Dyslexia Awareness Week 2010

Dyslexia awareness week 2010 is running from the 1st to the 7th November in the UK.

This year the theme is hidden dyslexia.The aim is to try to raise awareness of the challenges faced by students with a disability that presents no visible physical signs to the outside world.

People who are dyslexic often spend their lives hiding their problems from others. Due to this, dyslexia can often go undiagnosed and unnoticed by teachers and parents.

Despite having problems in some areas , such as literacy and writing they also often have hidden talents.

Hidden talents such as :

- Innovative and big picture thinking

- Excellent trouble shooting and problem solving

- Strong visual skills

- Determination

The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) is organising several events during this week ,including a play festival of the work of dyslexic playwrights.

In Turkey the situation is much worse than in the UK as still dyslexia is unknown by many people.There are no reliable statistics about the number of students who have dyslexia in Turkey.As yet, there is no standardised reading test to assess reading levels. All we can see is the the tip of the iceberg... and it is certain there are many more dyslexic students who need to be identified and helped here in Turkey. !!

Tell someone TODAY about dyslexia ... a neighbour , a friend , a work colleague ..spread the word.

DYSLEXIA AWARENESS WEEK

The UK Dyslexia Awareness Week 2009 starts the 1st of November and continues till the 7th November.The theme is Dyslexia Strengths.

Very often we tend to emphasis the negative aspects of dyslexia but research has also shown that there are some positive aspects of dyslexia as well.

In a powerpoint presentation, produced by the BDA for the Dyslexia Awareness week, it talks about the strengths many dyslexics possess:

Inventive thinking – ability to come up with new ideas..

Excellent at trouble shooting – good at problem solving.

Good at communicating – explaining ideas.

Curiosity – they like finding out about things.

Have a vivid imagination.

Creative – good at music, art and drama.

http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/

The EDA (European Dyslexia Association) on their website mentions that :

“Many dyslexic people are good at architecture, engineering and other creative arts. They can also be good at acting, lateral thinking and often make good managers in people-related occupations. “


What can you do as a parent ?

Parents should try highlight the positive aspects of dyslexia as much as they can when talking with their child.

Parents should tell their children about positive role models – people who have gone on to be a success in different fields, despite having dyslexia.

They can boost their child’s self confidence by making a list of all the things their child can do well.

Celebrate the successes they achieve. Encourage them in the activities that they are good at and provide opportunities for them to improve their skills and talents.


Dyslexia Awareness involves informing the general public about dyslexia. It also involves developing people’s understanding and empathy for the problems that dyslexics can encounter in their daily lives.

Unfortunately, in Turkey dyslexia is still rarely known and understood by parents and teachers alike.Often children are identified as having dyslexia at quite a late stage in their school career or at worse they are never identified. !!

Many parents in Turkey do not want to admit their children have dyslexia because they are worried that other people will have a negative reaction towards their children .Only with more open discussion about this subject in Turkey will this change !!

In 2007 I attended a conference organised by the Learning Difficulties Network of Cyprus .As part of this conference I took part in a “Train the Advocators Trainers Programme”.The idea being that parents and teachers with direct experience of learning disabilities would train other parents and teachers to become advocates for those with learning difficulties.All those who undertook the training agreed to train at least 10 other people by a certain date. This I think, is an excellent way to spread the word about dyslexia and other learning disabilities throughout Turkey.

Since its dyslexia awareness week I ask all parents (and teachers) reading my blog to make it your goal to inform someone you know about dyslexia this week …. İt might be a neighbour,a friend, a relative, a teacher at school , etc etc .Remember we, as parents both individually and as a group can do a lot to help to raise awareness of dyslexia …..

BOLLYWOOD FILM RAISES DYSLEXIA AWARENESS IN INDIA

A Bollywood film called Taare Zameen Par, (Stars on Earth ) which is about the struggles of an 8-year-old boy with dyslexia was selected as India's entry for the best foreign film category for the 2009 Academy Awards.


The film has helped to raise public awareness about dyslexia in India.

A big hit in India ,the film is about a boy who is told off and punished by teachers and parents for poor test results, and also who is bullied. He is very unhappy until a new arts teacher discovers the boy has dyslexia and encourages him to paint. The Walt Disney Company has bought the rights to the film. This is the first time an international studio has bought the video rights of an Indian film.


Since the release of the film there has been a much greater interest in dyslexia from the Indian general public. A parents dyslexic group called Action Dyslexia Delhi has had 10 times more parents visiting the centre than before !! In West Bengal the film was shown to 4,500 teachers as part of a training session !! The Prime Minister of India watched a private screening of the film and was reported to have been moved by the film and said ' it was a lesson for India's educational system. '

Like Turkey.Indian schools are very competitive, and the education system places a large emphasis on textbook studies rather than on other skills. Teachers mostly see children with learning disabilities as un-teachable and badly behaved. Most Indian schools do not have programmes to help children with learning disabilities, and teachers are generally not trained to deal with the problem , if not completely ignorant of it.

In fact It sounds as if the situation in India concerning dyslexia is not much different from here in Turkey !! It great to hear that this film has helped in some way to raise awareness of the plight of dyslexic kids in India .... I hope that we can get to watch this film soon .....

Rama Lakshmi of The Washington Post has written an interesting article about the impact of the film and how dyslexia has become a household name in India !! The article is entitled ‘The Pain of Dyslexia, As Told by Bollywood’
To see the article go to :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

For more information on the film go to :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taare_Zameen_Par

Official film site:
http://www.taarezameenpar.com/


THANKS TO THE READER WHO TOLD ME ABOUT THIS FILM !!!