Vision Education Facilitators support schools and teachers by providing PLD that deliberately assists staff to adapt their practice to support the achievement of students with high needs.
Some of the characteristics of effective practice for students with special educational needs are listed on the Inclusive Education page.
Dyslexia involves an unexpected and persistent difficulty in learning to read, write and spell that cannot be explained by other factors. The difficulties experienced relate specifically to decoding and encoding of print: they do not usually affect a person’s ability to understand what is read to them or to formulate text that others can write down for them (unless the person has insufficient vocabulary and/or grammatical knowledge to understand spoken language).
The Ministry of Education recognises dyslexia as a term that covers a ‘spectrum of specific learning disabilities’ and has a working definition online at http://literacyonline.tki.org.nz/Literacy-Online/Student-needs/Learners-with-special-education-needs/Dyslexia/Defining-dyslexia
Early identification of literacy difficulties, such as dyslexia, is critical because literacy is the foundation of much learning, in particular, academic learning. With early identification, young children can be supported to participate fully at school. Older students, too, can be given the understanding, support and accommodations needed to help them make progress socially and academically.
Students who have learning difficulties associated with dyslexia experience similar difficulties with reading, writing and spelling while, at the same time, having their own individual differences in relation to their knowledge, skills and experiences in these areas. Effective assessment and support for students combines an understanding of their strengths as well as their differences.
Understanding the core characteristics of dyslexia, along with indicative behaviours, can help teachers to improve recognition and to support students in the classroom through the use of effective teaching strategies. The challenge for every teacher is to make the recognition of individual differences a part of their everyday practice.
About Dyslexia
Ministry of Education (2008)