Resource: Pupils victimised by staff who claim dyslexia doesn’t exist

            In this newspaper article from Scotland, which was obtained from the Lexis-Nexis Academic database, Julia Horton describes the way ignorance of dyslexia can hurt students with the condition.  Despite statistics that show as many as 1 in 10 children have some form of dyslexia, some teachers believe that dyslexia, like ADHD, is a sort of fad made up by parents who refuse to admit that their children are poor students.  Dyslexia Scotland, a support organization, believes that teachers who chastise students with dyslexia can be extremely harmful to these students’ emotional wellbeing to the point that some may inflict self-harm or develop other psychological problems.  The article also notes that, despite dyslexia’s official legal status, many children do not receive proper support for this communication disorder, and that many dyslexic children are never diagnosed with the condition.  It is teachers like those mentioned by Horton who explain why a class on characteristics of exceptional populations is so important in many licensure programs.  Horton cites a statistic that as many as 77% of teachers feel they could use more training on how to help children with specific learning disabilities.  It seems that teachers are failing to properly serve students with different needs not for lack of concern as much as for lack of training.  The side effects of dyslexia, such as depression, seem to match up well with the information discussed in this course.  It is critical that I, as a new teacher, recognize the diversity of my classroom and do not criticize students for things they cannot control, such as dyslexia.  This article leads me to believe that the most important way to learn to teach these students is to do my own research.