Raising awareness as a special needs teacher
Thursday 8 October 2020
Hi, I’m Sammie, I am a teacher in the UK and I teach children who have special needs. I also run an awareness and advocacy Instagram account, and a website for free specialised teaching and learning resources… oh, and I am dyslexic! I feel honoured to write a post for the British Dyslexia Association, although if this post will be anything like my university assignments, I apologise now! I am a rambler! 2,000-word assignment? Oops, I’m totalling at 3,500! A skill I had to teach myself throughout my studies – telling myself my assignment word count is less than it is! Ahh, see I already digress… For me, dyslexia means that writing things such as assignments or blog posts does not come easy. I have to be in the right frame of mind and allocate specified time for it, otherwise, I am easily distracted! This is just one aspect of my dyslexia, so sit back with a cuppa because this is going to be a long one!
Reading anxiety, The Hobbit and finding my way through education.
Throughout primary school, I was put in the top sets. Being a first born and with thanks to my mum, I was ahead early on with reading and writing, and I enjoyed school! Looking back, my main struggle was always reading aloud, I did not like it at all! I felt when I read aloud I came across as very monotonous and after I had read my one page (10 minutes later), I hadn’t a clue of what I had just read! I did not notice that I was struggling in any other aspect of my learning, until I went to secondary school. This is where I noticed the expectation of children and young people expanded greatly. The reading aloud became harder, verging on 20 minutes a page… I joke, but that is what it felt like. Because of this, still to this day, I have what I call ‘reading anxiety’. I see people reading books and reviewing books online. I think to myself ‘I’d love to get stuck into a good book’. I find one at a charity shop, or buy one online, and then the fear sinks in. The last book I read (and finished) was The Hobbit. I started it before the final film came out in 2014. “When did you finish it?” I hear you ask… 2018. Yep! It took me 4 years to read an easy(ish) 300(ish) page book on something I enjoyed and had a visual reference for! Side note: When I googled ‘How many pages is The Hobbit book?’, I found a post titled ‘How long does it take to read The Hobbit?’. Clicked on it. ‘6 hours and 26 minutes reading this book at 250 WPM’… Not if you’re dyslexic! [insert face-palm emoji here!].
No-one had ever mentioned dyslexia to me until I began my childcare and education studies in college. My first year of college was a very creative year. Naturally I always swayed towards the creative arts; photography, media studies, music technology, and music performance. I absolutely loved these subjects. However, I had no idea what I was going to do with my future, and as much as I loved playing the drums, I was not good enough or motivated enough to try make it as a professional drummer. Someone I knew was taking childcare and education studies at my college. In a complete Sammie-style spontaneous panic, I decided to switch up my studies going into my second year, and I signed up to a two-year Level 3 qualification in childcare and education studies. It wasn’t until I handed in my first assignment, receiving an E grade in my assignment, but an A grade in my practical observation, that one of my tutors pulled me aside, and asked if I had ever been tested for dyslexia. At first, I was shocked. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about how much I despised reading and writing, and how much I loved anything hands-on and creative. Now I look back, I know how dyslexia is so much more than struggling with reading and writing. I had an internal dyslexia assessment at my college and it came back that I had dyslexia. Great! More time on assignments and extra time for any exams! But little did I know how easy I had it with those college assignments!
The exciting and overwhelming feeling of university
In 2010, after my two years of college - and then failing to get into university to do a teaching degree - I began working as a special-needs assistant at a local mainstream primary school. I was only meant to be there for eight weeks to cover a lady who was a 1:1 support assistant. I ended up staying there, supporting children with special educational needs in early years for four years. After what felt like rejection from university, I was unsure of what route to take. I had always secretly struggled with academics, and I noticed that as my academic studies became more complex, I was coping with it less and struggling so much more than the previous year. My cousin suggested to me to look into the Open University. I hadn’t even heard of the Open University, and it wasn’t something that my college had offered as a route for higher education. I looked into it, and in 2011, I decided I definitely wanted to become a teacher, and nothing was going to stop me!
I applied to the Open University to begin my BA (Hons) Early Years degree. I was successful! I was so excited, yet overwhelmed by the fact that I was going to be studying at university level. The Open University was perfect for me, I could work full time and do what I loved, whilst writing my assignments when it suited me. I wouldn’t have to try to focus in long lectures, eventually drifting off into my own world, because it would not be engaging enough to keep me focused. Side note: Since when did we, as a society, decide that when we hit adulthood, we do not need the visual supports or interactive training techniques? We do not grow out of dyslexia! Plus, which are we all more likely to take in and learn from…?
Looking back now, I was an absolute mess when it came to anything time management related. I was often late to work and I was always late handing in my assignments. Being the unorganised dyslexic I was at the time, it took me longer than it should to get the ball rolling on sorting out my DSA (disabled students allowance). As I always did (and still sometimes do!), I put applying for DSA on the back burner and left it there. When I finally got around to applying, I realised that the in-house assessment that I received from my college was not official and it did not hold up to university standards. I contacted my university and they told me to find a private dyslexia assessor, and if my assessment came back stating I am dyslexic, they would reimburse me for my assessment. This made me super nervous and I began to question myself. What if I wasn’t dyslexic? Maybe I’m just not good with academia? What if it comes back that I’m not dyslexic, do non-dyslexic people really struggle this much? I went for my dyslexia assessment in August 2012. I was 21. It was a four-hour assessment… Yes, four hours! The assessment went through many different aspects of development, some of which you wouldn’t even think to link with dyslexia. For example, cognitive processing abilities such as phonological memory and rapid naming, immediate memory and working memory tests, and even a dominance profile, (which side of your brain and body is more dominant, etc.) I waited a few weeks to get my results, I went to pick them up and the assessor handed me over a chunky envelope, which contained a 25-page assessment of my dyslexia diagnosis. I took my dad with me as I knew when people are telling me important things, I tend to not be able to process it quickly enough. But the assessor was great and talked it through with me at a reasonable pace. I will never forget an analogy he used to explain my processing in a way that I could visually understand. “Each side of your brain sends messages to each other. Imagine the pathway in your brain is a motorway. Your processing pathways are stuck in rush hour traffic.” I felt relieved, as I finally had a reason and an answer for so much more than I realised. For me, dyslexia had always been about reading and writing. At this point in time, I had just started to realise it was about so much more, and I was keen to learn more about my processing and working memory.
Now I finally had my dyslexia assessment I could apply for my DSA at university. At first, I felt like an imposter. How could I apply for support? Would I be taking support away from someone else that needed it more than me? I didn’t see myself as disabled, and the DSA is the disabled students’ allowance… This pressed me to learn more about dyslexia and consider how it affects me on a daily basis. I realised that it did produce many barriers for me, and I needed support to overcome these barriers and achieve my goal of getting through university. I was extremely grateful to receive a laptop through my university, with software on the device to support my dyslexia needs. I was also very lucky to receive some one-to-one tutoring from a dyslexia specialist. My time with my dyslexia tutor was so vital to my journey of assessment writing. Still to this day, I struggle with any type of writing, including writing this blog post! However, with the help of new technology such as dictation software on iPads, I do not shy away as much as I used to when it comes to writing. Reading, on the other hand, is something that I have yet to find a system that I can enjoy. I have had recommendations to try audiobooks, however, I am such a visual learner I would choose TV and film over a book any day. I am also a very creative person, who enjoys many, many hobbies such as crocheting, sewing and other crafts! So, unfortunately, reading simply goes to the bottom of my never-ending to-do list! But it is still on there, and I hope to find a system over time to support my reading ability.
Making education dyslexia-friendly
When I look back at my assessment, and see that my reading speed is at the age of 13-year-old, I think wow… No wonder I struggled reading aloud in secondary school! As I previously mentioned, being forced to read aloud throughout my schooling has led me to take a real dislike to reading, and I now have ‘reading anxiety’. If you are reading this and reading aloud is something that your school insists on, I plead with you to please reconsider and question your school’s policies. I understand the idea of development and improvement in reading aloud, but for someone with dyslexia, or undiagnosed dyslexia like myself, it only made me grow to heavily dislike reading. Think of alternatives, reading in smaller groups, 1:1, to a trusted friend, read to yourself. There are many options available, we need to think of what is best for the individual.
From personal experience as both an educator and dyslexic person, I feel it is important that educators are more knowledgeable and equipped to confidently provide dyslexia friendly lessons. This is one of the main changes I would like to see in the education system for children and young people with dyslexia. From the simple change of ensuring the use of a dyslexia friendly font on teaching and learning resources, to ensuring enough processing time is provided for all pupils. There are many little things that teachers and educators can do in their classrooms, to support every single child. If you teach a class of children the way you would teach a dyslexic child, it is inclusive for all. You may even find that your non-dyslexic children find it easier to process and achieve higher. Teaching in a dyslexia-friendly way is inclusive for all.
Before I was assigned a specialist dyslexia tutor, I managed to find systems that worked for me. Dyslexia is a struggle, but inside every dyslexic person is a creative soul who learns to adapt the world around them to suit their individual needs. The fact that I wasn’t officially diagnosed until I was 21 shows that I had already made adaptations in my day-to-day life. As my university studies became harder, I had to up my game. One of my main ways to support myself with learning facts for exams, was to allocate colours to certain areas that I had to remember. For one exam, I allocated different legislation and quotes to different Pokémon (a special interest of mine). The fact that Pokémon can be sorted by colour, type, species, etc., meant that I could link several different Pokémon to quotes and legislation that I had to remember for my exam. I still use colour-coding and visual prompts to support my working memory and my processing needs. I know how much of a positive impact visual supports and colour-coding helps myself, a nearly 30-year-old dyslexic teacher. Therefore, I use them consistently in my classroom and with the children and young people I teach.
Ensuring worksheets and interactive whiteboard lessons are offered with alternative colour backgrounds, for example lilac or off-white, can help to reduce visual stress. I find that when I am reading, it helps me if I read with a tinted screen. I think in this day and age, technology is so advanced we should be using it to our advantage. From tinting the screen colour to ensure the contrast of black text on a white background isn’t visually strenuous, to providing alternative means for reading and writing, we must use the variety of basic technology available. Dictation is great to support writing and to build confidence with speaking aloud. It has taken me a few years to get used to it, and now I am confident when using dictation for a big project. As well as dictation, there is some great ‘read back’ software available, where you can hear back what you have typed. We have some excellent technological resources available, which can be used appropriately to support our dyslexic pupils. I have written (pretty much) this entire blog post through dictation on my iPad. Personally, I have found that dictation works extremely well and I use it every single day. When it comes to writing big documents such as reports, dictation software is an essential for me. I also use dictation to send text messages, and the voice recording software in apps to send voice notes. Everybody needs to find what works for them, whether you are dyslexic or not. Everybody’s dyslexia journey is individual and what works for one person with dyslexia, may not be the preferred method by another person with dyslexia.
It’s ok to make mistakes!
For a final note as I wrap up this essay-length blog post (I warned you…), we need to stop criticising each other’s mistakes and normalise them. Normalising mistakes shows children and young people that it is okay to make mistakes. It shows that we are all human and it will build confidence in the child. Quite often I like to make an obvious mistake, for example, calling an elephant a lion. ‘Oops’ moments are also great to demonstrate normalising mistakes. Ensuring we use phrases such as “Oops, I have made a mistake. It’s okay. Who can who me fix it?” also shows children it’s okay to ask for support. This technique can be used to support children and young people of all ages, showing them everybody makes mistakes, and it’s okay. I find that on far too many occasions, people are quick to jump in to correct others when they have made a mistake. The English language is hard, learning phonics is hard, and if you have ever seen the classic clip of Ricky Ricardo reading in I Love Lucy - you will understand exactly why it can be so difficult for our children to learn how to read and write! Now imagine that and add in some dyslexia!
If you have made it this far, I thank you! The irony of a dyslexic person writing a post at first made me giggle. But now I am at the end, I feel proud of myself and it was not as daunting as I was thinking. This is mainly due to my better time management skills and the use of my dyslexia supportive technology! Please feel free to drop me an email or a message on my Instagram page @spectrumpatronum and share your story with me or ask any questions! But most importantly, don’t forget to #GoRedForDyslexia and get involved with Dyslexia Awareness Week from 5th – 11th October 2020!
Throughout Dyslexia Week, we are asking people to sign our petition to increase access to assessment in schools. Join our campaign by visiting www.change.org/bdadyslexia