Dyslexia

At Collingham Lady Elizabeth Hastings’ Primary School we are passionate about supporting children with Dyslexia or difficulties with literacy and we pride ourselves on the provision we put in place to be ‘Dyslexia Friendly.’

Miss Hicks and Mrs Questa have both participated in the ‘Level 2 Dyslexia Friendly School’ training with our local authority.

What is the definition of Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which mainly affects the development of literacy and language related skills. It is likely to be present at birth and to be life-long in its effects. It is characterised by difficulties with phonological processing, rapid naming, working memory, processing speed and the automatic development of skills that may not match up to an individuals other cognitive abilities. It tends to be resilient to conventional teaching methods.

* (British Dyslexic Association 2010)

* An SpLD is a specific learning difficulty relating to Literacy. Pupils with an SpLD may go on to be identified as dyslexic but many aren’t.

* The word ‘dyslexia’ comes from the Greek ‘dys’ meaning difficulty and ‘lexis’ meaning language.

* Dyslexia and SpLD primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling.

* Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, memory and verbal processing speed. * Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities.

* It is best thought of as a continuum.

* Co-occurring difficulties may be seen in aspects of language, motor coordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation.

Dyslexia is more than just ‘Reading, Writing and Spelling’ and can impact other areas.

Working memory - the ability of the brain to hold and manipulate information.

Phonological processing - refers to the ability to perceive, discriminate and manipulate sounds in words, and map letters to sounds

Speed of processing - refers to the ability to efficiently retrieve phonological information from long term memory.

Sequential Memory - is the recall of items, presented orally, in a specific order.

Non-verbal Processing - refers to the ability to solve problems using visual reasoning. For example, identify relationships, similarities and differences between shapes and patterns, without using language or literacy skills

Short term memory - The amount of information we can hold at one time. Once information has left the short term memory it is lost.

Organisational skills - How they organise themselves and their work.

Please read the booklet ‘Dyslexia Explained’ and watch the following film clip to find out more.