Are teachers dyslexia-friendly?

A recent UK report, ‘The Forgotten Half’ (Birdwell, Grist and Margo, 2011), criticises the long-standing culture of prioritising academic skills and excellence, the overwhelming focus on improving academic achievement, and the little time and resources devoted to ‘work-related’ learning. It describes education in schools as closed off from the outside world.

Upon entering kindergarten, children whose profiles are more logico-mathematical and verbal are at an advantage. Furthermore, the schooling process favours precise and sequential learning patterns, putting at a disadvantage learners with confluent and technical learning patterns.

Add to that a difficulty with accessing the curriculum through the printed text in around 10 to 15 per cent of each class (Shaywitz et al, 1999; Snowling, 2000).

Children with literacy challenges (dyslexia) amount to 10 to 15 per cent of the population, with a 1:1 ratio with respect to gender. Dyslexia is present in every classroom and all teachers must understand this profile in order to address needs and abilities appropriately.

Children with dyslexia need to be supported on three levels: they need help to learn how to read and write; they must be able to access the curriculum; and their self-esteem must be gauged and supported as needed.

We need to understand what it means to have a difficulty to access learning due to difficulties with literacy, as only after understanding and empathising can professionals truly cater for children with such learning difficulties.

Imagine moving to another country and going into a classroom where you have only been learning the country’s new alphabet for a few weeks and you are expected to cope with students who have been learning how to read for four years, and to read comfortably and effortlessly.

You would feel that the teacher is going too fast for you to catch up, you may not understand what is happening. You would feel disheartened and frustrated. You may find yourself getting distracted and would end up being perceived as inattentive, lazy and unmotivated.

Should you have the opportunity to have this experience, it may be the closest that you may get to experiencing the life in the classroom of a student with dyslexia.

Every child has the right of access to the curriculum, yet we take away that right from so many students. If children with dyslexia were to take a secretary to school, then most problems would be greatly minimised or removed.

Since this is probably not feasible, the alternative is to ensure that the teaching provides access to the curriculum in spite of challenges to access print.

It is totally unjust, I would dare say abusive, for educators to ignore that, in their classes, there are children who struggle with literacy. Yet this is the reality for a lot of children.

Frustration and failure are experiences in learning activities which lead to feelings of disappointment and a lowered sense of self-worth, especially in academic environments. Dyslexic pupils experience significant challenges and difficulties with regard to self-esteem and self-perception.

Thomson and Hartley (1980) and Humphrey and Mullin (2002) note that, given the school environment, dyslexic students come to equate happiness and intelligence with good reading, and consequently the lack thereof, with sadness and ignorance. Hum­phrey and Mullins (2002) further conclude that dyslexic people also equate hard work with intelligence, effectively perceiving themselves as ‘lazy’.

This was also very eloquently portrayed during a performance ethnography by actor Matthew Scurfield as part of Discovery University Week, last month.

One must understand that literacy is pervasive in the educational system, and dyslexic students are therefore continuously faced with hurdles to surmount, unless inclusive strategies and techniques are continuously and effectively used.

Faced with situations beyond their control, and with continuous difficulties and failures, students with dyslexia may become helpless, mostly because their efforts do not yield the expected results.

Riley and Rustique-Forrester (2002) note that dyslexic students may find school a profoundly sad and depressing experience, emphasised by the experience of shouting and retributions.

As they put it: “Isolated children and shouting teachers. A recurring image is of school as a prison from which children continually try to escape... small voices crying for help, caught in a cycle of circumstances they felt largely unable to influence.”

Over 100 years ago, Hans Christian Anderson recalled: “The life I led during these (school) days still comes back to me in bad dreams. Once again I sit in a fever on a school bench. I cannot answer; I dare not.

“The angry eyes stare at me, laughter and gibes echo around me. Those were hard and bitter times.” (Anderson, 1846)

“If only the teacher would read to me”; “if only the teacher would use pictures”; “if only the teacher would speak slowly”; “if only the teacher would just give me a handout instead of making me copy from the white board such requests are so simple yet often denied to children with dyslexia.

These requests can be addressed by inclusive strategies.

The crux is whether educators believe that children with dys­lexia have a right to access the curriculum, whether they understand, respect and accept the challenges students with dyslexia face.

In this new millennium, everyone agrees that corporal punishment is abusive, but lack of understanding and empathy can also bring along abusive behaviour, whether intentional or not, when dealing with dyslexic students.

A dangerous situation is when educators do not know that they do not know and are therefore neither aware of the implications of their practises nor of a need for change.

This article is an abridged adaptation of a chapter in a book edited by Andrew Azzopardi, Making Sense of Inclusive Education: Where Everyone Belongs (2010) Germany: VDM Verlag Dr Muller Aktiengesellschaft and Co. KG.

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If you wish to contribute an article or would like a particular subject tackled in the Education section, call Davinia Hamilton on 2559 4513 or e-mail dhamilton@timesofmalta.com.