Six pages to read in forty minutes, and Malik only got through three: the card slipped into the folder teaches the trainer to give the essentials out loud
A card slipped into the start-of-year folder, scanned by the course trainer, and the six-page case study arrives with the questions announced out loud and the key words first, instead of being handed out in silence.
This case is about Malik, 19, in his first year of BTS (a French vocational diploma), whose reading is slow and tiring despite a very good level in speaking. The card is prepared by himself. It is aimed at the trainer who runs four groups a week and has no time to read a file of accommodations.
The lived moment
Tuesday, 8:40 a.m., room 204, BTS in SME management. The business law trainer hands out six pages of case study, to be read and worked through in forty minutes. Around Malik, pens are already racing. He moves forward line by line, goes back over a word, loses the sentence, starts again. By page three, time is melting away. The trainer walks between the rows and sees a half-empty paper. They think of a student who gave up too quickly.
And yet, at the start of September, Malik had slipped a card into the folder given to every trainer of the course. The trainer had scanned it without much belief. They had read that Malik understands very well when listening, that reading costs him time and energy, and that he catches up on everything if the instructions are given out loud and the key words come first. They had also read what makes him shut down: reading in front of the class, and the "haven't you finished?" thrown out halfway through.
The following Tuesday, the trainer announces the text out loud, underlines the three questions to answer and lets the extra time run as planned. Malik looks up, takes notes, moves on. At 9:25, his paper is handed in, complete. Nobody had to ask him why he was dragging, and he did not have to justify himself in front of twenty-four classmates.
- You write it
- The QR is in place
- The reader scans
- Understood, without explaining again
Where to place the QR code for this case
The BTS trainer sees the student a few hours a week, sometimes between two classes in another building, rarely alone with them. The QR code has to reach every person who teaches the course without depending on word of mouth in the staff room.
- Card in bank card format, slipped into the start-of-year folder that the student gives to each trainer at their first session.
- Sticker stuck on the back of the course information sheet, the one the head of training photocopies for the whole team.
- Link sent to the course coordinator before the start of term, so that it reaches outside speakers, professionals who come for a single day a year.
- Card handed in person to substitute teachers, who have neither the time nor the chance to read a file.
To avoid: the back of the laptop, seen by the whole row, and the class logbook, opened by everyone. The profile created on myHandiQR should stay between the student and the person teaching them.
Ready-made text templates
These templates are a starting point for filling in the sections of the profile. Rewrite them in your own words: the way you describe how reading wears you out is a precious detail for a trainer who does not know you.
For the "Introduction" section
"My name is [first name], I am 19 and I am dyslexic. I understand quickly when listening, but reading a long text takes me twice as long and wears me out. It is neither laziness nor a lack of ability. I have extra time in assessments."
For the "How to help" section
"Please say the instructions out loud before handing out the document. Give the questions or the key words first. A text with white space, in a clear font, helps me a lot. If the substance matters more than the form, accept an outline or a diagram."
For the "What to avoid" section
"Making me read aloud in front of the group, rushing me when time is short, or pointing out spelling before looking at the substance. It blocks me and I give up on the page."
Conditions covered by this case
This case is first of all about dyslexia. It also applies to students who are anxious about written assessment and to those whose reading remains slow, with or without a recognised particularity.
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View the casePrepare your profile for this situation, without having to explain it again every school year.
You write down the essentials once. The grading teacher, the AESH (a teaching assistant for students with disabilities, in France), the substitute scan and understand. You stop repeating yourself.