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Each educational establishment should have individuals trained in the recognition of the dyslexic individual and their needs.
All employers should be aware of the special needs and abilities of the dyslexic individual, and should ensure their abilities, strengths and weaknesses are fully utilised for the benefit of the individual, the employer and society.
All staff should be trained in the awareness and understanding of dyslexia, and how to accommodate the individual within the normal learning and working environment.
All schools and employers should have policy guidelines to ensure an inclusive approach is adopted for dyslexia.
Any support provided should be seen as a fundamental human right which ensure these individuals are empowered within society, and are not perceived as an advantage to the dyslexic individual by the general public.
What is dyslexia? - A framework for Europe
Ian Smythe
Although this project would appear to be about the specifics of how to provide the ICT components of support to the dyslexic individual, it is important to set this within a framework of understanding of the problems, and how to support the individual in EU, national and institutional legislation and policies.
Therefore, it has been necessary to review the issues, and in doing so provide not only a framework which may be used by those countries just starting out on the road to implementation, but also to revisit the foundations of those whose provision was developed on an ad hoc basis, and which may not have been updated according to our current understanding of dyslexic. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to compare and contrast different approaches to dyslexia and place it in the context of an understanding of disabilities which may be applied to the European university environment, irrespective of the language in question.
In order to come to terms with the question “What is dyslexia?”, we need to start with an understanding of definitions, and why we have them. There are many reasons, and the main ones are listed below.
Robinson (1950) says a definition is: a search for a cause;
an attempt to determine the conditions in which something occurs; the search for a key that will explain a mass of facts, improving one’s concept, saying how a word is used.
To this Miles (1995) added:
stating its place in the context of national educational policy, providing a guide to diagnosis,
finding a legal description that will automatically give entitlement to special help or provision.
It is important, therefore, that we have a definition of dyslexia to provide a common terminology for all, to provide a basis upon which assessment may be made, and provide the focus for provision. Without a clear definition it will be difficult to decide who should have what support. Furthermore, in terms of research, investigators will be examining different processes and outcomes using different criteria.
In most legislation across Europe, dyslexia is not covered specifically, but comes under the umbrella term of disabilities. Unfortunately, as we shall see, although the disabilities legislation may cater for the physical and sensory handicaps, as well as those with moderate or severe learning difficulties, it does not necessarily support those with specific learning difficulties.
It is important to note that some students suggest that it is not they who are disabled, but society. Although this may be a desirable, forward thinking, inclusive “social model” of dyslexia, it was felt important in this project to contextualise within existing frameworks, whilst acknowledging alternative approaches such as this. Indeed, it can be argued that in some cases dyslexia may be an advantage, since the divergent thinking of the dyslexic individual may offer an alternative approach to problem solving. In this case the term learning differences would be more suitable. However, the problem with this approach is that students would lose funding, since current legislation (e.g. in the UK) will only provide ICT support (e.g. funding for computer hardware and software) if there is a documentary evidence of a disability. That is, the assessor has to demonstrate in their report that the student is at a clear disadvantage compared to other learners, and requires additional support. If the student is simply labelled “different”, then it may be argued that everybody is different, and either everybody has the support, or nobody has it. The first option is too expensive and therefore, the label of having a disability will remain a necessity, at least for the foreseeable future.
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