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Dyslexia Action Week is now just two weeks away – and in the lead-up, the Living Channel will be screening a shocking and moving television series which highlights the heartbreak of adult illiteracy.
Can’t Read, Can’t Write follows ‘super teacher’ Phil Beadle’s attempts to teach six adults basic reading and writing skills. In doing so, he uncovers the shame, fear, anxiety, and frustration that have haunted these individuals throughout their lives. This three-part series is screening at 10.30pm on June 2, 9 and 16 on the Living Channel.
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The series is filmed in the UK yet reflects equally what we know to be the NZ situation and experience for the many adults that have been let down by our school system.
It has some uplifting moments as well – like when 58-year-old Teresa, who burst into tears when faced with a reading test in her first lesson, is able to read a children's book after just three weeks. Or when single mother Kelly’s skills improve to a point where she's not only able to help her dyslexic son, but also prove her own talent as a writer.
In keeping with our Dyslexia Action Week theme – ‘Actions Speak Louder Than Words’ – we are delighted to report that news is flooding in of people mobilising throughout the country to take action on dyslexia.
This includes more than 1200 educators already signed up to attend the workshops run by international dyslexia expert Neil Mackay as well as events and open days by solutions providers such as SPELD and Kip McGrath. The SPELD annual conference takes place in New Plymouth at the end of Action Week and will cater for teachers and RTLB and RTLits as well as other educators and parents.
We have just produced a brand new dyslexia brochure in time for Action Week – this is available for free download from our website. Solutions providers who would like hard copies of the brochure to support their efforts during Action Week, please email us at info@dfnz.org.nz and we will get these out to you.
Finally, we were pleased to see education funding getting a boost in last week’s Budget, with an additional $36 million to support the Government’s Crusade for Literacy and Numeracy. We anticipate that it will be up to schools to decide how best to spend that funding to meet the Government’s expectations in delivering better education outcomes. Given that dyslexic students currently make up 30-50% of those at the tail-end of poor literacy and numeracy results, it is clear that it will be very difficult to make progress unless dyslexia is at the forefront of thinking and action.
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Please do check out our website for the latest on great awareness and action initiatives currently underway. In other news, we are very excited about a project we are now finalising which will see a dyslexia inspired song – written by one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed musicians – released to mark Action Week. During Action Week itself, we would also encourage our members to think about personal experiences with dyslexia that may be of interest to media – more on both these things in our update next week!
Kind regards.
The DFNZ Team
Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand
www.dfnz.org.nz
www.4dschools.org.nz
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