Breaking down Barriers

This year’s theme of Dyslexia Awareness Week, Breaking down Barriers, is an important one. We still need to break down many barriers for children and adults with dyslexia.?

In the classroom , teachers and teaching assistants are still not adequately trained to identify and support the 3 or 4 children with dyslexia in each class. The first barrier to be removed then must be the lack of awareness around neurodiversity, and how it co-occurs with so many other conditions.

I hosted a Masterclass on the theme of DAW on Friday, and we listened to many different speakers discussing how dyslexia interacts with ADHD, Dyspraxia, Autism and mental health issues. The majority of the children I assess have a range of these difficulties, and many more adults are being diagnosed later in life. One child I assessed last week is going through the EHCP process and has been given a literacy assessment by an Educational Psychologist, but she explained to parents she is unable to formally add Dyslexia to the EHCP. Parents have had to come to me for a private assessment . This will confirm what they and the school know ,??but cannot be put on the EHCP due to the local authority not allowing it! How is that helping the child??

Incidentally , as a Specialist Assessor with over 20 years experience, I have my own barrier in place in that our diagnostic reports are still not seen to be on the same standard as Educational Psychologists. There is a national shortage of EP’s and our reports are at least 50% cheaper , and yet only in lockdown were two of my reports able to be used by a local authority ( different to the one above).

Additional barriers go right the way through the school system where at Year 9,??a child may be finally be given testing , but for exam access arrangements .??These will be given by a suitably qualified specialist assessor with a Level 7 qualification, but without the formal diagnosis of dyslexia.??A bit like being told you have a broken leg without a X ray to confirm it, in my mind.?

When the child goes onto Higher Education and needs to apply for DSA (Disabled Students Allowance), they need to have that formal diagnosis though, and although many universities offer this means tested, cost can still be a barrier to getting the right support.

In the world of employment Dyslexia is still seen as a stigma and a barrier , and many are unwilling to state they have Dyslexia on application forms . Many employers don’t know about Access to work (www.gov.uk?) and the support that it can bring to employees with disabilities.??Many adjustments in employment to remove??barriers can be inexpensive or free, such as changing background colours on laptops and whiteboards and using Immersive Readers . I recently asked on Linkedin what companies were doing to support their employees in Dyslexia Awareness Week, and many did not know about it existed.

Barriers can be motivators , I lost track of the number of times I was told I couldn’t do things and certain jobs I had were possibly not the best fit. Any passenger on a Caledonian flight in the 90’s may have had their coffee spilt in their lap , rather than poured in their cup. However, once I understood my challenges I was able to address them better ( and change careers).

Let's smash those barriers to enable both children and adults to wear their Dyslexia as a badge of honour, not a cloak of invisibility.

Katrina Cochrane

October 2022?

Our recorded trainings are available on?www.positivedyslexia.co.uk?and our live Conference is back for its third year in Liverpool on November 10th.Breaking down Barriers