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Talk; pre-reading

Friday stream 5 Session 16.10 - 17.25 Length 25 minutes

Early Identification of Dyslexia

Margaret Crombie

AD- not found CrombieM@aol.com

Abstract

In 1999, a Working Party of the Division of Educational and Child Psychology of the British Psychological Society described dyslexia as being "evident when accurate and fluent word reading and/or spelling develops very incompletely or with great difficulty. This focuses on literacy learning at the word level’ and implies that the problem is severe and persistent despite appropriate learning opportunities" (BPS, 1999). Over recent years however, there have been many moves and genuine attempts to identify dyslexia at an early stage (before children start formal schooling). Yet how can we achieve early identification of something that is only identifiable if the problems are found to be persistent in terms of word recognition - a skill which is not generally achieved until a child has been at school for some time? This paper looks from a research perspective at the word "dyslexia" and how it can be interpreted in a local authority context while at the same time acknowledging the huge benefits which dyslexic children can and must gain from early identification and intervention.