Dyslexia in the Primary Classroom

Wendy Hall

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781844455591
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Learning Disabilities

This book is an important resource for all primary trainees. It provides an explanation of what dyslexia is and how it affects a child?s learning, suggests simple activities which can be used to screen children ready for referral and outlines some easy-to-follow activities addressing different learning styles. It is full of practical suggestions on how to teach reading, spelling and mathematics, develop writing and help with classroom organisation for children displaying difficulties in these areas. The Primary National Strategy is considered throughout and clear links are made to the Professional Standards for the Award of QTS.

1

What is dyslexia?
Causes and consequences

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Chapter objectives

By the end of this chapter you should be aware of:

• the main theories of causation of specific learning difficulty (dyslexia) (SpLD [dyslexia]);
• the different theories surrounding SpLD (dyslexia) and how they impact on responses to dyslexia;
• a variety of response theories to SpLD (dyslexia).

This chapter addresses the following Professional Standards for QTS:

Q1, Q3(a), Q5, Q19, Q26(b).

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Introduction

This chapter will examine the following.

• The nature of the complex of disabilities commonly known as dyslexia.
• The causes of dyslexia.
• The main theories pertaining to this condition.
• What the consequences are in terms of learning disability.
• Other issues such as teaching methods.
• The impact on family and friends.

Often the socialisation of children with dyslexia is different to that of other children in the class and their families because they are embarrassed by their dyslexia and need to preserve self-esteem as much as possible. All of these are consequences but often the focus is only on the learning outcomes.

Theoretical background

Terminology

Specific learning difficulty (dyslexia) is not a new condition although the terminology of it has changed somewhat over time. ‘Specific learning difficulty’ has only recently been adopted and this reflects the fact that the condition is specific to the person, specific in its symptoms to that person: it is a learning difficulty, not a generalised disability. The ‘dyslexia’ appendix is added to denote this umbrella term rather than dyspraxia, which is also a specific learning difficulty. However, as you will see, dyslexia itself can present in different forms and subgroups; it is not a homogenous group or consistent in its presentation, although the clustering of symptoms forming the syndrome is reasonably predictable to an experienced dyslexia tutor. Developmental dyslexia is most common in children, acquired dyslexia is more common in teenagers and adults as a result of trauma to the brain. As the name suggests, this type of dyslexia is acquired once language has developed normally. Developmental dyslexia is present from very early on, often detectable in retrospect from the moment the child starts to develop oral language.

Some history of dyslexia

The newcomer to dyslexia would be forgiven for thinking that dyslexia is a relatively new phenomenon; however this is clearly not the case. A comprehensive history beyond the scope of this chapter is presented by Ott (1997). She cites Critchley (1996) as outlining the description of dyslexia given in 1672 by Thomas Willis, which predates the usually named source of Professor Berlin in 1887. Kussmaul is cited in Ott (1997) identifying word-blindness in stroke victims while Hinshelwood is credited with work on patients who while still retaining the ability to work with numbers lost the ability to read words. The late 1800s provide evidence of many professionals identifying the symptoms of dyslexia or word-blindness. These include William Pringle in 1898 and in the same year James Kerr. Orton’s work in 1952 is probably the most famous noted while in 1956 Anna Gillingham and Bessie Stillman, as a result of work carried out by Orton, devised the multisensory approach which prevails and has influenced today’s methods of teaching dyslexic people. Miles (1996) applauds the work undertaken at Aston University which resulted in the Aston index – a predictive and descriptive instrument for identifying the dyslexic patterns of difficulty and which can be used by the class teacher. Growth in understanding in the UK has been steady throughout the 1950s to 1972 when the British Dyslexia Association was founded (Ott, 1997) The Dyslexia Institute has since been founded along with the Hornsby International Institute, with the two organisations merging in 2005 to become DyslexiaAction. You can see then that dyslexia has been recognised for the difficulties it presents for a long time even though formal acknowledgement of it as a ‘real’ phenomenon is only relatively recent.

Disability or special educational need?

It is worthwhile at this point to consider what a disability is and how this might be different from a child with special educational needs. Many people would not consider something such as dyslexia to be a disability because it cannot be seen. Indeed this is where much of the prejudice towards dyslexia has evolved from, with the perception that people with these difficulties typical of dyslexia are lazy or stupid or that it is just the excuse of many parents as to why their children fail in literacy skills.

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) website records anyone who has a disability as someone who has:

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.

Learning is classified as one of those day-to-day activities.

A child with a special educational need is one who has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. Section 1 of the Code of Practice (DfES, 2001) provides a good outline of how the two categories may overlap or be totally different. It outlines how a child with a special need may have significantly greater difficulty than their peers. However, the greatest distinguishing feature between the two is that a special educational need may be temporary; indeed many children with special educational needs receive temporary help which puts them on the right path and they then maintain progress with their peers. This is the aim of special needs support and of the programme of Reading Recovery which has been government-funded in recent years – to return the child to their rightful position along with their peers. A disability is something which you have for at least 12 months (the only exceptions to this are terminal illnesses which are counted from the diagnosis). Furthermore, the EHRC site notes that not all children with a disability will have an SEN: some medical conditions such as asthma or visual impairment may be classified as a disability but not result in a child needing SEN support. A very able child who is dyslexic may be classified as having a disability (if it affects their everyday life) but may not be in need of SEN support because they are not falling behind their peers in school and therefore not included under the Code of Practice definitions as in need of SEN resources.

The EHRC further indicates that it is illegal for schools to discriminate against a person with a disability through: Admissions and in the curriculum either through teaching or resources. However, to monitor and enforce this is almost impossible unless parents can make a case for their child.

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PRACTICAL TASK

Make a list of all of the types of communication that might be considered under the EHRC guidance. Consider how you would provide an alternative means of access.

You will need to consider not just the child but also parents, carers and guardians.

Make a comprehensive list of the resources available and how you might adapt or modify them to make them more accessible.

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A recent case has established that there can also be discrimination by association. This is likely to be a landmark case. Gillhooly (TES, 2008) reports that the European Court of Justice upheld a previous ruling, by the Advocate General in England, that allows that disability discrimination is not limited to just the person with the disability but can extend to those associated with the person with the disability. This has implications for children whose parents are dyslexic and are unable to support them in their literacy development. The school needs to support them if it is known that the parents cannot. However, this is an examination beyond the scope of this book.

The Code of Practice (DfES, 2001) (CoP) outlines various areas which are impacted by learning difficulties and even outlines specific learning difficulties (dyslexia) (SpLD (dyslexia)) specifically. SpLD (dyslexia) therefore can rightly be called a disability and in most cases a special educational need; however, the extent to which it is allowed to interfere with a person’s everyday life is within our control. There are some people with SpLD (dyslexia) who are minimally affected (and in fact are often undiagnosed). However, around 5% are severely affected and it is this group where most influence can be exerted. The nomenclature of SpLD (dyslexia) is rather wordy and can cause confusion for some people thinking that it is different from the condition commonly known as dyslexia. There are also some people who feel they would rather not be termed ‘disabled’ – they have a learning difficulty which is open to being addressed if the appropriate measures are taken. For these reasons this text will now use the more commonly known and understood term of dyslexia.

Dyslexia is context-bound and socially constructed in as much as societies which place little emphasis on literacy would not consider the difficulties to be of great importance. There is also some evidence to suggest that the incidence of dyslexia is greater in societies that use an alphabetic system rather than logographic or ideographic systems. It is perfectly possible for a pupil to be dyslexic in one language but not in another. That is not to say that the underlying difficulties which affect dyslexic people are not present in those societies and languages; indeed studies of Chinese children found that there was an incidence of difficulty with phonic assimilation and synthesis but the impact this had on learning the language was less because Chinese is not an alphabetic language. However, as Smythe (2008) points out, you are likely to be teaching children through the language of English and may encounter dyslexic children who display dyslexia through the medium of English. This is of prime concern to you.

So the difficulties which are part of dyslexia can be found worldwide even if the full condition of dyslexia is not recognised although the signs have been noted through time from 1672 to the present day.

Definitions

Dyslexia was first recognised and noted by the medical profession and thus medical definitions prevailed. A medical model of dyslexia prevailed with dyslexia being a deficiency in the biological system to be corrected if possible through the medical profession. Once educationalists started noting the difficulties of dyslexic children, educational definitions started to be given credence. This gave rise to an educational model of remediation of these difficulties. More recent theories have placed dyslexia as a socially constructed condition. The social model holds prominence today, arguing that it is society which makes dyslexia a barrier in life rather than the condition per se, the analogy being with using a wheelchair. If you use a wheelchair and have an office upstairs, it is not the wheelchair but the stairs that are the barrier. Some would argue it is a combination of the two. So today we have the societal and educational models sitting side by side.

Models of dyslexia

Early definitions made the distinction between ability and performance and were exclusive models rather than inclusive models. If there were other reasons why a child might fail such as a disrupted family life or poor social conditions, these were reasons to rule out dyslexia as a cause of the difficulties.

One definition (Perfetti,1985), which is representative of many, indicates that to be considered dyslexic rather than just a poor reader the child should be at leas...