This week, the MP Matt Hancock proposed a new Dyslexia Bill for all primary aged children in the UK to be screened for dyslexia. This Bill has now passed through the first stage in the Commons and Matt Hancock’s speech is available to watch on Parliament Live via the direct link https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/1f5ec3c7-be92-4d7a-a6d2-59c4491e17e8?in=14:05:06. This proposed Dyslexia Bill will hopefully raise awareness and help more dyslexic children get the support they need as soon as possible. I do wonder how they are intending to screen all the children though, so I am interested to find out more. Although dyslexia screeners are useful to identify certain weaknesses and strengths which may indicate dyslexia, some screeners are better than others. Therefore, I think screeners should not be fully relied upon, but be used alongside background information from the child’s parent and observations from the child’s teacher. Level 5 trained dyslexia specialists can also assess a child for indicators of dyslexia by talking to the child’s parents and their teacher for more information and performing various assessments. This would have a more accurate picture of the child than by just using the data from a screener. I hope that the campaign will encourage more people to learn about dyslexia to ensure that the dyslexic child is taught in the way they learn best, so that their educational and emotional needs are met. Dyslexia specialists can teach or recommend programmes and strategies that would suit the dyslexic individual’s learning style and advise teachers how they can be supported in the classroom. Kate Griggs, founder of Made by Dyslexia discusses the proposed new Dyslexia Bill in an intervew for Times Radio, which can be found at the time 2:52:25 to 2:57:30 via the link https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/show/20211208-4349/2021-12-08.
Completing a checklist with a child’s parents and the teacher can also help to understand whether there is a likelihood of dyslexia and whether further investigations should take place. Checklists are useful as they can outline a learner’s strengths and weaknesses and help to inform a supportive teaching strategy, which should be put in place as soon as there is a need identified, without waiting for a formal diagnosis. Example checklists for dyslexia can be found on the British Dyslexia Association website on https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexia/how-is-dyslexia-diagnosed/dyslexia-checklists
The British Dyslexia Association describe how to look out for signs of dyslexia on their ‘Is My Child Dyslexic?’ page on http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk and this information can be found directly through the link https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/children/is-my-child-dyslexic. A dyslexic individual can usually be identified at an early age and signs of dyslexia in early years include: difficulty learning nursery rhymes, difficulties paying attention, background of slow speech development, poor auditory discrimination, difficulty keeping rhythm, forgetting names of friends and teachers, difficulties with sequencing and displaying obvious good and bad days in their learning. Details of more signs of dyslexia to be aware of in the early years can be found on the British Dyslexia Website and through the link https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/children/is-my-child-dyslexic/signs-of-dyslexia-early-years.
NEW NESSY WEBSITE AND DECEMBER OFFERS
Nessy have recently updated their website at http://www.nessy.com and there are some wonderful new pages to be found. I especially like the page that helps explain dyslexia on https://www.nessy.com/en-us/dyslexia-explained/how-to-help-dyslexia
Christmas at Nessy! Fill your stocking with 40% off Nessy Reading and Spelling, Nessy Fingers Touch Typing, and the Spell and Type Pack. This year’s Holiday Sale runs 4th – 22nd December. Use the code: HOLIDAY21 in their shop https://www.nessy.com/en-gb/shop
DYSCALCULIA – FREE KINDLE BOOK
To raise more awareness about dyscalculia, the kindle version of the book ‘Code Green on Dyscalculia (2021)’ will be FREE on Amazon till 12 December 2021. This book is recommended as a guide for teachers, parents, maths interventionists, SENCOs and other professionals who have an interest in disovering more about dyscalculia.
CHRISTMAS IS COMING!
If you are counting down the days to Christmas, then there are only 16 sleeps until Christmas Day! I think that I definitely need to start Christmas shopping now! Stay healthy and happy. PJ 🙂
If we could look into each other’s hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance and care.
Marvin J Ashton
Help your child learn to read, write and spell 