What is Dyslexia?

1. What is Dyslexia? A neural processing difficulty linked to words A “traffic jam” between two halves Different in everyone A continuum

2. Your Brian Brain

3. Left BrainRight Brain uses feeling Maths and Science Music Details "big picture" Logic Art Order, pattern Perception Colour Believes, appreciates Movement Writing, words, Language Out of the box Present and Past impetuous imagination rules Reality based Perception, knows Forms strategies Central Executive Creativity

4. Avoid M25 traffic jams Keep the brain active Challenge the difficult to build it up Games, quizzes, speed activities, Nintendo brain-trainer (the bits you don’t like)

5. Dyslexia – some or more of these… • Difficulties with phonological awareness • Difficulties with reading • Difficulties with spelling • Poor short-term memory, auditory or visual or both • Poor short-term working memory – balls on shelf…. • Poor encoding to or retrieval of phonological information from long-term memory • Co-occurring difficulties eg organisation, concentration, orientation…

6. SHORT-TERM MEMORY

7. Typically, adults can hold around seven items in short-term memory. Verbal information, both spoken and written, is encoded phonologically in short-term memory. • Verbal memory is the ability to retain an ordered sequence of verbal material for a short period of time. If a student has a poor verbal memory they may struggle to follow instructions – especially complex instructions. • Dyslexic students can also appear slow to answer questions or be unable to provide a response.

8. Balancing information balls while you rearrange and manipulate them The balls fall off the shelf and tumble…

9. Can you do this? double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double double

10. Attention span Short-term memory problems can mean that a pupil appears inattentive. However, this may not be the case. It is quite possible that the student has simply forgotten an instruction, a word, an explanation or a question.

11. Copying from the board To copy from the board, a pupil must take in and retain the information in their short-term memory while they write it down. This is usually done phonologically, but this requires the word-reading and spelling processes affected by dyslexia. If reading and spelling are very poor, a student may rely on visual memory instead but this is a significantly slower method.

12. Copy this? You have 2 minutes! Bizcochos de chocolate ynueces • 1 2/3 ahuecaazúcar • ¾ mantequilla de taza, se fundió 2 cucharonesriegan • 2 huevosgrandes • 2 extracto de vainilla de cucharaditas • 1 1/3 tazastodaharina de propósito • ¾ tazaquehornea cacao • ½ levadura en polvo de cucharadita • ¼ sal de cucharadita Instrucciones Precaliente el horno a 350 grados. Rocíe un 9 veces 13- molde de pulgada con rocío de cocina. En un tazóngrande, combine el azúcar, la mantequilla, y el agua. Bata en los huevosy la vainillaextrae. En un tazónmedio, combine la harina, horneando cacao, la levadura en polvo, y la sal; conmoción en la mezcla de azúcar. Esparza en el moldepreparado. Horneepara 18- 25 minutos. Refresquecompletamente en la cacerolao en un anaquel de alambre. Corte en cuadrados.

13. Maths and Number Mental arithmetic does not rely on word reading or spelling. However, pupils with dyslexia frequently find simple mental calculations difficult as they struggle to store and process the phonological information in their short-term memory. Some simple one, two and three step mental calculations ……

14. Long-term Memory Common dyslexic problems: • Information has to get there • Information needs to be retrieved at speed (especially phonological and visual information for reading and written tasks) • In school, retrieval from long-term memory is about getting information out, figuring out the phonological stuff and then putting it on paper

15. Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve • You need to practice at intervals • An hour • A day • Three days • A week • Model helpful language: • How are we going to remember this? • How did we remember this last time? • Which strategy shall we use?

16. Supporting the student to develop meta-cognitive awareness Have I done this before? How did l tackle it?  What did l find easy? What was difficult? Why did l find it easy or difficult?  What did l learn? What helped me learn? What made my learning difficult?  Should l tackle it in the same way as before? What do I need to keep doing because it helped me? What do I need to get better at (in terms of how I learn or what I achieve)?

17. What can parents do? • Small steps: constantly check whether students have retained information and can apply what they have been taught. • Sequential: help students to set out tasks in sequential small steps • Cumulative: new learning builds on what has already been learnt so that previous learning receives further practice • Repetitive to the point of ‘over-learning’: continued repetition and checking ensures that learning is retained in long-term memory • Multi-sensory: seeing, saying and writing a word or information repeatedly to fix it in memory. • Learning = consolidation, over-learning and practicing with lots of opportunities for review so that students are aware of what they know and how they have learned it and the ways to learn that are working for them.

18. Other things to do • SQ3R -Survey, question, read, recite, review • Not just underlining – put two lines under main idea; box round key words; circle important people; triangle dates; squiggle other information eg graphs, charts, maps. • Active reading – highlight main ideas, key words, point of passage- use spider plans, graphic organisers, outlines, tables, pictures, cartoons. • Note-taking – Wh questions, what, why, when, where, who, how? (use 6 boxes) 5C rule – clear, concise,comprehensive, complete, correct. Make a cloze passage. • Mind-maps • Concept maps

19. My Toolbox • Backwards timer, small clock to time tasks or chunks of a task • Cards/coloured paper to write on chunks of work • Whiteboard to chunk tasks, try out words, sentences or strategies • Writing frames and help cards – have a few different ones in the toolbox • Small blank cards and little book for each student – write on spellings, key words, draw, note, explain… Take cards or book home to learn? Make a key ring or storage box? Test them next time…

20. Resources • Dragonspeak • Claroread • Talking books • Kindle • Mp3 downloads • Talking word processors and products • Wordle and word cloud • Writing frames, graphic organisers • Mind-mapping