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Dyslexia Friendly School

We are delighted to achieve the re-accreditation of our Dyslexia Aware Quality Mark. This demonstrates that Birches has sustained our commitment to being a Dyslexia Friendly School. Staff meetings have increased teachers’ understanding of Dyslexia and have helped provide practical ideas for teaching and learning. In addition all staff have all attended assemblies, meetings with school governors and participated in a very successful ‘Dyslexia Friendly Week’.

Why do we want to achieve this award again?
A feature of Dyslexia Friendly Schools is to eliminate the fear/difficulties children with dyslexia may face; many of whom, if not correctly and expertly helped can feel alienated and disorientated with an increased risk of becoming disinterested in education.

A prime aim of the Dyslexia award is to ensure teaching is multi-sensory and something that benefits ALL children, not just those with dyslexia. It also acknowledges and celebrates best practice in the classroom and across our school and provides a consistent approach throughout classes.

Specific information you may find helpful:

What is Dyslexia?

  • The word ‘dyslexia’ comes from the Greek and means ‘difficulty with words’.
  • It is a life-long, usually genetic, inherited condition and affects around 10% of the population.
  • Dyslexia occurs in people of all races, backgrounds and abilities, and varies from person to person: no two people will have the same set of strengths and weaknesses.
  • Dyslexia occurs independently of intelligence.
  • Dyslexia is really about information processing: dyslexic people may have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear. This can affect learning and the acquisition of literacy skills.
  • Dyslexia is one of a family of Specific Learning Difficulties. It often co-occurs with related conditions, such as dyspraxia, dyscalculia and attention deficit disorder.
  • On the plus side, dyslexic people often have strong visual, creative and problem solving skills and are prominent among entrepreneurs, inventors, architects, engineers and in the arts and entertainment world. Many famous and successful people are dyslexic.
  • ‘I see things from a different perspective.’
  • ‘I can come up with solutions no one else has thought of and I think fast on my feet.’
  • ‘When I am reading, occasionally a passage will get all jumbled up, but when it happens I have to read and re-read the passage over again.
  • ‘I know what I want to say, but I can never find the right words.’
  • ‘In formal situations, although I know what I want to say, I struggle, lose focus and then my mind goes blank and I panic.’
  • ‘I have the right ideas, but I can’t get them down on paper.’
  • ‘It’s like my computer crashing with too much information!’
  • ‘Sometimes when I am being told what to do, the words I hear get all jumbled up in my mind and I just can’t take in what is being said to me.’
  • ‘In general conversation with family, friends and colleagues they usually accept that I tend to ramble, forget and repeat,…. because that’s part of me’.

How it feels to be Dyslexic.

Advice and Information

Dyslexia Friendly Policy

Follow the links to provide further information

http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/parent/resources-of-parents

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Dyslexia/Pages/Introduction.aspx

http://www.parentchampions.org.uk/resources/understanding-dyslexia-booklet/

http://www.beingdyslexic.co.uk/pages/information.php