Strategies for success
Learners with dyslexia have strengths in conceptualisation and creativity. However people with dyslexia are likely to experience challenges with reading or writing, which can adversely impact learning.
In a recent project at Otago Polytechnic students with dyslexia from a range of disciplines shared what they found helpful to learning within a support group setting. In conjunction with the students Barbara Perry produced a set of strategies which educators can use to work inclusively with students with dyslexia. These included various computer programs, visual strategies, oral strategies and additional supports.
The results from this project form the basis for a chapter recently published by Barbara and Margaret McKenzie in a book to reach other educators interested in inclusive education practices, Inclusive Theory and Practice in Special Education edited by Henriette van Rensburg and Shirley O’Neill. Barbara and Margaret describe the development and implementation of a co-constructed, collaborative approach to the project using student and teacher perspectives and experiences to identify success strategies for students with dyslexia. From this base Margaret and Barbara have gone on to produce a methodological approach constructed to use new ethnographic lens research methodology in the fields of Inclusive and Special Education.
Barbara and Margaret intend to offer workshops for interested staff using these strategies to work with learners directly and for researchers to explore these approaches to develop collaborative projects with learners.