Page design hints for support staff & mainstream teachers

Other support pages

In-class support strategies

For mainstream teachers

Page design

Legislation / Guidance

Websites & Guidance for Teaching Assistants

Ruth's Resources

Student Support Toolkit

Support Mailing Lists

Learning Support Links

Teacher-produced materials may have been produced in a hurry and often as much as possible has been squashed onto a piece of A4 in order to save scarce resources.

If you have a chance to preview and re-design these resource sheets it can make a great difference to their usefulness. If it's an internal exam or test paper a redesign will almost certainly increase the marks your student gets.

Page design hints

Papers are usually best not hand-written.

A large, plain font is easier to read. Probably 14 point. (Fancy fonts look nice but can't be read easily.)

Some people think a Times New Roman font is easier to read. Others suggest Arial or Comic Sans. Given this, ask the student which they find best. This page is in the Arial font.

Think about text and background colour. Again, change to suit the student's preferences.

There is some evidence that left justified text is easier to read for some dyslexic pupils than fully justified. (The spacing between words is more regular.)

Highlighting question numbers helps students to see where a question begins.

Leaving extra space after a question ends helps the student to see when one question finishes and another begins.

Questions are easier to read if not crowded together.

Short line lengths are easier to read. Use wide margins.

Short sentences are easier to read.

Short words are easier to read. (Two syllable maximum if possible except for subject-specific vocabulary.)

Leaving space for students to answer questions on the paper helps avoid question and answer mismatches.

Leaving plenty of space for answers helps students.

Clearly signposting text which is to be read helps students find their way through the paper. Use underlining, bold and shading, but do so carefully and sparingly.

It is less confusing for students if diagrams, tables and maps are numbered. E.g. "Look at Diagram 1" rather than "Look at the diagram below." (Below what?)

Finally, there are other page design hints for web page designers at: http://www.dyslexia.com/qaweb.htm