It never ceases to amaze me at how manipulative the Newspaper Editors appear to be. I have been following with interest at the debate about Gordon Brown's ability to lead this country. I have met him (albeit briefly), when he was the Chancellor. I found him to be a thoroughly 'good' guy. When he became the leader of the Labour Party he was hailed as a man of high principals and his reign would be completely different to that of the last incumbent. How refreshing I thought! But it remained to be seen. A year on and he has proved the predictions. He IS very different to Tony Blair. What a first year! It is almost as if world events have conspired against him, yet he has kept cool and got on with the job.
Would the climate that we find our country in today have been any different under any other government? No I don't think so.
I think the Press have a problem with Gordon Brown because he is a fundamentally good guy, he is not a show man, he is not a performer in office to entertain us, and for them this is not news worthy. I think the Press are trying and will probably succeed to unseat him. The Conservatives, I am sure, will be lined up with the Press on this one - but have they got anything of substance to offer? Not a lot! I was always told that honesty was the best policy - clearly not so.
The press just don't get it! Do they ever stop to ask themselves why the great British public are not buying Newspapers anymore? The only people who buy newspapers these days are those who enjoy the crossword or sudoku or just something to hide behind on the train.
For my money I am sick and tired of the dross that you find in Newspapers. I they started a campaign to remove Education and the National Health Service from the claws of politicians and make these independent so that they can once again serve the people of this country in a manner that behoves us.
The money wasted in these great institutions is scandalous. Those running them will never successfully do so whilst politicians continue to use them as pawns in the bigger game of gaining power and controlling the purse strings. Lets stop kidding ourselves politicians are not bothered if my child gets the best education possible or that I get the best drugs or hospital care that as some point I will need. Politicians are are a self serving group of people only interested in lining their own pockets and the power that their position affords them.
The whole political selection system is flawed. It is dependent upon your popularity with those who pull the strings and the amount of funds you can attract to the Party's pot. It has nothing to do with your ability or qualities that make you fit for purpose. When an individual with political aspirations who does have ability and good qualities comes along, ticks all the boxes and gets into power what happens he is pilloried by the press until he is hounded out.
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Train or be trained
I am currently studying for a CIPD Certificate in Training Practice - I won't name and shame the college where I am doing this. To say that it has be a catalogue of disasters would be over egging it but if I say that it has been a complete shambles I would not be exaggerating.
My study group is now a committed group of nine individuals and for me this has been the one positive things about the course. They are great and all bring something special to the group. I have learned more about what I should be doing from them than the course material or tutors. They are so supportive and make me feel that it is worth continuing. But for them I would have given up ions ago.
I constantly ask myself why am I doing this?
The answer to that question is simple, I have started my own company and felt that I needed credibility. I specialise in dyslexia awareness and have worked in this field for the past 10 years. I am dyslexic and can bring something to the training that others in the field cannot - personal experience. I am able to embed the learning of what I deliver through personal stories of myself and my eight year old grandson Tyler - his is a gifted and talented little boy with dyslexia. His Educational Psychologist described him as a Porsche with the handbrake on. Watch out world when that handbrake is released there will be no stopping him.
This whole learning experience was going to be so different. Knowing that I have dyslexia and what my strengths and weaknesses are I set out determined that this learning experience would be so different from that of my school days. I informed everyone at the college and expected in return that I would gain their support. What I have discovered is that in my case they only pay lip service to learning support.
I have had three different tutors the first treated me as if I was retarded, the second tried hard but doesn't quite get it and thankfully the third naturally delivers in a very multi-sensory way that is conducive to learning. If only all tutors were taught to deliver in this way - guess what? It is not only good for dyslexic individuals like myself but it is good for everyone.
I must admit however the route of the problems with this is course is two fold firstly the course is about 15 years out of date and CIPD really should bring it update it. The materials are dated as is the research that is quoted. Our current tutor recognises this and does her level best to interject more up to the minute information and constantly points us in the direction to get better information. What would we do without her? The second problem is that the college has been remiss. Our original tutor sadly has had some personal problems which led to her being absent for many weeks. At this point the college knew that this situation was going to take some time to resolve and should have either deferred us all until September or found a more sustainable solution.
To be fair on all of the tutors I don't blame them for the disruption to our course that has been caused. The college took our money and in doing so should have delivered their end of the bargain and contracted a tutor for the remaining period.
The disruption to our course has left us all feeling dissatisfied. For me personally the experience has been hideous and I guess that I feel more aggrieved than most because I self financed the course, I expected more support and this coming on top of past negative experiences of learning is not good news.
If my company was delivering this course I would not expect my clients to put up with this kind of treatment and I would feel ashamed of what was happening. At the very least I would refund the costs and secondly I would meet with the clients and apologise for the disruption and be transparent about the issues. Obviously, the management of the college feel no such compunction to do so or have any real integrity.
At this point I don't have any great expectation of reaching my goal of gaining a Certificate in Training and if I am honest I am not sure how valuable the Certificate is given the course material. I'm completely disenchanted with CIPD, I was led to believe that this organisation was the leading light in all things related to 'Human Resources'. I have discovered that this is simply not the case as they do very little to acknowledge dyslexia as a very current issue for HR Managers. This said there was one article in their Personnel Today journal about dyslexia - so perhaps they are waking up to it.
In the real world dyslexia in the workplace is a real issue. HR professionals are crying out for information and support. They have no idea what dyslexia is or how to support dyslexic individuals, neither do they have any understanding of what 'Reasonable Adjustments' are. So many employers are at risk of tribunals against them for discrimination and this will increase over the next few years as more dyslexic people become aware of their rights and see the success rate and payouts of those taking their employers to Court.
The government spend billions of pounds of tax payers money on one initiative after another in trying to get people of benefits and into work. Yet they spend a tiny fraction of it on training up the practitioners in dyslexia awareness and specialist teaching techniques to address the problem. There are five million people in the UK without functional reading, writing or the ability to add up. There are also five million adults in the UK with undiagnosed dyslexia a further million diagnosed dyslexic adults. Funny that!
The government would not have to look very deep into these figures to find that a high proportion of those with no or poor literacy skills are dyslexic. But they won't look into it because it would ultimately mean that they would see that they have directed funds into the wrong areas and this at a time leading up to an election would not be good news for them.
I've just heard that Gordon Brown has his own blog now - so I am off to give him some feedback!!
My study group is now a committed group of nine individuals and for me this has been the one positive things about the course. They are great and all bring something special to the group. I have learned more about what I should be doing from them than the course material or tutors. They are so supportive and make me feel that it is worth continuing. But for them I would have given up ions ago.
I constantly ask myself why am I doing this?
The answer to that question is simple, I have started my own company and felt that I needed credibility. I specialise in dyslexia awareness and have worked in this field for the past 10 years. I am dyslexic and can bring something to the training that others in the field cannot - personal experience. I am able to embed the learning of what I deliver through personal stories of myself and my eight year old grandson Tyler - his is a gifted and talented little boy with dyslexia. His Educational Psychologist described him as a Porsche with the handbrake on. Watch out world when that handbrake is released there will be no stopping him.
This whole learning experience was going to be so different. Knowing that I have dyslexia and what my strengths and weaknesses are I set out determined that this learning experience would be so different from that of my school days. I informed everyone at the college and expected in return that I would gain their support. What I have discovered is that in my case they only pay lip service to learning support.
I have had three different tutors the first treated me as if I was retarded, the second tried hard but doesn't quite get it and thankfully the third naturally delivers in a very multi-sensory way that is conducive to learning. If only all tutors were taught to deliver in this way - guess what? It is not only good for dyslexic individuals like myself but it is good for everyone.
I must admit however the route of the problems with this is course is two fold firstly the course is about 15 years out of date and CIPD really should bring it update it. The materials are dated as is the research that is quoted. Our current tutor recognises this and does her level best to interject more up to the minute information and constantly points us in the direction to get better information. What would we do without her? The second problem is that the college has been remiss. Our original tutor sadly has had some personal problems which led to her being absent for many weeks. At this point the college knew that this situation was going to take some time to resolve and should have either deferred us all until September or found a more sustainable solution.
To be fair on all of the tutors I don't blame them for the disruption to our course that has been caused. The college took our money and in doing so should have delivered their end of the bargain and contracted a tutor for the remaining period.
The disruption to our course has left us all feeling dissatisfied. For me personally the experience has been hideous and I guess that I feel more aggrieved than most because I self financed the course, I expected more support and this coming on top of past negative experiences of learning is not good news.
If my company was delivering this course I would not expect my clients to put up with this kind of treatment and I would feel ashamed of what was happening. At the very least I would refund the costs and secondly I would meet with the clients and apologise for the disruption and be transparent about the issues. Obviously, the management of the college feel no such compunction to do so or have any real integrity.
At this point I don't have any great expectation of reaching my goal of gaining a Certificate in Training and if I am honest I am not sure how valuable the Certificate is given the course material. I'm completely disenchanted with CIPD, I was led to believe that this organisation was the leading light in all things related to 'Human Resources'. I have discovered that this is simply not the case as they do very little to acknowledge dyslexia as a very current issue for HR Managers. This said there was one article in their Personnel Today journal about dyslexia - so perhaps they are waking up to it.
In the real world dyslexia in the workplace is a real issue. HR professionals are crying out for information and support. They have no idea what dyslexia is or how to support dyslexic individuals, neither do they have any understanding of what 'Reasonable Adjustments' are. So many employers are at risk of tribunals against them for discrimination and this will increase over the next few years as more dyslexic people become aware of their rights and see the success rate and payouts of those taking their employers to Court.
The government spend billions of pounds of tax payers money on one initiative after another in trying to get people of benefits and into work. Yet they spend a tiny fraction of it on training up the practitioners in dyslexia awareness and specialist teaching techniques to address the problem. There are five million people in the UK without functional reading, writing or the ability to add up. There are also five million adults in the UK with undiagnosed dyslexia a further million diagnosed dyslexic adults. Funny that!
The government would not have to look very deep into these figures to find that a high proportion of those with no or poor literacy skills are dyslexic. But they won't look into it because it would ultimately mean that they would see that they have directed funds into the wrong areas and this at a time leading up to an election would not be good news for them.
I've just heard that Gordon Brown has his own blog now - so I am off to give him some feedback!!
Monday, 12 May 2008
Belt and Braces
My younger brother Jeff, home from Ireland, invited my sister Sally, our Dad and myself out to lunch to celebrate his 50th Birthday. We all met up at Dad's house on Sunday (for Sally and I Dad's on Sunday is the norm), Jeff had flown in from Ireland that morning. Things were a little tense on my arrival but Jeff and Sally were doing their best to keep things light.
Dad is 93 this year, he was feeling a little under the weather as described the reasons for this as being he had 'over done it' meaning he had cut the grass and washed the kitchen floor over the course of the week - this on top of his daily routine is quite a lot for him. He was obviously preparing for Jeff's visit.
What you need to understand about my dad is that in his younger years he was a strong, hard working man. He never let anything get in his way of work. He was and still is a strong patriarch taking his fatherly duties a lot more serious than most. In reality that meant that we kids (five of us) knew when to keep out of his way and if we didn't we would have to put up with the consequence. It was often hard to tell whether this was out of a deep sense of love for us or something a lot more brutal. I think we have all learned that it was the former - hind sight is a wonderful thing.
These days dad still gives out his pearls of wisdom wrapped up in a lot of vitriol. We all accept it as just dad's way and put it down to the particularly sad and hard life that he lived. His father, whom he was very close to, died a young man leaving my grandmother to cope with two children, a greengrocers store and a lot of money owing to them because everything was bought on 'tick'. The money was never recovered and the ensuing years were tough on all of them. My dad's sister was brought up by her grandmother and my dad left to his own devices with little food and a sense of responsibility for his mother.
He was very resourceful in the ways that he tried to earn a few pennies to add to the family purse. My grandmother, through fate rather than design, worked long hours leaving little time or energy to show her son any emotional support or comfort. Dad was supposed to know by osmosis that the daily effort his mother put in to getting food on the table and a roof over their heads was her way of showing love. So without any demonstrative model of how to be a loving and supportive parent my father never learned how to be emotionally supportive. I think too he felt afraid to give and receive love - perhaps fearful that he would loose it through some act of fate - as he had lost his father.
So here we are assembled at dad's house for the birthday celebration. Dad's hand had been painful during the night and he had not slept well because of it. Sally had dispensed some pain relieving cream and advice on how to continue to treat the hand and wrist. This involving a wrist strap and continued use of the cream. Dad had obviously asked Sally to get him some Lloyd's cream - don't ask! I've never heard of it. However, Sally, being more familiar with the Ibuleve variety bought this and so as not to put her head in the lion's mouth also managed to buy the Lloyd's cream. Where she found this I can't imagine. The Chemist explained that the two cream's should not be used together - this advice duly passed on to dad.
First up dad rubs the Ibuleve cream into the affected area and then proceeds to wash his hands! Telling Sally what he has done solicits the comment "that was clever!" Dad then starts to get agitated about the fact that he is not wearing his braces. He is wearing a robust leather belt, which I must add he has hand sewn a gusset in so that it will go around his ample girth. He feels uncomfortable without his braces and proceeds to mount the stairs to fetch them. We have all noticed that the jerkin he is wearing has a few spills down the front of it and whilst dad is going upstairs Sally suggests gently that he change it. This creates immediate reaction from Jeff who is completely not bothered by appearance (his own or anyone else's), he comes from "you can't tell a book by it's cover" school of thought. Dad retorts to Sally that his other jumper needs washing - he is obviously in denial about the stock of pristine jumpers that he has stashed away in his wardrobe. He comes from the "it has to worn out and threadbare before its comfortable" and "I don't want people knowing I've got money by showing off new clothes" school of thought. He takes great pride in telling us that he buys his clothes in Oxfam - not the least bit aware of how we might feel about the fact that every Christmas and birthday over the years we have purchased many a jumper, jerkin, fleece and sweatshirt.
Dad returns staunchly refusing a change of clothes with braces in hand. He appears to be a bit wobbly on his feet and fazed. He does not hear the comments being made to him by Sally or myself - Sally explains that he is loosing his hearing! Sally is really upset with him for 'over doing it' and ignoring the fact that both she and Jeff are there to help and negate the need for this exertion of energy. Dad appears almost pathetic at this moment, it knocks me back as I recall how he used to be. Dad asks for help with the braces and Jeff leaps to his aid. This is such a poignant moment, watching and listening to my brother help. Jeff sets about the job in hand with such sympathetic care, talking to dad all the while in a supportive and jolly way, geeing him up whilst being duly careful and kind. I wish I could have bottled that moment because it was full of such tenderness between to men who are usually positioning up to each other.
The celebration meal is completed with the usual difficulties of taking an elderly parent abroad. Restaurants are not geared up for old folk. It didn't help that the young girls who waited on our table consistently got our order wrong. There was a moment when dad was asked if he wanted dessert when I thought we were all going to lose it. Dad didn't really want dessert, but instead of just saying so, said there was nothing on the menu that suited him. Sally asked if dad would like ice cream as "you like ice cream, don't you dad" "I don't like chocolate ice cream" dad retorts (this was the only flavour offered on the menu). Sally asks the waitress if there are any other flavours available, which there were. Dad then says that he would like Neapolitan, which was duly ordered. Jeff ordered panacotta and berries, Sally and I declined. Two vanilla ice creams arrived and sent back as this was not our order. Dad's ice cream arrives with a chocolate boule on top to which he refuses because he doesn't like chocolate. We duly remove the chocolate and dad manages to eat what is left after which he turned to me and explained he really didn't want it. Hey-ho. Dad starts to leave the table and proceeds to go for a walk about stating that he can't sit for too long. We hastily get the bill and leave. We try to jolly dad along a bit realising that for him this was not a great success. When asked if had enjoyed his meal he stated that he had had better. His big complaint being that the vegetables were under cooked. Its easy to forget that he has spent a life time of eating veg that had been cooked to pulp and now with very few teeth its actually quite difficult to enjoy them in any other way.
The good news is he was pleased with the fact that his trousers didn't desert him due to the fact that he was wearing his braces!
Dad is 93 this year, he was feeling a little under the weather as described the reasons for this as being he had 'over done it' meaning he had cut the grass and washed the kitchen floor over the course of the week - this on top of his daily routine is quite a lot for him. He was obviously preparing for Jeff's visit.
What you need to understand about my dad is that in his younger years he was a strong, hard working man. He never let anything get in his way of work. He was and still is a strong patriarch taking his fatherly duties a lot more serious than most. In reality that meant that we kids (five of us) knew when to keep out of his way and if we didn't we would have to put up with the consequence. It was often hard to tell whether this was out of a deep sense of love for us or something a lot more brutal. I think we have all learned that it was the former - hind sight is a wonderful thing.
These days dad still gives out his pearls of wisdom wrapped up in a lot of vitriol. We all accept it as just dad's way and put it down to the particularly sad and hard life that he lived. His father, whom he was very close to, died a young man leaving my grandmother to cope with two children, a greengrocers store and a lot of money owing to them because everything was bought on 'tick'. The money was never recovered and the ensuing years were tough on all of them. My dad's sister was brought up by her grandmother and my dad left to his own devices with little food and a sense of responsibility for his mother.
He was very resourceful in the ways that he tried to earn a few pennies to add to the family purse. My grandmother, through fate rather than design, worked long hours leaving little time or energy to show her son any emotional support or comfort. Dad was supposed to know by osmosis that the daily effort his mother put in to getting food on the table and a roof over their heads was her way of showing love. So without any demonstrative model of how to be a loving and supportive parent my father never learned how to be emotionally supportive. I think too he felt afraid to give and receive love - perhaps fearful that he would loose it through some act of fate - as he had lost his father.
So here we are assembled at dad's house for the birthday celebration. Dad's hand had been painful during the night and he had not slept well because of it. Sally had dispensed some pain relieving cream and advice on how to continue to treat the hand and wrist. This involving a wrist strap and continued use of the cream. Dad had obviously asked Sally to get him some Lloyd's cream - don't ask! I've never heard of it. However, Sally, being more familiar with the Ibuleve variety bought this and so as not to put her head in the lion's mouth also managed to buy the Lloyd's cream. Where she found this I can't imagine. The Chemist explained that the two cream's should not be used together - this advice duly passed on to dad.
First up dad rubs the Ibuleve cream into the affected area and then proceeds to wash his hands! Telling Sally what he has done solicits the comment "that was clever!" Dad then starts to get agitated about the fact that he is not wearing his braces. He is wearing a robust leather belt, which I must add he has hand sewn a gusset in so that it will go around his ample girth. He feels uncomfortable without his braces and proceeds to mount the stairs to fetch them. We have all noticed that the jerkin he is wearing has a few spills down the front of it and whilst dad is going upstairs Sally suggests gently that he change it. This creates immediate reaction from Jeff who is completely not bothered by appearance (his own or anyone else's), he comes from "you can't tell a book by it's cover" school of thought. Dad retorts to Sally that his other jumper needs washing - he is obviously in denial about the stock of pristine jumpers that he has stashed away in his wardrobe. He comes from the "it has to worn out and threadbare before its comfortable" and "I don't want people knowing I've got money by showing off new clothes" school of thought. He takes great pride in telling us that he buys his clothes in Oxfam - not the least bit aware of how we might feel about the fact that every Christmas and birthday over the years we have purchased many a jumper, jerkin, fleece and sweatshirt.
Dad returns staunchly refusing a change of clothes with braces in hand. He appears to be a bit wobbly on his feet and fazed. He does not hear the comments being made to him by Sally or myself - Sally explains that he is loosing his hearing! Sally is really upset with him for 'over doing it' and ignoring the fact that both she and Jeff are there to help and negate the need for this exertion of energy. Dad appears almost pathetic at this moment, it knocks me back as I recall how he used to be. Dad asks for help with the braces and Jeff leaps to his aid. This is such a poignant moment, watching and listening to my brother help. Jeff sets about the job in hand with such sympathetic care, talking to dad all the while in a supportive and jolly way, geeing him up whilst being duly careful and kind. I wish I could have bottled that moment because it was full of such tenderness between to men who are usually positioning up to each other.
The celebration meal is completed with the usual difficulties of taking an elderly parent abroad. Restaurants are not geared up for old folk. It didn't help that the young girls who waited on our table consistently got our order wrong. There was a moment when dad was asked if he wanted dessert when I thought we were all going to lose it. Dad didn't really want dessert, but instead of just saying so, said there was nothing on the menu that suited him. Sally asked if dad would like ice cream as "you like ice cream, don't you dad" "I don't like chocolate ice cream" dad retorts (this was the only flavour offered on the menu). Sally asks the waitress if there are any other flavours available, which there were. Dad then says that he would like Neapolitan, which was duly ordered. Jeff ordered panacotta and berries, Sally and I declined. Two vanilla ice creams arrived and sent back as this was not our order. Dad's ice cream arrives with a chocolate boule on top to which he refuses because he doesn't like chocolate. We duly remove the chocolate and dad manages to eat what is left after which he turned to me and explained he really didn't want it. Hey-ho. Dad starts to leave the table and proceeds to go for a walk about stating that he can't sit for too long. We hastily get the bill and leave. We try to jolly dad along a bit realising that for him this was not a great success. When asked if had enjoyed his meal he stated that he had had better. His big complaint being that the vegetables were under cooked. Its easy to forget that he has spent a life time of eating veg that had been cooked to pulp and now with very few teeth its actually quite difficult to enjoy them in any other way.
The good news is he was pleased with the fact that his trousers didn't desert him due to the fact that he was wearing his braces!
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Getting Started
Inspired by my sister who has just started her own blog I felt compelled to write my own views and news.
I have just heard of a young dyslexic woman (19 yrs old), who, trying to get into employment through one of the government schemes undertook a basic literacy skills assessment. Rather naievely, she copied her answers from the person sitting close to her. She scraped through and was accepted onto the scheme. She was recommended for basic literacy skills training and went along to register for the classes. During the registration process it was discovered that her basic literacy skills were so poor and that this was probably due to the fact that she had dyslexia. The basic skills tutor tried to find an appropriate route for this young woman to gain the help needed to boost her literacy skills.
The fact is if your are 16 years plus and have poor literacy skills the chances of you getting appropriate help is really impossible because basic skills tutors, generally, are not trained to teach dyslexic individuals - this is a specialist skill.
The tutor used her tenacity to seek help for this young woman through all of the agencies that she could think of. Not surprisingly she drew a blank. The tutor then rang me as I had been involved with her agency in assessing a course on dyslexia awareness and the tutor thought that I would be able to suggest or sign post to where help would be available. I did what I could but the fact of the matter is that this kind of help is not available through the channels that you would expect. At best, if she is lucky, the local dyslexia association (LDA) will provide help and support from their own limited resources. LDA's are charities usually set up by dyslexic people having faced similar problems. They get no recognition for the work that they do and survive on a shoe string. Yet they support some of the most disadvantaged people in the UK.
It astonishes me to think that there is no appropriate provision available for dyslexic adults who want to improve their literacy skills. This state of affairs is totally unacceptable because in the end all tax payers bear the cost of supporting these individuals through one form of state benefit or other. The individuals themselves have no choice in the matter. They simply have nowhere to go to learn the skills they need to get into employment.
The Government, in spite of all its promises to get people off of benefits, fail to put appropriate resources into helping dyslexic people who for whatever reason have poor or no literacy skills. Dyslexic people are failed over and over again. They failed through the education system where there dyslexia is not picked up in the first place and then failed again when they take steps to do something about it in later life.
The British Dyslexia Association have a National Helpline which receives countless calls from just such dyslexic individuals. Many of them desperate to learn how to read and write and desperate to find work. Time and again the adult education system channel them into English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) classes as they have nowhere better for them to go.
Dyslexia occurs irrespective of intelligence so you can't assume that all of these people are without wit. Dyslexia is a mix of ability and difficulties, it affects ones underlying ability to learn but with the right teaching strategies the barriers to learning can be overcome.
The waste of human potential is huge and the cost to the country must run into billions of pounds.
I meet these people on a regular basis, everyone has their own depressing story, and sadly I am not able to give them much hope of things changing any time soon.
The Government is just beginning to wake up to the fact that if children leave primary school without functional reading the chances of them boosting these skills or gaining any qualifications at secondary school are pretty slim. When will the government wake up to the fact that these are the unemployed of the future and a good deal of them will end up in the criminal justice system where they are already over represented?
I have just heard of a young dyslexic woman (19 yrs old), who, trying to get into employment through one of the government schemes undertook a basic literacy skills assessment. Rather naievely, she copied her answers from the person sitting close to her. She scraped through and was accepted onto the scheme. She was recommended for basic literacy skills training and went along to register for the classes. During the registration process it was discovered that her basic literacy skills were so poor and that this was probably due to the fact that she had dyslexia. The basic skills tutor tried to find an appropriate route for this young woman to gain the help needed to boost her literacy skills.
The fact is if your are 16 years plus and have poor literacy skills the chances of you getting appropriate help is really impossible because basic skills tutors, generally, are not trained to teach dyslexic individuals - this is a specialist skill.
The tutor used her tenacity to seek help for this young woman through all of the agencies that she could think of. Not surprisingly she drew a blank. The tutor then rang me as I had been involved with her agency in assessing a course on dyslexia awareness and the tutor thought that I would be able to suggest or sign post to where help would be available. I did what I could but the fact of the matter is that this kind of help is not available through the channels that you would expect. At best, if she is lucky, the local dyslexia association (LDA) will provide help and support from their own limited resources. LDA's are charities usually set up by dyslexic people having faced similar problems. They get no recognition for the work that they do and survive on a shoe string. Yet they support some of the most disadvantaged people in the UK.
It astonishes me to think that there is no appropriate provision available for dyslexic adults who want to improve their literacy skills. This state of affairs is totally unacceptable because in the end all tax payers bear the cost of supporting these individuals through one form of state benefit or other. The individuals themselves have no choice in the matter. They simply have nowhere to go to learn the skills they need to get into employment.
The Government, in spite of all its promises to get people off of benefits, fail to put appropriate resources into helping dyslexic people who for whatever reason have poor or no literacy skills. Dyslexic people are failed over and over again. They failed through the education system where there dyslexia is not picked up in the first place and then failed again when they take steps to do something about it in later life.
The British Dyslexia Association have a National Helpline which receives countless calls from just such dyslexic individuals. Many of them desperate to learn how to read and write and desperate to find work. Time and again the adult education system channel them into English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) classes as they have nowhere better for them to go.
Dyslexia occurs irrespective of intelligence so you can't assume that all of these people are without wit. Dyslexia is a mix of ability and difficulties, it affects ones underlying ability to learn but with the right teaching strategies the barriers to learning can be overcome.
The waste of human potential is huge and the cost to the country must run into billions of pounds.
I meet these people on a regular basis, everyone has their own depressing story, and sadly I am not able to give them much hope of things changing any time soon.
The Government is just beginning to wake up to the fact that if children leave primary school without functional reading the chances of them boosting these skills or gaining any qualifications at secondary school are pretty slim. When will the government wake up to the fact that these are the unemployed of the future and a good deal of them will end up in the criminal justice system where they are already over represented?
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