Reading, Writing & Spelling Interventions
It can be very common for neurodiverse children to experience difficulties in learning to read, write and spell. In this article, brought to you in partnership with The ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity, we share five key ways to help your pupils develop their reading and writing skills.
Consider the format of written material
Chose texts that have a larger font size or teach the learner to use any available accessibility tools on their device to change the font size. Include more space between words, in the margins and between the lines and avoid texts which have a lot of other stimulation on the page. For example, multiple blocks of text in different places around the page or information, pictures, graphs or diagrams which are not obviously linked to the subject of the text. If your pupil has so much information to process at one time, they will spend so much effort in doing this that it will impact upon their ability to really understand what the text is communicating.
Multi-sensory approach to spelling
Use beans, peas, beads or small stones to spell out a word, using different colours to differentiate one letter from the next. Draw a word in the air or trace letter shapes in sand, whilst saying the letter or word whilst the child is drawing it. These are useful ideas for children with dysgraphia or dyspraxia (DCD) who might find writing implements challenging. Similarly, an alphabet set of rubber stamps involves lots of movement and avoids writing by hand.
Memory difficulties
When many children learn to read, they start by hearing the sounds in a word and then learn to link that sound to a letter. The child then learns to recognise the letters which map to those sounds and correctly translates this into written language. This involves effective use of short-term memory, especially when the word is not spelled the way it is pronounced or when using homophones (words which sound the same but are written differently), for example, “there” and “their.” Many neurodiverse children and young people can experience difficulties with both short term and working memory. One strategy is to encourage lots of reading, the more a child sees a word in context, then the easier it can be to remember how the word is spelt.
Introduce alternative formats such as audio books
Consider using audio books alongside the written book to engage their auditory processing skills. Auditory processing explains what the brain does with the auditory signals (sounds) that we hear and how we understand them. Listening to the audio book at the same time as reading the book will help your pupil to comprehend what they are reading whilst practicing eye tracking. Chose audio books that have variable speed options so you can slow down the speaker, select books in which the speaker is vocally expressive and engaging and use noise cancelling headphones, which will reduce peripheral distraction and help them to focus more easily.
Understand that letter formation can take time and practice
Forming letters correctly takes cognitive resources and coordination of fine-motor skills, before the practice becomes automatic for a child. If these difficulties persist, it could be because the child is dyslexic, dysgraphia or has problems with visual processing. Lots of multi-sensory and tactile practice with a range of different objects will help to develop letter formation.