Focus on Coping with Dyslexia as a Learning Disability - Essay Example

?Focus on Dyslexia as a Case Study Introduction This paper discusses the learning disability, Dyslexia, which is regarded as one of the most predominant disabilities affecting individuals’ ability to read. Since reading is crucial in schooling, the academic performance of the dyslexic student may be at risk. It is essential that the effects of the condition on the individual and his learning skills be examined as well as the available interventions and support he can be given in order to manage the learning disability and live a normal life despite his condition. It will also discuss government and private citizens’ efforts in supporting individuals with Dyslexia. What is Dyslexia? Dyslexia is a learning disability related to an individual’s difficulty in obtaining skills in reading, writing and spelling (Special Needs Support Pages, 1999). It affects the development of literacy and language related skills (British Dyslexia Association, 2009). It is one disorder that is neurological in origin (International Dyslexia Association: Lyon et al., 2003). It is a permanent condition, however, it can be managed. For example, children with dyslexia have difficulty in spelling words. One way to overcome this is for them to view pictures of words in their minds because this helps them to retain the words and spell them out better (Morton, 2004). Although dyslexic children manifest difficulties in reading and writing words, they are often bright, creative and talented. Some of their strengths may include mechanical aptitude; artistic ability; musical gifts; athletic prowess; advanced social skills; and talents in computer/technology, science, and math (Yoshimoto, 2000). Concern for children with disabilities has already spread in the UK from the 1970’s thanks to some advocates such as Mary Warnock who raised the issues on helping children with special education needs (SEN). The Warnock Report in the year 1978 was developed to appraise the provision for children with psychological as well as physical disabilities. The report had sponsored ranges of special needs for children. It paved the way for the “Education Act” which was imposed in the year 1983. This act presented different methods to the description of children with SEN. It advocated that these children should be able to obtain the educational support from tutors in the classroom such as the provision of extra time and assistance compared to other students (Sturt, 2002). In 1996 the law on SEN stated that: “A child has special educational needs (SEN) if he or she has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her” (Education Act, 1996, Section 312). This act mandates local education authorities (LEA) to offer resources in order to recognise and support specific learning problems in children. LEAs were imposed with additional tasks to make an evaluation of children in their disability area (Pumfrey & Reason, 1991). SEN Code of Practice (2001) is the government guidance on meeting the SEN of children with disabilities. Its principles include that children with special needs should have their needs met and that children will normally have their needs met in a mainstream school. With the Special Education Needs Code of Practice (2001), Dyslexia falls under the Communication and Interaction area of need. This area includes learners with speech and language difficulties, impairments and disorders. Children with SEN should have full access to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum, including the National Curriculum or, for younger children, the foundation stage curriculum. The children’s views should be taken into account and their parents should be treated as partners of the school (ACE, 2011). Much of what has been described are components of inclusive education. The Education Act of 2010 focuses on supporting inclusion and incorporation of dyslexic children rather than separation and segregation in the school. Inclusive education has evolved towards the idea that all children despite their cultural and social learning backgrounds should be provided with effective learning opportunities to take part in schools (UNESCO, 2005). The Salmanca Statement (UNESCO,2008 – cited in Donnelly, 2010) argues that schools should provide an inclusive education for all stating that inclusive education is “an on-going process that is aimed to offer quality education by respecting diversity and the different needs and abilities” (p.8). Under the new provision, children with SEN might be entitled to extra support inside the classroom, or special facilities for examinations. The Special Education Needs Code of Practice (2001) covers the steps of gaining provision for children with SEN. First, the symptoms of the suspected disability are observed, followed by the identification and declaration of having special needs (Payne & Turner, 1999). These children are given a statement to prove that they are entitled to government provisions for their special needs under the legislations related to people with disabilities. Whether children with special needs actually get additional support may depend on the unique SEN policies of different schools and on the intensity of the child’s learning difficulties. In the case of a child having a statement of special needs, any school will be entitled to get extra support (BBC News, 2005). In the UK, dyslexic students get the following support: Assistance in class Participation of Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO) in school Complete evaluation of educational psychologists for children with severe problems and, Support from professional teachers (Wiltshire Council, 2009). Dyslexia, being a learning disability challenges an individual’s disposition to learning. Dyslexic learners find it difficult to understand sequences and patterns. They get confused with what is left from what is right, and find it difficult to interpret maps. They also have weak organization skills, short term memory and speaking and language skills (Youngminds, 2012). Because of all these skill deficits, not performing well academically and is getting low marks is common for them. If learners are not diagnosed right away and be made aware of their learning disability, it can result in their low self-esteem, anger, behavioural problems and other issues that may complicate the original problem. Feelings of worthlessness and stupidity along with fears of not succeeding in life may prevail in dyslexic children who are not supported in their needs. Yoshimoto (2000) agrees that emphasis on weaknesses adversely affects the self-esteem of children with dyslexia, so it is important to find a good balance in their remediation with a curriculum that highlights and nurtures their strengths and talents. Inclusive practice for children with dyslexia needs more research to determine the right technology that best supports children with dyslexia placed in the general education classroom (Van Reusen, Shosho &Bonker, 2000; Salend, 2001). It follows that teachers need to be trained in strategies that help children with learning disabilities such as Dyslexia to perform better academically and even in their extra-curricular endeavors. Sharpe (2005) emphasizes the need for more dynamic teacher education programs that mold novice teachers with both common knowledge base and equip them with relevant experiences to make them more competent in handling children with special needs. Further, Sharpe (2005) recommends the following practices with children with dyslexia: Use of color codes to help dyslexic students Building self-esteem with positive reinforcement instead of criticizing them Making learning fun especially in spelling and reading activities Being more child-centered and following children’s interests Several educational interventions have been designed such as the Language Experience Approach which teaches reading and vocabulary to a reader as he or she is personally narrating a story (Cohen, 1987). It engages the child to draw upon experiences to more easily learn the written text. This is related to the Whole word method is a strategy that involves the introduction of meaningful words into a reader’s lexicon for the purpose of increased recognition (Betts, 1943). Other interventions focus more on the words such as the Linguistic method which encompasses defining a set of rules regulating the correspondence between sounds and letters or the phonetic method of learning to read (Marsh et al., 1983). The ongoing debate between whole-language approaches vs. the phonetic approaches divide some teachers on which method is most effective with children with dyslexia. More progressive and constructivists educational approaches favour the whole language approach as it engages more of the child’s interest and attention. Individual Educational Plans are the specialised plans that are customised to the needs of the student with dyslexia (Elliot, 2007). These are provided for students with special needs in most schools. However, Dyslexia-friendly schools are those that specialize in the disability as they have facilities and trained teachers to cater to the needs of students with dyslexia (Elliot, 2007). The use of Information and Computer Technology or ICT have been shown to provide several benefits in helping dyslexic learners because these have a number of features that are helpful to individuals with literacy problems such as “clear text on the screen, spelling aids, grammar function and a predictive typing facility” (Elliot et al., 2007). In these intervention strategies, number of staff to implement them would depend on which strategy is selected to suit the needs of the child with dyslexia. Most of them require one-on-one sessions with a teacher trained in the strategy, but inclusive programmes rely more on differentiated instruction which requires only one teacher or a team of two to implement differentiation strategies (Kapusnick and Hauslein, 2001). Dyslexic adults continue to have challenges in learning. Due to cognitive deficits in phonological processing, which lead to difficulties in word recognition and spelling, adults with dyslexia experience significant difficulty adjusting to the academic demands of higher education, for instance in taking lecture notes, writing essays, synthesizing course material for examinations, or comprehending large quantities of complex text (Kirby et al., 2008). Some strategies have been suggested for dyslexic students in higher education. One is the use of study aids that reduce the amount of reading they need to do such as highlighting important notes or summaries in some text materials. Another strategy is managing their time so that they have enough to process their reading as they require a longer time than other students. Still another strategy is having a deeper approach to learning and committing to high quality educational outcomes, which implies that they need to work much harder in order to reach their goals (Kirby et al., 2008).. Connors (2012) also recommended that students with Dyslexia and other learning disabilities maintain their relationship with the campus disability services office to keep supporting them in their new journey. It can assist them in many ways such as providing advice about courses that facilitate preferential registration, accommodations provided by professors for students with special needs and resolving conflicts with some professors (Durodoye, Combes, & Bryant, 2004; Janiga & Costenbader, 2002). Despite having several provisions and legislations regarding special needs of children, all the aspects were not applied in real life scenarios. The developments of special schools for dyslexic children have become one of the significant challenges for the UK education system. In order to increase the flexibility of education, the government should take a measure and develop strategies for SEN. There was gap between provision and legislation of special needs for children with dyslexia. The government of the UK needs to develop minimum standards for SEN which must be maintained in each school. It can help to assess the facilities and performance of school regarding SEN (House of Commons, 2006). The LEAs of the UK must certify that every child with dyslexia gets access to several mainstream and suitable educational provisions and is allowed to report freely on the series of provisions delivered to them. Therefore, it can help to expand the prerequisite of every child with special needs and dyslexia. The government should offer precise supervision on least standards and apply a legislative requirement for LEAs to maintain a flexible scale of provision which must be monitored frequently (SEN Code of Practice, 2001). Furthermore, teachers also must be provided training and given appropriate equipments to satisfy the requirements of right and special needs of dyslexic children. Unless they are provided with appropriate necessities, they will be unable to fulfil SEN. Thus, a quality and constant professional development measures must be available by the teachers, and the schools also must be provided with appropriate resources. Conclusion Dyslexia is a condition that adversely affects learning processes of individuals due to cognitive deficits. This is mainly characterized by difficulty in reading and writing which are basic skills necessary in the learning process. Apart from being affected in their academic performance, dyslexic students may also suffer from lowered self-esteem and insecurity within their peer groups because of their cognitive deficits. In the UK, children with learning disabilities upon the diagnosis of an educational psychologist, are provided with the necessary support to manage their condition. More than this external support, they need the understanding and acceptance of people around them so that they will not be viewed in a negative light, and instead, take their hand and assist them towards true learning enlightenment. 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Retrieved on November 23, 2013 from http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_parents/worried_about_your_child/ dyslexia_dyspraxia/getting_help Read More