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 increase understanding in relation to
  dyslexia and its implications
• for learning and teaching
• To develop a range of strategies to enable
  dyslexic learners to
• succeed
• To consider how to build a whole school approach
  and how to create
• dyslexia friendly classrooms
• To identify next steps in school to establish an
  effective network

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Task
Read through Key Points cards True or false?
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Network Overview

• SENCos TAs
• Six sessions between Sept 2008 Sept 2009
• Dissemination in school
• Identification of focus groups in each class
• Regular monitoring
• Commitment to evaluation

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Network Learning Log

• Opportunity for you to record your thoughts and
  ideas
• Contains the proformas youll need
• Also includes various resources/materials that
  may be
• useful
• Commitment to completing the log
• Will be taken and photocopied at the end as
  part of the
• network evaluation
• Could support you writing a case study for
  publication

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Waves of Intervention
There may be dyslexic children at any of these
waves
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The Circles of Inclusion
Setting suitable learning challenges
Responding to pupils diverse needs
Overcoming potential barriers to learning
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What Does it Feel Like to be Dyslexic?
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Task

• Watch the video sequence
• Teaching Today clip used with kind permission
  from BBC Television
• Identify the emotions the child is experiencing
• Reflect on how far this childs experience
• is still current in schools today

Slide 1.8
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Task 1

• Talk to your neighbour about your hobby but do
  not use any words containing the letters s or e

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Task 2

• ??????????? ?? ????? ??????????? ??????????? ?
  ????????? ????????? ?????. ????????? ????? ?????
  ??????????? ???? ????????? ???????????. ???-??
  ????? ?????? ?????? ???? ? ????? ???? ????? ??
  ????????. ????? ??????????? ?????, ?? ????? ???.

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Translated!

• Copying from the board is almost impossible for
  some children. Some may copy words down letter
  by letter. Some may forget the letters between
  looking and finding their place on the page. It
  is possible to copy text without reading it.

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Task 3
What is the national rail symbol?
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Task 4

• Look at mespell your name
• Now spell
• Now spell
• Put a post it on your forehead and sign your name
  again

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Presenting Written Information
Printed information might look something like
this to dyslexic learners
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What Dyslexic Children say?
I know I cant do my work
People like me if I make them laugh
Everyone laughs at me
No-one understands
I must be stupid
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How Does It Feel To Be Dyslexic?

• Its a big blob of something sticky it, like,
  sticks to you. You cant get rid of it really,
  but you can get rid of little bits
• A head with a knife through it, split on two
  sides with a knife going through the middle.
  Theres another head with a head inside - the one
  on the inside sad, the one on the outside happy.

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• Motivation Destroyers'

Repeated Failure 'I make lots of
mistakes. 'I've always made lots of
mistakes. 'I'm not as clever as any of my
friends. 'My work is always wrong.'
Negative feedback 'My teacher doesn't mark my
work.' 'My teacher marks everything wrong.' 'My
teacher writes comments on my work like I can't
read this. Spelling! Answer the question
Unpredictable outcomes 'Some days are good days
I get some things right and feel quite happy, but
on other days I don't seem to be able to get a
thing right.' 'I never know if I am going to
have a good day or a bad day.' 'My teacher gives
my work a big tick and I don't know which bits
are right and which bits are wrong.
Continuous surveillance of performance 'I have to
sit close to the teacher because I get so many
things wrong.' 'I have to have help from the
teaching assistant because I get some things
wrong.' 'I have to have lots of help from the
teaching assistant because I get everything
wrong.' 'I have to sit at the special needs
table.
Feedback that is perceived as controlling 'I'm
not really interested in stars/marbles/house
points because I don't get many.' And I don't
know how to get them, but I do try.' 'I hate
stars/marbles/house points because too many
people have tried to interest me in them.'
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What is Dyslexia?
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(No Transcript)
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Sound Familiar?
Letter Reversal
Inconsistent
Forgetful
Slow
Lazy
Cant Sequence
Clumsy
Poorly motivated
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BDA Definition
Dyslexia is combination of abilities and
difficulties that affect the learning process in
one or more of reading, spelling and writing.
Accompanying weaknesses may be identified in
speed of processing, short term memory,
sequencing and organisation, auditory and/or
visual perception, spoken language and motor
skills. It is particularly related to mastering
and using written language, which may include
alphabetic, numeric and musical notation.
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BDA Guidance
One of the basic principles of becoming a
dyslexia-friendly school is the expectation that
teachers take immediate action when faced with
learning needs, rather than refer for assessment
and wait for a label. In a dyslexia-friendly
school all teachers are empowered, through
training, policy and ethos, to identify learning
issues and take front-line action. This is the
policy of early intervention being translated
into classroom practice.
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BPS Definition

• Dyslexia is evident when accurate and fluent
  word reading and / or spelling develops very
  incompletely or with great difficulty, despite
  appropriate learning opportunities. This focuses
  on literacy learning at the word level and
  implies that the problem is severe and persistent
  despite appropriate learning opportunities. It
  provides the basis for a staged process of
  assessment through teaching.
• Division of Educational and Child Psychology 1999

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Crystal Diagram
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Task
Match the Cards
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Coffee
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Dyslexia Friendly Schools Principles Benefits
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Food For Thought
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• Once upon a time there was a village near the
  edge of a very steep cliff. It hadnt always been
  that close to the edge, but over the years the
  cliff had eroded and now the childrens playing
  areas was only a few metres from the edge.
  Mostly the children played happily but
  occasionally a child would stray too close to the
  edge and fall to their death or be badly injured.

The village council decided that something had to
be done and so the called a meeting for the
villagers and put two proposals to them.
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• The first was to fund a state of the art
  ambulance with highly trained paramedics at the
  base of the cliff, so if a child fell he would
  have expert help. The second proposal was to
  move the play area away from the cliff and put a
  strong fence around it.
• Which did they choose?

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In dyslexia friendly schools the focus has
changed from establishing what is wrong with the
child in order to make them better, to what is
right in the classroom in order to enhance the
effectiveness of learning.
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Why Develop A Whole School Approach?

• Dyslexia-friendly approaches benefit all
  children
• Many of the strategies that help children with
  dyslexia are
• relatively simple to establish
• A whole-school approach means that all children
  are
• included
• All adults in the school will understand the
  difficulties
• and approaches to support these
• Children will experience consistency in good
  practice
• from year to year

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How Can A Whole School Approach Be Developed?
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Dyslexia Friendly Schools What do they look like?
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They Focus On
Developing a range of teaching and learning
strategies Developing self-esteem Building on
current approaches Involving parents carers
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Examples of Practice South Glos. Schools
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Identification Assessment
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Identification

• Identification and understanding of the
  difficulties that dyslexic children face is
  essential if were to prevent children
  experiencing frustration and low self-esteem

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Culture Shift

• In previous years practice has centred around
• referring children to outside agencies.
• Current thinking emphasises more immediate
• action and the creation of a dyslexia friendly
  
• learning environment in the classroom.

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Using AfL for Identification
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Beacon School for Dyslexia Identifying Pupils
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Checklist

• Look at the checklist appropriate to the age
• group you teach and your class list
• Which children come to mind?

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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
• Bring these with you next time to hand in