5. Dyslexia and the education system.

Recognising problems.

Getting help.

Site contents.

5. Dyslexia and the education system.

Before it was established that dyslexia was a distinct disability with identifiable features, many children and young people struggled through the education system without help. Some became convinced at an early age that they were failures.

In some cases their frustration led to more serious emotional problems or behavioural difficulties. Alienation and disillusionment could follow, sometimes leading to truancy and crime. Certainly the figures given for illiteracy and dyslexia in the surveys of prison populations suggest that unaddressed learning difficulties may contribute to offending behaviour.

Some children's problems may still go unacknowledged, but a greater recognition of specific learning difficulties means that access to additional help is now more readily available in mainstream education.

All children with dyslexia can benefit if their disability is identified early and appropriate help with reading and writing is provided.

Many mildly dyslexic young people find strategies to help them with their difficulties and cope well. For others, dyslexia becomes more of a problem as they progress through school.

Dyslexia is a life-long condition and people at the severe end of the spectrum are likely to need specialist help on a long-term basis as education throws up new challenges.

Dyslexia is one of the specific learning difficulties which may entitle a child to a Statement of special educational needs if the problem is sufficiently serious. (For further discussion about Special Educational Needs, see the section Does your child need special help? and the feature when a child has special educational needs in the children room of the health house.)

A positive approach to dyslexia.

'I run a primary school in Maidenhead for 230 children, aged 5-11. I took the job after a year's research on how mainstream schools can help dyslexic children. My aim is to make life as normal for them as possible.

'We start by asking parents if there are any spelling difficulties in the family. Then we watch our rising-fives very closely from the moment they arrive. We put them through a programme of activities and games designed to help us identify children with a range of problems with literacy, numeracy and physical activities.

'We introduce all the children to a multi-sensory programme of learning letters and sounds. They all learn the same way because this is a good approach for all children. The children who are not dyslexic learn more quickly but the dyslexic children don't lose self-esteem by being singled out for special treatment.

'All the children start learning spellings from Year 1. We ask parents to help with this. And we use a range of 15 to 20 reading schemes to suit individual children's learning styles. They do a sequential programme of word-building and phonics which we had in place long before the National Literacy Strategy.

'We also allocate part of our budget to enable us to have an assistant in every class so that children can be helped in small groups. By the time they leave us the dyslexic children should be able to cope in a secondary school that is also sympathetic to their needs.'

Elizabeth Henderson, headmistress.

Recognising problems.

Now that more is understood about the phonological explanations of dyslexia, researchers are turning their minds to consider the most effective methods of identifying learners with these language difficulties. They are also evaluating teaching methods which will enable dyslexic children to acquire reading and writing skills.

The importance of noticing early which children may have difficulties is universally accepted. Teachers can use the literacy curriculum and, in particular, the targets set out by the National Literacy Strategy, to identify children who are failing to make expected progress.

There are also several diagnostic tests available which help identify children needing additional help. Some of these can be used to screen entire classes of four or five year olds. Others are designed to be used with individual children, either by a teacher or educational psychologist.

Getting help.

The majority of teachers in primary and secondary schools are aware of dyslexia and are adjusting their teaching to meet the needs of these learners.

Examination boards, colleges and universities are also playing their part by making special arrangements for some students with dyslexia (see External tests and examinations).

The voluntary sector also offers support and advice to parents, teachers and adults who suspect that their own difficulties may be caused by undiagnosed dyslexia. (For details of organisations, see Finding out more.)

There are government initiatives to encourage local education authorities (LEAs) to develop policies to identify and tackle dyslexia.

Staff development programmes for teachers and work on classroom materials, including computer software, indicate that dyslexia is becoming more recognised in the education system. In some LEAs considerable help is offered to dyslexic children in mainstream education. In other authorities progress is slower.

The City and County of Swansea, for example, asks schools to sign up to 'dyslexia friendly status'. It organises awareness training for all teachers and learning support assistants and for every school to have a specialist dyslexic teacher. Although Swansea has gone the furthest in involving all schools under its authority, many other local authorities have also organised specialist training courses and set up dyslexia units in some of their schools.

Contents of this site.

1. Introduction.

2. What is dyslexia?

3. Who is dyslexic?

4. Scientific findings.

5. Dyslexia and the education system

6. How to recognise dyslexia in children.

7. Dyslexia in adults.

8. How to help.

9. External tests and examinations.

10. The way forward.

11. Finding out more.

12. Credits.