such as days of the week etc, picture and letter cards for commonly confused letters b-ball etc, picture timetable for each day to enable students to organize themselves. The folders contain many other bits and pieces designed to make their lives easier. Pupils are encouraged to graffiti or decorate their folders in order that they are not seen as 'thickie folders'. My dyslexic pupils can now quietly look in their folder for the resource they need without having to ask for help. (L.H., Warwickshire, UK)

Remembering left and right - One of my pupils has difficulty remembering the difference between left and right. To over come this problem, I gave him two different ideas to remember. 1. When trying to remember his left hand side, I tell him to hold up both hands, palms pointing away from his body, with thumbs pointing out to the side. The hand that makes a ‘L’ shape is his left hand. 2. To remember his right hand side, (he is right handed) he must remember that the hand that he uses to ‘write’ with, is his ‘right’ hand. (G.H., Leicestershire, UK)

Avoid distractions - Students with dyslexia often find the normal hum of classroom activity extremely distracting. Even the most unavoidable sounds catch their attention and draw their minds away from their schoolwork. So it is very important to find the right spot within the classroom for the student. Once this has been achieved then the lesson can begin. (J.T., West Lothian, Scotland)

Writing in cursive - I have cut pieces of screen and taped the edges with duct tape. When a child has a problem writting a letter in cursive I write that letter on a piece of paper, put it under the screen, and then have the child trace it several times. Then I put a piece of paper on top and have the child write the letter with a crayon. There is a little resistance that adds to the sensation of writing. The kids love it. (S.S.., Lauderdale)

Lesson withdrawal time - As a school we are careful not to withdraw dyslexic children from lessons in which they are strong or particularly enjoy. RT approached me one day and asked if his lesson time could be altered as his timetable had been changed and his one-to-one with myself clashed with art, his favourite lesson. I then approached the class teacher and together we came up with an alternative time. (L.B., Essex, UK)

'. . . a quivering wreck . . .' - I work with one child who becomes a quivering wreck during the weekly spelling test in class, and can be in tears before he has even been asked to spell the first word. However, quietly withdrawing him to a side room just before the test without warning of the fact that he is going to do his spellings, often results in him being 100% successful. He also has the satisfaction of returning to the class and sitting quietly with a book, with the knowledge that he has done his spellings while the rest of the class have their test!. (S.C., Bexhill-on-Sea, UK)

Air writing - I explained the process of 'air writing' to a parent. I explained how to pretend that the hand, with the fingers brought to the center, was the pencil lead and the arm from the elbow down is the pencil. Make big smooth letter loops in the air. This helps to enhance the muscle memory to enable the child to put pencil to paper without it being so laborious. This aids in visual and muscle memory, and helps with b/d and p/9 confusion. (S.V., New York)

Picture clues for a written exercise - Picture Q’s are an excellent example of supporting the child through a written exercise. The page is split into three both across the page and down the page. Going down the page is split for a beginning, middle and an end. Across the page is split with picture clues on the left, an area for written work in the middle and a list of key words that could be utilized in the work, on the right. The page is best set up on landscape. (L. S-W., Manchester, UK)