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Talk; multilingual

Thursday stream 6 Session 09.00 - 11.10 Length 25 minutes

Dyslexia and multilingualism : identification, assessment and learning support

Morag Hunter-Carsch (1) and Pamela Deponio (2)

(1) University of Leicester (2) University of Edinburgh CMH16@leicester.ac.uk

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of the Leicester study which set out to replicate and extend the Edinburgh University study which was reported at the BDA's first international conference on dyslexia and multilingualism (June 1999). The aim of this paper is to provide, in the light of the extended studies, a wider research-based discussion of the two main findings of the Edinburgh study: the discoveries that dyslexia in multilingual children is underdiagnosed and that there is a likelihood that some multilingual children are mistakenly being considered to be dyslexic. The paper will focus in particular on the findings of Stage 2 of the Leicester study, the wider survey of the school population in selected LEAs in England, in relation to the findings of Stage 2 of the original Scottish study. It will include additional areas of investigation undertaken by the Leicester team and follow-up studies by the Edinburgh team. The additional areas include investigations of new tests concerning literacy and cognitive profiling, the nature of literacy support during the Literacy Hour and home-school initiatives to support literacy learning in multilingual communities.