Dyslexia advice for teachers - Indigo Dyslexia Services

How Teachers Can Help

If you are a Teacher at Primary or Secondary level and already have a Dyslexic in your class then you will be familiar with the responses that should have been put in place through your Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. Under the provisions of the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice these can vary from simple extra classroom help to Action, Action Plus, Individual Educational Plan or even a formal Statement of Needs. You should closely follow these recommendations and raise any questions that you have about these strategies with the Special Needs Co-ordinator.

Indigo recommend that you should also re-acquaint yourself with the excellent Resource Pack- “Achieving Dyslexia Friendly Schools” produced by the British Dyslexia Association and distributed to schools and LEAs. This pack contains valuable information that will be of considerable help to you. It also contains helpful advice on teaching methods for Dyslexic pupils.

If you are a Teacher and think that one of your children could be Dyslexic and his/her Special Need has so far not been recognised it is important that you raise this with the Special Needs Co-ordinator. Your own Class room experience gained as a Teacher should help you to form an opinion as whether or not a particular child is making progress consistent with his/her intellectual and age ability.

The indicators that could signal possible Dyslexia are numerous and varied. However in general terms, initially it should be easy to identify instances where for example the child seems unable to concentrate, follow instructions and remember things. Further indications could centre on the child’s difficulty in transferring the words in his/her mind onto paper in a coherent manner. The child could also display the same difficulty in transferring the words that he/she reads into a coherent verbal form where correct phonetic pronunciation and ease of reading flow are demonstrated.

These difficulties may be accompanied by a corresponding downward turn in behaviour when the child may become disruptive either through frustration or simply to avoid the problem of having to read and write in class.

As previously mentioned The British Dyslexia Association’s- Resource Pack-“Achieving Dyslexia Friendly Schools” distributed to schools and LEA’s contains valuable information for Teachers. There is a section in the Resource Pack entitled- “How to identify Dyslexia” –this should prove extremely helpful for Teachers and Learning Support Assistants.

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