DYSLEXIA WORKSHOP
MAY 2005
Workshop on Dyslexia
Presented by Dr Chris Singleton, University of Hull
10th May 2005, Astra Hall, Student Centre, UCD
A University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin Collaboration
Overview
The aim of this workshop was to bring together professionals who work
with adults presenting with Dyslexia and to start the process of
producing good practice guidelines for each professional group. Good
practice guidelines do not happen overnight and are only workable when
they
are created out of collaboration.
Each
professional group
represented has different kinds of agendas and therefore their good
practice guidelines will differ slightly. However, the workshop exercise is
aimed at ensuring that there is a basic consistency in the understanding
of these professionals of the issues facing adults presenting with
dyslexia. There needs to be a fundamental basic knowledge of issues such
as identification, the learning profile, effective supporting strategies and
effective exam and assistive technology supports. It is vital that these
professional groups understand that adults with dyslexia are not a
homogenous group and that many may only have been identified in recent
times. Supporting the student at third level presenting with dyslexia is
not simply an academic or learning matter; it is far more complex and
requires a more holistic approach. At the very least this workshop will
evoke the thoughts of these professional groups into rethinking their
approach to these students.
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Professional Groups Represented

Disability Officers

Educational Psychologists

Learning support tutors

Administrative staff

Academic staff

Student unions

Management

Policy Makers
Key Issues Discussed
The workshop was divided up into lecture style dissemination sessions and
practical discussion based workshop sessions comprising case study work.
The following is an overview of the main issues discussed in each of those
sessions.
Critical issues in identification and support
1. What is Dyslexia? Dyslexia is a neurological developmental disability
or learning difference that manifests to varying degrees in individuals.
It is lifelong and it impairs cognitive processing especially language and
memory. It is independent of social class and intelligence.
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2. Dyslexia at third level? Individuals with dyslexia who make it to third
level are generally those with have developed their own compensatory
strategies. It may be likely that they have never been identified. This
may be due to their ability to mask their difficulties or simply due to
the inadequacies of the second and first level systems of education.
Due to the difficulties they have experienced in education to date,
many are reluctant to come forward to seek support for fear of
rejection or loss of respect. These issues need to be carefully taken
into consideration by third level establishments when reviewing
applications from students with dyslexia especially those who offer
direct entry procedures to students’ with disabilities.
3. Dyslexic difficulties at third level?

Listening and taking notes in lectures

Reading large amounts of difficulty material

Writing essays or assignments

Revising for and taking written timed examinations

Organising life and time for studying (usually life takes a back
seat)

Stress, lack of confidence, low self-esteem and general emotional
discord.

Students with dyslexia generally have to work much harder than
their peers in order to achieve the same level of performance.
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MAY 2005
4. Assessment of dyslexia? Formal assessment should be carried out by a
qualified educational psychologist (or equivalent). Initial screening
within third levels is essential. This can be done using a paper test
such as the Dyslexia adult screening test (DAST) or using computer
via Lucid Adult Dyslexia Test (LADS).
5. Components of the assessment?

Background and history (educational/developmental/medical)

Learning inventory – details of students learning and studying style.

Cognitive Assessment

Analysis
of
specific
cognitive
skills
(memory,
phonological
processing, automaticity, processing speed, concentration and
attention)

Attainments in literacy (reading, spelling, writing)

Other relevant abilities such as maths.

Diagnostic tests that specifically look at the dyslexic profile such
as the DAST.

All psychometric tests must be age appropriate and reputable.

The diagnostic decision is based on the collection of objective
evidence from the assessment. The psychologist is looking for
evidence of significant weaknesses in literacy explained by the
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DYSLEXIA WORKSHOP
MAY 2005
cognitive deficits shown by the student. Non-dyslexic attributable
factors must be ruled out.
Support for Dyslexic Students: Developing effective policies at
institutional, departmental and tutor levels.
1. Support staff?

Trained disability support staff

Trained Dyslexia tutors

Disability staff and tutors are there to support students with
dyslexia and to introduce them to strategies and solutions they can
use to address their studying difficulties. However, ultimately
ongoing support should come from individual academic departments
as part of an inclusive teaching strategy. By varying and improving
the styles of teaching used, educators will reach a far higher
proportion of their students without having to offer them extra
support beyond the classroom.
2. Institutional policy issues?

Direct entry procedures. The need to include students with
dyslexia in direct entry procedures.

Staff development and awareness training in order to ensure
understanding across campus thus avoiding stressful and difficult
situations for the student with dyslexia.
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DYSLEXIA WORKSHOP
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MAY 2005
Library and computer resources for students with dyslexia such
as books on CD-ROM, library orientation, Predictive software,
screen reading software, spellcheckers and funded photocopying.

Support at departmental and lecturer/tutor level as part of
inclusive teaching strategy (see above and below)

Alternative examination procedures such as oral examinations,
continuous assessment, project work and practical/fieldwork
assignments.

Careers advice: offering students with dyslexia support in terms
of appropriate subject choices (matching their learning style) and
appropriate career paths to maximise their strengths.

The need for student, disability and counselling services to
collaborate to support the student with dyslexia more effectively.
3. The role of lecturers/tutors? Lecturers and tutors know their
students best and know exactly what the demands of the course they
teach are and hence are in the best position to support students with
dyslexia. The aim of support of a student with dyslexia at third level
is that the student becomes an independent learners like other
students. This can happen with a little assistance from the tutors and
lecturers:

Appreciation of the difficulties faced by students with dyslexia

Taking on a few simple strategies such as multisensory teaching
(using a mixture of presentation techniques such as interactive
sessions, discussion groups, oral presentations, audio and visual
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presentations, and project work to name a few) that ultimately will
improve the learning environment for the whole class.

Providing handouts in advance of lectures (hard copy or electronic)

Allow students to tape record lectures

Encourage students to develop skills of structured note taking (e.g.
mind mapping) techniques rather than linear notes.

Provide a clear outline of the structure of the lecture at the
beginning and return to that periodically during the lecture and at
the end.

Pause regularly and ask questions to ensure that everyone
understood.

Give back-up reading and highlight what is essential reading.

Do not ask a student with Dyslexia to read in public.

Seek advice from the specialist disability staff.

Give generous, informative and sympathetic feedback during the
writing process and after marking.

Being sympathetic and understanding at all times
4. Essay and assignment difficulties?

Weak spelling and grammar remains the weakest aspect of literacy
for most students with dyslexia.
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DYSLEXIA WORKSHOP
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MAY 2005
The complexity of the writing task places enormous demand on
cognitive processes such as short term working memory.

Students have significant organisational difficulties and will need
guidance on how to start and how to finish an assignment.

Sentence construction can be very weak.
5. Exam difficulties:

All students with dyslexia find exams extremely stressful, more
so than the average student.

Poor semantic memory is a common feature of dyslexia that
makes the task of revising and recalling extremely arduous and
frustrating.

Students with dyslexia often misread exam questions due to
poor reading skills and/or anxiety.

The extra pressure of a timed exam situation often causes a
student with dyslexia to go blank, which further increases their
anxiety and thus reduces the likelihood of effective recall.

Students with dyslexia need to overlearn material to higher
degree than their peers to have any chance of recalling material
in an exam. They also need to use rote learning methods. They
have significant difficulty with numbers, dates, names and
formulae.

Students with dyslexia often have problems with turning up to
the wrong venue or on the wrong day for an exam.
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6. Some solutions for exam difficulties:

Allowance of additional time in examinations to allow for slower
handwriting speed. Extra time will not however necessarily
compensate for poor recall.

Clear guidance on revision and exam preparation is essential

Encourage the use of mind maps as a revision tool.

When marking exam scripts focus on essential content and ideas
and be sympathetic to errors of spelling, grammar and organisation.

Allow the use of PC/laptop with assistive technology, where
appropriate.

Smaller groups will aid concentration and anxiety.
What’s Next?
The workshop highlighted key areas of concern and therefore areas
where work needs to be done. Consensus was reached on what needs to be
done next to improve the learning environment of students with dyslexia
in third level. The following is a summary of those steps.
1. Training
All professionals involved agreed that key personnel need more
training in effective strategies in supporting students with
dyslexia especially academic and administrative staff. It was also
agreed that the psychologists assessing adults also need more
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training in identification procedures. To this end Dr Singleton will
be returning to give workshops to educational psychologists
including those working in the National Educational Psychological
Service (NEPS). Other professional groups such as learning support
tutors and disability officers will be following similar lines. Most
importantly however was the consensus that all parties present
need to pressurise their institutions to become more dyslexia
friendly by providing staff with dyslexia training.
2. Understanding.
All agreed that it is essential that the issues of students with
dyslexia are highlighted nationally and that other levels of
education need to improve their support practices to be in line with
third levels where the highest level of support currently exists.
This current situation precludes those with lesser-advanced
compensatory strategies and as a result only the very brightest
students with dyslexia make it to college.
3. Inclusive teaching.
It was agreed that adopting an inclusive teaching policy is the way
to move forward. Rather than continuing to support students on an
individual basis, which is a medicalised model of operating we need
to look at systemic approaches that will allow greater inclusion in
education of many more students not just those with learning
disabilities. The aim of third level education should be to enable
our students to become independent learners. It was agreed that
all the suggestions made by Dr Singleton to tutors and lecturers
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and those relating to examinations need to be adopted and not just
by third level institutions but by all levels of education.
4. Psycho-educational Assessment Procedures
It was agreed that it is vital that assessment procedures are
standardised to aid the student gain access to appropriate
supports at third level. It is often the case that a student I
bringing their educational psychological report to a lay person
without expertise in psychological terminology. As such it is vital
that the report is clear and unambiguous and that it states clearly
the nature of the student’s learning difficulty. Vagueness in a
report does little to serve the individual. A clear impact statement
will ensure that the subject of the report gains access to all
supports that they require. To this end a recent initiative involving
the CAO and direct entry procedures was highlighted in terms of
what a report will be required to contain from next year:

Detailed analysis and full sores submitted of an age
appropriate cognitive assessment. (A full list will be
circulated)

Detailed analysis and full scores submitted of age
appropriate literacy tests (spelling, reading and writing)

Diagnostic
phonological
assessment
such
assessment
Assessment Battery (PhAB)

A clear impact statement
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such
as
the
as
DAST
the
and/or
Phonological
DYSLEXIA WORKSHOP
MAY 2005

Clear appropriate identification of learning disability.

Clear and realistic recommendations at systemic and
individual levels that focus on compensatory rather than
remedial measures.
In order to facilitate psychologists writing reports it was agreed
that a forum would be set up whereby colleges can inform
psychologists and other interested parties about the supports that
they
provide.
That
will
ensure
that
psychologists
make
recommendations that can be met.
5. Support Provision
The issue of the types of supports that different colleges offer
was a contentious one. Many felt that there is need to standardise
the types of supports offered across the board and to ensure that
the supports offered are appropriate and that they enable the
student to become independent learners rather than encouraging
them to become dependent on others. It was strongly felt that if a
student is supported appropriately at undergraduate level that
their need will not be so great at postgraduate and beyond. This
issue will be up for discussion again.
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