Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a neurological difference and can have a significant impact during education, in the workplace and in everyday life. As each person is unique, so is everyone’s experience of dyslexia. It can range from mild to severe, and it can co-occur with other specific learning difficulties. It usually runs in families and is a life-long condition.
It is important to remember that there are positives to thinking differently. Many dyslexic people show strengths in areas such as reasoning and in visual and creative fields.
There is a misconception that dyslexia just affects the ability to read and write. If this were true, it would be much easier to identify. In fact dyslexia can have an affect on areas such as coordination, organisation and memory.
Each person with dyslexia will experience the condition in a way that is unique to them and as such, each will have their own set of abilities and difficulties.
We are thrilled to have received the Dyslexia Friendly Classroom Award in July 2024 which recognises our ongoing commitment to providing a fully inclusive environment for all children. At Clarendon, we use the Pearson Screener to assess whether or not a child is at risk of Dyslexia. From this, we can get a detailed break down of a child’s strengths and weaknesses including working memory, ability to detect rhyme, ability to segment words phonetically, as well as their fluency in a number of other areas. Some children may then require an Educational Psychology Assessment and/ or full diagnosis. Many children at strong risk receive precision teaching or a highly structured daily intervention called Toe by Toe.
Dyscalculia
Dyscalculia is at the severe end of the maths learning difficulties.
Characteristics that are found with people with dyscalculia are:-
- Difficulties with maths are persistent and will have been present since the learner was young.
- Difficulties apply to arithmetic but not necessarily to other areas of maths such as geometry and algebra.
- Difficulties in maths but not subjects like English and subjects which do not involve numbers.
- Lack of an intuitive understanding of numbers and simple number concepts, for example the relationship between multiplication and repetitive addition.
- Lack of a fundamental understanding of how numbers relate to each other, for example 6 can be made from 5 + 1, double 3, 4 + 2 (flexibility of number) as well as a visual concept of the magnitude of numbers. They cannot make sensible references to numbers. For example, if asked if a pair of trainers (not a designer make) should cost £4,000.
- Young children have difficulties with subitising, knowing how many items there are in a set. They need to count them one by one.
- Learners rely on following procedures which they may not understand, rote learning and simple ways of working out answers like counting on their fingers.
- Extreme difficulties spotting patterns in numbers and making generalisations.
- High levels of maths anxiety.
At Clarendon, we use the GL Assessment screener to identify if a child is at risk of Dyscalculia. If they are at high risk, they receive precision teaching to support the recall of key number facts and calculations and/ or access a highly structured, daily intervention called ‘Power of Two’.
STUDENT V1 update (youtube.com) – Click on the link to watch a video called ‘Dyscalculia – A Parent’s Guide’ by Ronit Bird.
Dyspraxia
Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a common disorder affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination in children and adults. DCD is formally recognised by international organisations including the World Health Organisation. DCD is distinct from other motor disorders such as cerebral palsy and stroke, and occurs across the range of intellectual abilities. Individuals may vary in how their difficulties present: these may change over time depending on environmental demands and life experiences, and will persist into adulthood.
Working Memory
Why is working memory important?
Working memory is important for putting information that we are learning together with our current knowledge base (i.e. long term memory). When we hear new information we rely on our working memory to keep the information active so that we can focus, organise and problem solve. Easy retention of information allows our skills and knowledge to be automatic and it minimizes the need to give active thought to each and every step of a task.
Working memory is crucial for academic performance as it is an important part of executive functioning (e.g. planning, initiating, task monitoring, organisation). At school, the areas of learning that are greatly affected by poor working memory are: maths, reading comprehension, complex problem solving, and test taking. The biggest impact on school work occurs from difficulties with maths and reading comprehension.
Analogy: Working memory is much like a bucket that you can keep filling up using a glass of water. Every drop that you add remains in the bucket unless over time memory evaporates through lack of repeated use.
In children with poor working memory it is much like the bucket has a hole in the bottom. You can keep tipping in glasses of water (information/knowledge) but it continually drains out.
How do we use working memory?
We use working memory to meaningfully participate in everyday skills such as:
- Responding appropriately when having a conversation.
- Carrying out instructions.
- Reading an unknown word.
- Paraphrasing spoken information (e.g. repeating back information heard/ instructions to clarify).
- Answering questions and remembering what to say when it’s your turn to talk (in class, conversation).
- Daily organisation.
- Problem solving.
- Reading comprehension.
- Doing maths sums in your head.
How can you tell if my child has working memory difficulties?
If a child has difficulties with working memory difficulties they might:
- Have difficulty organising/completing a task with multiple steps (i.e. they often stop, or they lose their place).
- Miss details in instructions and fail to keep track of where they are up to with demanding activities.
- Make mistake in writing and counting in the classroom.
- Fail to self correct classroom work.
- Are easily distracted when not highly interested in an activity.
- Find it difficult to wait for their turn (e.g. will interrupt or ask a question and then forget what to say when called upon).
- Have poor organisation skills (e.g. loses belongings easily, loses their place when organising a task with multiple steps).
- Show low average to average language abilities but poor academic performance.
- Have difficulties with reading (e.g. struggle to keep track of their place when reading, struggle to use contextual cues to support word prediction when reading, find it hard to break down sounds in words but then unable to blend the sounds into the word accurately).
- Demonstrate difficulties with maths calculations in their head.
- Find complex problem solving challenging.
- Show slow progress despite working really hard (i.e. it’s not a problem of effort, it’s just that they can’t hold onto information long enough to manipulate and process it).
- Have difficulty starting or completing their work independently – may rely on their ‘neighbour’ in the classroom to keep them on track and remind of the current task.