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DeliciousLocal authorities are failing dyslexic pupils
Wednesday, May 07, 2008Despite being legally bound to do so, just five per cent of local authorities are giving parents clear and transparent information on the services available to help their dyslexic children, according to a report.
The report, by the CentreForum and the Policy Exchange think tanks, came out on the same day that Schools Secretary Ed Balls announced a government review to look into how schools should manage and support the 300,000 dyslexic children in the UK. Balls admitted that the children were being neglected by the education system and parents were not getting the help they needed. He said the review, run by Sir Jim Rose, will consider a national screening programme which parents of dyslexic children have been asking for for many years. The think tank report recommended annual screening programmes.
Balls said: "The fact is that in too many parts of the country parents and children are still not getting the help they need, and certainly not quickly enough. [The review will] tell us how best to get these children the help they deserve."
The CentreForum and Policy Exchange report said that 20 per cent of pupils have some type of learning difficulty but the problem in supporting them stems from the fact that in local authorities the person responsible for assessing the pupils is also responsible for the budget that supports them. The think tanks want parents to be given individual budgets to spend on private tutors.
The British Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia Action, the Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties and Xtraordinary People said in a joint statement: "Our organisations strongly believe that the country should be implementing a simple system where each school would have one teacher trained as a dyslexia/SpLD [specific learning difficulties] specialist who can recognise and support children with dyslexia/SpLD. Each review and pilot merely adds to the delay in implementing the solution. They have been getting it right for years. We want to see this in all schools in the public sector."
As a parent of a dyslexic child, and used to working within the public sector, I would whole heartedly agree with the findings that it is almost impossible to obtain clear and transparent information on the services available to help a dyslexic child.
There are also very significant variations in the level of support and financial provision between education authorities which provides a systemically unfair provision in different counties and areas of the country.
I would also fully support the annual screening process if this is directly linked to individual budgets to spend on specialist tuition. I do have concerns that this would be under the control of the parent and would support this being a ring fenced budget to the school to support the individual child's needs and delivery of the individual child's learning plan, in consultation with the parent and child.
I am fortunate enough to be able to afford private schooling for my child and to pay for additional specialist support. I very strongly believe that the assessment and financial provision must be made equally to all children and schools whether in the private or public sector to ensure a fair and equitable system.
Gareth Llywelyn-Roberts - Salisbury, Wiltshsire