Why do we need #DyslexiaAwarenessWeek2019?
There’s always an awareness week or day happening for one cause or another! This week is Dyslexia Awareness Week 2019. Raising awareness of dyslexia is a cause that I’m passionate about because I see the effect dyslexia has on people’s lives daily.
Given that the NHS estimates that one in ten people are dyslexic, we can agree that Dyslexia is not rare. It means, statistically, that there are approximately three children in each classroom who are dyslexic. The chances are, we are all meeting people who are dyslexic every day of our lives. Therefore, anything that helps raise awareness and empower people with more knowledge about the subject is another step in the right direction of accepting we are all different.
There is, without any doubt, a correlation between dyslexia and self-esteem. Most people have had negative experiences at some point in their educational career. This experience often involves a humiliating experience in front of your peers, such as having to read out in class or recall multiplication facts. If your processing speed or memory is weaker than average and you’re put in this situation, it can be extremely stressful. Imagine this…your brain is frantically searching for the answer and the pressure of everyone waiting and watching you is building…if you had slightly longer to find the answer, you’d get there but you just can’t do it on the spot. It’s not because you aren’t trying. In fact, you’re probably trying harder than everyone else but due to the way your brain is wired, you can’t do it instantly. People with dyslexia are often awarded extra time in exams and this is why. It isn’t to give anyone an advantage but to allow extra, necessary time to process information.
The chances are that people who are dyslexic, have more of these negative experiences. It might not be on the scale of being humiliated in front of the class. It might be peers asking why you can’t read or spell a certain word. It might be people who are misinformed about dyslexia suggesting that you’re ‘thick,’ ‘stupid’ or slow’ (yes, it still happens!) It might not even be an experience involving other people; it’s often us, asking ourselves questions such as ‘why can’t I do it when everyone else can?’ or ‘what is wrong with me?’. The scale of the negative experience doesn’t matter, if it happens frequently enough, it’s going to affect us.
The effect of negative experiences at school that I see in my work as an assessor and specialist teacher is an erosion of confidence and self-esteem. This is why I’m a huge advocate of early identification and intervention. Yes, some failure is essential for success as it helps foster resilience but persistent failure due to unidentified learning differences can be avoided and surely this is a good thing? The earlier we identify and intervene, we can prevent damage to self-esteem and confidence and prevention is much better than trying to repair the damage. Watch out for a further blog post on the pros and cons of ‘labelling’.
There’s a fantastic website called www.madebydyslexia. It frames dyslexia in a positive light and includes success stories of people with dyslexia. They are offering a free guide for parents and educators called ‘Spelling it Out’ (http://madebydyslexia.org/assets/downloads/spelling-it-out.pdf). It’s definitely worth checking out.
#DyslexiaAwarenessWeek2019?