Dyslexia
At Kip McGrath Selby we help children aged five years and upwards with all levels of English and Maths.
Dyslexia Fact sheet
Your child is struggling at school and you don’t know how to support them. The aim of this fact sheet is to provide parents with information about some of the signs that a child might be suffering with a specific learning disability – or as we like to call it a specific learning “difference” – and some of the specific support that are proven to hep children at all levels of their learning.
We have all heard of “dyslexia”; it is a common learning difference amongst the British population. The statistics demonstrate that at least 1 in 10 children have Dyslexia. However, it is grossly undiagnosed and not funded in state schools as a stand-alone disorder.
Dyslexia is best understood as a persistent difficulty with reading and spelling. People with this condition often have some of the poorest educational and wellbeing outcomes, not only for their schooling but for their lifetime. Dyslexia is a difference that will be experienced for a lifetime and early intervention has proven to be an effective strategy to support.
Dyslexia is highly hereditary and is a difference in the way that the brain works. Often individuals with this difference have tremendous talent in other areas and have extremely productive minds. Let’s just take a moment to reflect on some famous people who have made a significant difference to the life of others: Steven Spielberg was called “lazy” by his teachers and he was bullied by his classmates. Jamie Oliver reports that he didn’t finish reading his first book until he was 38 and talks about being “bored” at school, Sir Richard Branson who is a passionate advocate. All these individuals have been diagnosed with Dyslexia and wish that they had had the intervention earlier in their lives.
As you read this fact sheet please understand that each child is different and not one way of teaching and/or support is the answer.
Common signs of Dyslexia
- They struggle to make sense of decoding words.
- In early years, they had difficulty acquiring and using written and oral language.
- They struggle in the area of phonological awareness, with the blending and segmenting of words.
- They struggle to read fluently.
- They struggle to spell words accurately.
- They demonstrate a weak memory for lists, directions or facts.
- With extensive intervention, they don’t make the same progress as others.
- They perform well in other areas, for example, they can solve a verbal problem.
- They rely on their memory versus lists.
- They often have good verbal communication skills.
- They have the ability to understand verbal instructions; however, on paper they are unable to do so.
- They can often have behavioural concerns such as withdrawal or deferral techniques.
- Learning exhausts, them so they will often sleep more.
- When provided with verbal comprehension they perform better than via written comprehension.
- They dislike reading and spelling and often won’t read a book from start to finish.
- They struggle to concentrate in a learning environment where there is too much visual or auditory stimuli.
- They receive inconsistent marks at school.
- There is a change in achievement test scores and performance.
- They often need to see or hear concepts several times to learn them.
- They demonstrate extreme intelligence in other areas of their schooling such as sport, drama etc…
- They are being called “lazy”, “dumb” and other negative labels.
- In writing they might demonstrate words in accurate order for example:
Original sentence: I have two friends that like blue. What they might read or write: I have tow friens that like blu
They might demonstrate strengths in the following areas
- Generating and comprehending new ideas.
- Strength in finding new and different strategies to solve a problem.
- Flexible in their thinking.
- Inquisitive and ask lots of questions and like to know how things work.
- Often insightful thinkers that can see the big picture.
- Often extremely creative.
- Highly developed in leadership skills.
Evidence based methods to support
- Experience a range of teaching methods.
- Show similar concepts regularly over a period of time.
- Gain an assessment that is functional and descriptive exploring the ways in which one learns and what can be done to support future learning.
- Children at “risk” receive early intervention.
- Use “targeted” tutoring that focuses on a range of teaching methods.
- Regular intervention over time to support and build capacity focusing on reading, comprehension, writing and English skills.
- Provide regular positive feedback about their learning.
- Parents and teacher’s communication.
- Parents having a greater understanding of how to support their young person.
- Regular re-assessments.
- Teacher having greater understanding on how to teach someone with Dyslexia.
- Provide a range of reading materials (make use of comics, reference books, newspapers etc…)
How can the Kip McGrath Education Selby support?
- It is a proven Education System that takes into account a range of teaching methods.
- Each tutor is a qualified teacher who has been provided with a range of professional development that focuses on the ways to support students who are struggling.
- The Kip System has a major focus on reading skills and is highly successful in improving a student’s ability to decode words, understand blends and identify chunks in words.
- Regular consolidation of learning using homework and flexi lessons over the school holidays.
- Students are shown concepts at their own pace and divided into smaller actions.
- We provide young people an opportunity to practice their writing and self-correct.
- It improves vocabulary.
- Students are provided with regular positive feedback (at least 80% of the time) when provided with any feedback they are also given practical ways to improve.
- They system teaches them how to decode words which is the foundation to reading.
- It incorporates a range of comprehension methods, i.e. instructional comprehension.
- It extends their phonic awareness via the use of “targeted” learning activities.
- We teach explicit English skills such as contraction, how to use the prefixes and suffixes to change the meaning of base words, using a homophone in the correct context and other critical English rules.
- Has a proven method of spelling – in the early years, it shows chunking based on sounds and in the later years it provides visual prompts.
- The Kip System is based on individual learning needs as every young person learns differently and doesn’t require a one size fits all model.
- Individual explicit instruction by a qualified teacher.
- Uses psychological principles of learning to tailor activities so there is completion of more than one learning task each session, building confidence in learning and resilience-based skills.
- As part of the session, we build relationships with young people to improve learning.
- Assessment is ongoing and the program is altered accordingly.
- We teach explicit English skills such as contraction, how to use the prefixes and suffixes to change the meaning of base words, using a homophone in the correct context and other critical English rules.
Book a FREE Assessment
A free assessment will determine how your child is really doing in class.
- Conducted by a qualified teacher
- Takes 40 - 60 minutes
- In Centre or Online
Book a FREE Assessment
A free assessment will determine how your child is really doing in class.
- Conducted by a qualified teacher
- Takes 40 - 60 minutes
- In Centre or Online
