1. Supporting Students with Learning Difficulties at Theatretrain
Samantha Pryke – Dyslexia and SpLD Tuition

2. What is dyslexia? Poor decoding and reluctance to read aloud
Language development difficulties – pronunciation, difficulty with rhyme.
Struggles to organise themselves
Difficulty with remembering sequences, e.g. the alphabet, days of the week, date of birth.
Struggles to follow all the instructions given.
Struggles to remember a message, e.g. ‘Please tell Annie that we need to finish 5 minutes earlier today.’
Poor working memory – remembering things from session to session and then applying what they have learnt to a new context
Slow processing speed – ability to take lots of information in quickly

3. What does it feel like?

4. What can dyspraxia look like?
Poor balance
Poor co-ordination between sides of the body, and poor hand-eye co-ordination
Lack of physical stamina – cannot stand for long, poor posture
May dislike certain textures, e.g. of costume fabric, paper
Untidy
Struggles to process instructions or take in verbal information
Poor planning of actions – may not always do things in the logical way
Poor sense of spatial awareness
Unnecessary ‘accessory’ movements, e.g. flaps arms when running
May be unusually slow to do things
Not always able to apply the correct pressure or strength to something
Poor awareness of time, distance, speed, weight
Poor sense of rhythm
Struggles with volume control of voice

5. What does it feel like?

6. Multilingual Students
Link vocabulary to movement
Have some words in their language or with a picture (e.g. improvise, make up your own, repeat)
Sometimes use a set warm up
Using music from their country

7. What is AD(H)D?
Easily distracted, needs frequent reminders to be back on task
Does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
Finds it difficult to remember and follow instructions
Difficulty holding their interest in one thing for an extended period, particularly if they don’t find it personally interesting
Daydreams/spaces out
Can be sluggish/lethargic
Loses things/disorganised

8. What is AD(H)D? Cannot sit still Doesn’t stop talking!
Often reaches for something to hold/play with/put in mouth
Intrudes in other people’s space
Difficulty waiting to be chosen/turn-taking
Impulsive – wants things immediately, struggles to stop and wait, struggles to stand in line
Accident prone

9. Attention Sharing

10. What can ASD look like? Literal understanding of language
Difficulty with understanding sarcasm or hints
Difficulty meeting expectations of conversation, e.g. talking at length about their own interests
Slower processing speed
High level or low level of sensory sensitivity – may not like certain sounds, textures, tastes, touch.
May have highly focused interests, e.g. being an expert on something
May seek out time without other people
May like to have routines

11. What does it feel like?

12. What challenges might these students find in a Theatretrain dance lesson?
What can they bring to your lesson?

13. If a child with dyspraxia joined your classroom now, what are you doing already to help them feel included? What would you change?
Your Centre director comes to you next Saturday and lets you know that a new student with ADHD has just joined the Centre. What would you do to help support them?

14. Creating a ‘friendly’ space
Praising effort
Have a visual timetable up
Ask students if they want the rest of their group to know about their learning difficulty
Clear, to the point instructions
Having a buddy
Pacey lessons

15. Creating a ‘friendly’ space
Name games/ball games
Costume textures
Naming costumes, dressing room space
Pre-empt the ‘sticky’ points and ask if the child needs anything
Create a group that is accepting of different people (no cliques)
Be as organised as possible beforehand

16. Amy has no sense of rhythm and is always a beat behind everyone else
Amy has no sense of rhythm and is always a beat behind everyone else. She tries hard and her parents say she practises a lot at home, but she is still often the one looking over her shoulder so that she can copy the others. She doesn’t know her left from her right. Sometimes, she needs to be taken through steps unusually slowly, because she can’t follow how one movement transitions into the next one, even after being shown several times.

17. Stephanie is very ‘wet’ and floppy, she never really seems to put much effort in and wants to sit down at every possible moment. When the whole group is being taught moves slowly, she can’t focus for long and is often not concentrating, meaning she ends up doing her own thing or not seeming to try to learn them along with everyone else. When being asked to rehearse the same sequence several times, she quickly gets bored and wants to move on to something else. It is frustrating to see her in a group routine, when the other students are trying so hard to perfect their moves and Stephanie doesn’t really seem bothered.

18. Adam is the chatterbox of the group and never stops talking
Adam is the chatterbox of the group and never stops talking. He is the one you can hear ‘talking’ right from the other side of the room. When working in a group or independently, he often gets completely distracted and ends up chatting about something totally different to what he is supposed to be doing, even with several reminders. He is always the one in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing. He often seems to ignore instructions or only does part of what he has been asked to do, and his teachers feel like they are always complaining at him.

19. Your turn. Do you have any students you recognise these behaviours in
Your turn! Do you have any students you recognise these behaviours in? Are there any students whose behaviours you struggle to know how to deal with?