When we think about effective learning strategies for dyslexic students, we often focus on multisensory approaches, assistive technology, or specialist interventions. However, one powerful technique that deserves far more attention in SEN classrooms is interleaving - a method of mixing up practice across different skills rather than focusing on one skill at a time.

Understanding Interleaving vs. Blocked Practice

Traditional teaching often relies on blocked practice: students work on one type of problem or skill repeatedly before moving to the next. For example, a maths lesson might involve completing twenty addition problems, followed by twenty subtraction problems the next day. This feels intuitive and appears to produce quick results during the lesson itself.

Interleaving takes a different approach. Instead of mastering one skill before moving on, students alternate between different types of problems or skills within a single practice session. That same maths lesson would mix addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems throughout, requiring students to identify which operation to use each time.

While blocked practice may feel more comfortable and produce immediate success, research consistently shows that interleaving leads to deeper, more durable learning - particularly beneficial for dyslexic learners who often struggle with retrieval and application of knowledge.

Why Interleaving Strengthens Neural Pathways

The neuroscience behind interleaving reveals why it's especially powerful for dyslexic students. When we practice skills in blocks, our brains don't need to work hard to discriminate between different types of problems. The pattern becomes predictable, and we operate almost on autopilot.

Interleaving, however, forces the brain to actively retrieve information and make decisions about which strategy to apply. This process, called discrimination practice, strengthens the neural pathways associated with both storing and retrieving information. Each time a dyslexic learner successfully identifies which skill to use and applies it correctly, they're building stronger connections in their brain.

For dyslexic students who often experience difficulties with working memory and processing speed, this repeated practice of retrieving and applying knowledge in varied contexts helps compensate for these challenges. The brain learns not just the skill itself, but when and how to use it - creating more robust and flexible neural networks.

The Benefits for Dyslexic Learners

Dyslexic students face particular challenges with automaticity - the ability to perform skills without conscious effort. Interleaving addresses this by providing repeated opportunities to practice retrieval in contexts that mirror real-world application. Unlike blocked practice, where context clues make the task artificially easy, interleaving requires genuine cognitive effort.

Additionally, many dyslexic learners struggle with generalisation - applying skills learned in one context to different situations. Interleaving naturally builds this transferability by preventing the brain from associating a skill too narrowly with a single context or lesson.

The varied practice also maintains engagement. Dyslexic students often experience frustration with repetitive tasks, and the diversity inherent in interleaving can reduce this monotony whilst maintaining productive challenge.

Practical Implementation in the Classroom

Implementing interleaving requires thoughtful planning, but the structure is straightforward once you understand the principle.

Step 1: Identify Related Skills

Begin by mapping out skills that students need to master within a topic area. For example, in literacy, this might include identifying main ideas, making inferences, understanding vocabulary in context, and recognising text structure.

Step 2: Ensure Basic Competence

Students need some foundational understanding before interleaving becomes effective. Introduce each skill individually first, ensuring students grasp the basics before mixing them together.

Step 3: Create Mixed Practice Sets

Design practice activities that require students to switch between different skills. This might be a comprehension passage with questions that alternate between different reading strategies, or a spelling list that mixes different phonics patterns rather than focusing on one pattern per week.

Step 4: Make the Task Explicit

For dyslexic learners, clarity is crucial. When introducing interleaved practice, explicitly point out that questions or problems will vary. You might label each question with the skill it requires initially, gradually removing these scaffolds as students become more confident.

Step 5: Review and Reflect

After interleaved practice, spend time reviewing which skills were used where. This metacognitive reflection helps dyslexic students understand their own thinking processes and strengthens their ability to identify appropriate strategies independently.

Practical Examples Across Subjects

In Literacy

Rather than spending a week on synonyms, then a week on antonyms, create vocabulary exercises where students must identify whether word pairs are synonyms, antonyms, or homophones. Mix comprehension questions that require literal understanding, inference, and evaluation within the same text.

In Maths

Instead of completing thirty long multiplication problems consecutively, present a mixture of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems where students must first determine which operation to use. This mirrors real-world problem-solving far more accurately.

In Science

When revising topics like states of matter, forces, and electricity, create question sets that jump between these topics rather than reviewing them sequentially. Students must actively recall the relevant knowledge for each question rather than staying in one conceptual space.

Managing Initial Difficulty

It's important to acknowledge that interleaving initially feels harder than blocked practice - for both students and teachers. Dyslexic learners may experience frustration when they can't rely on pattern recognition alone. However, this difficulty is precisely what makes the learning stick.

Support students through this challenge by celebrating effort over immediate accuracy, providing worked examples that demonstrate decision-making processes, and using retrieval practice techniques alongside interleaving to build confidence.

The temporary discomfort of interleaved practice pays lasting dividends in genuine understanding and application - exactly what our dyslexic learners need to thrive beyond the structured support of the classroom.