Early support for dyslexic pupils could prevent two million failures

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Early support for dyslexic pupils could prevent two million failures

March 20, 2008 12:00 AM
By Bob MacQueen in The Guardian

I was delighted to learn from your article that at last there may be some recognition of the importance of diagnosing dyslexia at an early stage (2m children have dyslexic-type reading difficulty, study claims, March 14). These sufferers "are let down by the government's literacy strategy because it fails to target those pupils falling furthest behind", you reported. "Schools are not identifying children at risk, says the research, which found that 2 million have dyslexic-type learning difficulties."

I work as a needs assessor for the Disabled Students Award scheme run by the Open University. Many of these students have specific learning difficulties, including dyslexia, and in general they underachieved at school, entering higher education years later as mature students. They drifted from job to job until something happened to show them they had potential, and many then took access courses before starting a degree course.

You quote Kate Gibb from learning charity Xtraordinary People, who says: "The link between dyslexia and academic failure has been made shockingly clear by our report." And she adds: "With a correct 'diagnosis' and support, dyslexic children can flourish."

I fully support this. Educationally, dyslexics tend to respond to multi-sensory input. With some individual tuition and the use of appropriate technology, many will perform at a much higher level than they do at present. Intervention early in life is surely better than trying to support them in higher education several years later.

I also have two children who are dyslexic and, as a parent, I find your quote from John Bangs of the National Union of Teachers very worrying. He says: "There are kids who have full-blown dyslexia, but they are rarer than 2 million kids. The issue is whether there are enough reading-recovery teachers in place ... This is not about quasi-medical diagnosis of kids."

But dyslexia is not just about reading; it affects short-term memory, sequencing, phonetics, spelling and homophones, and producing structured written output.

What is "full-blown" dyslexia? Yes, there are different levels of difficulties experienced by children, but this is not a term I have seen used by educational psychologists, who I doubt will like being accused of giving "quasi-medical diagnosis". Steve Redgrave, the Olympic rowing champion, who is himself dyslexic, has been campaigning on the use of assistive technology in schools. I have visited schools across the country but have yet to see much evidence of any adopting this technology.

Without help in this area it will be impossible for the government to achieve its targets for reading and maths for 11-year-olds. The Department for Children, Schools and Families may claim, as you report, that "dyslexic children are not slipping through the net", but this does not mirror the reality I see. My own experiences suggest that a few lucky ones get a second chance and receive support while studying at higher levels; but how many are being failed?

Bob MacQueen is a special needs assessor for the Open University.