Trust                        

Life can get so busy,
Life can move so fast,
that sometimes it's a blessing,

As bad things cannot last.
Try talking to someone you trust
Who can help you work things out
In your heart and mind,
When you're not sure what it's about.
Someone who can listen
and keep your secrets too.
We all need a hand sometimes.
It's okay if it's you. 

It doesn't matter how nice you are to others or how good you usually Feel about yourself, you are going to come across people who are mean, Nasty and aggressive at some time. You can't do anything about how these people behave, but you can do something about how you react to their unkindness.

To beleive in your dreams 
   I dream
   One day I'll do it,
   One day I'll live my dream,
   One day I'll make it.
   I've practiced,
   Day after day,
   "Practice makes perfect,"
   I say to myself.
   I dream, 
   of becoming a race driver and playing the Guitar. 
   Fans, Screaming out MY name, 
   having posters of ME, On THEIR walls
   Meeting famous people,
   traveling the world,
   Fans crowding round, I dream.
   One day I'll have it all,
   Have the power,
   to perform,
    One day.

        Anger                       

I'm feeling really angry
I want to stamp, scream and shout.
I never thought my friends would do that.
Not in my wildest dream.|
I don't think I'll forgive them
For ever and a day.
But, Ill take a breath and listen
to what there got to say.
I'm feeling quite ashamed now.
For shouting out like that
my friend didn't throw it.
The culprit was someone else.
We've come to a solution
"We'll be careful," we said
we shook hands with each other
and were friends again.

Keep a Sense of Humor.

Humor can go along way to relieve the tension caused by frustration

 and embarrassment about learning struggles.

It also helps you and your child stay optimistic about their success.

The Alphabet Arc

This is an aid for when you are using a dictionary, library,

a filing system or any other time you need to know the alphabet.

Paste the arc onto thin card and cut out the semi-circular shape.

Fold it into quarters along the radial lines.

Keep it in your pocket to refer to when you need it.

     To Free the Dragon

        magnificent poem,

      by Anna Evans whose dyslexic/dyspraxic.

      With drawing of dragon by Chris Hayes . .

click on dragon picture Go to poem 

  www.hi2u.org/visitors/dragon.htm

Is It All Worth It? Is walking the tightrope between being a "fussy parent" and being a "concerned parent" worth it? Is taking the time to help your dyslexic become better organized worth it? Is maintaining a positive atmosphere in the face of the 'knife in the stomach slowly twisting' Situation worth it? Believing in your dyslexia against all odds worth it?

 Yes! Yes! Yes, it really is.                                          

"Why is it like that?" He is a free thinker. And struggles with understanding why things are the way they are. Free thinkers do not just accept things; they need a reason and they want to prove or disprove our theories. You have to work with them or fight them. If you can't give an explanation other than "just accept it", you will always have a problem with free thinkers. Of course, I'm not a teacher with 30 individual students going in different directions; I'm a parent who just wants to see my child graduate. But you have to ask yourself if you want your child to be a leader or a follower, to succeed or to struggle. Its good his like that, recognizes his weaknesses and involves key people who compliment those weaknesses; this will help with success later in life. He may be having a hard time in school, but I believe he will do well growing up.

 Love Mum

 Adrian

Your website is amazing even though you say it's for primary school. 

I've used you site for years you can use them for older children with some modifications.

 Dear All,

Oh so often we teachers re-invent the wheel over and over again.

We amass photocopies, notes, concept maps and word processing documents.

We file them in folders, drawers, cupboards, boxes and various other places.

This site is to be my attempt at archiving the primary school based resources

that I have found useful over the last few years and share these with the world,

I also aim to make a little more space in my office :)

cheers  Adrian

Barton-reading & spelling System

             Click picture

The most important thing I've learnt is finding a program and sticking to it.

After many years of frustration and many programs.

The Orton-Gillingham method is the best.

Do your home work every thing you read today tells you that. The Orton-Gillingham method is right. It doesn't matter which one.

A good assessment should tell you how a child learns why they are failing.

Mostly it should point you in the right direction so you and your teachers learn how to help the child.

Dyslexics are gifted at many things. These gifts should be cherished and nurtured and not forgotten in the mad scramble to catch the pupil up with there literacy or numeracy.

There Dyslexia unfortunately is not going anywhere so take time and plenty of breaks.

Dyslexics can't write for hours on end so avoid doing whenever possible. I still find it very hard to be taught anything about words, writing, or spelling. It sets off dreadful tension when under pressure. Finding solutions to a lot of problems, can sometimes takes time to find them. We know our own Dyslexia very well and in my opinion are the best people to analyze the difficulty. We ourselves can come up with solutions when we are adult and even older kids, Dyslexics who have had years of trying to survive in a world which isn't quite designed for us. I also think we vary a lot in how Dyslexia affects us individually.

I decided that most ways of doing things didn't work for me. I responded by finding ways that did, computers and other aids it has become a great deal easier.

Love Mum 

                Taken from "Dyslexia - how to win"

                        by Dawn Matthews

               Tips to Help in Teaching

            a Super-alert Mind 

Concentration

Dawn Matthews says
"At school my reports were strewn with the phrases, 'poor concentration', 'should pay better attention' and 'should try harder'. I see these same phrases on the school reports of the children I teach. If you care to read the biographies of famous dyslexics you will also see that these same phrases were used over and over again as descriptions of them as children. But these people went on to achieve greatness and many have moved the world forward. Albert Einstein in particular was noted for his lack of concentration during his university life, but as it turned out he was concentrating very well. It is just that he was concentrating upon higher and more important things.

Dyslexics seem to be what I call "super alert". We are like wild animals and are taking in everything all the time. We notice every sound, every movement and every action the teacher makes. Our brains are like glass houses where everything in the outside world is seen and heard. The rest of you live in one room, or part of your brain, at a time and can decide what you want to concentrate on. And many of you have the audacity to try to and make us like you.  We are happy to be like us and we frequently grow up to be the higher achievers."

Some of the things he really enjoyed,

Sitting on his bed with a note pad and pen and writing notes to each other.

No pressure on spelling or neatness, the sillier the sentence the more fun it is but you have to start the sentence off with the last word written on the page.

The other thing we would do was write note to each other and fold the paper into a paper airplane and fly them across to each other this was fun too.

Shaving cream - While taking a bath or shower smooth shaving cream onto the wall so they can write words with their finger.

Also writing on windows with Faber-Castell Colour Burst. He loved this and some times would do all his home work on the window.

Off caurse you do have to take a picture so his teacher can see.  

Reading in the Bath - He would listen to audio books while relaxing in the bath.

'b' and 'd' - To help  with  b's and d's  just write 'bed' because it looks like a bed and you can hear it.

'b's and 'd's - to remember how to write  b's and d's by using your hands.  As illustrated.

    

 Hypothetically Speaking is a fun game

Hypothetical situations are situations that are not true. We speak hypothetically when we are talking about situations that are imaginary, impossible, untrue, unreal, improbable, or unlikely. When we speak hypothetically, we use the past tense and would. Here are some examples:

 

          Imagine you were invisible, where would you go?

          If I were invisible, I would spy on my girlfriend.

 

 Suppose you became the president of your country.

What law would you make?

If I were the president I would make a law to

protect the environment.

 

Say you had a time machine. Where would you go?

I would go to see the dinosaurs.

 

What if a genie gave you three wishes?

What would you wish for?

I would wish for 1,000,000 dollars.

 

If you saw a ghost, what would you do?

I would run away.

Underline the past tense and would.

When we introduce hypothetical situations, we often use the following expressions:

                                             If. . .

                                     Suppose . . .

                                             Say . . .

                                       Imagine . . .

                                       What if . . .

                          Hypothetical Situations go to downloads

  

                                                                         A suggestion to remember the tricky word:diarrhoea"
                                            Dash In A Real Rush, Hurry Or Else Accident!

                                                                   More mnemonics -  

ARITHMETIC
A Rat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream

GEOGRAPHY
General Eisenhower's Oldest Girl Rode A Pony Home Yesterday

RHYTHM
Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move

NECESSARY
Not Every Cat Eats Sardines (Some Are Really Yummy)

ARGUMENT
A Rude Girl Undresses; My Eyes Need Taping!

OCEAN
Only Cats' Eyes Are Narrow

Could, would, should - To remember how to spell the end of 'could', 'would' and 'should' - ould - say: oranges up, lemons down!

To help with left right disorientation here's a simple trick: When you hold your hands up in front of you, as you view your thumb and index finger on your LEFT hand, you see the letter "L". Words and symbols are often visually confusing to people with dyslexia.

Make a personal dictionary

Copy into an address book those words you would like to keep for  handy reference.