An Evaluation of a Booklet of Ideas to Support Teachers in Thinking About How to Increase the Independence of Dyslexic Children.

Six primary school teachers and two secondary schoolteachers completed a questionnaire asking them to definedyslexia and to rate their confidence levels in supportingdyslexic pupils. Classroom observations were made in theprimary classrooms to look at the strategies already used byteachers and teachers were able to comment on the strategiesthat they found useful. A booklet of ideas was provided andfive of the primary school teachers completed a secondquestionnaire to evaluate its usefulness in guiding theirclassroom practice. A follow-up observation was made in twoclassrooms to compare the strategies being used. Teacherswere found to define dyslexia using constructs that weredifferent to those they used when considering pupils withreading or spelling difficulties. The booklet was found to leadto a significant increase in confidence amongst teachers(p=0.043) and to an increase in the number of strategiesreported to being used. Observations revealed an increase instrategies used by teachers and an increase in pupil on-taskbehaviour in the two classes observed.