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Graphic organisers can be a powerful tool for learners with dyslexia. They enable learners to plan and structure their ideas in a visual and accessible way. Focusing on getting ideas organised before navigating challenges with grammar and spelling can be a positive approach. The visual scaffold reduces working memory strain by keeping ideas clearly organised and structured. This allows more cognitive space for sentence construction and spelling, which might be challenging.
Tip or Idea: Explore different graphic organisers to see which work best for your learners. These might include mind maps, paragraph planners with sentence starters, storyboards, or flowcharts. Learners can use notes, drawings, or colours to record their ideas.
Learning Village resource: Our article Why use a graphic organiser? explores the benefits of using graphic organisers and offers a range of potential designs to try in your classroom. Use our free resource for a graphic organiser template.
Learners with speech and language difficulties may find it difficult to use the correct tense or find it hard to understand the concepts of time.
Tip or Idea: Take 5 minutes to chat together at the end of a busy day or lesson. Talk about what you did, what you enjoyed or what made you laugh. This gives learners the opportunity to practise using the past tense and maybe time and order words too like first, next and then.
Sensory needs (considering lighting, noise, textures, smells etc.) are now being seen as a central part of school design. It is widely recognised that overwhelming environments can block learning or trigger distress. Each learning environment presents its own opportunities and challenges to reducing sensory overload. Luckily, there are lots of small changes that can make a big difference to your learners!
Assistive technology plays a crucial role in education, by removing barriers to learning, especially for students who face challenges in traditional classroom settings. It is becoming a greater priority within education.
For the first time, the UK’s Department for Education plans to include training on assistive technology for all new teachers. There is a vast range of assistive technology from mobility aids to communication tools and visual aids.