Understanding Dyslexia and Its Effects on Students’ Learning
Question:
You have noticed a barrier to inclusion that affects one or more students with identified learning needs/diagnosed disabilities in your education/childcare setting. Using national and International policy documents and other assigned course content, write a persuasive submission for change in your school.
We are a school in Brisbane city of Queensland State. Our school has 700 students, 30 teaching staffs and 20 non-teaching staffs. Our school aims to deliver quality education to students and strives to provide customized and individualized attention to each student. Every child learns in a different way and it is important to focus on the inclusion of students with diagnosed disabilities or special learning needs.
Respected Sir/ Madame,
I would like to inform you that I have identified 7 students of our class who are diagnosed with a special learning need, Dyslexia. These students find the education system in our school challenging. The students of our school who are identified as Dyslexic face difficulty in learning which include difficulties related to mental calculation, personal organization, aspects of language, concentration and motor co-ordination. The special learning need or Dyslexia of these students could be identified when they started to learn reading and writing in our primary school and the Dyslexic condition could be identified from their school work. The students of our school suffering from Dyslexia face difficulties while processing rapid language and take much longer time than other students to take notes in class or to perform written work. It is important for our school to address the special learning needs of this student and focus on their academic and social inclusion. It could be identified that these students suffer from low-self esteem and do not seem to take interest in certain activities within classroom. They face trouble in different aspects of learning like they fail to tell time, can’t recollect the sequence of the days of the week, face trouble with directions, for instance, they are unable to distinguish left from the right and also face difficulty in practical activities at school like getting dressed or tying the laces of their shoes.
We can become an accredited Dyslexia aware school if we focus on inclusion of these students and address their special learning needs. It is important to develop a good strategy of communication between the teachers of the schools and the parents of Dyslexic children. A good communication between parents and teachers will ensure that these students can receive the best learning experience from our school. The good relationship between parents and teachers should be fostered and the learning of the Dyslexic students of our school can be supported by providing special assistance to these students to complete their homework and by facilitating them in practicing reading and researching on topics at a regular basis. Multisensory learning should be promoted among Dyslexic students because they struggle with words, thus art, cartoons, games and pictures can be used to support the learning needs of these students. An egg timer should be used in classroom to facilitate these children for the development of awareness related to time. Handwriting resources like crayons, big pens, colored papers and paints should be used in school and patterns of spellings should be practiced by teachers for addressing the special learning needs of these students.
Creating a Supportive Learning Environment for Dyslexic Children
Hereby I state that the teachers of our school should create a supportive learning environment for students with Dyslexia by encouraging and praising them so that they can overcome the low self-esteem. Our school should adopt a multi-dimensional approach to teaching by incorporating hands-on strategies for learning, verbal as well as visual aids.
Preamble
Dyslexia is a disability with reading which occurs when a student faces significant trouble with accuracy and speed to decode words. The Dyslexic children also find it difficult to comprehend texts and face difficulty in learning throughout adolescence and adulthood. Dyslexia can be identified as a genetic neurological condition and difference occurs in the structure and electrophysiological characteristics of brain of the dyslexic children (Patterson, Marshall & Coltheart, 2017). The role of physicians is important in diagnosis of children with Dyslexia and reading tests can be used to diagnose this condition. However, score of IQ can’t be used for diagnosis of children with Dyslexia. It is important to create a supportive education system at school where parents and teachers can act as prime facilitators to help in the inclusion of Dyslexic children (Blachman, 2013).
Rationale
The education system in school is important for the inclusion of children with disability like Dyslexia. The Disability Standards for Education 2005 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 are important part of the legislation and the commonwealth, Territory and State governments and all educational authorities including government and non-government institutions should comply with this legislation. The legal system plays a crucial role in the inclusion of Dyslexic children in the education system. Children who have special learning needs like Dyslexia should not face discrimination in school and the learning environment in the school should be supportive to facilitate the individual learning need of a Dyslexic child.
Providing for students with Dyslexia learning needs
A teacher in school can implement many strategies to support the learning needs of Dyslexic children and help them develop skill sets like arithmetic, reading, time, writing and spelling. Our school should facilitate the Dyslexic students of our class to discover their individual style of learning like auditory, kinesthetic or visual (Hämäläinen, Salminen & Leppänen, 2013). It is important for our school to understand that Dyslexic students focus on wholes and teachers should understand that breaking words into letters and sounds is not a good way to teach Dyslexic students. It is important to design the assignments or questions centered around a specific conclusion for the Dyslexic students because they can comprehend and focus on concrete wholes and not on specific parts. A dyslexic student has special learning needs and they integrate backwards from a conclusion.
Top-down processing is an appropriate method that can be adopted to teach Dyslexic children. Top-Down Processing is also called large chunk processing and it focuses on building perception for Dyslexic students by commencing with larger chunks of idea or concepts. The teachers of our school should commence with aspects which are high-level and then proceed towards finer details. It is important that open-ended questions should not be set for Dyslexic students which involve incomplete instructions or abstract. The education system in school should not base the marking scheme of Dyslexic students based on punctuations, spelling and grammatical errors. It is important for the school authority to understand that the spelling, punctuations and grammar are abstract concepts for Dyslexic children because the right brains of these children can’t process or visualize them as concrete images. The Dyslexic students ask many questions and teachers of school should answer them carefully. It is important that teachers answer the questions of a Dyslexic student in a precise and concise manner instead of providing them long explanations.
Promoting Inclusion, Communication, and Multisensory Learning
Our school should adopt a project-based learning for the Dyslexic children of our class. The long, written assignments should be avoided for Dyslexic students and a project-based learning model should be adopted where listening, discussing, and observing and using hands would play an important role for the students (Firth et al., 2013). The education system in school should recognize and reward the specific talents of right-brained Dyslexic students like story-telling skills and artistic skills. Many Dyslexic children have logical sensibility and photographic memories. A good communication strategy in between parents and teachers can help to discover the hobbies, talents and interests of Dyslexic people. Mind maps and diagrams are important tools for teaching the Dyslexic children because minds maps enhance the understanding level of different subjects for Dyslexic children (Ellis, 2016).
Community Involvement
The community involvement is of paramount importance for the inclusion process of Dyslexic children. The community support can be provided by schools authorities, classmates, parent support advisors, and government and non-government institutions. The parent support advisors can provide great service to Dyslexic children by working in partnership with members of school community, parents, caregivers and dyslexic children (Peterson & Pennington, 2012). The support advisors focus on identification at an early stage and prevention and they provide access to educational opportunities for Dyslexic children. The community members play an instrumental role in providing support to the Dyslexic children. The community members can implement initiatives of self-esteem and organize workshops for parents and children to provide literacy support and assistance regarding homework. The community members should avoid stereotypes, biases and discrimination against dyslexic children. Teachers and classmates should be sensitive to the special needs of these children and they should ensure that Dyslexic children are not subjected to discrimination and bullying within classroom. The mental health of a Dyslexic student is often adversely affected and they suffer from low self-esteem. The community members of school play an important role to boost the level of self-confidence among Dyslexic students which facilitate in the inclusion process of this section of the society (Reid, 2016).
National and International Policy standards for Dyslexia-Links with state policy and AITSL standards
Dyslexia refers to the disorder that resists the children to interpret word, symbols and letter. However, this is a learning difficulty, which occurs at the early childhood .AITSL highlights the Australian Professional Standard for teacher. However, in the primary education the teachers need special training to deal with the students having Dyslexia. According to the UDHR or Universal Declaration of Human Right or United Nations General Assembly 1948, every individual has the right to get education. In the Article 26 of UDHR it has been mentioned that the fundamental and elementary stages of education are free and compulsory for the children (Humanrights.gov.au, 2017). Hence, for the Dyslexia child it is crucial to offer them fundamental and elementary stage of education. In order to tackle the Dyslexia children and to improve their education IDA or the international Dyslexia Association enhances the knowledge and practice standards of the teacher by providing them training. However, the IDA knowledge and practice standards for teachers of reading stated that, teachers need to understand the way to teach the students having Dyslexia. On the other hand, the parents need to identify the type of education that a child need in their early stage of life. On the other hand, United Nation Convention on Right of the Child is another vital policy. In the United Nations General Assembly 1990 in Article 23 it has been mentioned that disables children have full right to get information, service and education in order to shape their career (Geva & Xi, 2016).
Article 28 is included in UNCRD, which states that the disables child has the full right to get equal opportunity during their education in comparison to other children. However, by following this policy the teachers at AITSL standards are able to give opportunity to the children access the technical and scientific knowledge (Davis & Deponio, 2014). However, it is important for the teachers to take training and follow the policies to give better education to the children having Dyslexia. However, Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians is governance body or assembly of the ministers. According to this regulatory body, Australian schools should follow the equity during the education. The aim of this regulatory body is to make a young child as a successful learner. This is a big achievement for the disabled children, which also increase the transparency and the accountability in the education system. However, discrimination with the disabled children is very common in the education system. According to the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 the children should be treated equally who have special needs in the education (Legislation.gov.au, 2017). Under section 22 of DDA Act if there is discrimination in the education then it will mark as unlawful practice. As a result, the education provider will be punished under this Act. In the context of Dyslexia people, this DDA Act will be effective to enhance their education process by reducing the inequality in the education system. Hence, this will give them a better education and opportunity to improve their learning capacity.
Reference Lists
Blachman, B. A. (Ed.). (2013). Foundations of reading acquisition and dyslexia: Implications for early intervention. Routledge.
Davis, J. M., & Deponio, P. (2014). Analysing conflicting approaches to dyslexia on a European project: moving to a more strategic, participatory, strength-based and integrated approach. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 18(5), 515-534.
Ellis, A. W. (2016). Reading, Writing and Dyslexia (Classic Edition): A Cognitive Analysis. Psychology Press.
Firth, N., Frydenberg, E., Steeg, C., & Bond, L. (2013). Coping successfully with dyslexia: An initial study of an inclusive school?based resilience programme. Dyslexia, 19(2), 113-130.
Geva, E., & Xi, Y. (2016). POLICY CONSIDERATIONS IN ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF L21 LEARNERS WHO MAY HAVE DYSLEXIA. Multilingualism, Literacy and Dyslexia: Breaking Down Barriers for Educators, 227.
Hämäläinen, J. A., Salminen, H. K., & Leppänen, P. H. (2013). Basic auditory processing deficits in dyslexia: systematic review of the behavioral and event-related potential/field evidence. Journal of learning disabilities, 46(5), 413-427..
Humanrights.gov.au. (2017). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved 13 December 2017, from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/what-universal-declaration-human-rights
Legislation.gov.au. (2017). Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Retrieved 13 December 2017, from https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00763
Patterson, K., Marshall, J. C., & Coltheart, M. (Eds.). (2017). Surface dyslexia: Neuropsychological and cognitive studies of phonological reading (Vol. 8). Routledge.
Peterson, R. L., & Pennington, B. F. (2012). Developmental dyslexia. The Lancet, 379(9830), 1997-2007
Reid, G. (2016). Dyslexia: A practitioner’s handbook. John Wiley & Son
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
