The Human Cost Of Dyslexia: Help us to influence British politicians about Dyslexia.

This article is a request for help from parents of dyslexic children who would like to influence British politicians about how the current UK education system needs to change to support the learning needs of dyslexic learners.

It is without uncertainty that I can tell you that the British education system struggles in its delivery of providing education to their dyslexic students.  Many young people with dyslexia grow up through their educational years feeling like they have no worth because many aspects of the school system play to their weaknesses rather than their strengths.  Young people in many schools do not experience understanding about their dyslexic challenges and in certain areas, Local Authorities are prepared to discount dyslexia as nothing less than literacy difficulties.  The reality is that dyslexia affects so much more than reading and writing skills, it can affect working memory, processing and presents in many different ways.
We know that teachers get very limited training in supporting the teaching of any child with dyslexia and other special educational needs.

For meaningful change to happen, our politicians need to understand the impact of dyslexia and it is through an initiative that the British Dyslexia Association is delivering that we hope to be able to achieve this.

Helen Boden, CEO of The British Dyslexia Association

Helen Boden, CEO of the British Dyslexia Association recently said

" The BDA is looking to gather feedback from parents of dyslexic children to explore their experiences and the impact that dyslexia has on their families. This is the first part of a broader piece of work on "The Cost Of Dyslexia" from human, social and educational perspectives. There has been much work done on dyslexia but little from the angle of the impact it has within a family. As a parent of dyslexic children, I clearly remember the highs and lows; the creeping self doubt about my parenting skills, the tears and tantrums (mainly my own) trying to get homework done, the anger and frustration, the feeling that I needed to "justify" and explain my children to family and friends not to mention teachers. The sleepless nights worrying about the future. And also the immense highs of seeing them achieve against the odds and grow into well adjusted successful adults. I often feel that parents are the unsung heroes of dyslexia but this also comes at a cost.  We want to be able to assess that cost and present our findings to the UK Government so as to inform change."

We can't inform change without your help!

If you are a parent of a dyslexic child, we want to know your thoughts on the 'Human Cost' of dyslexia.  We want to know what it is like for you to be a parent supporting a child with dyslexia, about your interactions with schools and about the emotional wellbeing of your child and family members as a direct result of your child being dyslexic.

Please complete our survey!

On March 20th 2019, Helen and I will be addressing the All Party Parliamentary Group about the 'Human Cost' of dyslexia.  We want to put forward your experiences so that politicians can understand what effect dyslexia has on the lives of 10% of our school population and what they need to do to policy to help our kids be the best that they can be in that environment so that they have the same opportunities for the future as those kids without dyslexia.

If you would like to join us in helping to change policy please click the banner below and answer the questions.  The survey is anonymous but your help could really make a difference.  Please let as many parents know about this survey as the more parents involved the stronger the voice we have in getting policy changed that benefits dyslexic children in schools across the country.

Please click and complete our survey about the 'Human Cost' of dyslexia.