Dyslexia-friendly Practice in the Secondary Classroom

Tilly Mortimore,Jane Dupree

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780857252135
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Lernschwierigkeiten

The first guide of its kind written specifically for trainee and newly qualified teachers, this standards-based text explores the needs of dyslexic learners in mainstream secondary schools. In light of the current dyslexia-friendly schools initiative, it looks at organisational-level support for dyslexic children, together with pragmatic strategies which teachers can use to support children?s cross-curricular learning. Further, it includes case studies and practical tasks to build readers? confidence in supporting Specific Learning Difficulties, as well as a range of coping strategies and practical advice, based upon the authors? experience of working with dyslexic learners in different contexts over many years.

PART 1
WHAT IS DYSLEXIA?

1

Definitions and theories. What is dyslexia?

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Chapter objectives

By the end of this chapter you should:

• have begun to develop a reflexive approach to your activities within the classroom;
• be able to justify your choice of the most appropriate approaches for the dyslexia-friendly classroom;
• be provided with some research-based answers to these questions.

– What is dyslexia?

– What causes dyslexia?

– How might knowledge gained from research affect what I do in my classroom?

This chapter addresses the following Professional Standards for QTS and Core:

Q18, C18

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Introduction

Most experienced – or hardened – teachers will admit, when pressed, that they struggled through their teaching placement, and often the first year of teaching, living only to sleep and wonder if things would ever get any easier. Luckily for teachers, and for our children, they usually do. Teachers survive and develop skills and strategies which become so automatic that, if asked, they often cannot tell you exactly why their classrooms tick over successfully and how they have managed to avoid conflicts, build relationships and help their students to enjoy their learning. During the first years of the job, however, these skills and strategies need to be spelled out, reflected upon and consciously put into practice. It is challenging enough for a new teacher to deal with the needs of average learners – it is often daunting indeed when you realise that you are also likely to be responsible for the progress and fate of learners with differences such as SpLD/dyslexia and that this responsibility is enshrined within the disability legislation as expressed by the Disability Discrimination Act and the Code of Practice (2001). Before you start to panic, think about how much you know already.

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REFLECTIVE TASK

Think about your existing knowledge of SpLD/dyslexia and make a list of your most pressing unanswered questions.

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A group of trainee teachers undertaking a special interest study on SpLD/dyslexia came up with the following. No doubt they bear some resemblance to your queries.

Commonly-asked questions about SpLD/dyslexia

• What is dyslexia?
• What causes dyslexia?
• Is dyslexia a middle-class myth?
• How might I spot a learner with dyslexia?
• How many students with dyslexia might I come across in a class?
• How will dyslexia affect my subject?
• How does dyslexia affect a student’s behaviour?
• Will I have to teach in a different way?

Dyslexia – controversies and disagreements

You will no doubt be aware that dyslexia is a hotly contested topic. Estimates of incidence in the general population vary from one child in ten (Dyslexia Action, 2007) to the suggestion that dyslexia exists purely as a middle-class myth. There is disagreement over definitions to the extent that Rice and Brooks’s (2004) review of dyslexia in adults identified over 70 definitions in current use. There was also controversy over whether the term specific learning difficulties or dyslexia should be used to describe the pattern of learning differences seen to characterise the syndrome. Dyslexia was the first of the specific learning difficulties to be recognised and the term specific learning difficulty historically was often used instead of dyslexia. Local Authorities (LAs) have adopted a range of different definitions and, in some LAs, you will still find a reluctance to use terms such as dyslexia, with the more generic term of SpLD written on Statements of Special Educational Need (see Chapter 9). However, dyslexia is only one of several specific learning difficulties, with overlapping behavioural characteristics and profiles of strengths and weaknesses that differ. These include dyspraxia and dyscalculia. Since they often present together in a learner, SpLDs are said to be comorbid, that is they can occur together (Deponio, 2004). Chapter 7 provides more information about these.

Historical references to SpLD/dyslexia date from the seventeenth century. The earliest reference to intelligent learners with surprising difficulties in literacy came in 1672 from Thomas Willis, a tutor of young gentlemen (Ott, 1997). In 1877 a German physician, Kussmaul, coined the term ‘word-blindness’ (Critchley, 1970) and by 1896 the term ‘congenital dyslexia’ had appeared in a paper published in the Lancet by Pringle-Morgan. This term was linked with Percy F, an exceptionally talented 14 year old mathematician who experienced huge difficulties with reading and writing. James Kerr, Medical Office of Health in Bradford, was simultaneously writing about the children he observed with difficulties in reading and writing but no other cognitive deficits (Pumfrey and Reason, 1991). These two papers laid the foundation for the next one hundred years of research and controversy and set the pattern for the close involvement of the medical world alongside teachers and psychologists. The British Dyslexia Association and Dyslexia Institute were founded in 1972 and the later years of the twentieth century saw the establishment both of university research departments focusing upon SpLD/dyslexia and a network of Dyslexia Associations around the UK. This did not, however, prevent Professor Julian Elliott from proclaiming the death of dyslexia in 2005. The resulting furore would indicate that this was premature. Why is there so much controversy and disagreement?

There are at least four answers to this.

• It cannot be disputed that we have become an increasingly literacy-based society and that difficulties in this area exclude people from work opportunities and make it more likely that they will suffer from some of the factors associated with poverty. The acquiring of literacy has thus become central to economic survival.
• Another reason (explored further in Chapter 9) is that so much emotion is invested in a ‘diagnosis’ of dyslexia – failure to learn is highly charged for the learner, the family and the school.
• Another answer is tied in with finance – the notion that a diagnosis of SpLD/dyslexia will open the door to extra support or equipment that is not available to learners with a general learning difficulty. Specialists offer expensive ‘cures’. Tensions between a prospective provider attempting to reduce costs and the family of a child threatening to fall through the educational net are almost inevitable.
• Even if it is accepted that a condition which can be defined as ‘dyslexia’ exists, there is currently no firm consensus as to the underlying causes and there remain areas of disagreement between the researchers within the field. Different causal theories underpin different patterns of behaviour and this must be reflected in differences in definitions of the condition.

How can these dilemmas be resolved for practical classroom teachers? It is highly unlikely, at this stage in your career, that you will be expected to get involved in ‘diagnosing’ dyslexia – you are not qualified to do so and you should refer any suggestions of this type to the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) and to your mentor. You will however have two priorities. It is your role to be aware of the types of learning profile associated with dyslexic differences so that you can spot these students, support them appropriately, and refer them on to the SENCo for advice or, if needed, further specialist assessment. You will also want to offer the best possible support for individual vulnerable learners to enable them to make the most of their time in school, to utilise their areas of strength to compensate for the things they find hard and to prevent them from disrupting your classroom. To enable you to do both these things – to identify and support learners with dyslexic type differences – you need to clarify your understanding of the following things.

• How will you define SpLD/ dyslexia?
• What are the learning differences that accompany SpLD/dyslexia?
• What are the casual theories underpinning SpLD/dyslexia?

Defining dyslexia

The SpLD/ dyslexia world involves a broad range of stakeholders – there are learners with dyslexia, families, teachers, school governors, educational psychologists, specialist therapists, researchers, educational policy makers and academics. Each has his or her own agenda, context and needs. This will influence the type of definition each adopts. You are currently a mainstream secondary school teacher. Your chosen definition will need to enable you to focus upon a particular learning profile and to adjust your activities and classroom to support this. It will also need to be clear enough for you to explain to others. What definition might you choose?

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PRACTICAL TASK

Write a brief definition of SpLD/ dyslexia as you understand it.

Now turn to Appendix 1. You will find a series of definitions of SpLD/ dyslexia. Read them and consider how each is influenced by its context. Are there any that seem particularly relevant to you? Record the number.

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The remainder of this chapter explores the research that underpins the various definitions provided and suggests a comprehensive definition. For the time being your definition of SpLD/dyslexia is likely to be based upon your understanding of how dyslexia affects the individual. There are, however, a number of myths surrounding dyslexia and some of these may be affecting your understanding. It is therefore important to establish how many of these have been verified by research.

How many of the following statements are true? Place T for true; M for myth and S for sometimes in column 2 and then check in Appendix 1 to see how accurate your understanding is. Correct any mistakes in column 3.

SpLD/dyslexia statement	T/M/S
1. The majority of dyslexic learners are male.
2. Dyslexic individuals are usually good at art.
3. Dyslexic learners will never learn to read.
4. Dyslexia runs in families.
5. Dyslexia does not exist in other languages.
6. Dyslexic learners have difficulty with mathematics.
7. Most dyslexic learners suffer from attention disorders.
8. All dyslexic individuals are disorganised.
9. Dyslexic individuals are usually good at sport.
10. Dyslexic learners need to put extra effort into their school work.
11. Dyslexic children have difficulty concentrating.
12. Dyslexic learners are articulate.
13. Dyslexic children often have difficulties with their peer group.
14. Dyslexic learners have low self-esteem.
15. Many dyslexic learners have difficulty with alphabetical order.
16. It is impossible to identify dyslexia before the age of 7.
17. Brain activity in language processing differs between those wit...