In general, a learner who has a cluster of the following may be dyslexic:

• Difficulty with learning to read and/or write, despite intervention
• Slow speed of processing spoken and/or written language
• Poor word retrieval
• Poor concentration/easily distracted
• Difficulty learning the days of the week and months of the year
• Difficulty telling the time and with aspects of time, such as yesterday and tomorrow
• Poor time keeping
• Poor personal organisation
• Left/right confusion
• Employing avoidance tactics, such as sharpening a pencil or looking for books
• Can be disruptive and display negative ‘silly’ behaviours

Written Work:

• A poor standard compared with oral ability
• Poor pencil grip
• Poor handwriting, with reversals and badly formed letters
• Poor presentation and disregard of presentation guidelines such as margins etc…
• Messy appearance with many crossings out and spellings attempted several times
• Persistent reversal confusion - e.g. b/d, p/g, p/q, n/u, m/w
• Transposed letters, e.g. tired or tried
• Produces phonetic and bizarre spellings which may not be age appropriate
• Unusual letter sequencing

Reading:

• Slow reading progress
• Difficulty with blending letters together
• Difficulty with syllable division and identifying beginning, middle and end sounds
• Difficulty with pronouncing unfamiliar words 
• Difficulty with expression
• Lack of automaticity, especially when reading aloud
• Unable to recognise familiar words
• Omits words, or adds or substitutes words
• Loses the point in stories
• Difficulty identifying main points in a text/story
• Difficulty with comprehension

Strengths: Dyslexic learners may show strengths in the following areas:

• Creativity
• The ability to visualise things
• Practical and problem solving skills
• Lateral thinking skills
• Being able to see the big picture (global thinkers) in terms of strategies and problem solving
• Good visual-spatial awareness
• Good verbal communication skills
• High levels of motivation and persistence 

We provide staff with a range of suggested strategies and ask them to use the assess, plan, do, review process. The strategies include:

• Provide students with visual copies of instructions. 
• Break instructions down into manageable chunks.
• Use model examples where possible.
• Provide your students with word banks relating to the topic you are studying so that they can copy the correct spelling. Include images if possible.
• For essays, encourage students to write their ideas onto cue cards in any order. They can organise these cue cards into a logical order afterwards.
• Model excellent reading to the student. Read texts aloud when possible. 
• Encourage the student to use a ruler so that they can track the text.
• Begin with simple inference questions to boost confidence.
• Guide the student through more complex tasks using discussion and leading questions.
• Read through instructions.
• Emphasise the key words and phrases.
• Keep questions short.
• Provide the student with thinking time. 
• Focus on quality over quantity.
• Avoid asking  the student to listen and write simultaneously as this is a challenge for people with dyslexia.
• Allow  the student to rehearse a sentence with an adult to ensure each sentence makes sense.
• Provide sentence starters and checklists so that  the student knows what needs to be included in their work. 

We are unable to diagnose students with dyslexia. Assessments have to be completed privately by a specialist.

We are only able to offer a dyslexia screening, which indicates whether a child might be at risk of dyslexia.

If you think your child might have dyslexia, you can request a screening, but we would ask you to liaise with teachers first to gather evidence of their performance in lessons. 

If you would like to seek a diagnosis of dyslexia, we recommend seeking advice from the British Dyslexia Association: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/

Both parents/carers and teachers should be given the opportunity to provide feedback during any formal assessment. We aim to complete the forms sent to us as quickly as possible, but please be aware that it can take several days during busy periods.

If you have any questions, please contact us at senco@mountbatten.school