News
January 2009
In this issue we update our readers on two main initiatives designed to create new life chances for children and adults, and review Emma Elliott`s new book, illustrated by Hélène Koole :
- effective teaching: The World Dyslexia Forum at UNESCO, February 2010
- effective training – Our Online learning course – a prototype for world review at the Forum
- Back to the Sky! How to Fly with Dyslexia, by Emma Elliott
World Dyslexia Forum at UNESCO, from 3 – 5 February 2010
We view this initiative as a three-year project – 2009 leading up to the Forum, 2010 itself, and for 2011 the follow up to ensure opportunities for effective teaching and effective training are wide open: partnerships and links to forums offered and expertise shared to ensure that children and adults have every chance to become literate, develop and gain due respect.
Throughout 2009, our volunteers will continue activities at three levels in over 190 countries – ministerial, academic and with local associations/colleagues in consultation with a consultancy team headed by our Scientific Advisory Committee.
We are reaching out to countries where dyslexia, a specific learning difficulty, is still little understood and the familiar `idiot` label is attached to those children in class who do not ‘get it’ - the sector that societies round the world can push into the exclusion bracket with serious economic and social consequences.
Most recently we invited all the Ambassadors in the Permanent Delegations to UNESCO to nominate the best suited participants from each of their countries for the Forum: teacher training experts and decision makers in each country, officials in charge of teacher training who make decisions about the content of curriculums.
Expensive private education for the privileged few is not the answer. ‘Sharing expertise’ amongst all education providers so that no child is left behind is our main thrust.
http://www.worlddyslexiaforum.org/
We are actively continuing our fund-raising work with the aim of making some bursaries available for participants who would not otherwise be able to attend. We are more than grateful to two foundations who have stepped in to enable our work continue.
More about our ‘operational relations’ status with UNESCO, and how our team works.
Online learning
Free online learning is a key part of the service we offer, and adds to the free online guides and video (Language Shock) which have been available from our site for some time.
The pilot course in French has been running since November 2008 and is being used by teachers who are training at the Haute Ecole of Brussels (Avenue De Fré). It is in three sections: dyslexia, recognition, and what to do. There are video clips, animations, testimonies, case histories, numerous inbuilt exercises, and self-assessment tests at the end of each section.
By March 2009 the evaluation of the pilot will be completed and the course modified accordingly before it is offered to ministries of education on a wider scale for their review. At the moment it is accessed by a closed link; however anybody may ask for the link by sending us an email using the tab at the bottom of this screen, with a brief note please expressing their interest.
The English version of this free online training has been translated. It is now being reviewed and adapted in-house before being submitted to the e-consultancy team for their comment initially. It will then be offered to ministries as with the French version. Again, you may ask to have the link when it is available by emailing us.
The ultimate intention is to present polished versions at the Forum and initiate a discussions and exchanges of information about online learning for teachers. However, we are sensitive to the fact that online material requiring high bandwidth will not be suitable everywhere. We intend to publish some of it on printed or other media, such as CD-ROM.
We welcome your comments.
Book
Back to the Sky – How to Fly with Dyslexia written by Emma Elliott takes the reader with dyslexia on a journey to self-control – physical, mental and spiritual.
From breathing techniques to technological solutions, meditation and emotional control to ‘natural recovery’, this book is rich in resources.
As someone who has suffered the hardships and challenges of struggling with dyslexia at school, the author’s understanding of the paralyzing loss of self-esteem in an uncomprehending world are all the more poignant – the coping strategies are finely matched.
The metaphor of ‘dogs’ as the majority or people who know nothing of dyslexia and mock from the sidelines out of ignorance of what dyslexia is, and ‘ducks’ - people with dyslexia whose ability to fly, to oversee, to be creative through their high-flying imagination is used consistently throughout. The style is straightforward. What is said is clear.
We can highly recommend this book to all who are looking to understand the experience of dyslexia and the challenges it imposes, and all those with dyslexia looking to find their true ‘flight path’ and ‘rising sun’.
Emma (right) and Hélène are shown here, at a booksigning in Waterstone’s, Gloucester, UK.
The illustrations by Hélène Koole, recommended to the author by the Arts Dyslexia Trust, are to be highly commended.
€9,99, £7.99,
www.olympiapublishers.com