Diary of an NQT
DYSLEXIA DYSLEXIA
Get down with the sickness
FOLLOWING A blissful birthday break in and observation feedback sessions have greeted
Dyslexia presents
Cambridge, I returned to school on Monday in me with a proverbial bite. All’s gone well and I’m
somewhat of a gloom. Just hours before, I had been hoping that it will continue into tomorrow’s challenges for
strolling round the courtyards of Trinity surveillance!
College, only to return to this? Now I’ve had my fair share of feedback
us all, but it
My reward had worked perfectly as over the past year; lesson observations,
an incentive and last week I worked termly reviews and student panels have
really very hard, staying late every all dealt their critiques. But the most
can also lead to
day to get ahead, knowing I would surprising of all came just yesterday
be far too busy enjoying myself at when a little year 7 girl presented
brilliance. Dyslexic author
the weekend to plan or mark. her appraisal in the form of a desk-
However, the double-edged laminating spray of projectile vomit!
Al Campbell gives us an
sword dealt its hammer blow on A surprisingly calm class member
Monday and I would really have informed me that: “Sir, she’s been
insight into the dyslexic
preferred to have been anywhere sick.”
else but in front of my classes As I casually walked back to the
teaching. front of the class I realised that the
mind and how it learns
I think little rewards and breaks response bore no consistency to the
are a very good idea though. They sheer volume of sick that was crashing
break up the monotony of the teaching out of this poor girl’s mouth. TATISTICS SUGGEST that somewhere
term and give you something to look Moving her immediate neighbours and
forward to, making the hard graft of the utilising the class litter bin, I moved her
working week well worth it. outside and settled the gagging group.
Indeed, I soon got back into the Delegation is the name of the game
swing of things, and come Tuesday I in disaster situations and my girls were
had snapped out of my reverie. more than happy to open the windows, S
between one in eight-to-10 people are
affected by dyslexia. Unfortunately
statistics lie. The fact is the challenges
of every single child “diagnosed” as
dyslexic will impact on parents, family,
friends, classmates and, of course,
It’s still very hard to find time for call the school nurse and a very helpful teachers – both those who offer special support and
everything I need to get done and colleague provided some newspaper to teachers in the classroom.
the ever-increasing training and staff cover, and some muscle power to remove, Let me propose a simple way of viewing dyslexics
meetings are taking a lot of hours away the war-torn table. – they are nature’s little experiment. To put that another
from my marking schedule. Deftly resuming my lesson as the table way, we are freaks of nature, with brains that look
Anticipating another end of term build- was ushered away, the girls continued to write different from the rest of the world. If you have a mental
up, I have decided to be crafty and time with their right hand while nostril-clamping image of the normal brain as a grey mass divided into
my assessment setting more sporadically. with their left. Many congratulations to my year two equal hemispheres then think again. In the normal
Hoping this to be a prudent move, I will 7 girls. (non-dyslexic) brain, the left hemisphere is noticeably
be setting assessments throughout this term, Who doubts the spirit and resolve of the bigger than the right. Only in the dyslexic brain are the
in an attempt to space out my marking load and British youth of today? hemispheres symmetrical.
evade the potentially life-threatening dangers that a “Keep Calm and Carry On!” On top of this, nature has wired up the dyslexic
seven-foot pile of marking papers presents. brain in a much more random way. Look at a normal
It’s back to observations for me this week. • Matt Connett is a newly qualified teacher of English brain performing speech and language tasks such as
My mentor has been in to see me and will again at Shenfield High, a training school in Brentwood in spelling on an MRI scanner and the left lobe “lights
tomorrow. The familiar face of lesson plan sheets Essex. He returns next week. up” in a reasonably predictable fashion. Do the same
thing with the dyslexic brain and it is rather like the
sky on fireworks night – lights are going off all over
the place.
Moral support
I am not an expert in evolution, but as a lateral
thinking dyslexic myself it seems almost as if nature
has ring-fenced 90 per cent of her human capital as high expectation of things to come that they then simply
False accusations: we must act
“normal” and then, perhaps not unreasonably, created fail to deliver on. They may be able to talk the talk, but
a 10 per cent pool of people who are forced to think they cannot read the read or write the write.
differently and constantly question the “normal” way of Slow processing has another unfortunate downside,
doing things. Alternatively, you can take the view that especially in the adolescent years, best described as
STATISTICS CAN be shocking. During my time at the time, “I feel depressed. Not just sad or angry, but this is nature being wilful and mischievous. Certainly it the “vacant stare”. As a dyslexic myself, with two
Teacher Support Network, very few sets of numbers depressed to the point where motivating myself to do does not make life easier for the classroom teacher and dyslexic children, I recognise this only too well – you
have caused such dramatic disheartenment as those anything positive is almost impossible. I can’t even educators as a whole. ask a question and get no response other than the vacant
concerning the extent of false allegations made sleep, despite having nothing to do all day.” In a nutshell this is the first big conundrum about stare. In hindsight, I feel rather guilty about the times in
against teachers. Thoughts of what his colleagues were saying and dyslexics – on the one hand they can present a constant the early days when I lost my patience with the kids,
Thanks to a survey conducted by our colleagues at thinking about the situation were plaguing his mind; problem, on the other they prove to be nature’s best who I naturally thought were demonstrating behaviour
the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the extent sensations made more intense through the lack of problem-solvers, innovators and high achievers. somewhere along the spectrum from wilful through
of this problem has been made clear. A quarter of contact. His wife was hearing details of his situation From Leonardo da Vinci and Alan Sugar, to Richard obstructive to insolent.
respondents said that they had had a false allegation in the staffroom of her school elsewhere in the city. Branson, Tom Cruise and Benjamin Zephania, dyslexics Actually, the vacant stare is the product of something
made against them by a pupil and half said one had With this, Simon’s feelings of isolation increased bring a new and successful way of doing things into dyslexia experts refer to as lack of “automaticity”.
been made against a colleague. and his suspicions about the fate of his society. To my mind automaticity is the pivotal problem of
The implications of such allegations reputation with his colleagues, pupils Another fascinating conundrum about the dyslexic dyslexia, leading to frustrations and problems for
for teachers will vary from a speedy and their parents were raised to brain is that it tends to be much more powerful in terms dyslexics and all those who work or come into contact
investigation, anonymity for the accused extreme levels. of IQ, but much slower in terms of processing speed with them.
and their quick vindication at schools In total it was five months before than the normal one. It is rather like nature has given us Automaticity is the ability to know what to say or
where policies are in place to deal Simon was allowed to return to a four-litre BMW engine coupled to the carburettor of a know what to do without thinking about it, and is one of
with accusations effectively, to months school. He was entirely vindicated Fiat 500. It is the double-edged sword of education. the cornerstones of society and behaviour. It is all about
or even years of emotional hardship of all charges when the pupils’
for teachers who are unlucky enough family retracted the allegation
to find themselves at schools without. against him. Five months of
The full extent of the potential hopelessly-handled investigation
impact of allegations was made clear had caused untold damage to his
to me when I spoke to a 36-year-old relationship with the school and he
PE teacher who has been in regular moved elsewhere at the end of the
touch with our support line as a result of a academic year. ‘
Another fascinating conundrum about the
dyslexic brain is that it tends to be much more
terrible sequence of events at his previous Though now enjoying teaching powerful in terms of IQ, but much slower in terms
school. again, neither Simon nor any other
Simon (not his real name) first teacher should be forced to go
of processing speed than the normal one. It is
called over a year ago to explain his through these circumstances.
story. In the middle of a PE lesson, We were pleased that the
two 15-year-old pupils were fighting. government recently took on board
rather like nature has given us a four-litre BMW
He had managed to separate the pupils, our concerns about the length of
but one pupil had teeth marks in his arm. suspensions – which we expressed
engine coupled to the carburettor of a Fiat 500. It
The other pupil had a bruised upper arm, at a Parliamentary Select Committee
although it was unclear how or when this had hearing in June – particularly after
is the double-edged sword of education
been caused. the committee recommended that the
The following day, the second pupil alleged availability of helplines is a necessary
that Simon had punched him in the arm and element of ensuring key figures in schools
caused this bruise while the fight was being know how to handle allegations. Assessing children for dyslexia sets out to “knowing” things – like six by seven is 42,
broken up. Simon was called in to see the head, who Nevertheless, when the new guidance is compare “brain power” in the shape of IQ, with
’
or that Paris
is the capital of France, or that the battle of Hastings
advised him to “make the most of some time off” and issued, it needs to be swiftly implemented at a local actual performance across a battery of tasks, mostly was 1066. It is also about important lifeskills such as
go home until things “settled down”. level. Steps must be taken to ensure that schools timed, that have been standardised against their peer the Green Cross Code, not sticking your hand in a fire,
The head said he had little doubt the allegation and local authorities make use of guidelines to group. The results are plotted against each other as and being careful when chopping a carrot.
was false, but had to be seen to do the right thing by protect the wellbeing of both teachers and pupils, “percentiles” (normally referred to simply as centiles) Ask a child a simple question when you expect them
the parents, governors and local authority. not merely consign them to a dusty shelf. Statistics on a scale of one to 100. to know the answer and you expect to get the answer.
A week goes by before the bursar phoned to reveal the extent of the allegations problem, while Typically a dyslexic will present with an IQ that You do not expect the vacant stare.
explain that the school was “taking advice” and Simon’s testimony reveals the terrible impact on the may, say, put him or her on the 87th percentile, but The problem with the dyslexic brain is that there
would get back to him. In keeping with an all too individual. In order to reduce both, effective policies have a task-based performance that hovers around the is a processing disconnect between the question and
common pattern, two weeks went by before Simon must be implemented in all schools in advance of 40th percentile. Interestingly, many often do tasks much the answer – whether the answer is there or not, the
was contacted again, and at this point he was starting incidents, not merely in reaction to them. better if allowed extra time. In statistical terms, having problem is trying to find it.
to feel the pressure: a horrible combination of a variance in performance of two standard deviations is Automaticity is to do with memory. In fact the
anxiety, boredom, irrational guilt, frustration, anger • Julian Stanley is chief executive of the Teacher a good benchmark. whole concept of “knowing” and “knowledge” is
and shame. He could not sleep and was not eating Support Network. Visit www.teachersupport.info or One problem for dyslexics and teachers alike is about memory. You can only know things if you can
properly and he stopped exercising. call 08000 562 261 (England), 08000 855088 (Wales). that the above average IQ frequently leads to good remember “stuff”. Learning is the process of getting
“For the first time in my life,” Simon told us at Moral support returns in January. vocabulary and articulate (and possibly argumentative) new stuff into our memory in such a way it can be
verbal performance. At a young age, dyslexics can set a automatically accessed.
8 SecEd • November 26 2009
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