Academic Support
How academic tutors can help
- Give presentation materials or lecture notes in advance of a lecture
- Allow lectures / seminars to be recorded
- Allow plenty of time for information to be copied or written down
- Present information in a variety of formats (eg diagrams, flow charts, mind maps)
- Overview / outline / recap / reinforce information presented in lectures
- Give directed reading / reading lists in advance to allow students time to read core coursework texts
- Stagger deadline dates for submission
- Offer tutorials on structure and planning
- Give topic in advance rather than extending deadlines
- Give option of oral or combination of written and oral presentation
Handouts
- Use pastel coloured paper (eg pale yellow or blue)
- Use Arial font (12,14)
- Use double line spacing
- Leave a wide margin to allow student to make own notes
- Make headings clear
- Keep language plain
- Bullet point material
- Provide a glossary at the beginning
Marking
Work of dyslexic students may lack structure and make it difficult for staff to see good ideas and understanding. It is therefore recommended that staff marking work of dyslexic students try to adopt the following:
- Read fast, looking for ideas and understanding
- Make constructive comments
- Identify errors clearly so that the student can learn from the correction
- Look for evidence of course reading
- Try to give feedback in person
