Any Dyspraxic Secondary Maths teachers out there?

[tara]

Hi there

I am interested in talking to any Dyspraxic Maths teachers teaching in Secondary school. I would just like to know things like how you cope with the job and if it works for you and your family? Have couple of other questions as well but will wait and see if anyone replies to this first.

Thanx
Tara

[English Teacher]

Hi,

Unfortunately for you I'm not a Maths teacher, but I'm a Secondary English teacher - so some of experiences we have will be similar (certainly we'll have similar pressures).
I've recently asked for help with my Dyspraxia through Access to Work and they've been brilliant. I've got some specialist software to help me read on screen, as well as pengrips to help me cope with marking students' work. I'm also going to get some training with a specialist Dyslexia/Dyspraxia trainer at work, to help me organise my workload etc.
Although, I've coped, I have found that in recent years (bigger class sizes, more admin), I'm struggling. I'm finding work very exhausting and I realise I was more tired than my colleagues - and I realised, it must be the Dyspraxia. It has certainly affected my work-life balance and I'm hoping with some support in place I can get some sanity / space back in my life and keep up with the job.
It's nice to know there are other teachers out there - the only other dyspraxics I've encoutered are the few diagnosed students I've taught.
Regards & good luck.

[AlleyCat]

Hi English Teacher. I'm impressed that your school is aware of dyspraxia and has put in place support specifically to help you. I've previously mentioned elsewhere on this forum about schools I've worked in being clueless about dyspraxia, which has caused problems for me even when I'd disclosed dyspraxia before being offered the job! I have yet to be offered a post in which I can start my NQT year (I qualified to teach secondary music, but have realised I would be better at teaching primary), but when I worked as a supply teacher I found I took a long time to mark work and got tired more easily than other people. However, the biggest problem for me in schools has been other staff members' intolerance of my physical symptoms of dyspraxia, particularly to do with speech. I have been complained about for interrupting and speaking too loudly, even though these are symptoms of dyspraxia- one of the schools where complaints were made was one in which I had already disclosed my dyspraxia, so they must have been completely unaware that it can also cause physical symptoms.

[English Teacher]

Hi again,

Sorry to hear that your schools have been so unhelpful. To be fair, I've had mixed reactions, too. The help I'm getting is through the Government's scheme to help people in employment get the support and specialist equipment they need to do their jobs - it's nothing to do with the workplace as such. You can google "Access to Work" and download application forms. They will contact you through the Job Centre and send an Assessor to your work place. They look at what support you need and will write to your employer (which helps the employer to appreciate that you really cannot help it and it's a recognised disability).

It can be tough, though, when dealing with individual people. I've just started telling every person whenever they ask / say / do something that affects me as a dyspraxic. So when people ask me to telephone (something I'm very bad at & hate), I ask them if I can email them instead, explaining it is part of the dyspraxia. Not everyone gets it, but if we don't educate the people around us, they'll never get it.

Funny that you have had issues with speech - I was told on my PGCE course that I would need some speech / voice coaching (too loud & too monotone). I never did it (I'm aware of the fact that I do these things, but I can't do anything about them) - instead I like to think that students will always be able to hear me! Surely, your colleagues must be aware of children with learning difficulties in their classes, so they should be able to think that perhaps there are adults with similar learning difficulties around, too!

Kind regards,

[Square12]

Another English teacher here I'm afraid (TEFL), the biggest factor that I've found with myself is that, my writing arm can get tired easily when doing a lot of board work and often I end up closing one eye when writing. Dunno if this is a me thing or a dyspraxia thing though.
Regarding speech stuff, my nickname where I teach in the uk is "the voice" when it's time for the students to return to class after break one of the managers just gives me a nod and I bellow "time for class" after a week the students start saying it when they see me

Also previously when I worked in tourism I had a colleague phone me to tell me that I didn't need to mention all the brand names as there was only one brand coming off that particular flight. The reason they phoned was they could clearly hear me but between three of them they couldn't shout loud enough to get my attention, and were too lazy to come up and tell me!

[Andrea]

Special ed teacher here. I do teach maths in secondary but they are at primary level. Also do English and ICT. (And a few other random subjects) Thank god I dont have to teach art or DT this year. They are a disaster! Really glad we have speciallists for PE as well!
Square12, have you tried typing onto the board instead? I find it so much easier as you can blame spelling errors on typos and you dont have to worry about how readable your handwriting is.

[Square12]

Anywhere I've worked either has only normal white boards or if they have IWBs they are horrible things that you end up HAVING to type as where you put the marker is somewhere completely different.
I've never really had a problem with spelling to be honest and my handwriting is ok. On our CELTA we were taught to write on the board in print, and this actually transferred to my normal writing too, I have now have to make a conscious effort to write joined up! The only ones that occasionally throws kids is my "k" can look like an "l c" and my capital "m"s and "h"s can look similar.

[Jordi20]

I am a Modern Languages teacher and am interested in other people's coping strategies.

My instructions on tasks have always been rubbish and I tried doing it in simple Spanish, then in English and it was always a disaster. I now find that the simplicity and repetitiveness of instructions in the foreign language make it easier for me to give instruction such as "show me your whiteboards", "two minutes remaining" or "attention!" but for tasks, I have to model them.

For explaining homework tasks, model the task and record it - put it on YouTube. If you teach the same lesson or are banking it for future, record your modelling session and upload it to YouTube, then use the link in your PowerPoint presentations.

If you want I can forward you a couple of PowerPoints that demonstrate tasks.

If instructions need to be given, write them down and provide tick boxes for the students - they know exactly when they have met objectives and how they have done so. They know what is missing from their work, can provide Peer-Assessment and suggest improvements for each others' work simply and effectively. This will also make marking easier, and believe me, you will struggle with the marking, because you'll put books in a stupid place and order and forget where they are, as well as have to mark sloppy books with poor presentation.

If you model what their book should look like and do the same activities in the same order, wherever possible. You need for clear signalling to the next task is less important, as kids know what they are doing anyway and you can use the same graphics on the PowerPoint to tell they without you thinking of the right words to say. Also, you can then provide a print out of "my book should look like this" and a tick list of the things that should be done, in what order (date and title underlined, exercises labelled with sub-titles etc. then before marking, fill in your own exercise boom and compare. This will guide you through and remind you where the marks are and what you were looking for in the first place.

If you provide pupils with numbered objectives, you can also get them to label their own work, or their partner's to show where the objective is met. This encourages independence, resilience and reflection - big buss words in education at the moment and will make books look uniform and easier to mark.

Use mini-highlighters in peer assessments to guid your eyes to where objectives have been met and provide pupils with different coloured pens for stars and wishes.

This requires a lot of planning and should be done in the summer holidays wherever possible and will make life a lot easier..

I hope this helps and that I can answer any of your questions on how I try to use coping strategies.

I have been told that I have the qualities of a consistently outstanding teacher and I just need the right coping strategies to get there.

Organisation is my downfall and often has me in tears, but I'm getting help with that. Fortunately, I'm related to the SENCO, so she's a huge help.

Best of luck,

Jordan

[tara]

Hi Jordon Hi everyone

I am amazed at the amount of replies... I have not been on here for a while as I stopped getting replies or rather didn't get any at all. I am currently just finishing off my degree 2 exam left to go and 4 gone... Another 4 days and I will be finished I hope I don't have to do resits!!! That will just be suicidal!!!

Anyway... I apologize for not replying earlier. Give me some time and I will reply by the end of this week hopefully. Would love to sit down and read all the replies and got through some thoughts.

I look forward to reading and replying soon...



Tara

[williamsuk]

wow! im new to how the effects of dyspraxia are so far reaching..im on here trying to understand more about a very lovely man who I recently met. I have a ten yr old son with severe ADHD, and mild autism and also mild dyspraxia..but I only was aware that it effects his balance, handwriting, cycling, energy levels, to name a few. And I appear to have found a group of amazing ppl on this site who are experiencing pretty much all of the issues that I have suffered all of my life!! im 43 now. ive known I have ASD since my son started showing traits and was diagnosed...but I thought it was probably add...but im now seeing things differently! reading your comments makes me feel for the first time in my life i'm not alone! im not the only one who is undervalued in the workplace..not the only one who feels like a round peg in a square hole, an out cast for not being able to form relationships in work as well as others do, and for not joining a 'click' ...ur comments have has me in hysterics, because you have thought or said what I would have!! hello my friends! it's great to finally know that im not alone in my quirkiness. williamsuk

[nickye]

Hi there
I'm so glad you find this site as helpful as I do - I think it's brilliant. There are so many issues that affect people with dyspraxia and other learning differences/difficulties and they do overlap. It's changed my life coming on here. I'm 44 and a lot of my depression has finally got better - just knowing there are other poeple out with similar issues has been amazing. It's also helped my Dad who is 70 now, so I'd say it's never too late. He has dyslexia and always felt very ashamed of not being able to write very well, but now is doing literacy classes and it's great.

I just find I'm a lot calmer and I don't beat myself up when I can't do things. Eveyrthing isn't perfect of course but then what is? It just that's things are so much better than ever were. Not that I've had a bad life, because I've been happy a lot of the time and have lots of great friends, but no one really understands properly except people on here. It's very easy to feel patronised and to put yourself down but this site gives me a lot of confidence - both in receiving and giving help.

Good luck with everything, Nicky

[tara]

So hello guys just thought Id give you guys an update I have come out with a 2.1 from my degree.

Here's to never studying Maths at that level again under so much pressure!!!