Remediating Dyslexia - Introduction

The ability of a child to read and write is critical in our highly competitive education system and has direct implications on her socioeconomic well-being as an adult. Therefore, any child with reading and writing difficulties is placed at significant disadvantage in comparison with her peers. A subset of students with reading and writing difficulties who have high intelligence quotients (IQs) are affected by a condition called dyslexia which occurs in 10% - 15% of the general population (approximately 44 million children in India). This condition, if identified early, can be remediated in children thereby enabling them to lead fulfilling and successful lives as adults. Frequently, due to lack of awareness, dyslexic students receive little or no help, are labelled as “slow”, “dull”, or “disinterested” learners, and struggle with, or dropout of school. Such neglect can have serious social implications. For example, it is estimated more than 50% of the prison population in the UK is dyslexic[1]. In effect, a condition which can be remediated in childhood, when neglected, can result in serious personality disorders and anti-social behavior in adulthood. 

Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify and remediate dyslexic children in the classroom. The first step in this process is to spread awareness about dyslexia among different stakeholders in children’s education – school teachers, parents, and school administrators. To this end, the Azim Premji Foundation, Puducherry, in collaboration with the Madras Dyslexia Association (MDA) held a dyslexia awareness workshop in Puducherry on 19 Jan. 2019 in which 112 teachers, parents and special educators participated. Given the strong interest and response shown by the participants, the Foundation and MDA decided to hold a series of 6 workshops primarily catering to the needs of Govt. school teachers who deal with kindergarten through grade V (K-5).

The six workshops, listed below, are designed to help teachers remediate dyslexic children in the classroom and enable them lead successful and productive lives. Teachers who complete 5 out 6 sessions will be issued a certificate jointly by MDA and the Foundation.