Dissecting dyslexia
The power of neurodivergence
My Story
As I sat crossed-legged in my red tights staring at the itchy blue carpet, my eyes began to fill with tears.
How the hell does everyone except me understand this circular yellow thing with two blue arms and twelve numbers around the outside?
I got sent home with the plastic yellow clock for homework later that day.
Around a similar time my parents actually brought me a plastic shoe so I could learn how to tie my own laces.
In year three, the dread of the weekly times-tables quiz consumed me, typically pushing all knowledge of these sequences to the back of my mind.
Everyone seemed to get them except me.
Twenty-one years on I’m proud to say I can tell the time, I understand the clock, I can tie my shoe laces, and I got a B in my maths GCSE.
I was lucky. My sister got diagnosed with dyslexia before me, after similar traumatising experiences, so by the time I came along it could be assumed that I was dyslexic too.
About dyslexia
What is dyslexia?
According to the British Dyslexia Association (BDA), dyslexia is a neurological difference that can have significant impact during education, in the workplace, and in everyday life. Primarily, it is a set of processing difficulties affecting the acquisition of reading and spelling.
Therefore, it’s a specific learning difficulty which mainly effects reading and writing skills, and it can range from mild to severe. Dyslexia also often co-occurs alongside one or more other learning difficulties including: dyscalculia, ADHD, and Autism.
Every dyslexic person is unique and so is their experience. However dyslexics often have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear, which can affect learning and the acquisition of literacy skills.
It's important to note that thinking differently isn't a bad thing. Many people with dyslexia have other strengths and abilities in areas like reasoning, visual, and creative specialisms.
Dyslexia is a life-long condition that usually runs in families. Therefore: birth history, family history, education, health, vision, hearing, coordination, speech and language, self-esteem, and relationships are among many things considered prior to a dyslexia assessment.
Historically a big misconception is that dyslexia just affects people’s ability to read and write, but in reality it affects a variety of areas. While signs of dyslexia differ from person to person, there are some common indicators.
Symptoms of dyslexia in adults
According to Positive Dyslexia Ltd and the British Dyslexia Association (BDA)
All pictures taken by author
Read and write slowly
Often re-reading paragraphs to understand them properly.
Find it difficult to skim text.
Poor sequencing
Often confuse similar words/sequences.
For example, days of week and months of the year.
Poor recall
Struggle to remember and recall information.
Get confused when given multiple instructions at once.
Fatigue
Extreme tiredness, typically at the end of day due to having to work double to keep up with everyone else.
Mental overload and switching off.
Struggle to listen and concentrate
Especially if there are distractions such as people talking.
Avoid particular work
Unexpectedly challenged by some tasks while finding others easy.
Personal organisation
Time management and prioritising tasks.
Poor/low self-esteem
Especially when dyslexia has been diagnosed later in life.
“I didn’t succeed despite my dyslexia, but because of it.”
Scott Sonnon, Martial Arts World Champion and Author
Symptoms of dyslexia in children
According to the British Dyslexia Association (BDA)
All pictures taken by author
Processing
Slow processing of information.
Slow speech and/or written languages.
Struggle when learning foreign languages.
Poor concentration
Often forgetting words and struggle to follow instructions.
Poor standard of written work
Oral ability often above written work level.
Unusual sequencing of letter and/or words.
Bad behaviour
Often disruptive in class or withdrawn.
Avoidance tactics.
Easily distracted.
Fatigue
Excessively tired as more concentration and effort is required to keep up.
Difficulty telling the time
Struggle to remember days of the week, seasons, and months.
Poor time keeping and personal organisation.
Numeracy
Confusion over place value e.g. units, tens, hundreds.
Struggle remembering sequences.
Confused by symbols.
Reading
Slow reading with unusual pronunciation of words.
Missing out words, or adds extra.
Diagnosing dyslexia
A Diagnostic Assessment via a certified assessor is the only way to get a dyslexia diagnosis.
Following the assessment, an individual typically receives a full report with an overall picture of their cognitive profile, and the type of support they need moving forward.
According to the British Dyslexia Association the aim of the assessment is to:
- Highlight a person’s individual style of learning or working and what does and doesn’t work for them.
- Collect information about reading, spelling and writing skills.
- Identify whether there is a clear discrepancy between general level of ability, and reading and writing attainment.
- Consider other factors which may be affecting learning.
- Identify whether any Reasonable Adjustments will need to be made in order for a young person to fully access the curriculum and exams.
Assessments for children can be requested by schools and for adults (and private assessments) assessments can be organised through work, more information on this can be found on the BDA website.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Positive Dyslexia
According to Positive Dyslexia, 10-15% of the population have dyslexia, which is around 3 or 4 children in every classroom.
Katrina Cochrane, Founder of Positive Dyslexia said some common misconceptions are that: it only affects reading and writing, it can be ‘cured’, and that it goes away with age, with many adults saying ‘I used to be dyslexic’.
She continued: "Plenty of people are very successful with dyslexia and they have many strengths neurotypical people don’t have.
"There is help out there – Adult Dyslexia Centre have a free helpline and free support group.
"Some businesses are better than others. I am currently training many in the NHS, the Fire and Ambulance Services, the Armed forces and so on."
Cochrane added: "My Level 4 course trains people to screen and write a work based needs assessment suitable for Access to Work support. A2W is brilliant for adults."
In 2016 Cochrane was head of the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) and after being made redundant she set up Positive Dyslexia. Since then it has raised awareness of dyslexia and today it assesses nearly 200 people annually.
It's services include diagnostic assessments for adults and children, as well as accredited and non-accredited training (L3 and L4). It also runs an annual conference, with its next one taking place at Edge Hill University in June.
During her time as a secondary school English teacher, Cochrane explained how she came across many children with SpLD's (Special Learning Difficulty) and nothing on her PGCE course trained her on how to support them correctly. She subsequently trained to be a specialist with Dyslexia Action.
While the awareness and diagnosis is improving, there is no mandatory SpLD training for trainee teachers, and Cochrane said that funding for diagnostic assessments is the biggest challenge that the industry currently faces.
Cochrane mentioned that she is currently editing a SpLD journal this year, arranging three conferences and working on an AI tool to support dyslexia assessors.
In the future she hopes that everyone has the support that they need to flourish in society and use their strengths.
Assessment & Diagnosis
Dr Anna Smith, a Dyslexia Assessor, Lead APC Assessor and Head of The Dyslexia Guild, writes courses to help specialists train to assess for dyslexia, as well as running a panel that helps maintain the quality of assessors.
Dyslexia assessors have to renew their Assessment Practice Certificate (APC) every three years.
Dr Smith said: "It’s a very strict and rigorous process that dyslexia assessors have to go through, but it does maintain quite a high level of quality which is a good thing."
Previously Dr Smith worked as a researcher at Kings College London in the child and adolescent psychiatry group and later in the neuroscience team publishing many papers.
She said: "My real passion has always been dyslexia and when I was working in the neuroscience team I spent a lot of time studying epilepsy, which often co-occurs with things like dyslexia. So that’s what led me toward the industry."
Assessments usually include tests of: verbal and nonverbal abilities, cognition, speed of processing, and attainment (reading, fluency, single words, comprehension, spelling, and writing).
Dyslexia assessment & diagnosis
Background information also plays a large role during diagnosis.
Dr Smith said: "There’s quite a lot to an assessment, it’s an extensive process to go through and quite often people feel quite tired after going through it, especially if they’re challenged by those things.
"But it can also be quite rewarding, especially for adults as they’re looking for answers about the difficulties they’ve experienced.
"So it can be quite enlightening for them to have those answers."
Post diagnosis next steps vary significantly between person to person.
During primary school, interventions with a specialist teacher trained to teach literacy in a way for dyslexic people to access is typical course of action.
At this stage teaching is typically multisensory, highly structured, cumulative – building on previous work and embedding it properly.
Dr Smith said: "This generally shows quite good results but it also can be quite intensive and expensive, but ultimately a good idea wherever possible.
"I also often say to parents who perhaps don’t have a lot of money, a few sessions of specialist teaching can make all the difference.
"I did some research recently that showed that if you gave a child with difficulties a series of 15 specialist sessions, differences are seen in about the third or fourth lesson, so things can change quite early on."
Support for those diagnosed during secondary school includes exam support such as access arrangements.
Similarly, for adults, support in the workplace should help level the playing field and can include access to technologies and a 'needs assessment'.
"Wherever possible intervention can make a real difference."
Dr Anna Smith, Lead APC Assessor and Head of The Dyslexia Guild.
Looking to the future, Dr Smith said: "I would like to see more support in schools available to people on a regular basis with a trained specialist teacher. That hasn’t really happened yet."
The 2009 Rose Report, titled "Identifying and Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia and Literacy Difficulties," was an independent review commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to examine dyslexia and literacy difficulties, offering recommendations for identification and teaching approaches.
The report was supposed to enhance the presence of specialist teachers in schools through funding for teacher training as its typically an expensive qualification to get.
Dr Smith added: "So this was wonderful as lots of teachers got training for free, but then that training didn’t seem to make its way into schools, which is a real shame.
"I’d like to see children being flagged up quite early with a screening test and supported with specialist training.
"I think some schools do that which is wonderful but I’d like to see it become the norm."
Dr Smith concluded: "Also, I’d like to see more secondary schools understanding about children with difficulties and offering them support.
"Lots of schools are great at that but some aren’t and I don’t like how variable that is really.
"I find it strange as well because if you test children and screen them for difficulties and then support them they usually achieve better exam grades which is better for all schools."
Dyslexia: Lived experiences
Maisie's Story
Maisie Roberts, from Jersey and recent graduate from Loughborough University studying UX design, felt a profound sense of clarity when she was diagnosed.
Diagnosis
Post diagnosis, she finally understood why she struggled with English and the pronunciation of particular words.
She said: "I was more relieved because I was no longer thinking I was really dumb, instead it made sense and my brain is just different to everyone else’s."
Maisie expressed how the education system didn’t work for her, and how so many career options weren’t spoken about when she was at school.
She said: "When I was younger I thought it was quite a big deal, whereas now I think it’s not the end of the world, you can find ways around it by focusing on your strengths and getting good at a particular thing.
"But they didn’t really tell me that when I was younger, it was more sort of panic, we’ll give you some support, but you’ll never be as good as everyone else."
Maisie added: "But there was one teacher when I was very young, she was in her twenties and she was always really nice.
"I always felt really safe around her and I can even imagine the smell of her classroom in my head now.
"She was always someone I felt safe around and could rely on, she was more of a friend."
Maisie mentioned how knowing what she was good at and where her dyslexia didn’t affect her from early on really benefited her.
She said: "Dyslexia affects my ability to do emails, and administrative tasks, that’s why I’ve never been interested in those types of jobs and why I’ve leaned into more creative work.
"I find communication really difficult, because I’m really bad at English so I do think it affects my career from that perspective."
Personal experience & advice to others
She continued: "When you're younger you’ll see it as a negative but actually real-life isn’t like school, you’re not separated into boxes, there’s so many things that you can do and choose to do.
"Focus on what you love and your passion.
"It’s boring to be the same as everyone else, and being different is way more exciting.
"There’s so many people in the world that are exactly the same, so view it as a benefit because your different and you can stand out."
Looking to the future Maisie spoke about the importance of maintaining the awareness and support of dyslexia.
She said: "People are now seeing the positive impact it can have on their life rather than just focusing on the negatives.
"And making more people aware from a younger age that there’s people out there who have done great things with the same thing they have is something I’d like to see more off."
Image credits: Maisie Roberts
Image credits: Maisie Roberts
Image credits: Maisie Roberts
Image credits: Maisie Roberts
Image credits: Maisie Roberts
Image credits: Maisie Roberts
Image credits: Maisie Roberts
Image credits: Maisie Roberts
Teaching the teachers
Gill Cochrane is Lead Developer on the Dyslexia Action Literacy Programme and the MEd in Professional Practice in Dyslexia and Literacy & Level 5 Specialist Teacher Programme Lead.
Working in the education field for over twenty years, Cochrane writes and researches on the teaching of literacy and mathematics.
Motivated by her daughters struggles at school entry, having previously been confident and imaginative from a young age, Cochrane subsequently took a Postgraduate Diploma in dyslexia and literacy difficulties.
Cochrane said: "From there I got a job in a local prep school as a support tutor, I then decided to qualify as a primary teacher.
"But I again felt I needed to understand more, so I took a psychology degree. I got my job with Dyslexia Action when I was doing my online degree.
"At first I was a course tutor, but I have gone on to design and write courses as well as manage them."
Cochrane is responsible for managing a team who tutor Dyslexia Action delegates, whom often come from around the world with a variety of backgrounds.
The majority of the delegates include teachers and support tutors but also psychologists, and speech and language therapists study at Dyslexia Action too.
Cochrane said: "The courses are important because too often the focus is upon the learner rather than the learning environment.
"It is crucial that education professionals are aware of their role in shaping the learning space and of how modifications to their practice and perspectives can transform the lives of learners.
"The training is intensive and in-depth but extremely professionally rewarding."
Cochrane discussed how part of this growth of awareness is recognising that everyone has unconscious biases and more control needs to be given to the learner.
She said: "Sometimes these unconscious biases can lead us not to offer as rich learning opportunities to learners who are struggling as to those who are progressing smoothly through school or college.
"And one of the things that surprises teachers who train with us most is that they need to learn to talk less and hand the reins to the learner."
Cochrane added: "I was lucky that my daughter’s dyslexia was spotted early and that I could support her as she grew.
"But the experience made me aware of how little teachers are taught about the structure of the English language when they train.
"Especially when she was at secondary school, I could see that the teachers in other curriculum areas often had little idea about how to support learners who struggle to access the curriculum.
"That was 20 years ago – over that time I’ve worked hard to do what I can to change things little-by-little."
Cochrane spoke about the importance of breaking down barriers in the future.
She concluded: "We can break down barriers if we can train more teachers to transform the lives of the learners they work with.
"We can break down barriers if we can enable more practitioners to understand how unconscious bias can detrimentally affect outcomes for learners.
"And if we can break down barriers if we can professionally enrich education professionals who will then go on to share their expertise with their colleagues."
Neurodiversity in the workplace
Dyslexia and other neurodiversity conditions such as Autism and ADHD don't stop after school. These are lifelong conditions that require continuous support, especially in the workplace.
Daniel Brooke, Founder and Director of Neurodiversity Specialists said:
"I wanted to help neurodivergent people gain more control over their challenges so they could tap into their amazing strengths and skills and fully utilise those."
Brooke hopes to educate businesses and employers about the benefits of hiring and support neurodivergent individuals.
He added: "I’m neurodivergent myself, I’ve got lived experience and I’ve really benefited from amazing workplace support myself.
"So I can really resonate with what it feels like and I know the power and benefit of getting the right support."
The Neurodiversity Specialists was set up to support adults with neurodivergent conditions and to help them thrive in the workplace.
It helps and supports businesses in a variety of ways including through neurodiversity awareness training.
Additionally, it provides line manager training into different management strategies and tools to help them manage in a neuro-inclusive way.
Brooke said: "We really help businesses look at everything they do through a neuro-inclusion lens to help make all those different functions more accessible for neurodivergent people."
It also provides 121 support via workplace needs assessments, different types of coaching, assisted technology training, and specialist career coaching.
Education vs workplace support
In order to get neurodiverse individuals performing at their best, understanding the cause of particular challenges is vital.
Brooke said: "Understanding what the challenges are and providing the correct support and reasonable adjustments can help those individuals put strategies in place that help them work more effectively.
"Doing this allows individuals more time and space to really harness and utilise their skills and strengths, which is a common outcome of getting the right support."
Brooke mentioned: "Neurodivergent people often have the skills that businesses need to grow and develop and meet the demands that changing society puts on businesses.
"We know that when we’ve got that mixture of neurodivergent people and those who aren’t when there working together, that often leads to increased creativity, productivity, efficiency, innovation and all the positive things that businesses are looking for."
Brooke discussed how the standard recruitment methods such as application forms and interview questions might not work for all neurodiverse individuals.
Instead recorded CV’s, providing questions ahead of time, and offering different types of assessment are alternative recruitment methods for neurodiverse people.
He said: "By looking at the recruitment process through a neuro-inclusion lens and looking at how you can make all the stages of a recruitment process accessible for everyone will allow businesses to tap into a bigger talent pool and hopefully allow businesses to get the right person for the job."
It's important to a consider an employers investments into their neurodiverse workforce across the entire employee lifecycle.
Brooke continued: "Doing your research, finding out what the company is expressing externally about neurodiversity I think will really help people understand whether an employer is really working towards true neuro-inclusion."
Daniels experience and feedback from clients
He concluded: "I would like businesses to look at everything they do through a neuro-inclusion lens. From how they recruit to how they appraise people making the changes so that they make processes accessible for everyone. This will help businesses grow and develop in their fields of work."
For more information about the Neurodiversity Specialists head to their website.
My Story
During Sunday afternoon maths lesson with my dad, he used to get frustrated with me for looking out the window, not at the numbers.
But what he didn't know was that looking outside was easier than looking at something he understood completely, and I had no chance in hell of grasping.
So what changed? No not the Sunday afternoon maths lessons, unfortunately. Instead, I received professional support and help throughout my education which fundamentally changed my mindset about school and about myself. Those people changed my trajectory and that is something I’m eternally grateful for, especially as I know not everyone is fortunate enough to receive specialist help. Intervention was truly the game changer for me and for so many out there. I hope to see this more normalised for all neurodiverse conditions in the future.
At 17, my dad taught me to drive. Despite the apprehension of relieving those Sunday afternoon maths lessons, I really had nothing to worry about.
As I got in the car I felt instant relief. Finally, I was learning something which required me to be good at looking out the window.
I passed first time later that year with five minors.
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