Why Planning an Answer Can Help Dyslexic Learners

You have read the question.

You understand the topic.

You know the answer.

So, surely, the best thing to do is start writing?

Not always.

For some dyslexic learners, starting to write immediately can actually make a task harder. This is because writing is not one single skill. While writing, the learner may be trying to retrieve ideas, organise them, remember the question, construct sentences, find vocabulary and think about spelling and punctuation.

That is a lot to manage at the same time.

A short plan can take some of that thinking out of the writing process.

The important word here is short.

Planning should support the answer. It should not become another piece of work.

“But planning takes too long”

This is something I hear regularly.

If writing already takes longer, spending valuable time making a plan can seem counterproductive.

However, think about what can happen without one.

A learner starts writing immediately. They have a good idea and begin with it. Halfway through the paragraph, another idea occurs to them. They try to add that too.

Then they remember something else.

By the second paragraph, they have forgotten one of their original points. They may repeat something they have already written or move away from the question.

Eventually, they reach the end and realise that their strongest idea has not been included.

The problem was not necessarily knowledge.

The learner knew the information.

The difficulty was organising that knowledge while simultaneously trying to write it down.

This is where planning can help.

Why can planning be particularly useful for a dyslexic learner?

Dyslexia affects people differently. However, some dyslexic learners experience difficulties with areas such as working memory, processing speed, retrieving information and organising written language.

Writing can therefore create a particularly busy cognitive task.

Imagine trying to hold all of these questions in mind:

• •What was the question?
• •What was my first point?
• •What comes next?
• •What example was I going to use?
• •How do I spell that word?
• •Does this sentence make sense?
• •Have I explained my point?
• •How much time have I got left?

If the learner has to keep returning mentally to all of these questions, there is less capacity available for developing the actual answer.

A plan gives some of that information somewhere else to live.

It is on the page rather than relying entirely on memory.

Planning is not about writing the answer twice

One reason learners sometimes dislike planning is that they have been taught to produce plans that are far too detailed.

A plan does not need complete sentences.

It does not necessarily need a mind map.

It certainly does not need to look beautiful.

For many questions, a useful plan might contain only a few words.

For example:

• •Point 1 → evidence/example → why it matters
• •Point 2 → evidence/example → why it matters
• •Point 3 → evidence/example → why it matters

That may be enough.

The learner now has a route through the answer.

For many questions, a useful plan might contain only a few words.

First, break down the question

Before planning an answer, the learner needs to understand what the question actually wants.

A simple approach is to ask:

• •What is the command word?
• •What is the instruction?
• •What is the key term?

This is explained step by step in Why Breaking Down a Question Can Help Dyslexic Learners.

For example:

Explain two reasons why people migrate from rural areas to cities.

We can identify:

• •Command word: explain.
• •Instruction: two reasons.
• •Key terms: migration from rural areas to cities.

Now we can plan.

Turn the question into a simple plan

The plan could be:

• •1. Jobs → more employment and higher wages → people move for better opportunities.
• •2. Services → education and healthcare → easier access in urban areas.

That is enough.

The learner does not need to decide what comes next while writing because they have already made that decision.

They can concentrate on turning each point into an effective explanation.

Compare that with starting immediately

Without a plan, the learner might begin:

“People move to cities because there are more jobs and there are also hospitals and schools and sometimes people cannot get jobs where they live and cities have lots more things available to people…”

There is relevant knowledge here.

However, the ideas are beginning to merge together.

With the plan already in place, the learner has a clearer structure:

• •Paragraph 1 = employment.
• •Paragraph 2 = services.

The knowledge has not changed.

The organisation has.

Planning can protect good ideas

There is another important benefit.

Sometimes a learner thinks of an excellent point at the beginning of a task but loses it while concentrating on something else.

Writing a few words down immediately captures that idea.

The learner no longer has to keep rehearsing it mentally while trying to deal with the rest of the question.

This can be particularly helpful where working memory is an area of difficulty.

A plan effectively becomes an external memory aid.

It can also help with staying on the question

Some learners produce a lot of writing but still do not gain the marks they expected.

They may know a great deal about the topic, but not everything they know is relevant to the particular question.

A plan creates an opportunity to check this before writing.

Look at each planned point and ask:

Does this actually answer the question?

If the answer is no, change it before spending time writing a whole paragraph.

This can be much easier than trying to restructure several paragraphs afterwards.

Planning does not have to look the same for everyone

There is no single correct way to plan.

One learner might prefer three bullet points.

Another might use a mind map.

Someone else may draw boxes and arrows.

A learner might jot down key vocabulary first.

For longer essays, they might write the opening idea for each paragraph and then add evidence underneath.

The best planning method is the one the learner can actually use independently.

It should provide structure without becoming another barrier.

A two-minute plan can be enough

For many classroom and examination questions, planning does not need to take ten minutes.

Try this:

• •Step 1: Break down the question. What is the command word? What is the instruction? What is the key term?
• •Step 2: Write your main points. What are the two, three or four things you need to say?
• •Step 3: Add evidence or an example. What will you use to support each point?
• •Step 4: Check against the question. Does every point actually help answer it?

Then write.

For longer answers, think about paragraph jobs

For an extended answer, it can help to give each paragraph a job.

Rather than thinking: “I have to write an essay.”

Think:

• •Paragraph 1 → make this point.
• •Paragraph 2 → develop this idea.
• •Paragraph 3 → consider this evidence or alternative.
• •Conclusion → bring the argument together.

The learner is no longer facing one large, undefined writing task.

They are completing a series of smaller tasks.

This can make starting feel more manageable too.

Teachers can model the thinking, not just the finished plan

Simply telling a learner to “make a plan” may not be enough.

Planning is a skill that often needs to be taught explicitly.

One useful approach is for the teacher to model their thinking aloud:

• •“The question says evaluate, so I know I need to consider different sides.”
• •“I have four ideas, but this one does not really answer the question, so I am going to leave it out.”
• •“This is probably my strongest point, so I want to make sure I develop it.”

This shows the learner that planning involves making decisions.

The finished bullet points are only the visible result of that thinking.

Do not let the plan become another test of spelling

At the planning stage, the priority is capturing and organising ideas.

A learner should not need to worry excessively about spelling, punctuation or complete sentences in their private plan.

Abbreviations can be useful.

Arrows can be useful.

Key words can be enough.

If the learner becomes preoccupied with making their plan perfect, some of the benefit is lost.

Get the thinking down first.

The polished language comes when writing the answer.

A useful routine

Over time, learners can practise the same sequence:

READ → BREAK IT DOWN → PLAN → WRITE → CHECK

The first two stages may only take a few minutes.

However, they can provide a structure for everything that follows.

The aim is not to slow the learner down.

It is to reduce the amount of decision-making they have to do while writing.

“I know it, but I can't get it onto paper”

This is something parents and teachers often hear.

Sometimes it is interpreted as the learner not understanding the subject.

That is not necessarily the case.

There can be a considerable difference between knowing something and being able to retrieve, organise and express that knowledge efficiently in writing.

Planning helps build a bridge between the two.

The learner takes what they know and gives it a structure before trying to turn it into sentences and paragraphs.

For some dyslexic learners, that small change can make written tasks feel considerably more manageable.

The goal is not the perfect plan.

The goal is a plan that means the learner no longer has to keep the whole answer in their head.

Sometimes, taking two minutes before writing is not losing two minutes at all.

It is giving yourself a clearer route through everything that comes next.