Xtraordinary People

Kate Griggs - Xtraordinary People

Mother-of-two Kate Griggs, who is dyslexic herself, was so incensed at the way her son Ted's dyslexia was ignored at school that she trained as a teaching assistant with expert input from the Helen Arkell Centre for Dyslexia.

Dyslexia 'Gifted' or disadvantaged?

Like Jerry Hall I'm dyslexic and so are my children. Like the Jaggers, we've been privileged enough to afford a private school with learning support and my children are doing well.

Like Jerry, I believe that with this difficulty often comes some amazing 'gifts'. A study of British entrepreneurs found you're 5 times more likely to be an entrepreneur if you're dyslexic. Richard Branson, Theo Paphitis, Charles Dunstone, Michael Heseltine and Bill Gates are all dyslexic.

Creativity is another 'gift' dyslexic's often have. Chefs like Jamie Oliver, Marco Pierre-White, James Martin, Ed Baines - all dyslexic. Walt Disney, Andy Warhol, Steven Speilberg, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly are too.

So being dyslexic needn't hold you back? But here's the rub, without the support from specially trained teachers many dyslexic children will have little or no hope of becoming literate and numerate or fulfilling this potential.

1 in 5 children continue to leave school unable to read, write and do maths properly. Many of these will be dyslexic, because very few teachers have expertise to support dyslexics.

National Union of Teachers research found 77% of teachers wanted extra training to cope with dyslexics. Less than 14% were very confident they could identify a dyslexic child and only 9% were very confident they could teach one.

And where then for the children with this 'gift' who are failed by the education system? A recent, project that screened the inmates at Chelmsford Prison found over 53% to be dyslexic!

There are around 1 million dyslexic children in our schools today who are likely to go undiagnosed, un-helped - and needlessly struggling with dyslexia.

That's why I set up the charity Xtraordinary People, to campaign for teachers to be trained to support dyslexics. Experts agree on what these children need and what training teachers need to provide this.

And it's not about extra money either. £990million is being devolved to schools for 'personalised learning' to help gifted and talented, and failing children. Pilots are planned to see how this can best be done.

Whilst Government spend money on pilots and new initiatives children are failing. Private schools have been getting this right for years, why not copy them, why re-invent the wheel?

I feel for every parent who's battling the system to get their dyslexic children help. Dyslexia may not seem like a 'gift' to them!

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