If a phonic intervention is not working change to a whole word approach

• Use dyslexia friendly fonts and worksheets
• Comic sans is very friendly, and works well for children
• Century Gothic also works well and, like Comic sans, avoids the confusion between a and a
• Tahoma is a simple font yet looks more professional than Comic sans
• Use cream or buff paper to avoid glare

Write clearly on the whiteboard and set it to a pastel background

• Use a different colour for each line: this helps pupils with tracking difficulties keep their place
• Experiment with plastic coloured overlays (the research evidence is weak but some children benefit from it)
• Encourage the use of a ruler or piece of card to cover over the rest of the text, this reduces distractions
• Encourage the use of a focal marker – finger or pen, this draws the eyes to where the focus needs to be

Use reading partners (peers or adults)

• Teach able readers how to share the reading with a child who is struggling
• Encourage “paired reading” especially at home
• Make school correspondence clear and in an easy to read format - parents may have dyslexia, too!