It took celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to expose how education fails teachers and children. For him, there’s little point in the label ‘special educational needs’ when education is education, full stop. It must be fit for purpose. It isn’t for so many – from the academically most gifted to the most neurodiverse.
On 9 June, in the Channel 4 documentary Jamie’s Dyslexia Revolution, words were projected in a way that dyslexic people typically see them. “Byslexia affects reabing, sqelling and writing skills”, and that’s just for starters.
He told his son that he was a better reader than himself. Around 10–15% of school children are likely to be dyslexic and, as such, three-and-a-half times more likely to be expelled from school than their neurotypical peers. He also repeated the shocking statistic that half of UK male prisoners are dyslexic before asking: What is more expensive, locking people up or ensuring they are not locked out of education because their dyslexia is unrecognised? The costs to society of both are likely to be high and rarely juxtaposed.
Where to start with dyslexia
Oliver probed the education secretary and successfully tried to elicit a commitment from her to act, as he encouraged her to legislate to improve access to appropriate services and education for dyslexics like him.
Oliver doesn’t take no for an answer, or an excuse. He grilled education minister Brigid Philippson over dyslexia, the insufficiency of teacher training and upskilling, and the urgent need to ensure screening for, swift recognition of, and the introduction of appropriate measures to address dyslexia.
Ensuring teacher training includes more than a few derisory hours of training would help, as would sufficient school funding to enable schools to employ trained assistants as a matter of course. Oliver stressed how some classroom strategies aimed at dyslexic children benefit all children and not simply those labelled ‘dyslexic’.
Free self-help resources for parents and adults in the UK exist, but finding them may not be obvious, least of all to dyslexic people who find reading and writing sentences difficult. The British Dyslexia Association has a number of tools for assessing and screening for dyslexia. None of this is cheap.
Countries across the world and in Europe differ in how they go about recognising and testing for multiple factors that may indicate dyslexia. The prevalence of dyslexia in the UK is estimated to be around 10%, and the UK has some 23 tests for assessing dyslexia. The UK, like other countries, also has relevant expertise in diagnostics and teacher training. It also has services, charities and groups aiming to improve children’s educational attainment. These range from adapting examination arrangements to adaptive tech, including ChatGPT, and advice on accessing services.
Denmark does it differently somewhat, and for over-25s has enabled an inclusive approach realised at local community level. Crucially, it provides access to training and education for dyslexic people that is distinct from and supplements existing provisions for those with disabilities.
Dump IQ tests
While countries still differ in the services made available to dyslexic people, experts agree that some very outdated practices, such as inappropriately still using IQ scores, persist and muddy the understanding of what approaches are useful. Conflating everything with misleadingly called special educational needs, as Oliver said, does not help.
Several different factors underlie dyslexia, including genetic ones. It is more common in males and tends to run in families. Molecular genetic studies have long shown that genetic influences play an important role in the development of dyslexia.
A common symptom is difficulty seeing letters clearly. Oliver described his own struggles with ‘fuzzy’ letters on a page, and the way he, as a child – like children with him on the programme – tried to cope.
Letters jumping about
Researchers suspect that there are changes in the function and structure of the movement-sensitive part of the brain known as the visual thalamus in people with dyslexia.
German research using MRI scans revealed that dyslexia is linked to changes in the function and structure of a specific part of the human brain called the visual thalamus. It connects the eyes with the cerebral cortex, which is important to our ability for reasoning, emotion, thought, memory, language and consciousness.
This helps to explain why for some, it is impossible to distinguish certain letters from similar ones; why they jump about or wiggle when followed by another specific letter. For the majority of dyslexics, differentiating the sounds of different letters is hard. As Oliver said, he did not read his first book until he was 33.
All this points to a need to use medical insights more effectively to ensure that dyslexic and neurodiverse people can participate in society. Research evidence is informing teacher training, but there is a long way to go.
We know more than we think we do
At the end of this month, the European Dyslexia Association, in cooperation with the University College of Teacher Education Vienna, will discuss (in English) research, policy and best practice regarding dyslexia and dyscalculia. Up for debate are barriers to recognising dyslexia, and measures to expedite referrals for diagnosis and appropriate help, assuming the funds exist to provide them.
One such tool is the Spanish short diagnostic questionnaire recommended for referring youngsters promptly to Catalan paediatric services (the Prodiscat Pediàtric). It can be completed swiftly by parents, for example.
Hygge for dyslexics?
There is much to be learnt from other countries about strategies for enabling dyslexic children and adults to access and contribute to all that society offers. What becomes clear is that an inclusive mindset and egalitarian values matter.
Dyslexia is not simply something that can be medicalised away. A holistic approach to neurodiversity in its various forms is important.
