Dyslexia Policy Template – Primary
1. Purpose of this Document
This policy sets out how <INSERT SCHOOL NAME> provides support to dyslexic students. The school aims to provide a consistent, whole-school approach to support the needs arising from dyslexia. We aim to work in partnership with parents/guardians to optimise the learning experiences and progress of our dyslexic students.
2. What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. It is characterised by difficulties with phonological processing, rapid naming, working memory and processing speed. These difficulties occur across a range of intellectual abilities and educational experiences.
Dyslexia can also be understood as persistent difficulties with reading and spelling that cannot be explained by anything else, e.g. long-term absences. We recognise that students with dyslexia will have personal strengths in other areas.
Whilst the school can refer a number of students to NEPS for educational psychology assessments, these are limited in number and tend to be targeted to more complex needs. Parents are therefore often advised to seek a formal assessment of dyslexia through a suitably qualified private educational psychologist. See Dyslexia Ireland’s guidance on this.
3. Trained and Supported Teachers
Effective literacy instruction starts in mainstream classes. Our school aims to provide access to training for teachers to ensure that they have the relevant skills to best support their students with dyslexia.
The school also supports Special Education Teachers (SET) to access additional training that will assist them in their targeted work with dyslexic students, and to share best practice with other teachers across the school in an advisory role.
4. Supporting Identified Needs
Students with the greatest level of need will receive the greatest level of targeted support in our school, in line with the Continuum of Support Framework and associated guidance set by the Department of Education and Youth. Support is allocated on a needs basis and is not dependent on a professional diagnosis or report.
The benefits of early targeted structured literacy intervention are well evidenced. To reflect this we make sure our SETs prioritise the early years (Junior Infants up to Second Class) as much as possible. Additional support is, of course, also available for older students as required, and this support builds on the early foundations that have been put in place in the earlier years.
Classroom Support is delivered by class teachers who have primary responsibility for all their students, including those with dyslexia. They have responsibility for scaffolding learning and providing daily small group instruction with differentiated support as required.
School Support is available for those students who require additional targeted support. This is generally provided in the form of small group withdrawal or more focused groupwork within a class. This additional support is provided as soon as need is identified – as early as Junior Infants in some cases.
School Support Plus is for a small number of students who require more intensive support, including those with very significant dyslexia and/or co-occurring needs. This is generally provided in the form of small group withdrawal or occasionally one-to-one support.
Any additional literacy instruction support (school support, school support plus) does not take place during whole-class literacy instruction time but is in addition to this.
Following the science of learning evidence on ‘spaced distribution’, the school endeavours to schedule support sessions in a way that optimises learning, i.e. more shorter sessions, rather than fewer longer sessions. For example 20 minutes per day, four days a week is preferable to 40 minutes twice a week.
Please note that whilst the school will endeavour to provide support as planned, there is always a need for flexibility with this to reflect unplanned factors such as staff illness or teacher availability, recruitment, exceptional demand levels and/or SET allocation levels.
5. Effective Teaching Programmes
Structured literacy approaches, that are supported by research, are used in both mainstream and SET settings. This involves explicit, systematic and cumulative teaching of reading and spelling. Sessions of additional teaching should support both the reading (decoding) and spelling (encoding) skills of students simultaneously.
The programmes and interventions used in the school have been chosen carefully to align with Dyslexia Ireland’s guidance on effective interventions. These include UFLI, Spelling for Life, Nessy Reading and Spelling and the Dcode/Ncode programme; and decodable reading schemes as required until decoding skills have been suitably developed (e.g. Beanstalk, Red Squirrel, Express, Phonics Books). Programmes that were used in the past that do not align with this guidance have been discontinued. < SCHOOLS CAN INDIVIDUALISE THIS PARAGRAPH TO REFLECT ACTUAL PRACTICE >
Students accessing extra support will also engage with other aspects of literacy to develop wider skills such as vocabulary and a wider appreciation of literature as part of a knowledge rich curriculum.
6. Parent and Student Voice
Partnership with parents/guardians is a vital component of providing support to our dyslexic students. Parents are encouraged to raise any issues or concerns about their child’s literacy development with the school at the earliest opportunity.
Parents are provided with a copy of their child’s Student Support Plan in October (for students at School Support or School Support Plus levels) and this is also reviewed throughout the year, with parents invited to share their perspective of their child’s progress.
The voice of the child is also included in this planning and review, in an age-appropriate way. Parents are also directed to the advice and resources of Dyslexia Ireland including their webinars and other resources.
7. Differentiated Homework
The school has a separate Homework Policy which includes guidance for how parents and guardians can support their child with homework, along with approximate guidelines for how long homework should take depending on the age of the child. It is very much recognised that homework can be additionally challenging for children with dyslexia and we encourage parents to share any issues with us without delay. This will enable us to look at how homework can be differentiated to suit the learning needs of the child.
8. Assistive Technology
Technology can be available to students for parts of their day as appropriate to their age, educational needs and the availability of devices within the school. This technology, which includes the use of a laptop or tablet, speech-to-text and text-to-speech, is designed to support students to access the curriculum to the fullest extent. The use of technology is guided by the school’s Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP).
Parents are encouraged to register their dyslexic child for a Bookshare account to access textbooks and other reading materials in accessible formats, e.g. digital and audio books. In a small number of cases the school may be able to apply for funding for additional assistive technology from the Department of Education and Youth.
9. Irish Exemption
The school follows the guidance issued by the Department of Education and Youth in relation to exemptions from Irish. A small number of students in the school may meet this criteria.
10. Identity and Self Esteem
As well as providing the appropriate teaching and learning supports as set out above, it is important that the school also supports the self-esteem and well-being of dyslexic students. We do this by enabling students to succeed with their learning and develop a positive connection with their teachers. We focus on supporting them (and their peers) to understand and accept learning differences as part of human diversity.
11. Getting In Touch
To discuss any of the above please contact <ADD RELEVANT SCHOOL CONTACT DETAILS HERE>.
