NEIL MacKAY - DYSLEXIA PD

NEIL MacKAY - DYSLEXIA PD

The inclusive habits of outstanding teachers

TAURANGA

27.5.19

What it feels like to be stuck.

Try telling a partner what you did in the weekend.  Don’t use the any words with the letter s.
Then swap around and don’t use the word with the letter e.

(1/3 - 2/3 rule.  2/3 will learn no matter how we teach.  1/3 need synthetic phonics, targeted readers,
a different approach).

Approx 20% of students will be on the dyslexic spectrum. (6 kids in 30).

Move away from intervention - focus on prevention.

“If we get it right for dyslexia, we get it right for all.” Neil MacKay

“Everything improved, attendance, engagement, focus the success of the school - once they
started noticing and looking at everyone and focussed on what ‘everybody’ needs, including
gifted and talented.  Move away from programmes and people and focus on universal learning
for everyone”.

Tier 1 adjustments - should be at the classroom level with the teacher.  Adjust - Try something
different, Monitor for impact, ask the questions, (TAI) is the impact good enough???

Referrals should go through team leaders.  Team leaders then pass on to SENCO after
systems have been tried.

Silent fiddling is a person’s release, ability to help them concentrate.

Research has shown that kids perform to teachers expectations.  If teachers think they aren’t
very smart, they won’t be very smart.  See the able, not the label!

ALL Texts should be:

Not black font on white paper.  

Increase line spacing to 1.5

Use colour overlays - can cut up coloured plastic folders  (many students will struggle to read
the words on a page, this doesn’t mean they are dyslexic.

Don’t go any smaller than 14pts

Font type to use : Comic Sans, Arial, Sassoon? SANS

For students struggling with handwriting and struggling to stay on the lines - highlight the
lines the student is to write on.

Blu tak finger spaces.  Kids can put a piece of blu tack after every word for a finger space.  They
can also use it at the end of their sentence for a full stop.

Scaffolds - draw or write first.  Use a planner timer - give a specific time if drawing it first.

Use reading books they can decode.  Give them chances to reinforce the phonics and words they
know.

“Aspire to be… - Don’t tell people they can be….  If you're told you are gifted, what do you become.  
Praise the work, criticise the work - not the child”.

The power of feedback:

MARKING:

Try using the word ‘yet’.  Say” This is not yet there/or correct, but you could be if you…”  
(Next time try…) - particularly powerful for boys.

Careless mistakes - Use a dot on the spot.  Put a dot or highlight an incorrect word - and get the
student to correct it.  Writing the word above is ineffective as student’s won’t look at it. Put a dot
above the word and get them to notice it is incorrect then fix.

Provide hints and strategies, open questions for misunderstandings.

Only grade the final piece.

Celebratory marking is for giving second chances.  Next time it will be… if you… (Next steps)

ACE dictionary - words organised into sounds and syllables  (Aurally Coded English).

Create time for pupils to consider and respond to marking.

Praising natural intelligence/gifts is not important.  We praise effort, adding value to the talent/gift,
improvement.

Growth Mindset Marking:

Use the ‘Not yet’ marking and comments.

FAIL

First

Attempt

In

Learning

I may not be there yet, but I’m closer than I was yesterday.

Right first time is a gift.

Characteristics of children with poor working memory

Poor academic progress - more than 80% of children with poor working memory fail to achieve
expected levels of attainment in both reading and maths.

Copying from the board is very hard

Remembering instructions is hard

More boys than girls have memory issues 3:2

Both have the same class based problem on a daily basis

Tend to raise their hand to answer - then forget

Withdraw from small group discussions and can appear distracted

Lots of shoulder shrugging, nodding to appear like they understand

Often can remember the first thing we say and the last thing, but forget everything in the middle.

Slow down instructions

Having students writing down the WALT or lesson objective is absolutely pointless.  What is great is
having them prove what they need to do to achieve.

Memory Binding:

Things like:

Colour

Shape

Position

And to update them as they change.

Common errors with teachers:

Give too many instructions/criteria.  Most kids will forget most of them. (make success criteria
simple and visual).

We talk while we are giving them time to think.  Stop talking. Let them process and think!

Do the task, and repeat the task.  Build success. Repeat with some modifications.

ASK STUDENTS:

What do I do that makes me hard to learn from?

What do I do that makes me easy to learn from?

See it.

Hear it.

Do it.

Keep it.

Making sense with syllables

oc/to/pus

Ob  fus  ca ted    (means confused or unclear)  say the word twice in syllables, clap it out, clap it
out again, write each syllable down on a strip of paper- with a finger space in between

Rhi   no til   lex o ma    ni a (means obsession with no picking)

Non word reading and non word spelling - screens students phonemic awareness

UK Phonics Screen

Word Wheels - are good and pupils can make word wheels with sounds

Clap it, tap it, tear it, muddle it, build it.  Then and only then Look, cover, write, check.

Dyslexia

• Dyslexia is a brain thing.  They will use their right brain more than their left brain.  (Most
• people will use their left brain more than their right brain for phonics).
• Dyslexia, Autism, AD(H)D time is roughly twice as long to produce half as much.
• If we allow them to use metacognition: Bullet points, flow charts, story board… they will
• be able to show you what they know/understand.  Reading questions aloud is huge for
• removing barriers. Leaving things on the board longer, removes barriers.
• Universal concept for learning:
• Slow down
• Slim down - reduce
• And You Will Speed Up

• ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism is normal.  Everyone will fit somewhere on the spectrum.
• DTLN -Dyslexic Type Learning Needs

“The reason why your smart child is having trouble with reading is because they are struggling with
dyslexic type needs… which means they may learn some things more slowly”)  Tell them but make
sure you have a solution. “I am going to help them by…”

Severely affected students need to be withdrawn from class short sharp, time bonded expertise.
 (Tier 2) 20 minutes everyday. Take them out of the middle of the lesson so they get the start
and the wrap up at the end.

Our Dyslexic students must have the most dyslexic aware/responsive
teachers.

(These children will often be the brightest kids in the class but can’t display
their knowledge due to class systems/assessing techniques).  Teach them in
the way that suits the way they learn.

Reading Doctor - synthetic phonics intervention program from Australia which gives older
students success and hope.

Reading Doctor

Dyslexia advantage

Dyslexic students:

Start with ‘Global big picture’ comprehension word associations, context, gist

• Working memory and processing speed are low
• Listening/reading comprehension is good
• Accuracy, spelling and sentence composition are down
• Fine detail, word accuracy, precise and exact is down

ADHD

• Is a brain thing, but a chemical thing.  It is a doctor needed thing.
• Part of the brain that produces a chemical, doesn't.  Needs to be replaced with a chemical.

Melon, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce all have asprin in their skins and can cause hyperactivity.

• Reduced ability to:
• Maintain attention/listen to instructions
• Turn instructions into positive action
• Think before doing or saying
• Recognise/anticipate possible consequences
• Feel good about themselves - often low self esteem - provocative victims?
• 5% ish of school population 3+boys : 1 Girl
• Girls tend to be ADD
• Don’t say Stop - say Do, Don’t say please, say thank you.

1: Clear structure, goals, success criteria, instructions, timings

2: Make most important information the most interesting

3: Concrete examples + practical illustrations

4: Face pupils when talking

5: “Over shoulder marking” whenever possible - give immediate feedback

6: BEM effect so “Tell you what I am going to say, tell you, then tell you again”.

Dyslexia as a learning preference:

‘Creating school policy around dyslexia difference and preference’.

ASD: (Aspergers)

An individual’s:

• Difficulty in communication/relating
• Inability to play imaginatively/think abstractly
• Insistence on keeping to set routines/following elaborate rituals
• Often low self-esteem - provocative victim?

BUT: often great powers of concentration

• “Intellectual persistence”
• Can be gifted in tight fields of expertise

Respond well to:

• Simple consistent language
• Consistent facial expressions/gestures
• Repeat without rewording
• Visual + mathematical/logical learning styles
• Structure and organisation

Try pre-tutoring/front loading:

• Teaching key terms, before introduced to the rest of the class.  Great for topic work, poems, plays.
• Gives pupils a chance to learn and understand the meaning of words.
• Also great to teach pupils how to use equipment, or the rules of a PE activity ahead of time

Make praise specific to the task.

6 steps to Asperger’s Aware Classroom:

1: “Asperger’s time - twice as much time, half as much done

2: State the obvious - no assumed options, “live out loud”

3: Keep language simple, specific concrete, unambiguous

4: Ask open questions wherever possible

5: Consider “get out of jail” card

6: Have a look at www.researchautism.org

Give take up time - don’t change the language/instruction.  Give them time to process it, then say
it again the same way.

Why Spaced Review Works:

Lesson 1 - teach and review

Lesson 2 - Begin with lesson 1 review.  85% of Lesson 2 should be lesson 1. Only 15% should be
new material.      Lesson 2 should begin with mastery of lesson 1, and so on.

Mastery Check:

Review 1 - Check for mastery.  Come in, sit down, tell your neighbour.  Every lesson begins and
ends with mastery.

Review 2 - Checking the learning.  PPPB

Review 3 - Checking my impact.  Give students the opportunity to articulate their thinking before
answering - Review the lesson again “Tell the person 3 things that you learnt” Articulate then answer.

Review 4 - Second mastery check.  Summarise today’s topic 3-3-1 (3 quick short captions, then 3
words, then 1 word.  EG: Tell your partner 3 things you learnt in that lesson.

PPPB- pose the question, pause, pounce, bounce

AFL(assessment for learning)  in TES website

Mike Gershon

Education Scotland - Assessment is for learning

Reading:

Reciprocal Reading/Teaching

Mixed ability group

Struggling reading grow 1-2 years in 3-6 months

Cards available from TES

Predictor - is in charge of getting predictions from the group

Reader (teacher) - directs the reading - who will read - weakest readers for this role

Clarifier - in charge of finding tricky words and phrases

Questioning - get the table to question

Summariser - how can we sum up the passage in one sentence

HOTS - higher order thinking skills

Question stems - often dyslexics come up with the best questions - not low thinkers/low skillers /
good for boys

Summarise in the form of a haiku poem.

Writing:

Great ideas, talks a great story, can’t write it down

Too many ideas, the ideas never come out in the right order, no idea how to get started

Use frameworks for memory binding.

Draw a picture of a map, show slides of nouns/settings/items they can use in the story.  On post it
notes, students can only write one noun per post it. Group then places 5 best nouns on their map.
 On smaller post its, students then shout out adjectives, one per noun.

Have students then talk the story.  Each student takes a turn to say a sentence and expand the story.

The post it note is used as a story prompt with sequenced ideas.

If there are students who are stuck, ask them “what do you want to say?” get them to say it and
teacher write it down.  Repeat the next sentence then write it down. Then let them continue on
their own.

Note.ly online post it notes.

Good writers will innovate

Best writers will invent