She’s a pop sensation, a Strictly Come Dancing star and a BBC Radio 1 favourite, but Mollie King hasn’t always had faith in her abilities.
The 33-year-old has found reading a struggle her entire life – even finding excuses as a child to escape the classroom in a bid to avoid reading out loud.
Now, as an ambassador for the British Dyslexia Association, the former Saturdays star is campaigning for teachers to be given greater support in helping children with similar struggles.
Speaking exclusively to the Evening Standard, King explained: “When I was around eight, my teacher noticed I was always finding excuses to leave the classroom when it was coming up to my turn to read out loud.
“I remember it being such a stressful time. I remember not being able to sleep the nights before we had English class where we had to read, and asking to go to the toilet or pretend to need something out my bag to avoid this dreaded reading.
“My mum took me to get tested when I was around 10, and it confirmed I was dyslexic. It was such a relief rather than a stress to have this diagnosis.
“Reading was such a normal, ordinary skill for most people. I felt like I was an idiot, and it really affected my confidence, so my diagnosis was life-changing.”
With research from the British Dyslexia Association finding as many as 80 per cent of dyslexic children in schools are failing to receive a diagnosis, King believes more could be done, particularly as so many children have recently been forced to learn in more isolated conditions.
“It’s frightening there’s so many children out there with the same struggles I had, and they’re not getting any extra help,” she says.
“There’s just not enough testing, and these kids can’t get the help finding out what is the best way for them to learn.
“A lot of that stuff is so hugely impactful and can be so helpful, that I feel really upset and worried when I think that there are children out there who are struggling. For their confidence and for mental health, I think this is a huge thing that needs to be sorted out.”
King also worries about the effect Covid-19 may have in widening the gap between students and their dyslexic peers.
“It’s going to have been close to impossible for a lot of them,” she says. “Schools needs more funding for testing.
“There’s so much pressure and stress on teachers at the minute, but if there was a system in place, it would really help teaching with dyslexic kids.
“We need to make it so that every school has the ability to be able to test a child for dyslexia – that’s a must.”
And for those currently struggling with dyslexia, King urges them to focus on what they do have a talent for.
“My parents saw I excelled in sports, so I put a lot of focus on that,” she says.
“A lot of people who are dyslexic really tend to be more creative – whether it’s art or music and drama - it's really important to find things that you're good at just help with confidence.
“There are so many positives that come from being dyslexic. We are going to find things like reading hard, but there are things that we maybe wouldn’t be so good at if we weren’t dyslexic.
“It makes you a hard worker, it can help you think outside the box, and it can make you a really unique and powerful force.”
For full details of the campaign and to sign the petition, visit: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/support-us/awareness-events/dyslexia-awareness-week/dyslexia-week-2020
