Dyslexia Guidance
Department of Education and Children
Rheynn Ynsee as Paitchyn
September 2012
CONTENTS
Section
Page
A
Checklist of early characteristics that may indicate
dyslexia
3
B
Checklist of school-age indicators of dyslexia
5
C
Checklist of indicators of dyslexia in adults
7
D
Graduated Response
8
E
Grid 5: Cognition and Learning
9
F
Strategies to support the pre-school child
10
G
Strategies to support the school-age student
12
H*
Resources
18
*
In order to reflect the most up-to-date information available about resources,
Section H will be updated regularly, and may be viewed and/or downloaded
from the Special Needs Wiki.
Any changes to this document will be
highlighted in yellow to make them easier to locate.
2
Section A
Checklist of early characteristics that may* indicate dyslexia
*Words of caution:
The characteristics listed below will be present, to some extent, in all very young
children because skills develop at different rates in different children. It is important
not to read too much into the observations other than to give an indication of areas
that may benefit from some additional support. Strategies to help the development
of these areas may be found in Section E.
1.
Family history of dyslexia
2.
Speech and language:

Slow speech development.

Word finding difficulties.

Word mispronunciation – e.g. ‘ambliance’ for ‘ambulance’, ‘pasghetti’ for
‘spaghetti’.

Jumbling words.

Difficulties finding words that rhyme.

Difficulties finding words that start with the same letter, e.g. pretty Polly
picked a …….
3.
Auditory processing:

Difficulties following a rhythm, e.g. in clapping games.

Difficulties remembering and following instructions, particularly if there is
more than one part to the instruction, e.g. go and get teddy and put him in
the basket.

Difficulties learning nursery rhymes.

Difficulties remembering sequences, e.g. days of the week, months of the
year.

4.
Unable to remember own birthday, address or phone number.
Sequencing:

Difficulties fastening buttons, learning to tie laces.

Difficulties learning to dress, i.e. the order in which the clothes have to be
put on.
3

Difficulties sorting beads by shapes.

Putting shoes on the wrong foot.

Difficulties turning taps on and off because of not remembering which way
they have to be turned.
5.
Motor skills:

Difficulties learning to use scissors.

Difficulties learning to hold a pencil correctly, and may continue to hold it
awkwardly.

Difficulties maintaining balance (especially when blindfolded), e.g. standing
on one foot.

Clumsiness, e.g. difficulties skipping, hopping, throwing or catching a ball.

Difficulties learning to ride a bike.
4
Section B
Checklist of school-age indicators of dyslexia
1.
Family history of dyslexia
2.
Development of reading skills:

Difficulty learning to recognise words.

Particular difficulty learning to recognise small prepositions, such as ‘to’, ‘by’’,
‘so’, ‘of’, and often omitting these words when reading.

Struggle to learn phonics.

Difficulty using phonics to help decode unfamiliar words.

Poor use of context in reading.

Difficulty retelling what s/he has read.

Confusing words that have similar structure, e.g. reading ‘sheep’ as ‘sleep’,
‘useless’ as ‘unless’, ‘casual’ and ‘causal’.

Dislike of reading.

Reluctance to read for enjoyment, even when the student has ageappropriate reading skills.

Difficulty interpreting written questions, and a discrepancy between his/her
ability to answer a written question, and when the question is read out.

Verbal/comprehension/intellectual skills considerably in advance of reading
skills.
3.
Development of writing skills:

Difficulties learning to spell; not picking up on patterns or rules of spelling.

Able to learn spellings one night, but forgetting them by the following day.

Inconsistent spelling; spelling the same word differently throughout the same
sentence or same piece of work.

Bizarre spellings.

Poor handwriting: poorly formed letters, uneven size, uneven spacing,
inconsistent placement on the lines.

Mixing capitals and lower-case letters.

Poor punctuation.

Lack of quality and quantity in written work.

Verbal/comprehension/imagination/intellectual skills considerably in advance
of writing skills. sequencing
5

Very slow speed of handwriting.

Very quick speed of handwriting (and often difficult to read) in the older
student.

Finds it difficult to read back his/her own handwriting, and interpret questions
based on his/her own writing.
4.
Working memory deficit:

Difficulty remembering what day of the week it is.

Difficulty understanding the concept of yesterday/today/tomorrow.

Difficulty with tasks: the alphabet, days of the week, months of the year,
multiplication tables.

Finds simple mental arithmetic very difficult.

Difficulty remembering timetable requirements, e.g. where s/he should be, or
what equipment is required on which day of the week.

Forgets what homework requirements are, or forgets to do homework.

Unable to remember words and phrases that are dictated.

Very slow to copy from the board.

Difficulty remembering instructions given verbally, particularly if they have
more than one part.
NB: When difficulties are first noted, the teacher/SENCo should ensure that
the student has had a recent hearing test to rule out the possibility that
delay/difficulty is the result of a hearing deficit, and a recent eyesight test to
rule out the possibility of any visual problems.
6
Section C
Checklist of indicators of dyslexia in adults
1.
Family history of dyslexia
2.
Reading:

Difficulties following written instructions.

Difficulties following technical manuals.

Slow to get the gist of letters or reports etc.

Forget what you have read.
3.
Writing

Sometimes reverse some letters, e.g. b, d.

Sometimes write letters out of order, e.g. writing ‘wihch’ for ‘which’.

Difficulties with spelling.

Difficulties with grammar.

Difficulties with punctuation.

Poor handwriting.

Difficulties filling in forms.

Difficulties writing, e.g. memos, letters, minutes of meetings; having to
change what you would like to write to what you are able to spell.

4.
Forgetting what you wanted to express when you start to write.
Working memory deficit

Difficulties remembering:
o
Spoken instructions.
o
Telephone numbers.
o
Messages.
o
Appointments.

Difficulties concentrating for long periods of time.

Organisational difficulties:
o
Planning work schedules.
o
Meeting deadlines.
o
Keeping papers in order.
o
Working efficiently.
7
Section D
Graduated Response
8
Section E
Grid 5: Cognition & Learning
Assessments
Teacher based assessment
Teacher observations - discrepancy between verbal and written
Dyslexia checklist
PM Benchmark (Decoding/Comprehension)
Letters & Sounds
Writing assessments
Parallel Spelling Test
RAP based assessment
GL Assessment - Dyslexia Screener (online)
Lucid LASS - 8-11 years (available on sen assessment laptop)
Lucid RAPID - 4-11 years (available on sen assessment laptop)
Lucid ABILITY 4-11 years (available on sen assessment laptop)
Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB)
Smart Cat Learning - 4-8 years (online) www.smartcatlearning.com
Interventions
ICT
9
✓
✓
Ten Thumbs (CD) www.tenthumbstyping.com
BBC Dance Mat (online) www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Text to speech - (go to system preferences - speech)
Sound Studio
Audio books above decoding level
Kidspiration -mindmapping
Dragon Dictate www.dyslexic.com
✓
✓
✓
Nessy Games Player (CD) www.nessy.com
Nessy Learning programme (CD/downloadable) www.nessy.com
Word Shark (CD) www.wordshark.com
ipad applications
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Dragon Dictate
Dyslexia Quest
Hairy Letters
Hairy Phonics (due out this spring 2012)
What is dyslexia?
Resources
Dyslexia friendly environment & access strategies (pastel paper,
reading rulers, limited copying off the board, visual strategies (Read
Write Inc/Jolly Phonics) and coloured overlays etc.
✓ Use different ways of recording composition
✓ Join a guided reading group above decoding level/listen to audio
books
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Active Literacy (ALK)
Yes We Can Read www.yeswecanread.co.uk
Five Minute Box www.fiveminutebox.co.uk
Mind-Mapping
HFW flashcards (for those with a good visual memory)
Reference
Removing Dyslexia as a Barrier to Achievement Neil MacKay
www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk
Section F
Strategies to support the child at pre-school
To encourage the development of speech and language:

Play rhyming games, for example, make up nonsense words that rhyme with
a real word, such as happy, clappy, dappy, nappy, mappy, sappy etc.

Learning nursery rhymes.

Playing games of snap with rhyming pairs of picture cards.

Making up alliterative sentences, such as ‘Pretty Polly Perched on the Plastic
Pram’, or ‘Bertie Banana Bent the Branch and Bounded up the Bank’.

Playing I Spy games.

Odd-one-out games with words that start with the same letter, such as ‘Silly
Sam Seen Running Sideways’, and the child has to identify the word that is
the odd-one-out.

Sharing and reading picture/story books to the child.

Talking to the child and using every opportunity to extend his/her vocabulary.
For example, if the child points to and names ‘ball’, the adult could extend
this and say ‘yes, that’s a big yellow ball’.
To encourage the development of auditory processing:

Encourage the child to identify, with eyes closed, familiar noises, e.g. rustling
paper, spoon on a bowl, clink of coins etc.

Sit a group of children in a circle. Choose one child to sit in the centre of the
circle with his/her eyes closed. The teacher points to a child seated round
the edge and this child has to whisper the name of the child who is sitting in
the center. The child in the centre has to guess which child has whispered
his/her name.

Playing games such as ‘When I went shopping I bought a …..’ and the child
has to remember an ever increasing list of items.

Make sure that the speaker has the child’s full attention before giving any
instructions.

Ask the child to repeat back an instruction to encourage deeper processing of
the information.
10
To encourage the development of sequencing skills:

Encourage the child to verbalise the sequence of common actions, such as
‘Look right, look left, look right again’, or ‘First, toothbrush, second, top off
the toothpaste, third, squeeze the toothpaste, fourth, brush teeth, fifth, rinse
with water’.

Give each child in the group a number, and then get the children to line
themselves up in the correct sequence. Extend this by getting the children to
muddle themselves up and then re-order.

Get the children to copy a sequence of actions demonstrated by the teacher.
To encourage the development of motor skills:

Bead threading.

Pegs and peg board.

Constructing out of building blocks.

Cutting-out.

Therapeutic putty.

Drawing, colouring, and painting

Throwing and catching a soft ball.

Skipping.

Ride-along toys, scooters, tricycles.
11
Section G
Strategies to support the school/college-age student
There is no way to predict with any certainty the outcome for a dyslexic student with
respect to the development of his/her lower-order literacy skills (see section 6.2.4 in
the Policy).
What is vitally important is that the student’s ability to access the
curriculum and make good progress with his/her learning is not affected by the
specific difficulties s/he has in this area.
All students differ in their unique combination of patterns of strengths and
weaknesses, learning styles, and learning needs, and this difference is further
complicated by the changing demands of the curriculum as the student progresses
through school. Each student will therefore respond to, and benefit from, different
types of support and differentiation at different times in their school career.
Flexibility is therefore a key issue, along with clear learning objectives and a
willingness of the teachers to accept different forms of evidence of success.
Of primary importance is that the dyslexic student’s self-esteem is protected. S/he is
likely to be only too aware of his/her inadequacies, and will need constant
encouragement to build confidence. Encouraging the student to take an active part
in his/her own learning programme will help him/her become aware of what s/he
needs in order to make the best progress with his/her learning possible.
The
following suggestions may help:
Learning environment:

Seating position: Encourage a dyslexic student to sit in a position in the
classroom where there is the least distraction (i.e. where there will be the
least pupil traffic), and where s/he is facing the board, rather than sitting side
on, or with his/her back to the board.
Do this discretely to avoid
embarrassment.

Grouping: Encourage flexible seating arrangements, for example, allow the
dyslexic student to sit with students who match his/her verbal skills during
activities that require discussion in class. Place the dyslexic student where
support is available for activities in which s/he will require support, e.g. sit by
12
a fluent reader who can read out text when required, or with a support
teacher who can act as a reader, if no electronic text reader is available.

Homework: Homework can be a particularly difficult area for the dyslexic
student. Avoid setting homework that requires a lot of reading and writing.
Make sure that the student has the homework instructions written down fully;
the easiest way to ensure this is to give out a printed sheet of instructions.
Printed instructions are easier to read and complete, and remove the need to
spend time copying, which is a thankless task for a dyslexic student. Make a
note on the homework instructions how much time the student is expected to
spend on the task. Encourage the parents, or student, to contact the teacher
if homework is taking too long to complete to ensure that the student is not
having to spend much longer doing homework than his/her peers.

Organisation: The use of planners, homework books, home-school books,
email, electronic organisers, and timetables, are all likely to help the dyslexic
student to keep track of what s/he needs throughout the school week.
To support reading

Reading for the dyslexic student can be a very stressful activity, and s/he
may be acutely embarrassed if asked to read out loud in front of his/her
peers. To guard against this, the dyslexic student should only ever read out
loud in class if s/he has requested that s/he does so.

Text-readers: Many dyslexic students find it helpful to use the text-to-speech
facility that is included on all school laptops to support his/her reading of
source material used in lessons. More sophisticated, text-reading software is
available, (see Section G), and the DEC is currently looking into the
possibilities of making such software available centrally for the Island schools.
The student should use any text-reading software in conjunction with
headphones so that s/he does not disturb other students. Benefits of using
this software are:

The student will find it much easier to read and understand the text if
s/he listens to the text being read whilst following the printed text (on
screen or on hard copy).
13

The student will be able to access the same complexity of text as
his/her non-dyslexic peers.

The student will be able to see and understand much more complex
words in print than his/her word recognition skills would normally allow.
This will help his/her sight vocabulary to develop, which, in turn, will
help his/her word recognition skills to develop.

The student will develop better listening skills which, s/he will need
should s/he be granted access arrangements that include a reader for
examinations.

Audio books: Reluctant readers should be encouraged to listen to a wide
range of age-appropriate and interesting audio books for the benefits listed in
section 6.2.1.3 in the Policy.

Encourage the dyslexic student to listen to audio books for Guided Reading
tasks or during silent reading times at school.

Paired reading techniques, where a fluent reader reads aloud with the
dyslexic student, can help to build confidence in reading.

To support accessing information, dyslexic students are very likely to derive
benefit from the use of film, imagery, diagrams, and schematics to support
their learning.

Some individuals find it helpful to cut out the white glare from white paper,
either by using a coloured overlay (See Section G), or by printing the text
onto off-white paper. ***
To support writing

Give credit for oral responses.

Mark written work on content.

Photocopy notes, and/or print out work from the teacher/s notes for the
dyslexic student to stick in his/her book. Copying from the board or from a
14
book is a thankless task for a dyslexic student, and the result can be difficult
to read back, inaccurate and incomplete, and the process often causes
frustration.

Be flexible in the type of evidence you will accept to prove that the student
has met the lesson objective. Some students will find it easier to present
written work in bullet points, via a mind-map, using word processing, making
a sound file, or using voice-to-text software to produce hard copy.

Touch-typing: If the dyslexic student is able to learn to touch type
proficiently, s/he may find that s/he is able to bypass a persistent spelling
difficulty by learning to, literally, spell with his/her fingers.
For this to
happen, it is essential that the student follows the lessons in a typing tutor
without looking at his/her fingers. This is to stimulate the brain into
making new neural pathways in which a word is typed by a pattern in which
the fingers move, rather than being written by which letters are needed.
There are some excellent touch typing tutors available (see Section G), and a
large breakfast cereal box, which has had its long thin sides cut out and the
open end taped shut, is an ideal shape to slip over the keyboard of a laptop
to prevent the student from being able to look at his/her fingers whilst
following the instructions on screen.

Word processing: If the student is able to type more easily than write,
encourage him/her to use a word processor, with predictive text, and spell
checker to compose any written work. The benefits of working in this way
are:

The hard copy produced when working with a word processor is neat
and easy to read back.

Many dyslexic students find that they gain in confidence when they
work on a word processor with predictive text and a spell checker.

The student is able to set their ideas down in any order, and can then
use the edit tools to order the work.

Working on a word processor in this way prepares the student for using
this method of working in any examinations (see section 7 in the Policy)
15

Voice-recording software: The student may find it helpful to use voice
recording software. The benefits of working in this way are:

It enables the student to express his/her knowledge or ideas in a way
that is not hindered by any spelling difficulty.

The student is able to listen back and edit the recording, which means
that the ability to edit the work does not depend on the level of the
student’s reading skills.

Having to listen back to the recording will help with the development of
the student’s listening skills.

After learning how to use the software or device, the student is able to
work independently.

Working in this way helps the student to develop oral composition skills,
and this is good preparation for using access arrangements in
examinations (see section 7 in the Policy).

If the student is proficient at touch-typing, s/he could listen to his/her
recording through headphones and type up a hard copy.

Voice-to-text software: The dyslexic student may find it helpful to learn to
use voice-to-text software (see Section G). The benefits of working in this
way are:
 It enables the student to express his/her knowledge or ideas in a
way that is not hindered by any spelling difficulty.
 After learning how to use the software or device, the student is
able to work independently.
 If the student has poor reading skills, the voice-to-text software
can be used in conjunction with text reading software.
 Learning to use these types of software helps the student to
develop the necessary skills s/he will need for working in this way
during examinations (see section 7 in the Policy).

Mind-mapping skills: Many dyslexic students find it helpful to use mindmapping as a way of ‘capturing’ and ordering his/her ideas prior to
writing/dictating. Some benefits of using mind-maps are:
 The student is less likely to forget what s/he planned to include if
s/he works from the mind-map when writing/dictating.
16
 The complexity of ideas can often be expressed in a way that is
not hindered by the student’s spelling ability.
 The student will have more working memory capacity available
once the ideas being held there are put down on paper in the
mind map. This means that there will be more working memory
capacity available for the student to apply to the quality of his/her
composition.
Some resources for developing mind-mapping skills may be found in Section G.
To support a working memory deficit:

Strategies to support working memory, such as the use of min-mapping
approaches, are outlined above.

The student should be encouraged to use any additional time granted in
assessments to write out such aids as multiplication tables, formulae (where
necessary), quotes, names and dates. Once these are captured on paper,
they may then be referred to during the assessment. Because they no longer
have to be remembered, the working memory is emptier and has more
capacity to apply to other tasks.
Protect self-esteem

It is vitally important that the dyslexic student learns to equate his/her
thinking skills, ideas, and creativity, with his/her ability, and does not start to
equate his/her ability with the level of his/her word recognition and spelling
skills.

Take every opportunity to praise the dyslexic student for effort; s/he is likely
to have made considerably more effort than his/her peers, even though s/he
has not achieved the same standard.

Dyslexic students get very tired because of the amount of additional
concentration and effort they have to put in to keep up with a text-based
curriculum. Extra allowances need to be made to take this into account.
17
SECTION H Resources
Useful contacts
Manx Dyslexia Association
www.manxdyslexia.org Tel: 07624 315 724
British Dyslexia Association
www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
Dyslexia Action
www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk
Dyslexia Scotland
www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk
Department of Education for Children:
Director of Services for Children
Department of Education and Children
Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas
IM1 5EP
Tel. 693833
Sally Brookes
Educational Psychology Service
Joanna Fisher
Joyce Monroe
Senior
Educational
Psychologists
Jonny Fee
Helen Newbery
Educational Psychologist
Educational Psychologist
in training
Department of Education and Children,
Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas
IM1 5EP
Tel: 686271
Advisory Teachers
Lizzie Corrin
Sue Marriott
SEN Advisors
Julie Wilsdon
Advisory teacher ICT
18
Department of Education and Children,
Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas
IM1 5EP
Tel: 686271
Department of Education and Children,
Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas
IM1 5EP
Tel: 686389
Resources:
To support reading
Kurzweil 3000
Further information
www.sightandsound.co.uk.
Texthelp Read & Write www.sightandsound.co.uk
Gold
Features
Advanced
text-reading
software with many other
features to help students
access and express themselves
through text.
Many other
features available, such as
mind-mapping tools, bubble
notes, voice notes, highlighting
facility.
May be used in
conjunction
with
Dragon
Dictate so that the student can
dictate work and then have the
text-reader read it back to
them.
Software that reads out loud
as the student types. Provides
full screen reading for any
document on the laptop or
computer. This also has other
features to help with reading
and writing.
Easy to use click-to-read
facility.
Textease
www.textease.com
Text-to-speech
IT Department
Easy to use, slightly robotic
voices – on all DEC Apple
laptops.
Wordtalk
www.wordtalk.org.uk
Free Windows text-to-speech
plugin for Microsoft Word.
This software will speak the
text on a document and
highlight each word as it is
read.
Speak it App for iPad
www.apple.com
Text-to-speech app for iPad or
iPad.
19
To support writing
Further information
Features
Dragon Dictate for Mac;
Dragon Naturally
Speaking for PCs
www.dyslexic.com
Speech-to-text
software.
Requires voice training that
can be tricky for young voices
to be recognised.
Dragon Dictation
www.apple.com
Free app for iPad or iPod. Very
easy to use – requires no voice
training.
Textease
www.textease.com
Write anywhere facility; voice
recording, easy to use.
Clicker 5
www.cricksoft.co/uk
Text-to-speech working with
Clicker grids.
Writeonline
www.cricksoft.co.uk
Word processing software that
provides
text-to-speech,
predictive words, & wordbars
to help the student to write
without being hindered by
spelling difficulties
Inspiration
www.dyslexic.com
Mind mapping software for the
older student.
Very good
templates for many types of
written requirements for all
subject areas.
Kidspiration
www.dyslexic.com
Mind mapping software for the
younger student. All text and
pictures spoken aloud; voice
recording facility; can import
pictures to make personalised
dictionaries.
Novamind
www.novamind.com
Mind mapping software.
iMindmap
www.thinkbuzan.com/uk
Mind mapping software.
Books by Eva Hoffman
Excellent classroom resources
for teaching students to mind
map.
To support mindmapping
Mind-mapping in Primary
Classrooms
Introducing Mind
Mapping to Children
Mind Mapping for Kids
Resources for teaching mind
mapping and revision skills.
Max Your Memory and Books by Tony Buzan
Concentration
Rev up for Revision
20
Touch typing
Further information
Features
Englishtype Junior or www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk
Senior
Programme written with dyslexic students
in mind.
Very well organised, quiet,
reinforces all the right areas, low levels of
time stress.
Ten Thumbs
www.tenthumbstypingtutor.com
BBC Dancemat
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing
This programme saves each child’s
progress and gives feedback in terms of
% success.
Free to use but very noisy and busy
programme. Liked by some children.
Mavis Beacon
www.mavisbeacon.com
Good established touch typing programme
that has been around for a long time.
Audio Books
Children’s
Library,
May be borrowed e.g.
Westmorland Road, Douglas.
from local libraries
May be borrowed e.g.
from on-line libraries: www.listening-books.org.uk
www.calibre.org.uk
For an annual subscription (which they
may waive for cases of financial hardship)
books can be streamed to laptop or
computer. Can also be downloaded for a
limited time, or sent out as MP3 discs to
your home.
Excerpts of books may be listened to on
site.
This site has many school text books on
audio. As yet, this site only works with
PCs but will be making the service
available to Mac users in the future.
Calibre audio library is a charity that will
send out for free 3 MP3 discs of your
choice to your home with a return
envelope. They will send more discs
when the first are returned.
Excerpts of books may be listened to on
site.
May be bought and e.g.
downloaded from on- www.audible.co.uk
www.apple.com/itunes
line bookstores.
Audio books can be bought and
downloaded onto a laptop or computer
and then transferred to an MP3 or MP4
player, such as an iPod, for ease of
listening.
Excerpts of books may be listened to on
site.
May be downloaded www.load2learn.org.uk
from
on-line
educational sites:
Provides accessible curriculum resources
for students who have difficulty accessing
text.
www.amazon.co.uk
www.waterstones.com
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Resources for
improving reading and
Further information
spelling
Various resources that www.nessy.com
can be bought online for
students to engage with
at home.
Coloured overlays
www.crossboweducation.com
www.dyslexic.com
Other useful resources
Information sheets for
teachers and parents from
Dyslexia Scotland.
Training pack for teachers
from Education Scotland.
Features
Fun games for the laptop
aimed at improving spelling
and reading skills.
Some students find it easier to
read text if it is covered with a
coloured plastic overlay.
www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk Follow the link for
‘educator’, ‘guidance and training’, and click on the pdf
files in the paragraph titled ‘The right support’
www.educationscotland.gov.uk and type in ‘supporting
learners with dyslexia’ into the search engine on this
site. This should come up with a pdf file Journey to
Excellence Personal Development Pack – Meeting the
needs of learners with dyslexia.
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