As October is Dyslexia Awareness Month, tutor on our Dyslexia CPD course, Georgie Cooney has written a blog on identification of and support strategies for dyslexic learners. Georgie Cooney also runs Dystinction Education.
Few experiences are more disheartening for a teacher than standing before a class and seeing several students struggle to learn, despite their best efforts. After years of training to help children succeed and find joy in learning, it can be devastating to watch some who simply cannot access what is being taught. Among these learners, a significant proportion may experience dyslexia.
If I was to write a blog on how we identify the plethora of different needs in our neurodiverse classrooms, you may well have to invest in a new coffee machine or kettle before you reach the end of it. So, I’m choosing to focus on dyslexia especially as October is Dyslexia Awareness Month.
“Dyslexia is a set of processing difficulties that affect the acquisition of reading and spelling” (Delphi Study, 2025).
The Importance of Ongoing Professional Support
As a teacher, particularly a newly qualified teacher, you really need the support of the leadership and management in your school to continue your professional development. I was once given an excellent piece of advice by the deputy head in the first school I taught in. I remember crying in her room after yet another tough day in the classroom.
“I should never think that I have the answer to everything. That every day of my teaching life – I will learn something new.”
Teachers are also short on time and energy during a busy school term. I highly respect any teacher who goes the extra mile to try and figure out why up to a third of the children in their classroom may not be learning to their full potential. So, if we are in a situation where we feel stuck, hopeless and helpless as a teacher or indeed a parent or carer, what can we do to support those learners to learn differently?
Identifying Dyslexia: Early Signs and Key Indicators
Identifying learners who may have dyslexia can look quite different depending on the stage of education — from early years to post-primary and beyond.
Many students with dyslexia go undiagnosed for years, often relying on their cognitive ability and skills to compensate. However, in more depressing situations the outcome is that they didn’t cope. In fact, they looked for other ways to survive which as we know from statistics*, unrecognised learning needs can lead to alcohol and drug abuse and sometimes crime or imprisonment.
Before assuming a reading difficulty stems from dyslexia, teachers should ensure that vision and hearing have been assessed, as sensory challenges can also impact literacy development. We learn through our senses so if one or more of our senses is having a hard time, then we, the learners, will be having an even harder time.
Early and Pre-Primary Indicators:
Struggles with rhyming and syllable appreciation
Finds it difficult to recognise phonemes (individual sounds) and to sound out simple words
Has trouble recognising common words
Reads word by word with little or no expression
Makes frequent decoding (reading) errors
Often guesses words from pictures, visuals, or context rather than from letters and sounds
Is reluctant to spell or write letters independently
Experiences processing difficulties — their working memory is still developing
May also show expressive speech or language difficulties
Upper Primary Indicators:
Continued difficulty with the above skills
Difficulty with letter–sound knowledge
Difficulty recognising and retrieving regular and irregular sight words
Difficulty accurately copying information
Slow reading
Difficulty learning new words — both decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling)
Idiosyncratic spellings (personal spellings that often make sense only to the learner)
Struggles with the shift from learning to read to reading to learn, which is essential at second and third level
Poor reading fluency
Slow writing speed
Difficulties with organisation and managing work
Low confidence in their literacy abilities
Teachers should also be mindful of the emotional impact of dyslexia. Many learners experience reduced self-esteem and high anxiety. Allowing extra time to process information, complete tasks, and demonstrate understanding can make a meaningful difference.
Executive Functioning and Learning Differences
Many students with dyslexia experience challenges beyond reading and writing — particularly in their executive functioning skills, such as organisation, working memory, and attention. These difficulties often become more evident at second and third level education, where learners are expected to manage complex study routines and independent revision.
So how can teachers help?
If we learn through our senses — and many learners with dyslexia have some form of sensory dysregulation — then we need to teach in a multisensory way. For example, if a child struggles to copy information accurately, then we present the information to them, for them to keep.
As the proverb reminds us:
“Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I shall understand.”
This beautifully captures the importance of teaching in ways that engage all the senses. Teachers can incorporate:
Visuals, documentaries, clips or news
Social media, podcasts, radio, news, sound effects, theme tunes
Drama, dance, and movement-based learning
Sensory elements such as taste and smell in early learning contexts
Collaborative projects and presentations that promote active participation
Technology such as keyboards, PowerPoints, or interactive whiteboards
And, last but not least — games, games, games!
After all, what sticks better: hearing about someone’s holiday, or going on one yourself?
Memory and Retention Strategies for Dyslexic Learners
Another key area for support is memory. Many dyslexic learners have difficulty storing and retrieving words, spellings, and sounds from memory — especially irregular spellings. Helping them strengthen working memory can make learning far more enjoyable and successful.
Here are six effective, evidence-informed strategies teachers can use:
Time Management: Encourage short, frequent practice sessions spaced over time (for example, moving from daily to weekly recollections).
Visualisation: Use imagery or storytelling to make patterns memorable — such as picturing a beach scene when learning the “/ea/” word family: I went to the beach to swim in the sea. I saw my teacher drinking tea. I went to speak to her, and she bought me an ice-cream. She reached out and pointed at a seal and a seagull by the sea. What a dreamy day we had.
Card Games: Repetition through play builds recognition and retrieval — options include AGO cards, Kendore Learning games, and Got It cards. There’s no such thing as overlearning in dyslexia.
Mnemonics: This can be personalised (works better) but you could also have visuals to support acronyms such as, like Big Elephants Can’t Always Use Small Exits (because) or Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move.
Chunking: Group words or ideas into smaller, manageable parts (e.g., “work, working, homework, worked, worker”). Articulating syllables aloud can help — Wed-nes-day, Feb-ru-ar-y, parl-i-a-ment.
Verbal Rehearsal: Classic repetition still works — saying information aloud helps store it in long-term memory through active engagement.
Each of these strategies allows learners to approach reading and writing tasks with greater confidence and independence, transforming frustration into progress.
Building a Supportive and Inclusive Learning Environment
Maybe we can identify and support our learners in schools without having to spend a fortune on training, but wouldn’t it be helpful if we had the backing of those in leadership, both in school and in government? ‘Knowledge itself is power’. We need to arm our dyslexic learners with all the ‘power tools’ they can get to engineer their way through the education system.
* “The rate of dyslexia in prisons is significantly higher than in the general population, with studies reporting figures from 47% to potentially 80% of incarcerated individuals with literacy challenges potentially having dyslexia, according to this 2023 study and this 2022 article from Succeed With Dyslexia” https://www.succeedwithdyslexia.org/blog/low-literacy-in-prisons-what-does-it-mean/
You can learn more about supporting students with dyslexia and other learning differences in our Masters/Postgraduate Diploma in Inclusive and Special Education with Hibernia College, and our Masters in Special and Additional Learning Needs with the University of East London.
Or if you would like a taster of our Dyslexia content, you can try our Dyslexia CPD course this Autumn which runs from 13th October until 7th December and there is a discount for Dyslexia Awareness Month – use code DYSLEXIA2025 for 10% off. You can enrol here.