When schools ask us "where do we start with dyslexia?" the honest answer is: not with a new program. Start with the room. The cumulative effect of a dozen small environmental changes is often larger than the effect of any single intervention, costs almost nothing, and helps every learner, not just the diagnosed ones.
the board and the slides
- Cream or pale grey background, never bright white. White paper and white slides cause visual stress for a meaningful minority of pupils.
- Sans-serif font (Lexie, Open Dyslexic, or just Verdana / Arial). Minimum 14pt on slides; bigger is better.
- Left-aligned, never justified. Justified text creates rivers of white space that dyslexic readers track instead of the words.
- Line spacing of 1.5. It costs you one extra slide and saves a child five minutes of re-finding their line.
the worksheet
- Chunk instructions: one instruction per line, numbered. "Read the passage, underline the verbs and answer questions 1–4" becomes three lines.
- Leave generous white space. A crowded sheet looks like a wall.
- Offer the same task at two text-density levels. Same content, different presentation. No child has to ask for the easier version.
- Print on cream or pastel paper for any child who's said colour helps. A ream of cream paper costs less than one staff training afternoon.
the routines
- Never ask a struggling reader to read aloud cold. If you want them to read, give them the passage the day before so they can rehearse it. Their dignity is worth the prep.
- Give instructions verbally and in writing, every time. Dyslexic working memory drops a step otherwise.
- Allow voice notes or typed responses for any task where the assessment isn't handwriting itself. You're testing their thinking, not their pen control.
- Use a visible timer for any timed task. Anxiety is half the battle and uncertainty fuels it.
the language
Two phrases to retire from the classroom vocabulary: "just sound it out" (they are; it isn't working today) and "you read this perfectly yesterday" (yes, and today is a different day with a different brain). Two phrases to add: "would you like me to read this with you?" and "that was a hard one, well noticed."
the tools
Have at least one assistive reading tool available in the room and normalised through use, not as a special accommodation handed to one child, but as a thing anyone can pick up. Wobble, an audiobook station, a coloured-overlay drawer, a reading ruler. When the tools are visibly normal, the children who need them stop feeling singled out, and the children who don't need them often discover that they preferred reading with one anyway.
None of this requires a policy. Most of it can be done by Friday.