DYSLEXIA
Lighting fires
“Learning is not a spectator
sport.”
Unknown
“Every job is a self-portrait
The double-
of the person who did it.
Autograph your work with
excellence.”
Unknown
“You can teach a student
edged
a lesson for a day; but if
you can teach him to learn
by creating curiosity, he
will continue the learning
process as long as he
sword of
lives.”
Clay P Bedford
“Education is more than
filling a child with facts.
It starts with posing
education
questions.”
DT Max
“It is the supreme art of
the teacher to awaken joy
in creative expression and
knowledge.”
Albert Einstein
“The important thing is not
The problem with the dyslexic brain is that it really However, above all, dyslexics are great this month. The book is aimed at anybody who wants
struggles with the learning process. In particular it struggles compensators. Back in the day, most of us worked an insightful and accessible overview of dyslexia and
to stop questioning.”
with learning to read and write – two skills which in turn it out for ourselves and ended up having reasonably dyslexics and is available priced £5.99 plus p&p from Albert Einstein
are pivotal to learning more stuff and demonstrating what successful lives in roles where we did not have to read www.adyslexicwrites.com
you know. The situation here can also be complicated by or write too much – scientists, engineers, sales people.
problems with hearing and vision. Although perhaps some of us wonder what might have
So here we have the conundrum of a cohort of been.
Independent thinking
people with powerful brains who cannot prove how Times change and modern students have to survive
bright they are because they cannot acquire the skill sets and thrive in a much more competitive environment.
needed to get the raw materials of knowledge into their Today, being recognised as dyslexic and given the
memory so they can demonstrate their brightness. appropriate attention and allowances can make the Failure and resilience
Experts distinguish three sorts of memory: short- difference between getting A grades or getting B
term, working and long-term. Short-term memory is a grades and the subsequent access that gives to the sort I WAS lucky enough to be able to spend three rowing career losing races than winning them and it
type of filter on the world and we need it because there of higher education that will benefit us, and society, days away from school last week at a national was her “failures” from which she had learnt.
is heaps of stuff we simply do not need to know or the most. conference for headteachers, the annual Girls’ Schools Her view is that failure is an essential component
remember. It decides which bits we are likely to need in Education is getting better at recognising dyslexia Association conference. Many different speakers of success and it is how you deal with failure
the future. Long-term memory is the brain’s warehouse earlier. At the end of the day, we need the same diet of made presentations on a number of topics, but several which makes you successful. She suggested facing
full of filing cabinets where all the stuff resides. education as non-dyslexics, and have the intellectual mentioned resilience. This led me to reflect on how up to disappointment, taking responsibility for the
Working memory seems to be a two-way qualitative ability to access the full curriculum, it is just that we seem to have moved away from developing outcome, embracing constructive criticism, and not
process working out how and where best to store stuff we may need it sliced and diced and served up in a resilience among children, and indeed adults. blaming others. How many pupils do we encounter
and then retrieving it and using it when it is needed. slightly different way. Yet the classroom is a busy Dr Carol Craig was the first to introduce the these days to whom such concepts are
So to learn something we need the short-term and pressurised place, and it is difficult for teachers to topic. She is definitely a maverick in her almost totally alien?
memory to tell the working memory to hold onto it for single out the dyslexic 10 per cent for the individual views on the undue importance currently I looked back on my own teaching
a bit and file it away in the most appropriate place in attention. being placed on pupils’ self-esteem. career – at one time, lasting two or
a long-term filing cabinet. When asked a question, the However there are classroom practices that can help She wisely pointed out that the three years perhaps, I applied for a
working memory then acts a computer processor, finds us learn better. On behalf of the dyslexic community modern preoccupation with materialism whole string of deputy headships
the information again, and regurgitates it. I would like to share a few things for consideration – in the shape of society’s obsession and probably had a dozen or so
It is the short-term and working memories with should you have the time. with money, consumer goods, personal interviews.
which dyslexics tend to have problems. If you thought It really helps us get things clear in our minds if we appearance, status, and fame – does not Reader, I failed every one
about short-term memory as a “post-it” note, dyslexics are set tasks in numbered order – so do not be afraid to lead to happiness. – I have never been a deputy
have a really tiny post-it you can hardly get anything tell us “first do this, then do that, then finally do this” as True happiness depends on good head. When asked for feedback
on. Non-dyslexics have the jumbo-sized variety. We it works well for dyslexics. relationships and a sense of meaning and after a gruelling three-day interview
have to work much harder to get a volume of stuff into If you want us to copy from a board, it is a lot clearer purpose in one’s life. High self-esteem may experience, I was told that they
the filing cabinet. if you write different points in different colours – that well lead to narcissism rather than academic “needed a chemist” (I am not a chemist).
Even when the required information is in a filing way we don’t confuse things. or any other kind of success. Worrying too Those who know me doubtless have
cabinet somewhere, it can take longer to find it. Often When you come across a kinaesthetic learner it much about a child’s self-esteem can lead their own theories as to the reasons for
when found it comes out in a different way than it went is great if you can agree that they can fiddle with to lowered expectations. Teachers and my failures. However, I was resilient
in. Or, if it cannot be found, the working memory may something – a lump of blue tack can work perfectly. parents can restrict the opportunities for and I persevered. I moved sideways,
decide to look at the question in a different way and use They will not notice they are playing with it and they can children to fail, limit their criticisms, from a joint post of director of studies
other “stuff” to provide the answer. concentrate on learning. Some of us doodle a lot too. and often engage in too much, and and head of 6th form in a relatively
Understandably this takes time. Even understanding As mentioned above, many dyslexics have high IQs undeserved, praise. small school to head of 6th form (and
the question in the first place takes time. But the but are slow processors. If you ask us questions it is How, asked Dr Craig, can humans head of department) in a much larger
unusual process of dyslexic synthesis may well be the really good if you can give us time to answer. Actually learn to triumph over adversity if school, and from there to Her Majesty’s
cornerstone of problem-solving brilliance. not asking us questions works well too as we do not risk they never meet adversity? We are Inspectorate of Schools.
There is a further complication in the classroom. getting embarrassed by fumbling for an answer. underestimating the resilience of human Young people today too often choose
Experts recognise three sorts of learners – visual With those of us whose writing and spelling is beings and consequently undermining it. minor celebrities as their role models and
learners, audio learners, and kinaesthetic learners. The consistently bad, being allowed to use a laptop means American research has identified a even our Calvinist prime minister is very
latter are those who can only seem to take things in we can concentrate on answering the question, rather particular mindset among some children – familiar with X Factor contestants.
if they fidget or move around. Research suggests that than on the writing and spelling. they claim that they cannot do things before Would that those who have striven against
teachers tend to fall into the category of visual learners, It is often the small things that matter. We might not they have even tried, they do not want to be seen and overcome real challenges, disability, injury,
preferring to sit still and read things. Conversely, seem grateful at the time, but if you help us turn those not to be good at something and so they are not ready dreadful personal circumstances, and have not been
dyslexics tend to be the fidgets. It is another point of B grades into As we will never forget you. SecEd to learn. Fear of failure leads them to believe that it is afraid to meet with failure on the way, were more
potential dissonance. better not to try and thus they protect their feelings of often given the prominence and attention they deserve.
Talk to any dyslexic adult and I think we will all • Al Campbell did not discover he was dyslexic until he self-worth and self-esteem. Perhaps then we might have a genuine culture of
happily admit we may well have been challenging was 50. By then both his children had been assessed Later, the theme of failure loomed large in an success rather than one of blame, fear of failure, and a
students in the classroom. For our part, we would often as dyslexic. Now aged 56, he has spent much of his inspiring presentation by Dr Catherine Bishop, constant demand for “rights” and compensation.
see the answer in our minds but simply could not get it life as a writer, and currently works as a strategic rowing world champion and Olympic medallist and
out and onto paper in a way that ever seemed to please business manager and consultant. Al is the author of international diplomat. She explained that she was • Marion Gibbs is headmistress of the independent
the teacher. A lot of today’s adult dyslexics, many of A Dyslexic Writes, a new book published by the Helen invariably introduced by reference to her medals and James Allen’s Girls’ School in London. Independent
whom are still undiagnosed or unrecognised, simply Arkell Dyslexia Centre in conjunction with National successes, but in fact she had spent far more of her thinking returns in January.
took the easy way out and gave up trying. Dyslexia Awareness Week, which took place earlier
SecEd • November 26 2009 9
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