Webinar with Qona Rakin, Royal College of Art: Why the arts are so important to our dyslexic community
Monday 27 April 2020
Thursday 30 April
6.30pm - 7.30pm
This FREE webinar for children and parents will look at why the arts and design are so important to our dyslexic and dyspraxia community.
Qona Rankin, Dyslexia Coordinator at the Royal College of Art, will show examples of excellent work produced by her students and children from local schools, all of whom are dyslexic or dyspraxic. There will also be suggestions of projects children might like to carry out at home using readily available or recycled materials.
Highlights of the session will include:
Why might dyslexic and dyspraxic brains have the potential to be exceptionally creative?
What examples can I show my children to inspire them to be creative?
What projects can I do with my own children, that require no expertise or specialist skills?
Through nurturing creativity, Qona will show how self-confidence and aspirations to succeed can be improved.
Qona has been the Dyslexia Coordinator at the Royal College of Art since 2002.
She has degrees in Three Dimensional Design from Kingston University and in Design Education from the Royal College of Art. Before retraining in Adult Dyslexia Support at Southbank University in 1997, she had been a Senior Lecturer on the Product Design Degree course at the University of Hertfordshire and a freelance jewellery designer and maker.
It was because she noticed that many of the most talented design students found essay writing really difficult, that she got interested in dyslexia and subsequently became aware of the huge percentage of dyslexic individuals in the art and design community.
Qona continues to practice as a jeweller and is an active researcher, regularly contributing to conferences and publications.
“I love the elegance of my situation: the college that nearly failed me because of my dyslexia, now employs me to help dyslexics.”
In 2008, Qona founded ‘Creative Mentors Foundation’. The aim of this charity is to help make the arts curriculum at state schools more accessible and rewarding for dyslexic and dyspraxic children.