An appreciation goes to Matthew Scurfield and to Clare Agius for the performance of I Could Be Anyone on February 22 at the University Chaplaincy.
More than a performance, it was a sharing of Scurfield’s experiences, struggles, emotions and disappointments, mainly during his adolescence and youth, as he found himself unable to do well at school.
...Dyslexia continues to affect our children- Mark Azzopardi
Unknowingly he was grappling with dyslexia, now a rather known condition but then still unknown. This led to him becoming emarginated and a disappointment both to his family and to himself. Matthew recounted how so many of his peers with low self-esteem found themselves in prison, became alcoholics or ended up dependant on drugs.
Dyslexia continues to affect our children and children with dyslexia were, until the not-so-distant past, considered as lost causes unable to learn how to read and write. Nowadays, there is more awareness and we now know that about 10 per cent of the population has to grapple with one learning difficulty or another.
It seems that while more and more schools now cater for such students by providing facilitators and core teaching, the scenario is far from homogenous and so many of these children continue to relate how the school or class environment does not always provide for their needs.
I think that while a lot of funds and effort are being spent to address the needs of children with dyslexia, the mainstream way of conducting exams continues to be a stumbling block.
Only students with a reading age of less than that of a 10-year-old are eligible for a reader, scribe or extra time, depending on the case.
Yet, I find it difficult to appreciate how a common entrance exam student is able to understand the comprehension of a language Sec exam paper (for which no reader or scribe is usually assigned).
This leaves a large swathe of students who do have such difficulties but make it to the reading age of a 10-year-old and struggle in an environment tailor-made for mainstream students.
Not that their level of the assessment should, in any way, be less than that of the other students. The reader, scribe or extra time might alleviate the condition but it is the manner of assessment that would make the real difference.
This might mean having to reduce the dependence on written texts, having more oral exams or introducing the use of technology.
As long as the student can demonstrate his competence in the subject, be it biology or English literature, the methodology of assessment should not remain such a hurdle.
I have come to know that the assessment of students currently reading for an M.Sc. at the University of Malta is carried out using presentations and assignments.
Great, but one would almost come to the conclusion that reading for an M.Sc. is more accessible to a child with dyslexia than sitting for the Sec exams. Doesn’t that seem unfair on these children?