Dyslexia Games Manual

Dyslexia Games Manual will help you support pupils with dyslexia by developing the auditory and visual awareness necessary to improve your literacy skills

'Out of every 10 people you know, one will be dyslexic'  British Dyslexia Association

'This condition should not hinder young people's education and life chances. Sadly, it all too often does. We need to be better at identifying pupils with dyslexia and then supporting them.' Schools Secretary Ed Balls

It is highly recommended that all pupils with dyslexia should be taught using a course that is not only multi-sensory, but also one that is totally structured.

Dyslexia Games Manual offers a range of games on easily photocopiable sheets that come in an A4 ringbound folder. The 55 games fall into six main areas:

16 x memory − to improve visual and auditory memory.

13 x organisational − to improve understanding of connections, sequencing, orientation and categorisation.

2 x key words exercises − to help pupils recognise individual words and strengthen sequential memory.

15 x word building − to encourage pupils to recognise regular spelling patterns.

3 x story building − to reinforce spellings of common words and develop concepts of sequences of events, leading to better storytelling and story writing.

6 x literacy skills revision − to improve reading of difficult words, without the aid of context.

Dyslexia Games Manual allows you to use the power of games to increase concentration and develop motivation. The games also aim to increase self-confidence and raise self-esteem.

The games focus around the reasons behind the problems a pupil with dyslexia experiences. Pupils with dyslexia have difficulty spelling because the relevant part of their memory is not well developed. The aim of the games in this manual is to help develop that part of the brain by persuading the pupil to take part in activities that will stretch their different memory functions.

Example of a game Game 6: Rhyming memories Equipment: A set of cards Aim: To offer an alternative way of memorising sequences and to encourage the pupil/student to think about memory and ways to improve it. Instructions: a) Write out the numbers 1 to 10 either on paper, or if possible on cards, with one number on each card. b) Ask the pupil/student to find a word that rhymes with each number and write it down. This can be done by writing the rhyming word on the reverse of the card carrying the number. Thus on the front of a card there would be the number 1, while on the reverse would be a word such as "bun". (The more concrete the word the better.) Follow-up activities Give the pupil/student a list of nouns to remember. The pupil/student associates each noun with the rhyming word of the number. So if the first noun is "computer" the pupil/student remembers a computer with a bun sitting on the screen. This image can stay in the memory for a long time. It is important to talk to the pupil/student about memory as something which can be developed and improved, if the right methods are found. It is very important the pupil/student understands that we are talking about developing memory by positive action. Discussion about "having poor memory" should be banished. Memory can be improved just as a pupil/student's ability can be improved through proper training. We remember best through the process of association, whether through understanding or through a trick of association.

Dyslexia Games Manual will help you recognise that, while the playing of games can alleviate and reduce tension, they can stop being fun and become more like work if not presented correctly to students.

The Dyslexia Games Manual provides useful guidelines like:

• Play the games for short spells each day - 10 minutes a day will make a significant difference to a pupil's ability.

• Vary the games day to day - don't stick with one game until the pupil has had enough of it. If the pupil asks for a particular game again, do allow this, but only for a few minutes.

• Encourage competition if the emphasis is on improving 'personal best' and try to avoid obvious failure. Most of the games can be played by an adult or a pupil, or by a pupil alone, or by two, three and four dyslexic pupils.

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