RACHEL STEWART, ASSISTANT HEAD, PERSONALISED LEARNING

On Wednesday 26 February, dyslexia specialist, teacher and author, Louise Selby, visited Queenswood to share strategies for supporting people with dyslexia. It was wonderful to see a good mix of students, parents and teachers in attendance. Louise opened with the well-known saying, ‘Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.’ People with dyslexia often feel like they’re stupid, which they most definitely aren’t!

Louise likened the challenges that many dyslexics face with that of bouldering – reminding us that constantly having to navigate up and across a wall of obstacles is exhausting. There followed an explanation of what dyslexia actually is (processing difficulties that affect the acquisition of reading and spelling) along with a range of strategies for students, teachers and parents to try. To finish, Louise shared a picture gallery of well known dyslexics.

Dyslexia may well make some aspects of life more challenging, but as Steven Spielberg, film director and dyslexic, said, ‘...while you may have dyslexia for the rest of your life, you can dart between the raindrops to get where you want to go. It will not hold you back.’

You can access a PDF of Louise’s slideshow presentation here.