The Hidden Difficulties of Dyslexia at AISC

I was lucky to have such a great and responsive audience at the Asia Pacific International Schools Conference in Hong Kong for my presentation on the Hidden difficulties of Dyslexia.

It was good to share information about the Hidden difficulties particularly focusing on working memory, visual processing and auditory processing.  Many practical strategies were shared and professionals were able to look at useful resources which will be taken back to schools and colleagues.

Hidden Difficulties of Dyslexia workshop at Asia-Pacific International Schools Conference

I am delighted to be speaking at the Asia-Pacific Schools Conference in Hong Kong next week on the important topic of the Hidden Difficulties of Dyslexia.

 Although Dyslexia is a reading and writing difficulty there are so many other areas of life that are affected.  It is other areas like working memory difficulties, auditory processing difficulties, coordination difficulties and processing difficulties that cause much of the stress and fatigue for dyslexics.

I will be explaining the signs of these "hidden difficulties" and I will be sharing practical strategies to support dyslexic students in school and at home.

https://aisc.com.hk/event/portfolio/helen-trethewey-2/

Creating a dyslexia friendly classroom

1. Set realistic, achievable targets for each lesson

The academic content does not need be ‘dumbed down’ but the expectation in terms of writing and volume of work needs to thought about carefully.

There is nothing wrong with having high expectations, but remember that dyslexic children are often working twice as hard to process instructions and carry out a sequence of steps within a task. Aspects of a task that may seem routine can often drain all the child’s energy leaving little energy for creativity or thinking. Consider which skills you actually want the child to use or develop within a task and provide scaffolding for the other skills needed. 

Very often teachers ‘rob’ dyslexic children of a sense of achievement by just accepting whatever they complete in a lesson. The child knows that they haven’t completed the task and so feel like a failure.  Simply reducing the number of questions to be answered from 5 to 10 will make a huge difference. As can asking the child to write one paragraph rather than a whole story. But remember it should not always be the beginning of the story.  Use a teaching assistant to scribe the first paragraph and ask the child to write the middle of the story.  Use a dictaphone or ipad for the child to verbally record the beginning and middle and then write the end.  Shared writing where the adult and child take turns to write a sentence can make recording ideas less laborious.

     2.  Give positive, constructive feedback

Children with dyslexia already know that their spelling may not be correct and that their handwriting is messy. Mentioning this in every lesson is not helpful and will not lead to improvement. These skills need to be worked on in a structured way outside the classroom.  Remember what the learning objective for the lesson is and focus your comments on this.

3. Understand how spellings are learnt

Correcting numerous words within a child’s piece of writing will not help them spell them correctly next time. Nor will writing each word out 3 times at the bottom of the page. Dyslexic children need to use multisensory methods to learn new spellings, they also need to have spelling rules explicitly taught in a systematic way. They will need numerous repetitions and practise of using words in sentences before they will remember a word automatically.

They can also only take on spelling rules that they are developmentally ready for. For example: if a child is learning initial blends in their support lessons, there is little point correcting words with common suffixes like ‘station’ or ‘terrible’.

4. Keep verbal instructions short and provide visual checklists

One of the most common difficulties for dyslexics is weak working memory. This means that very often they find it hard to recall more than one instruction at a time.  If you give a lot of verbal information at once a dyslexic child may find it hard to process what you say and if their working memory overloaded they will not remember what was said at all. Breaking a longer instruction into 3 shorter instructions can help. Encourage the child to count each instruction with their fingers and recall what it is. Provide a visual checklist that can be referred to during the task so that they child can remind themselves of the steps.

      5. Consider font, layout and size of print of worksheets and resources

Many dyslexics have difficulty processing visual information. Certain fonts are easier for dyslexics to read these include Times New Roman, Comic Sans and Century Gothic.  Busy worksheets can be very daunting for a dyslexic child and they may not be able to successfully access the information needed to complete a task. You could consider splitting one worksheet into several worksheets and enlarging the text.

 6. Avoid copying from the board

Although supposedly this practise doesn’t happen anymore, I have observed enough lessons to know that there are still things that have to copied from the board. It may be the date and learning oobjective for the lesson, sentence starters or headings for each paragraph. Many teachers still think copying from the board is a simple task, but for the dyslexic child it is not. Many have visual difficulties that make switching focus between near and far difficult.  They may find it hard to keep track of the lines and the words within the lines.  I have watched dyslexic children spend a whole lesson copying just the date and the learning objective.  Even having to refer to the board for word list or instructions can be difficult.  Providing photocopied notes or information on an individual white board is the most helpful solution. If the information has to be displayed on the board then numbering the lines and using different colours for each line can also help.

      7. Provide a study buddy

Having to constantly ask the teacher for clarification or not being able to read the questions on a worksheet can be embarrassing. Seating the dyslexic child with a supportive capable child is a good strategy. This means that the child can discretely ask for help when needed and be more independent.

      8. Organise the classroom so that scaffolds, checklists, word banks and concrete resources are assessable to all pupils.  Resources that help dyslexic students are helpful to all students. Making it normal to use prompts and tools for learning benefits everyone.  Dyslexic children find it hard to keep all the information needed to carry out a task in their head and so checklists are vital. Also many dyslexics learn best with concrete materials particularly in maths and spelling.

 9. Try to highlight the pupil’s strengths both personally and publicly. Self esteem is a big issue for dyslexic pupils. Although they have genuine strengths very little time or acknowledgement is often given to these at school.  They have to face day after day of class work that challenges them to their limits. They are often painfully aware of their shortcomings compared to their peers. Receiving praise for something they know they are good at can be a real confidence boost. It also helps other children see the child in a more balanced light and not just as the child who is slow at reading and writing.

10. Allow time for skills to develop

Dyslexic children are not lazy, they are overloaded by much of everyday life and are working twice as hard to deal with many tasks that others consider simple or routine. Fatigue plays a huge part in their performance, leading to good days and bad days.

A dyslexic student can learn to read and write competently, it just takes time and the right teaching and support.  Just because a child cannot read in grade 2 does not mean that they will not read at an age appropriate level in grade 5. However, it is important to remember that they are not on the same timeline as the rest of the class. As a learning support teacher, I track children all through school and I know how much progress a child needs to make each year to reach the goal of adequate literacy skills at the end of primary school.  There is enough time for these skills to develop at a more natural pace for dyslexic students. Many teachers feel they are doing a disservice to child if they do not put pressure on them to ‘keep up’ with year group expectations.  This is a false economy, it is like building on sand. The learning is not secure and is quickly forgotten and lost.   This leads to a sense of failure and low self esteem.  It is better to accept the level the child is working at and find ways to help them develop age appropriate skills and concepts in other areas without focusing on reading and writing skills.  With high quality specialist interventions outside the classroom these skills will develop over time.

The frustrations of adult dyslexia

Many people think that dyslexia goes away as an adult. The symptoms change over time and become less about reading and writing and more to do with day to day information processing and organisation. But the problems of dyslexia do not go away. As an adult I still have problems with auditory processing, short term auditory memory and sequencing.

What do you mean its less about reading and writing? Dyslexia is a reading and writing disability - isn't it? The answer is yes and no. Dyslexia is much more than just about reading and writing difficulty. It is reading and writing that is noticed in school. As these can be measured and it is clear when a child is 'behind' in these skills. Parents and teachers then focus on closing the gap.

But underneath the visible reading and writing difficulties are a range of 'hidden difficulties' which many people overlook. These include memory problems, visual processing, processing speed, left/right orientation and time management.

One of the reasons reading and writing can be less of a problem to adults, is that in the main we can find ways of avoiding it or we have strategies for managing our difficulties.  For most adult dyslexics it is also not that we can't read and write, just that we are slow and inaccurate. Very often we pick professions that are practical and involve interacting with people rather than writing things down. If we do have to read, we can usually do it privately at our own pace. I am a teacher and so spend most of my time interacting with children and my colleagues. For lesson planning I only have to make my own notes and no one sees that I spend twice as long as any one else on them.  The only stressful time is once a year when I have to write reports, then I have to allow myself plenty of time and make sure someone else proofreads them. I avoid reading aloud as much as possible, I ask for a child to volunteer or use audiobooks in class.  If I am in a meeting or doing a presentation I summarise or use my own words or delegate the reading to someone else.

For me the main difficulty that remains is auditory processing difficulties.  I need visuals as well as words to understand something.  If I am talking to someone I need to see their face, see their body language to follow the conversation.  As a result I have strong dislike of phone calls as I have misunderstood things so many times.  If someone gives me address over the phone I am prone to mishearing it. Usually I have to write what I think I heard phonetically and then use a map to find the likely address.  Even when someone spells out a name, my brain seems to scrabble the letters and I often can not write the letters down quickly enough. Again I have to find information from another source.  Email and the internet has been such a help to me is this respect. Most of the time I don't have to make phone calls at all and I can communicate and get information with less risk of misunderstanding.

My poor working memory also causes many practical problems too. I carry a note book everywhere as I know if some recommends a product or place I will not remember the name by the time I get home.  If someone gives me directions I have to write them down otherwise I will get half way to a place and then realise I have forgotten what was said.  It is definitely easier to find somewhere with a map! I leave my belongings are over the place and have not recollection of where I last had them. I then have to try to retrace my steps in the hope of finding the lost item. I struggle with PIN numbers and door codes as though I do remember them, my brain very often decides to change the sequence and so my card is swallowed or I am locked out!

Most of the time I am patient with myself and laugh when things go wrong.  The lack of understanding from others can be hard to deal with and it can be embarrassing when you struggle with every day tasks others consider to be easy. Fatigue also plays a big part in how well I can function so inevitably it when I am most tired that I make the most mistakes!

Using Google Classroom and Google Docs to support students with Dyslexia, ADHD and other Learning Differences

Self esteem and motivation can be a big issue for students who have spent years struggling to keep up with classwork. Teachers seldom recognise how much effort is going into surviving each day. Positive feedback becomes less and less as teachers focus on the shortfalls.  These students become more self-aware and know that many of their peers regard them as not being clever.

Every lesson has its pitfalls. To start with have you remembered all the equipment for the lesson? Then during the lesson, you might miss a key instruction, find the pace too fast, not process the visual information from the board, not be able to read a word in a text, mishear a word or not understand new vocabulary.  These children often have challenges with working memory, auditory processing or visual processing. They may also have difficulties with organization, vocabulary, slow processing and the physical process of writing. How can we level the playing field and offer discrete support in Senior School ?

Google classroom is an excellent way to discretely supporting students with dyslexia, ADHD and other learning difficulties.  Working memory difficulties, slow processing and auditory processing can be supported by pre-teaching via Google classroom.  Students can be given access to key texts or information to read prior to the lesson.  Relevant video clips can also be posted.  This means that when they come to the lesson they are already aware of the content which makes it much easier to tune in and follow what is being said.  During the lesson they can also have access to bullet points or visual prompts in front of them that can guide them through the lesson and keep them on track if they lose focus or miss a teaching point.

Having parts or the whole of the teaching slides in front of them on their own laptop also helps those with visual processing difficulties.  The font or the colour of the text can be altered to make it easier to read.  In a classroom situation if all the children are using their own laptop, Google classroom makes it is possible to personalise what each child sees without it being obvious that the child has something different.  It is possible to set up scaffolded worksheets with sentence starters or word lists for those who find written tasks challenging. Charts, labelling pictures and fill in the blanks texts are great ways for students to show their understanding while reducing the amount writing required.

Less discrete but helpful are text readers where the computer reads the text. This is particularly useful for longer texts or texts with a lot of technical language where fatigue may mean that a dyslexic student loses the meaning of what they are reading as all their energy in decoding. Headphones could be used here or it could be used only for homework tasks.

Voice to text could also be used for longer writing tasks that would be very laborious for a dyslexic learner or those with handwriting difficulties.  This allows the student to focus more on the content of their writing than the physical process of writing and spelling. Studies have shown that speed and efficiency of handwriting can make the biggest difference to the quality of content and composition of written work.

For students with ADHD, access to pre-teaching can greatly improve their focus and engagement during lessons. In addition, questions that the teacher intends to ask them could be posted on their laptop prior to the lesson or at the beginning of the lesson.  This way the student can listen out for key information that will help answer the question. This again helps focus during lessons.

Another area of potential source of embarrassment for older students can be feedback from the teacher. Often this is done very publicly within the classroom. The teacher may comment on spelling errors or lack of punctuation.  They may mention that the student hasn’t written enough or there is not sufficient detail.  With Google classroom teachers can give feedback through comment boxes alongside the work and other students need not be aware of personal feedback given to each student. The teacher can highlight where a sentence needs to be edited or improved and give hints to guide the student.  They can use different colours for different types of editing – spelling, punctuation, better vocabulary choices. For children with learning differences it is best to just focus on one aspect within each piece of work.  Not only is this type of feedback more discrete but most students respond better to this type of constructive advice. They can act on the advice and he end result should a piece of work they are proud of which could then be shared with the class, improving self esteem. 

Google Classroom and Google Docs are versatile tools which benefit all students but can make a tremendous difference to those with learning differences.

www.achievenow.org.uk has lots of practical advice and videos to help set up accessibility functions within different computer systems.