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Please find attached the draft Dyslexia Guidance (2012) document to be read in conjunction with the draft Dyslexia Policy (2012). These documents are to replace the existing Policy and Strategy Statement on Children with Dyslexic Difficulties (2002). If you would like to make any comments on the draft Dyslexia Policy or Guidance documents, please send them to Joyce Monroe, Senior Educational Psychologist, Department for Education and Children, by Friday May 11th 2012.
Joyce Monroe Senior Educational Psychologist
Department for Education and Children Hamilton House
Peel Road Douglas
Isle of Man IM1 5EZ
Tel.: +(44) 1624 686084 Fax: +(44) 1624 686633
Consultation closing date: Friday 11th May 2012
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CONTENTS
Section
Page
A Checklist of early characteristics that may indicate dyslexia
4
B Checklist of school-age indicators of dyslexia
6
C Graduated Response
8
D Grid 5: Cognition and Learning 9
E Strategies to support the pre-school child
10
F Strategies to support the school-age student
12
G* Resources
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* In order to reflect the most up-to-date information available about resources,
Section G will be updated regularly, and may be viewed and/or downloaded
from the Special Needs Wiki. Any changes to this document will be
highlighted in yellow to make them easier to locate.
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Section A Checklist of early characteristics that may* indicate dyslexia
*Words of caution:
The characteristics listed below will be present, to some extent, in all very young
children because skills develop at different rates in different children. It is important
not to read too much into the observations other than to give an indication of areas
that may benefit from some additional support. Strategies to help the development
of these areas may be found in Section E.
1. Family history of dyslexia
2. Speech and language:
Slow speech development.
Word finding difficulties.
Word mispronunciation – e.g. ‘ambliance’ for ‘ambulance’, ‘pasghetti’ for
‘spaghetti’.
Jumbling words.
Difficulties finding words that rhyme.
Difficulties finding words that start with the same letter, e.g. pretty Polly
picked a …….
3. Auditory processing:
Difficulties following a rhythm, e.g. in clapping games.
Difficulties remembering and following instructions, particularly if there is
more than one part to the instruction, e.g. go and get teddy and put him in
the basket.
Difficulties learning nursery rhymes.
Difficulties remembering sequences, e.g. days of the week, months of the
year.
Unable to remember own birthday, address or phone number.
4. Sequencing:
Difficulties fastening buttons, learning to tie laces.
Difficulties learning to dress, i.e. the order in which the clothes have to be
put on.
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Difficulties sorting beads by shapes.
Putting shoes on the wrong foot.
Difficulties turning taps on and off because of not remembering which way
they have to be turned.
5. Motor skills:
Difficulties learning to use scissors.
Difficulties learning to hold a pencil correctly, and may continue to hold it
awkwardly.
Difficulties maintaining balance (especially when blindfolded), e.g. standing
on one foot.
Clumsiness, e.g. difficulties skipping, hopping, throwing or catching a ball.
Difficulties learning to ride a bike.
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Section B Checklist of school-age indicators of dyslexia
1. Family history of dyslexia
2. Development of reading skills:
Difficulty learning to recognise words.
Particular difficulty learning to recognise small prepositions, such as ‘to’, ‘by’’,
‘so’, ‘of’, and often omitting these words when reading.
Struggle to learn phonics.
Difficulty using phonics to help decode unfamiliar words.
Poor use of context in reading.
Difficulty retelling what s/he has read.
Confusing words that have similar structure, e.g. reading ‘sheep’ as ‘sleep’,
‘useless’ as ‘unless’, ‘casual’ and ‘causal’.
Dislike of reading.
Reluctance to read for enjoyment, even when the student has age-
appropriate reading skills.
Difficulty interpreting written questions, and a discrepancy between his/her
ability to answer a written question, and when the question is read out.
Verbal/comprehension/intellectual skills considerably in advance of reading
skills.
3. Development of writing skills:
Difficulties learning to spell; not picking up on patterns or rules of spelling.
Able to learn spellings one night, but forgetting them by the following day.
Inconsistent spelling; spelling the same word differently throughout the same
sentence or same piece of work.
Bizarre spellings.
Poor handwriting: poorly formed letters, uneven size, uneven spacing,
inconsistent placement on the lines.
Mixing capitals and lower-case letters.
Poor punctuation.
Lack of quality and quantity in written work.
Verbal/comprehension/imagination/intellectual skills considerably in advance
of writing skills.
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Very slow speed of handwriting.
Very quick speed of handwriting (and often difficult to read) in the older
student.
Finds it difficult to read back his/her own handwriting, and interpret questions
based on his/her own writing.
4. Working memory deficit:
Difficulty remembering what day of the week it is.
Difficulty understanding the concept of yesterday/today/tomorrow.
Difficulty with sequencing tasks: the alphabet, days of the week, months of
the year, multiplication tables.
Finds simple mental arithmetic very difficult.
Difficulty remembering timetable requirements, e.g. where s/he should be, or
what equipment is required on which day of the week.
Forgets what homework requirements are, or forgets to do homework.
Unable to remember words and phrases that are dictated.
Very slow to copy from the board.
Difficulty remembering instructions given verbally, particularly if they have
more than one part.
NB: When difficulties are first noted, the teacher/SENCo should ensure that
the student has had a recent hearing test to rule out the possibility that
delay/difficulty is the result of a hearing deficit, and a recent eyesight test to
rule out the possibility of any visual problems.
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Section D Grid 5: Cognition & Learning
Assessments
Teacher based assessment RAP based assessment Teacher observations - discrepancy between verbal and written Dyslexia checklist PM Benchmark (Decoding/Comprehension) Letters & Sounds Writing assessments Parallel Spelling Test
GL Assessment - Dyslexia Screener (online) Lucid LASS - 8-11 years (available on sen assessment laptop) Lucid RAPID - 4-11 years (available on sen assessment laptop) Lucid ABILITY 4-11 years (available on sen assessment laptop) Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB) Smart Cat Learning - 4-8 years (online) www.smartcatlearning.com
Interventions
ICT Resources
✓ Ten Thumbs (CD) www.tenthumbstyping.com ✓ BBC Dance Mat (online) www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing ✓ Text to speech - (go to system preferences - speech) ✓ Sound Studio ✓ Audio books above decoding level ✓ Kidspiration -mindmapping ✓ Dragon Dictate www.dyslexic.com ✓ Nessy Games Player (CD) www.nessy.com ✓ Nessy Learning programme (CD/downloadable) www.nessy.com ✓ Word Shark (CD) www.wordshark.com
Dyslexia friendly environment & access strategies (pastel paper, reading rulers, limited copying off the board, visual strategies (Read Write Inc/Jolly Phonics) and coloured overlays etc. ✓ Use different ways of recording composition ✓ Join a guided reading group above decoding level/listen to audio
books ✓ Active Literacy (ALK) ✓ Yes We Can Read www.yeswecanread.co.uk ✓ Five Minute Box www.fiveminutebox.co.uk ✓ Mind-Mapping ✓ HFW flashcards (for those with a good visual memory)
ipad applications Reference
✓ Dragon Dictate ✓ Dyslexia Quest ✓ Hairy Letters ✓ Hairy Phonics (due out this spring 2012) ✓ What is dyslexia?
Removing Dyslexia as a Barrier to Achievement Neil MacKay
www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk
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Section E Strategies to support the child at pre-school
To encourage the development of speech and language:
Play rhyming games, for example, make up nonsense words that rhyme with
a real word, such as happy, clappy, dappy, nappy, mappy, sappy etc.
Learning nursery rhymes.
Playing games of snap with rhyming pairs of picture cards.
Making up alliterative sentences, such as ‘Pretty Polly Perched on the Plastic
Pram’, or ‘Bertie Banana Bent the Branch and Bounded up the Bank’.
Playing I Spy games.
Odd-one-out games with words that start with the same letter, such as ‘Silly
Sam Seen Running Sideways’, and the child has to identify the word that is
the odd-one-out.
Sharing and reading picture/story books to the child.
Talking to the child and using every opportunity to extend his/her vocabulary.
For example, if the child points to and names ‘ball’, the adult could extend
this and say ‘yes, that’s a big yellow ball’.
To encourage the development of auditory processing:
Encourage the child to identify, with eyes closed, familiar noises, e.g. rustling
paper, spoon on a bowl, clink of coins etc.
Sit a group of children in a circle. Choose one child to sit in the centre of the
circle with his/her eyes closed. The teacher points to a child seated round
the edge and this child has to whisper the name of the child who is sitting in
the center. The child in the centre has to guess which child has whispered
his/her name.
Playing games such as ‘When I went shopping I bought a …..’ and the child
has to remember an ever increasing list of items.
Make sure that the speaker has the child’s full attention before giving any
instructions.
Ask the child to repeat back an instruction to encourage deeper processing of
the information.
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To encourage the development of sequencing skills:
Encourage the child to verbalise the sequence of common actions, such as
‘Look right, look left, look right again’, or ‘First, toothbrush, second, top off
the toothpaste, third, squeeze the toothpaste, fourth, brush teeth, fifth, rinse
with water’.
Give each child in the group a number, and then get the children to line
themselves up in the correct sequence. Extend this by getting the children to
muddle themselves up and then re-order.
Get the children to copy a sequence of actions demonstrated by the teacher.
To encourage the development of motor skills:
Bead threading.
Pegs and peg board.
Constructing out of building blocks.
Cutting-out.
Therapeutic putty.
Drawing, colouring, and painting
Throwing and catching a soft ball.
Skipping.
Ride-along toys, scooters, tricycles.
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Section F Strategies to support the school-age student
There is no way to predict with any certainty the outcome for a dyslexic student with
respect to the development of his/her lower-order literacy skills (see section 6.2.4 in
the Policy). What is vitally important is that the student’s ability to access the
curriculum and make good progress with his/her learning is not affected by the
specific difficulties s/he has in this area.
All students differ in their unique combination of patterns of strengths and
weaknesses, learning styles, and learning needs, and this difference is further
complicated by the changing demands of the curriculum as the student progresses
through school. Each student will therefore respond to, and benefit from, different
types of support and differentiation at different times in their school career.
Flexibility is therefore a key issue, along with clear learning objectives and a
willingness of the teachers to accept different forms of evidence of success.
Of primary importance is that the dyslexic student’s self-esteem is protected. S/he is
likely to be only too aware of his/her inadequacies, and will need constant
encouragement to build confidence. Encouraging the student to take an active part
in his/her own learning programme will help him/her become aware of what s/he
needs in order to make the best progress with his/her learning possible. The
following suggestions may help:
Learning environment:
Seating position: Encourage a dyslexic student to sit in a position in the
classroom where there is the least distraction (i.e. where there will be the
least pupil traffic), and where s/he is facing the board, rather than sitting side
on, or with his/her back to the board. Do this discretely to avoid
embarrassment.
Grouping: Encourage flexible seating arrangements, for example, allow the
dyslexic student to sit with students who match his/her verbal skills during
activities that require discussion in class. Place the dyslexic student where
support is available for activities in which s/he will require support, e.g. sit by
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a fluent reader who can read out text when required, or with a support
teacher who can act as a reader, if no electronic text reader is available.
Homework: Homework can be a particularly difficult area for the dyslexic
student. Avoid setting homework that requires a lot of reading and writing.
Make sure that the student has the homework instructions written down fully;
the easiest way to ensure this is to give out a printed sheet of instructions.
Printed instructions are easier to read and complete, and remove the need to
spend time copying, which is a thankless task for a dyslexic student. Make a
note on the homework instructions how much time the student is expected to
spend on the task. Encourage the parents, or student, to contact the teacher
if homework is taking too long to complete to ensure that the student is not
having to spend much longer doing homework than his/her peers.
Organisation: The use of planners, homework books, home-school books,
email, electronic organisers, and timetables, are all likely to help the dyslexic
student to keep track of what s/he needs throughout the school week.
To support reading
Reading for the dyslexic student can be a very stressful activity, and s/he
may be acutely embarrassed if asked to read out loud in front of his/her
peers. To guard against this, the dyslexic student should only ever read out
loud in class if s/he has requested that s/he does so.
Text-readers: Many dyslexic students find it helpful to use the text-to-speech
facility that is included on all school laptops to support his/her reading of
source material used in lessons. More sophisticated, text-reading software is
available, (see Section G), and the DEC is currently looking into the
possibilities of making such software available centrally for the Island schools.
The student should use any text-reading software in conjunction with
headphones so that s/he does not disturb other students. Benefits of using
this software are:
The student will find it much easier to read and understand the text if
s/he listens to the text being read whilst following the printed text (on
screen or on hard copy).
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The student will be able to access the same complexity of text as
his/her non-dyslexic peers.
The student will be able to see and understand much more complex
words in print than his/her word recognition skills would normally allow.
This will help his/her sight vocabulary to develop, which, in turn, will
help his/her word recognition skills to develop.
The student will develop better listening skills which, s/he will need
should s/he be granted access arrangements that include a reader for
examinations.
Audio books: Reluctant readers should be encouraged to listen to a wide
range of age-appropriate and interesting audio books for the benefits listed in
section 6.2.1.3 in the Policy.
Encourage the dyslexic student to listen to audio books for Guided Reading
tasks or during silent reading times at school.
Paired reading techniques, where a fluent reader reads aloud with the
dyslexic student, can help to build confidence in reading.
To support writing
Give credit for oral responses.
Mark written work on content.
Photocopy notes, and/or print out work from the teacher/s notes for the
dyslexic student to stick in his/her book. Copying from the board or from a
book is a thankless task for a dyslexic student, and the result can be difficult
to read back, inaccurate and incomplete, and the process often causes
frustration.
Be flexible in the type of evidence you will accept to prove that the student
has met the lesson objective. Some students will find it easier to present
written work in bullet points, via a mind-map, using word processing, making
a sound file, or using voice-to-text software to produce hard copy.
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Touch-typing: If the dyslexic student is able to learn to touch type
proficiently, s/he may find that s/he is able to bypass a persistent spelling
difficulty by learning to, literally, spell with his/her fingers. For this to
happen, it is essential that the student follows the lessons in a typing tutor
without looking at his/her fingers. This is to stimulate the brain into
making new neural pathways in which a word is typed by a pattern in which
the fingers move, rather than being written by which letters are needed.
There are some excellent touch typing tutors available (see Section G), and a
large breakfast cereal box, which has had its long thin sides cut out and the
open end taped shut, is an ideal shape to slip over the keyboard of a laptop
to prevent the student from being able to look at his/her fingers whilst
following the instructions on screen.
Word processing: If the student is able to type more easily than write,
encourage him/her to use a word processor, with predictive text, and spell
checker to compose any written work. The benefits of working in this way
are:
The hard copy produced when working with a word processor is neat
and easy to read back.
Many dyslexic students find that they gain in confidence when they
work on a word processor with predictive text and a spell checker.
The student is able to set their ideas down in any order, and can then
use the edit tools to order the work.
Working on a word processor in this way prepares the student for using
this method of working in any examinations (see section 7 in the Policy)
Voice-recording software: The student may find it helpful to use voice
recording software, such as Sound Studio on the Apple laptops, or other
devices. The benefits of working in this way are:
It enables the student to express his/her knowledge or ideas in a way
that is not hindered by any spelling difficulty.
The student is able to listen back and edit the recording, which means
that the ability to edit the work does not depend on the level of the
student’s reading skills.
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Having to listen back to the recording will help with the development of
the student’s listening skills.
After learning how to use the software or device, the student is able to
work independently.
Working in this way helps the student to develop oral composition skills,
and this is good preparation for using access arrangements in
examinations (see section 7 in the Policy).
If the student is proficient at touch-typing, s/he could listen to his/her
recording through headphones and type up a hard copy.
Voice-to-text software: The dyslexic student may find it helpful to learn to
use voice-to-text software, such as Dragon Dictate, or Dragon Naturally
Speaking (see Section G). The benefits of working in this way are:
It enables the student to express his/her knowledge or ideas in a
way that is not hindered by any spelling difficulty.
After learning how to use the software or device, the student is
able to work independently.
If the student has poor reading skills, the voice-to-text software
can be used in conjunction with text reading software.
Learning to use these types of software helps the student to
develop the necessary skills s/he will need for working in this way
during examinations (see section 7 in the Policy).
Mind-mapping skills: Many dyslexic students find it helpful to use mind-
mapping as a way of ‘capturing’ and ordering his/her ideas prior to
writing/dictating. Some benefits of using mind-maps are:
The student is less likely to forget what s/he planned to include if
s/he works from the mind-map when writing/dictating.
The complexity of ideas can often be expressed in a way that is
not hindered by the student’s spelling ability.
The student will have more working memory capacity available
once the ideas being held there are put down on paper in the
mind map. This means that there will be more working memory
capacity available for the student to apply to the quality of his/her
composition.
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Some resources for developing mind-mapping skills may be found in Section G.
To support a working memory deficit:
The student should be encouraged to use any additional time granted in
assessments to write out such aids as multiplication tables, formulae (where
necessary), quotes, names and dates. Once these are captured on paper,
they may then be referred to during the assessment. Because they no longer
have to be remembered, the working memory is emptier and has more
capacity to apply to other tasks.
Protect self-esteem
It is vitally important that the dyslexic student learns to equate his/her
thinking skills, ideas, and creativity, with his/her ability, and does not start to
equate his/her ability with the level of his/her word recognition and spelling
skills.
Take every opportunity to praise the dyslexic student for effort; s/he is likely
to have made considerably more effort than his/her peers, even though s/he
has not achieved the same standard.
Dyslexic students get very tired because of the amount of additional
concentration and effort they have to put in to keep up with a text-based
curriculum. Extra allowances need to be made to take this into account.
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SECTION G Resources
Useful contacts
Manx Dyslexia Association www.manxdyslexia.org Tel: 07624 315 724
British Dyslexia Association www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
Dyslexia Action www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk
Dyslexia Scotland www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk
Department of Education for Children:
Director of Services for Children
Sally Brookes
Department of Education and Children Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas IM1 5EP Tel. 693833
Educational Psychology Service
Joanna Fisher Judith Hedges Joyce Monroe Cheryl Smith
Senior Educational Psychologists
Department of Education and Children, Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas IM1 5EP Tel: 686271
Advisory Teachers
Lizzie Corrin Sue Marriott
SEN Advisors
Department of Education and Children, Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas
IM1 5EP Tel: 686271
Helen Newbery Advisory teachers for SENCo development
Laxey Primary School, Quarry Road Laxey Tel: 861373
Julie Owen Ramsey Grammar School, Lezayre Road, Ramsey, IM8 2RG Tel: 811100
Julie Wilsdon Advisory teacher ICT Department of Education and Children, Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas IM1 5EP Tel: 686389
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Resources:
To support reading
Further information
Features
Kurzweil 3000
www.sightandsound.co.uk. Advanced text-reading software with many other features to help students access and express themselves through text. Many other features available, such as mind-mapping tools, bubble notes, voice notes, highlighting facility. May be used in conjunction with Dragon Dictate so that the student can dictate work and then have the text-reader read it back to them.
Texthelp Read & Write Gold
www.sightandsound.co.uk Software that reads out loud as the student types. Provides full screen reading for any document on the laptop or computer. This also has other features to help with reading and writing.
Textease www.textease.com Easy to use click-to-read facility.
Text-to-speech IT Department Easy to use, slightly robotic voices – on all DEC Apple laptops.
Wordtalk www.wordtalk.org.uk Free Windows text-to-speech plugin for Microsoft Word. This software will speak the text on a document and highlight each word as it is read.
Speak it App for iPad www.apple.com Text-to-speech app for iPad or iPad.
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To support writing
Further information
Features
Dragon Dictate for Mac; Dragon Naturally Speaking for PCs
www.dyslexic.com Speech-to-text software. Requires voice training that can be tricky for young voices to be recognised.
Dragon Dictation www.apple.com Free app for iPad or iPod. Very easy to use – requires no voice training.
Textease www.textease.com Write anywhere facility; voice recording, easy to use.
Clicker 5 www.cricksoft.co/uk Text-to-speech working with Clicker grids.
Writeonline www.cricksoft.co.uk Word processing software that provides text-to-speech, predictive words, & wordbars to help the student to write without being hindered by spelling difficulties
To support mind-mapping
Inspiration www.dyslexic.com Mind mapping software for the older student. Very good templates for many types of written requirements for all subject areas.
Kidspiration www.dyslexic.com Mind mapping software for the younger student. All text and pictures spoken aloud; voice recording facility; can import pictures to make personalised dictionaries.
Novamind www.novamind.com Mind mapping software.
iMindmap www.thinkbuzan.com/uk Mind mapping software.
Mind-mapping in Primary Classrooms Introducing Mind Mapping to Children
Books by Eva Hoffman
Excellent classroom resources for teaching students to mind map.
Mind Mapping for Kids Max Your Memory and Concentration Rev up for Revision
Books by Tony Buzan
Resources for teaching mind mapping and revision skills.
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Touch typing
Further information
Features
Englishtype Junior or Senior
www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk Programme written with dyslexic students in mind. Very well organised, quiet, reinforces all the right areas, low levels of time stress.
Ten Thumbs
www.tenthumbstypingtutor.com This programme saves each child’s progress and gives feedback in terms of % success.
BBC Dancemat
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing
Free to use but very noisy and busy
programme. Liked by some children.
Mavis Beacon www.mavisbeacon.com Good established touch typing programme that has been around for a long time.
Audio Books
May be borrowed from local libraries
e.g. Children’s Library,
Westmorland Road, Douglas.
May be borrowed from on-line libraries:
e.g.
www.listening-books.org.uk
For an annual subscription (which they may waive for cases of financial hardship) books can be streamed to laptop or computer. Can also be downloaded for a limited time, or sent out as MP3 discs to your home. Excerpts of books may be listened to on site. This site has many school text books on audio. As yet, this site only works with PCs but will be making the service available to Mac users in the future.
www.calibre.org.uk Calibre audio library is a charity that will send out for free 3 MP3 discs of your choice to your home with a return
envelope. They will send more discs when the first are returned. Excerpts of books may be listened to on site.
May be bought and downloaded from on-line bookstores.
e.g. www.audible.co.uk
www.apple.com/itunes www.amazon.co.uk
www.waterstones.com
Audio books can be bought and downloaded onto a laptop or computer and then transferred to an MP3 or MP4 player, such as an iPod, for ease of listening. Excerpts of books may be listened to on site.
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Resources for improving reading and spelling
Further information
Features
Various resources that can be bought online for students to engage with at home.
www.nessy.com Fun games for the laptop aimed at improving spelling and reading skills.
Coloured overlays www.crossboweducation.com
www.dyslexic.com
Some students find it easier to read text if it is covered with a coloured plastic overlay.