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Creating without language: Why the arts are so important to our dyslexic community

Creating without language: Why the arts are so important to our dyslexic community

This presentation looks at why the arts, in this case art and design, are so important to our dyslexic/dyspraxic community. The webinar will show examples of excellent work produced by students from the Royal College of Art and children from local schools, all of whom are dyslexix / dyspraxic. There will also be some suggestions of projects children might like to carry out at home using readily available or recycled materials. Through nurturing creativity the intention is that self -confidence and aspirations to succeed will be improved.

Why might dyslexic/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?

Qona Rankin - Dyslexia Co-ordinator at the Royal College of Art

Qona has been a Dyslexia Co-ordinator at the Royal College of Art since 2002 when the post was created. She has degrees in Three Dimensional Design from Kingston University and in Design Education from the RCA. 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 / 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 became aware of the huge percentage of dyslexic individuals in the art and deign 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 which is that 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.