[senco-forum] dyslexia friendly help please!

HI Maggie

To be Dyslexia Friendly you first have to define what dyslexia is, define
what the underlying causes are, and what teaching methods and approaches are
best suited to those underlying causes. The next step is to identify from
you potential dyslexics in class which underlying causes of dyslexia they
may have. The reason for this is that some underlying causes of dyslexia
have conflicting types of dyslexia friendliness.
A visit to the Adult Dyslexia Forum BeingDyslexic could highlight the range
of difference there is between those who have diagnosis of dyslexia.
http://beingdyslexic.co.uk/forums/index.php 

So for instance what would be class presentation friendly to a dyslexic with
Mears Irlen syndrome issues may be totally wasted on say a dyslexic who has
APD issues, and vice versa. It I like the problems caused by the Dore magic
cure for all dyslexics, it only actually works for a small group who have a
diagnosis of dyslexia, so the same applies to any support or help program
you need to dig deeper and identify the real underlying causes of the
students who have dyslexia in any class, and work to their needs, there is
no one type of dyslexia friendly program or way of teaching, and there never
will be, you need to look at the underlying problems and work towards the
learning styles used by the individuals you intend to teach.

Best wishes

dolfrog

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of
Maggiechessher at aol.com
Sent: 03 February 2007 21:31
To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: [senco-forum] dyslexia friendly help please!

As a support teacher, I have been asked to do some work in a high  school 
with individual depts. looking at dyslexia friendly issues relating to  each

subject area.This is following up a whole school inset last term to raise  
awareness. The overwhelming feedback from that was that there was too much
theory 
-what was wanted was practical strategies.
We have just had the first session for the R.E. dept.It was well received,  
mainly beacause we had an excellent experienced AST giving e.g.s of  
differentiation she had brought with her. I also did a bit on pupils' views
and  
multisensory learning.

Problem is, there aren't enough ASTs!! I would really appreciate any ideas  
for how to organise the other sessions, bearing in mind that I am not an  
experienced secondary teacher and feel that credibility is crucial.

Many thanks, optimistically,
Maggie Chessher