I've been told that just about every child nowadays has a diagnosis of some kind or other.  This may of course have been partly made worse because of all the disrupted schooling during and after Covid.  This is made life much harder for teachers in primary schools when they do not have enough money to pay for Teaching Assistants and swimming etc and many children are not even ready to start school now when they should be. We have known for a long time that a huge percentage of those in prison have learning difficulties of some kind or another.  There hasn't been the help or any or enough of the teaching needed in prisons to enable those being released to find jobs and to not become repeat offenders. This is one of the reasons that there is such a shortage of prison places. This post is just a shout out for those who have an interest in this. There is very long article in this week's New Scientist. Without action and help early on the stress and problems increase - not just for the person concerned but for everyone around them!  We are ALL different no matter how hard people try to pigeon hole us and we ALL have strengths and weaknesses when you look hard enough. Phonics is NOT the be-all-and-end-all or the magic bullet although it is important. That lightbulb moment of "g-a-s Mummy it's a gas van" or "h-o-t" Mummy that's the hot tap" is tremendously life changing but it is just one part of reading and writing.  A much more rounded and multisensory approach is needed to encompass everyone's differences and to increase everyone's confidence and success with reading and writing.  You can't always just depend on tech although it can be a great addition especially if and when you can find something that helps a gain in confidence and a feeling of greater achievement.

Forum Home