Punctuation is very difficult for many student and adults with dyslexia because visually they don't register all the small marks as they read, they also don't always hear the breaks with certain marks, and processing verbal information in a 'big picture' or gestalt fashion. Punctuation is also often taught was a list or rules which also will be difficult to commit to memory.

Here's a neat lesson from master teacher Phil Beadle. Punctuation marks are associated with movements (a period is a R fist - Ha!, comma is R fist twist - Shi!)

A quick summary of Kung Fu Punctuation from the Telegraph:


It works like this: all the punctuation marks are given corresponding kung-fu-style actions, accompanied by noises.

• Full stop: throw a short, right-handed punch at the air in front of you. Make the noise, Ha!
• Comma: with your right arm bent so that your hand is in front of your face, make a short twisting motion at the wrist to signify the comma shape. Make the noise, Shi!
• Semi-colon:do the full-stop punch, then the comma shape directly underneath it. Make the noises, Ha! Shi!
• Colon: follow the full-stop punch immediately with one directly beneath it. Make the noises, Ha! Ha!
• Question mark: separate the curly bit into three cutting movements with the hand: one horizontal left to right, one curved around, and one vertical coming from the bottom of the curved one. Then at the bottom of the shape you have just drawn in the air, bung in a full-stop punch. Make the noises, Shi! Shi! Shi! Ha!
• Exclamation mark: a long vertical slash, from top to bottom, followed by a full stop. Make the noises, Shiiiiii! Ha!
• Speech marks: stand on one leg, extend your arms diagonally to the skies and wiggle your index and middle fingers in an approximation of speech marks. Make the noise, Haeeeee!
• Apostrophe: with your right arm fully extended to the air, wiggle your index finger. Make the noise, Blubalubaluba! (This is the best I can do to approximate the sound you can make with your tongue when you flap it up and down against the inside of your lips.)
• Ellipsis: three punches along a horizontal line. Make the noises, Ha! Ha! Ha!
• Brackets: using your left hand first, draw a curved convex line in the air; use your right hand to do the opposite motion for the closing bracket. Make the noises, Shi! Shi!

A proper bout of Punctuation Kung Fu requires three players: two combatants and a referee. The combatants face each other. The referee says the words ''capital letter'', and the opponents bow to each other while repeating the same phrase.

The referee then calls out three punctuation marks and the players have to put the moves and sounds for these together, in sequence, as quickly as they can. The winner is the one who puts together all three moves and their accompanying sounds correctly in the quickest time.

Then photocopy a piece of text and white out all punctuation marks. Read through the piece together and at the appointed places in the text get your child to do the kung-fu punctuation move he thinks is appropriate.

Here are some ways to help children master parts of speech:

Nouns
There are two kinds of nouns: the common noun, which is a thing word and doesn't have a capital letter unless it is used to start a sentence, and the proper noun, which is a name word and does.
Banana, head and wheelbarrow are common nouns; London, Blair and Uruguay are proper. You can cement this by playing a version of "I Spy" with your children, getting them to point out common and proper nouns to you as and when they see them.

"I spy with my little eye... a sign, which is a common noun, for Milton Keynes, which is a proper noun." A general rule is that if you can see it, it's a common noun (unless it's a Hoover, which is a brand name and therefore a proper noun, or a person.)

Adjectives
Ask your child to lay the table with you. As you lay out each implement, use two adjectives to describe each one. ''I am laying a cotton, checked tablecloth.'' ''Well, I am putting down an elegant, crystalline cruet set.'' Until such time as the whole table is laid.

Verbs
I ask my classes to stand and perform the actions to the verbs I shout out. At home with your children, you might want to give them the instruction, "Run on the spot", then go shopping or make a phone call.
Alternatively, you could shout out: "Breathe. Eat. Think. Drum. Stand. Cluck. Flap. Sit. Turn. Catch. Shine. Shrink. Sing. Dance. Mow. Wash (the dishes). Clean (your bedroom). Make (your father a nice cup of tea). Go (to bed)."
Voilà. Bedtime negotiated with a learning experience attached. You may sit back with the tea your (now sleeping) child has made you, secure in the knowledge that you are a great parent and a complete bastard, all in one gorgeous educational package.

Adverbs
Decide on an action - it could be brushing your hair, frying an egg or even going to the loo. Now call out a list of adverbs, asking your child to act out the action in the manner of the adverb.
Your first instruction might be ''clumsily''. At which point, a child miming going to the loo will slide off the imaginary toilet and crash to the floor in a fit of poor co-ordination.
You might follow this up with the firm but gentle instruction ''sophisticatedly'', at which point she will slide back on and affect a manner befitting Grace Kelly sipping a glass of Champagne. (Avoid issuing the instruction ''messily''.)

Football and the subordinate clause

We don't use sport enough in lessons. One example of how I've been able to use it as a learning method is in teaching the subordinate clause. This isn't always an easy thing to explain and I couldn't get it to stick with my boys in a classroom environment, so it was on to the playing fields and out with the footballs.

We split the boys into groups of four, each group with one football. They were asked to name themselves A, B, C. Before A, B or C kicked the ball they had to make up a sentence.

A would say, for instance, ''The exceptionally skilled 13-year-old maestro, comma," then pass to C. C would receive the ball, deliver a subordinate clause -''spotting the stupid defender in his path, comma'' - then pass to B, who would announce, ''bypassed him with a Gazza shimmy, full stop''.