"....Here is an issue that we constantly encounter at our Dyslexia Centre. Parents tell us that their children are not getting effective reading and spelling support in schools. This situation applies equally in elementary, middle and high schools.
Our Dyslexia Centre families describe examples of situations they are coping with:
• Situation 1 – The school doesn’t acknowledge that the child needs more help or specialist intervention. Teachers believe the child is "coping."
• Situation 2 – The school does acknowledge that the child is not progressing as expected, but does not have specialist staff or resources to offer.
• Situation 3 – School acknowledges concern and promises to offer appropriate support but, in practice, this can be one or more of the following:
o Delivered by non-specialists
o Not appropriate to the child’s needs
o Not sustained
o Ineffective
All of these situations can lead to similar outcomes, such as:
o students become aware that they are falling behind their peers
o students lose confidence
o students begin to find reading & writing stressful
o students become disengaged & try to avoid literacy tasks
o the whole family is under stress
Why Can’t Schools Provide the Right Kind of Help?
The reasons for the lack of effective literacy remediation are often pretty straightforward. Though mainstream schools widely include students with special educational needs, many teachers tell us that their teacher training does not include enough specialist training. This applies to special educational needs in general and, in particular, for dyslexia and other Specific Learning Difficulties.
The teachers attending our Dyslexia Awareness courses tell us that they do not know enough about dyslexia and therefore do not feel able to:
o Identify children who may have dyslexic difficulties
o Undertake diagnostic assessments for dyslexia
o Select appropriate intervention methods
o Access the appropriate resources
o Provide sufficiently effective support"....
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