Dyslexia Awareness Week Scotland: 1 - 7 November 2021
To mark Scottish Dyslexia Awareness week, our Student Services team chat to us about their experiences of helping students at Perth College UHI and give us a run down on the services and products that are available to help a student’s learner journey.
“The theme of Dyslexia Awareness Week is Destination Dyslexia: a route map
We want to make Scotland a dyslexia friendly destination for every person who has dyslexia. A dyslexia friendly society is one where everyone understands dyslexia and how it impacts the 1 in 10 children and adults who are dyslexic.” – Dyslexia Scotland
Gerald McLaughlin, Student Services Manager
“... as a specific learning difficulty assessor, being able to give someone the key that allows them to unlock their full potential is by far, the biggest privilege you can have!”
The most often presented condition that the Additional Support Service team at Perth College UHI support is specific learning difficulties (SpLD). These conditions constitute around 40-45% of the students we support each year. SpLD is an umbrella terms for conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia etc. The etymology (origin of the word) of these conditions is: dys – difficult, then add the suffix (or ending) lexis – speech (for dyslexia) or praxis – movement (for dyspraxia) and calculia– to count (for dyscalculia). By some margin, the most common seen condition of the SpLDs we see is dyslexia.
As a dyslexia specialist and specific learning difficulty (SpLD) assessor of a number of years now, it is clear that the benefits of a dyslexia diagnosis are multifaceted and, more often than not, personal to the individual. The obvious benefit for our Higher Education students is to unlock funding such as Disabled Students’ Allowance. And this is the main reason that we can, as a Higher Education Institution, offer our students a diagnosis.
However, as noted earlier, there is personal benefit in terms of a diagnosis. Anecdotally speaking, after more than a decade working in additional support you begin to see patterns of people with specific conditions congregating in certain courses. One of the most notable is courses that you see people with dyslexia on relate to early education and childcare. While I have not done any formal research on this (although, I do believe I have a PhD thesis in here somewhere) my contention is as follows. People with dyslexia are attracted to jobs that are more practical in nature, childcare and early education being a good example. The Scottish Government provided the sector with not insignificant funding to ‘upskill’ the labour force. Many childcare practitioners were qualified to HNC level or had the previous NNEB qualification. It should be noted (and my wife who works in the sector tells me this quite sternly) that this sector was already very well skilled!
From around 2012 onwards, colleges such as Perth College UHI saw a steady stream of Early Childhood Practitioners come on to degree courses such as the BAH Childhood Practice. A number of these, usually mature, students began to struggle with the advanced literacy elements of their courses. The College support systems would kick in and dyslexia screening and eventual diagnosis would be scheduled. Having completed a number of diagnoses for these (predominantly female) students, the overwhelming feedback I would receive from the students is that of catharsis! The student would invariably feel a sense of relief. Some comments I would receive, would be along the lines of ‘I knew I wasn’t thick’ – ‘I always knew there was something not right’. There were sometimes even tears of relief.
Many of these students would continue their educational journey to success. They would often report a sense of achievement from their hard work and endeavour. They would now be supported appropriately by the University support systems and have equal access to the curriculum, sometimes for the first time in their life. You could see their negative experiences of education dissipate; it is almost tangible. My part in the student journey to success is relatively incidental. You simply give the student a key. It needs to be said though, as a specific learning difficulty assessor, being able to give someone the key that allows them to unlock their full potential is by far, the biggest privilege you can have!
Craig Lindsay, Additional Support Officer – DSA Needs Assessor
As a DSA needs assessor, meeting with a student with a dyslexia diagnosis doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road and they won’t be able to achieve, it’s the very opposite. Although this may seem like a massive barrier, there is so much available to overcome the hurdles.
Students can be introduced to several assistive technologies to use on their way to achieve their goals:
Assistive technology (AT) is any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities. Students may access devices like laptops, iPads, and tablets to overcome any handwriting difficulties.
Students can find note taking challenging, whether it’s keeping up with pace of class when they have slow handwriting speed, or not knowing what relevant information to write down. Recording devices are available to assist with this in the way of digital voice recorders, livescribe pen, glean recording software, or students can opt to use their own phone/tablet or iPad.
Texthelp/Claroread/My study bar provide many functions to assist students - from screen masking, where students describe a visual stress when reading, to text to speech to process information audibly, rather than re-reading text several times and struggling to process.
Computer generated text-to-speech software enables text on the computer screen to be read out by the computer. Some systems have a synchronised speech facility, which means that each word is highlighted as it is read. This can be a useful facility for people with reading difficulties and can be used as a means of proofreading their typing. If used in conjunction with a scanner, this software provides a way of reading written documents.
Most of the dyslexia related software is available in windows and mac versions, there are also a wide range of free apps to cover all areas associated with dyslexia.
Mind mapping software is available to assist with organisation and planning of essays and reports or planning revision for assessments.
Dragon naturally speaking speech recognition software allows students to get their thoughts onto paper through speech, rather than written ability.
Voice recognition software enables speech to be converted into text on the computer screen and can also allow complete hands-free control of the computer i.e., applications can be opened, text can be entered and edited, files can be saved, and documents can be printed all by voice. This can be useful for people with physical difficulties who are unable to use a keyboard and/or mouse. Voice recognition software can also be useful for people with writing difficulties, particularly for those who have a preference for dictation. However, voice recognition software requires the user to train the computer to recognise their voice and this typically involves reading lists of words, sentences and sometimes paragraphs of text. Hence, the user needs to have sufficient reading skills to train the system effectively. Some systems provide proof reading facilities in the form of computer-generated text-to-speech of the text on screen which can be compared with a recording of the user's voice. This can help identify any word recognition errors. Voice recognition systems learn each time they are used but to improve accuracy, so it is vital that any word recognition errors are identified, and corrections are made and saved in the user's speech files. Specialist vocabulary can be added, but the system needs to be trained to recognise each new word which is not in its original dictionary.
Some students access non-medical personal help (NMPH), Study skills support and proof-reading support to assist with academic writing.
Students with an official diagnosis of dyslexia are entitled to use ‘Dyslexia Sticker’. The university's dyslexia sticker scheme is one support arrangement that a student may wish to use. The student must have a formal diagnosis of dyslexia to be eligible to use the sticker system. A dyslexia sticker alerts the tutor(s) marking the assignment to a student’s dyslexia support needs. Tutors are encouraged to mark assessments which have a sticker attached sympathetically, by disregarding dyslexic attributes, such as errors of spelling, grammar, and language - where possible.
One of the most pleasing parts of our role is when a student comes for support and doubts their own ability. Then after being introduced to different tools along the way, they leave with a degree. Not all students with dyslexia are the same, what works for one student doesn’t always work for another but there are several helpful tools to allow them to achieve their goals.
Becky Angus, Additional Support Officer
As the Additional Support Administrator, I was the first contact for all students who declared disabilities upon application or enrolment. My role was to discuss a short background into their disabilities and arrange an appointment with the most suitable service at Perth College UHI, whether that would be the Additional Support Service, the Student Support Service, or both - in some cases.
I was also responsible for the coordination of any external appointments that may have been necessary, e.g., Needs Assessments, Specific Learning Difficulty diagnoses and, most recently, I supported the Counselling Service with external Counselling support.
I was also responsible for the coordination of all Internal Assessments, all in class support and aiding the Additional Support Service with the handling of the Assistive Technology Loan Bank.
Over the years the role has gotten bigger and bigger as we support more students, and our Service grows.
I have always found the role incredibly rewarding; it is a great feeling to be able to support students in the initial stages when the idea of support is brand new, being able to offer a happy face which they can become familiar with and feel they are able to come to and discuss anything – even if all I can do is signpost them in the right direction. It is always a good feeling to know that you have made a difference to someone’s student experience. Being a part of the Additional Support Service has given me a lot of opportunities, which I am very grateful for.
I began working as an Additional Support Officer towards the end of last semester and I have continued in this role throughout this academic year. I now support students by putting their Personal Learning Support Plans (PLSPs) in place, discussing their DSA applications and maintaining contact with those students throughout the year so that they know if they need anything then they can contact me at any time for support. It has been brilliant so far; I am enjoying every minute.
The department allows students access to support which they may not have had before, such as assistive technology, which can allow them the opportunity to succeed in ways they didn’t think possible. We also introduce students to various support mechanisms, such as alternative assessment arrangements or study skills support, to level the playing field and provide them tools to help them achieve their goals and have an enjoyable college experience.
We contact all students at the end of the academic year and ask them how they felt the support they received was, so that we can ensure we are providing the best support possible to all students so that they have a positive experience. Over the years, we have had several students contact us over and above the survey to personally thank us for the support they received. It is always a lovely moment when a student who you have supported from the start of their college journey achieves everything, they hoped they would and they graduate, even though it can be sad to see them leave.
“Disability should not be considered a hindrance to achieving one's goals.” – Brian Lara
