How to Check Your Work When You Are Dyslexic

“Check your work.”

It sounds simple.

But what does that actually mean?

For many dyslexic learners, being told to check everything at once is not especially helpful.

The learner may reread the same sentence several times, notice nothing, then move on.

A better approach is to give checking a sequence.

Do not check everything at once

Different types of checking require different attention.

If the learner is simultaneously checking:

• •whether they answered the question;
• •paragraph structure;
• •grammar;
• •missing words;
• •punctuation;
• •spelling;

important things may still be missed.

Check meaning first

The first question should be:

Have I actually answered the question?

Look again at the command word, instruction and key terms.

Then ask:

Does my answer do what the question asked?

Check the structure

Next, look at the overall answer.

Are all the planned points there?

Is anything repeated?

Did a paragraph drift away from the question?

This is easier to fix before focusing on individual words.

Check for missing words

Some learners know what a sentence should say and therefore read the missing word back into it.

A useful technique is to slow down and read the sentence exactly as written.

Text-to-speech can also be helpful where available.

Hearing the sentence can make omissions easier to notice.

Check punctuation separately

Choose one feature at a time.

For example:

• •capital letters;
• •full stops;
• •paragraph breaks.

Do not try to correct every punctuation feature in one pass if that creates overload.

Check spelling last

Spelling matters, but it should not be the first thing checked if the answer itself is incomplete or off-topic.

Prioritise:

• •Did I answer the question?
• •Did I include my main points?
• •Does it make sense?
• •Are words missing?
• •Punctuation.
• •Spelling.

Focus spelling checks

If time is limited, prioritise:

• •key subject vocabulary;
• •words used repeatedly;
• •names and technical terms;
• •words the learner knows they often misspell.

Use tools where appropriate

Depending on the setting and permitted arrangements, helpful tools may include:

• •spellcheck;
• •text-to-speech;
• •word processing;
• •read-aloud functions;
• •personal spelling banks.

The aim is to make checking more effective, not to remove the learner’s responsibility for the work.

A short checking routine

Use:

QUESTION → CONTENT → SENSE → MISSING WORDS → PUNCTUATION → SPELLING

This is much clearer than simply saying “check it”.

Teachers can teach checking explicitly

Checking is a skill.

It can be modelled.

Show the learner how to reread for one purpose at a time.

That makes the invisible process visible.

The goal is useful checking

A learner does not need to find every possible error.

They need a reliable routine that improves the answer without exhausting them.