Recommendation 5. Planning for lessons and the classroom climate
Dyslexic students are more likely to experience wellbeing issues such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and social problems. These negative experiences also create a higher likelihood of behaviour problems, low motivation, and learned helplessness. Creating an inclusive, positive classroom climate, as well as careful planning of lessons can help to overcoming these issues and are an important part of helping dyslexic students learn.
Creating a postive classroom climate:
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Promote participation and value effort
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Teach students to give constructive feedback and work cooperatively
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Emphasise collaboration over competition
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Encourage confidence and resilience in all students
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Help students to understand that some students have different learning needs eg. using technology more often
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Overcome learned helplessness by fostering independent learning and ownership of learning.
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Educate other children in the class about dyslexia (with parent and student permission).
Tom's Special Talent Kate Gaynor
Dyslexia (Talking it Through) Athea
Allow extra time for preparation and completion:
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Provide lesson outlines or organisers for students to fill in to help them understand the task.
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Avoid long verbal lists of instructions at the beginning of the lesson as dyslexic students can have problems with auditory processing.
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Pre-teach new and important concepts before lessons.
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Plan to allow for extra time to complete assessments and important pieces of work, for example work that will go on display or be peer assessed.
Habib, A, & Naz, F 2015, 'Cognitive failure, teacher's rejection and interpersonal relationship anxiety in children with dyslexia', Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 31, 3, pp. 662-666.
Reid, G 2013, Dyslexia and Inclusion: Classroom Approaches for Assessment, Teaching and Learning, 2nd edn, Routledge, New York.
Understood.org 2015, Classroom Accommodations for Dyslexia, <https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/partnering-with-childs-school/instructional-strategies/at-a-glance-classroom-accommodations-for-dyslexia>.
