TV chef Jamie Oliver is set to shine the light on the plight of living with dyslexia.
Fuelled by his own experience, the TV favourite is on a mission to spark an educational reform, saying:”Our kids aren’t broken, they need more support.”
His show, Jamie’s Dyslexia Revolution is set to air on Channel 4 at 9pm on Monday June 9 and aims to raise awareness into the condition in the hope that an educational reform will be backed by the government so children with the learning difficulty won’t be left behind.
He will speak to pupils who feel “stupid, worthless, dumb” as well as lifting the lid on the education side - chatting to teachers who say training isn’t fit for purpose. This leads to a meeting with the secretary of state for education, Bridget Phillipson.
He is the latest celeb to open up about their life with dyslexia. Others include Holly Willoughby and Sir Richard Branson who even launched his own campaign to highlight the issue.
The 72-year-old business tycoon, who himself is dyslexic, has collaborated with charity Made By Dyslexia to launch DyslexAI, a campaign petitioning businesses to commit to undertaking free workplace training in order to unlock the potential of dyslexic employees last year.
According to the British Dyslexia Assocation (BDA), many are unaware they have the condition.
But what is dyslexia and what are the signs?
What is dyslexia?
According to the NHS, dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that mostly affects reading, writing, and spelling.
Different aspects of a person's co-ordination, organisation, and memory are also impacted by dyslexia.
However, unlike a learning disability, intelligence isn’t affected.
Although its exact cause is uncertain, dyslexia frequently seems to run in families. It's believed that some genes passed down from your parents may interact to influence how particular sections of the brain grow during the early years of life.
What are the signs?
Symptoms typically become apparent at school stage, when the focus is on learning how to read and write.
A person with dyslexia may read and write slowly, have inconsistent or incorrect spelling, confuse the order of letters in words, find it hard to carry out a sequence of directions, struggle with planning and organisation, and grasp information when it is spoken to them, but find it difficult to follow instructions when they are written down.
People who struggle with dyslexia frequently excel in other areas, like creative thinking and problem solving.
Dyslexia diagnostic testing could be a good idea if there are still worries about your child's progress after they have received additional training and support.
An educational psychologist or a teacher who specialises in dyslexia with the necessary training can do this.
For both children and adults, the BDA offers an individual assessment service.
Support for people with dyslexia
The first thing to do if you suspect your child has dyslexia is to talk to their teacher or the special educational needs co-ordinator (Senco) at their school about your concerns.
Depending on the situation, they might be able to provide your child with more assistance.
Schools and colleges must provide assistance to students who struggle with a particular learning disability, such as dyslexia, and they must have access to specialists who are trained to assist children with special needs.
Employers must provide adequate modifications in the workplace for individuals with dyslexia, such as extra time for specific tasks and in exams.
