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Effective Writing Skills for People with Dyslexia – Training Course Outline
Dyslexia affects at least four to five percent of the British population, meaning that nearly three million of us are affected by it to varying degrees. Like everyone else, though, people with dyslexia need to write emails, reports and other work-related documents. Producing clear, concise, well-structured documents can seem difficult and take longer than it should.
We are experts in helping people to communicate effectively with their colleagues and clients. Although there isn't a cure for dyslexia, there are things you can do to improve your ability to write effectively. This dyslexia writing course offers a range of suggestions and experiences, giving you the chance to see what works for you and hints and tips to take away and apply to your own circumstances.
What you will cover during this course
By the end of the day, you will:
- Know how to plan your work more effectively by defining an objective and considering your reader's needs
- See the benefits of good layout and structure and practise ways to implement them
- Learn how to write for maximum readability and assess what to change to make your writing clearer
- Discuss strategies to make it easier to read long or complex documents
- Consider some techniques for time management and personal organisation
- Look at how to proofread your work more effectively
What our clients say
“Giulia was brilliant, very calm and happy to help each time she was asked a question.”
JM, St Mungo’s
“Love the helpful tips on the mouse map. Giulia was excellent, very easy to get along with & great at explaining things.”
CT, Leaseplan
“Overall: Found the course useful – thank you. Proof reading tips were excellent. Training booklet will be used to refer to.”
KP, Leaseplan
How we deliver the Effective Writing Skills for People with Dyslexia course
It is available as a one-day tutor-led Virtual Classroom.
It is suitable for a maximum of eight delegates at a time.
Course Contents
1. A clear objective
- What's the purpose of business writing? Why does it differ from other forms of writing?
- How to plan, and devise a clear objective for your emails and reports
2. Focus on your reader
Pre-Course Questionnaire
When you book we send you a questionnaire which we ask you to return to us before you attend the course. This enables our Trainers to assess your needs in advance.
- Do you know who you're writing for?
- What will they want out of your email or report? The first step to making sure you deliver!
- Key questions to ask about your readers
- How do you satisfy a mixed readership with multiple requirements?
- Considering your readers’ feelings: A look at what makes good email etiquette
3. Create a clear structure
- Deciding what information is relevant – the payoff for having a clear objective
- Deciding the level of detail to include is easier when you've analysed your audience
- Getting to the point and supporting it with enough context
- Your subject is the key to getting your email read – learn some techniques from journalists on writing compelling subject lines
- Structuring longer documents – grouping and sequencing information
4. Writing your document
- Eight principles for effective business writing
- Adapting your style to your reader and to your company standards
- Word™ tools that can help you
- Ensuring your layout helps key information to stand out
- How to write headings that grab attention
5. Reading paper documents
- Using coloured overlays
- Scanning the document quickly before you get into it – things to look for
- Reading aloud
- Getting your computer to read it to you
6. Staying on top of things
- Personal organisers
- To do lists
- Prioritising tasks
- Setting goals that are realistic and achievable
7. Checking your work
- How to write clear sentences
- Common mistakes to avoid
- A top-down approach to improving text – edit like a reader
- Making your text flow – effective transitions from one idea to another
- Improving the layout – highlighting key points
- Proofreading your work – tips to help you see what’s really there
- Is what you've written clear and understandable? How to recognise when it isn't and what to do about it
Appendices
The workbook includes the following useful reference information. We can discuss it as part of the workshop session, or delegates can use it as a resource after the course.
1. Things you didn't know about spelling
- Five principles to help you understand why words are spelt the way they are
- Knowing these helps you see patterns in letter usage and to predict how words are likely to be spelt
- The history of words and the languages they came from
- The meanings of words and their parts
- Single letters, letter combinations and the sounds they make
- How the position of a sound in a word affects its spelling
- A few established conventions and patterns
- The truly irregular words that seem to come up all the time
2. How's your handwriting?
- What causes handwriting to be tiring or illegible?
- Yes, you can blame your tools! What's the best writing implement for you?
- Exercises to keep your hands limber
- Exercises to help you write more legibly
- Taking meeting notes – do you need to write down every word?
3. Aren’t computers meant to make our lives easier?
- Getting the best out of Microsoft Word™
- Can you trust the spell checker?
- What on earth is the grammar checker trying to tell you?
- Making custom dictionaries, exclude dictionaries and the thesaurus work for you.
- Shortcut control keys
4. Exercises
- We provide tried and tested exercises so you can practise the learning points in the course
5. Commonly confused words
- A handy table of the words that the spell checker can miss because they are real words – the difference between affect and effect, there, they're and their, weather, whether and wether: yes, the last one is a real word too!
