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Dear Paul First the non-contentious advice: there are a number of resources on dyslexia and music. For example, try Shiela Oglethorpe's books published by Whurr (now Wylie and Tim Miles. The BDA website has info on dyslexia and music. You also need to establish what is meant by reading music in this context. (I'm assuming it isn't an issue of visual discomfort.) Many dyslexic musicians find sight reading, where the musician is required to play a piece of music that they have not seen before at first sight, difficult and the music boards accommodate this by allowing extra time. Some students will have reached a level of performance without having to have been taught or required to read musical notation. This is likely to be difficult and frustrating for anyone, but will be particularly difficult for a dyslexic student. Secondly, the (possibly) contentious bit: it would be very difficult/impossible for a dyslexia specialist without some knowledge of written musical notation to apply specialist strategies to the particular context. I speak from long experience. However, that said the usual advice re photocopying on colour, highlighting and enlarging can be very helpful and some musicians have reported starting at the end of the line or piece can work - though not of course for sight reading, as opposed to decoding the notation to learn the music. Kate Kate Dresser Dyslexia Co-ordinator Disability and Dyslexia Service Student Support Centre Cardiff University www.cardiff.ac.uk/studentsupportcentre 50 Park Place Cardiff CF10 3AT 029 2087 4528 [log in to unmask] >>> Paul Smyth <[log in to unmask]> 26/11/08 09:54 >>> Hi Everyone I have a student who is receiving 1:1 support as he has Dyslexia. One of his subjects is music which he has to read as well as perform. His mum said that from time to time he is desperate about his slow progress in reading music and he feels hopeless. She asked if there was a way of supporting him in reading music, taking into account the effect Dyslexia has on his learning. Does anyone have any ideas? Many thanks, Paul (Disability Officer, Richmond College). Email has been scanned for viruses by Altman Technologies' email management service - www.altman.co.uk/emailsystems