Why isn’t dyslexia awareness taken more seriously? With the ‘quiet scandal’ of dyslexia taking place amongst our children in schools, why would the likes of Phillip Schofield deliberately switch off the spotlight on this need when interviewing MP Matt Hancock about the launch of the Dyslexia Screening Bill?
This week, MP for West Suffolk, Matt Hancock launched the Dyslexia Screening Bill urging a debate requiring screening for dyslexia in primary schools and to make provision about the teaching and assessment of children found by that screening to have dyslexia; and for connected purposes.
Let us not underestimate the importance of this bill that would make a significant difference to young people who do not get support for their dyslexia and yet have to go into school every day and be played to their weaknesses without being given what they need to work at their best. This failure in our education system affects career prospects and more importantly affects a child’s view of their own self-worth. If a child cannot recognise their own value then they will not naturally push themselves out of their comfort zones and will not seek to grab the wonderful opportunities that life could offer them.
In Matt Hancock’s bill, he states:
Matt Hancock MP
“It is a quiet scandal that an estimated four in five dyslexic children—80% of them—leave school with their dyslexia unidentified. That means that young adults are going to university and into the workplace with the same wrong mindset that I had—that they just find reading and writing difficult—so their potential is unrealised and often their confidence is undermined. Without their dyslexia being spotted and supported, many children will not only fail to reach their potential but fail to leave school with the qualifications they deserve.”
For me, it feels like this is one of the greatest opportunities for our education system to finally bring about effective inclusivity as well as making the curriculum so much more accessible. Giving a child what they need to learn builds engagement and a love of learning.
With it being estimated that 10% of our population is dyslexic (this can only be a minimum estimation as many children and adults with dyslexia live life undiagnosed), we have an opportunity to get behind Matt and urge our own MP’s to support the Dyslexia Screening Bill.
Find out more about the Dyslexia Screening Bill here.
If this is so important why would the likes of ITV and Philip Schofield seek to destroy the focus on this initiative?
Before Matt Hancock launched the Dyslexia Screening Bill, he was interviewed on ITV’s This Morning by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
In the interview, Holly prefaced the interview with her own experience of dyslexia and how in having support early in life meant that she could unlock her potential. She then went on to welcome Matt Hancock and the two talked about their own personal experiences of dyslexia as well as how challenges with dyslexia caused spelling mistakes impacting on Matt Hancock’s early political career.
For me, the interview highlighted why it is important for the UK Government to introduce dyslexia screening at a young age i.e during primary education.
Seeing this debate on national TV, on one of the UK’s most popular TV programmes made my heart leap. Finally , school based challenges with dyslexia was getting important airtime dedicated to this huge need in our society. Then Phillip Schofield opened his mouth and summarised the importance as if to draw a line on this part of the interview and then casually asked “Was it your dyslexia that meant that you misread the social distancing rules?”
Just one question completely took away the focus on this really important topic of supporting children with dyslexia and referred back to the scandal that Matt Hancock was involved with regarding his failure to comply with social distancing rules and how he was caught out.
Yes, he was guilty of that, yes there was hypocrisy in his actions and maybe viewers wanted to see Matt Hancock squirm on TV again for what he did. It was probably good for ratings but I was stunned! This will have been a question scripted by the production team at ITV and Phillip Schofield. Holly would have known it was coming. For me it was like ITV used Matt Hancock’s initiative to get him on TV so that they could have ‘another go’ at him, so belittling his initiative or at the very least leaving the viewer with a reminder of his past failures rather than that of the opportunity of making the lives of literally thousands of children and young people better. I was stunned, but sadly not surprised by the sensationalistic approach of interviewing that mirrored the approach often used by that of the ‘gutter press’.
You can watch the interview by clicking here.
The difference that early support for dyslexia makes.
The video below highlights a case study by assistive technology company, Scanning Pens, about the early intervention for Dyslexia with a child in Year 1. Whilst the video has a focus on how technology can help, the SENCO and the child talk about the mixed use of strategies to support independent reading and how using a reader pen, the child went from needing help with whole sentences to that of only needing help with key words and how this lead to more confidence in learning.
For this child to become more confident with reading, small changes needed to be implemented that ultimately helped her to be more engaged with learning, enjoy reading and develop her academic skills. With good education comes good career opportunities down the road and a valuable contribution to society socially and economically.
Let’s support the Dyslexia Screening Bill.
Whether we like or dislike MP Matt Hancock is unimportant, what is important is that we have a huge opportunity to change the lives of dyslexic children across the UK if this Bill get’s passed.
Please write to your MP and encourage them to support this Bill.