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# Introduction and guidance

Welcome to this free course, Understanding dyslexia. The course lasts 24 hours and is comprised of eight weeks. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete a further study week. The eight weeks are linked to ensure a logical flow through the course. They are:

- Week 1: Defining dyslexia
- Week 2: Identifying dyslexia
- Week 3: Explaining dyslexia
- Week 4: Experiencing dyslexia
- Week 5: Supporting dyslexia
- Week 6: Dyslexia strategies in practice
- Week 7: Dyslexia in the workplace
- Week 8: Drawing the threads together

Each week should take you around 3 hours, but remember to work at your own pace. There are no time limits on this course. There are a number of activities throughout the course where you are asked to note down your response. A text box is provided for you to do this, however if you would prefer to record your answers in another way that is fine. If you choose to use the text boxes, please be aware that no one else will be able to see what you write. Your answers are only visible to you.

At the end of each week there is also a quiz to help you check your understanding. And, if you want to receive a formal statement of participation and digital badge, at the end of Weeks 4 and 8 there is a quiz which you need to pass. The quizzes for Weeks 1–3 and 5–7 are designed to help you practise and gain confidence in the types of questions used in the badge quizzes. You must also be enrolled on the course in order to track your learning and reach 100% completion.

After completing this course, you should be able to:

- understand a variety of definitions and perspectives on dyslexia
- discuss some of the different explanations given for the observed symptoms of dyslexia
- recognise the challenges faced by individuals with dyslexia in educational and professional settings
- apply dyslexia-friendly strategies to foster inclusive, engaging environments in both educational and professional contexts
- outline the disclosure process, workplace assessments, and reasonable adjustments for dyslexic employees.

## Moving around the course

In the ‘Summary’ at the end of each week, you will find a link to the next week. If at any time you want to return to the start of the course, click on ‘Full course description’. From here you can navigate to any part of the course.

It’s also good practice, if you access a link from within a course page (including links to the quizzes), to open it in a new window or tab. That way you can easily return to where you’ve come from without having to use the back button on your browser.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

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OpenLearn - Understanding dyslexia
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