Dysorthographia: how to help your child with revision?
Revision periods — before class tests, assessments or exams — are particularly tricky for children with dysorthographia. Revising often involves a great deal of writing — revision sheets, summaries, memorisation — which draws precisely on the skills that are impaired. Here is how to adapt revision so that it is both effective and less exhausting.
Adapting the format of revision sheets
Traditional revision sheets — lots of written text, small boxes, cramped handwriting — are particularly unsuitable for children with dysorthographia. They can be replaced with alternative formats: mind maps with few keywords and plenty of diagrams, illustrated sheets with images and colours, audio sheets recorded rather than written, or digital sheets with text-to-speech activated.
Oral revision: more effective than writing
For a child with dysorthographia, oral revision is often far more effective than written revision. Explaining a lesson out loud, answering a parent’s questions verbally, debating a topic from class — these active revision formats draw on oral language skills, which are often stronger, and avoid the cognitive overload linked to writing.
Using audio recordings
Recording lessons — courses summarised orally, definitions spoken clearly — allows the child to listen to them as many times as needed without going through writing. These recordings can be made by the child (which is already a first revision) or by a parent. Text-to-speech software that reads out lessons can also serve as an effective audio revision tool.
Spaced repetition for vocabulary
To memorise vocabulary words, definitions and technical terms, spaced repetition is the most effective method. Apps such as Anki can automate this repetition in an optimal way. 10 minutes of daily revision with Anki produces better results than an hour of intensive revision at the weekend.
Avoiding overload during revision
A child with dysorthographia needs more time to revise than a child without the disorder — their brain works harder to produce the same outputs. It is important to plan shorter but more regular revision sessions, to avoid exhausting revision marathons, and to allow sufficient breaks between sessions. A realistic and kind-hearted plan is the key to getting through revision periods without emotionally burning out. For practical revision sheets adapted to DYS children, aidtoi.fr offers downloadable resources for parents.
