Transition to Secondary School

The transition from primary school to secondary school can prove a difficult time for dyslexia students .

Very often their achievement and attainment can drop while they adjust to new teachers and different course requirements.

The difficulties they face in secondary schools include:


• teachers who do not know about how dyslexia affects the individual.
• lots of subject teachers and a need to remember more names.
• timetable – trying to remember which subject, which teacher and on what day.
• more books and equipment – what is needed each day.
• lots of homework – what to do for each day and has it been copied correctly.
• new terminology in new subjects – information overload.
• fewer opportunities for reinforcement.
• an increase in written recording across the curriculum – concerns about spelling etc.


Helpful Hints

Make sure that every night your child checks their timetable and packs their bag for the next day.

Make plenty of copies of the timetable.One should be kept in the childs school bag , some kept at home . Put up the timetable in a prominent place.

You could make a Visual Timetable as this can be easier to read :
Colour the weekly timetable with a different colour for each subject.
Also you could have pictures to help your child remember the subjects.

Get your child to use different coloured folders to put their books or worksheets in for each subject. This will help them organise and find their work quickly. You can colour the weekly timetable to match the folders.

Set up five box files, labelled for each day of the week. The coloured folder is put in the box file for the day when it is next require (e.g. Monday).

Encourage your child to start the homework as soon as it is given.

Teach your child memory skills inc mnemonics and mind-mapping.

Make sure your child has a notebook to write important messages in .

Don’t forget to praise your child when he completes homework on time and remembers messages sent from school. !!


www.dyslexiatransition.org/

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/other/other.htm

Primary Resources have some visual timetable pictures you can copy - see under classroom display resources .

Dyslexia Scotland has developed some good information about secondary school subjects eg Dyslexia and science subjects.