English at KS3 and dyslexia

The National Curriculum for English is statutory in all maintained, mainstream schools up to and including key stage 4. An appropriate version of the curriculum is used in maintained special schools. Key Stage 3 (KS3) covers years 7-9, children aged 12-14 years.

The challenges for the dyslexic child at KS3 are:

• A greater expectation to use texts to find information, understand concepts and answer questions
• An emphasis on reading for deeper meaning which will challenge the child who struggles with fluency
• A greater demand to write in different styles for different purposes while being grammatically correct

You can:

• Follow the suggestions for KS1 and KS2 and the general advice about dyslexia across subject areas
• Aid memory by providing memorable pegs upon which to hang facts in the appropriate place for easy retrieval
• Give them time to write down homework. Let them copy it down, rather than dictating. Or give hand-outs stating the date it is due
• Write down key vocabulary (all pupils benefit from this) and think about how to group ideas and concepts using colour coding
• Ensure that the dyslexic pupil can be assessed in other ways than just writing – perhaps they could record their work, or make a poster to display the information