The Hon Bill Shorten received the report from the Dyslexia Working Party in January 2010. The report entitled ‘Helping people with dyslexia: a national action agenda’ stated that “There should be adoption at a national level of a working definition of dyslexia to allow shared language for productive discourse on the issue in Australia. The proposed working definition, consistent with the definitions published by the British Dyslexia Association, the International Dyslexia Association/ National Institute of Child Health and Development, the International Reading Association, and the Rose Report on Dyslexia, is:
"Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability of neurological origin. It primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. It is frequently associated with difficulties in phonological processing. It occurs across the range of intellectual abilities with no distinct cut-off points. It is viewed as a lifelong disability that often does not respond as expected to best-practice evidence-based classroom methods for teaching reading.”
The student who cannot read, write or spell must trigger alarms for concerned parents and teachers. More concerning though, is the student who struggles despite an adequate IQ. The struggling student who has received the same teaching that has allowed fellow students to become literate. The capable, confident student who has a visible ability or skill in a non-reading, writing, spelling based task. The student who has phenomenal skills in technology, music, maths, art etc. is not the one we automatically check for dyslexia, yet like a duck they may be paddling furiously beneath the surface as they struggle to keep up in the torrent of requirements teachers put upon them.
Students who are able in one or several areas, yet produce very limited, basic written texts, using vocabulary that is considerably below their verbal ability, need our attention and compassionate support. For a gifted student this discrepancy can involve many, many years difference between what should be achieved and what is achieved.
Dyslexia is not a failure to read, write or spell but rather a complex, significant discrepancy between the ability to process and remember instructions and ideas and then to produce quick spoken or written output.
Unfortunately dyslexia is almost completely disregarded in Australia, at the moment, but it is one part of being twice exceptional that is likely to cause significant stress within the classroom and with homework. Though some students are able to manage their difficulties and cope adequately with study requirements for many years.
Students with combined giftedness and dyslexia, in whatever proportions, are considerably disadvantaged by an education system that stresses academic achievement and paper qualifications. Historically such students have been able to grow up to become the inventors, tradespeople and entrepreneurs of society. The gifted with dyslexia path is considerably more challenging in the twenty-first century.
Further reading:
Shaywitz, S. (2005). Overcoming dyslexia: a new incomplete science-based program for reading problems at any level
Davis, R. & Braun, E. (2010). The gift of dyslexia, revised and expanded: why some of the smartest people can't read…. And how they can learn
Eide, B.; Eide, F. (2011). The dyslexic advantage: unlocking the hidden potential of the dyslexic brain
Fisher, J. ; Price, J. (2011). Take control of dyslexia and other reading difficulties.
Reid, G. (2011). Dyslexia: a complete guide for parents and those who help them
Trail, B. (2010). Twice exceptional gifted children: understanding, teaching, and counselling gifted students
Kiesa, K. (Ed.). (2000). Uniquely gifted: identifying and meeting the needs of twice exceptional student
Callard-Szulgit, R. (2008). Twice exceptional kids: a guide for assisting students who are both academically gifted and learning disabled
Montgomery, D. (2003). Gifted and talented children with special educational needs: double exceptionality
"Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability of neurological origin. It primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. It is frequently associated with difficulties in phonological processing. It occurs across the range of intellectual abilities with no distinct cut-off points. It is viewed as a lifelong disability that often does not respond as expected to best-practice evidence-based classroom methods for teaching reading.”
The student who cannot read, write or spell must trigger alarms for concerned parents and teachers. More concerning though, is the student who struggles despite an adequate IQ. The struggling student who has received the same teaching that has allowed fellow students to become literate. The capable, confident student who has a visible ability or skill in a non-reading, writing, spelling based task. The student who has phenomenal skills in technology, music, maths, art etc. is not the one we automatically check for dyslexia, yet like a duck they may be paddling furiously beneath the surface as they struggle to keep up in the torrent of requirements teachers put upon them.
Students who are able in one or several areas, yet produce very limited, basic written texts, using vocabulary that is considerably below their verbal ability, need our attention and compassionate support. For a gifted student this discrepancy can involve many, many years difference between what should be achieved and what is achieved.
Dyslexia is not a failure to read, write or spell but rather a complex, significant discrepancy between the ability to process and remember instructions and ideas and then to produce quick spoken or written output.
Unfortunately dyslexia is almost completely disregarded in Australia, at the moment, but it is one part of being twice exceptional that is likely to cause significant stress within the classroom and with homework. Though some students are able to manage their difficulties and cope adequately with study requirements for many years.
Students with combined giftedness and dyslexia, in whatever proportions, are considerably disadvantaged by an education system that stresses academic achievement and paper qualifications. Historically such students have been able to grow up to become the inventors, tradespeople and entrepreneurs of society. The gifted with dyslexia path is considerably more challenging in the twenty-first century.
Further reading:
Shaywitz, S. (2005). Overcoming dyslexia: a new incomplete science-based program for reading problems at any level
Davis, R. & Braun, E. (2010). The gift of dyslexia, revised and expanded: why some of the smartest people can't read…. And how they can learn
Eide, B.; Eide, F. (2011). The dyslexic advantage: unlocking the hidden potential of the dyslexic brain
Fisher, J. ; Price, J. (2011). Take control of dyslexia and other reading difficulties.
Reid, G. (2011). Dyslexia: a complete guide for parents and those who help them
Trail, B. (2010). Twice exceptional gifted children: understanding, teaching, and counselling gifted students
Kiesa, K. (Ed.). (2000). Uniquely gifted: identifying and meeting the needs of twice exceptional student
Callard-Szulgit, R. (2008). Twice exceptional kids: a guide for assisting students who are both academically gifted and learning disabled
Montgomery, D. (2003). Gifted and talented children with special educational needs: double exceptionality
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