How can anyone describe the whole until he has learned the total of the parts?

 

Once upon a time a group of blind people felt an elephant to satisfy curiosity.  The man who was presented with the head declared, ‘an elephant is like a pot.’ The woman who had observed the ear disagreed: ‘An elephant is like a winnowing basket.’ He who had been presented with a tusk said it was a ploughshare. The person who knew only the trunk said it was a plough; others said the body was a granary; the foot, a pillar; the back, a mortar; the tail, a pestle, the tuft of the tail, a brush.

How they argued! Each one insisted that she or he alone was correct. Of course, there was no conclusion for not one had thoroughly examined the whole elephant.

When a person is opinionated or blind to his limitations because of insufficient knowledge or closed mindedness, she is as blind as if she had no eyesight.

Most academics and practitioners in the field of dyslexia adopt a deficit model wherein a learner who does not conform to established norms of development in those areas traditionally valued by society are regarded as disabled. And of course in a traditional society such as many of our schools, this is so.

The research field in dyslexia is a multi-faceted one, covering brain structure, neurological processing, the cerebellum, visual cortex and speech and language processing. Many studies look at the role and efficacy of memory, fluency of information retrieval and literacy acquisition – and find learners with dyslexia wanting. For these reasons the term is surrounded by confusion and ambiguity. The definition that is widely used was developed by the British Psychological Association in 1999:

Dyslexia is evident when accurate and fluent word reading and/or spelling develops very incompletely or with great difficulty.

This definition focuses on literacy learning at the “word” level – i.e. persistent difficulty with letter sounds, blending, syllabification and rhyme – and implies that the problem is severe and persistent despite appropriate learning opportunities.  It usually provides the basis for a staged process of assessment through teaching.

It is likely that in Scotland we will adopt at some time the new definition developed by the Scottish Government and Dyslexia Scotland. This has a slightly broader range in that it recognises discrepancies between a learner’s cognitive ability and performance.

Dyslexia can be described as a continuum of difficulties in learning to read, write and/or spell, which does not respond well to conventional teaching techniques. These difficulties often do not reflect an individual’s cognitive ability and are often not typical of performance in other areas.

The impact of dyslexia as a barrier to learning varies in degree according to the learning environment and the demands of the curriculum as there are associated difficulties such as:

• auditory and /or visual processing of language-based information
• phonological awareness
• oral language skills and reading fluency
• short-term and working memory
• sequencing and directionality
• number skills
• organisational ability

Motor skills and co-ordination are often affected.

Dyslexia exists in all cultures and across the range of abilities and socio-economic backgrounds.  It is neurological in origin; a hereditary, life-long condition.  Unidentified, dyslexia is likely to result in low self esteem, high stress, atypical behaviour, and low achievement. 

Despite these variations in terminology and characteristics ( I nearly wrote symptoms) there tends to be consensus, in the UK at least, that the focus for intervention should be based firmly in the classroom and some agreement that dyslexia represents more than a reading difficulty. Many of the interventions that are regarded as effective for learners with dyslexia incorporate good learning and teaching practices which will benefit all children.

Differing schools of thought about dyslexia

I have been thinking about the different schools of thought about dyslexia evident in the literature and in practice. The most dominant is a deficit model wherein dyslexia is a disability. In fact severe dyslexia is covered under the Disability Discrimination Act:

The DDA defines a disabled person as someone with a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Dyslexia does not always affect a person’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities. Dyslexic people can often reduce the effect of their disability if they are able to do things their way. However, if they cannot do this for any reason the effects can be disabling. When the Bill was being debated in parliament, the government made it clear that they thought severe dyslexia was covered under this law. [Paragraph A8, Guidance to the Definitions of Disability]

This approach assumes that ‘treatment’ is necessary and likely to be painful and prolonged. A US medical journal gives this gloomy summary:

Dyslexia is an impairment of the ability to read caused by a difference in brain function. Dyslexia, also known as developmental reading disorder, is a learning disability. Because dyslexia is caused by a difference in the structure and function of specific areas of the brain, there is no cure. Early identification is important for initiating treatment before the child with dyslexia becomes frustrated and loses motivation for learning in school.

Another school of thought claims that dyslexia is a gift. Sometimes great proficiencies in some areas can involve surprising and unexpected deficiencies in other areas.  This is not seen as a cruel trick of fate, but rather a basic quality of design: what is optimised (deliberately or inadvertently) for one function may involve fundamental elements that make it unsuited for another function’. (Thomas West) It is a remarkable irony that those who have had the greatest difficulties with bookish technologies seem to be those best suited to the new technologies that emphasise hands-on ways of learning and visual modes of accessing and creating knowledge and understanding.

I shall continue to explore these differing approaches over the next wee while.

There is no failure except in no longer trying

I listen to the Today programme on Radio 4 in the mornings. I routinely get cross at the inclusion of a designated spot for religion and sport but none for culture.

Anyway, on Monday I was half aware as I drove to work of some golfer who had won some golf thing recently defending the use of a buggy to get around the course. He said he had won to his surprise, being somewhat unfit. He played as much as 5 times a week and there’s an awful lot of walking involved! He acknowledged that a sport requires stamina and fitness as well as skill but seemed a little unconvinced. He sounded a bit like some of the learners (adults and children) I know who whinge about putting in effort.

Why don’t they just make the bats and holes bigger if it’s so hard?
I’ve heard that playing a round of golf is equivalent in terms of physical benefit to playing a round of Canasta. But I may have made that up.

Just watch Michael Jordan talking about how he has failed ‘over and over and over again’ in his life. ‘And that is why I succeed’!

A lesson for us all – even those with no interest in sport.

PS I know they’re called clubs. It was a joke.

A good teacher is like a bolt of electricity (Ed Balls)

  How wonderful to read that the award for the outstanding new teacher has gone to a young man who was told he’d never become a teacher because of his dyslexia. In fact his parents were informed by his primary head that there was ‘a debate as to whether dyslexia really exists’.

 The Guardian reports that the first thing that new students learn from Edward Vickerman is that he won’t be writing on the board: ‘ He can’t do it properly’ said one of his students. ‘But he’s got his own brilliant system. It’s cool’. Unfortunately no details were supplied.

 It is astonishing that someone as dynamic and enterprising as this teacher – department head of business at the age of 26 after a career in hotel management – should have faced such blinkered thinking as recently as the 1990s. Luckily for Edward Vickerman his mum, a head teacher, and dad, severely dyslexic himself, along with many ‘brilliant’ teachers, believed in him. His determination and ‘vim’, ingenuity and communication skills were also vital elements that enabled him to break through barriers to achieve his ambition.

 Edward claims that being dyslexic makes him think differently. ‘It forces me to think outside the box; to find ways of using new technology to teach; to include everyone, in a way that didn’t happen to me. When I left school, I wanted above all to come back as a teacher. I wanted to change the system’.

 The report continues:

It is a measure of Vickerman that he was tripped up very early. He can take himself back, instantly, to a moment at the age of 7 when he was given a bag of wooden letters to try and improve his halting inability to write his obviously fizzing ideas down.

‘I had to out them in alphabetical order,’ he says. ‘ I got about as far as D. I couldn’t identify any of the lettes, or make the sounds they stood for. They could have been anything.’

What a terrific role model and inspiration.

Denmark

I had a lovely time in the civilised and pretty town of Skagen in Denmark last week. There was nothing west but sea and sky:

 the view from the window

And not much east either. We were at the very northern tip of Jutland on a spit of land that was only 5 km wide. My header shows the triangle of sand that marks the end of the land. Next stop Norway.

This house was larger than most but typically yellow and neat. It was for sale. The commute would be just too long unfortunately.

Not a Carl Larsson interior but a cafe where they plied you with as many cups of hot chocolate and cream as you could manage.

This picture of me resembles the suffragettre described as  being the same height as Kylie Minogue, with the approximate shape, density and forward momentum of a curling stane. I am not quite as spherical as it appears: it was a bit cold!

Dyslexia Awareness Week

 

Next week is Dyslexia Awareness Week. I have a rolling presentation that some schools use in assemblies or the foyer of the school. I can’t seem to embed it here but, spookily, it has appeared on this same  post on the Support for All blog. You are welcome to borrow it. Let me know if it’s useful.

Here the BDA has ideas and a couple of PowerPoint presentations (purporting to be created by students) that might be of use.

Learndirect is offering every household a free book to help parents and children children have an enjoyable reading experience during Dyslexia Awareness Week. They claim that the book is a great way to practice reading skills with your young ones because it makes reading and problem solving a fun time – and because you all read together everyone benefits.

Waterstones is involved and has a ‘Guide to Books for Young Dyslexic Readers’.

TES has 5 articles about Dyslexia that may be of interest.

Learning and Thinking offers ideas for a secondary assembly.

Dyslexia Action has an online lecture on 3rd November from 19:00 – 20:00 where Glenys Heap, Senior Training Principal, Dyslexia Action, will present an overview of the factors related to Dyslexia. The ‘webinar’ will be of interest to parents, teachers and employers as well as individuals who are, or think they might be, dyslexic.

Please make contact with me if you want any more advice from me as to how you can publicise the week. Perhaps I’ll be more organised next year and give a little more notice!

The Secret Service meets again

At the launch of the revised Standard for Chartered Teachers at the end of September, Keith Brown, Minister for Schools and Skills, said:

‘Chartered Teachers have much to offer in Scotland’s schools, therefore I am delighted that the Standard for Chartered Teacher has been revised and improved. The Standard has been redesigned to ensure greater natural progression in teacher development, while putting more focus on leadership qualities and skills.’

I wonder about the progression for those of us who have reached the Standard and are not dead (or retired) yet!

We have just had our 3^rd in-service day this session. Once more some of the Outreach Team cobbled together our own form of professional development and a fine time was had by all in the very attractive surroundings of the Linton Hotel. The 4 of us have a combined experience of, ooh, about 120 years and are either Chartered Teachers already or well on the way.

It is frustrating to be marginalised (unintentionally I’m sure) from regional up-dates on Curriculum for Excellence and other issues but without a centrally held data base of what’s being offered those of us not on school staff circulars frequently don’t hear of relevant CPD opportunities. We think of ourselves as some sort of secret service!

Dylan Wiliam recommends sustaining teacher learning through communities of interest and he claims that ‘The big factor in improving learning and teaching in schools is the quality of the teacher’.

We have demonstrated our commitment but I am unclear about how the ’continuous improvement of practice’ takes place for those of us who have fulfilled the Standards and are still wanting to learn and ‘focus on those things that make a difference’.

 

(Taken from a presentation of Wiliam’s–so I am not responsible for typing errors!)

Each of us spent 30 minutes talking about methodologies or ideas that had inspired us recently. They ranged from practical applications of resources to applying theories to our own teaching styles. (I’ll write more detail in another post).

I think we all identified ways of working that might be more helpful and we decided to feed back to each other any progress over time, as Wiliam suggests. It is good to be part of a learning community. I only hope we are in accord with what everybody else is doing and thinking!

Children See and Children Do: Let’s be the Change!

I found this video very disturbing but extremely pertinent the day after a parent is jailed for encouraging and filming a 3 year old smoking.

Social constuctivism works both ways.

 

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. Plato

It comes as no surprise to many of us working in schools to see reports that children are struggling in school with undeveloped basic language skills.

The Times reported that in England (and why should it be any different in Scotland?) children are starting primary school with a speaking age of just 18 months and the number unable to form simple sentences is rising, according to the Government’s first speech chief.

The next generation lack basic speaking skills because parents now spend less time talking to their children over family meals or reading bedtime stories, Jean Gross told The Times on the eve of her appointment as communications champion.

Her comments come as the latest government figures indicate that 18 per cent of children aged 5 (more than 100,000) fail to meet the expected level of speech for their age.

This ties in with another report I read some time ago that parents seemed to regard nursery rhymes as ‘too old fashioned’ for 21st century children. The Herald reported that nursery rhymes are losing ground in Britain’s affections with many parents finding them too old fashioned and of no educational value. Only a third of more than 2,500 parents surveyed use nursery rhymes regularly with their children, while almost a quarter admit they have never sung a rhyme with their child. The poll, for National Bookstart Day, also found more than a fifth of young parents did not use nursery rhymes because they were not considered educational.

Apart from the sheer delight of singing together and the enrichment of language, it is well established that singing and generating rhymes is an essential precursor to the acquisition of literacy.

So it was very refreshing to hear the BBC reporting on Calls for lessons to begin at six .

The Cambridge Primary Review recommends that children should continue the kind of play-based learning that features in nursery schools and reception classes. Most children start primary school in England aged four.

Moat parents and workers in early year’s settings know intuitively that formal school starts far too early in the UK for most children, unlike the much lauded Scandinavian countries for example. Of course there are youngsters who are ready for learning in large group settings; even some who can adjust from situational to symbolic representations (such as learning phoneme-grapheme correspondence) at an early age.

But many (at the risk of being called sexist, we may say that the majority of whom are boys) would benefit enormously from an extended period in a more playful learning environment. I see much wonderful active experiential learning in many classes in primary schools nowadays but nowhere nurtures individual needs better than an environment with a small child-to-adult ratio and an emphasis on play.

Dyslexia Support Service termly up-date

My work is very cyclical. Every element of the Dyslexia Support Service has a different emphasis as the session progresses.

I do most of my face to face teaching in the middle months of the school year, while at the beginning of session I tend to focus on assessment and consultation for future planning. The summer term is always busy organising the service development plan for the coming year and completing programmes of study with young people, attending Staged Assessment and Intervention meetings and evaluating learners’ needs for the new session to follow.

 This term my principal focus has been on assessment and consultation.

Assessment: Since August, I have been involved in the assessment of 34 children and young people. Each assessment takes between 2 and 3 hours of my time, not counting the feedback sessions to parents and staff. I use the computerised assessments LASS and CoPS and the British Picture Vocabulary Scale to provide a snapshot of learners’ attainments in literacy, visual and auditory processing, phonological awareness, reasoning and receptive language skills. This complements the observable evidence found in class performance to help us construct a picture of a child’s strengths and difficulties. From here we are better able to develop a personalised programme for each learner. Personalisation does not mean individual learning programmes for each child. Instead it means having a ‘deep understanding of both depth and breadth, creating continuous rich learning opportunities that are real and of their world not apart from their world’. (Greg Whitby)

I spent some time making a short movie illustrating the various components of the computerised assessment. At some point I shall learn how to upload this!

Consultation: I have met with teachers from 20 primary schools and 5 of the 6 secondary schools, most of them at least twice. I have answered emails from many, many more! I have spent some considerable and profitable time with 3 teachers new to Support for Learning. This is such a valuable opportunity for us to learn from each other. One has come from another region and brings a wealth of knowledge about different resources which I can then disseminate. The others have recent experience in the classroom and as such provide a refreshing approach to the support role. I can aid their understanding of the processes involved in identifying learners with dyslexia and help them get to know their pupils’ needs more thoroughly. In one school we took some delight in throwing out ancient resources that bear no relation to the reality of learning and teaching today.

It is at these meetings, and those with parents, that we plan any teaching blocks for later in the year. Sometimes I am not directly involved with individual pupils but support school staff to use alternative strategies to engage learners.

Meetings with parents: I have met 12 sets of parents this term, some of them more than once, to discuss their children’s profiles of learning and ways to address their requirements.

Teaching: This term I have only worked with 3 groups of young people. One block was to help an S4 student in making notes on his Physics and English course work as memory aides for exam revision. I used the same techniques of Mind Mapping (with paper and pens as well as Kidspiration and Inspiration) with the P6/7 class in a small school. My 3^rd group of 3 P7s needed support in keyboard skills and shortcuts in word processing.

In-service training: In addition to the regular informal training I offer colleagues during consultation I have tried to raise awareness about dyslexia to newly qualified teachers and to the staff of a primary school so far this session. I contributed to  East Lothian’s Literacy Newsletter and attended meetings to take the Literacy Strategy forward for learners with dyslexia.

For my own professional development, I have read a great deal and attended several talks in my own time, and attended the Scottish Learning Festival, to develop my own knowledge and understanding. I joined Cluster Meetings where all Support for Learning teachers come together to discuss issues and learn about new developments.

It’s been a busy start to session as usual. I’m looking forward to the break. I hope all who read this manage to have one too.