Dyslexia Week: Your Ideas Deserve to Be Heard, Even If Writing Feels Hard

If you have dyslexia, you might have left school believing your writing wasn't good enough. But having great ideas and getting them onto paper are two very different skills. And the second one can be learned in ways school may never have shown you.

Helen Kenworthy, co-founder of Give Get Go Education, has spent decades helping young people find their voice through education and the arts. This Dyslexia Week, she shares a technique from one of her sessions that works just as well in the world of work as it does in an exam hall.

The story behind it

Helen was working with a GCSE student who has a complex SEND profile and was dealing with communication difficulties at home. The task was to write a "Teenage Manual" explaining how teenagers think and feel and what they need from the adults around them.

Instead of jumping straight into writing, Helen used a technique from the arts called Forum Theatre.

Rehearse it before you write it

In Forum Theatre, you act out a real situation, stop it, and try a different response. With a group, or a "hive mind", you can test lots of options and see things from both sides. Nothing is final and nothing can go wrong, so you're free to experiment.

For this student, acting it out first meant the right words were ready by the time pen met paper. The final piece was strong, confident and full of natural vocabulary.

Helen's advice for your career

Whatever career you're working towards, you'll need to get your ideas across: a CV, a cover letter, an email to a manager, or answers in an interview.

Helen recommends the same approach every time:

• Say it out loud first. Record yourself or talk it through with someone you trust.

• Try more than one version. There's rarely just one right way to say something.

• Think about the other person. How will an employer or colleague hear it?

• Practise the tricky moments. Role play an interview or a difficult conversation before the real thing.

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How Give Get Go Education can help

Give Get Go Education is a careers training platform for young people who are out of school and thinking about what comes next. We help you build the skills, confidence and communication you need for the world of work, using the same creative, practical approach Helen used in this session. Because the right support turns "I can't" into "of course I can".

Watch Helen's video

See how Forum Theatre helped a young person find their words: https://youtu.be/q5iXFh8Wj9s

Ready to take your next step towards a career? Visit https://www.give-get-go.com/