Dyslexia Action response to claims by Professor Julian (Joe) Elliott that too many children are wrongly being labelled dyslexic
Where is the evidence?
On what evidence are this week’s headlines that so damagingly claim thousands of dyslexic children have been wrongly diagnosed based? Where is the evidence that children with dyslexia get an ‘unfair’ share of the available resources? It is wrong and damaging to those children who are dyslexic and in need of more specialist support to suggest that this is used as an excuse for slow progress or bad teaching. Dyslexia is complex and the difficulties it causes extend beyond problems with literacy.
It is equally wrong to assume that every child who is identified with dyslexia gets extra classroom support. This is not the experience of many of the parents who come to Dyslexia Action and many have to fight tooth and nail to get the help that is more appropriate to their child’s specific needs.
We would urge that the debate is moved on from whether dyslexia is a useful concept. Instead the spotlight should be on how best to support all those struggling with a range of difficulties.
Dyslexia Action feels that it is vital for schools, local authorities and government to work in partnership to ensure that we have the best possible support for all those children most at risk of literacy failure. It is important that we give both teachers, and parents, clear research based information and guidance about teaching and support strategies that work, rather than engage in an unhelpful and distracting debate about the term dyslexia. Dr John RackHead of Assessment and Evaluation
Dyslexia Action responds to Sir Alan Steer’s latest recommendations on improving behaviour within schools
In a report issued today (6 February 2009), Sir Alan Steer, the Government’s top advisor on behaviour , highlights the importance of early identification of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), including those affected by dyslexia.
Shirley Cramer , Chief Executive Officer of Dyslexia Action, comments: ‘We know that as many as 2 – 3 children in every classroom are affected by dyslexia to varying degrees. Dyslexia is much more complex than just having a difficulty with reading, and very often affects memory, organisation, sequencing and mathematics. The resulting difficulties often impact on a child’s behaviour . It is not uncommon for this group of children to feel frustrated or have low self-esteem and confidence. For some of these children, if their difficulties are not identified and appropriately addressed, this can be expressed as disruptive and/or bad behaviour.’
Dyslexia Action welcomes Sir Alan’s recommendations and echoes the need to increase the level of support for schools in how to identify and best enable children with SEN, including the importance of schools’ access to appropriate resources.
Shirley Cramer continues: ‘Dyslexia Action is working in partnership with a number of schools across the UK. While our objective is to improve the literacy levels within each partner school, the focus has been on training the whole school staff, ensuring that we leave behind the knowledge and expertise in how to identify those pupils at risk and then how best to use specialist resources to support them. Through such models we are able to leave with the school leadership interventions that can be embedded into the school’s own teaching, appropriate to its needs, timetable, and the requirements of individual children.’
At the beginning of March, Dyslexia Action will be issuing a report that details its work through a unique intervention programme that focuses on training school staff in how to identify and support those children most at risk of literacy failure. The programme is called Partnership for Literacy and the report highlights the impact that such a whole-school approach can have on raising literacy standards.
Shirley Cramer concludes: ‘The Government has committed to improving SEN provision and in our experience teachers themselves are looking for support in how to identify and best teach children with more complex reading difficulties. This report further demonstrates the need for us to now work in partnership, pooling our resources and expertise to reduce the barriers and improve the long term opportunities for those children currently failing.’
ENDS
For more information:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0026 http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/06/pupil-behaviour-school-discipline http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6008307
6 February 2009
Dyslexia Action comments on The Times Educational Supplement article: ‘ Phonics fails dyslexics, says head’, Friday 26th September, 2008
The teaching of synthetic phonics has been proven to be a very important part of teaching reading. Those who are dyslexic lack phonological awareness and indeed often struggle to learn to read when taught using conventional methods. However, the headline for this article is very misleading and in Dyslexia Action’s experience we know that a letter-sound method, when properly taught by appropriately qualified people, can be extremely successful when teaching dyslexic learners.
Dr Neville Brown’s methodology is clearly effective and Dyslexia Action acknowledges the real value of morphology and indeed we use it within our teaching to give an understanding of the way words work, which does make a difference to our dyslexic learners. However, the majority of dyslexic children learn quite happily with letters and sounds. We know that most dyslexic learners will respond to phonics, if delivered at the right pace with the right amount of repetition, rehearsal and, for example, an understanding of how to use syllable division and suffixing rules.
It is important to stress that while morphology is effective, the use of phonics with dyslexic learners should not be dismissed. In Dyslexia Action’s experience the two should not be mutually exclusive . Both ways of understanding how words work are important for good, confident literacy skills.
The wider issues linked to the teaching of children with SEN lie beyond such methodologies and the single biggest barrier to this group of children is the lack of expertise within the system. Dyslexia Action is working to improve awareness and knowledge of the needs of children with dyslexia/SpLD at the level of ITT and through CPD. We know what the models of best practice for these children are and we now need to work with Government, LAs and schools to ensure those that facilitate such methodologies have the competencies when working with children with SEN.
Shirley Cramer Chief Executive Officer
29 September 2008
Naomi Gadian, a 21-year old medical student who has been studying at Peninsula Medical School for the last two years, is taking legal action following her claims that the use of multiple-choice exams discriminate against people with dyslexia. She is challenging the General Medical Council (GMC) to scrap this form of assessment.
Dyslexia Action is unable to comment on the particulars of this tribunal because dyslexia is a complex specific learning difficulty that affects different dyslexic individuals differently.
Dr John Rack, Dyslexia Action’s Head of Assessments and Evaluation, comments: "Multiple choice exams are often preferred by dyslexic people because there is no need to give long written answers, but it is understandable that they could be a problem for some. The reason for this is that people with dyslexia often have a weakness in working memory - the memory system that we use to hold information that is needed for short time. This means that it can be hard to remember all options in a multiple-choice exam, especially if they are long and perhaps written in a confusing way. For everyone there is a limit to what can be held in working memory - as is often found when trying to write down telephone numbers or listening to menu options on automated telephone services! However, for people with dyslexia the problem tends to be a bit worse, especially if they are having to use extra effort to read the options in the first place. It is therefore advisable, and indeed, good practice, to ensure that such types of examinations use questions that are clearly worded and which do not overload working memory. Other special arrangements such as additional time or support with reading should also be given in order to give dyslexic people a fair and equal chance of demonstrating their skills and knowledge."
The examination process can be made fairer for dyslexic students by ensuring that their needs are addressed, and if required Examination Access Arrangements should be put in place, subject to individual need and on the basis of the difficulties presented by the individual student.
Dr Rack adds: “It is recommended, under the terms of the the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), that reasonable adjustments should ensure that those with a recognised disability, which includes dyslexia, have the same opportunity to perform to the best of their abilities. Within this context, it is recommended that students with dyslexia be allocated extra time or have printed examination papers in formats more accessible to the reader, such as different coloured papers or large print. Where the dyslexia is severe, possible special arrangements might include the use of a laptop, reader or a scribe. Again it is important to stress that such arrangements will be on the basis of individual need and are designed to ensure equal access.”
For more information about this tribunal please visit the BBC’s website: (URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7530159.stm).
For further press and media please contact Dyslexia Action’s Kerry Bennett on 01784 222312 / 07841 672040 or at kbennett@dyslexiaaction.org.uk.
Can’t Read, Can’t Write - Dyslexia Action responds to Channel 4’s adult literacy programme
Last night - Monday 21st July - Channel 4 broadcast the first programme in its documentary series ‘Can’t Read, Can’t Write’ that highlights the issues for the approximate five-million UK adults who have poor literacy skills.
Phil Beadle, described as a controversial and award-winning teacher from the Channel 4 programme ‘The Unteachables’, is tasked with unlocking the learning needs of nine adults, all of whom have left school unable to read and write. In just six months Phil hopes to be able to teach these adults, of varying ages and levels of ability, to read and write.
In last night’s episode we were introduced to the adult learners, none of whom were said to have a reading age above twelve years, with some as low as six years.
Shirley Cramer, Dyslexia Action’s Chief Executive Officer, comments: “Dyslexia Action welcomes the spotlight being put on adult literacy. The reality of poor reading and writing skills for adults in our country is alarming and this programme does an excellent job of illustrating the impact this has on this group of adults.
There are many reasons why someone is unable to read and, indeed, dyslexia is just one. However, we commend Phil Beadle’s efforts to show how important it is to make the teaching methods appropriate to the learner. There is a wealth of evidence to support how effective a specialist multi-sensory teaching programme is and these are methods that have long since been used in our sector.”
Jenny Lee, Dyslexia Action’s National Adult Coordinator, adds: “ Dyslexia and other literacy difficulties need not and should not be a barrier to achievement. But for some a more individualised teaching programme is required and I wholeheartedly agree with the importance of using a phonic (letter-sound recognition) multi-sensory approach at the early stages for many adult learners. Using the learner's preferred learning styles in these early stages of reading is also imperative.”
Dyslexia Action has worked with hundreds of adults, using a specialist phonic multi-sensory teaching programme that has been developed over many years of research and through the experience of its specialist teachers.
Jenny Lee continues: “There are currently few suitable phonic adult Core Curriculum materials for teaching adults who cannot read and write at all. However, Dyslexia Action works with many adults, some very similar to those featured in the 'Can’t Read, Can’t Write' programme, using a wide range of methods and materials including a highly structured phonic approach . Our methods include DILP, the Dyslexia Institute Literacy Programme, and ALP, our Adult Literacy Programme, which provide the learner with the foundations of literacy from absolute basics, accommodating all learning styles and levels of ability. We now also have an exciting new multisensory literacy programme available called Units of Sound: Literacy that Fits which anyone can buy so that they can work on their reading and spelling at home. We encourage the use of specialist technology to circumvent dyslexic problems and tailor all our provision to the dyslexic adult’s specific needs whether it be in work, study or their everyday lives.”
Shirley Cramer concludes: “We commend the adults featured in this programme and feel a huge sense of regret for the long-term underachievement and sense of failure they have felt. Dyslexia Action has previously reported on the long-term costs of not addressing poor skills early in a child’s education and for those that do not get the right help and support early enough this very often results in long-term underachievement. Our job now as a sector is to work with government to improve the standards in our current education system and to further support adult education, improving the life and employment chances for all.”
For more information about Dyslexia Action’s work with adults please visit the adult section of our website - click here.
For further press and media information please contact Kerry Bennett on 01784 222312 / 07841 672040 or kbennett@dyslexiaaction.org.uk.
For more information about Channel 4’s ‘Can’t read, can’t write’ programme click here.
22 July 2008
Dyslexia Action comments on the closure of Dore treatment centres Dore, previously known as the Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Attention Deficit Treatment (DDAT) centres, which had claimed to be able to cure dyslexia, has announced that all its centres will be closed with immediate effect in both the UK and Australia, leaving many patients untreated and out of pocket.
Shirley Cramer , Chief Executive Officer of Dyslexia Action, comments: “ The demise of the 'miracle cure' further supports the importance of evidence-based practices for children and adults with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties. It furthers the need to provide families with accurate information. Dyslexia is complex and while there is variation in the types of methods we see marketed to alleviate the difficulties caused, it is imperative that we do not mislead parents with exaggerated claims and misleading marketing.
We are concerned for the families that will now be affected by the closure of the Dore treatment centres and monies they may have lost. We are also sorry for the Dore staff members who have lost their jobs. But our position on the treatments offered is unaltered and we would urge those concerned about dyslexia to look to methods which, while not a quick fix, are based on international evidence, such as multi-sensory specialist tuition.
As a nation we should be looking to best practice models that can improve our education system, increasing the reading standards of our children and ensuring that every child has equal access to the curriculum. Dyslexia Action is working with the Government and supports the forthcoming Rose review of the primary curriculum, and we hope that the recommendations here will provide a system of support for all children, no matter their family’s income.”
For more information about the closure of the Dore Centres please refer to Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science article: ‘ How to market a miracle cure’, Saturday 24 May 2008 click here.
For Dyslexia Action's views on the treatments previously offered by Dore click here.
28 May 2008
For more press and media information contact Kerry Bennett on 01784 222312 / 07841 672040.
Dyslexia Action responds to today’s report that states that the Government's delay in tackling dyslexia will cost the UK £1.8bn
Dyslexia Action recognises that poor reading standards come at a cost not only to the individual but to the UK’s economy as a whole. The Government’s own statistics tell us that poor skills cost in excess of £10 billion per annum.
However, while the leading dyslexia organisations have long been calling for a better system of early intervention and provision, together with improvements to teacher training and increased funding for Special Educational Needs, we welcome the forthcoming Rose Review.
Shirley Cramer , Chief Executive Officer of Dyslexia Action and Secretariat for the All Party Group for Dyslexia and Learning Difficulties, comments: ‘At the present time, many children with dyslexia are not getting appropriate educational help in school and we are pleased that the Government has recognised the problem and has asked Sir Jim Rose to look at the evidence and make recommendations on the identification and teaching of dyslexia.
At the All Party Group meeting at the beginning of May, where the Secretary of State, Ed Balls, announced the review, he said that it was unacceptable that so many parents had to fight to get their child’s needs addressed. With his promise to act on the recommendations from the Rose Review and given the robust, international evidence base for the effective teaching of children with dyslexia, we would expect decisive Government action to improve the life chances of these children.
Our role, together with the other leading organisations ’ in our sector, is now to look at how we can best support Sir Jim Rose and work with Government, Local Authorities and individual schools to ensure that we reduce the number of children currently failing.’
16 May 2008
For further media and press information please contact Kerry Bennett on 01784 222312 / 07841 672040 or Ann Campbell 01784 222350 / 07970 218353.
We welcome the very real interest the Government is taking in dyslexia. And we welcome this review, particularly headed by Jim Rose, whose 2006 report on the teaching of early reading has helped to focus on the need properly to address children’s reading skills.
It is important to note, however, that the evidence base for teaching of dyslexic students has been well established through longitudinal international research. We know how to support these children effectively.
Our organisations strongly believe that the country should be implementing a simple system where each school would have one teacher trained as a dyslexia/SpLD specialist who can recognise and support children with dyslexia/SpLD. This expertise is already widely available from dyslexia centres, specialist teachers and a number of independent schools which have for many years been providing effective support for dyslexic children in reading, writing, maths, and concentration. Each review and pilot merely adds to the delay in implementing the solution. They have been getting it right for years. We want to see this in all schools in the public sector.
Lynn Greenwold, chief executive of Patoss, said: ‘Specialist teachers’ guidance and sound multi-sensory teaching combined with knowledge of how to identify and build on children’s strengths will stop children failing and help them reach their full potential. The sooner we bring these skills to all schools the better.’
6 May 2008
Contacts
Notes to Editors
1. The British Dyslexia Association (BDA), Dyslexia Action, the Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties (PATOSS), and Xtraordinary People (XP), are working in partnership on the No To Failure project, funded and supported by the Department for Children, Families and Schools (DCFS). Its aim is to raise awareness and funds to support dyslexia training in schools, and to strip away any stigma attached to being dyslexic.
2. For further information on the No to Failure Project go to http://www.notofailure.com.
Dyslexic police constable wins tribunal. Dyslexia Action comments Dyslexia Action comments on the news story about probationary police constable Owen Brooking who won his claim of harassment and disability discrimination at the hands of South Woodham Ferrers police force. The tribunal found that no proper allowance was made for his dyslexia.
Dyslexia Action cannot comment on the specifics of this case but Shirley Cramer , our chief executive, says: 'This is an important ruling and one which we hope will pave the way for a greater recognition of the issues that dyslexia in the workplace can present and that must be accommodated by any organisation to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.
Dyslexia is a hidden disability that mainly affects reading and writing though problems with memory, mathematics ability, organisation and sequencing skills can also result. Dyslexia does NOT affect intelligence. Dyslexia is common, affecting 10% of people, so will certainly be an issue within any UK police force. However, dyslexic people can make excellent policemen so long as the strategies and adjustments are in place to support them.
There are effective actions that both employee and employer can take to ensure the most productive work environment.
Through our workplace consultancy, which is designed to help and support both the employer and dyslexic employee, we look at the workplace environment, alongside information about the individual’s strengths and weaknesses, and consider what ‘reasonable adjustments’, strategies and support systems can be introduced to ensure that the dyslexic employee is able to perform to the best of his/her abilities. This may also include some coaching in skills development and compensatory strategies or the use of assistive technology.'
For more information please call Ann Campbell on 07970 218 353 or Kerry Bennett on 07841 672040.
4 April 2008
Dyslexia Action comments on news stories on research findings of dyslexia project pilot, Friday 14 March 2008
We welcome attention on dyslexia which is an issue for up to 10% of people in the UK including two to three schoolchildren in every class.
The No to Failure Interim Report March 2008 shows that 21% of children screened were at risk of dyslexia or specific learning difficulties. This group of children will have a broad range of difficulties and many will benefit from specialist support. These statistics are in line with what we would expect and also in keeping with Government figures showing that one in five children is currently leaving primary school with a poor level of literacy (The Select Committee on Education and Skills Report, April 2005).
Many, but not all, of the one in five are dyslexic, and we would like to see more done to provide the right kind of support for all children. Dyslexia Action and the other dyslexia organisations argue strongly for more specialist intervention to meet individual needs.
However, we recommend that people should only talk about dyslexia when they have had a thorough assessment which will confirm whether difficulties exposed at screening are really specific or part of other kinds of problems (which clearly are important but are not necessarily dyslexia). They may be general language difficulties, for example, or issues around having English as a second language.
We know that, with the change in the literacy strategy following the recommendations of the Rose Review of the teaching of reading (March 2006), many of the important principles that we would advocate for addressing the needs of at-risk children are now being built in to mainstream practice.
However, there are still many who will need more intensive, more individualised, longer-lasting support. T he main dyslexia organisations agree, that if children with dyslexia have their learning needs and weaknesses identified early, and are given the appropriate targeted support in the classroom, they can overcome their difficulties and succeed in mainstream school. This can be done by training more specialist teachers and by encouraging cooperation between the dyslexia specialists and mainstream schools.
Dyslexia Action would, of course, welcome more money for projects that demonstrate effective ways of delivering the support that we know works. We are already working with the Government on a number of projects exploring ways to define best practice and to build this support.
In December last year Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, announced funding of £250,000 over three years to us to run more Partnership for Literacy pilots in a further 10 schools. In Partnership for Literacy we work closely with primary schools to build a sustainable system of support for children struggling with literacy, including tuition for those in the bottom 20% of attainment, apprentice-style training for teachers and whole-school awareness. These pilots include evaluation of the impact of specialist tuition on the progression of children with dyslexia – contributing to evidence of best practice. We have or are currently partnering with 17 schools so far.
Last October the Department for Children, Schools and Families l aunched an Inclusion Development Programme (IDP) which offers professional development materials on working with children with SEN for the early years and school workforce – starting with dyslexia and speech and language difficulties. Dyslexia Action has produced the teaching materials for the dyslexia component, which are being distributed to local authorities for schools this month.
In addition we are part of the No to Failure project, which launched last May and which is being taken forward by the British Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia Action, Xtraordinary People and PATOSS. No to Failure is piloting and evaluating the impact of specialist training for teachers and specialist tuition for children with dyslexia in some schools in three local authority areas. It is receiving funding of up to £900,000 over three years.
These pilot projects are gathering evidence on what works with improving outcomes for children with dyslexia. Impact on children’s progress will be monitored and evaluated. The DCFS is talking to us – and the other dyslexia organisations – about summarising research findings of the impact of specialist tuition and teachers on outcomes for children with dyslexia.
In addition, we are pleased that last December Ed Balls suggested that all schools 'look closely at the support they offer for dyslexia, check that they are giving the most appropriate support available and try to identify dyslexia where it might occur'.
For more information, please call Ann Campbell on 07970 218 353.
14 March 2008
Dyslexia Action responds to claims that children are too readily given extra time in examinations
It is critical that children with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia be given a ‘level playing field’ to show what they can do. Examination access arrangements were created to ensure that children and adults with special needs were given an equal opportunity to succeed in their examinations. With better identification we would expect the numbers getting these arrangements to increase. However, it is critical that the assessments are done properly or it will harm the very children they were created to support.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) are responsible for the regulations for exam access arrangements which change each year. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is also responsible for National Curriculum assessment regulations.
Each summer Dyslexia Action prepares to process the the modifications to the regulations, which are usually released after the start of the school year making it difficult for schools to get up to speed on the issue. Parents are often bewildered by the regulations and made anxious as they come out quite late.
It is the role of the JCQ to set the regulations, everyone else complies with them.
If QCA and others are concerned about abuse of the system then the regulations should be reviewed and possibly tightened.
Most importantly at Dyslexia Action we have a quality assurance programme so that we can ensure high quality reports. We would suggest that the JCQ adopt aquality assurance mechanism if there are concerns about potential abuse within the system.
Dyslexia Action runs courses to support teachers and schools in understanding the regulations. We can vouch for our own reports for exam access arrangements.
The QCA has just published two reports, February 12, 2008, on the examinations system: ‘Report othe performance of awarding bodies 2007’ and ‘GCSEs and A levels: the experiences of teachers, students, parents and the general public, an update on trends to 2007’, carried out by MORI. For information please click here to visit the QCA’s website.
11 February 2008
We applaud Channel Four’s focus on literacy through its Lost for Words season.
We welcome the findings of Dispatches: Why Our Children Can’t Read (Monday 22 October 2007) which showed dramatic improvements in results in several schools adopting a synthetic phonics methodology to teach children to read.
Dyslexia Action supports these findings and the wide adoption of a synthetic phonics approach in English schools, further to the Rose Report (Rose Review of the Teaching of Reading, 20 March 2006). Our multi-sensory tuition, which follows synthetic phonic principles, has been used by our teachers for over 35 years to successfully support dyslexic children.
Since dyslexia affects 10% of people, two to three children in every classroom will be affected to some degree. That the schools in the programme were able to improve literacy rates so dramatically shows that the synthetic phonics approach is also able to support all but the most severely dyslexic children in their reading learning. However, since dyslexia affects more than just reading there will still be issues for many around poor short term memory, maths and organisation skills. There will also be more severely dyslexic children who require more specialist, individually tailored multisensory tuition.
In conducting his review, Jim Rose considered a wide range of evidence from practitioners, researchers, published reports and data including evidence from Dyslexia Action. Dyslexia Action is included in the report as an example of best practice for our approach and content in training across our 'tiered' courses.
Dyslexia Action remains concerned, however, that a formal articulated special educational needs policy and national standards for service provision for this area are still critical - and still waiting to be introduced - to help the many children currently 'falling though the cracks' and who will still struggle despite the more systematic teaching of reading now to be introduced.
24 October 2007
