Improving English Exam Skills For Dyslexics in Primary Education in Singapore

Asia Pacific Journal
of Developmental
Differences
Volume 2  Number 2  July 2015
Published by the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS)
© 2015 DAS
ISSN 2345-7341 (print)
Contact:
The Managing Editor

Dyslexia Association of Singapore
1 Jurong West Central 2
#05-01, Jurong Point
Singapore 648886
Email: editor@das.org.sg
Reprint permission may be obtained by writing to the Managing Editor at the above address.
The responsibility for facts and opinions represented in the articles rests exclusively with the
individual authors. Their interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the
editorial committee, the Review Panel, sponsors of the Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental
Differences, or the Dyslexia Association of Singapore.
Printed in Singapore by NPE Print Communications Pte Ltd

Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences
Editor‐in‐Chief Associate Editors

Professor Angela Professor Hugh Catts Dr Lim Boon Hock
Fawcett Academic Florida State University Special Education Consultant
Director USA Malaysia
Dyslexia Association of Singapore,
Emeritus Professor Professor James Chapman Associate Professor Susan Rickard
Swansea University, UK Massey University, Liow, National University of
Honorary Professor New Zealand Singapore, Singapore
University of Sheffield, UK Professor Steve Chinn Dr Beth O’Brien
Educational Consultant National Institute of Education
UK Singapore
Professor Kevin K H Chung Dr Dino Ocampo
Executive Editors The Hong Kong Institute Philippine Dyslexia Foundation
of Education, Hong Kong Philippines
Professor John Everatt
University of Canterbury Kate Curawalla Dr Ong Puay Hoon
New Zealand President, Maharashtra Dyslexia Dyslexia Association of Sarawak
Association, Mumbai, India Malaysia
Associate Professor Noel Chia Kok Dr Kristiantini Dewi Asst Professor Kenneth Poon
Hwee Dyslexia Association of Indonesia National Institute of Education
Early Childhood & Special Indonesia Singapore
Needs Education
Dr Shirley Egley Dr Gavin Reid
National Institute of Education
University of South Educational Consultant,
Singapore
Wales UK Canada
Dr Gad Elbeheri Dr Kate Saunders
Dean CEO, British Dyslexia Association
Australian University of Kuwait UK
Managing Editor Professor Esther Dr Thomas Sim
Deborah Hewes Geva University of Principal Educational Therapist,
Head, Publicity and Publications Toronto Canada Metacognition Developmental
Dyslexia Association of Singapore Centre, Singapore
Dr Aziz Abu Hassan Dr Purboyo Solek
Contact: Vice President Dyslexia Association of Indonesia
Dyslexia Association of Malaysia Indonesia
1 Jurong West Central Professor Connie Ho Professor Su‐Jan Lin
2 #05‐01, Jurong Point University of Hong Kong National Kaohsiung Normal
Singapore 648886 Hong Kong, China University, Taiwan
Email: deborah.hewes@das.org.sg Professor Sunil Karande Professor Akira Uno

King Edward VII Memorial Tsukuba University
Hospital, Mumbai, India Japan
Junko Kato MD Professor Taeko N. Wydell
Japan Dyslexia Research Brunel University
Association UK
Professor Amanda Kirby Assistant Professor Dongbo Zhang
University of South Wales Michigan State University
UK USA
Contents
112 Editorial Comment
Angela J. Fawcett
114 Behavioural interventions and developmental learning difficulties:

Factors influencing effectiveness in a Kuwaiti school context
Abir Al‐Sharhan and John Everatt
132 The use of ubiquitous bottle caps as concrete aids to learn to read and
spell for struggling readers
Ong Puay Hoon, Ong Puay Tee, Ong Puay Liu, Carol Persad,
Wallace Lee Boon Liang and Alban @ William John Lisen
144 Evaluating the progress of dyslexic children on a small-group maths

intervention programme
Rebecca Yeo, Tim Bunn, Aishah Abdullah, Siti Aisha Bte Shukri and
Anaberta Oehlers‐Jaen
158 Improving the fluidity of whole word reading with a dynamic

co-ordinated movement approach
Piero Crispiani and Eleonora Palmieri
184 Improving English exam skills for dyslexics in primary education in

Singapore
Edmen Leong
202 The Dyslexia Experience: Difference, Disclosure, Labelling, Discrimination

and Stigma
Neil Alexander‐Passe
234 Expanding the Provision for People with Dyslexia in Singapore
Carolina Landulfo, Crystal Chandy, and Zeng Yi Wong

112

Vol. 2, No. 2, July 2015, pp 112‐113
Editorial Comment
Angela J. Fawcett
It is a very great pleasure to publish the The second article by Dr Ong Hoon and
4th issue of this new journal, the Asian colleagues from Sarawak describes the
Pacific Journal of Developmental improvements achieved during a 3-week
Differences, which is published by the summer school with dyslexic children,
Dyslexia Association of Singapore. The using ubiquitous bottle tops as an aid to
response to the previous three issues has learning. This clever approach shows
been extremely gratifying, and we intend what can be achieved using everyday
to maintain these high standards in this objects, even within a system where there
issue and forthcoming issues. We have may not be more formal methods of
now amassed an even stronger editorial support and there can be shortages of
board, and I am grateful for the support equipment for intervention use.
of the academics and professionals
involved.
The article from Yeo, Bunn and colleagues
from the Dyslexia Association of
In this issue we present seven articles, the Singapore, focuses on the important topic
majority of which are drawn from the of Maths. The team present an analysis
Asian context. The majority of articles in of performance pre/post a 6 months
this issue are experimental studies that intervention for 39 dyslexic children. They
investigate the impact of a range of show that targeted support can make
manipulations on outcomes for children at statistically significant improvements for
risk of dyslexia. this group in addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, time, fractions,
In the paper from Abir Al-Sharan and John geometry, decimals, percentages and
Everatt from New Zealand, a controlled ratio.
study is presented evaluating the impact
of behavioural interventions on dyslexic
The approach adopted by Professor Piero
children in Kuwait. The interventions Crispiani and his colleague Eleanora
contrasted a positive self affirmation Palmieri from Italy focuses on building the
approach with relaxation techniques, and fluidity of motor skill and reading
found that there was a role for this type of performance in children with dyslexia and
support within schools, but that they dyspraxia. Following a case study of a 10
worked most effectively when combined year old girl with severe problems
with multisensory teaching. undertaking an intense support regime,
an experimental study is presented which
© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

www.das.org.sg Vol. 2 No. 2 July 2015
113
shows significant improvements in fluency Singapore critiques the provision for

of reading for the participants. dyslexia in Singapore. The report
concludes that despite the efforts of the
A second article from the Dyslexia Dyslexia Association of Singapore in
Association of Singapore by Edmen conjunction with the Ministry of Education,
Leong focuses on improving study skills in Dyslexia is currently under-identified and
children prior to the important PSLE exam under supported in Singapore. This
on leaving primary school. The results of article calls for further investment in
this exam dictate the type of secondary providing this support for children with
schooling children receive and can be dyslexia, including the further training and
particularly problematic for children with the provision of a specialist school for
dyslexia. Evaluating the design of the severe dyslexia, as well as raising levels
curriculum to impact on English study of public awareness and tackling issues
skills, and the success of the children of bullying.
undertaking the intervention over 4 terms
showed almost 100% improvement across
We hope that you find the current issue
the groups, with significant improvements
interesting and that you will consider the
in all areas targeted.
APJDD as an appropriate vehicle for
submitting your own research. The journal
The next article in this issue by Alexander- continues to be available for free access
Passe addresses the important issue of and can be downloaded from http://
stigma and disclosure in dyslexic adults. www.das.org.sg/publications/research-
This forms part of a series contributed by journal
this author, using mixed methods, the
article considers perceptions of stigma in
29 dyslexic adults, a percentage of whom
have suffered from depression. Following
a strong empirical review of the area, the
author demonstrates that, the majority of
dyslexic adults have encountered
discrimination and stigma based on their
disabilities, although many feel that
dyslexia itself is a gift. They recognised
the need to work harder to achieve what
others can achieve with less effort, and
attribute problems in recognition of
dyslexia to lack of knowledge across
society. This research was undertaken in
the UK, and it is likely that this stigma will
be even more pronounced in Asian
countries.
The final article by Landolfo and

colleagues from the National University of

Behavioural interventions and developmental learning difficulties 114
*
Vol. 2, No. 2, July 2015, pp 114 ‐ 131 C
DOI: 10.3850/S2345734115000241 o
r
r
e
s
Behavioural interventions and p
o
n
developmental learning difficulties: Factors d
e
influencing effectiveness in a Kuwaiti school n
c
e
context
t
o
Abir Al‐Sharhan1* and John Everatt2 :
A
b
i
1 Centre for Child Evaluation and Teaching, Kuwait r
2 University of Canterbury, New Zealand A
l
‐
Abstract S
h
a
This paper presents findings investigating the effectiveness of behavioural r
interventions for children with developmental learning difficulties/disabilities (such h
a
as dyslexia) under different educational conditions. The primary focus of the n
behavioural intervention work was a self‐management technique involving positive ,
self‐statements. This was compared with another behavioural intervention that C
e
involved a relaxation technique. The usefulness of the behavioural interventions for n
teaching English spellings to Arabic children with learning disabilities (LD) was t
compared using multisensory learning versus simple copying. These LD‐based r
e
educational contexts were contrasted with a mainstream group of children who
underwent normal teaching conditions but also practiced the two behavioural f
interventions. Findings indicated positive effects from pre to post intervention o
r
spelling scores in comparison to baseline groups of children (one LD and one non‐ C
LD) who did not undergo any intervention. The findings argue for the potential h
usefulness of behavioural interventions with children with educational learning i
l
problems. However, for the positive self‐statements intervention, positive effects d
were evident only when combined with multisensory learning, suggesting that
behavioural interventions need to be assessed for the conditions under which they E
will be effective versus those where they may not. An understanding of such v
a
moderating factors should improve recommendations and procedures for optimal l
intervention effectiveness. u
a
Keywords: Arabic speaking/culture students; Learning Disabilities; behavioural t
i
interventions; English spelling learning; educational moderators o
n
and Teaching, AlSurra, Kuwait; E‐mail: a.sharhan@ccetkuwait.org

115 A. Al‐Sharhan & J. Everatt
Introduction related problems among adolescents in

offender institutions (Elbeheri, Everatt & Al-
The research reported in this paper Malki, 2009). Such psychosocial problems
aimed to inform the support of Kuwaiti may interfere with the child’s ability to
students with a diagnosis of a fully attend to and engage in instructional
developmental learning disability (in activities. For example, Miles (2004) has
Kuwait often reduce to LD). In Kuwait, a argued that a child who does not
person is said to have a learning overcome his/her difficulties with
disability when his/her intelligence (IQ) is learning early in school will experience
within the average range or above (i.e. higher stress levels, causing an
IQ=85 or above) while at the same time undermining of motivation and negative
they are performing below curriculum consequences in educational
levels in school subjects of literacy and/or development. Lindquist & Vicky (1989)
mathematics; this is the primary criterion argued that some children with literacy
of legislation in the country and, despite learning problems might disrupt a class
arguments against the use of IQ in and become the class clown because they
identi fying educati onal learning believe the class work is too difficult for
difficulties, it is consistent with many them and so will use attention seeking to
different contexts around the world protect their self- esteem. Furthermore,
(Elbeheri & Everatt, 2009). Of the Edwards (1994) suggested that the
potentially different types of education- feelings of frustration and isolation
b a s e d l e a r n i ng d i s a b i l i ti e s , caused by the individual’s educational
developmental dyslexia (often shortened problems led to negative consequences,
to dyslexia) has been the one that has with individuals potentially being bullied
been most researched within Kuwait. or isolated by peers, parents and
With this in mind, outcomes in literacy teachers. A range of findings, therefore,
were the target for the current research. argue for such behavioural consequences
to be an important area in which to
Despite the emphasis on educational develop appropriate support procedures,
outcomes, learning disabilities, such as including those aimed at reducing
dyslexia, have also been found to be negative behaviours – the focus of the
associated with a higher than expected current research. Approaches aimed at
prevalence of behavioural, emotional improving school and classroom
and/or social problems (McConaughy, environments, including reducing the
Mattison & Peterson, 1994; Mckinney, negative effects of disruptive or
1989, Michaels & Lewandowski, 1990; distracting behaviours, can enhance the
Swanson & Malone, 1992). In the Kuwaiti chances that effective teaching and
context, relationships between negative learning will occur, both for the students
(off-task) behaviours and education exhibiting problem behaviours and for
achievement have been found in their classmates (Adams & Christenson,
mainstream populations (Everatt, Al- 2000; Kern, Mantegna, Vorndran, Bailin &
Sharhan, Al-Azmi, Al-Menaye & Elbeheri, Hilt, 2001; Lee, Sugai & Horner, 1999;
2011), and there is evidence for higher Umbreit, Lane & Dejud, 2004).
than expected incidence of dyslexia-
The most widely used interventions to

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Medication also has Previous research has l t
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effects (Adelman & methods, where the m e
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indicated that they o c
can help children and r a
older students m d
emic performance of self- monitoring of
children with ADHD. academic
The researchers performance
taught a sample of increased on-task and
sixth grade boys spelling behaviour in
diagnosed with children with ADHD.
ADHD, and on
medication, self- Another type of self-
management monitoring is self-
strategies, such as talk; in the present
self- assessment and research, the term
self-recording of the positive self-
targeted statements will be
behaviours. The used to refer to the
self- management type of intervention
strategies implemented. This
increased academic was targeted in the
performance and current research
decreased unwanted since it has been
behaviours. In used previously with
another study by children with learning
Shimabukuro, disabilities. For
Prater, Jenkins & example, Kamann &
Edelen- Smith Wong (1993) used a
(1999), children cognitive behaviour
were taught to self- strategy with children
manage by self- with learning
monitoring and self- disabilities in which
graphing their own the researcher
academic activities. modelled solving a
Findings suggested mathematical
that the students problem by thinking
increased their aloud (one type of
academic self-talk). Children
performance, were also taught
including positive self-
accuracy in statements, such as “I
reading am doing just fine”.
comprehension, The researchers
mathematics, and concluded that
writing, as well as these procedures
reduced off-task
behaviours. Harris,
Friedlander, Saddler,
Frizzelle & Graham
(2005) also found
that self- monitoring
of attention and
improved the students’ performance in conditions was the focus of the current
the mathematical tasks. In a review of work. In addition, the research aimed to
the use of cue cards to support self- contrast the positive self-statements
regulation in students with learning method with an alternative behavioural
disabilities, Conderman & Hedin (2011) intervention that has been found to
argued that such cards can be used to reduce negative behaviours but which
assist students to learn and organize was different enough from the self-
academic tasks, simplify challenging monitoring procedures to allow
materials and support the development comparison. A relaxation technique was
of independence in learning. These chosen for this purpose. Such relaxation
authors argued that such aids could methods have been used, and argued
enable teachers to streamline the to be effective, across different contexts
school’s curriculum, thereby making (Amerikaner & Summerlin, 1982; Collins,
tasks and procedures easier for their Dansereau, Garland, Holly & McDonald,
students to follow. 1981; Paul, Elam & Verhulst, 2007; Stuck
& Gloeckner, 2005). The rationale for
In addition to positive effects reported in relaxation methods is that, particularly at
the literature, self-monitoring techniques, certain points (such as at examination
such as positive self-talk, have the time), school life can be considered
advantage that they are relatively cost- stressful – and, for the student with a
effective and easily learnt and practised. learning difficulty, such stresses can be
They can also be taught (and supported) aggravated by difficulties related to their
by teachers and/or parents, as there is disability. Relaxation techniques are
no requirement for large numbers of argued to reduce such stresses, and the
rules and procedures that the student negative behaviours associated with
must follow. Additionally, some of these stress, potentially improving academic
interventions can be generalized to performance. For example, Omizo &
other aspects of a student’s life, Michael (1982) examined the effects of
potentially influencing social and biofeedback relaxation training on a
emotional issues. Once learned, students sample of hyperactive boys. During
can practise on their own, independent treatment sessions, the boys listened to
of outside assistance, especially in the audiotapes that emphasized relaxation
case of self-talk. Such independence has and stress management, as well as the
the potential to promote positive importance of self-control. In comparison
outcomes for the student, fostering a to a control group that listened to audio
sense of self-worth and self- taped stories which neither encouraged
reinforcement. The student may not have relaxation nor arousal, the relaxation
to wait for external praise from a training reduced impulsive behaviours
teacher or parent, but rather comes to and increased attention. In a study by
internalize abilities and control. Amerikaner & Summerlin (1982), social
skills training and relaxation training
The effectiveness of such a self- were contrasted with a no treatment
monitoring method (positive self- control condition and their effects on the
statements) under different teaching self-concept and in-class behaviour of

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udents in the social learning difficulties. p
skills training This strategy was based r m
treatment condition on simultaneous oral o e
scored higher than spelling, and the c t
the other two groups teaching of English e h
on a social self- words was the chosen d o
concept measure, skill for intervention. u d
whereas those in the Word spelling was r s
relaxation-training chosen as it is an area e .
group with which many s
demonstrated students with S
reduced excitable developmental learning t u
behaviour and difficulties (particularly o c
distractibility. Given dyslexia) have problems h
the focus of the – and targeting English e
current work, and with the young Arabic n r
their difference in children in the research a o
activity compared to meant that this would b t
positive self- provide a large number l e
statements, such of relatively unfamiliar e -
relaxation techniques words for teaching. This
seem an ideal more targeted teaching a l
contrast against strategy was contrasted e
which to compare with a more rote- c a
self- monitoring learning procedure that o r
procedures. simply expected n n
students to copy t i
The current study spellings. The number r n
considered the of times that words a g
eff ecti veness of were copied was s
self-monitoring matched with the t p
procedures in number of processes in r
combination with the multisensory b o
several teaching learning e c
methods. The t e
research was part of w d
work investigating e u
ways to support the e r
learning of LD n e
students in Kuwait. s
Hence, the t
behavioural h w
interventions were e e
combined with a r
multisensory learning t e
strategy often used w
with children with o c
education-related
hosen because include in the a
they were research. t a
considered more t s
typical of the M e s
mainstream n e
teaching e d s
methods that i s
students would t n e
experience in g d
their mainstream h
Kuwaiti schools. t a
Teaching o h s
practices in i
Kuwait often d s h
focus more on a
simple rote- s v
learning and p i
memorization. P e n
Indeed, primary c g
school practices, a i
typically, are a a
more based on r l
getting through l
the curriculum t s e
rather than c a
delivering the i h r
lesson or o n
involving the c o i
students, leading l n
to students’ i , g
learning
differences rarely p c d
been taken into h i
consideration. In a i s
order to assess l a
the impact of the n d b
behavioural r i
interventions t e l
when combined n i
with these typical s t
mainstream h y
teaching Children with a
methods, a identified learning d b
group of children disabilities from a y
in a Kuwaiti special school in b
government Kuwait comprised e t
mainstream the first cohort of e r
school was also participants. To be n a
ined
psychologists
based on
evidence of
problems in
literacy or
mathematics, but
an IQ equal to or
over 85.
Children in the
special school
followed the
normal Kuwaiti
Ministry of
Education
curriculum but in
classes of
typically no more
than six students
and
individualised
tutorials with
teachers trained
to support
children with
educati on-
related
learning
difficulties.
Students at the
school were
from generally
middle class

socioeconomic backgrounds and were comparison with any improvements

aged between 7 to 15 years. Although obtained under the intervention
the school supported both boys and conditi ons. Interventi on groups
girls, there were two to three times as comprised those undergoing the positive
many boys than girls. The samples for self-statements or the relaxation
the current research reflected these technique behavioural interventions
special school population characteristics. coupled either with multisensory learning
or with copying. One group of students
Children for the present study were were taught English spellings through the
selected following parental consent for recognised literacy intervention method
their child to participate in the study and (multisensory learning) combined with
the agreement of the students one of the behavioural interventions (the
themselves. Selection ensured that all positive self-statements or the relaxation
participating children were Kuwaiti, technique): ten of these multisensory
spoke Arabic as a first language and learning taught students experienced the
were learning English as a foreign positive self-statements and nine the
language. Students for the intervention relaxation technique. Another group
work were then selected based on underwent the same behavioural
scores on the parent version of the interventions but simply practiced English
Attention Hyperactivity Questionnaire in spellings by copying: nine experienced
Arabic (Al-Sharhan, 2012). This scale the positive self-statements and nine the
provided an indication of attention or relaxation technique – although the
behavioural problems that the target latter groups reduced to five and eight
behavioural intervention aimed to respectively by the end of the period of
reduce. Children were selected if they intervention (this rate of attrition is
had a score of 12 or more on the scale; considered in the discussion of this
in normative data, less than 7% of the paper). All students were tested on their
Kuwait mainstream population were English spelling levels pre- and post-
given a score of 6 or more on the intervention, or for the baseline group,
attention scale and less than 17% were over the same period as the
given a score of 6 or more on the interventions.
hyperactivity scale (as reported in Al-
Sharhan, 2012). Children were assigned
The non-LD students in the study were
to intervention groups and an additional
all Kuwaiti male students (note that
group producing baseline improvement
Kuwaiti schools are segregated by sex of
data. The latter group of children simply
child) in the fifth grade of a mainstream
experienced their normal special school
government run school. Most of the
teaching methods with no behavioural
students came from middle class socio-
intervention. They comprised 37 children
economic backgrounds. These students
who were tested on their English spelling
had Arabic as a first language with
at the start and end of the intervention
English learnt as a foreign language.
period so that a baseline of
The particular school included in this
improvement produced by the special
study was an opportunity sample based
school methods could be determined for
on contacts of the researchers, but was

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and a boys school the period leading up to s c
was used as most of the end of the primary i e
the LD students were school years (grades 4 z
male. Another factor and 5) has often been e w
in using this school considered in Kuwait as s e
was that the school the point where r
principal was students show evidence i e
interested in the of falling behind in n
work and, therefore, their education and is s
supported the often the point when t l
process of processes targeted at h i
conducting the detecting an e g
research by ensuring education- based h
that staff and learning disability would s t
students were be implemented. c l
available as much Dependent on the class h y
as was possible that they were in, o
given the timing of students were o s
the research: the assigned to two l m
study was different interventions, a
undertaken near to one involving positive w l
the end of the school self-statements and one h l
year, which led to the relaxation e e
time pressures from technique. An r r
end-of-year exams independent baseline e
and the need to group was also used to t
finish the Ministry of assess expected levels t h
Education of improvement h a
curriculum, factors without intervention. e n
that would be All these students
expected to increase experienced normal r n
the potential for English literacy teaching e o
stress-related methods used in s r
negative behaviours Kuwaiti mainstream e m
which were the schools. Class a a
target of the present r l
work. Fifth grade c l
classes were chosen h y
for intervention since
they comprised a t r
transition period o e
between primary and o p
middle school, k o
potentially leading to r
increased pressure p t
on children that may l e
manifest through a d
negative behaviour –
for a Kuwaiti spelling levels pre- R
school (which and post- e
are typically 18 intervention, or for p
to 25 students or the baseline group, e
more); however, over the same t
it is not unusual period as the i
for students to interventions. t
miss classes at i
the end of the Materials o
school year and n
this tendency All students s
meant that the underwent a
numbers of spelling task o
children in each comprising English f
class varied over words during the
the course of the first and last w
study. Therefore, session of the study o
only those for – or an equivalent r
whom data period of time for d
were available at the baseline s
the start and groups. Words
finish of the were selected from w
study were the Ministry of e
included in the Education’s English r
present data curriculum: at the e
analyses. This end of each
meant that chapter of the
there were 18 curriculum text
students in the there are a number
positive self- of words (i.e.,
statements class vocabulary) that all
and 15 students students need to
in the relaxation learn for that
technique group, chapter. Words
and that baseline were selected from
data were these end-of-
obtained from chapter lists to
23 students. match each
Participation in student’s grade
the research level. The words
was conditional were read out to
on parental the students
consent and the allowing enough
agreement of time for the
the students students to write
themselves. All the word. Students
students were were asked to
tested on their write clearly.
allowed and only the pace of creating these positive self-statements

pronunciation determined the timing of materials were based on ideas of
the task, which lasted only about 5 developing affirmations by Bloch (2003)
minutes and the number of words spelt and recommendations of Conderman &
correctly was the measure. The same Hedin (2011).
lists of words (20 for the LD children and
30 for the non-LD children to allow for Relaxation technique
potential differential improvements over
time) were used for pre and post testing. Students were taught to concentrate on
breathing from their diaphragm at the
Intervention/teaching strategies beginning of each teaching session.
They were asked to put one hand on
Positive self-statements their chest and the other on their
stomach and to concentrate on making
Students learnt a set of positive self- the hand on the stomach rise higher
statements aimed at boosting self- than the one on their chests when they
esteem and self regulation of thoughts, inhale and lower when they exhaled. For
feelings and behaviour at the beginning the relaxation part of the intervention,
of each teaching session. Statements the students were asked to focus their
were introduced by their teacher and attention on certain parts of the body
comprised 15 positive self-statements (particularly their head, neck, shoulder,
printed on cards with pictures that could arms, hands, stomach, back, legs, and
be associated with that statement. lastly their feet). They were asked to
Teachers were trained to help the notice whether those parts were tense
students verbalize the statements as well and to try to relax them by paying
as discuss what the statements mean attention to each part. If the students did
and give examples for some of the not understand the meaning of tense,
statements when possible. This occurred they were asked to squeeze their hands
at the beginning of each class, with 5-7 and then to let go and relax to
minutes in total being used for this demonstrate the meaning of tense
procedure. The intervention was not versus relaxed. The whole intervention
aimed directly at changing the took about 5-7 minutes of the beginning
behaviour, rather to change students’ of each session. (These methods were
way of thinking about themselves and similar to the relaxation methods used
their abilities. Hence, some cards by Murdoch, 1987.)
contained a positive message about the
students’ concentration and/or attention,
Multisensory learning
whereas other dealt with the students’
own feelings towards themselves: for
For the LD-specific educational
example, “I can solve spelling and other
intervention, a multisensory method of
problems when I am calm”, “I am
learning how to spell was used (based
capable of spelling many words”, “I can
on Simultaneous Oral Spelling by
stay in my seat for 15 minutes”, “I am
Broomfield, 2004). Students were given
worthy and capable”. Principles for
words from the Ministry of Education

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During the sessions, e T g
the students were h r
asked to learn as d e o
many words as they u
could by going u s p
through the sheet. t s
On each sheet, each r u
word was to be seen d s
(look), pronounced e e p
(say), spelt (name), n e
and traced twice s t n
(trace); the student s t
then was required to B
hide the word and to i t
spell it (write), after a n h
which they were to e
check whether the s t
spelling was correct h f
(check). If the e i
e
spelling was wrong, r
they repeated the li s
L
exercise. t
D
n
Copying 5
i
e
n
In this condition, t
t
students were given The students in the o
e
several sheets with baseline group were
chosen from the same r
five words on each 7
sheet. As in the special school or v
previous condition, a mainstream school as e
n m
total of 60 words was the intervention i
used. The students children. They were t
i n
were asked to copy given the same u
each word seven spelling tests as the o
n t
times. This was to intervention groups, e
match with the seven with tests being given s
steps in the three weeks apart.
multisensory learning During the three-week o
condition. period between the f
spelling tests, they had
P normal classes taught e
by their usual teachers a
r and nothing else. c
h
o Special school
intervention conditions s
c
ession going For each
through either participant, the
the positive self- number of correct
statements or spellings was
the body calculated for the
relaxation pre and post
technique with intervention
the teacher. measures; averages
After this per group, with
behavioural standard
intervention, the deviations, can be
student then found in table 1
practiced English and figure 1.
spellings using
either the For both cohorts of
multisensory participants, two-
learning or the way analyses of
copying variance were
procedures for performed to
about 15 investigate any
minutes. evidence for a
differential effect of
Mainstream intervention on
intervention conditions spelling
improvements:
The mainstream with a between
students spent subjects factor of
the first 5 to 7 teaching method
minutes of their (the groups in the
lesson going positive self-
through either statements and
the positive self- relaxation
statements or technique
the body interventions
relaxation versus baseline for
technique with the non-LD groups;
the teacher. This the groups in the
was followed by four intervention
a normal 30 combinations
minute lesson versus baseline for
that focussed on the LD groups) and
English language, a repeated
of which at least measures factor of
half covered pre versus post
spelling English. intervention period
Results

Table 1. Average number of English words spelt correctly (with standard deviations
in brackets) for each intervention combination and the baseline for LD and non-LD
students
Pre-scores Post-scores
Positive Relaxation Positive Relaxation

Self-statements Techniques Self-Statements Techniques
LD Multisensory 1.40 3.56 4.85 9.17

learning (1.26) (2.46) (2.39) (4.89)
1.60
LD Copying 2.63 2.20 7.00
(1.51) (2.39) (3.01) (2.56)
Non LD Mainstream 6.50 8.47 7.33 13.53
teaching (5.40) (6.99) (6.81) (7.61)
3.68 4.95
LD Baseline
(2.46) (3.33)
7.09
Non LD Baseline 9.48
(5.38) (6.79)
spelling score. For both the LD and non-

self-statements + multisensory learning, t
LD students, the interaction between
(9)=5.11, p<.01; LD positive self-
intervention methods and repeated
statements + copying, t(4)=0.70, p=.52;
measures spelling scores were
LD relaxation technique + multisensory
significant (for the non-LD groups, F(2,53)
learning, t(8)=4.44, p<.01; LD relaxation
=5.88, p<.01; for the LD groups, F(4,64)
technique + copying, t(7)=3.12, p=.02).
=7.84, p<.01). There were also significant
To investigate specific improvements
main effects of the repeated measures
provided by the interventions in contrast
factor in both analyses (for the non-LD
to expected baseline improvements,
groups, F(1,53)=32.87, p<.01; for the LD
differences between pre and post scores
groups, F(1,64)=65.83, p<.01), which
were calculated for each group of
were further analysed using paired t-
children and one-way analyses of
tests that indicated signifi cant
variance were performed, one
improvements in all LD and non-LD
comparing each non-LD group and a
groups except for the positive self-
statement non-LD group and the second each LD group. A significant
combined positive self-statement and analysis of variance was followed by
copying LD group (Non-LD baseline, t(22) Dunnett post-hoc compari sons
comparing each intervention method
=3.43, p<.01; Non-LD positive self-
statements, t(17)=1.14, p=.27; Non-LD against baseline. Results indicated
relaxation technique, t(14)=4.56, p<.01; significant analyses of variance for both
LD baseline t(36)=4.02, p<.01; LD positive groups (non-LD, F(2, 53)=5.88, p<.01; LD,
F(4, 64)=7.40, p<.01). Dunnett’s post-hoc

Figure 1. Pre (blue)

a
n
d
p
o
s
t
(
r
e
d
)
t
e
s
t

scores in
English
spelling
across the
interventi
on and
baseline
conditions
Note: non‐LD groups are on the right of the graph
with slightly brighter colours; figures above bars
are post scores divided by pre scores, which
indicate proportional increase, whereas
differences between red and blue bars in vertical
axis values indicate the number of extra spelling
learnt over the intervention period
comparisons of the
-statements (p<.01,
non-LD data
one-tailed), and the
indicated significant
relaxation technique
effects for the
plus copying (p<.01,
relaxation technique
one-tailed), but not
compared to
for the positive self-
baseline (p=.03, one-
statements plus
tailed), but not for
copying
positive self-
combination.
statements
compared to
baseline. The same
Discussion
comparisons against
baseline for the LD
intervention The findings
combinations indicated that there
indicate significant were significant
effects for positive improvements in
self-statements spelling scores
plus multisensory found in most
learning (p<.05, one- intervention
tailed), the relaxation
technique plus
positive self

conditions compared to baseline. technique LD groups, but more than

Specifically, there were significant three times for the LD children who
improvements in spelling under the experienced multisensory learning and
relaxati on techniques, whether positive self-statements (see values in
combined with multisensory learning, figure 1). These findings suggest that
copying or mainstream teaching behavioural interventions, such as those
compared to baseline. In addition, training self-monitoring, need to be
compared to baseline, there were combined with appropriate educational
improvements in spelling scores in the methods (we will return to a discussion
positive self-statements condition but of this point below).
only when it was coupled with a
multisensory method of learning. These
The effects identified with the
improvements argue that targeting
multisensory learning technique are
behavioural problems will improve
worthy of further consideration and
educational achievement, but that some
additional research. Multisensory
types of behavioural intervention may
learning has been used for many years
have to be combined with an
in schools across numerous countries
appropriate educational method. For the
(primarily in the USA and UK). However,
positive self-statements intervention,
despite its popularity among
improvements were evident only with
practitioners, there are relatively few
one of the teaching conditions included
research studies that have confirmed its
in the study. Simple rote learning, be it
usefulness as an educati onal
copying or in general oral teaching of
intervention (see discussion of this point
class material, may not be effectively
in Joshi, Dahlgren & Boulware-Gooden,
combined with a behavioural
2002; though see also the work of Chia
intervention technique that focuses on
& Houghton, 2011, in Singapore, Guyer &
internalising outcome: indeed, when
Sabatino, 1989, with adult students in the
these self-focused methods were
USA, and Oakland, Black, Stanford,
combined with more rote learning
Nussbaum & Balise, 1998, with children
methods (i.e., mainstream teaching
in the USA). The current data do argue
methods and the copying method used
for the effectiveness of multisensory
with the special school students),
learning when combined with
changes in the targeted outcome were
behavioural interventions, at least in
potentially worse than under conditions
terms of increases in spelling
of no intervention at all. However, when
performance. Furthermore, the dropout
combined with multisensory learning, the
levels evident in the copying condition
positive self-statements intervention
could be construed as the students with
showed reasonable gains in spelling,
learning difficulties feeling uninterested or
which were proportionally as good, if
bored, in contrast to the multisensory
not better, than those found in the
learning condition in which all students
relaxation technique condition: i.e., post
continued to the end of the intervention
intervention spelling scores were just
period. Therefore, one interpretation of
less than three times those of pre-
the effectiveness of the multisensory
intervention scores for the relaxation
learning condition is that it engaged

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ere the effects 2011; Paul et al., 2007) t i
identified with the which may have been a q
relaxation technique. experienced in tests of l u
This had a positive spelling – and reducing k e
effect on spelling test anxiety has been ,
scores with both seen as positive for a
cohorts of students. both LD and non-LD a n
One interpretation of children (see Russel & n d
these effects is that Sipich, 1974). Whether d
relaxation achieves a these techniques show p
reduction in stress similar levels of a o
levels (Beauchemin, effectiveness when s
Hutchins & stress/anxiety is low c i
Patterson, 2008; Paul may be a further area o t
et al., 2007), which for future research. The m i
may be particularly present findings, b v
high in students with though, do indicate i e
literacy-related that targeted n
learning problems relaxation also has the a s
when faced with potential to support t e
spelling tasks and learning in children i l
also with under specific learning o f
mainstream conditions. There is n -
students around also evidence that they t
examination times. may be effectively o a
Such relaxation applied in combination f l
techniques may have with self-monitoring k
led to the students methods. A study by t .
feeling calmer than Collins et al. (1981) h
usual allowing them looked at the effects of e T
to concentrate on self-initiated relaxation, h
learning; consistent positive self- r e
with those studies e
that have found that l r
breathing and a e
relaxation techniques x s
can aid a u
concentration, t l
improving both i t
memory and on- o s
task behaviour n
(Amerikaner & s
Summerlin, 1982). t h
Also, relaxation e o
techniques can work c w
to lower anxiety h e
levels (Malinski & n d
Todaro- Franceschi,
that the students methods will be s r
in the combined useful and when e i
strategy they may not. The l e
performed evidence of the f n
better than the current research - c
control group in suggests that self- s e
measures of monitoring t s
reading methods, such as a
comprehension positive self- t t
and retention. statements, may e o
Hence, a need to be m
combination of combined with e l
self-monitoring educational n e
and relaxation methods that are t a
training (which successful and/or s d
might also form engaging. When
part of the self- such self- m t
monitoring monitoring e o
methods) may methods are paired t
provide further with teaching h p
insights for methods that seem o o
intervention to be less engaging, d s
development. improvements in i
achievement may m t
The general not be evident. a i
conclusion, Note that copying y v
therefore, from and mainstream e
the work teaching methods r
reported in this can be paired e i
paper is that successfully with q n
behavioural a behavioural u t
interventions intervention (in this i e
can be effective case, the relaxation r r
when applied technique), at least e n
appropriately, at in the learning a
least in certain contexts of the p l
educational present work; o i
contexts or rather the data s s
circumstances. indicate a specific i a
Further work is detrimental t t
clearly necessary influence on the i i
to determine the positive self- v o
conditions for statements e n
effectiveness and method. One .
develop theories interpretation of e
that will allow the specific effects x F
predictions of of self-monitoring is p o
when such that the positive e r
many

children with developmental learning changes in self-esteem: some have

difficulties, educational achievement has found positive effects (Omizo & Omizo,
probably been seen as external to their 1988; Ozimo, Ozimo & D’Andrea, 1992),
own control – no matter how hard they whereas others have not (Stafford & Hill,
try, they still fail. Externalising control 1989). A prolonged period of positive
may have the advantage of protecting achievement and engagement,
self-esteem, but the disadvantage of combined with counselling that leads to
leading to feelings akin to learnt a more internal locus of control, should
helplessness. Consistent with this, in a lead to improvements in self-concept.
study of the relationship between self- This viewpoint argues for the need to
esteem and educational achievement implement counselling-based strategies
among Kuwaiti mainstream children, Al- along-side educational interventions
Azmi (2010) found that poor scores on that are likely to be engaging and show
measures of educational achievement gains in achievement. If gains in
(particularly spelling) were associated achievement are short-lived or
with low self-esteem, but that this perceived as external to the individual,
relationship was influenced by scores on there will be little effect on self-belief or
a locus of control scale; i.e., the child’s on the child’s view that they have some
view on whether they had control over control over their educational
events related to them, which may of achievement. Under such
course include their achievement in circumstances, psychological
literacy. Those with high external locus
-based strategies, such as positive self-
of control did not show this relationship
statements, probably will not be
between self-esteem and educational
effective optimally.
achievement.
Although further research is needed, the
The effectiveness of a psychological- improvements identified give cause for
based intervention is that it changes the optimism regarding such combined
child’s view, leading to achievement behavioural/educational interventions
being perceived as an attribute of the (see also findings in Everatt et al., 2011).
self. This would be associated with The methods used were for a relatively
internalizing locus of control and, hence, short period (only three weeks) and
improvements in self-esteem through further gains may have been apparent if
positive experiences and achievement. a longer period of training and support
However, if experiences are negative, as had been available. This may be the
in tasks that are seen as boring and not case particularly for positive self-
engaging, or where gains in statements intervention, where a longer
achievement are short-lived or period of training might be needed to
perceived as external to the individual, ensure that the strategies associated
then there is likely to be little effect on with this technique are fully understood
self-concept. Such an interpretation may and appropriately used by the student.
also explain contradictory findings in the Such techniques may also require a
literature about the benefits derived certain level of maturity from the child
from counselling interventions related to be able to implement strategies that
to require control over thoughts and
b r
e e
h
a e
v f
i f
o e
u c
r t
s i
v
– e
t i
h n
o
u b
g o
h t
h
t
h c
e o
h
e o
v r
i t
d s
e
n f
c r
e o
m
t
h l
a a
t t
t e
h
e p
s r
e i
m
w a
e r

y years (from about internalized. This will A t
age 10 onwards) lead to an increased h
c
suggests that they likelihood of self- e
k
can be used esteem improvements,
n
effectively with fairly and a reduction in C
o
young children, but learned helplessness e
w
further research that should increase n
le
should help identify motivation to learn, t
d
potential critical even if literacy-based e
periods for the interventions shift to a g
e r
effectiveness of these focus on areas of
methods. Finally, relative weakness. m
e f
further research Clearly, further o
considering research is necessary, n
ts r
strategies that build but this strategic
on strengths of the combined approach C
individual with a may prove useful T
h h
learning difficulty particularly for older i
may be worthwhile. children who have e
l
Many children with experienced a d
LD show abilities in prolonged period of a
certain areas while failure during their u
t E
showing weaknesses education and it may v
in others, and some provide one way of h
o a
research has shown counteracting the l
positive effects on reduction in success r
s u
educational found for current a
achievement when intervention t
using these abilities, programmes as the w
o i
particularly in older child grows older. o
children, in contrasts u
l n
to attempts to
remediate areas of d
a
weakness (see n
Weeks, Brooks & l
i d
Everatt, 2002). If a
focus upon the k
e T
child's strengths e
increases a
achievement for t
o c
some period of time, h
then targeting locus i
of control together t
h n
with self- g
management a
counselling strategies n
k i
should lead to the n
achievements being
Kuwait for their s aimed at o l
support in this reducing u o
work. They behavioural t g
and c y
would also like to
educational o ,
thank the m
difficulties
Ministry of amongst e 2
Education in Kuwaiti 0
Kuwait for their students. PhD l ,
support with thesis, i
access to University of t
4
schools. Surrey, UK. e
0
Al-Azmi, Y. (2010). r
0
Relationships a
-
between t
4
academic u
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e
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( s
1
9 f
8 r
9 o
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.
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The use of ubiquitous bottle caps as concrete aids to learn to read and spell for struggling readers 132

Vol. 2, No. 2, July 2015, pp 132 ‐ 143
DOI: 10.3850/S2345734115000253
H
The use of ubiquitous bottle caps as u
concrete aids to learn to read and spell m
a
for struggling readers n
s
Ong Puay Hoon1*, Ong Puay Tee2, Ong Puay Liu3, Carol Persad4, w
Wallace Lee Boon Liang5 and Alban @ William John Lisen6 e
r
e
1 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
2 Faculty of Business, Malaysia Multimedia University, Melaka
n
3 Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor
e
4 Centre for Development of Language & Literacy, University of Michigan
v
5 Dyslexia Association of Sarawak, Kuching, Sarawak
e
6 Laksamana Primary School, Kuching, Sarawak
r
b
Abstract o
r
n
t
o
r
e
a
d
(
W
o
l
f
,
2
0
08), and yet the ability to read has become a critical skill to lead
a functional life in the modern society. Children with dyslexia and
other learning disabilities often struggle to learn to read due to
the differences in brain neurology or function (Shaywitz,
2005). There have been various evidences that children with
learning difficulties learn best through multisensory activities
(Logsdon, 2014).
This paper describes the use of ubiquitous bottle caps as concrete

learning aids to read and spell CVC (C – consonant, V – vowel) words
in English by struggling readers attending remedial education in
their primary schools. The project took place during a summer
camp, in Malaysia and progress was followed up 2 months after
the camp had finished. Significant improvements were
found and these improvements were maintained after the
intervention finished. The impact of the use of this learning tool
in a literacy camp with 13 struggling readers will be discussed.
* Correspondence to:
Ong Puay Hoon, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, email:
ophoon@yahoo.com

133 P. H. Ong, P. T. Ong, P. L. Ong, C. Persad, W. B. L. Lee & A. @ W. J. Lisen
Introduction total of 142,612 of this cohort failed at

least one core subject (Bahasa Malaysia,
Humans were never born to read (Wolf, English, Mathematics, Science, History,
2008), and yet the ability to read has Moral/Islamic Education) in the Form 5
become a critical skill to lead a functional national examination, thus failing to
life in the modern society. The UNESCO- achieve the minimum academic standard.
led ‘Education for All’ movement, Similar trends were observed in the
launched in 1990, is a global commitment earlier cohort of Primary 1 students in
(including by Malaysia) to provide quality 1999 (MOE Malaysia, 2013).
basic education for all children, youth and
adults (UNESCO, 2014). All children,
Initial difficulties in learning to read and
regardless of who they are, where they write can condemn a child to failure in
come from, where they live and whether school and possible early abandonment
they have or have no disabilities, have a of education. The Cabinet Committee
right to quality education that provides then declared for primary education to
them with literacy and/or vocational skills emphasise on mastering the basic skills of
so as to be skilled or professional human reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic (3Rs)
capital in the future. (Cabinet Report, 1979). The National
Education Blueprint 2006-2010 (MOE
In Malaysia, the issue of students who Malaysia, 2006) states that in the year
dropped out of school due to various 2004, there were more than 115,000
reasons including economic factors, home students (7.7%) in Primary 1-3 who had
background, teacher factors or poor not mastered the basic 3R’s – reading,
literacy and numeracy skills has existed writing and arithmetic. For the year 2005,
since the early formulation of the 4.4% of primary school students had not
Malaysian education system and became acquired these basic literacy skills. Later
more critical in the 1960's (Murad, 1972). research reports that 80,000 primary
Between 1956 to 1970, more than 40% of school children had problems in the
primary school students dropped out acquisition of basic skills, which include
without joining any secondary schools reading (Rahil & Habibah, 2008). A study
(UNESCO, 1973). The National Education undertaken in conjunction with the
Blueprint 2006-2010 (MOE Malaysia, 2006, Educational mandate called National Key
p. 28) reports that for the 1999-2004 Result Area (NKRA) found that as many as
cohort of primary school students, drop- 14% (54,000) Primary 1 students had not
out rates were 1.9% for urban and 1.2% for mastered the 2R’s skills of reading and
rural schools. Among secondary students writing (Norliza Zakuan, 2010). Many of
of the 2000-2004 cohort, 9.3% in urban and these students remained unable to read,
16.7% in rural schools have dropped out write and do mathematics when they
without completion of their secondary entered Primary 4. This data also showed
school education. Recently, the National that students who had not acquired these
Education Blueprint 2013-2020 reports that basic literacy skills contributed to an
out of 509,329 students in Primary 1 in increase in dropout rate from school
2000, 8% of them (40,747 students) did not besides increasing cases of indiscipline.
complete Form 5 secondary education. A Children with learning difficulties seem to

h r
a n
v i
e n
g
t
h t
e o
i
r r
e
p a
r d
i .
m L
a y
r o
y n
d (
i 1
f 9
f 9
i 6
c )
u
l e
t s
i t
e i
s m
a
r t
o e
o d
t
e t
d h
i
i s
n
p
l e
e r
a c

entage to be as much as 80%. they were in mainstream classes, t t
surely they will not work even when h h
As many students still do not they are in smaller remedial classes. e e
master these skills, the Ministry of Instead,
Education (MOE) Malaysia i f
introduced the Early Intervention n e
Reading and Writing Class (KIA2M) e e
program in 2006 that identifies f l
children with reading and writing f i
difficulties in the first year of e n
primary education and provides c g
them with additional intensive t s
tutoring by teachers trained in i
special education. In 2010, through v o
the NKRA Educati onal mandate, e f
the MOE implemented the n
Literacy and Numeracy Screening e f
(LINUS) program that aims to s a
ensure that each student will s i
master the basic skills after the first l
three years of primary education o u
(Norliza Zakuan, 2010). f r
e
Children with dyslexia and other t
learning disabilities often struggle h a
to learn to read due to the e n
differences in brain neurology or s d
function (Shaywitz, 2005). As these e
children have a right to quality f
education that will enable them to m r
read and write, it is essential that e u
appropriate and effective methods t s
are used by teachers in cognizance h t
of their learning styles and o r
capabilities that are different from d a
other typical children. Anecdotal s t
evidence from observations of i
remedial classes in schools and c o
conversations with both teachers o n
and parents show that many m
teachers employ the same p a
methods to teach children with o m
learning disabilities as with their u o
other typical students, albeit in n n
smaller groups and higher d g
intensity. Needless to say, as such s
methods have not worked for t
learning-disabled students while
hese children. tuv wxyz – with shorter segments
and where m and n are separated
Use of a physical and into different segments.
manipulative tool as aid to
learn to read
There has been a range of

evidence indicating that children
with learning difficulties learn best
through multisensory activities
(Logsdon, 2014). The use of caps
of mineral and drinking water
bottles as a physical aid might be
effective for many children with
dyslexia and other learning
disabilities as they allow easy and
convenient manipulation to
sequence letters, form or segment
syllables, construct words and
practice activities on word
building, phonemic
segmentation and auditory
processing. In addition, they are
very easily available in various
colours, at no cost and are very
light and easily packed to be
carried by the children and
easily kept in the classroom.
A permanent red marker pen is

used to write the letters in small
caps on the tops of the bottle
caps. While light-colored bottle
caps (for example, light blue or
green) are used for the vowels a,
e, i, o, u, white-colored caps are
used for the consonants (the
reason being that white caps are
more easily obtained).
Structure of syllabus for reading

instruction using the bottle caps
Step 1: The first session

commenced with the cap
arrangement into the alphabet
series using the modified ABC
song – abcd efg hij klm nop qrs
a b c d
e f g h i j
k l m n o p
q r s t u v
w x y z
Figure 1. Bo1le cap arrangement for step 1
Compare this with the regular ABC song, arrangement of bottle caps while singing
taught right from kindergarten – the modified ABC song brings together
tactile, visual and auditory components
abcdefg hijklmnop qrstu and v wxyz. for meaningful memorization. In addition,
There is a definite tendency for students, children with dyslexia are often confused
especially for those with learning with directionality of letters of similar
disabilities, to ‘drop’ one of the pairs of shapes like b‐d‐p‐q, m‐w, m‐n and u‐n.
similar-sounding letters like j or k, m or n, Use of bottle caps allows them to turn or
or to forget parts of the lengthy segments rotate the caps while trying to figure them
or think that the ‘and’ in the song is for out.
another letter. The repeated singing of
the ABC song attempts to commit to sheer Step 2: Upon mastery of the alphabet
memorization of the alphabet series and series, the sounds for the first set of 10
this will be successful for typical children. letters, a b c f h m p r s t, are introduced.
However for children with dyslexia who Caps of letters outside this set are kept
have difficulties in working memory, this aside.
method might not be effective. The

S t
t
e 1
p ,
3 b
: l
A e
f n
t d
e i
r n
m g
a
s o
t f
e
r C
y V
o i
f s
t
h i
e n
s t
e r
o
l d
e u
t c
t e
e d
r .
s
o S
u t
n u
d d
s e
n
i t
n s
S p
e r
acticed forming and reading the processing activities are done using t d
CV syllables, where V is a, with the bottle caps together with h .
the caps. The syllables are ba, ca, reading and spelling activities. Set r
fa, ha, ma, pa, ra, sa and ta. Set 1 3 of e E
of four sight words - and, the, on, e x
is – is introduced using flash a
cards. s m
i p
Step 4: After mastery of these g l
syllables, CVC word building with h e
Set 1 letters is then introduced, t s
where words such as bat, cat,
fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, tap, w o
tab, tac, fab, ham, has can be o f
formed. Phonemic segmentation r
and auditory processing d s
activities are done with these s h
words to increase understanding o
and mastery. Examples include: - r
t
a. Form cat. What do you do to h
change cat to hat? Student a s
changes cap c with cap h. v e
b. Now, change hat to has. The e n
cap t is removed and , t
replaced with cap s. e
I n
Set 2 of four sight words - a, this, , c
has, it – is introduced using flash e
cards. Short sentences are then y s
introduced. Some examples o
include: u i
n
The cat is fat. – t
The cat sat on the mat. r
The cat and the rat sat on i o
the mat. This is a hat. It is s d
on Pat. u
i c
Step 5: After mastery of Set 1 n e
letters and Sets 1-2 sight words, t d
the letter sound for vowel o is r
then introduced as Set 2. The o a
combination of 11 letters in Sets 1 d r
and 2 forms new CVC words like u e
hot, pot, cot, tom, etc. Phonemic c :
segmentation and auditory e
This is a pot. It is hot. – are introduced using flash
This is a cot. I have a cards, together with the
mop. following short sentences:
You
have a Big Ben plays
hot pot. with a hat. You
This is and I play with
a tap. the cat.
Look! The hat is wet. The mat is
Step 6: After mastery of CVC wet. Come and play with the
words from Sets 1-2 letters and bug. It is fun.
Sets 1-3 sight words, letter
sounds of Set 3 - i u d g j - are Appendix 1 shows the use of the bottle
introduced. Examples of new
CVC words from the
combination of 16 letters in
Sets 1-3 include bug, bun, dig,
wig, cup, sit. Again, bottle caps
are used in the phonemic
segmentation and auditory
processing activities for these
CVC words. Set 4 sight words -
play, with, we – is introduced,
together with the following
examples of short sentences:
A bug. This
is a big bug.
I play with
big bug.
We
have a
cup.
Big
bug
sat on
jug.
Step 7: Upon mastery of CVC

words in both reading and
spelling from Sets 1-3 letters
and Sets 1-4 sight words, the
letter sounds of the final Set 4
is introduced - d e k l n v w z.
New words include dug, dig,
Ken, lot, wet, nut, etc. Set 5
sight words - at, look, me, come
caps and Appendix 2 displays the Figure 2 shows the number of sight words
syllabus of the above reading instruction read correctly in one minute in the four
program. tests. In all the students except E, the
number of sight words read correctly
Results increased at different incremental rates
from pre-test to progressive test and to
The above syllabus was employed in a 6- post-test. For the re-assessment after two
day literacy camp for 13 struggling months of the camp, the number of sight
readers from six different primary words read correctly increased or
schools. The students were named as A to remained constant from that of the post-
M and were average age 9 years. test for eight of the 13 students (≈ 62%).
Students E and F were females while the For the five students who showed a
rest were males, giving a male: female reduction from post-test to re-assessment,
ratio of struggling readers in the camp as the number of sight words read correctly
11:2 or approximately 5:1. The bottle during the re-assessment is still higher
caps were used as manipulative tools in a than that of the pre-test for each child.
highly structured and cumulative manner. Student K started out without being able
The students’ reading ability was tested to read a single sight word in the pre-test,
in a pre-test, progressive test, post-test but after the reading program, he showed
(at the end of the camp) and a re- a steady increase from the progressive
assessment two months after the camp. test onwards.
Figure 2 Number of sight words read correctly

A h
e
W
i i
l n
c c
o r
x e
o a
n s
e
P s
a
i i
r n
e
d t
h
S e
i
g n
n u
e m
d b
- e
R r
a
n o
k f
T s
e i
s g
t h
s t
h
o w
w o
e r
d d
s
t
h r
a e
t a
t d
correctly in one minute was camp)
increased or maintained constant
significant between the post- and
the number of CVC words read
pre-tests (Z= -3.183, p<0.05) and
correctly from pre-test to
re- assessment after two months
progressive and post-tests (≈77%).
and pre-test (Z= -3.071, p<0.05). For the re-assessment after two
months of the camp, learning
Figure 3 shows the percent seemed generally stable – four
increase in the number of sight students showed increments in
words read correctly in one the number of CVC words read
minute during the re-assessment correctly while the others showed
conducted two months after the a slight decrease. With the
camp with that from the pre-test. exception of K, the scores at the
While all students registered end of two months for the rest of
increase, dramatic increase of the students were higher than that
100% and more was shown by nine obtained from the post-test.
of the students (≈69%).
A Wilcoxon Paired Signed-Rank
Figure 4 shows the number of CVC Test in SPSS showed that the
words read correctly in one minute increases in the number of CVC
in the four tests. With the words read correctly in one
exception of C, E and K, the rest minute are significant between the
of the ten students exhibited post- and pre-tests (Z= -3.115,
p<0.05) and re-assessment after
two months and pre- test (Z=
-3.062, p<0.05).
Figure 3 Percent increase in the number of sight words read correctly from
pre‐test to re‐ assessment (done two months aƒer the
Figure 4 Number of CVC words read correctly in one minute
Figure 5 Percent change in the number of CVC words read correctly from pre‐test to re‐
assessment (done two months aƒer the camp)

F a
i s
g e
u
r i
e n
4 t
5 h
e
s
h n
o u
w m
s b
e
t r
h
e o
f
p
e C
r V
c C
e
n w
t o
r
i d
n s
c
r r
e e
a a
s d
e
c
o o
r r
r
d e
e c
c t
r l
e y

during re-assessment two months which are equivalent to effect sizes, m m
after the camp with that from the an effect size of o m
pre-test. Only student K registered 0.2 in interventions is deemed d e
a 50% reduction while the rest of small, 0.5 e d
the 12 students showed different r i
percentages of increase. a a
t t
Discussion and Conclusion e e
The reading ability of this group of a i
13 struggling readers, both in n m
terms of sight words and CVC d p
words, has generally improved a
after the literacy camp where the 0 c
reading instruction program was . t
conducted in a structured and 8
cumulative manner and where o
bottle caps were used as a f
manipulative aids in letter n
recognition, word building, d t
phonemic segmentation and h
auditory processing. This ability to o e
read sight and CVC words seemed v
rather stable, even after two e i
months. It is highly probable that r n
the students have somewhat t
gained a sense of decoding, that h e
is, making a clear connection i r
between the grapheme and g v
phoneme of the alphabet series for h e
English. Without acquisition of this . n
decoding skill, learning would be t
temporary. N i
o o
It is often easier to improve the t n
skills of children who have already e
made some progress in reading. w
Interestingly, however, children t a
who were very low achieving made h s
striking improvements in their a
ability with the use of this easily t z
available technique. It should also
be noted that the improvements t s
made were striking, with one child h c
(G) reading only 10 words at e o
pre-test and achieving over r
70 at the delayed post-test. If we i e
consider the z scores achieved,
3.2 and the delayed effect 3.1
for sight words, whereas CVC
words were almost equivalent at
3.1 for both times of testing. This
indicates an extremely high
effect size on all conditions at all
times of testing.
This reading instruction

program has shown that
teaching strategies that use
multi-sensorial activities and
physical learning aids such as
the ubiquitous bottle caps can
be effective to guide struggling
readers to learn to read and
write. Further research should
be done to gather more
concrete evidence of the use of
bottle caps by conducting a
case- control study design.
The implications of this research

for countries where facilities for
support are limited can be
particularly encouraging. This
suggests that free, easily
available materials such as this
can begin to change the
educational outlook for children
at risk across the region, even
where continued specialist
support may always be
available. With the provision of
early intervention and specialist
support, these figures could be
extended to many more children
with problems in learning to
read.

References System of Malaysia, 1972. Bangkok:

UNESCO Regional Office for Education
Cabinet Report (19 79). Laporan in Asia, p. 75.
Jawatankuasa Kabinet Mengkaji
UNESCO (2014). Education for All Movement.
Pelaksanaan Dasar Pelajaran (Report
Retrieved May 10, 2014 from http://
of Cabinet Committee’s Investigation of
www.unesco.org/new/en/education/
the Implementation of Educational
themes/leading-the-international-
Policies). Kuala Lumpur: Ministry of
agenda/education-for-all/
Education Malaysia.
Wolf, M. (2008). Proust and the Squid: The
Logsdon, A. (2014). Make Multisensory
Story and Science of the Reading Brain .
Teaching Materials. Retrieved May 10,
Harper-Perennial.
2014 fro m http://learning
disabilities.about.com/od/instructional
materials/p/mulitsensory.htm
Lyon, G. R. (1996). Learning Disabilities.
Special Education for Students with
Disabilities, 6(1): 54-76. Acknowledgements
Murad bin Mohd Noor (1972). Laporan
Jawatankuasa di atas Kajian Pendapat The authors record their heartfelt thanks
Mengenai Pelajaran dan Masyarakat - and gratitude to the Ministry of Science,
Laporan Keciciran (Murad Dropout
technology and Innovation MOSTI) for e-
Report). Kuala Lumpur: Kementerian
Pelajaran dan Jabatan Perangkaan. science grant 06-01-09-SF0098 to
Ministry of Education Malaysia (2006). undertake the research and to the U.S.
Malaysia Education Blueprint 2006- Department of State’s Bureau of
2010. Putrajaya: Ministry of Education. Educational and Cultural Affairs and
Ministry of Education Malaysia (2013). Mobility International USA for funding to
Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013- undertake the literacy camp. They also
2025. Putrajaya: Ministry of Education. thank Miss Aester Arlina Chia, Miss Lily bt
Ministry of Education Malaysia (2014). Jaranee and all teachers of the Dyslexia
Statistics: Number of Students Association of Sarawak, Director of State
(Enrolment). Retrieved December 16,
2014 from http://www.moe.gov.my/en/
Education Department and his officers in
home the Special Education Unit, Director of
Norliza Zakuan (2010). Bidang Keberhasilan Sarawak Foundation, Principals and
Utama Nasional (NKRA) Pendidikan teachers in the six primary schools,
(Education National Key Result Area). parents and the 13 students for making
Ministry of Education Malaysia. the camp and the research possible.
Rahil Mahyuddin, & Habibah Elias, (2008).
Reading and Literacy Skills among
Children in the Early School Years. The
International Journal of
Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 3(3):
135-139.
Shaywitz, S. E. (2005). Overcoming Dyslexia: A
New and Complete Science-Based
Program for Reading Problems at Any
Level. Vintage.
UNESCO (1973). The Educational Statistics

A
P
P
E
N
D
I
X
1
—
U
s
e
o
f
B
o
t
t
l
e
c
a
p
s
t
o
r
e
a
d
a
n
d
s
p
e
ll in Malay language by a young struggling reader.

APPENDIX 2—Syllabus of Reading Instruction Program using bottle caps as a learning aid
LEARNING
STEP ACTIVITIES MATERIALS
OUTCOMES
1 Alphabet series ABC song ABC cards
Sequencing of alphabet series with bottle caps Bottle caps
2 Set 1 Letter Matching animals with their sounds Picture cards
sounds Matching Set 1 letters with their of animals
sounds Bottle caps
a, b, c, f, h, m, p, r, s, t
3 CV syllables Blending and reading of CV syllables from Set 1 letters - Bottle caps
from Set 1 ba, ca, fa, ha, ma, pa, ra, sa and ta Flash cards
letters Set 1 Reading of Set 1 sight words - and, the, on, is
sight words
4 CVC word CVC word building with Set 1 letters - Bottle caps
building from bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, tap, tab, tac, fab, Flash cards
Set 1 letters ham Phonemic segmentation and auditory processing activities
Set 2 sight words Review of Set 1 and reading of Set 2 sight words -
Set 1 short a, this, has, it
sentences Reading of short sentences:
The cat is fat. The cat sat on the mat. The cat and the rat
sat on the mat. This is a hat. It is on Pat.
5 Set 2 letter Review of Set 1 letter sounds and introduction of letter sound Bottle caps
sound for o as Set 2. Flash cards
CVC word CVC word building with Sets 1 and 2 letters -
building from hot, pot, cot, tom, top, etc.
Sets 1-2 letters Phonemic segmentation and auditory processing activities
Set 3 sight words Review of Sets 1-2 and reading of Set 3 sight words -
Set 2 short have, I, you,
sentences Review of Set 1 and reading of Set 2 short sentences:
This is a pot. It is hot. This is a cot. I have a
mop. You have a hot pot. This is a tap.
6 Set 3 letter Review of Sets 1-2 letter sounds and introduction of letter Bottle caps
sounds sounds for Set 3 - i u d g j. Flash cards
CVC word CVC word building with Sets 1-3 letters -
building from bug, bun, dig, wig, cup, sit, etc.
Sets 1-3 letters Phonemic segmentation and auditory processing activities
Set 4 sight words Review of Sets 1-3 and reading of Set 4 sight words -
Set 3 short play, with, we.
sentences Review of Sets 1-2 and reading of Set 3 short sentences:
A bug. This is a big bug. I play with big bug.
We have a cup. Big bug sat on jug.
7 Set 4 letter Review of Sets 1-3 letter sounds and introduction of letter Bottle caps
sounds sounds for Set 4 - d e k l n v w z. Flash cards
CVC word CVC word building with Sets 1-3 letters -
building from dug, dig, Ken, lot, wet, nut, etc.
Sets 1-4 letters Review of Sets 1-4 and reading of Set 5 sight words -
Set 5 sight words at, look, me, come.
Set 4 short Review of Sets 1-3 and reading of Set 4 short sentences:
sentences Big Ben plays with a hat. You and I play with the cat.
Look! The hat is wet. The mat is wet. Come and play with
the bug. It is fun.

Evaluating the progress of dyslexic children on a small‐group maths intervention programme 144

Vol. 2, No. 1, July 2015, pp 144 ‐ 157
DOI: 10.3850/S2345734115000265
Evaluating the progress of dyslexic R

children on a small‐group maths e
b
intervention programme e
c
c
a
Y
e
o
1
,
T
i
m
B
u
n
n
1
,
A
i
s
h
a
h

Abdullah1, Siti Aisha Bte Shukri1 and Anaberta
Oehlers‐Jaen1
1 Dyslexia Association of Singapore
Abstract
Many students with dyslexia have areas of difficulty

that can affect their maths performance. These
include memory deficits, problems with sequencing,
and number reversals. Moreover, their reading deficits
and poor comprehension may impact on their ability to
solve word problems, a key area in Singaporean maths
and in many other countries. Maths is particularly
important in Singapore, because success in maths
dictates whether a child completes the last 2 years of
primary education at Foundation or Standard level. In
this article, we present an analysis of the progress of
39 dyslexic children aged 7‐11, enrolled with the Dyslexia
Association of Singapore, who had completed 6 months
support for maths. Support is based on principles used in
literacy with a strong emphasis on building concepts to
allow word problems to be completed successfully. Pre
and post intervention measures of children's maths
performance across a full range of curriculum topics were
taken. Results show statistically significant
improvement in all topics targeted, including
addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, time,
fractions, geometry, decimals, percentage, and ratio.
These results are discussed in relation to the increasing
complexity of school maths over the primary phase.
*
Correspondence to:
Rebecca Yeo, Dyslexia Association of Singapore, 1 Jurong West Central 2, #05‐01, Jurong
Point, Singapore 648886 Email: rebecca@das.org.sg

145 R. Yeo, T. Bunn, A. Abdullah, S. A. Bte Shukri & A. Oehlers‐Jaen
Introduction: ma ni pu l a ti ve s a n d pi c t or ia l
representations. This, coupled with
The main mission of the Dyslexia teaching students how to break down
Association of Singapore is to help word problems, enables students to
dyslexic students to learn to read and identify which operation to use in order
write more successfully. It teaches over to solve such questions.
2800 students in its 13 Learning Centres.
All students have been identified as The teaching methodology is based on
dyslexic. About 6 years ago, DAS the needs of the child, with a strong
decided to offer a teaching programme emphasis on concept-building,
specially for our dyslexic students who addressing areas of skill deficit (see
also experienced difficulties with maths, Bunn, 2014 for a series of case studies).
because of persistent, strong demand
from parents of dyslexic children.
The teaching methodology is language
based, cognitive, structured, sequential
Students with dyslexia have specific and cumulati ve, simultaneously
areas of difficulty that can affect their multisensory, diagnostic-prescriptive and
maths performance: poor short term emotionally sound. These principles,
memory, poor working memory, poor based on experience teaching dyslexics
sequencing, reversals, difficulty with to read and write, are hypothesised to
reading word problems and poor be also appropriate for dyslexics
comprehension and vocabulary learning maths. In teaching maths, three
stemming from low language ability. In stages (or levels of representation) are
mathematics, these difficulties can more clearly evident than in teaching
impede their ability to understand reading and writing:
concepts, compute and apply what they
have learned to word problems.
1. Concrete Stage – use of tangible
manipulatives
The DAS Maths Programme has grown
steadily since its small beginnings, and 2. Representation Stage – use of
now supports 250 students in weekly pictures and 2D drawings
small group classes. It aims to effectively
support students with dyslexia who have
3. Abstract Reasoning Stage – use
persistent difficulties in maths, particularly of symbols and word to solve
in word problems, by providing dyslexia- problems.
friendly lessons while keeping in touch
with the mainstream school maths
Every stage of learning ensures that the
syllabus. As students with dyslexia
student links mathematical ideas in a
often have poor vocabulary and
progressive and cumulative way. The
comprehension skills due to a late start
teaching methodology is multisensory in
in reading, word problems are often their
its delivery and allows students to gain
biggest area of deficit. As such, the
hands on experience with maths
programme works on building a student’s
concepts. It is imperative that a student is
maths vocabulary, tying it to concrete
equipped with all the necessary

Figure 1.
Polya’s Four
step process
approach
(1945)
p h
r e
e
r n
e e
q e
u d
i s
s
i b
t u
e t
s m
k a
i y
l
l n
s o
t
t
h n
a e
t c
essarily have, in developing his
mathematical skills. This would are less widely agreed. Shalev's
strengthen their foundations for research (Gross-Tsur, Manor &
confidence in higher- level Shalev, 1996)) in an Israeli
maths, building the path towards context suggests 5-7% of the
curriculum based interventions population, and studies in other
such that the teaching countries (eg Lewis, Hitch &
methodology helps to bridge Walker, 1994, in the UK)
the gap between the student’s suggest a similar range. Research
maths abilities and the school on co-morbidities between these
mathematics syllabus. and other learning difficulties
now strongly suggests that, far
DAS maths programme students from the expected rate of co-
are also taught to solve problems occurrence of 0.3% (5% x 6%),
using Polya’s Four Step Process the actual prevalence of children
approach- understand the with both difficulties is much
problem, plan a strategy, solve higher, perhaps 3%.
the sum and check the workings:
A small scale piece of research
Research on Dyslexia and carried out by DAS in 2012
Maths Learning Difficulties: suggested that of 80 dyslexic
children not currently receiving
Estimates of the prevalence of additional help for maths, about
dyslexia vary, depending on the a third (36.3%) were in fact weak
definitions and statistical cut-off at maths (scoring below 90 on
points used, but 3-6% of the the Steve Chinn 15 Minute test)
general population is perhaps a (Yeo, Shen & Bunn, 2012). The
conservative estimate (Hulme & same study estimated 7.6% of
Snowling, 2009, p38). Estimates these children had scores below
for dyscalculia, or maths learning 90 on both word reading and
difficulties also vary and maths calculation tests. These
figures form part of the
justification for the Dyslexia
Association seeking to develop
its maths teaching programme.

The nature of and causal explanation for including international comparison studies
mathematical learning difficulties remains (eg. Trends in International Mathematics
very unclear. Some theories suggest that and Science Study (TIMSS) see Kaur
there is a single fundamental cause: Brian 2009). Such tests are intended to say
Butterworth, for example, (Butterworth whether a child has learned enough
1999) has argued strongly that a small maths, not what difficulty if any they have
localised brain region, the horizontal in learning. Tools for assessing maths
Intraparietal Sulcus (hIPS), functions as a learning with a focus on learning
"number module"; other neuroscientists difficulties have been developed (eg Key
have argued that there are more than Maths, UK Test of Mathematical Abilities,
one number processing locations in the and TOMA, US). Studies of their value in a
brain (Dehaene, 2011, p266-271). Other Singapore context have suggested that
researchers have argued that several tests from other curricular contexts do not
general background cognitive processing always work well in Singapore (eg Chia &
difficulties, such as procedural learning, Kho 2011, on TOMA2). DAS's own
semantic memory and visuo-spatial research did suggest that the Chinn 15
learning difficulties (Geary, 2004) may Minute and Calculation Fluency tests
together explain the variations in maths (Chinn, 2012) showed very similar patterns
learning that teachers commonly of results between UK and Singaporean
encounter. dyslexics (Yeo, Shen & Bunn 2012).
DAS does not espouse one particular The DAS maths team wanted to develop
theory of mathematical learning a broadly focused maths test whose main
difficulties. Our teaching programme, as purpose would be to evaluate how much
summarised above, is intended to support learning had taken place topic by topic
the learning of students with as wide a and stage by stage. The aim was not to
range of maths learning difficulties as differentiate between maths learners or
possible. It does not screen children for to look for patterns of strengths and
severity or for specific strengths and difficulties. The test, it was hoped, would
difficulties (eg. calculation dysfluency or both measure progress reliably and be a
working memory limitations) Some guide to teaching priorities across topics.
support for our small-group approach The test was evaluated in a short pilot
comes from a study in Singapore (Kaur & study in 2013 (reported in Bunn, Yeo, Siti
Ghani, 2011) in which over 300 students Aisha and Abdullah, 2014, p 85-93). The
at the Primary stage were interviewed results suggested that the students were
about their maths learning in small making progress (Bunn et al. 2014, p 86).
groups; the researchers found that the However, the team wanted to evaluate
students expressed clear preferences for the test more thoroughly, and a study was
working in small groups using a carried out to examine the strengths
manipulatives when learning maths. and weaknesses of the test.
The assessment of children's progress in
maths usually depends most heavily on
performance in public exams and tests,

M o
f
e
3
t 9
h s
t
o u
d
d e
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t
s
P
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t p
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t T
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articipants were Primary 2 The breakdown of the sample
(between the ages of 7.5 to 8 by grade levels is as follows: 2
years old) to Primary 5 students at Primary 2 (P2)
(between the ages of 10.5 to 11 level, 11 students at Primary 3
years old) students who were (P3) level, 14 students at
already on the DAS Maths Primary 4 (P4) level, 5 students
programme at least 6 months at at Primary 5 foundation (P5F)
the time of the first testing. All level and 7 students at P5
students who did not meet this standard (P5S) level (refer to
criterion were excluded from the Figure 2). The grade levels of
sample. This is to ensure that all the students were based on
students have had sufficient the students’ chronological
time to benefit from the school level at the beginning
programme before we evaluate of the study.
their performance. The students
were from the centres where the
In all primary schools in
DAS Math programme was
Singapore, all students would
available at the point of Figure 2.
undergo a streaming
assessment. As of November Breakdown
examination for all subjects at
2013, the DAS Math programme of the
the end of the Primary 4 year
was only available at six centres. students by
(i.e. when an average child is
between the ages of 9.5 to 10 grade levels.
years old). The papers for this
exam are prepared by the
school, with the purpose of
evaluating the students’
strengths and abilities based on
their performance in each
subject. The results of this
streaming exercise will then be
used to guide students’
placement into the types of

subjects they would take in the remaining tests do not cover the Singapore maths
two years of their primary school syllabus fully, and do not reflect the
education: Standard or Foundation. balance of computational and word
Students who have passed at least 3 problems that Singaporean students face.
subjects are allowed to take 4 Standard Moreover, we wanted to be able to
subjects, while students who have passed identify topic by topic what concepts
2 subjects or less are given the flexibility students had learned and still needed to
to decide whether they would like to take work on. This collection of tests, known as
4 Standard subjects, 3 Standard subjects the Annual Testing papers, assesses ten
with 1 other Foundation subject, 2 to pic s ( a d d i ti o n , s u b t r a c ti o n ,
Standard subjects with 2 other multiplication, division, time, fractions,
Foundation subjects, 1 Standard subject geometry, decimals, percentage, ratio)
with 3 other Foundation subjects or 4 and covers calculations and word
F o u n d a ti o n subjects (MOE problems separately within each area.
Communication and Engagement Group,
2014). However, these subject
The test was broken down by grade level
combinations are not set in stone. If a
(i.e. Primary 1 to Primary 6) such that
student performs well in one of the
students only need to attempt the items
Foundation subjects at the P5 level, the
for their grade level and one grade
school may allow for the student to
below. Based on the Singapore
upgrade one or two subjects to the
mathematics curriculum, certain topics
Standard level if the school believes that
were only introduced from a certain
the student can cope. On the other hand,
grade level onwards (e.g. Decimals is
for students who seem to be struggling
only introduced from Primary 4) and thus
with Standard subjects at the P5 level, the
were not tested for students who had not
school may also allow for the student to
yet learned the topic because of the
change that subject to that at the
grade level they were in (e.g. Primary 3).
Foundation level.
In addition, students were assumed to
Materials have attempted the items that are two
grades or more below their grade level
The students’ mathematical conceptual correctly, and thus these items were not
knowledge was assessed using a included in their test paper. For example,
comprehensive set of topical tests that a Primary 5 student would be assumed to
were previously developed by the maths have attempted the items at the Primary
team, with some guidance from Professor 1, Primary 2 and Primary 3 levels
Angela Fawcett and Dr Tim Bunn. The correctly even though he did not do the
items in this instrument were created with questions. The test provides measures of
reference to the 2007 Primary learning on each concept. It also guides
Mathematics Syllabus developed by the teaching as it enables therapists to show
Curriculum and Planning Development which grade level their students are
Division of the Ministry of Education, working on within each topic and
Singapore (2006). We decided to use our whether there is more to do at that level.
in-house test because published maths

P t
r
o t
c e
e s
d t
u
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e n
S N
t o
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d e
e m
n b
t e
s r
w 2
e 0
r 1
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a a
d n
m d
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t n
e
r a
e
d c
o
t p
h y
e
o
f f
i
r t
s h
e same test six months later highest possible score for each d s
(May 2014). The tests were grade and topic. Calculation of e t
administered during one of the the range p u
Math lessons within the school e d
term so as to reduce the n e
logistics problems related to data d n
collection. The test was not e t
timed but students were allowed d s
a maximum of two hourly
sessions to complete the test. o w
While students were doing the n e
test, the teachers in charge had r
to walk around to check the t e
final answers of each question. If h
the final answer was correct, the e a
student could proceed forwards s
to attempt the next question. t s
However, if the final answer o u
was incorrect, the teacher had to t m
direct the student to try the a e
question before. The testing on a l d
topic will be discontinued if the
student has three consecutive n t
questions incorrect or if they u o
have reached the end of the m
section. At the end of the entire b h
test, teachers will mark the e a
students’ responses using the r v
answer scheme that has been e
provided and input the number o
of errors the student has made f a
into a Microsoft Excel file. A t
percentage score would be i t
calculated automatically by the t e
Excel document that can be used e m
for statistical analysis. m p
s t
Results e
t d
Before the data was analysed, h ,
it was first cleaned by checking a
for scores that fell outside the t a
range of possible scores. The n
range of possible scores is t d
defined as the scores between h
the lowest possible score for e t
each grade and topic and the h
e total marks allocated for (t(6) = .003, p=.50). The
these items. A total of 27 comparison of their scores
scores were found to have across topics is documented in
fallen below the range of Table 2. No significant
possible scores. These scores differences were observed in
were adjusted to the lowest any of the topics at the p<.05
possible score as per the level. However, scores
grade level of the student. improved or remained steady
on
Using the clean data, the 4 out of 7 topics, with the
students’ pre- test and post- greatest improvement in
test scores were compared division.
using a one-tailed matched
samples t- test. The data was
evaluated on two levels: (a)
by topic, and (b) by level.
Students’ progress across the

topics
On the whole, regardless of

the grade levels students
were in, the results showed
that there was significant
improvement across all ten
topics. Table 1 summarises
the students’ performance
across the topics.
Students’ progress across
grade level Students’
progress at the P2 level
The Primary 2 students were

only required to attempt a
total of 7 topics, based on the
school curriculum. These
topics include addition,
subtraction, multiplication,
division, time, fractions and
geometry. The analysis also
revealed that there was no
significant improvement in
their scores when the topics
were looked at as a whole

Table 1 — Students’ progress across the topics
Pre-test scores Post-test scores
Topic M SD M SD t-score p
Addition 83.60 14.11 88.44 11.20 t(38) = 2.29 .01*

Subtraction 75.86 22.33 83.58 17.85 t(38) = 1.92 .03*
Multiplication 79.82 16.56 89.75 11.51 t(38) = 4.07 <.001***
Division 66.55 23.09 84.48 17.51 t(38) = 5.67 <.001***
Time 72.36 18.41 81.32 19.21 t(38) = 3.48 <.001***
Fractions 58.79 23.47 77.62 22.85 t(38) = 4.35 <.001***
Geometry 72.25 25.41 81.88 24.82 t(38) = 2.84 .003**
Decimals 45.46 13.36 65.93 34.04 t(25) = 3.61 <.001***
Percentage 36.00 35.93 70.86 20.39 t(6) = 2.66 .002**
Ratio 57.80 42.12 92.81 3.38 t(6) = 2.23 .03*
Note. *p <.05. **p < 01. *** p < .001
Table 2 - Progress of P2 students across the topics
Topic M SD M SD t(1) p
Addition 90.90 0 95.45 6.43 1.00 .25
Subtraction 75.00 7.07 80.00 0 1.00 .25
Multiplication 100.00 0 100.00 0 N.A. N.A.
Division 57.80 42.00 93.75 8.84 1.53 .18
Time 77.80 15.70 72.25 7.85 1.00 .25
Fractions 83.35 23.55 47.20 66.75 0.06 .34
Geometry 100.00 0 96.00 5.66 1.00 .25
Note. *p <.05. **p < .01. *** p < .001

Table
3—
Progr
ess of
P3
stude
nts
across
the
topics
Pre-test
scores
test scores
Topic
Addition
Subtraction
Multiplicatio
Division
Time
Fractions
Geometry
Note.
*p
<.05.
**p < .
01.
*** p
< .001
Table
4—
Progre
ss of
P4
students across the topics

Topic M SD M SD t(13)
Addition 80.11 17.52 84.18 11.63 1.11
Subtraction 70.42 23.79 77.26 18.43 0.84
Multiplication 76.07 14.76 82.39 12.94 1.81
Division 63.51 14.73 80.94 13.24 4.17
Time 68.54 14.36 72.17 16.80 1.43
Fractions 50.36 18.38 73.68 16.52 5.08
Geometry 54.06 25.96 62.91 28.11 1.22
Decimals 26.94 23.39 46.04 35.48 2.12
Note. *p <.05. **p < .01. *** p < .001

Table 5—Progress of P5F students across the topics
Addition 78.54 16.02 82.86 14.82 0.59 .29
Subtraction 90.00 6.74 89.08 7.61 0.30 .39
Multiplication 87.60 11.61 98.66 3.00 2.61 .03*
Division 79.98 13.95 89.98 9.15 1.18 .15
Time 86.66 11.18 94.16 5.59 1.50 .10
Fractions 70.46 13.61 92.52 10.24 2.82 .02*
Geometry 89.98 12.09 98.46 3.44 1.83 .07
Decimals 60.90 21.92 88.66 3.43 2.85 .02*
Note. *p <.05. **p < .01. *** p < .001
Table 6—Progress of P5S students across the topics

Addition 85.37 9.28 93.90 4.93 2.01 .046*
Subtraction 76.63 28.18 96.10 7.16 1.70 .07
Multiplication 78.97 8.06 89.53 8.48 2.26 .03*
Division 76.31 14.45 90.47 12.20 1.96 .049*
Time 86.24 9.91 99.40 1.59 3.67 .005**
Fractions 71.56 14.65 87.39 10.96 3.30 .008**
Geometry 88.29 11.82 97.46 4.47 2.70 .02*
Decimals 71.49 30.57 89.47 34.04 1.87 .055
Percentage 36.00 35.93 70.86 20.39 2.66 .02*
Ratio 57.80 42.11 92.81 3.38 2.23 .03*
Note. *p <.05. **p < .01. *** p < .001

S n
t t
u s
d
e s
n h
t o
w
s
e
’
d
p
r s
o i
g g
r n
e i
s f
s i
c
a a
t n
t t
h
e p
r
P o
3 g
r
e
l
s
e s
v
e i
l n
T a
h l
e l
P t
3 o
p
s i
t c
u s
d
e a
t the post-test level except for Data analyses show that the P5F
d i
addition (t(10) = 0.85, p= .21) students improved significantly in
e c
and subtraction (t(10) = 0.87, three topics: multiplication (t(4) = c s
p= .20). Table 3 summarises the 2.61, p< .05), fractions (t(4) = 2.82, i
results of the students at the P3 p< .05) and m w
level. A significant improvement a e
was also observed when all the l r
topics were studied collectively s e
(t(6) = 5.15, p < .01).
( c
Students’ progress at the P4 t o
level ( n
4 s
At the P4 level, decimals is ) i
introduced as a new topic. d
Thus, a total of eight topics were = e
assessed at the P4 level. r
Significant improvements were 2 e
only observed for four topics: . d
multiplication (t(13) = 1.81, p< . 8
05), division (t(13) = 4.17, p< . 5 a
001), fractions (t(13) = 5.08, p< . , s
001) and decimals (t(13) = 2.12,
p< .05). As a whole, a p a
significant improvement was <
observed in the post-test (t(7) w
= 4.17, p< .001). Table 4 . h
summarises the results of the 0 o
students at the P4 level. 5 l
) e
Students’ progress at the P5F . ,
level
W a
Students in the P5F level were h
assessed on the same topics as e s
the P4 students. Students in the n i
P5F level are considered to g
require more help with their a n
mathematics foundation as l i
compared to their peers in the l f
P5S level. Therefore, in the i
Singapore Mathematics t c
curriculum, P5F students are h a
exempted from two new topics e n
that are introduced at the P5S t
level, namely Percentage and t
Ratio. o i
p m
provement was observed at topic, as well as across levels.
the post-test level (t(7) = There appears to be a steady
3.42, p< .01). Table 5 decline in the number of
summarises the results of the topics where improvements
students at the P5F level. are observed from P3 to P5F.
One factor that could account
Students’ progress at the P5S for this decline is the increase
level in difficulty of the topics as one
progresses through the
Students in the P5S level
were assessed on the
greatest number of topics.
Data analyses show that the
P5S students showed
significant progress in their
scores in all topics except for
subtraction (t(6) = 1.70, p = .
07) and decimals (t(6) = 1.87,
p = .055). When all the topics
were considered as a whole,
a significant improvement
was observed at the post-
test level (t(9) = 5.90, p < .
001). Table 6 summarises the
results of the students at the
P5F level.
Discussion
The objective of this study

was to objectively measure
the progress of the students
in the DAS Maths program
to see if our program is
effective in improving the
mathematical knowledge of
our students. The results
showed that students
generally made significant
improvements in their
knowledge of all the topics
that we have assessed them
on. However, when we
scrutinise the results by
grade level, we find that the
amount of progress the
students made varied by
school system. While our program aims to information from long-term memory. By
help students to understand concepts the time of the post-test, the student had
within their zone of proximal development already forgotten what he had learned
and at their learning pace, schools are about Fractions at the P2 level and his
teaching students concepts that are getting school had only just began to teach
increasingly complex. Therefore, we find Fractions at the P3 level. This was
that although they do show some probably why he did not perform as well
improvement, the students are still not as he did during the post-test 6 months
matching up to their expected school ago.
standards.
There were also limitations to the design
There are also some unexpected trends of the study and areas we could improve
in the results that are worthy of mention. on. Firstly, we did not check which topics
First is the finding that the P2 students did were already covered by our teachers at
not make any significant progress in any each testing. Matching the topics
of the topics. There are several reasons teachers had already covered with the
to account for this. First and foremost, the progress of students would give us a
sample size is too small for the results to more accurate picture of the effectiveness
be valid in explaining trends in a of our program. This could also explain
population. A bigger sample is needed to why students improve in certain topics not
test if our intervention is effective at the in others. Second, we were unable to
P2 level. Secondly, due to the small form a control group in this design
sample size, a change in one of the because we did not have ready access to
participants’ scores is likely to affect the students not on our maths programme.
overall mean and standard deviation of Nor did we control for other extraneous
the scores significantly, which was what and mediating variables such as the
happened in the dataset. However, we number of hours students receive other
also noticed that there was an anomaly forms of mathematics remediation (e.g.
in one of the students’ scores. In this case, tuition) outside of our program. Therefore,
the student was observed to have we were unable to determine if the
regressed in his performance in the topic results were entirely due to our
of Fractions. We approached the teacher programme or due to other factors. If we
of this student to try and investigate why had controlled for other factors, we would
this was so. We learned that the most perhaps be able to conduct a factor
probable explanation for this is due to a analysis to identify the main contributors
long time lapse of more than 6 months to our students’ improvements. Finally, the
between the time he had learned test was not being timed even though
Fractions in P2 (pre-test) and the time that students could take a maximum of two
his school had covered Fractions again in hours to complete it. Thus, their results
P3. This finding highlights the difficulties may not be an accurate reflection of their
that some of our students with dyslexia p e r f o r m a nce in s c h o o l - b a s e d
encounter in schools which follow a spiral examinations where they have to
curriculum. One of the characteristics of complete their paper within a stipulated
dyslexia is a difficulty of retrieving time limit. In future research it would be

u i
s t
e h
f i
u n
l
t a
o
f
c i
h x
e e
c d
k
t
h i
o m
w e
m p
u e
c r
h i
o
t d
h ,
e
y a
s
c
o w
u e
l l
d l
c a
o s
m
p a
l l
e l
t o
e w
i
w n
g them as much time as they math concepts, the team is t d
need to complete the test. currently compiling a set of h e
differentiated lesson plans and a n
strategies t t
Conclusions s
a
The main aim of the study was r w
to evaluate the use of a e i
comprehensive test of t
Singaporean primary maths as a c h
measure of progress for dyslexic a
students on the DAS small group t t
maths intervention programme. e h
The study shows that students r e
made signifi cant improvement e i
across all topics covered by the d r
test. Analysis grade by grade
shows that at each grade level t n
some topics show much greater o u
improvement than others, with w m
fewer topics showing progress a b
at higher grades. This may be a r e
result of harder topics being d r
introduced later in the primary s
phase, and there may also have s
been less progress because of h e
poor retention when topics were e n
taught a longer time before the l s
test. p e
i ,
The test is considered to be a n
useful instrument, but the DAS g a
maths team may need to
consider alternative test designs o f
to see if other ways of testing u u
would be equally or more r n
efficient. We may also need to d
consider ways to recruit non- w a
intervention children as controls e m
to measure the unique a e
contribution of the programme. k n
e t
r a
Future Directions l
s
To help our very weak students t s
who are struggling with basic u k
ill for grasping mathematical Abdullah, A. (2014).
concepts. This will be Specialised Educational
integrated into the current Services - Essential Maths
Programme. In A. Fawcett
Essential Maths programme
(Ed.), DAS Handbook 2014,
to help our teachers reach out Singapore: Dyslexia
to students with diverse math Association of Singapore.
abilities. Butterworth, B. (1999). The
Mathematical Brain,
Currently, our annual London: MacMillan
assessment of students’
progress takes approximately
one to two hours to
complete. In the team’s
opinion, this is too long a
duration, and students do
report feeling unmotivated
to finish the paper. Some
have even displayed task
avoidance. Based on the
feedback, the team will look
into how to shorten the test
without affecting its
psychometric properties. We
will continue to uphold the
high standards in teaching
quality as well as the
professional development of
our dual specialists through
in-house training (insets) and
workshops. The teaching
standards of our existing dual
specialists will be monitored
by a peer dual specialist and
one of the core team
members using video
observations of a lesson,
once every year.
References
Bunn, T. (2014). Mathematical

difficulties in Singapore: a
case study approach.
Asia Pacific Journal of
Developmental
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Bunn, T., Yeo, R., Siti Aishah B. S.,
Chia, N. K. C, & Kho, C. P. (2011). An Polya, G. (1945). How to solve it. Princeton:
Investigative Study on the Learning Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691
Diffi culti e s in Mathe mati cs -08097-6.
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Chinn, S. (2012). More Trouble with Association of Singapore.
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Routledge
Dehaene, S. (2011). The Number Sense,
Oxford University Press: New York
Geary, D. C. (2004) Mathematics and
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Learning Disabilities, 37, pp 4-15
Gross-Tsur, V., Manor, O., & Shalev, R. S.
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33.
Hulme, C. & Snowling, M. J. (2009).
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Kaur, B. (2009). Performance of Singapore
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P. Y., & Ng S. F. (2009). Mathematics
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MERGA
Lewis, C., Hitch, G. J. & Walker, P. (1994).
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283-292

Improving the fluidity of whole word reading with a dynamic co‐ordinated movement approach 158
Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences Vol. 2 No. 2 July 2015 pp 158 ‐ 183 Abstr
DOI: 10.3850/S2345734115000277
t
In t
articl
Improving the fluidity of whole word reading we
with a dynamic co‐ordinated movement prese
an
approach interv
ntion
appro
Piero Crispiani1* and Eleonora Palmieri2 ch
geare
1 University Macerata, Pedagogist, Scientific Director of Intalian Dyslexia Center , towa
2 Psychologist ‐ Pedagogist, Researcher, Itard Specialist , Director of Psychological s
and Pedagogical Victor Center Macerata. impro
ng t
fluen
of
readi
and
proce
ing
childr
n w
dysle
a a
dyspr
xia.
This
an
impo
ant
topic
ident
ed
the
Natio
al
Read
g
Panel
2000
as k
to improving reading comprehension. The approach, the
Crispiani method developed in Italy is derived from theories of
cerebellar deficit and procedural learning, and adopts a
dynamic approach based on a combination of whole word
reading with rapid co‐ ordinated movement. Following a
literature review, an intensive case study of clinical practice
with a 10 ‐year old girl with dyspraxia and dyslexia shows marked
improvement in initiating and completing tasks. Finally, an
experimental study with 33 children show an average
improvement of 30% in reading fluidity following a 3 months
intervention designed to improve processing speed and
confidence in a clinical setting. This improvement was highly
statistically significant. The implications for a whole child
approach to intervention are discussed.
Introduction moving from phonologically based to

a recent emphasis on cerebellar
The article starts with a review of deficit and procedural learning,
phases in theoretical understanding which provide a rationale for the
of dyslexia, Italian Crispiani method
Piero Crispiani, University Macerata, Pedagogist,Scientific Director of Intalian Dyslexia Center ,
www.pierocrispiani.it Email: pierocrispiani@gmail.com

159 P. Crispiani & E. Palmieri
of intervention. This method emphasises First Period

the fluidity of reading in conjunction with
sequences of movement in order to From the 1930's to the1960’s, a variety of
improve fluency. In 2000, this was approaches and theoretical models follow
identified by the National Reading panel one another: These include theories of
in the USA as the key missing component motor and cortical differences. Theories
in fluent reading and comprehension, founded on neuro-psycho-motor functions
advocating the inclusion of fluency such as motor organization and space-
training in programs for children with time and the assertion of lateral
dyslexia. dominance, for example Orton (1937)
Theories of neuro-cortical differences, with
We present an in depth analysis of the Critchley and Critchley(1970).
Crispiani method and the approach
adopted as a whole child intervention Second period
involving the family and school. The case
study provides a moving example of a From the 1970’s to 2000’s, comes a period
child with complex impairments who has of enhanced linguistic theories. In Italy, in
benefitted from an intensive 3 day course. this period, there were a substantial
The final study is an experimental analysis number of theories, dominated by a
of a group of dyslexic children and the strong phonological approach referring
impact on their fluidity of this intervention reductively to sign-sound connections.
over a three-month period. The article
moves from theory to practice to illustrate Third period
the approach in action.
Since the 2000’s, there has been a
Definitions and diachrony change of paradigm in terms of
complexity. By the end of the '90’s, recent
The complex phenomenon defined as theoretical conceptions on dyslexia are
Specific Learning Disorder has found a oriented towards a more neurobiological
plurality of intense theoreti cal foundation. In this period a dynamic and
interpretations, and different experiences complex vision of cognitive processes in
of research and professional practice in general moves towards an important
diagnosis, functi onal assessment, global breakthrough paradigm. The
prevention practices and treatments, functional performance of reading, writing
advice for school, and orientation. The and math skills, as well as disorder in
Diagnostic Manuals such as ICF and DSM- many areas, confirm previous multi-
5 have introduced multiple and important factorial theories, from neurological
theories, only partially reported and dynamics interpretations, today expressed
supported in the literature. Adopting a in the conception of multi-components
diachronic perspecti ve, on the which impact on the course of
development of these theories over time, development over time (Karmiloff-Smith,
it is possible to make a brief summary of 1993) .
the multitude of theoretical visions in a
series of historical phases.

Table 1
Langua
ge
theorie
s,
includin
g many
options
LANGUAGE
Phonologica
Bradley and
(1981,
2001).
Dyslexia as a
Fagella, 200
Theories of l
organization
Tallal et al. (1
Theories of v
information
Disorders of
system", Livi
Failure of the
stimuli: Merz
Difficulty in m
visual field, t
Neuro-Cortic
functions, m
asymmetries
Galaburda 19
Theory of th
Deficits in ex
Theory of th
Cohen, 2006
Neuro-Psych

In a second phase, still on the neuro-psycho-motor conception, dyslexia has been
discussed as a disorder of motor coordination and involvement of lateral dominance,
by: Geschwind and Galaburda (1986),
Theory of deficit magno-cellular.
Sensory deficits Theory, related to dysfunctions or migration of magnocells delegated to
the optimization of behaviors, in Tallal, (1984) Stein and Fowler (1993).

There is a trend to dismiss simple associated with a disorder of executive

interpretations and to consider instead the functions (Stein and Walsh, 1997; Facoetti
diversity of the phenomenon, taking into and Turatto, 2000; Facoetti et al., 2010).
consideration its roots (both structural and
functional), and manifestations of Anthropological-Evolutionary Theories
syndromes, approaches to the prevention
and rehabilitative treatment. Numerous Authors mainly engaged in the history of
considerations are central when theorizing writing such Dehaene, and Carr, are
dyslexia: interested in the structural and functional
changes in the brain produced to fit the
 The sense of the complexity of the task, also denoting sensitive ethnic and
phenomenon. cultural diversity, the process of
 The nature of human functions multi adaptation of brain structures to the
– components. written language.
 The componential analysis,
structural and functional, cognitive In Dehaene’s 2009 study the functions of
function. reading and writing are seen as a recent
 The reference to the executive evolutionary conquest. Developing the
functions and the related cortical necessary neural circuits in the brain still
system. involves a process of adaptation, so this is
 The reference to automatic neuro – based on some sort of modification of
psychic functions. functions by means of a neuronal
 The partial pervasiveness of the recycling in conjunction with the decline of
disorder. orality, the preference for spoken
language. The process develops on the
A multiplicity of paths of inquiry and basis of converting existing neural circuits
theoretical constructs have been to reading. This is a function that, in
undertaken, whose mapping is not always dyslexics, is expressed differently and
easy, even for the partial overlap that the makes the recognition of phonemes within
phenomenon manifests from conceptual words difficult. The authors then consider
viewpoint. These multiple interests in reading as a visuo-motor disorder with
dyslexia, give a sense of a more reference to the decoding of letters,
homogeneous scientific platform, more tending to believe that a transparent or
oriented to neuro-cortical systems related regular script (such as Italian) allows for
to executive functions, which can be faster learning of written language.
traced back to reading and writing and
math performance. Similar evolutionary positions are
expressed by Wolff (2009) which indicate
Theories of attention deficit or executive that the origin of automatic reading is the
functions. generation of symbolization, when certain
linguistic codes come to an alphabetical
Multiple authors explain dyslexia as a scheme for which each word is divided
condition of attention deficit disorder in into individual sounds, phonemes
terms of the constancy of action, represented in graphic signs. So this is a

s z
t e
o
r t
y h
e
b
a m
s e
e a
d n
i
o n
n g
s o
e f
m
a s
n o
t u
i n
c d
s s
,
a
t n
h d
e
w
a o
b r
i d
l s
i ,
t
y w
h
t i
o c
h
a
n f
a u
l l
y l
y engages the brain in visual areas, Nicolson and Fawcett (2010) t g
in occipital-temporal pattern analyse the role of the o l
recognition, and in parts of the cerebellum, g i
frontal lobes. e a
t
The evolutionary perspective can h i
be linked to the conceptual work e n
of Carr, (2011) who considers r
how new technologies have t
changed the way we work and the w h
perceptions of the human mind, i e
and therefore how we direct our t
attention. Reading involves in fact h a
a synergy of actions that, in c
practice brings together fragments t q
of learning. h u
e i
Theory of cerebellar disorder s
and "procedural dyslexia" m i
o t
Of increasing importance is the t i
"Cerebellar Deficit Theory" of o o
Nicolson (1990, 1996), that r n
identifies the cause of dyslexia in
the dysfunction of the c o
cerebellum and the o f
subsequent ineffectiveness of r
the procedural processes, in t m
particular the sequential, with e o
effects in disorders of motor skills x t
and automatic transmission in o
motor areas of the cortex, a r
including Broca's area. n
d s
The analysis starts from the k
consideration of the multiplicity t i
of brain structures involved in h l
e l
skill proceduralization through
s
the Doyon and Ungerleider
b ,
(2002) model. This model refers
a
to two separate circuits
s i
r es pons i bl e for lear ning:
a n
the Corticostriatal system
l t
particularly involved in learning
e
motor sequences and the
g g
Corticocerebellar system a r
particularly involved in adapting n a
to environmental perturbations.
ted systems and the and speeded actions, such as how
corticocerebellar phase of to take the ball at a glance,
automation. It is the depends on the coordination of
declarative-procedural circuits speed (velocity scaling), the
that can compromise the initial speed of perception, or contact
acquisition of motor skills, in time (time to contact) and the
particular in the fast phase ( fast speed of the
learning stage), in the presence
of inefficiency of a single part of
the system. The Corticostriatal
system regulates the motor
sequential activities, and the
Corticocerebellar system
regulates balance and adaptive
timing. Nicolson and Fawcett
(2010) place great importance
on the secondary symptoms,
with particular reference to
impaired balance and motor
skills that do not constitute the
primary cause of reading
disorder, however, contribute
to the phonological processing
and the verbal working
memory involved in reading.
Turning to the neurophysiology

of cognitive-motor skills, the
research of Bullock (2004),
underlines the complexity of the
skills involved in reading and
writing, where a loss of
performance may be due to
impairments in any brain
region such as the parietal cortex,
motor cortex, frontal cortex,
basal ganglia, cerebellum.
Evidence from cerebellar patients
provides support for the
importance of this structure in
language and literacy (Fabbro et
al., 2000).
In any case, the difficulty is

related to activation time and
execution, in other words the
temporal dimensions of fluent
action. The execution of accurate
muscles (muscle force), based on the analysis of spatial relationships and

activation of timed patterns of action. movement, dyslexia appears as a
Further evidence for disorders in reaction functional disorder, (Ruffino et al., 2014)
time in all tasks apart from a simple linking potential loss of spatial and
reaction time, even where language is not temporal co-ordination, and dyslexia.
involved, comes from Nicolson and
Fawcett, (1994). Links to theory of programming and
sensory integration
This condition inevitably disturbs
language as it involves both time and Chiarenza and colleagues (2014) propose
fluency, then the automatic and fast a neurophysiological disorder in terms of
processing of information, from which integration of sensory information, with
connections with reading and writing and involvement of the cerebellum and motor
dyslexia may be seen. These apparently functions and attention to reaction time
heterogeneous disturbances are the and self-regulation of behaviour
cause of cerebellar dysfunction, related to
discrepancies between actions and the Neuromotor and co-ordinative theories.
time of their execution, and generate a With reference to the neuromotor field,
procedural learning deficit. anchored to the scientific tradition, there
are important theories that indicate the
Links to theories of magnocellular nature of the motor and coordinative
deficit. dyslexic disorder, based on the work of
Crispiani (2006, 2011), Massenz (2013),
This is a theoretical solution expressed etc.
mainly by Stein 2001 that signals the
impairment of the magnocellular layers, The Praxic-Motor Theory and The
with negative effects for binocular Crispiani Method
stability, then for visual localization mainly
on the left side. The author indicates The theory
ganglions in the cerebellum crucial for
establishing binocular stability and In a series of neurobiological and
selecting lexical functions that are functional studies, we undertook our
disturbed in dyslexics, therefore, a Praxic Motor Theory (TPM), with reference
neurological syndrome affected by in- to the investigation of cognitive processes
coordination, difficulty in working from left and motor coordination.
to right and poor "sequencing".
We provide a developmental account of
Other authors back the theory of dyslexia in terms of a disorder of praxia
magnocellular dysfunction as a decisive with particular reference to the sequential
factor for the onset of the dyslexic functions/procedures and the fluidity of
disorder. On the basis of genetic and executive functions and involvement with
neurophysiological research, mainly the organization of space and time and
attentive to visual disturbances such as lateral dominance.
processing deficits, with effects on the

T o
h n
e s
c r
o e
g l
n a
i t
t e
i d
v
e t
, o
v r
i e
s a
u d
a i
l n
- g
m
o a
t n
o d
r
w
a r
n i
d t
i
s n
e g
m ,
a
n a
t p
i p
c e
s a
r
a
c d
t y
i s
f u n c ti o n a l in the of slowness or randomization of b i
organizational sense, in the the electrical flow of the r v
sequential processing of the a e
stimuli. It is not in our view a i
disorder of discrimination, nor n p
phonological conversion, but it . h
involves difficulties in organizing a
perception in terms of speed, R s
alternating rhythms or overlapping a e
sequences or responding to n
prolonged visual or auditory d s
stimuli. For this reason it is in our o e
view, a qualitative disorder. m e
i m
Executive disorders related to z
reading, writing and math skills a t
are based on phonological t o
problems (sound-symbol i
relationship, semantic, symbolic), o b
but sequentially proceeding from n e
left to right, the automaticity and
the fluidity of the action, the a t
organization in space and time, n h
the rhythms and the relationship d e
between part and whole.
s m
Slowness in the precipitation of l o
actions, in particular in the incipit o s
– initiazation, can be easily w t
recognized in all the actions of n
the person, from the motor to the e s
mental, compared with a lack of s i
lateral dominance and dyspraxia s g
in general, leading back to n
neuronal cortical disorder. i i
n f
Critical aspects concerning i
functional performance are t c
related to neuronal cortical h a
circuits, in particular in the e n
bidirectional exchange between t
brain areas and in inter- e
hemispheric reciprocity. In this x i
complex system, both the e n
cerebellum (cerebellar function c d
as sequential projection in motor u i
areas) and lateral dominance are t c
important. Both generate effects
ators. revealed as a sequential dyspraxia
related to sequences founded on
We support a complex a matrix of bio-psychic functions .
consideration of the
phenomenon in the sense of a Our research and theory define
multi- factorial and multi- the Dyslexia Condition in
componential disorder as Paradigm D:
reading and writing are
executive functions.
For this reason, they are not

reducible to a "mere" symbolic
process (sign-sound association,
phonology, and meta-
phonology). They are dynamic
functions, motor and cognitive
ones, self-regulated with
feedback processes and
anticipation.
Under normal conditions,

reading-writing is not a
fragmented nor cumulative
phase (adding elements to one
another such as graphemes,
phoneme, other symbols), but it
may become a fragmented
process in the presence of
obstacles, as in the case of
procedural disorder, sequential
disorder, space-time
disorganization or difficulty in left
–right directionality.
It is a process of solidarity of
motor coordination, perception
and movement, along
physiological coherence that
normally regulate the higher
human functions (Maturana et
al., 1995). Dyslexia is often an
integrated condition, inclusive of
dyslexia, dysgraphia and
disorders of mathematical skills,
with extension to the overall
praxis in the sense of a
qualitative disorder, (partially
pervasive disorder). Dyslexia is
Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, disfluency, The training tends to generate

Dis–laterality, Dyspraxia, Disorder. We are neurophysiological automaticity, fluid and
therefore working with children with oriented in the sense of space and time. It
complex needs. is indicated for dyslexics because they
always prefer to isolate gestures,
Treatment- Intervention Programme phonemes or graphemes.
Starting from praxic-motor nature, The active and fluid execution of motor
Dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia are automatic sequences, including exercises
treated according to the scientific- about grapho-motor skills, mnemonic
professional procedures based on procedures, language fluency (reading,
prevention, early functional assessment, writing, calculating) improve not only the
recommendations for school and families, function but the co-ordination of the brain
educational and professional guidance, itself. While inertia is the cause of decay
cognitive enhancement and study and progressive dysfunction, the
methods and cognitive development simultaneous activation of coordinated and
activities to improve sequences constant functions is the strength to
reorganize the inter-hemispheric cortical
The Treatment (intervention programme) is flows, working in reciprocity and
ecological and dynamic, in the sense that parallelism, developing their effectiveness.
it takes care of the entirety of the person In particular, the increased fluidity
in all its functional areas (motor, (readiness incipit – to initiate action, the
perceptual, emotional, affective, thought, right speed, agile self-correction,
communication, social performance and perseverance, etc.), together with the
school) and promotes mental and motor global approach to real learning (words,
reaction. Moreover, it promotes the sentences, strings of signs, numbers,
dynamic of all functions, making them fluid figures) allows the dynamization of slow
and automatic, through a training aimed and messy executive processes. An entire
at soliciting a continued coordination, approach and fluidity guide the action of
under the automatic and intense cognitive all people in conditions of normal-
presence, in all functional areas. functionality and they are therefore taken
as skills on which to build and establish
The activation training is conducted on correctness.
motor skills, perception, memory, grapho-
motor, language, thought, storytelling, The most important qualitative indicator is
reading, writing and mathematics. All the executive fluidity, not speed.
actions are in a professional kit of 12
cognitive training modules which combine We define a Neuromotor Storm a global
practices of Motor Training. activation with intense involvement of all
kind of functions, linguistic and
Our therapies insist on the dynamics of perceptual, and their coordination
Succession, Automation and Fluidity (Polo (synesthetics). Through our treatment we
SAF). obtain improved fluidity of executive
functions, enhancing the capabiliti es
of electrophysiological braking, self-
r l
e l
g o
u w
l i
a n
t g
i
o t
n h
, e
s a
e d
l j
f u
- s
i t
n m
h e
i n
b t
i
t o
i f
o
n d
y
a n
n a
d m
i
s c
e s
l
f f
- r
c o
o m
n
t s
r l
o o
l w
a a
nd precipitous to smooth and performance as the report, the T h
consistent. This strengthening synthesis, the interview, h i
function assumes four major interrogation, and note taking e s
vectors, named Physio Praxis always including speech training. It
Vector (VFP) that constitute the also deals with training to support s p
energizing platform: 1. Incipit - 2. study methods. p e
Fluidity - e r
3. Cross lateral pattern - 4. Rotary c s
pattern. The treatment usually i o
takes three months for three a n
sessions a week. l a
i l
There is a Common Training, s
based on the 12 cognitive training t s
modules that make up the system, i
working in an intensive and t t
consistent way, towards fluidity a u
and the strengthening of a
k
sequences. t
e
s i
This training may be o
complemented by a Special n
Training of functional activation,
c
h .
that may be used in more severe
cases or for subjects who are not a
r H
able to follow an ordinary course. e
It is very intensive and g
concentrated on consecutive days e
i
and in conjunction with neuro- s
motor activation, and with fast o
reading (Champion LIRM: Intensive f
s
Reading Speed Motor). y
t
s
The aim of the treatment is not to h
t
use tools to bypass the problem, e
e
depriving children of the necessary m
functional exercises, but to solicit, s
a
track and push fluidity both in t
t
basic skills (motor, perceptual, u
i
memory, language, thought, d
c
grapho motor) and the primary e
a
ones of reading, writing, and n
l
maths. t
l
y
The treatment can be followed in a
various disciplines (mathematics, n
e
Latin and Greek, foreign d
v
languages), or exercise
aluated by comparing concept of speed is another key
questionnaires from family point because it is opposite to
members, teachers and the that of fluency, so it is important
therapist. to include the incipit – start in the
measurement of time, the
Assessment of possibility of reverse dynamics
between speed and accuracy and
Treatment the consequent limits of the
calculation of the direct
Critical aspects
Assessment of Treatments (VTA)

of the dyslexic condition,
constitutes a widespread
critique of many aspects and it
reveals, at the same time,
recognition of the complexity of
the phenomenon as defined by
Italian researchers, who
emphasise the importance of
attention, fluency and learning.
The treatment can be
distinguished from a mere
collection of recommendations or
the use of tools/ technologies
that allow the child to avoid
reading and writing exercise.
Another critical aspect is what is
under assessment during the
treatment, which is the target and
criteria used. In our training the
indicators are Fluidity, (rather
than speed itself, which maybe
incorrectly used in Italy),
Accuracy and understanding of
the text, complex skills that lead
the analysis to a number of
theoretical explanations and
interpretations.
In terms of the DSM.5, there is

also a focus on the observation
of everyday conduct and
evaluation of school performance
in all areas, not only the
association of reading
performance from a
psychometric point of view. The
correlation. This refers to a trade off of long words (four syllable or more) and
between speed and accuracy that is the total number of words.
frequently noted in readers with dyslexia
Modality
Assessment and speed
Activate the normal form of reception.
The Crispiani method sustains a Perform the test before starting other
qualitative culture of Assessment assessments or treatments. Invite the
treatment, according to the VES strategy student to sit inform him that he has to
(Empirical Semiotics Approach – Crispiani, read, avoid any other pronunciation. Show
2011) oriented to the description of passages with the sheet covered.
dyslexia-dyspraxia in terms of “low Simultaneously uncover the text, and start
qualitative measurement". In this context the stopwatch. Stop the clock on the
and in recognition of the need to pronunciation of the last word of the text.
integrate qualitative and quantitative In each case note:
assessment, we have applied a process
of measuring the absolute speed, which Date, age (in years and months), class
refers to the time it takes to read selected and school attended, number of the text
and standardized passages. read, time taken (in minutes and seconds).
Reading tests and Index of Difficulty of Type of reading: phonic-fragmented,

Text (IDT) sibilant, Periodicals sibilant, radical
sibilant, sub-voice, predictive (global,
The test consists of reading a narrative intuitive and with errors), refusal of
passage and measuring the time taken. reading, reading correct.
Characteristics of the passage. Main distinctive features: slow/fast,

fluency/disfluency, opening words, errors,
The text reading is part of a set of constancy of the disorder or initial reading
narrative passages validated by the Itard correct and fluid.
Staff with reference to: n. 12 complete
lines, Times New Roman, 100%, size 12, n. Index Fluidity Individual (IFI). The Index of
83/85 beats per line (average and Individual Fluidity is the ratio between the
including spaces and punctuation) number of lines/spaces and number of
absence of paragraphs or other seconds used, (Space Time).
interruptions, absence of unusual
graphemes (K, J, W, Y, X, etc.), The Conclusions
absence of distractors and foreign words,
no repetition of long words (four syllable), Our Practices defined as Ecological-
very low repetition of general words, Dynamic encourage neuromotor and
absence of the title and any illustrations. neurocognitive activity with particular
reference to the fluidity and efficiency of
Index of difficulty of the text (IDT) = 0.05. inter-hemispheric exchange and it also
The Index is the ratio between the number gives a general rapid warning of
executive disfunction.
O a
u t
r
a
t p
r p
e r
a e
t c
m i
e a
n t
t i
o
i n
m
p f
r r
o o
v m
e
s p
a
t r
h e
e n
t
f s
o
l a
l n
o d
w
i t
n e
g a
, c
h
w e
i r
t s
h ,
g o
r b
e t
ainable from reporting and direct in by imitating a series of t s
observations: movements that the therapist h i
executes. Errors in copying the e g
 General executive sequence are not corrected, but r n
functions correct copying is verbally a e
 Readiness reinforced with praise. There is a p d
 executive fluidity clear rapport between the child i
 grapho-motor skills and the s t
 reading and t o
understanding of
texts a b
 processes of self- n e
regulation d
 Cognitive processes c
 An e h
understanding of v a
their practices e l
 Improvement n l
in school e
commitment t n
h g
The experiences reported here e i
consider briefly reading speed n
after an Intensive Treatment c g
(Champion LIRM), revealing o
sensitive increases, even within m b
the limits of a brief therapeutic p u
intervention conducted by l t
specialized therapists. e
x f
The case study analysed, u
presents the severity of the m n
dyspraxic disorder and included o .
performance of reading and v
writing and math skills. After an e T
initial process of Motor Intensive m h
Training (Champion LIRM) and e e
treatment based on Ecological- n s
Dynamic Practices, it shows a t e
progressive and significant s
functional improvement and m
active participation. a a
r y
Informal observations of the e
approach in practice i
d n
On entering the child is put at ease e c
by the therapist, and asked to join
lude walking backwards while looking around or fiddling with
juggling. The approach moves on objects.
from more complex sequences,
to following a pattern of
movements recorded in a book
held by the therapist – thus
translating symbols rather than
repeating concrete actions.
Finally, the reading or maths is
added, once the fluidity and
rhythm of the movements has
been successfully established.
CASE STUDY – Dyslexia and
Dyspraxia Presentation
Valentina is 10 years old and

attends the fifth class of
Primary School in Italy. She
came to our centre because of
learning difficulties, in
particular, in the performance
of reading, writing and in
completing tasks. At school she
is disorganized and she often
loses attention, looking away,
almost enchanted.
She tends to isolate herself from

the group and she used to be
on friendly terms with only a
few of her class-mates. The
organization of her homework is
stressful because of her slowness
in reading and writing. For this
reason Valentine often becomes
nervous and hesitant in carrying
out tasks. Her mother reports
that they often spend whole
afternoons in the organization
of homework because her
daughter is slow to start
working and to do tasks. When
she is left to herself, she often
remains motionless or she
gradually becomes distracted,
The context eye movements, previous assessments

from other specialists are referred to, as
Valentina belongs to a high socio-cultural she has difficulty in perceptual tracking
group, her parents provide a stimulating and in cross lateral patterns, rotary
environment, showing a high sensitivity to patterns and speed.
the learning process and the value of
school and education. The climate, the Emotional area: Valentina shows
values and interest in school activities emotional sensitivity with uncertain self-
and the daily attention to what happened esteem. She has poor and discontinuous
at school everyday, are important factors attention. Her personal strategy is a
that allow a serene educational tendency to isolate herself, whenever
continuity. It is clear that her parents have there is too much noise or confusion. She
done their best to help and support her. is impulsive but has a strong relationship
with her family.
The diagnostic process
Affective Area: She shows a normal
After the first interview with Valentina’s availability and interest in human
parents, we proceeded to the functional relations accompanied by discontinuous
evaluation according to the guidelines availability for the task.
and procedures specific to the "Crispiani
Method", with an ecological and Perceptive Area: Her perceptual and
qualitative approach, founded on “Bio- visual discrimination are normal in
Psycho-Active Structure” conditions of stillness and calm.
However, she has a disorder in
Functional assessment perceptual pursuit and synthesis, suffering
from an overload of stimuli, reaction to
Motor area: Parents referred to delays unusual sounds and strong light
in motor–coordination but after a long stimulation. She shows a tendency to
period of difficulties, there have been repeat to herself what she heard or saw
significant improvements. Today she (difficulty in auditory and visual
expresses hesitation in initiating actions, procedural) to reinforce the sequential
slowness in motor coordination and in the order.
execution of a task, hesitation in walking
down stairs and crossing the road. On Area of thought: Valentina shows
closer examination, this may be due to hesitations and delays in the coordination
her lack of lateral dominance, she is and sequencing of concepts, thoughts
partly left handed and partly right and ideas. She shows poor cognitive
handed with interference and orientation organization, indicative of ideational
to the left (Hourly closures, mirror writing dyspraxia, accompanied by difficulties in
numbers and graphemes p, b, d, q). Time temporal and sequential structure. Her
-space disorder. Awkwardness, poor school performance is due to her
clumsiness and general disorientation in learning disorder, exclusively in the
team games, especially when they are executive phase, not in the intellectual
fast and require coordination with other one (in terms of dyspraxia, and disorder
people (such as volleyball). In terms of in sequencing), with difficulty following
s h
e e
q n
u
e t
n h
c e
e y
s
a
o r
f e
t t
h o
o o
u
g l
h o
t n
g
a
n a
d n
d
l
a c
n o
g m
u p
a l
g e
e x
, .
a S
b h
o e
v
e d
e
a m
l o
l n
s
w t
rates slowness of activation in in the line of numbers, writing F a
cognitive processes (a numbers. o g
phenomenon of Mind-Out). r e
e ,
Area of communication and i
language: Parents referred to g b
delay in development of speech n e
with a global improvement in t
communication and eye contact l t
over the years. Valentina shows a e
slowness of speech and difficulty n r
in the initiation of speech. She has g
difficulty with long and fast u i
verbal messages, with a tendency a n
to cognitive loss in multiple g
explanations, reflecting a disorder e o
of "succession or sequence". In : r
learning, she often requires dual a
explanations, verbal and written D l
short deliveries. i
f p
Social Skills: She expresses a f e
positive attitude even if she tends i r
to self-select interests, hobbies c f
and places or contexts. Reading - u o
Dyslexia in terms of lack of l r
fluency, hesitation, t m
interruptions and i a
losses. She reads better in an e n
oblique direction with small fonts s c
(improving the visual span and e
movement to the right). She show i .
an uncertain understanding of the n
text, accompanied by tiredness H
when reading. w i
r s
Writing: Dysgraphia in terms of a i t
functional disorder in grapho- t o
motor skill (irregularities generally, t r
untied letters, interruptions), e y
alternating slowness and n :
precipitation. Syntactic structures
are often contracted. l C
Uncertainties in proceeding from a o
left to right. n g
g n
Calculation and math skills: u i
Uncertainties in the time line and
tive loss in timelines. Difficulty in activities (clap hands while
sequencing of events. jumping) or motor and linguistic
together (jump and say a rhyme),
Stories: Difficulty with the she is not fluid as a result of a
timeline. Difficulty with the lack of general coordination
sequence of events. problems (involving both cognitive
and praxic disorder).
School situation: Progress at
school is compromised because
of the disorders of executive
functions and the discontinuity
of Valentina’s attention –
concentration.
Consequently to summarize
or paraphrase, remember and
express properly the contents of
the texts, understand
mathematical problems,
organize verbal exposition,
are disordered and confused.
In other words Valentina’s

performance is often
discontinuous, involving
procedural
– sequential processes,
characterized by lack of
coordination. She tends to lose
attention with frequent cognitive
losses, and she often exits from
situations (especially when
someone talks to her for a long
time or when she talks by
herself for long).
Concerning
temporal organization Valentina
appears hesitant in telling the
facts in the right sequence and
she often makes mistakes in the
memory of order or procedural
memory, rather than in the
memory of the individual
events.
When she has to do a

simultaneous and coordinated
action for example two motor
Assessment programmes and strategies

applied. Parents were informed of
Valentina has a dyspraxic condition the nature of the disorder in terms
involving severe disorders of reading, of dyspraxia, involving difficulty in
writing and math skills based on motor coordination in different
disorganization in time and space with a functional areas.
poorly defined lateral dominance (dis-
laterality). b. Treatment
Symptoms are observed in: Concerning Valentina’s disorder, it

acti va t e d an i n t e r v e n ti o n
 The subject: She demonstrates programme based on procedures
alternating slowness and and strategies, that belong to the
precipitation in school CO.CLI.TE System (Cogniti ve
performance with a tendency to Treatment Clinical Education –
“cognitive loss" and to escape Crispiani, 2011).
from the task.
This consists of a series of cognitive
 Parents: Valentina’s mother, and dynamic programmes (12
helping her daughter every day cognitive training modules) that
with her homework, is especially work to improve automaticity,
subjected to a state of strong cognition, coordination of thought
emotional distress. and concepts. The dominant trait is
a dynamic and qualitative
Treatment ( Intervention programmes) conception of dyslexia/dyspraxia,
partially considered as a pervasive
a. Welcome to the family disorder that manifests dyspraxia in
many other functional areas.
In the Crispiani Method, great
importance is placed on the As Valentina lives in an another
relationships with parents. town, far from our center, a special
training has been activated in the
Referring to the case presented, the form of the Champion LIRM
interview before the intervention (Intensive Reading and Speed
programmes was conducted with Motor), a very intensive therapeutic
efficiency, thanks to Valentina’s intervention with total monitoring
collaboration and the careful of the subject, with a short duration
analysis presented by the parents (3 days and for 5/6 hours a day in
(in this case they are two doctors two stages). The aim of this special
and inform us in details about some training is to improve fluency from a
critical aspects). The diagnostic neurological point of view, (Storm
process was followed by the Neuromotor) alternati ng an
provision of information on the inte nsi ve phy sical acti vi ty
nature of the syndrome, subjective (sequential praxic processes) and,
manifestations, trends, intervention after this, exercise of reading in
terms p
of e
fluenc e
y. This d
constit
utes b
the e
progra f
mme o
of r
Intensi e
ve
Readi t
ng and r
Speed e
Motor a
(Crispi t
ani m
and e
Palmie n
ri, t
2012).
After
c. the
functi
onal
asses
ment
of th
child,
befor
starti
g th
Inten
ive
Train
ng
Progr
mme
a
comp
onen
of
readi
g
functi
on, Speed, was also d. Working method of the e
assessed. This was Champion LIRM (2012) ene the
obtained from the time The Intervention rgizi rap
taken to read a narrative programme designed for ng y
passage, with an Index of Valentina was divided up pla con
Difficulty (IDT) 0.05. as follows: tfor duc
Valentina’s reading m: ted
performance at the First day thr
beginning was 3 minutes 1. oug
8:30 to 11:00 & 14:30 to
and 15 seconds, with an h
17:00
index of Individual Fluidity
Second day
(IFI) of 2.32.
8:30 to 11:00 & 14:30 to
17:00
Her performance also Third day 2.
showed some important 8:30 to 11:00 & 14:30 to
aspects: 17:00 3.
 hesitation in reading A break was planned every

 slowness in the two and half hours of
initiation (incipit) functional activity,
 Hyphenation at the alternating each time 15
beginning of the minutes of physical activity
word, prolonged in with 3 to 4 minutes of 4.
long words (Pa ... or ... reading until the completion
linen, of the specified times.
all .... ar ... mata,
pia........ne….rottolo) The Special Training has the
 Replacements of following features.
words (piegare The
instead of pigiare, mai
a. oriented to
aquiloni instead of Sequences - n
inquilini) Automaticity - clini
 Slowness in eye cal
Fluidity, which
movement and imp
forms the Polo
orientation left to SAF; orta
right, top down nce
b. conducted in terms
 Tends to lose line of
of fluidity with
ahead during reading considerable the
 Frequent fixations Cha
attention to cognitive
and some pressure. mpi
regression on
 Inclination of the head LIR
This strengthening
 Need to boost voice. M is
functional programme, is
based, as in the common that
training, on the four major it is
vectors named Physio Praxic an
Vectors (VFP) that constitute inte
nsiv
p n
the repetition of physical activities Phase 2 h ut
and reading alternating each time, y e
si s)
c .
a
l T
a h
c e
ti C
vi h
t a
y m
( pi
1 o
5 n
m LI
i R
n M
u is
t a
e Pr
s) of
a es
n si
d o
s n
p al
e Pr
e ac
d ti
e ce
d th
r at
e h
a el
d ps
i to
n m
g ai
( nt
3 ai
t n
o a
4 hi
m g
i h
cognitiv
en oment since postural P d ies of words
e level
t the early balance is h i exerci of
providin
co days of often y n ses varyin
g fluid
ns praxic- accompanie s g that g
and ist motor d by i focus compl
automas activity. oscillations c f on exity
tic of Through of the head a o impro (two
con ver
an the and the l r ving syllabl
gence ini extension trunk predic es,
of tia of involving a 3 tive three,
i mport
l coordinate the entire c - and four
ant ph d activities body, t 4 global etc.)
compo as repeated producing i readin and
nentse for over 15 clumsiness v m g. The the
such of minutes, and poor i i activiti subjec
motor ob the self - t n es t must
coordin
se therapist regulation. y u propo speed
ation,rv takes into t sed in read.
percepati considerati This i e this
tion, on on the functional s s phase The
and al most disorder , are secon
languag
w dysfunction makes the i differe d
e, while
or al areas child slow m w nt activit
reading
k that will be in m h and y
and on the subject activation e i gradu consist
writing.
th of the (incipit) d c ated. s of
e intensive and i h readin
m work in discontinuo a The g brief
Ph ot therapy. us in the t i first senten
as or execution of e s one is ces
e be In the case skills, with a l global that
1 ha of marked loss y o readin are cut
vi Valentina, a of attention. u g of out in
Th ou lack of f t words cardbo
e r coordinatio o l at a ard.
ap of n in motor l i glance The
pli th areas is l n where therap
ca e highlighted, o e the ist
tio ch especially in w d educa shows
n ild fast e tor these
of , movements d i quickl quickly
th an and cross n y and
e im lateral b shows the
tr po patterns y a a child
ea rt with loss of series has to
t an sequences. r s of read
m t e e cards at a
m Difficulty in a r with glance
. i s. is
t characteriz
T y In this ed by
h phase, cognitive
i w Valentina discontinui
s i appears ty and
t immediate insufficient
e h ly slow, coordinati
x o stumbling on in
e u in the acting,
r t middle of with a
c the word tendency
i b with to lose
s r general concentrati
e e irregulariti on and
a es. After difficulty
i k showing with
s i the card, sequences.
n there are
u g frequently In
s interruptio summary,
e r ns in a previous
f e perceptive list of
u a tracking indicators
l d with fixed have
i gaze, lack emerged
f n of motor,
o g initiation communic
r of reading, ative
i difficulties
b n at a glance
u t as a form
i o of
l disorder in
d s space-
i i time.
n n
g g Initial
l phase of
a e treatmen
u t:
t e consider
o l ation.
m e
a m In this first
t e observatio
i n n,
c t Valentina
a
n i
d n
p t
e h
r e
c
e f
p o
t l
u l
a o
l w
i
a n
r g
e
a a
s r
. e
a
V s
a .
l
e M
n O
t T
i O
n R
a
A
h R
a E
s A
:
d
i  E
f x
f e
i c
c u
u t
l i
t o
y
n of fast motor sequences (control of multiple functions, B r
 Execution of sequences speeded cross patterns, general e s
with the ball fluidity, incipit) and in reading. l
 Execution of motor o P
coordination w h
 Executions of praxis using y
her hands t s
 Execution of ballistic h i
coordination e o
 Simultaneous realization of
multiple functions both e –
perceptual-motor and v
verbal-motor) a P
 Control of multiple l r
functions u a
 Frequent lack of lateral a x
dominance (interference) t i
 Frequent dyspraxia in i s
lateral and cross patterns o
n -
COMMUNICATIVE AREA
a V
 following verbal b e
instructions and putting o c
in sequences u t
 using syntax in a t o
r
communication PERCEPTUAL t s
h
AREA e (
V
 Perception of distance f P
 Execution of rhythms o F
 Execution of visual and u )
auditory procedures r ,
m i
Results a n
j c
General functional gains o i
r p
One of the first signs of i
improvement that was recorded v t
was the reduction of sequential e ,
disorder, a cause of slowness and c
disorganization in space-time. t f
Valentina has improved in the o l
coordination of motor areas
uidity, cross patterns, rotary alternating abrupt gestures,
patterns. slow and precipitous, but the
frequency of exercises
1. Incipit: significant improve the result and allows
improvement in motor the storage of the motor
readiness, both in starting pattern.
the coordinated motor
gesture andt in the readiness
of language. A decrease is
revealed in the initial
suspension of word attack or
interruptions in reading.
Valentina showed sufficient
capacity to maintain
concentration and attention
in execution of tasks. There
was a reduction of excessive
movements with head and
body, coupled with an
observable relationship
between attention and gaze.
2. Fluidity: significant fluidity

in the rhythms and the
creation of more functions
with sufficient appropriate
monitoring of multiple
functions and speed work.
Cognitive participation
became less disoriented
and unsure. Reading more
fluid with reduction of
moments of fixed gaze on
every word, more regular
shifts from left to right.
3. Cross patterns: better

efficiency of cross system
(hand, foot, eye and ear)
and directionality in space
expressing a greater fluidity
of the limb against the
opposite side.
4. Rotary patterns: At the

beginning, the movement
was insecure and poorly
organized in time-space,
Gains in reading Conclusions
At the end of the intensive special Intensive Rehabilitative Treatment, in this

training, Valentina was given a new case based on Champion LIRM, tends to
reading test aimed at speed, obtainable accelerate improved neuromotor plasticity
from the time taken to read a new piece that is reflected in many performances
of the same length (bars and spaces) and coordinated in space and time.
the same index Difficulty of Text (IDT) of The intensiveness, the right pressure and
1.5. The reading was performed in 2 the consistency of the work, are the origin
minutes and 10 seconds, and with an of the enhancement of this neurological
index of Individual Fluidity (IFI) of 1.66. pattern in the sense of the automation
and speed work.
The student also expressed:
 Reduction of hyphenation
 Greater accuracy OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT
 Reduction in minor interruptions
(more fluidity). Assessment of Rehabilitation
Treatments according to Crispiani
A substantial improvement was recorded method (Ecological Dynamics Practices)
in terms of speed (space/time) and
accuracy compared to the first evaluation, The target
best expressed by the Index of Individual
Fluidity (IFI). The study concerns the value of the speed
of reading execution, measured before
Individual Technical Report and after the treatment according to the
Ecological and Dynamic practices
At the end of the treatment lasting 3 belonging to the Crispiani Method.
days, for 15 hours, Valentina has made Assessment, treatment, measurement and
excellent progress. She has improved in data processing were conducted by the
her organizational functions in general, research team consisting of Piero
with particular reference to the motor Crispiani, Ivan Di Pierro, Antonio Grifoni,
area and in terms of reading fluidity her Eleonora Palmieri.
percentage improvement is 34% in three
days. THE PARTICIPANTS
All this information was provided in an The tests and measurements were
Individual Technical Report and given to administered to a sample of n. 33 Italian
the family. It contains of both the dyslexic children between 7 and 13 years
evaluation output (post test) and already diagnosed with qualitative or
recommendations for the family, school quantitative procedures, including 19
and therapist (work plan and monitoring), females and 16 males.
that is useful for the maintenance of gains
obtained in motor coordination and All the participants undertook a
fluidity of reading and writing. "Functional assessment" conducted in the
Psychology and Pedagogy Clinic Centre
“ c
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axia Rehabilitative Treatment for 3 c
 Clumsiness (difficulty in months, three times a week, (one o g
movement patterns and hour each time) at our Psychology n r
rapid crusaders (rapid and Pedagogy Clinic Centre “Victor” t a
movements combining in Macerata, from September r p
opposing hand and foot in 2014 to January 2015. o h
cross over , synesthesia, l o
self) Treatment consisted of the fluid -
 Hesitation (slow in dynamics of sequential o m
activation – incipit) in actions/procedures and f o
praxic-motor planning t
and linguistic e o
expression x r
 General lack of fluency in e
executive function, c s
alternating slow and fast u k
action, disorder in t i
automaticity i l
 Lack of coordination in v l
many areas e s
 Disorganization of space ,
and time f
 Lateral dominance not u p
established n e
 Slow reading and lack of c r
fluency, with breaks, t c
inversions, cognitive loss, i e
and tiredness o p
 Slow writing and irregular n t
grapho- motor disorders, s i
missed closures, : o
interruptions n
(disconnected letters) m ,
 Difficulties in the field of o
mathematics are t m
considerable, with o e
uncertainty in relation to r m
writing long numbers, o
queuing, rapid movement t r
in the line of numbers, r y
calculation, oral a ,
comprehension, problems, i
etc. n t
i h
Treatment n o
g u
After the Clinical Evaluation, all the , g
participants attended
ht, space-time organization, level of severity of the disorder.
working left-right, language, This aspect is necessary because
reading, writing, maths skills and it is reasonable to expect major
activities understanding of texts, changes to
together with practices of self–
cognition and general educational
support.
Practice in Motor Training

(Training praxic- motor and
general Activity Gym) was
activated and 12 sessions of
training programme based on
the Crispiani Method,
accompanied by advice for
schools and families:
 Family Educational Practices
(PEF)
 Warnings School (ASCO)
Assessment of Performance of
Reading (VEL)
In the logic of our professional

practice, the assessment of
performance of reading follows a
procedure at the beginning of
each therapy. Our team has a
series of narrative passages,
unknown to the reader, that
were writt en and standardized
by the Itard Team.
The characteristics of the text are

described in the Crispiani
Method, in the first part of this
article.
The outcomes
In this section we present the

data with results for the
improvement achieved after
three months of treatment. In
terms of the variability of initial
reading, there is a difference at
the pre-test, as it is not similar in
all subjects, but depends on the
be variable based on the level of initial Table. 2 Average of the differences between
performance. reading speed before and after treatment
Start After 3M -%
Effectiveness was evaluated by the Samuele 3m 21s 2m 49s 15,9
difference in fluidity in reading before and Viola 4m 36s 3m 58s 13,77
after training, and also, as a further
Giacomo 2m 48s 2m 28,57
measure, it was decided to consider not
only the simple difference between before Veronica 2m 43s 2m 8s 21,47
and after, but also the incipit (the start of Matteo 2m 32s 1m 24s 44,74
the word) inversions and so on. Tommaso 1m 33s 44s 52,69
Michelle 1m 25s 1m 4s 24,71
In summary, our treatment is effective Rebecca 1m 2s 38s 38,71
because it provides the best changes in
Mandarina 2m 20s 1m 20s 42,86
fluidity, in terms of consistency, which does
not reflect absolute speed but the Giacomo II 1m 50s 50s 54,55
following: Daniele 2m 1m 23s 30,83
 Readiness Serena 1m 20s 45s 43,75
 Constant trend Angelica 1m 25s 1m 2s 27,06
 Right speed
Giorgio 2m 40s 1m 58s 26,25
 Lack of interruptions
Emma 3m 10s 2m 34s 18,95
 Scarcity of errors
 Self auto regulation Matteo II 5m 32s 4m 36s 16,87
 Constant attention Marco 2m 34s 2m 7s 17,53
Anna 2m 57s 2m 32,20
The tables and graphs below show the Assunta 1m 45s 1m 2s 40,95
results achieved.
Alessio 3m 5s 2m 15s 27,03
Table 2 displays the average of the Chiara 1m 26s 46s 46,51

differences between reading speed Margherita 3m 17s 2m 45s 16,24
before and after treatment according to Sara 2m 22s 1m 40s 29,58
the calculation index of Individual Fluidity. Tommaso II 2m 54s 1m 49s 37,36
In this table, starting from the left, we Alessio 2m 49s 1m 43s 39,05
report the initial value of each subject,
Diego 3m 39s 2m 35s 29,22
then the value after three months of
treatment, and the percentage of Umberto 2m 29s 1m 39s 33,56
improvement for each one (a mean of Laura 1m 34s 44s 53,19
30% improvement). Luca 1m 44s 56s 46,15
Riccardo 2m 21s 1m 34s 33,33
Figure 1 displays the score for each Francesco 3m 23s 2m 47s 17,73
subject at pre and post test.
Chiara II 2m 14s 1m 10s 47,76
Figure 2 shows a chart presenting reading Vanessa 2m 33s 1m 16s 50,33
performance at the beginning and end of Media in sec. 152s 105s -30,92%
therapy: as you can observe the changes
appear to be significant. The gray line

Figure 1 Pre and post test scores Figure 2 Pre and post test scores

shows that all subjects improve in fluidity In a further explanation of increased

compared to the initial phase, the orange fluidity, the sample shows that the
line shows the slow process of production improvements are in readiness to start
at the beginning of treatment. with decreased interruptions (stumbling)
and a more consistent rhythm.
Table 3 and Figure 3 show the
percentage improvement after three A repeated measures t test was
months of treatment. This improvement undertaken on the times for pre and post
ranges from 10-60% compared to the test, (mean pre-test, 153seconds, mean
initial phase. The majority of subjects post-test 108 seconds, standard deviation
achieved results between 20 and 50%. 55.4 and 54.4 respectively), df 32,
p=<.0001. This shows a highly significant
effect of the intervention, with the time for
Table 3 The percentage improvement each child reduced from pre to post. In
after three months of treatment terms of our high and low achievers, if we
split the groups into 2 with group 1
differenza % f%
subjects (fast) completing the pre-test in
< 10 less than 150 seconds, and group 2 (slow)
taking longer than 150 seconds, it is
10-20 7
interesting to note that the improvement in
20-30 8 group 1 is 50 seconds and in group 2, 49
30-40 7 seconds. Although there is more room for
improvement in the 2nd group, it should
40-50 7 be evident that both groups make good
50-60 4 progress.
Conclusions on our research
The treatment based on Ecological

Dynamics Practices within which the
Method is performed, shows improvement
in a concise time of 3 months. This study
provides evidence that the treatment is
efficient because it aims to affect the
automaticity of the reading process
through qualitative and intensive
procedures.
The reading speed, translated as fluidity,

is the potential recovery obtained by all
subjects, which is pervasive in all areas of
the personality in an ecological and
dynamic approach impacting on the
Figure 2 Percentage improvement aƒer whole child and their performance. In this
three months of treatment sense the issue of the potential recovery is
c e
e
n o
t f
r
a a
l l
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vel of severity. Our treatment is to deliver within an educational u i
open to all, not only at the early setting and the best we could hope n t
grades of elementary school, for would be a controlled study d h
getting the first results in the first where the performance of children e
month. To be effective, these r a
treatments must be carried out t
intensively, a m
3 hours a week for three k a
months. The treatment has been i t
designed to be not only effective n c
but also cost effective, with g h
moderate charges for e
participation in the treatment. t d
h
In conclusion, and in terms of e g
the req u i re m e n ts of fl u en cy r
and comprehension, we have C o
been able to speed the reading r u
and increase the word attack and i p
concentration of a group of s
children with evidence of p o
dyslexia. Building on theoretical i f
perspectives that are well- a
regarded in Italy, of the need for n c
attention and motor fluency, we i h
have combined reading and co- i
ordinated movement in order to m l
smooth the sequencing and fluidity e d
of reading. The approach restores t r
an element of fun and challenge to h e
the reading process and can o n
impact on the self-esteem and d
success of the whole child. w
w h
Limitations and directions a o
for further research s
d
Although the data provided in c i
conjunction with the case study o d
provide some evidence for the m
effectiveness of the Crispiani p n
approach, we cannot a o
extrapolate too strongly from r t
these results. Ideally, the gold e
standard for educational research d u
would be a double blind n
controlled study. However, it is w d
clear that this is not really possible
ertake this approach. traditional remediation, it has
Nevertheless, the quasi- implications for our understanding
experimental approach adopted of the importance of the whole
here, with each child acting as child in therapy. In particular, the
their own control, has been emphasis in success and positive
widely used in intervention
research. Secondly, it may well
be that there is an experimenter
effect with a whole child
intervention of this type with the
relationship between the child
and the therapist influencing the
results.
Clearly further research would

need to be undertaken to address
these issues. It should also be
noted that concerns have been
expressed over the use of motor
skill interventions that do not
include reading practice in the UK
and USA, with English particularly
susceptible to problems in
phonology. Nevertheless, the
evidence provided here is
suggestive of a highly significant
positive impact for the approach
for the Italian language, and this
reflects similar evidence from
other studies of co-ordinated
movement (e.g. McPhillips et al.,
2000 in Ireland) but here for the
first time providing some evidence
of improvement in fluency of
reading, one of the key issues in
literacy research.
It is important to acknowledge
that the children who took part in
this study in the main showed
severe impairments reflecting
complex needs, and that Italian is
a regular language that may be
less susceptible to problems in
phonology. If this pattern of
results can be found with other
children with co-morbid problems
who have proved resistant to
feedback to enhance self-esteem and Dyslexic Child. London, UK: Heinemann

commitment to succeed may prove to be Dehaene, S., (2009). I neuroni della lettura,
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Improving English exam skills for dyslexics in primary education in Singapore 184
Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences Vol. 2 No. 2 July 2015 pp 184– 20
DOI: 10.3850/S2345734115000289
Improving English exam skills for dyslexics in

primary education in Singapore
Edmen Leong1
1 Dyslexia Association of Singapore, Singapore
Abstract
Many children with dyslexia show problems with English language skills
and grammar, and struggle to obtain results which reflect their
potential. Problems with decoding, fluency and comprehension can all
impact on progress, and this has particular impact in Singapore,
where good performance in primary education has particular significance.
Parents and teachers have high expectations for their children and
students, especially when they sit for their Primary School Leaving
Examinations (PSLE). The results of the PSLE can determine a child's
educational pathway following their primary school education. Students
with dyslexia struggle with the English PSLE subject, and score badly in
several components of the paper. In response to this need, curriculum
developers with the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS) have developed
an English Exam Skills Programme (EESP) to help Dyslexic learners in the DAS
overcome their difficulties in the PSLE English Paper. The EESP focuses on
teaching skills and strategies that directly helps students in the
Grammar, Editing, Synthesis and Transformation, and Comprehension
components of the PSLE paper. In this paper, we present a continuous
evaluation of the results of students on the EESP over a period of 4 terms,
with group sizes ranging from 29 to 46. This evaluation revealed that students
made consistent progress and significant improvements in their skills,
particularly in the Editing and Synthesis and Transformation
components of the programme. Implications for wider applications of
this approach are discussed.
Edmen Leiong , Dyslexia Association of Singapore, 1 Jurong West Central 2, #05‐01, Jurong Point, Singapore 648886
Email: edmen@das.org.sg
185 E. Leong
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1.
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so
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of
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sys
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US,
UK,
an
d
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ga
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g G
ov.uk, 2014). In Singapore, throughout their academic C
children will have to sit for years. o P
their Primary School n S
Leaving Examinations Children in the Singapore s L
(PSLE) where they will be education system will enrol i E
tested on English, Mother in primary school at the age d ,
Tongue, Maths, and Science of 7. They will be in the e
subjects (Ministry of primary school education r s
Education (MOE), 2014). In system in Singapore for 6 i t
both the UK and more years before sitting for their n u
significantly in the first major examination at g d
Singapore education the end of their sixth year. e
system, these examinations They will be sitting for their t n
are considered as high PSLE (MOE, 2015), one of h t
stake examinations since the first and most important e s
results will determine examinations every
students' placement in Singaporean child has to i w
secondary schools. take. m i
However, the emphasis on p t
good performance differs o h
between Singapore and the r
UK, where results may only t d
determine the set level a y
that the child is assigned to n s
on entry. By contrast, there c l
is a cutoff which e e
determines which type of x
secondary education a o i
Singaporean child is able to f a
access, similar to that in the
traditional UK grammar p i
school and 11 plus system e n
prior to the introduction r
of the comprehensive f t
system. In Singapore, most o h
parents and teachers have r e
high expectations for their m
children and students to i S
perform in their PSLE, n i
because an Asian society g n
such as Singapore is g
predominantly result i a
based. Students will need n p
to perform in several high o
stakes examinations to t r
progress to bett er h e
educati onal e
opportuniti es
education system struggle and with the DAS, who will
to keep up with their be sitting for their PSLE.
peers and meet their
parents expectations. Unlike the established
Because of their difficulties MOE-aided DAS Literacy
in reading and writing, Programme (MAP)
they often struggle to cope implemented in DAS that
with their school work. It is addresses the literacy
particularly challenging issues and demands of a
for these students to learner with dyslexia, the
progress, perform, and EESP aims to address the
excel in their PSLE English examination expectations
paper, since most of the and needs of these
English paper requires learners. Thus, a very clear
these students to distinction between the
demonstrate language purposes of the MAP and
competence in writing the EESP is established. It is
(Singapore Examinations essential that learners in
and Assessment Board
(SEAB), 2015). These are
skills that are difficult for
dyslexic learners to grasp
and master. Despite their
acknowledged
diffi culties, there are
still huge expectations for
most of them to perform
well in their PSLE, and
indeed this result dictates
their future school
placement.
Intention and features of the

EESP
Taking into consideration

the struggles of a dyslexic
child in Singapore schools,
and the emphasis on
performance in national
examinations in Singapore,
the English Examination
Skills Programme (EESP)
was implemented with the
intention of addressing
the examination needs of
upper primary students
with dyslexia in Singapore
187 E. Leong
D n
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rstanding of certain skill Editing for Spelling, and a m
sets, or the inability to Grammar with a total n m
apply skills and concepts weightage of 12 out of 95 s a
that they already know. Marks. In addition, PSLE w r
These could be due, as candidates will also be e
Snowling and Hulme (2011) assessed on their ability to r w
described, to 'higher level' demonstrate the correct use a
language difficulties such of grammar throughout the q s
as problems or PSLE paper (SEAB, 2015). u
defi ciencies with For example, students will e t
grammar and vocabulary. also be marked for s h
The EESP thus aims to grammar in Synthesis t u
address these weaknesses and Transformation as well i s
within the four PSLE as Comprehension o
components. As well as components in the PSLE n c
ensuring that students in paper. This suggests the s o
DAS who will be sitting for importance of having a firm n
the PSLE paper can get a grasp of grammatical t s
firm grasp and improve in concepts in order to h i
their PSLE scores for these r d
components, we o e
considered several other u r
reasons for the g e
implementation of these h d
components. Detailed o
descriptions of the u a
rationale and purpose of t s
each of the components
taught in the EESP will be t o
presented in the h n
paragraphs below. e e
Grammar P o
S f
There are several L
components in the PSLE E t
paper that require the h
knowledge and use of p e
appropriate grammar. The a
main grammar p c
components include the e o
Grammar MCQ with a r r
weightage of 10 out of 95 . e
marks (SEAB, 2015), the
Grammar Cloze with a G c
weightage of 10 out of 95 r o
marks, and Editing for a m
Grammar, with is part of
ponents in the EESP synthesis and
curriculum. transformation of these
sentences follow certain
Synthesis and grammatical patterns.
Transformation These patterns are
structured, thus, the EESP
The Synthesis and teaches students to
Transformation remember and apply
component takes up 10 mechanisms to synthesize
out of 95 marks of the and transform sentences.
PSLE paper (SEAB, 2015).
One of the reasons why Editing
students with dyslexia
struggle with this Editing takes up 12 out of
component is strictness 95 marks in the PSLE
in the marking. Students paper 2 (SEAB, 2015).
are required to transform Considering the need to
sentences from one form be familiar with
to another in this grammatical
component. For example,
if a direct speech is
presented as a questi on
in the Synthesis and
Transformation section,
students will need to know
how to transform the
sentence to its indirect
speech form. Any form of
spelling or grammatical
mistake within each
question would cause
students to lose marks for
the entire component.
This component is also
difficult since it involves
students needing to
synthesize and transform
sentence into
grammatically perfect
forms. Such sentences are
uncommon in the actual
spoken language of
Singaporeans. Thus,
Singaporean students will
have to learn how to write
sentences in a form that
they may not be at all
familiar with. The
189 E. Leong
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the students' weaknesses had to be suitable for
in the PSLE paper. An learners with dyslexia.
emphasis on practical skills With this in mind, the
for each of the components EESP curriculum was
are also key features of the designed adhering to the
EESP. structured and sequential
schema of the OG
Material design and principles (Gillingham and
curriculum development Stillman, 1997) while
addressing the
Several material design examination needs of the
principles were taken into students. An example of
account when developing how this was achieved was
the EESP. This was to how lessons were
ensure that while the designed to be partially
ultimate goal of the multisensory to ensure
programme is for that students are given
students to be able to activities closest to
make use of strategies examination conditions as
taught in their national possible, but also given
examination paper (PSLE), opportunities to
all the lessons experience several
Figure 1.
possible pathways to
Cur
learning, increasing the
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chances of retention of
lum
concepts learnt
desi
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gn
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ents in each term. The a concern for pre and post- q s
numbers of EESP students tests within each term, u i
who participated in the since students participating e n
study each term are in the study will be sitting s c
presented in the table for the exact same test only t e
below. after a 10-week time frame. i
This concern was addressed o s
after taking into n t
Table 2. Number of consideration the content s u
students involved in the of the tests. Grammar, d
study in each term. Editing, Synthesis and a e
Transformation, and r n
Comprehension e t
Term 1 2
s
No. of n
37 46
Students o f
t o
r
p
Instrumentation r e
o x
Pre-tests and post-tests n a
were the primary tools that e m
were used for data p
collection of this study. Pre- t l
tests and post-tests were o e
carefully designed by ,
teachers to ensure that t
these tests test for h w
concepts, skills, and e i
strategies taught in each l
term. These are cross p l
checked between r
curriculum developers and a n
validity checklists c o
re c om m e n d e d by t t
Brown and i
Abeywickrama (2010) to c b
ensure the validity of the e e
test items. The same paper
was used as the pre-test e a
and the post-test for a f b
single term, different f l
papers however were used e e
across the terms with c
respect to the topics t t
covered within terms. The o
practice effect was initially
realise grammatical rules, Results of this study cannot
correct spelling of words, fully evaluate any student
or understand the syntax progress over the full four
of transforming sentences term period, because of
just by completing the pre- changes in the students
test. Any of these skills or participating over time.
knowledge acquired will The data collected
be solely from the EESP however will be able to
curriculum in the period reveal the effectiveness of
between the pre and the the programme in each
post-test. Also, considering individual term, as well as
the scale of this study, it is the progress of the EESP
not practical to attempt to curriculum as a whole.
design alternate forms for
pre-tests and post-tests
since it may compromise
the validity of the results
which would be of greater
concern.
Data collection
Results of each of the four

terms were collected
independently. Both the
pre-test and post-test for
each term were marked
and compared against
each other. These data
were used to present the
quality and effectiveness
of the EESP by revealing
the percentage of students
who did better in their
post-test as compared to
their pre- test. Further
analysis of these results
were also considered to
unveil how much this
improvement was across
the board. t-tests were
conducted for these two
sets of results across the
four terms, and analysed
as a whole.
Limitations

193 E. Leong
R r
e o
s ss
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r
T t
h e
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p m
r s
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t r
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lt s
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Term
% Improvem
P value
Table 4.
Percent
age of
scores
of
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s
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test and
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Term
Pre test %
Post test %
P value
Table 5.
Individual component progress (T1 2014)
Pre-test % score Post-test % score
Grammar 58.4 65.4
Synthesis & Trans. 23 62
Editing 47.6 67.6
Comprehension 26.1 36
Table 6. Individual component progress (T2 2014)
Pre-test % score Post-test % score
Grammar 71 70.4
Synthesis & Trans. 36.5 57.9
Editing 33.9 44.3
Comprehension 42.5 32.3

195 E. Leong
Table 7.
Individual
componen
t progress
(T3 2014)
Grammar
Synthesis & Tr
Editing
Comprehens
Table 8.
Individual
componen
t progress
(T4 2014)
Grammar
Synthesis & Tr
Editing
Comprehens
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e improvements and on the fact that lessons a n
progress in grammar. were in line with the MAP n d
Upon considering the course students were d i
situation of the grammar concurrently enrolled in, r
component of the EESP, allowing students to relate T e
curriculum developers lessons from both the MAP r c
considered revising the and the EESP. Being familiar a t
grammar curriculum in with spelling rules in MAP n
Term 3 which resulted in a allowed these students to s S
poorer performance in the easily apply these rules in f p
pre-test but a bigger editing activities. Students' o e
improvement in the post- improved performance in r e
test. After further the Synthesis and m c
evaluation, the team Transformation component a h
eventually discontinued the could be due to lessons t '
grammar component to being taught systematically i
emphasise on the other and progressively o w
weaker components in referencing the OG n e
Term 4. (The grammar Principles. For example, r
component however was major Synthesis t e
introduced in the newer o
Primary 3 and 4 EESP p e
curriculum). These i x
decisions in Terms 3 and 4 c p
resulted in the s l
improvements in scores in i
Terms 3 and 4. s c
u i
Students were generally c t
performing in both the h l
Editing and the Synthesis y
and Transformation a
components throughout s t
the four terms in the EESP. a
Considering the constant ' u
improvements in both D g
components of EESP i h
lessons, the structure, r t
difficulty, and lesson e
execution plans of these c o
lessons remained similar t v
throughout the terms. e
Different topics and skills a r
within each component n
however were taught in d s
each term. The consistent e
improvement in the Editing I v
component could be based
eral weeks systematically. and post-tests and
Students were taught students' worksheets
words that they need to revealed that students
look out for to transform were able to make use of
every week. This gave skills such as annotation
students ample time to and reference tracking that
retain the information as were taught. Most of these
well as transforming skills skills however were only
to work on actual 'Direct able to help students
and Indirect Speech' perform in questions
questions in exam papers. asking to identify pronouns
Figures 2 and 3 show a within the text passage.
sample of a student's Teachers and curriculum
Synthesis and developers believe that
Transformation section in improvements in the
the pre-test and post-test. comprehension
The figures illustrates the component may not be
vast improvements observable within short
observed in the scores of single term periods.
the Synthesis and
Transformation
components in each term.
It may be seen that the
student struggled to
successfully complete the
pre-test, but that the post-
test by contrast, showed
only three errors.
Evaluation of the pre-test

and post-test scores of
each term revealed the
difficulty in helping
students perform in the
comprehension
component of the PSLE
paper. Comprehension
results across the terms
were not ideal. Teachers
and curriculum developers
discussed and agreed that
these results can be
explained by how
comprehension requires
long term remediation
before skills can be taught
and applied. Further
analysis of the pre-tests
197 E. Leong
Figure
2.
Exam
p re‐
l test.
e
o
f
a
s
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r
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ti
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k
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n
a
p
Figu
re 3.
Exa
mple of a student's Synthesis and Transformation work in a
post‐test.

199 E. Leong
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assessment. This model of The success of this study
fer
designing a curriculum, and the development of the s
en
refining the curriculum in a EESP curriculum would not t
ces
cyclical fashion, and pre be possible without the r
and post testing to evaluate hard work, contributions, Gernsb u
progress is a model of good and positive working spirit a c
practice that can be used in of the following members c t
intervention more of the EESP curriculum h u
widely. development team: Shifa e r
Bte Shekh Nahji, Tuty Elfira r e
Abdul Razak, Siti Asjamiah ,
Recent reviews of
b
intervention have generally Binte Asmuri, Siti Halimah
M u
shown that support for Binte Mohamad Yahaya, . i
around 1 hour weekly in Emilyn See, and Andy l
small groups, as Wang. A d
demonstrated here, can be . i
beneficial for improving n
students literacy over a ( g
period of 1 term. This can 1 .
be more effective and cost 9
9 H
effective than more
0 i
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Support for phonology and . l
reading has been s
consistently evaluated, but L d
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demonstrate transfer of n l
skills to areas such as g e
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comprehension and
grammar. This is one of a
g N
the first examples of a J
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successful evaluation of :
exam skills intervention.
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Given the i m p o r t a n c e of o L
demonstrat in g m .
improvement in timed p
examination format, there r E
is considerable potential r
e
l
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formal assessments of this i .
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n a
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a h
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The Dyslexia Experience: Difference, Disclosure, Labelling, Discrimination and Stigma 202

Vol. 2, No. 2, July 2015, pp 202 ‐ 233
DOI: 10.3850/S2345734115000290 The
Dyslexi
a
Experie
nce:
Differe
nce,
Disclos
ure,
Labelli
ng,
Discrim
ination
and
Stigma
Neil
Alexander‐
Passe 1*
1 Head of
Learning
Support, Mill
Hill School,
London
Abstract
T
his paper reports on a qualitative/quantitative adult
dyslexic study of 22 dyslexics who presently or have in
the past suffered from a depressive disorder, and 7
control dyslexic adults. It compares depressive to non‐
depressive dyslexics, with gender and academic
success variables. Interpretive Phenomenology
Analysis was used to investigate dyslexia and stigma.
Many perceived dyslexia as positive and gave them

unique skills, but made them feel different. This
difference was perceived to come from having to work
harder than their non‐dyslexic peers to achieve in life,
as dyslexia affected many aspects of their daily life.
Interestingly most would not seek a cure if it was
offered ‐ suggesting they perceived their dyslexia to be
integral to whom they were, and losing their dyslexia
would be as great as losing a limb.
Evidence suggested that dyslexics experience

discrimination due to their disability, whether they
perceive it as a disability or not. They felt there was a
lack of public domain information on dyslexia and its
effects, as many of their peers perceived it being
negative. Recent legislation in the US and the UK aims
to protect dyslexics in the workplace, however to gain
protection they need to disclose their hidden disability
to the world, making them vulnerable.
Many dyslexics have survived the last twenty, thirty or

more years in the workplace and school without their
difficulties being highlighted, one participant noted
that they had felt successful in hiding for so long, with
many feeling unhappy about disclosing their difficulties
as they may fear this would firstly go on their record
and
Neil‐Alexander‐Passe, Email: neilpasse@aol.com, www.dyslexia‐research.com

203 N. Alexander‐Passe
secondly it might have a negative effect on promotion and career prospects.
Many felt dyslexia was a disability when they were children, as school was
seen as an inflexible environment with no escape from reading and writing,
along with unfair comparison with age appropriate peers ‐ ‘I’m only disabled by
my dyslexia when you put me into a classroom’ (Natasha). It was felt as an adult
there was more flexibility to choose professions that play to a dyslexic’s strength
and use supportive technology (e.g. computers and spell‐checkers). However, a
minority withdrew from a society when they felt ill‐equipped to function effectively
within it.
Stigma due to dyslexia was highlighted as many camouflaged their difficulties at

work, attributing their difficulties to quirkiness (positive) rather than being disabled
(negative). Implications for the Asia Pacific area are discussed.
Keywords: Dyslexia, Difference, Disclosure, Discrimination, Labelling, Stigma
Introduction through Greek roots: ‘Dys’ difficulty and

‘Lexia’ with words. In 1886 Morgan first
The aim of this study was to pose a semi documented the term and condition in
-structured interview script to a range of the British Medical Journal (Snowling,
UK adult dyslexics to investigate how 1996). Since then numerous medical and
they coped, their reactions to success/ educational professionals have sought
failure and a review of their childhoods. to understand the condition, its origins,
Adult dyslexics were chosen as they its cause or causes, and its treatment.
would have the ability to review their
childhoods for the origins of their coping Whilst the origins of the condition
strategies, and could give a data rich concerns difficulty with words, modern
explanation of any emotional damage. definitions are broader and this forms
Four groups were sought: dyslexics with disagreements in the field. Symptoms
and without a clinical depression include difficulties in: short-term memory,
diagnosis, degree-educated and non- phonology, rapid naming, balance,
degree-educated dyslexics. This motor skills, and organisation.
research aimed to support a
hypotheti cal ‘Dyslexia Defensive Based on the disparity between the
Mechanisms’ model as first proposed in original definition and modern symptom
Alexander-Passe (2009). lists, a number of alternative names
have been proposed to describe the
Empirical Review condition better: Specific reading
retardation, reading difficulties, specific
What is Dyslexia? reading difficulties, reading disability,
learning disability, unexpected reading
‘Dyslexia’ first coined by Berlin (Wagner, diffi culty, and Specific learning
1973) described word blindness, defined
difficulties. 75% tend to agree the

d o
i t
f i
f n
i g
c
u a
l
t b
y r
o
i a
s d
e
w r
i
t d
h i
f
w f
o i
r c
d u
s l
, t
y
w
i w
t i
h t
h
t
h l
e e
a
r r
e n
m i
a n
i g
n .
d
e R
r e
f
n l
ecting this disagreement, the broad, and serve self- m c
draft revision to the 5th obsessive purposes. e t
version of the American
a
Psychiatric Association’s Fletcher & Lyon (2010) offer n a
‘Diagnostic and Statistical three primary reasons why
Manual (DSM- 5)’ originally i n
dyslexia is hard to define: n d
suggested the term
‘learning disorder’ to be g
Dyslexia is an ‘unobservable p
replaced with ‘dyslexia’ to construct’
‘render APA terminology t e
consistent with h o
international use’, a p
describing ‘difficulties in t l
reading accuracy or fluency e
that are not consistent a
with the person’s t s
chronological age, t u
educati onal e f
m f
o p p o r t u n i ti e s , or
p e
in t e l l e c t u a l abilities’
t r
(Cowen & Dakin, 2013).
s i
However its final version n
(APA, 2013) now uses t g
‘Specific Learning Disorder’, o
based on a reasoning that f
the international m r
conceptions and e o
understandings of dyslexia a m
(and other conditions) exist s
but disagree on its u t
definition (Tannock in Elliot r h
and Grigorenko, 2014). e e
Elliot and Grigorenko argue
that attempts to find a i d
single definition have been t i
hampered by factors of s
inclusivity, some criticised a o
as being too inclusive and r r
others too exclusive. Rice & e d
Brooks (2004) and e
Fitzgibbon & O’Connor i r
(2002) agree that a m
universally agreed p c
definition and explanation e a
remains elusive, and that r n
definitions to date have f n
been subjective and too e o
t objectively report it. concern (OFSTED, 2010;
Driver Youth Trust, 2013).
Dyslexia is ‘dimensional’
meaning that there are Dyslexia affects both
varying degrees to which children and adults, but as
individuals may children they are less able
experience difficulty, to hide their difficulties or
from minor, severe and differences (e.g. reading
in between the two. aloud, having their writing
critically assessed etc.) as
There is great much as in adulthood where
disagreement from assisted adults or
practitioners and technology can be utilized.
psychologists about what However m a n y d y s l e x i
characteristics to include c s e x p e ri e n c e
and exclude. discrimination on a daily
basis (Dale &
The lack of an agreed
definition and
assessment route has
meant that dyslexia is
misunderstood which
can lead to low
identification rates, with
many only being
diagnosed in adulthood.
It is argued that the
majority of dyslexics
leave school without
diagnosis, and suffer at
school through
unsuitable and
discriminatory teaching
methods by teachers
lacking special
educational needs (SEN)
training to identify
children with learning
difficulties (Hartley,
2010; OFSTED, 2010;
Rose,
2009). Whilst current UK
education policy states
that all classroom
teachers are teacher of
all pupils including SEN,
the lack of SEN training
of teachers remains a
Aiken, 2007; Michail, 2010). Scott (2004) nothing in your brain’ (p.38). However
and the Alexander-Passe (2004, 2006, without disclosure no ‘reasonable
2010), Riddick (1996) and Willcutt & adjustments’ and mentoring can be
Pennington (2000) note the frustration possible, to deal with the task-based
and anger that can build up inside difficulties experienced – so a double-
dyslexics when faced with tasks that edge sword
highlight their inabilities, causing stress
and anxiety (the fear of an already The need for disclosure is complicated
experienced negative event or task). by many dyslexics not perceiving
themselves as being disabled
Alexander-Passe (2010), Scott (2004), (Blackfield, 2001) or not being
McNutty (2003) agree that dyslexics recognised by others as being disabled.
generally camouflage their difficulties, However the legal and bureaucratic
with advanced coping strategies, so a position of dyslexia (in employment
sense of normality can be projected. legislation and law) defines it as a
Dyslexics are very conscious of their disability. Also to gain additional support
differences, so create a secondary in the workplace individuals would need
persona to operate in the wider to disclose their dyslexia within the first 6
community (Alexander-Passe, 2010, 2012; weeks of UK employment, to gain
Scott, 2004). However when cracks reasonable adjustments.
occur in this persona, it can be highly
embarrassing, demonstrating how To disclose dyslexia at a work interview
vulnerable they can be, and confirming may mean that you may not be offered
their otherness compared to their peers. the post. Is it a risk worth taking? If you
avoid disclosure until you start, your
There is however a shortage of research employer could argue you withheld
concerning dyslexia, disclosure, disclosure of an important aspect
discrimination and stigma and this relating to your ability to fulfil the post -
paper aims to shed light on this subject. thus you could be fired for non-
disclosure.
Disclosure
Nalavany, Carawan and Sauber (2013)
Dale & Aiken (2007, p.14) note in a investigated dyslexia as a hidden
recent study of dyslexic nurses ‘ many disability. They note that adult dyslexics
have gone to considerable lengths to face complex decisions over disclosure.
hide their difficulties’. Morris & Turnbull’s Hellendoorn, and Ruijssenaars (2000)
(2006) study found dyslexic student found most participants felt dyslexia
nurses experiencing widespread impacted on their daily life, experiencing
concealment of student disabilities in many educational and career related
clinical settings, as one student nurse problems. Nalavany, Carawan and
noted ‘when they (staff) find out they Rennick (2010) noted that from 39 adult
withdraw from you and make out you’re dyslexics, nine distinct cluster themes
not on the same level…they try to were identified, including: Why can’t they
rubbish you and make you feel you’ve see it?; Pain, Hurt, and Embarrassment
got
f B
r a
o r
m g
a
p
a (
s 1
t 9
9
t 6
o )
p s
r t
e u
s d
e i
n e
t d
;
t
a h
n e
d
e
F x
e p
a e
r r
i
o e
f n
c
d e
i s
s
c o
l f
o
s n
u i
r n
e e
.
u
niversity students with although admitting that their t .
learning disabilities (another academic achievement may h g
term often used for dyslexia suffer as a result. e .
in the USA). Over a six- r
month period, students Empirical evidence suggests e b
experienced labelling and that dyslexia is similar to e
sti gmati zati on, which invisible differences such as i i
they considered to be a religious orientation, in that s n
barrier to their education. g
Whilst all participants were n
selective when disclosing o i
information about their n
disability to others, 6 of o
them reported deliberately b a
using avoidance behaviours v
and concealment to hide i w
their disabilities, fearing o h
ridicule and stigmatisation. u e
They feared rejection, s e
ridicule and stigmatisation, l
so adjusted their lives to a c
avoid the likelihood of p h
perceptions of difference. p a
Dyslexic participants noted e i
regular examples of clinical a r
misunderstanding and often r
misinformed ignorance and a o
hostility by staff in regard to n r
their dyslexia. Barga argues c
that dyslexia continues to e e
attract an unwarranted x
stigma, which in some o h
individuals can adversely f i
influence the development b
of a constructi ve d i
relationship with their i t
mentor. Goffman (1964) s i
defined stigma as the a n
perceived deviance of b g
personality or characteristics i
from the norm, within a l s
particular context. i o
t
Rao (2004) reported that y c
many undergraduate a
students avoid reporting ( l
their disability to avoid e l
negative social perceptions,
ed abnormal this century, along with
behaviour). Such dyslexics these groups
invisible groups may find it hard to
according to Beatty and advocate for themselves as
Kirby (2006) have many lack the skills. In the
difficulty forming group UK, the main national
awareness, because charity protecting the rights
people are reluctant to of dyslexics (British Dyslexia
publicly claim a Association) was set-up
potentially damaging and run for many years by
identity in the workplace parents of dyslexics for
and socially. school-aged dyslexics.
Unintentionally they
Being visible means supported the argument
declaring one’s hidden that dyslexics were unable
identity and ‘coming to voice their concerns and
out’ to employers, were incapable of fending
friends and family. Such and campaigning for
disclosure is weighed up themselves.
for its advantages and
disadvantages, before
the plunge to openly
disclose. Thus in many
ways being dyslexic and
sexual preference are
similar as they are both
(incorrectly) perceived
to be negative in the
workplace and ‘coming
out’ is required to gain
protection by
discrimination
legislation. Gordon and
Rosenblum (2002) note
that ironically the laws
that protect people with
invisible identities also
creates and reinforce
stigma by naming and
categorizing groups.
This points to the lack of

power by certain
minority groups to
advocate for themselves
e.g. being black or a
woman in the last
century or being gay in
Hover, The BDA has evolved from this interactions between the person with the
model with dyslexics being involved, difference and others who evaluate the
especially at the top, and a developing difference in negative terms (Goffman,
focus on adult dyslexics. 1964). Critics of stigma argue it is too
broadly conceived (Cahill & Eggleston,
In a personal relationship when should 1994).
you disclose dyslexia? If you say it on
your first date, then will there be a Schulze & Angermeyer (2003) suggest
second? If you leave it until a that stigma adds a dimension of
relationship has settled, then you could suffering to the primary illness – a
be perceived as lying e.g. not admitting second condition which may be more
that you are a drug addict or addicted devastating, life-limiting, and long-lasting
to gambling. Alexander-Passe (2012) than the first.
found that some dyslexics disclosure on
the first date as a discussion point, such Link & Phelan (2001) define Stigma as
as wearing glasses for reading, whereas having five main components:
others waited several dates into the
relationship, as they wanted to secure  Labelling – the recognition of
the relationship before dropping the differences and the assignment of
bomb-shell. Alexander- Passe concluded social factors to those differences
this depended on how dyslexia is e.g. recognising that the individual
perceived by the individual. Is it a may have different biological/
strength or a weakness? neurological traits to the norm.
Disclosure has risks in the workplace;  Stereotyping – the assignment of

however it can have also its benefits. In negative attributes to these social
the UK and the US disclosure brings factor differences e.g. differences
access to support required to do the job that matter and are deemed by
well. As noted earlier, ‘Access to Work’ others to be undesirable.
and the ‘Disability Support Allowance’
can mean the difference between  Separation – occurring when the
succeeding at work or in your studies. reactions to others leads to
These issues are particularly pertinent for avoidance of those with the
the Asia Pacific region where adult undesired difference (felt stigma).
support and legislation may be in its
infancy.  Status Loss – when the individual
with differences is not allowed to
What is Stigma? fully participate in society or a
community, thus the value of their
Susman (1994) defines Stigma as an place is reduced e.g. net worth is
adverse reaction to the perception of a devalued by other people’s views.
negative evaluated difference. It is not This is perceived as ‘enacted
the attribute of the individual who bears stigma’.
the difference, but rather it resides in the  Discrimination – when those with

the ial
differe –
nces oc
are cu
viewe rs
d w
negati he
vely n
and th
they os
are e
barred wi
from th
certai th
n jobs e
or au
tasks th
in ori
societ ty
y. Not us
based e
on th
abilitie eir
s but po
perce si
ption tio
(enact n
ed to
stigma ba
). r
or
 re
du
ce
th
os
e
wi
th
th
e
di
ffe
re
nc
e
from taking full roles Unfair advantage a 1
in society e.g. a l 9
company boss who s 8
Green, Davis, Karshmer,
feels negatively about Marsh & Straigh (2005) o 8
disability may not found that those with an ;
shortlist a person invisible disability were l
with a disability for a perceived by others as e F
vacant job. ‘faking it’ to gain special s r
privileges or advantages, s y
 Stigma comes from comments such as ‘what’s m
making a conscious the matter with her? She’s i i
choice to discriminate not in a wheelchair!’ n e
against another t r
individual, be it at Lisle (2011) argues that e
school, walking down there is growing evidence l &
the street, at work, or that a stigma exists towards l
socially. Within the those with a learning i W
medical model of difficulty (LD) e.g. speaking g a
disability, stigma can of LDs as being e n
cause families to intellectually inferior n z
send a disabled or (McNulty, 2003; Denhart, t e
sick person away ‘for 2008; Gerber, Reiff & r
their own good’ but Ginsberg, 1996). ( ,
really to protect Interestingly, Snyder, G
families from social Carmichael, Blackwell, e 2
stigma. Cleveland & Thornton (201) r 0
found those with non- s 0
Stigma and discrimination go physically visible disabilities t 3
hand in hand as part of the reported more negative e )
medical model of disability experiences than those n .
(a disability that needs with physical disabilities, ,
medical intervention to be questioning the validity of F
cured). It has meant that invisible disabiliti es in W r
disabled individuals, such as public perceptions (are a y
those with dyslexia are they really disabled? Are l m
unable to get jobs, based on they just trying to gain an k i
an incorrect perception that unfair advantage). e e
if a person can’t read or r r
write that they were The use of a label that
‘stupid’, and ‘unintelligent’. identifies dyslexia was & &
In schools children may found to affect teachers
avoid making friends with perceptions and actions, D W
those on the slow table, or many felt sorry for the a a
make nasty remarks when a students (Frymier & r n
dyslexic child is made to Wanzer, 2003), some c z
read aloud in class and perceived them as not only h e
stumbles over their words. more difficult to teach but , r

found that many
negative perceptions by
teachers were due to
the negotiation
between student
and t e a c h e r a b o u t
reasonable
accommodations, and
the teacher questioning
the validity of a non-
visible disability.

Lock & Layton (2001) found some dyslexia/LD have lower IQ, so
college professors held beliefs that the performing on par or better than
label ‘learning disabilities’ was an excuse peers and claiming extra
to get out of work and laziness/not a c c o m m o d a ti o n s can be
trying hard enough. Even though studies misunderstood as cheating by
suggest dyslexics/LDs work themselves both educators and students
to exhaustion and illness to achieve at (Winters, 1997; Field, Sarver &
the level of their peers (Barga, 1996; Shaw, 2003; Elaqua, Rapaport &
Denhart, 2008; Reiff, Gerber & Ginsberg, Kruses, 1996).
1997; Rodis, Garrod & Boscardin, 2001).
 Self-fulfilling prophecies – Jussim,
What drives stigma towards dyslexics Eccles & Madon (1996) and
Hornstra, Denessen, Voeten, van
Lisle (2011) argues that stigmatisation of den Bergh & Bakker. (2010)
those with dyslexia/learning disabilities discuss the correlations between
persists for the following reasons: teachers expectations of LD/
dyslexic students and their
 Lack of Knowledge – Duchane, resulting student achievements,
Leung & Coulter-Kern (2008) found with those treated as having low
that teachers stigma towards ability accordingly believing such
those with dyslexia comes from perceptions and acting/achieving
misunderstanding or a lack of in line with these beliefs. Evidence
knowledge about disabilities. Roe suggests that students with
(2004) found educators with better dyslexia/LD are more likely to
knowledge of disability legislation drop out of college and university
had a more positive attitude than those with LD/dyslexia and
towards those with learning this will lead to social and
disabilities. economic disadvantage, argued
to lead many such individuals into
 Invisibility of disability cues – criminality (Mishna, 2003; Morrison
Upton, Harper & Wadsworth & Cosden, 1997; Kenyon, 2003)
(2005) found that perceptions of
accommodation deservedness  Confirmation of bias – It is argued
was greater for disabilities that by Nickerson (1998) that educators
are more visible and have more will interpret information in a
obvious educational implications; manner consistent with existing
thus the visibility/invisibility of beliefs or explanations. Thus once
disabilities is an important a view of dyslexia/LD has been
influence on the formation of formed, maybe from teaching a
disability perceptions. The lack of single individual with such learning
physical cues hinders non-disabled differences, then they will tend to
individuals from understanding ignore individual characteristics
any educational difficulties. It is and treat all with a single
still perceived that those with definition and give a single type of

accom ou
moda p
tion ho
(Higgi m
ns, og
Raskin en
, eit
Goldb y–
erg & it
Herm is
an, ar
2002). gu
Howe ed
ver as th
noted at
earlier dy
, all sle
dyslex xic
ics are s/L
differe Ds
nt and ar
the e
differe vie
nces we
are d
along by
a ot
contin he
uum, rs
thus as
all bei
dyslex ng
ics of
need lo
tailore we
d r
accom int
moda elli
tions. ge
nc
 e
th
an
th
e
ms
elves, they tend to be Several studies in the US and UK i .
grouped together and have n
ignored in social v T
settings. This is based e h
on convenience, s e
rather than treating all t s
people as individuals. i e
g
 Abelism – Hehir (2007) a r
explains that there is t a
an assumption in e n
society that those d g
without disabilities e
are more capable than t
those with disabilities, h f
and in society groups e r
tend to socialise with o
likeminded individuals. i m
Thus as seen in school m
playgrounds, those p h
who like football a i
socialise together, c s
and those with t t
disabilities socialise o
together. It is also o r
argued that in f i
schools the use of c
withdrawal for l a
intervention groups a l
will mean that some b
groups are viewed as e s
incapable and l t
abnormal, and thus l u
can be shunned and i d
barred from joining n i
certain high g e
achievement social s
groups. This can i
create an n d
unwelcoming and r
inaccessible s a
environment for c w
individuals with h n
disabilities. o
o f
The effect of labelling with l r
dyslexia s o
m the 1970’s and 80’s a child described with a
to more recent studies. label as having more
severe academic or
Foster, Schmidt & behavioural problems and
Sabatino (1976) showed required more intensive
a film of a non-disabled special services than the
child to two groups of 22 same child described
primary/elementary without a label’.
school teachers. One
group was told the child More recently, Bianco
was normal (control), (2005) in a study of 247
other group general and special
(experimental) was told educational teachers were
the child had learning more willing to refer non-
disabilities. The study labelled students to gifted
found the experimental and talented programs
group rated the child (91%) than the same
more negatively, which student labelled with
led to researchers to emotional/behavioural
conclude the label disability (70%) or labelled
generates negative as having a
expectations in teachers
affecting their objective
observations of
behaviour and may be
detrimental to a child’s
academic progress.
In a larger study of 88
teacher Foster & Salvia
(1977) similar results
were found ‘teachers
perceived more
deviance when the
child was labelled
learning disabled than
when he was labelled
normal’ (p.533).
Moreover, Gillung &
Rucker (1977) found
similar outcomes with
176 regular and 82
special education
teachers in seven urban
and sub-urban
educati onal districts/
authoriti es ‘teachers
apparently perceived
learning disability (63%). Some of the Labels seem to have both negative and
teachers remarked that they wanted positive affects in education. Knowing a
disabled students to be in a less child’s label, especially those of mental
pressured environment. retardation, emotional/behavioural
difficulties and learning difficulties tends
The focus now turns to student peers, are to affect teacher perceptions and
they affected by labels? Bak, Cooper, expectations for student success (Bianco,
Dobroth & Siperstein (1987) investigated 2005; Foster & Salvia, 1977), with
how non-disabled peers viewed students teachers also highly influenced over
being removed for intervention sessions student behaviour over labels (Levin,
without the use of labels for difficulties. McCormick, Miller, Berry & Pressley,
Two scenarios were investigated, 1982).
removal to the ‘resource room for 25% of
the school day’ and removal to the More recently, studies point to labelling
‘special needs room for 80% of the of dyslexia having a positive effect by
school day’. Results indicated that mitigating the effects by providing an
students were sensitive about students acceptable explanation for a student’s
who leave classrooms during the day, difficulties in reading, spelling, or writing
the authors noted (p.154) ‘the absence effectively, compared to negative
of formal labels did not prevent children concepts of laziness or having a low IQ
from forming negative (although (Solvang, 2007; Riddick, 2000; Taylor,
realistically pessimistic) expectations Hume & Welsh, 2010). This may reflect
based on their own experiences with greater awareness if dyslexia through
special class children’s academic advocacy groups and the media, and a
limitations’. Those students were aware recognition that there can be strengths
of the differences of where students as well as weaknesses in dyslexia.
were being taught for long periods, and
negatively perceived removal for Taylor, Hume & Welsh (2010)
intervention. investigated self-esteem levels in three
groups of students: with a dyslexia label,
Sutherland, Algozzine, Ysseldyke & with a general special educational
Freeman (2001) suggests students were needs label, or no label at all. The
not rejected by their peers based on a authors noted ‘being labelled as having
disability label, but were more likely to a general need negatively affected
be rejected by their actions. However, children’s self-esteem, because unlike
those who were informed about the the label dyslexia, this label offers very
positive attributes of the learning little in the way of an explanation for
disabled students were held in higher the child’s academic difficulties, and
regard by their non-disabled peers. The because targeted interventions are not
authors argue teachers need to inform as available for those with a less
the classes of positive-strengths rather specific label’ (p.191). Riddick (2000)
than purely focus on negative- also found the dyslexia label was
weaknesses. preferred by children, than a general
‘special educational needs’ label. In

N g
o
r t
w h
a e
y y
,
S h
o a
l d
v
a t
n h
g e
( l
2 a
0 b
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7 l
)
a ‘
l d
s y
o s
l
f e
o x
u i
n a
d ,
t
m
h
a
a
t
n
y
d
i s
s t
c u
o d
v e
e n
r t
i s
n
were relieved that their strengths and weaknesses. w t
difficulties were not their Alexander-Passe (2010) noted a a
fault, removing the status research participant labelled s s
of lacking motivation or as a young child, who found the c
having a low IQ’. However it label a negative badge or ‘noose a h
did suggest a greater around her neck’. It limited her o
problem for the parents ability to attempt subjects as n o
based on the implication they were known to be difficult e l
that they had given the for dyslexics, her curriculum g .
child the neurological was reduced, and she a
difficulties through their concluded the label t Z
genes.
i e
v t
Acceptance of labelling
e t
e
Dyslexics and their parents
f r
commonly have issues over
a q
labelling, which come from
c v
the acceptance of difference.
t i
The perception is that a label
o s
can confirm a difference so
r t
severe that it warrants a
-
label. Early screening and
i N
intervention is seen by many
n e
educationists to be the key
l
to helping the dyslexic to
h s
achieve their potential at
e o
school (Johnson, Peer &
r n
Lee, 2001; Lyon, Fletcher,
Shaywitz, Shaywitz &
l (
Torgesen, 2001), as leaving
i 2
screening/identification until
f 0
late in primary school or
e 0
early secondary school will
, 3
mean negative concepts of
)
difference will be
e
established, with possible
s f
secondary emoti onal
p o
manifestations as a
e u
consequence.
c n
i d
Riddick (1996) and
a
Zetterqvist-Nelson (2003)
l s
discuss the use of labelling
l i
and also whether such a
y m
label is a suitable definition
i
of a person made up of
a l
combinations of
ar findings, in that situations for dyslexics at
dyslexics preferred non- school as children and in
labelling as they did not the workplace as adults. In
want to stick out the majority of cases the
amongst their peers. stigma has come from lack
However participants did of public knowledge and
find the label useful on a the inability to see that all
personal level as a individuals have skills and
relief and explanation abilities to aid society.
for their difficulties, Stigma has caused
along with a moral relief problems such as social
that their difficulties exclusions and religious
were not their fault; but persecution, however it is
not on a public level, as more subtle influences
it could be a cause of which underlie the
bullying or weakness in problems that stigma
the eyes of others (as causes, being turned down
also found by Singer, for jobs and treated as
2005). Both Zetterqvist- unable to mix in society
Nelson and McNulty which can have
(2003) agree that the
positivity of the labelling
comes from individual’s
understanding of their
diagnosis. This places an
onus on diagnosticians,
teachers and parents to
ensure that dyslexic
children and adults
understand their profile
of abilities and
disabilities.
Stigma and Disability
Relating to this paper’s

topic of Stigma, it is
argued that the lack of a
single agreed definition
of dyslexia, as per the
lack of a single
identification
measurement
instrument, has meant
that dyslexia is broadly
misunderstood. It is this
lack of understanding
that creates difficult
lasting effects on countless generations. their body ineffective. The third is the
‘rehabilitation’ definition that comes to
Empirical knowledge in the field of the fore in that until such a fix is made
stigma suggests that the experience of with medical intervention they are not a
stigma (Byrne, 2000) includes the complete person without the medical fix.
following: shame, blame, secrecy, being The last is the social definition, which
the black sheep of the family, isolation, believes that difference is part of society
social exclusion, stereotypes and and that everyone has something to give
discrimination. He then suggests there is to society. It celebrates difference
a cycle to stigma which begins with the compared to the other three definitions
initial condition (e.g. disability) which which sees difference as something to
leads to stigma, then discrimination, be feared and to be avoided.
then disadvantage, leading to lower self
-esteem and more disability as a result. Dyslexia and Stigma
This then leads to less resistance and
then triggers and reinforces the initial Little research has been undertaken to
condition. Such a cycle is self- study dyslexia and stigma. The author’s
perpetuating and leads to greater earlier work on ‘Dyslexia and
stigma as no understanding is added to Depression’ (Alexander-Passe, 2010)
society. In the workplace Stuart (2004) was the first, looking at adult dyslexics
suggests a cycle starting with the initial through an investigative qualitative
condition (e.g. disability) leading to study; this paper is based on this
social stigma, then unemployment, then investigation.
under employment due to feeling too
inferior to their peers to work, leading to Riddick (2000) in an interview study of 27
self-stigma by viewing yourself as less children and 16 adults, all dyslexic,
worthy by internalizing the social argued that although labelling can lead
stereotypes which again leads back to to stigmatisation, this is not always the
reinforcing the initial condition. Both case. It is argued that stigmatisation can
models suggest that unless intervention take place in the absence of formal
is made both cycles are self- labelling, and stigmatisation can
perpetuating and society cannot precede labelling, thus Riddick sees a
develop. greater gain from labelling, than not.
There are four main definitions of MacDonald (2010) argued that in a

disability (Kaplan, 2008) which is study of dyslexia in prisons, dyslexic
relevant to the discussion of stigma and inmates felt stigmatised by their literacy
dyslexia. The first is the ‘moral or inabilities by not having a dyslexia label.
religious’ definition of disability, where In fact the stigma of restricted reading
the individual is regarded as disabled and writing ability had an indirect
by sinning against God. The second is impact on offenders’ self-confidence.
the ‘medical’ definition where the person MacDonald concluded (p.95) that ‘the
is disabled by being born defective or data in this study suggests it is not the
they develop a condition which makes label causing the stigma, but the

s e
y d
m u
p c
t a
o t
m i
s o
. n
a
R l
e
m s
o u
v p
i p
n o
g r
t
t
h a
e n
d
l
a p
b r
e o
l h
i
o b
n i
l t
y s
r t
e h
d e
u i
c r
e
d l
e
t g
h a
e l

rights’. Grigorenko (2014) argued in a
d e
recent controversial book ‘The
i r
Morris and Turnbill (2007) Dyslexia Debate’ that the term
s m
with a sample of 87 trainee is not only misleading (as it can
t
nurses during their clinical cover more than just difficulty
i s
placements in hospitals, with reading and writing), but as
n h
argued that dyslexia intervention for dyslexics is no
c o
continues to attract an different to that for poor
t u
unwarranted stigma and can readers, that dyslexia is not a
i l
adversely affect the learning
v d
experience. The need for
e
disability awareness training
b
in the workplace and
l e
improved education/ service
e
partnerships to support
a d
these students is considered
r i
crucial, one noted ‘‘I n s
overheard heard him (my i c
mentor) tell another nurse n o
that I wouldn’t make it as a g n
nurse because I’m t
dyslexic.’. Co-workers too, d i
often discriminate and i n
stigmatise, by only seeing s u
the perceived negative o e
aspects of dyslexia, thus an r d
biased focus on negatives d .
(McLaughlin et al., 2004). e
r T
Rice & Brooks (2004) and h
Elliott & Place (2004) argue a e
that using the label of n y
dyslexia can be counter- d
productive as it stigmatise a
individuals, however Elliott a l
(2005) argues the lack of a s s
label will stigmatise poor o
readers who lack the s
dyslexia label – damned if u n
you do, damned if you c o
don’t! h t
e
The Dyslexia Debate t
h t
Recent debate has focused e h
on the effectiveness of using a
the term ‘dyslexia’ in t t
educational settings. Elliott &
using the term dyslexia difficulties could be fixed
can ‘reduce the through more effort and
shame and quality teaching, whereas
embarrassment that are ‘dyslexia’ suggests
often the consequence something different, long-
of literacy difficulties. It term, and requiring
may help exculpate the specialist intervention.
child, parents and Bishop interestingly
teachers from any concludes that ‘at present
perceived sense of we are between a rock
responsibility’. and a hard place. The rock
is the term ‘dyslexia’,
Bishop (2014) tends to which has inaccurate
agree that the term is c o n n o t a ti o n s of a
incorrect but concludes d i s ti n c t neurobiological
that there are other syndrome. The hard place
conditions such as is a term like ‘poor
depression and readers’ which leads
schizophrenia which people to think we are
are also ‘massively dealing with a trivial
problematic in terms of problem caused by bad
validity and reliability’ teaching’.
(Kendell & Jablensky,
2003). However Bishop
suggests that for each
term whilst being
incorrect and
misleading, the
strongest argument for
retention comes not
from science but public
perception. That ‘some
of the most passionate
defenses of the
dyslexia label come
from those who have
built up a sense of
identity around this
condition, and who feel
they benefit from
being part of a
community that can
offer information and
support’.
Also the term ‘poor

readers’ leads readers
to assume that such
The recent 2010 OFSTED review of something that has been noted for
special educational needs (SEN) and several decades in UK schools. This lack
disability in UK schools found that pupils of ‘early screening and intervention’ has
were often incorrectly identified as meant millions of dyslexics in the UK
having SEN when they were not, and have lacked the specialist intervention
that good or outstanding teaching would they need to reach their potential, and
remove such a barrier to learning, ‘…as can be argued to lead to many
many as half of all pupils identified for dyslexics ending up in prison.
School Action would not be identified as
having special educational needs if Hewitt-Mann (2012) suggests that up to
schools focused on improving teaching 50% of the prison population is dyslexic,
and learning for all, with individual a figure not dissimilar to similar studies
goals for improvement’ (p.5). However it from the UK, Sweden and the USA
also noted that identification was (Mottram, 2007; Rack, 2005; Alm &
generally inconsistent and many SEN Andersson, 1995; Kirk & Reid, 2001).
pupils were not identified, that children
with similar difficulties were treated Tony Blair, the then UK Prime minister
differently; and lastly that parents views commented that ‘many of those people
of inconsistency were well-founded. The in the prison population did not have the
review also found that parents pushing educational opportunities [that most of
for a statement of SEN (now replaced the population received] – often
with ‘Educational Health Plans’) may not because they are dyslexic, had not been
be enough to guarantee the high level diagnosed properly, or did not get the
of specialist interventions required. They extra help they needed’ (Hansard,
noted that many schools misidentified 2007).
pupils with SEN to cover up for their poor
quality teaching and that by diagnosing To conclude, dyslexia is contentious in its
them as having SEN they were assisted definition, diagnosis and intervention. It
in removing their GCSE results from is generally misunderstood, but as a
school result league table data, and term it is accepted and those with the
gaining additional government funding. identification gain assistance in
managing the difficulties they face.
The Bercow Report (2011) for the UK’s Incorrect public perceptions of dyslexia
Department for Education supports are misleading, and being an invisible
OFSTED’s view that SEN is inconsistently disability many find it hard to accept
supported in the UK, and that even which can lead to discrimination, stigma
having a statement of SEN does not and bias in many environments.
guarantee the specialist support
needed, noting ‘the current system is However gaining the help required at
characterised by high variability and a school is highly problematic (high
lack of equity. (It) is routinely described variability and a lack of equity), not only
by families as a 'postcode lottery' (p.14)’. in schools screening and identifying
It again stresses the need for early policies, but once an identification has
screening and intervention in schools, been made, receiving the specialist

s i
u a
p g
p n
o o
r s
t i
s
n
e s
e o
d
e f
d a
. c
A e
s
s
a t
d i
u g
l m
t a
s
, a
m n
a d
n
y d
i
d s
y c
s r
l i
e m
x i
i n
c a
s t
i
l o
a n
c
k i
n
d
the workplace, whilst All participants were
coping with their required to provide
difficulties, and will tend to evidence of: (1) formal
use a number of defensive diagnosis of dyslexia
mechanisms to camouflage evidence (e.g. educational
their difficulties, but these psychologist reports), (2)
can result in negative depression (e.g. a clinical
mental health depression diagnosis or at
manifestations (Alexander- least one course of
Passe, in press). physician/GP prescribed
anti-depressants). Whilst
mild depression is common
Metho in society, only severe cases
tend to be referred for
dology clinical diagnosis.
Sample See Tables 1-3 for sample
details. The mean age of
Participants were recruited dyslexia diagnosis data
in three ways: (1) emails to indicated that non-
UK dyslexia newsgroups, (2) depressives tended to be
adverts on dyslexic web diagnosed earlier, however
-forums, (3) inclusions on in both groups they were
dyslexia associations’ mainly diagnosed post
websites. Four dyslexic -school and after leaving
sample groups were
university.
requested (with/ without
depression, degree/non-
Apparatus
degree educated), with
dyslexic adults with
An investigative semi-
depression being the
structured interview script
largest group recruited.
was used with 31 main
themes (See Figure 1).
Interviews lasted between
an hour and three hours.
Table 1. Sample data: Size, mean age and standard deviations

N Mean age
Standard Deviation
(years)
All 29 40.56 12.67
Depression diagnosis 22 42.32 13.0
No depression diagnosis 7 35,14 10.89
Depressed - females 15 38.8 11.71
Depressed - males 7 49.86 11.32
Non-depressed - females
www.das.org.sg
3 18.0 1.63
Vol. 2 No. 2 July 2015
Non-depressed - males 4 43.5 6.54
Table 2. Sample data: Depressed participants

Diagnosed Non-
age of Male or Degree Degree Depressed
Depressed Age Female Educated at school
Dyslexia Educated
Adrian 45 32 M X
Brian 70 35 M X X
Jasper 59 45 M X
Norman 40 33 M X X
Anita 47 45 F X
Emma 36 25 F X X
Maureen 34 27 F X
Rachel 40 32 F X X
Shelley 61 50 F X X
Susan 27 20 F X X
Trixie 58 11 F X X
George 54 40 M X
Ronnie 33 15 M X X
Samuel 48 19 M X
Andrea 41 39 F X
Karen 56 40 F X
Kirsty 23 16 F X X
Lara 25 20 F X X
Milly 37 7 F X
Natasha 40 25 F X
Norma 29 23 F X X
Phoebe 28 19 F X X
Table 3. Sample data: Non-depressed participants
Diagnosed Non-
Male or Degree- Depressed
Non-depressed Age age of degree
Female educated at school
Dyslexia educated
Zara 26 8 F X
Harry 52 45 M X
Jordan 34 33 M X
Malcolm 46 36 M X
Peter 42 8 M X
Izzy 24 5 F X
Jean 22 21 F X

Book
Intervi
ew
Questi
ons:
1. P
l
e
a
s
e
d
e
s
c
r
i
b
e
h
o
w
y
o
u
a
r
e
f
e
e
l
i
n
g
t
o
d
ay? (Are you taking any depression medication
at present?) Figure 1.
2. Please describe your life/yourself? (I need to create a Book
description of you Interview
e.g. age, education, job, character, personality etc.) Script 31
3. Do you enjoy life? items.
4. Please describe your childhood? Was it happy? (e.g. with (Items in
your family) BOLD are
5. Do you have any siblings? Do you think you were included in
treated fairly/unfairly to your siblings?
this paper.)
6. Please describe your time at school? Was it enjoyable?
7. Did you ever get frustrated from your learning
difficulties?
8. What does dyslexia mean to you?
9. Is dyslexia something positive or negative?
10. How does dyslexia affect your daily life?
11. What classic dyslexia symptoms to you have?
12. Do you think your hobbies help you? Giving you self-
confidence?
13. Do you ever blame your dyslexia for things?
14. Do you/have you ever resented your teachers at
school for not seeing your difficulties?
15. Do you ever feel rejected? Please explain?
16. Have you ever encountered stigma towards your
dyslexia?
17. Have you ever tried to hide your dyslexia?
18. Why might people try and hide their dyslexia?
19. Do many people know you are dyslexic? How did they
find out?
20. Did you tell them? What was their reaction to your
disclosure?
21. How do you feel about disclosing your dyslexia
to other? Friends or at work, university?
22. Do you think dyslexics are discriminated
against at school, university, at work, socially?
23. How does failing or getting things wrong affect you?
24. Do you ever say why me? Why am I dyslexic?
25. Do/Did you self-harm? Why? What are the triggers?
26. Have you ever thought about or tried to commit
suicide? Why? What were the triggers?
27. Do you think dyslexia and depression are correlated
(linked)?
28. Did you ever truant/run away from home?
29. How do you feel going into schools now, what
triggers any negative emotions?
30. Do you enjoy being you? Please explain?
31. Would you call yourself a successful dyslexic?

The Interview Process, Confidentiality, minimal grammar changes; lastly a

Informed Consent and Personal check was made for readability. The
Disclosure transcript was then emailed to each
volunteer for them to check and amend
All participants were sent details of the if required, with the opportunity for them
study before the interview, and all to add additional notes or post interview
verbally confirmed participation before revelations, as interviews can commonly
the start of each recorded interview. trigger post-interview thoughts.
Participants were also advised that they Interviews were then subjected to IPA
could avoid any questions that were too analysis.
emotional to answer and to halt the
interview and their participation in the Interpretative Phenomenological
study without reason; fortunately, no Analysis (IPA)
participants took this option. As
avoidance was noted in several IPA is a relatively recent analysis model
interviews, further investigative questions but has its historical origins with the
were required. phenomenology and Husserl (1970)
aiming to return to studying living things.
Confidentiality was assured at several This refers to “to return to the things
points: (1) in the original study advert; themselves is to return to that world
(2) in email confirmation/requests for which precedes knowledge, of which
basic details (name, age, education knowledge always speaks” (Merleau-
etc.); (3) at the start of each interview, Ponty, 1962). Husserl was very interested
(4) advising participants that in the life-world, which comprises of the
pseudonyms names would be used. objects around us as we perceive them
and our experience of our self, body
Each participant was also reassured that and relationships.
they would receive a copy of their
transcript which they would have the Whilst there are many forms of
opportunity to check and modify. As the phenomenology in use (Idiographic,
interviews concerned participants Eidetic, and Transcendental), IPA using
disclosing emotionally painful or Idiographic ideals is used in this study.
frustrating events it was felt best that the Smith developed Interpretati ve
interviewer (the author) also disclosed, Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Harré
where required, that he was diagnosed and Van Langenhove, 1995; Smith and
dyslexic at fourteen years old and Osburn, 2008) to analyse elements of the
understood and had experienced many reflected personal experience - the
of the difficulties at school that they may subjective experience of the social
have encountered. world. Giorgi (1994) argues that
phenomenology avoids the reductionist
Analysis tendencies of other research
methodologies, and uses the
Each interview was recorded on audio researcher’s assumptions/divergent links
tape, transcribed, spell-checked with to inform new insights from the data,

r a
a t
t e
h g
e o
r r
i
t e
h s
a .
n
S
f u
o c
r h
c
i i
n n
g t
u
d i
a t
t i
a o
n
t
o i
n
f
i t
t h
e
p
r r
e e
- s
e
d a
e r
f c
i h
n e
e r
d
a
c l
lows ‘outside the box’ from transformations in the m t
thinking. The researcher is third stage of IPA and two- e o
an interpretative element to hundred feelings or aspects a
understand themes and were identified for these n f
body language, compared nineteen themes, displayed in o
to Discourse Analysis quanti tati ve percentages. u r
(Potter, 1996) which relies The quantitative data was then n m
on precise analysis of the used to create tables along i
words used. with interview evidence in the t e
form of quotes (from s a
IPA has been used in many c
research studies (Duncan, f h
Hart, Scoular, & Brigg, 2001, r
Thompson, Kent, & Smith, o a
2002; m r
Clare, 2003; Biggerstaff, g
2003; French, t u
Maissi, Marteau, 2005). h m
e e
IPA is suitable for this sample n
due to: s t
(1) Being ‘social model of e /
disability’ and inclusion c t
friendly, aiding o o
understanding in special n p
need samples; (2) Allowing d i
flexibility and the ability for c
themes from initial I
participants to inform an P f
investigative interview A o
script; and (3) Dyslexic r
friendly as it does not rely s
solely on discourse. t t
a h
Analysis Methodology g e
Used in this Study e
) r
This study predominately e
uses IPA methodology for a s
analysis of data; however r u
the results from the e l
transformations (themes) t
were then used to create u s
quantitative data, thus s .
mixing q u a l i t at ive and e
quant i tat i ve d R
methodologies. Nineteen e
main themes were identified
sults: Profiles Unsurprisingly, the
depressed sample found
Profile results from this dyslexia to be mainly
study are drawn from negative (72.7%) but most
Table 4. agree that dyslexia is a
social construct (55.6%),
Overall the sample found gave unique skills (63.6%),
dyslexia to be positive made them feel different
(57.7%) and to give (68.2%), affected their daily
individual unique skills lives (59.1%), however few
(76.9%), but dyslexia would want to be cured
makes them feel (9.1%). Compared to this
different (76.9%). Most the non- depressed sample,
(61.5%) agreed that not who felt dyslexia
only does dyslexia
affect their daily lives but
they feel the world is
unfair to dyslexics. Many
agree that they must
work harder in life
(38.5%) but only a small
percentage would want
to take a magic pill to rid
themselves of their
dyslexia (11.5%).
Males seemed unsure if

dyslexia was something
positive or negative
(both 36.4%) but most
agreed that it gave
unique skills, made them
feel different, but the
world was unfair to
dyslexics (all 72.7%).
Most felt dyslexia
affected their daily lives
(54.5%) but only a
fraction would want to
get rid of their dyslexia
(9.1%). Interestingly
females saw dyslexia as
more positive (61.1%)
and like the males, felt it
gave them unique skills
and made them feel
different (66.7%).

© 22
2015 Table 4. Perceptions of Dyslexia 1
Dysle
xia
Assoc All Participants Depressed Non-Depressed
iation
of What is With Without
Singa All Males Females All Males Females All Males Females
Dyslexia? degree degree
pore
www.
das.or
N=29 N=11 N=18 N=22 N=11 N=11 N=7 N=15 N=7 N=4 N=3
g.sg
Its positive 57.70% 36.40% 61.10% 54.50% 45.50% 63.60% 28.60% 66.70% 42.90% 50.00% 33.30%
Its negative 26.90% 36.40% 16.70% 72.70% 27.30% 27.30% 42.90% 20.00% 14.30% 25.00% 0.00%
Dyslexia is a social
construct
50.00% 27.30% 55.60% 45.50% 36.40% 54.50% 28.60% 53.30% 42.90% 25.00% 66.70%
Dyslexia gives me
unique skills
76.90% 72.70% 66.70% 63.60% 63.60% 63.60% 57.10% 66.70% 85.70% 100.00% 66.70%
Dyslexia makes me
feel different
76.90% 72.70% 66.70% 68.20% 63.60% 72.70% 71.40% 66.70% 71.40% 75.00% 66.70%
Asia
Dyslexia affects my
daily life
61.50% 54.50% 55.60% 59.10% 63.60% 54.50% 57.10% 60.00% 42.90% 50.00% 33.30%
Pacifi
c I feel the world is
Journ unfair for dyslexics
61.50% 72.70% 44.40% 50.00% 45.50% 54.50% 71.40% 40.00% 71.40% 75.00% 66.70%
al of
Devel I must work harder
opme because I'm 38.50% 45.50% 27.80% 31.80% 36.40% 27.30% 42.90% 26.70% 42.90% 50.00% 33.30%
ntal dyslexic
Differ I would take a pill
ences to cure myself of 11.50% 9.10% 11.10% 9.10% 18.20% 0.00% 0.00% 13.30% 14.30% 25.00% 0.00%
Vol. 2 dyslexia N.
No. 2 Al
July I'm disorganised ex
due to my dyslexia
30.80% 27.30% 27.80% 31.80% 45.50% 18.20% 28.60% 33.30% 14.30% 25.00% 0.00%
2015 an
I blame thing on de
my dyslexia
19.20% 27.30% 11.10% 13.60% 9.10% 18.20% 14.30% 13.30% 28.60% 50.00% 0.00% r‐
Pa
ss
w )
a .
s H
o
m w
o e
r v
e e
r
p
o a
s g
i r
t e
i e
v
e t
h
( a
4 t
2
. d
9 y
% s
) l
e
t x
h i
a a
n
g
n a
e v
g e
a
t u
i n
v i
e q
u
( e
1
4 s
. k
3 i
% l
ls (85.7%), made them feel a w
different, but the world was Have you encountered any
b h
unfair to dyslexics (71.4%). stigma towards dyslexia? Not
o a
Many agreed it was socially really, I think I have
u t
constructed, affecting their encountered more that people
t
daily lives and that they do not know what it is,
t
needed to work harder especially at work, that people
i h
because of their dyslexia misunderstand it, but I have
t e
(42.9%). Interestingly never really encountered any
,
more non-depressed stigma
p
individuals wanted a cure b r
than depressed (14.3% to u o
9.1%), however both are t b
minority views. l
I e
Looking at the largest ’ m
sample, depressed m s
individuals. Those without a
degree felt dyslexia was w a
less positive (45.5% to o r
63.6%) with both group r e
agreeing to the same level k .
of it being negative i
(27.3%). Interrogating the n (
interview data, degree- g A
educated depressive n
dyslexics noted that by w i
going to university they i t
truly understood the t a
barriers involved, whereas h )
before such education they
had an insular impression p H
of their learning difference. e a
o v
This was confirmed by p e
them understanding that l
dyslexia was socially e y
constructed and compared o
to non- degree educated w u
individuals; they would take h
a cure pill (18.2% to 0%). o e
v
k e
Results and Discussion: n r
Interview Evidence o
w t
Stigma or Lack of r
Knowledge?
ied hiding dyslexia? The interview evidence
Yes. Why do you think suggests that there has
you tried to hide it? been a void of information
Because sometimes I in the public forum that
don’t want to answer truly describes the dyslexia
questions on it, I don’t experience, thus
want to have to explain disinformation creates
why I do things and situations where dyslexics
how I feel about it, and choose to hide their
then when I kind…if I do differences, as they
answer questions I themselves cannot fully
want to do so explain how and why they
eloquently or properly do things. As each dyslexic
or so that people has a different
understand or in a way combination of difficulties,
that people understand, one single profile would
so that they are be misleading.
accepting of it. I know I
try and hide it when I
know I can’t answer
the questions. (Emma)
How were your

parents concerning
your learning
difficulties? The
problem with me was
they knew there was a
problem but they
thought the solution
was me putting in more
effort and more hard
work, without admitting
it was there. If they
admitted there was a
problem then they have
to talk about it, about
it, they thought if I
worked harder, all of
this will go away. Did
that cause friction with
you? I was talking about
dyslexia years later to
my mum and she would
not discuss it, it was still
a stigma thing then.
(George).

Work Discrimination talked to the union person and she was

the one that told me to see a doctor,
Do they know you are dyslexic at she said ‘you look like you’re at the end
work? Yes. I kind of decided when I of your tether’, but no one at work had
changed my job, because of the role it picked it up. Which is worrying.
was, I was going to be very clear all the (Norman).
way through the recruitment process and
when I got into the team. To be very Whilst some dyslexics are open about
explicit to what the problems were and their differences, most are not (Passe,
to get support there. I felt a bit coerced 2010, 2012) as they feel they would be
into telling people, like the manager treated poorly in the recruitment
saying ‘you will tell everybody, won’t process. In the UK there is ‘Access to
you?’, so that began with, then ‘when will Work’ a government funded program to
you tell them, what are you going to tell put in place reasonable adjustments
them, you need to tell them soon’, so I (training and software etc.) so that
think in the end I found the most anyone with a disability can be assisted
comprehensive description of the to reach their potential as per their
problems a dyslexic might have and peers. However many argue that this
emailed everybody that. I think they only comes after the recruitment process
thought I had all of the problems I wrote and as many dyslexics attain poorly
about, all I really wanted them to know academically they can be seen as under
was I was dyslexic and dyspraxia and I -qualified for the post and are not even
might need some adjustments made for interviewed. As Norman notes there is
me and to be understood. I felt I was little support for those who need to
pushed a bit to send out that general educate colleagues to their learning
email, having done that I felt exposed, difference and this can cause emotional
as I wasn’t given the support by my trauma.
employer, so I had to fight for it and get
the union involved. It got messy and Social Construct: Is it Only a Disability
fraught. So I got stress from their lack of at School?
adjustment (Norman).
Do you ever get frustrated/annoyed by
It sounds surprising for a social work your learning difficulties? Reading and
job; you got no support and needed to spelling did annoy me at school; I think
be protected from the people who that it only annoyed me at school.
were not only paid to know better but Therefore, you think dyslexia is mainly
to help others. So you needed your about school, a disability at school, not
own social worker really? The irony for as an adult? It depends on what line of
me was I was working for an NHS work you go into, it is not a disability in
(National Health Service] mental health my area. I mean I am really good at
team in the UK as a social worker, but what I do, but I am not in an area of
they didn’t identify that I was getting work where you have to write things
unwell there, getting extremely stressed down and to be organised, but why
and losing the plot. So that’s when I would you go into a job like that, if you

w h
e i
r n
e k
n t
o h
t e
g
o p
i r
n o
g b
l
t e
o m
b i
s
e
u
s
g
(
o
d
o
y
d
s
l
a e
t x
i i
t c
. s
( )
I o
z r
z t
y h
) e
D w
o o
r
y l
o d
u
a
t r
ound us? No, I do not Many dyslexics believe dyslexia g f
believe there is a problem. is socially constructed and until r e
To hear some people say the social model of disability is a c
[things, or] to receive certain used in the workplace, p t
reactions, if it can be agreed difference will be perceived as h
that we have difficulties in negative. Whilst few professions i p
learning, which doesn’t make openly recruit dyslexics (e.g. c r
us inferior or worse than computer s o
others, then why can’t it be ) d
agreed that in a situation , u
where people don’t have a c
condition, that won’t act or m t
respond, not as relative to o i
our class as the norm (as s v
normal). I do not think it is a t i
problem, I do not see it as a t
problem with them or us, s y
and it is just a lack of e .
understanding. If they e
understood dyslexia and N
the implications of dyslexia i o
there would be less problems t r
encountered. You were m
talking about ‘normal’, do n a
you feel normal? What is e l
normal? Do you feel normal? g i
Well, what is normal? a t
(Jordan) t y
i
I don’t regard myself as v i
disabled by it, I regard myself e s
as disabled by how other l
people see it and whenever I y n
meet dyslexics I sort of tell o
them that, especially kids w t
who are feeling…don’t know h e
how to feel about it and I can i d
kind of see something c
switching in their face when I h b
put it to them like that, it is y
quite a state of mind – w
another coping strategy. i J
(Milly). l o
l r
As Milly notes ‘I don’t regard d
myself as disabled by it, I a a
regard myself as disabled f n
by how other people see it’.
, to explain how was fearful to many in the
dyslexia is perceived in study, with most avoiding
the workplace. telling their employer for
fear of being made
Is it a Taboo Subject? redundant or passed over
for promotion.
But probably taking to
you is the most honest Disclosure of your Dyslexia
I’ve felt or at ease
talking about my So you feel you are very
problems for a long open about it so they
time. I don’t think blamed the dyslexia not
people really talk about you? It’s one of the first
how they feel about thing I say, but I suppose I
their difficulties; it’s use it as an excuse. I do not
like a taboo subject. mind telling people I am
Yes, the same as the dyslexic, as it is
homosexual was 20 yrs
ago. It’s similar to how
I feel; it astounded me
thinking back about it.
You are right there are
similar themes to it.
Yes. I guess coming
out is similar to
coming out that you
are gay? Yes. It’s a
fascinating link,
fascinating. I’ll wait for
the how dyslexics are
homosexual link next. I
used to work out that it
is the same occurrence.
They said that it was
one in five is gay and
also they say that one in
five could be dyslexic. I
should put a patent on
that. (Ronnie).
Ronnie makes parallels

to homosexuality which
he perceives as a
similar difference to be
self-conscious about in
the workplace and with
friends. The notion of
coming out as a dyslexic
who you are. I would be lying if I said I would do something about it and it
do not use it as an excuse. I guess it is could make a difference. (Anita).
because I have been told I am stupid a
lot growing up, you are quite eager to I guess you are the first person I know
tell people the reason why you cannot who was diagnosed at five year old
do things. How do people normally stage. It is fairly interesting how you
react to you telling them you are view the situation. Do you know what it
dyslexic? Most people say ‘really, you is, I can’t remember a single time in my
don’t look dyslexic’, because I think a lot life when I haven’t been told that I’m
of people have this perception of dyslexic. It has been a constant word in
dyslexia and disability, they have this my life. I can only vaguely remember the
idea about people with a disability, and test, at the time I wasn’t sure why I was
because I’m quite well-spoken I can get being tested, being taken out of class
through day-to-day life quite well, I’m for it…It has always been this word, I’m
quite good at hiding all the little things I angry that in my whole life I have been
do to get me through it. (Kirsty). labelled, just because the educational
system didn’t fit into my strengths, that I
Kirsty comments on the dilemma that didn’t fit into a mould, my brain isn’t like
most dyslexics face. Do they disclose yours, we are all different, you know. I
and face unhelpful and negative guess if you test my whole class, most
comments, or do they stay silent and would have a similar IQ, a few would
use coping strategies to get by. have a high IQ, and others might have
an IQ a bit lower. We all have our
Labelling strengths and weaknesses, it’s a
spectrum. If you don’t fit into the mould
You were talking about not telling with creativity, artist ability and original
people you were dyslexic, being ‘in the thought, maybe they should be labelled
closet’. You see the thing about it was, I creative or something. Now I’m in the
had not been formally assessed, real world, and in what I’m doing I’m
although I screened positive when I was brilliant at it. I’m starting my own
15 years old, and they turned round and business, I know what my strengths are,
said that I had poor visual and hearing and I have proven I’m good at things.
memory, but refused to label me (Izzy)
because it was deemed to be
inappropriate, it was in 1976, labelling Anita and Izzy see labelling from
wasn’t the done thing. So although it different perspectives. Anita sees
was a brief thirty minute chat with a labelling in a positive way, as a means
psychologist, nothing really happened to explain what is going on. Izzy on the
from it. It was not a formal assessment other hand has found it a heavy weight
and I was not aware of how much help around her shoulders, as other quotes
was available then and what I could from Izzy suggested that it had a
have been getting. It was only when I negative impact on her education as it
was struggling with assignments at prevented her doing things, as teachers
Oxford University that I finally thought I had a stereotypical perception of what

d e
y d
s
l h
e e
x r
i f
c r
s o
m
c
o c
u r
l e
d a
t
a i
n n
d g
c h
o e
u r
l o
d w
n n
’
t d
y
d s
o l
, e
x
w i
h c
i
c p
h r
o
p f
r i
e l
v e
e
n (
t o
f strengths and weaknesses). however as noted earlier, to gain m t
protection by such legislation o h
Conclusion they will need to disclose their r e
hidden disability to the world. e i
The quantitative data in this However many dyslexics have r
study painted a picture of survived the last twenty, thirty y
different perceptions or e d
amongst depressive and a i
non-depressive adult r f
dyslexics, along with sub s f
groups of degree and non- i
degree educated, and i c
gender splits. n u
l
There were high frequencies t t
that perceived dyslexia as h i
positive and gave them not e e
only unique skills but made s
them feel different. This w
difference was seen to come o b
from having to unfairly work r e
harder to achieve in life, with k i
dyslexia affecting their daily p n
life. Interestingly most would l g
not seek a cure if it was a
offered, which suggests they c h
see dyslexia as integral to e i
who they were, and losing g
their dyslexia would be as a h
great as losing a limb. n l
d i
The interview evidence in g
this study suggests that s h
dyslexics experience c t
discrimination due to their h e
disability, whether they o d
perceive it as a disability or o .
not. There seems to be too l
little information about O
dyslexia and what it affects w t
in the public domain, thus i h
many perceived dyslexia as t e
something negative and not h r
something they feel able to o
help with. It is hoped that u e
recent legislation in both the t x
US and the UK will protect t
dyslexics in the workplace,
racts of Passe (2010) they feel ill-skilled to
asked ‘Do you feel participate in (Scott, 2004).
successful’, with one
participant that they The author in this study
had felt successful in who is dyslexic, has at
hiding for so long, with time chosen to hide his
many feeling unhappy difficulties, creating
about disclosing their situations where his
difficulties as they may sometimes strange range
fear this would firstly go of skills was attributed to
on their record and quirkiness (positive),
secondly that it could rather than being disabled
have a negative effect (negative). This
on promotion and camouflaging was a
career prospects. common feature in his
research with other
Many in this study dyslexics.
perceived that they
only felt dyslexia was a Until the social model of
disability when they disability is used more
were at school, as it widely in the workplace,
was an inflexible
environment with no
escape from reading
and writing along with
unfair comparison with
age appropriate peers.
As one participant in
this study noted ‘I’m
only disabled by my
dyslexia when you
put me into a
classroom’ (Natasha).
There is much more
flexibility as an adult to
choose professions that
play to a dyslexic’s
strength and one that
limits the need for
reading and writing,
with greater use of
technology (e.g.
computers and spell-
checkers). Whilst a
minority, it should be
noted that some
dyslexics may withdraw
from a society which
there will always be instances of Finally, it should be noted that the

discrimination against those who do not material here is drawn from adults who
fit into the perceived ‘norm’ model. Thus, received their education when less
further research is needed to understand awareness of dyslexia and the pattern
dyslexia, stigma and discrimination in of strengths and weaknesses was
the workplace. available. It could be argued that within
the Western world, the situation for
Labelling was lastly discussed. This is a children going through the educational
contentious issue as many parents system will be vastly different in 2015.
incorrectly feel a label is negative with life- This study has particularly strong
long longevity (post school and into the implications for some Asian-Pacific
workplace). However in education the countries, where public awareness of
lack of labels may prevent teachers from dyslexia may still be in its infancy. The
making sense of their child’s strengths and onus is on those with expertise in the
weaknesses, and denying their child can area, dyslexia associations and trained
prevent access to suitable interventions. teachers, to ensure that this knowledge
Whilst the author agrees that a label is is shared and the strengths in dyslexia
only as good as the diagnosis given with it, are recognised, in order to ensure that
it relies on starting educational up to 10% of the population can no
intervention discussions rather than longer be stigmatised. With greater
ending them; as non-SEN teachers recognition and early structured support,
commonly rely on incorrect stereotypical dyslexic children and adults will have
views on the strengths and weaknesses of every opportunity to overcome their
individuals with dyslexia, and these need weaknesses and express their strengths
to be challenged. fully
Limitations
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Expanding the Provision for People with Dyslexia in Singapore 234
Asia Pacific Journ

DOI: 10.3850/S23
E
x
p
a
n
d
i
n
g
t
h
e
P
r
o
v
i
s
i
o
e
n for People with x
Dyslexia in Singapore p
a
n
Carolina Landulfo1*, Crystal Chandy1, s
and Zeng Yi Wong1 i
o
n
1 Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National
University of Singapore o
f
t
Abstract h
e
Studies show that dyslexia
affects about 10% of the c
population. While the Ministry u
of Education (MOE) and the r
Dyslexia Association of r
Singapore (DAS) have e
provided more support for n
students with dyslexia in t
recent years, this remains
inadequate. Based on p
literature review and r
comparison with other o
developed countries, as well as v
discussions with local i
stakeholders, including the s
MOE, DAS, teachers, parents, i
and subject matter experts, o
this paper investigates the n
gaps in dyslexia provision in
Singapore and finds that the t
roots causes are in three main o
areas: service volume (under‐
identification of students with i
dyslexia), service nature m
(limited scope of dyslexia p
intervention), and service r
support (insufficient resources o
to support the provision of v
dyslexia services). We e
recommend a broad

the identification,
intervention, and support for
people with dyslexia, through
the following key measures:
harmonising intervention
efforts between the MOE and
DAS, expanding professional
learning pathways for
mainstream teachers and
Allied Educators (Learning and
Behavioural Support),
investigating the feasibility of
a specialist school for students
with severe dyslexia, investing
in assistive technology, and
increasing the reach of public
awareness and anti‐bullying
campaigns.
Keywords: dyslexia, Singapore,

early intervention,
identification, pre-
school, post-
secondary school,
teacher training,
specialist school,
technology,
coordination.
Carolina Landulfo, email: carol.landulfo@gmail.com

235 C. Landulfo, C. Chandy & Z. Y. Wong
1. Problem Definition: Background and 1.2 Dyslexia in the World

Context
IDA, British Dyslexia Association (BDA),
and DAS have reported that dyslexia
1.1 What is Dyslexia? affects about 10% of the population.
More specifically, a study by Nathlie
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability Badian reported by the BDA found that
that is neurological in origin. It is about 4% of any population have severe
characterised by difficulties with accurate dyslexia (DAS & ISEAS, 2008). Rose
and/or fluent word recognition and by (2009) has similarly cited that dyslexia
poor spelling and decoding abilities. may significantly affect the literacy
These difficulties typically result from a attainment of between 4% and 8% of
deficit in the phonological component of children in the UK, while Whiting (2005)
language that is often unexpected in estimates that the proportion of children
relation to other cognitive abilities and potentially requiring additional assistance
the provision of effective classroom for dyslexia is approximately 7% in
instruction. Australia.
Secondary consequences may include Dyslexia affects people of all ethnicity as

problems in reading comprehension and well as languages based on symbols
reduced reading experience that can such as Chinese. The effect of dyslexia
impede growth of vocabulary and varies across languages, for instance,
background knowledge (International dyslexia is less problematic in languages
Dyslexia Association [IDA], 2002). with pronunciation rules such as Spanish,
Portuguese, and Italian. Languages such
The difficulty children with dyslexia have as English, where there is often no clear
with reading and writing is not connection between the written form and
determined by their intelligence, but by sound, can be more challenging for a
the severity of their dyslexia. Children person with dyslexia.
with average intelligence and mild
dyslexia are likely to be more skilled at While it was previously reported that
reading and writing than children with dyslexia is four times more common in
high intelligence and more severe males than females, recent studies
dyslexia. suggest that the gender ratio is more
balanced. The previous gender
There are several theories about the difference may be due to more males
causes of dyslexia, but it is generally being identified with the learning difficulty
accepted to be geneti c and than females (DAS & ISEAS, 2008).
neurobiological. Anatomical and brain
imagery studies show differences in the 1.3 Social Impact
way the brain of a person with dyslexia
develops and functions, as compared to According to a survey conducted in the
a person without dyslexia (IDA, 2012). UK in 2012, the social and emotional
impact of dyslexia can be the hardest to

d d
e y
a sl
l e
w xi
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t t
h e
n
( d
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y o
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l a
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h n
il d
d s
r o
e m
n e
ti
w m
i e
t s
h f
e
el isolated or bullied. of students at DAS s e
The results showed learning centres shared u c
that: that their children had p i
similarly received p a
 More than negative comments o l
50% of parents and labels from their r
in the UK said school teachers. These t n
that there included comments e
were times that their children were s e
when their “stupid”, “the naughty e d
child with one”, “lazy”, r s
dyslexia did “uncooperative”, and v
not want to go “sotong” (colloquialism i a
to school. for “failing to c n
 57% of understand”). Some e d
parents felt parents said that their s
that their children’s self-esteems l
child had a were affected to the t e
negative extent that they would o a
experience at say these of themselves r
school. when they failed to p n
 53% of parents meet their teachers’ r i
reported that expectations. e n
their child felt - g
different 1.4 Dyslexia in s
compared to Singapore c d
their peers. h i
 47% of parents The Early Intervention o f
said that their Programme for Infants o f
child had been and Children (EIPIC) in l i
bullied or Singapore provides c
picked on at therapy and c u
some point. educational h l
 37% of parents i t
reported that l i
teachers made d e
unhelpful r s
comments like e .
“try harder”, n
which had a A
negative w s
impact on i
their child’s t o
self- esteem. h f
From our s A
discussions, parents p p
ril 2015, there 2. The s g
were programme is t r
16 EIPIC centres conducted by u a
run by ten allied educators d m
voluntary and English e m
welfare language teachers n e
organisations, of who have t
which seven received s h
organisations specialised a
offered training, and w d
programmes to among other h
address global things, teaches o i
developmental students letters m
delay, including and name sounds, p p
literacy as well as how to a r
difficulties. read and spell r o
words. These t v
In 2012, the students typically i e
MOE launched meet in small c d
an S$3.6 groups of three to i
mi ll i on four people, four p i
Sch o ol - b a se d times a week at a n
Dy sle xia their schools for t
Remediation 45 minutes per e t
programme in session. d h
20 primary e
schools, of The MOE had i i
which the piloted this n r
breakdown of programme given
the programme feedback that t r
expenses was these younger h e
not publicly students found it e a
available. This difficult to travel to d
two-year DAS learning r i
intervention centres outside e n
programme is school hours for m g
designed for the specialised e
Primary 3 and remediation (MOE, d a
4 students, who 2012). In 2013, the i n
are identified pilot project was a d
for support expanded to t
through a another 22 i s
screening schools, bringing o p
process for the total to 460 n e
dyslexia assisted children. l
conducted at The findings from p l
the end of the 2012 pilot r i
Primary showed that o n
g skills. The
majority of them
made more than
two and a half
years gain in
their reading
age. The MOE
will expand its
remediation

programme to 60 more primary schools with dyslexia and parents’ growing

in 2015, covering 121 or two-thirds of the awareness of dyslexia as a learning
schools, and make available the difficulty.
programme to all primary schools in 2016
(MOE, 2015a). Besides its dyslexia programme, the MOE
offers Learning Support Programmes for
The MOE has reported that there are all students who have any learning
about 13,000 students with learning difficulties and literacy delay, not limited
difficulties or mild special educational to dyslexia. Students who participate in
needs across primary schools, secondary this programme are from the Primary 1
schools, and junior colleges in 2014 and 2 levels only.
(Fang, 2015). Of which, the number of
identified students with dyslexia has The overarching strategic plan for people
increased significantly by 83% from 3,320 with disabilities in Singapore, including
in 2009 to 6,063 in 2013 (see figure 1), special education needs, is the Enabling
notwithstanding the general decline in Masterplan (2012-2016). The Masterplan
total student enrolment from more than aims to create an inclusive Singapore
500,000 students in 2009 to 473,000 where persons with disabilities can
students in 2013 (MOE, 2014a). The maximise their potential and are
increase in number of dyslexia diagnoses embraced as part of the society. The
in mainstream schools possibly reflects development of the Masterplan involves
the MOE’s efforts in identifying students representatives from voluntary welfare
Figure 1: Number of students

diagnosed with dyslexia (MOE
database, 2014)

o c
r s
g e
a c
n t
i o
s r
a s
t .
i L
o a
n u
s n
, c
a h
s e
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w i
e n
l 2
l 0
a 0
s 7
,
t t
h h
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fi
p r
r s
i t
v E
a n
t a
e b
li
a n
n g
d M
a
p s
u t
b e
l r
i p
lan (2007–2011) comprehension, i h
charted the vocabulary, and n e
development of writing. The MOE- t m
programmes and subsidised programme e a
services to enable fee is about S$500 for r t
persons with 10 weeks of lessons (2 v i
disabilities to better hours per week). e c
integrate into Specialised Educational n s
society. The second Services (a division of t ,
Enabling DAS) which provides i
Masterplan (2012– additional programmes o s
2016) builds on the for students such as; n p
earlier initiatives preschool early , e
and adopts a life- c
course approach for C i
persons with h a
disabilities. It starts i l
with the early pre- n i
school years, e s
followed by the s t
education and e
employment , t
phases, then the u
adult and ageing E t
years. The n o
literature review g r
section will l i
highlight the i n
relevant points in s g
the second h ,
Masterplan relating
to our research e s
focus. x p
a e
1.5 The Role of m e
DAS c
s h
DAS offers two main k
programmes for i a
students with l n
dyslexia. The MOE- l d
aided DAS Literacy s
Programme focusses , d
on five key areas – r
phonemic awareness m a
and phonics, reading a m
fluency, reading t a
arts, and conducted only
speech and for primary and Applications
language secondary school dyslexia ass
therapy. The fees children. Between
Actual numb
for these 2004 and 2008,
assessments
programmes the difference
conducted
range from between the
about S$300 (for number of
10 lessons) to applications and
S$700 (for 20 assessments
lessons). conducted is
mainly due to the
DAS provides a applications for
range of pre-school
assessment children to be
services for assessed for
diagnosing dyslexia. DAS
dyslexia among generally does not
students. The conduct an
applications and assessment for
actual these pre-school
assessments for children, given the
diagnosing difficulty in
dyslexia have making an
generally accurate diagnosis
increased from of dyslexia at a
2004 to 2014 young age.
(see table 1), Between 2010
suggesting an and 2014, the
increased number of
parental assessments
awareness of conducted is
dyslexia as a higher than the
learning number of new
difficulty. Full applications, as
psychological the former
assessments are includes both new
and review cases.
Table 1: Dyslexia assessments conducted by DAS

(DAS statistics, 2015)
DAS Assessments 2004 2006 2008 2010

Figure 2: Student enrolment

at DAS learning centres (DAS
statistics, 2015)
Parents and diagnosed

teachers with dyslexia.
appear to Further,
be there has
increasingly been a
aware of steady
dyslexia as increase in
a learning DAS total
difficulty enrolments
and its over time,
impact on with the
children’s highest
learning percentage
process, increase of
which may 54% from
have 2009 to 2011
resulted in (see figure 2).
the increase To meet the
in numbers increase in
of children demand, DAS
being has

e e his study support
x n examines for
p e the current students
a d provision for with
n people with dyslexia in
d o dyslexia in recent
e v Singapore, years, we
d e the limited find that
it r services there
s t provided, remain
f h and policy significant
a e options to gaps in
c expand the dyslexia
il s provision. provision.
i t While the This
ti a MOE and warrants
e t DAS have a research
s e provided study on
, d more what can
w be done
it p to expand
h e the
f r services
o i for people
u o with
r d dyslexia in
l . Singapore
e .
a1.6 R
r e
DAS
n s
suggeste
i e d six
n a
areas that
g r
we could
c c
cover in
e h
our
n
research
t Q
studies:
r u
e e
a. cov
s s
era
b t
ge
e i
in
i o ter
n
n ms
g
of
o
T the
p
y of l
s dyslexi e
l a d
e interv g
x ention e
i ; ;
a d. r e. a
e d
s g e
e i q
r o u
v n a
i a c
c l y
e
s c o
o o f
f o
f p s
e e p
r r e
e a c
d t i
i a
a o l
c n
r n
o a e
s n e
s d d
a s
g e
e x p
c r
g h o
r a f
o n e
u g s
p e s
s i
; o o
c. s f n
c a
o k l
p n s
e o
w a
b. n
f.

B i
e b
y l
o e
n s
d t
r
t a
h t
e e
s g
e i
e
a s
r f
e o
a r
s a
, d
w d
e r
e
h s
a si
v n
e g
t
e h
x e
a e
m xi
i s
n ti
e n
d g
p
o r
t o
h b
e l
r e
p m
o s
s w
s it
h dyslexia provision. other developed s l
In summary, our key countries, as well as c u
research objectives discussions with local h a
are to: stakeholders, including o t
the MOE, DAS, o i
 Investigate teachers, parents, l o
relevant academia, and subject n
policies and matter experts. The s
initiatives in key stakeholders such t r
other as the MOE and DAS u e
countries are aware of the gaps d p
and their and have taken actions e o
applicability to address some of n r
to these issues. For t t
Singapore; instance, the MOE has s s
 Identify and taken a phased , .
evaluate the approach in the
gaps in expansion of its School- a T
provision based Dyslexia n o
for people Remediation d
with programme, which may b
dyslexia in in part be due to the r u
Singapore; need for time and e i
and training to increase its f l
 Propose pool of teachers and i d
recommend allied educators to run n
ations to this programme. DAS i c
expand the similarly has to manage n a
provision to its priorities within its g p
improve the resource constraints a
identificatio and is currently i c
n, focussed on expanding t i
intervention its preschool s t
, and programme and use of y
support for technological tools, p
people with developing a new r f
dyslexia. programme to support o o
post-secondary g r
r
2. Problem Analysis a f
m u
Our analysis of the m t
current gaps in e u
provision is based r
on our literature e e
review and v
comparison with a n
eeds and ensure is mainly due to: a r
coherent reliance on e
strategic teachers’ p
priorities, it is observations when o
important for they are not r
the key adequately trained t
stakeholders to to make the e
understand identification; poor d
holistically the public awareness
existing gaps in and the social a
dyslexia stigma attached s
provision. This to dyslexia; and a
will ensure that lack of h
attention and standardised a
resources are psychological v
directed to assessment for i
expanding dyslexia. n
service provision g
in the areas of Based on the
priority. We find MOE’s database, d
that the root there are about y
causes for the 6,000 or 1.3% of s
gaps in provision students identified l
are in three with dyslexia e
main areas: across primary x
schools, secondary i
2.1 Service Volume schools, and junior a
colleges. .
First, service However, using a
volume refers to conservati ve
the quantity or prevalence rate of
depth of 4% based on
dyslexia services academic studies,
that are we expect that
provided vis-à- there should be
vis the number least 20,000
of people with students with
dyslexia that dyslexia across
has been primary schools,
identified. We secondary schools,
find that there is and junior
a significant colleges. This
under- suggests a
identification of potential gap of
students with 14,000 students
dyslexia in who are not
Singapore. This identified or

Besides the gap in the identification of remediation is also inadequate, as

people with dyslexia, there is an existing students with dyslexia are likely to
shortfall in the provision of support for the struggle with other academic and non-
existing 6,000 students with dyslexia. The academic areas, including art, memory,
MOE has reported that about 1,500 and organisational skills.
students have benefited from its School-
based Dyslexia Remediation programme The MOE schools that run the School-
since 2012 (MOE, 2015a). DAS current based Dyslexia Remediation programme
enrolment across its 13 centres is about are mainly focussed on helping students
3,000 students. This leaves a potential with basic literacy skills in English such as
gap of at least 1,500 students with reading, spelling, and comprehension, at
dyslexia who are not receiving any form Primary 3 and 4 levels only. DAS has a
of intervention. The MOE will partially broader range of programmes for
mitigate this gap with the expansion of its primary school students, but its
remediation programme to all primary programmes are similarly limited to
schools by 2016. However, students with English intervention at the secondary
dyslexia in secondary schools and junior school level. Given that there is currently
colleges remain unsupported within the limited dyslexia support for post-
education system. secondary school students, DAS plans to
develop a programme for these students
Our study will assess the means of by 2017. DAS also has plans to extend
improving the identification of students its programmes beyond basic literacy to
with dyslexia and expanding the service other academic and non-academic
volume to meet the consequential subjects such as social and life skills.
increase in demand for dyslexia support. Overall, DAS is of the view that the
Our evaluation criteria include the existing intervention remains inadequate,
monetary costs, political viability, especially for students with dyslexia and
infrastructure needs, and organisational other special needs such as attention
capacity. deficit hyperactivity disorder.
2.2 Service Nature Our study focusses on how the service

nature should be expanded to support
Second, service nature is the breadth of people with dyslexia across age groups
dyslexia services that are provided and across academic and non-academic
across various age groups, academic subjects. Our evaluation criteria include
and non-academic subjects, and severity the scope of intervention, the capacity of
of dyslexia. We find that the existing the MOE and DAS, as well as monetary
service nature is significantly limited in costs.
terms of age group and scope of
intervention. In particular, pre-school and 2.3 Service Support
post-secondary school students are not
offered sufficient support, although Third, service support is the system-level
dyslexia can affect a person throughout resources that support the provision of
one’s life. The existing focus on English dyslexia services, which include the

a n
v o
a l
il o
a g
b ic
il a
i l
t t
y o
o o
f ls
s ,
p c
e o
c o
i r
a d
l i
n n
e a
e ti
d o
s n
p b
r e
o t
f w
e e
s e
s n
i k
o e
n y
a s
l t
s a
a k
n e
d h
o
t l
e d
c e
h r
s such as the MOE time constraints, and a i
and DAS, and lack of empathy. n u
research support. Further, assistive s
We find that there technology and t e
are insufficient examination access h f
resources dedicated arrangements such as e u
to supporting the extended time are not l
provision of services adequately provided, c
for people with although these could u r
dyslexia. There is a reduce students’ r e
shortage of struggles with writing r s
professionals with and spelling when i o
the expertise and completing classwork c u
skills to work with and taking u r
people with dyslexia examinations. l c
and other special u e
needs in Singapore. A prominent area that m s
The Government’s requires attention is
Enabling Masterplan the coordination of a a
(2012- 2016) has service support n n
recognised the between partners. d d
shortage of Allied While the MOE has
Educators chosen DAS as a service e t
(Learning and provider in supporting n e
Behavioural Support) students with dyslexia, c a
to support students there remains a lack of o c
with special needs coordination, u h
in mainstream particularly in the area r i
schools. As allied of curriculum planning a n
educators are often and training g g
thought of as a programmes for their e
liaison between teachers. A closer p
classroom teachers coordination will t r
and parents of minimise the h a
students who duplication or e c
struggle with dyslexia inconsistency t
and other special e i
needs, this is a x c
critical gap in c e
support services. We h s
also find that the a .
existing mainstream n
teachers and allied g A
educators have not e n
been able to provide o
sati sfactory o t
intervention due to f h
inadequate training,
er area that is of service support s
lacking is the initiatives, t i
limited academic monetary costs, u n
research on political viability, d
dyslexia in and organisational i S
Singapore and capacity. e i
the s n
effectiveness of Throughout this g
various dyslexia study, we will a a
interventions reference these n p
locally. The three categories d o
reasons for the of service volume, r
weak research service nature, l e
support may be and service i
attributed to support as our t a
Singapore’s analytical e n
relatively small framework. This r d
population size framework helps a
and a lack of us to categorise t
publicly the challenges of u
available data dyslexia provision, r
on people with what other e
dyslexia. Such countries have
research is done, and how we o
useful for the can solve the n
development of problems in
pedagogy and Singapore.This p
technology to categorisation is r
help people with important. Instead o
dyslexia learn of dealing with v
and work individual i
effectively. weaknesses in the s
system, we can i
Given these group them o
challenges, our together, and n
study considers design policy tools
measures to to tackle each f
expand the category of o
service support challenges. r
that contribute
to meeting the d
needs of people 3. Research y
with dyslexia in Methodology s
Singapore. Our l
evaluation Literature review: e
criteria include we reviewed x
the value-add comparative i
a
other developed countries such as the UK, including Mr Thomas West and Dr Thomas
US, and Australia, which are relatively Sim.
more advanced in their support for
people with dyslexia. Through this Interviews with DAS teachers: we
review, we obtained a general overview conducted face-to-face individual
of how Singapore and other countries interviews with four DAS teachers, who
had studied and tackled the challenges had at least nine years of experience
of dyslexia, what approaches worked teaching primary and secondary school
well, and what issues would need to be students in the DAS. Based on their
explored through other research teaching experiences, they shared useful
channels. insights into the DAS curriculum,
performance of students, and use of
Observation at DAS learning centres: we technological tools as teaching aids.
observed the classes conducted at one of
DAS learning centres and spoke with the Focus groups with parents: we
centre manager to understand the DAS conducted two focus groups with a total
programmes, pedagogy, and operational of 12 parents of students attending
matters. Our observation of DAS classes classes across different DAS learning
provided background information on how centres. The first group focussed on the
the curriculum was organised, how adequacy of dyslexia intervention for
teachers and students interacted, and primary school students, and comprised
helped us in our preparation for parents of primary school students who
subsequent discussions. had attended DAS classes for at least 2
years. The second group focussed on the
Interviews with subject matter experts type of support that that could be offered
and the MOE: we interviewed Professor to post-secondary school students, and
Angela Fawcett, Research Consultant to comprised parents of secondary school
DAS, and Dr Thomas Sim, former students who had attended DAS classes
Executive Director of DAS Academy. They for at least 4 years. Consents were
provided useful insights into our research obtained from these parents for the
study, including provision for dyslexia anonymous disclosure of their quotes from
globally, gaps in Singapore’s provision, the focus group discussions.
and means of expanding intervention
locally. We also met with Mr Terence
Tan, Assistant Director, MOE Psychological 4. Literature Review
Services Branch and his team. They
provided further insights into the MOE’s Our literature review has examined the
initiatives in identifying and supporting international research and provision for
students with special needs in mainstream dyslexia, with particular attention to the
schools, as well as some relevant three key areas of service volume, service
statistics. The DAS Embrace Dyslexia nature, and service support.
Seminar held on 20 November 2014 was
another good source of information on The objective was to gather evidence on
dyslexia from subject matter experts, the effectiveness of interventions and

s vi
u d
p e
p n
o c
r e
t -
f b
o a
r s
p e
e d
o p
p o
l li
e c
w y
i r
t e
h c
d o
y m
s m
l e
e n
x d
i a
a ti
, o
s n
o s
a f
s o
t r
o Si
f n
o g
r a
m p
u o
l r
a e
t .
e
e 4.1 S
ervice Volume the definition of d c
dyslexia and eligibility y r
Academic research criteria differ across s e
all over the world has states, which may l a
recognised the result in a child not e t
importance of early being recognised as x e
identification in having a learning i d
providing timely disability just by a
support for students crossing a state border. . t
with dyslexia. This situation h
However, similar to undermines the T e
Singapore, the UK, credibility and integrity a
US, and Australia of any identification k A
have reported process (Klassen, i u
challenges in 2002). n s
identifying people g t
with dyslexia (Rose, The academia is r
2009; Fletcher et al., divided on how early t a
2006, & Whiting, identification of h l
2005). The main dyslexia should be e i
reason for this is that achieved. One view is a
dyslexia is not a that children should f n
clear-cut diagnostic be systematically i
category (Snowling, screened for dyslexia, r E
2013). Further, while the other view s a
dyslexia may not disagrees on the t r
present itself to grounds that blanket l
parents or teachers screening tests are v y
until the child begins unreliable and that i
to read. there are better ways e D
to identify children w e
The lack of with , v
international e
agreement on the A l
definition and causes u o
of dyslexia imply s p
that a differential t m
diagnosis is not r e
possible, and the a n
formal evaluation l t
focusses on a i
number of indicators a I
that may suggest an n
individual has h d
dyslexia (New a e
Zealand MOE, 2007). s x
Similarly, in the US, ,
to measure how monitoring the A a
children have progress of a group s
developed in of children through s s
school and a programme of t e
improve the early intervention, rather u s
identification of than undertaking a d s
children with static assessment y m
dyslexia. Teachers of their current e
complete a skills. Children at w n
checklist of their risk of dyslexia are a t
students’ those who fail to s
language and respond to
communication effective teaching. c
skills in their first Such a strategy o
year of full-time was similarly n
school. The advocated by the d
Progressive UK’s Rose Review u
Achievement (2009). Since the c
Tests in Reading publication of the t
and Mathematics Code of Practice e
is the most widely (1994), the UK has d
used of such required that
performance teachers identify t
measures, which children who are o
help identify struggling in the
students with early years of i
learning school and provide n
difficulties (Pyne, support for children v
2014). at risk of dyslexia, e
with legal provision s
Instead of a for a statement of t
systematic special needs for i
screening test, those diagnosed as g
some countries having dyslexia. a
have advocated t
the role of In 2003, the e
teachers and assessment of
parents in children’s progress w
identifying at the end of the h
children with foundation stage e
dyslexia. The US (from three to five t
has pioneered years of age) was h
the “response to formally introduced e
intervention” into UK schools r
method (Fletcher through the Early
& Vaughn, 2009), Years Foundation a
which involves Profile Stage (EYFS). n

undertaken by teachers at the end of the countries appears to be more

EYFS could provide a screening tool for comprehensive in terms of age group and
the identification of children at risk of subject coverage than that in Singapore.
dyslexia (Snowling, 2013). It was found
that the teachers’ assessment provided a Empirical evidence shows that early
good measure of the children’s intervention for dyslexia (Ehri et al., 2001;
development and was a reasonable Fawcett et al., 2014) and the continuity of
predictor of literacy attainments two years effective intervention for adults with
later. dyslexia (Eden et al., 2004) result in better
outcomes. However, in Singapore, the
The MOE currently takes an in-between provision for pre-school and post-
approach in its identification of students secondary school students with dyslexia is
with dyslexia. An assessment is currently limited. For instance, the MOE-
conducted at the beginning of Primary 1 aided DAS Literacy Programme is
to identify students who are generally extended to only primary and secondary
weak in English and/or Mathematics (this schools students between 7 and 17 years
assessment is not a screening test for of age. The Enabling Masterplan (2012–
dyslexia). These students will then be 2016) has also acknowledged that
placed in the Learning Support students with special needs in institutes of
Programme for additional support at the higher learning have difficulties accessing
Primary 1 and 2 levels. At the end of integration support services such as
Primary 2, students on the Learning career support. Singapore can take a
Support Programme who may need to be leaf from the UK, US, and Australia,
enrolled in the School-based Dyslexia particularly in terms of post-secondary
Remediation programme are identified support.
for an assessment of whether they have
dyslexia. Under the UK’s Education, Health and
Care (EHC) Plan, support will be made
On an ad-hoc basis, teachers may also available to students from preschool to 25
identify and refer students for the dyslexia years of age (UK Department for
assessment. The limited screening and Education, 2014). The change in the UK
reliance on teachers’ observations when policy is supported by academic
they are not adequately trained to make research, which shows that older students
the identification may have contributed to with dyslexia continue to face difficulties
the significant number of students with in learning even if they have received
dyslexia who are not identified or appropriate intervention and improved
reported as having dyslexia. their literacy skills. Goulandris & Snowling
(2001) followed up a group of children
4.2 Service Nature with dyslexia who had received
intervention and found that none of them
Following identification, the next had been able to catch up with their
challenge is to provide adequate peers, despite their positive motivation
intervention to people with dyslexia. The and self-image.
nature of provision in the researched

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technology, as well as a wider range of g u
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with dyslexia. that run the School- e i
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students are programme are e s
supported in note- mainly focussed on n e
taking, time helping students with t ,
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health, and study literacy skills at o g
skills. There are also Primary 3 and 4 levels n i
colleges dedicated only. There is scope v
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learning- disabled o n
students, including
those with dyslexia, o t
such as the t h
Landmark College h e
and Strategic e
Alternative Learning r e
Techniques Centre f
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Arizona. The faculty c e
ctiveness of Under the EHC
such intervention legislation, which
(Goswami, 2011). came into force
from 1 September
In the UK, with 2014, British local
the launch of the authorities have to
EHC plan, the publish information
number of hours about what support
and the scope of is available for
intervention vary people with special
according to each educational needs
student’s severity in their respective
of dyslexia. When geographical areas.
it comes to non- Further, the new
government system places more
provision, the emphasis on
interventions healthcare and the
provided by family will be more
Dyslexia Action involved in the
include planning stage.
traditional However, there
academic have been
subjects such as criticisms of the
mathematics, as new approach,
well as study particularly on the
skills, advice for lack of regulations
parents on and guidelines.
adaptations and
use of Each local authority
technology, and can have its own
individual system, which may
tutoring. The lead to huge
tuition offered by variations in how
Dyslexia Action is an EHC plan is
normally developed.
conducted in two Charities are also
one- hour concerned that this
sessions per will make it difficult
week in groups of for them to advise
up to three parents and young
children working people on the
at similar levels, processes involved
with daily in the EHC plans
practice activities (Driver Youth Trust,
to be carried out 2013).
at home.

In the US, a holistic view of dyslexia is Berkeley study showed that students with
established through the Individualised dyslexia taking a standardised reading
Education Programs (IEP), which is part of test could score on par with their peers
the Individual with Disabilities Education when granted extra time (Runyan, 1991).
Act (IDEA) from 2006. The IEP holds that However, the quantity of extra time that
parents, mainstream teachers, special should be granted for such tests remains
education teachers, and the student a point of debate (Ofiesh & Hughes,
should work together to develop a 2002).
customised education programme (US
Department of Education, 2010). As In the UK, students with dyslexia are
mentioned earlier, specificities of the generally given an additional 25% of the
scope of intervention in the US differ allocated time for their examinations. In
across states and even districts, making a addition, the British Equality Act (2010)
cross-country comparison challenging. requires organisations to ensure that
Nevertheless, schools across the US have people with disabilities are not treated
been trying to incorporate more non- unfavourably and are offered reasonable
academic subjects into their curriculums adjustments, which can include a reader,
for integration purposes, such as oral language modifier, scribe, using a
language arts, as well as organisation computer instead of handwriting, using
and study skills. assistive software (screen reader/voice
recognition), exam papers in dyslexia
In Australia, support for people with friendly font, hard copy instead of on-
dyslexia is similarly extended to both screen, and supervised rest breaks.
academic and non-academic subjects, but
to a lesser extent than the US. The state Similarly, the Australian Disability
and territory governments take Standards for Education (2005)
responsibility for the day-to-day delivery emphasise that reasonable adjustments
of school education in Australia. The must be made to help ensure students
local education authorities are seen to be with disability are able to access the tests
best placed to determine the provision of wherever possible. Teachers and schools
specialist dyslexia teachers for students are best placed to determine how many
who require more intense, explicit, and minutes of extra time a student should
individualised instruction (Pyne, 2014). have to take the test. Generally, it is
recommended that no more than 5
When it comes to extra support for test- minutes of extra time per half hour of test
takers with special needs, all four time be granted. In some cases, an
countries (US, UK, Australia, and additional 50% of the allocated time
Singapore) offer some form of special could be granted (National Assessment
arrangements. Under the American IDEA, Program, 2015).
testing agencies have a duty to provide
accommodations to students with In Singapore, access arrangements for
disabilities such as offering them more students with learning difficulties and/or
time, use of a private room, or access to sensory and physical disabilities include
a scribe. A University of California- exemption from a component in a subject

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readers or scribes both options are d s
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However, unlike specialist schools, c r
countries such as the there are about 77 a e
UK, Singapore has independent t a
not published a full mainstream schools i m
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access arrangements Support Unit n s
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offered for students tuition on a small n h
with dyslexia. group or individual e o
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Another issue of approach is to keep all d l
debate is whether the children together s s
students with most of the time and .
dyslexia should to withdraw those (
attend a specialised needing extra support S S
school that caters to for tailored sessions E t
their learning needs when necessary. N u
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mainstream schools, academic research s e
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interact with other whether students o
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increased of self-esteem. t
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with students schools may also e c
with SEN (Weng, add stress to both g l
Walker & teachers and r u
Rosenblatt, parents (Weng, a s
2015). Walker & t i
Rosenblatt, 2015). i v
Academic o e
studies that do Overall, the success n
not support or failure of the e
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argued that on the academic s a
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uld extend
beyond the
physical presence
of all kinds of
students to

adjustments to cultures, polices, and Special Needs Professionals

school practices so that communities
respond to student diversity and The special needs educators in other
encourage all students to participate and developed countries tend to hold higher
achieve within the communities (Lim, academic qualifications that those in
Wong & Tan, 2014). Singapore. For instance, in the US, 70% of
the early intervention teachers and
DAS had conducted study trips to professionals have a Master’s degree,
specialist schools for students in the US following the obtaining of their general
and Canada to identify the best practices education degree (Enabling Masterplan,
for its conception of such a school in 2012). In addition to the Master’s degree,
Singapore. Among other schools, it US special education teachers are
visited Shelton School in Dallas, one of required to complete continuous
the largest private schools in the world for education requirements, including the
students with learning difficulties, and completion of 150 hours every five years
Fraser Academy in British Columbia. DAS in a planned academic program
found that these schools share a number pertaining to the types of students they
of common characteristics that contribute teach. Similarly, the UK Department of
to their success – low student-teacher Education has set as a target that every
ratio, curriculum that is designed after the teacher should expect to teach children
mainstream education system, and with special educational needs, and
affordable fees. In terms of outcome, therefore needs to be equipped with the
Shelton School cited that 25% of its relevant skills (Rose, 2009).
student population had re-joined
mainstream or other private schools, In Singapore, all teachers in mainstream
while Fraser Academy reported that the schools are currently provided with a
majority of its students go on to post- basic awareness of special educational
secondary education (DAS & ISEAS, 2008). needs. Over the past decade, there have
been steps taken to raise the level of
teacher competency pertaining to special
4.3 Service Support needs education. In 2005, the National
Institute of Education (NIE) introduced a
Adequate volume and scope of dyslexia compulsory 12-hour module on special
provision depends on the quality of needs in the training of new teachers.
service support available, especially in From 2011, the NIE re-designed the
terms of special needs professionals, module to situate this area within a
technological tools, and research and compulsory 24- to 36-hour module on
regional collaboration. As compared to “Teaching and Managing Diverse
Singapore, the other researched Learners” for all beginning teachers
countries are generally more advanced in during their pre-service training. Further,
their investments in each of these areas the MOE has offered certificate-level
to support the provision for people with training (108 hours) to develop a core
dyslexia. group of Teachers trained in Special
Needs (TSNs) in every school to support

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special education m e
At a more needs (Fang, 2015). s r
specialised level, the
MOE has trained In addition, there is o o
and deployed about currently a wide range f f
400 Allied Educators of degree and diploma
(Learning and programmes in p E
Behavioural Singapore pertaining s d
Support) to support to special needs y u
students with education, which is c c
special needs. These comparable with h a
allied educators are other developed o t
required to countries. The NIE l i
undertake a one- offers the following o o
year Diploma in programmes for g n
Special Education teachers who intend y
programme at NIE, to specialise in special (
before they are need education: c D
posted to the Diploma in Special o e
schools (Sim, 2012). Education, Advanced u v
In terms of entry Diploma in Special r e
requirements, the Learning and s l
MOE has set out Behavioural Needs, e o
that allied educator Master of Education s p
applicants should (Special Education , m
possess a university Specialisation), and e
degree or Master of Education t n
polytechnic (Early Childhood h t
diploma; those Specialisation). e a
without a l
degree/diploma and N
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February 2015, all f h
190 primary schools f o
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schools (about 40% r o
of the total number s g
of secondary y
schools) have at
), while the early intervention the
National (Enabling y
University of Masterplan, 2012). use
Singapore offers a d
Clinical Use of Technological AT
Psychology Tools dev
Masters Degree. ices
James Cook The Enabling as
University Masterplan (2012– par
Singapore offers 2016) recognises t of
both that the use of the
undergraduate assistive technology ir
and postgraduate (AT) and wo
degrees in information and rk.
Psychology, communicati ons
including a technology (ICT)
Master of enhances the
Psychology quality of life of
(Clinical). persons with
disabilities and
As to diploma their potential to
courses, the lead productive
National Council lives. In 2011, the
of Social Service Society of the
has partnered Physically Disabled
with Ngee Ann (SPD) conducted a
Polytechnic to study that
introduce the surveyed more
Advanced than 700 SPED
Diploma in Early school staff,
Childhood caregivers, and
Intervention students on the use
(ADECI) and of AT aids, and
Certificate in found that AT was
Early Childhood significantly
Intervention for underutilised. The
teachers and findings showed
teacher assistants that:
respectively. The
ADECI study  34% of
awards and teachers
training and 37%
scholarships were of
also introduced in therapist
2007 to s in SPED
encourage more schools
professionals to said that
be trained in
1
 6% of the parents reported the performance. Singleton and Simmons
use of AT by their child in SPED (2001) reported a study of the use of the
schools. program “Wordshark” in 403 primary and
 46% of parent respondents in secondary schools in the UK. Wordshark
the SPED school survey reported provides training in word recognition and
that one of the reasons they developing phonic skills for reading and
were not using AT was its high spelling, using a wide range of
cost. entertaining and challenging games.
 68% of the parent respondents More than 90% of children using
in the SPED school survey had Wordshark made improvement in their
never heard of AT. reading skills and spelling. Other
 48% of the parent respondents common programmes used in the UK to
in the SPED school survey were support reading and writing are Lexia,
unaware of the type of AT that Catch up, Rapid Reading Assistant, e-
might benefit their child. books that can be read to or by children
independently, Write Out Loud (word
The SPD study for the support of
concluded that the students with special
low utilisation of AT educational needs.
was mainly due to However, the MOE
low awareness of currently does not
the devices and the maintain a
lack of coordination recommended list of
of resources at the special education
national level. needs resources,
There was also a which have proven to
shortage of be effective in the
trained AT following developed
specialists to countries.
support teachers
and therapists, and The UK is currently
to address parents’ using computer
queries. For assisted learning as
mainstream part of its
schools, the MOE instructional
has shared that it process, which is
provides a Support beneficial for
for Special Needs students with
Grant to every dyslexia as it
school resourced enhances
with an Allied motivation,
Educator (Learning provides
and Behavioural individualised
Support) to instruction and
purchase resources immediate
fe t processing), (for note- research
e h and touch taking), centres
d e typing. Dragon throughout the
b s Naturally country. For
a t The US Speaking/D instance, the
c u makes use ragon University of
k, d of Dictate (a Buckingham
cr e classroom voice manages the
e n tools such recognition Research in
a t’ as the program), Adult Dyslexia
t s Wilson and various
e Reading smartphone
s System to applications
a help such as
n students Phonics
a with Genius,
c dyslexia. Audio Note,
ti This and Read to
v reading Kids.
e system
le uses Research and
a manipulati Regional
r ves such Collaboration
ni as cards
n with The
g letters and literature
e a finger- review on
n tapping other
vi procedure, developed
r to teach countries
o phonics shows that
n and word many of
m analysis the best
e skills practices
n systematic currently in
t, ally. In place were
a terms of developed
n assistive based on
d technolog academic
c y, research.
a common The UK is
n tools used one of the
m in the US leaders in
o include studies on
ni the dyslexia
t Livescribe globally
o Smartpen with many
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ll as case studies, on data policy, which o N
the experiences of facilitates the conduct f e
adults with dyslexia. of research. e
Another example is r d
the Miles Dyslexia In response to e s
Centre of Bangor recommendations s
University, which made by dyslexia e E
provides assessment, interest groups, the a d
teaching, and Australian Government r u
support services for has agreed in principle c c
dyslexia that are to provide funding for h a
informed by research research to determine t
findings. effective dyslexia i i
support in schools. This s o
The US similarly has a includes funding for n
number of large randomised t
established research controlled trials of h A
institutes that are school-based dyslexia e c
dedicated to dyslexia intervention studies, a
research. The evaluation of the E d
Dyslexia Research efficacy of dyslexia a e
Institute operates treatment programs, r m
Woodland Hall and trial of models of l i
Academy and teacher training and y c
Dyslexia Research AT for students with
Institute Literacy and dyslexia (Australia C G
Life Skills, an adult Government, 2012). h r
program, which i o
provides parenting Comparatively, the l u
information, teacher research on dyslexia d p
training, and in Singapore remains h
research and limited. One source o a
development o t
resources. The Yale d
Centre for Dyslexia N
and Creativity serves a I
as a nexus for n E
dyslexia research, d ,
and is a leading
source of advocacy S w
and information to p h
improve the lives of e i
people with dyslexia. c c
The advances in i h
dyslexia studies in a
US and UK can in l h
part be attributed to a
the countries’ open
s conducted a involved people i o
number of with dyslexia, n r
research studies practitioners, policy t t
on child makers, and e a
development, developers across r n
early childhood Europe, to put n t
and special together the best a
education, and practices. t e
teacher i v
education. The Another important o e
other source is UK initiative is the n n
from the DAS, Dyslang project, a t
which has which aims to l s
published its Asia develop a course
Pacific Journal of that equips special l p
Developmental education needs e e
Differences to professionals with v r
address the range skills to help e t
of special students with l a
educational dyslexia learn an s i
needs in the additional . n
regional context. curriculum i
language. Partners T n
An efficient way of the Dyslang h g
to expand project from the UK e
research would and other European t
be through countries have c o
regional reported the o
cooperation. The importance of u d
UK is very active transnational n y
in international cooperation and t s
organisations the value of r l
pertaining to exchanging y e
dyslexia, experience and x
particularly in broadening their a i
Europe. One knowledge about l a
example is the dyslexia in different s
Welsh Dyslexia European contexts. o s
Project, which u
aims to assess the In the US, a h c
provision and use number of o h
of ICT for associations s
students with actively participate t a
dyslexia in in dyslexia s s
European campaigns and
universities. The conferences both i “
project has at the national and m U
p n
locking
Dyslexia”,

which is sponsored by the International with dyslexia in Singapore was that many
Dyslexia Association and takes place were diagnosed only when they were in
every October to raise awareness of their teenage years. As a result, they
dyslexia and offer resources to parents, worked very hard, but were unable to
teachers, and individuals with special excel academically, bringing frustration
needs. both to themselves and their parents, as
the following comment from a person with
In Australia, there is a growing number of dyslexia shows:
parent-initiated associations (SPELD
organisations) that are motivated by a “Everyone around me was trying their
strong desire to improve the quality of best to help me, and I was trying hard,
instruction and increase the level of really hard. No results. I felt like the
support that are currently offered to tortoise in ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’,
students with dyslexia. In many states, except that this tortoise could never
the SPELD organisations collaborate with win the race.”
universities on research projects designed
to improve understanding of dyslexia and Parents in our focus groups strongly
successful interventions (Australia agreed on the importance of early
Department of Education, 2014). identification and intervention:
5. Research Findings and Analysis “The best time to help special needs
students is from Primary 1 to 4, when
In light of our literature review, we have they start developing their skills. We
engaged various stakeholders in the cannot neglect them during this
provision for people with dyslexia in phase.”
Singapore, including the MOE, DAS
teachers, parents of students with The identification of people with dyslexia
dyslexia, and subject matter experts. remains a significant challenge in Singapore,
From our comparison with other probably more so compared to other
developed countries and local fieldwork, developed countries such as the UK, US,
we have identified and analysed the and Australia. Dyslexia in Singapore is
existing gaps in the service volume, likely to carry a higher level of social
nature, and support for people with stigma, to the extent that some parents will
dyslexia in Singapore. rather hide the fact that their child has
dyslexia, than to acknowledge the fact and
5.1 Service Volume request that their child obtain certain
examination access arrangements such as
Failing to identify dyslexia and intervene extended time. These parents are
at an early stage is often cited as a huge concerned that their child will carry the
impediment for students to better cope label of having dyslexia, which may affect
with the learning pace at the mainstream their tertiary education and career
schools. During the DAS Embrace Dyslexia prospects. Students may also want to
2014 seminar, a recurring theme across hide their struggles to protect themselves
the personal stories of successful people from being singled out or bullied. During

t n
h h
e a
f p
o p
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m h
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is t
v f
er ai
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u
ng … but he isn’t persistent literacy a
doing great difficulties based on b r
either.” progress monitoring i e
scores in the Learning l l
Besides the negative Support Programme i i
label of dyslexia, will be identified by t a
the MOE has shared MOE for further y n
during our meeting assessments to c
that another reason confirm if these t e
for the low level of students have dyslexia. o
students identified is These assessments are o
the poor awareness conducted by the i n
of dyslexia as a MOE. On an ad-hoc d
learning difficulty basis, teachers who e t
among parents and are able to identify n e
teachers. The students at risk of t a
existing means of dyslexia may engage i c
identifying students their parents to f h
at risk of dyslexia is conduct further y e
largely dependent on investigation. r
the limited screening t s
for dyslexia, progress Besides the limited h
monitoring under the screening for dyslexia e h
Learning Support and the progress a
Programme, and the monitoring under the s s
teachers’ ability to Learning Support y
recognise that their Programme, the m n
students are existing process of p o
displaying identifying students t t
symptoms. The with dyslexia is o
assessment that is dependent on the m b
conducted when teachers’ s e
students enter . e
Primary 1 is intended n
to identify students H
who are generally o a
weak in English w n
and/or Mathematics, e
and is not a v e
screening test for e f
dyslexia. These r f
students will then , e
participate in the c
schools’ Learning t t
Support Programme. h i
At the end of i v
Primary 2, students s e
who demonstrate
means of risk of dyslexia, d s
identifying there was no clear y e
students with process of how s s
dyslexia, given their child could be l s
that most formally assessed e e
teachers are not as having dyslexia. x d
adequately “Sometimes, you i
trained to make do not know a t
this identification. where to get help . h
Parents in the from”, a parent a
focus groups said. From media F t
believed that reports, the ‘DAS u
many teachers Parent Support’ r a
were simply Facebook group, t
“mislabelling and experiences of h c
students with parents in the e h
dyslexia as lazy.” focus groups, there r i
Even if they find have been a , l
that a student is number of cases d
at risk, they do where parents e
not appear have brought v h
equipped to their children for e a
recommend to psychological n s
the student’s tests, and
parents the obtained i d
necessary follow- diff erent results f y
up measures, from diff erent s
including the psychologists. a l
formal There appears to e
psychological be a lack of a p x
assessment and standardised s i
dyslexia methodology and y a
intervention. guidelines for c ,
psychologists to h
A third challenge assess if a child has o t
in the dyslexia. For one l h
identification of of the parents in o e
students with the focus group, it g r
dyslexia is the took three years i e
lack of a defined and multiple visits s
process of doing to different t h
so. Parents in psychologists, a
the focus groups before she h v
gave feedback obtained a a e
that when they formal s
suspected that psychological b
their child was at assessment that a e
her child has s e
n instances
where the MOE
schools have not

recognised the assessment nor granted 5.2 Service Nature

any examination access arrangements to
the student, partly on the basis that these Limited Service
students are continuing to achieve
“acceptable” academic grades. The Provision
MOE has clarified that access
arrangements are made based on the The MOE’s School-based Dyslexia
needs of individual students. Remediation (SDR) programme has an
overly ambitious objective of helping
Put together, this has led to a low number students with dyslexia to read at the
of students identified with dyslexia at only same level as their peers by the end of
1.3% of the student cohort, when it should the two-year programme in Primary 3
be at least 4% based on academic and
studies. There remains further scope to 4 (Sim, 2012). Studies cited in our
enhance the process of identification, so literature review have shown that dyslexia
that students with dyslexia may receive intervention should be offered from the
earlier intervention, which is more pre-school level and continued through to
effective. The currently low proportion of tertiary education to achieve sustained
students who has been identified as outcomes. The current two-year SDR
having dyslexia shows that the existing programme is therefore too short, as
process is not effective. There are also compared to that provided by other
reports of parents trying to obtain a developed countries. Even if the MOE’s
psychological assessment to exempt their internal studies show an improvement of
child from Chinese, as Chinese characters the students’ results after the SDR
can be confusing for a child with dyslexia. programme, it should track the students’
subsequent results to assess if they were
A parent from the focus group shared able to maintain their academic
that, “Especially when it comes to performance without any intervention.
exemption from mother tongue, [the MOE] While the MOE-aided DAS Literacy
are sceptical of psychology reports Programme extends the support to other
because even ‘normal’ kids will try to get primary and secondary school students,
these reports.” While a number of the subsidised programme fee of about
parents may try to game the system and S$500 for 10 weeks of lessons implies that
claim that their children have dyslexia, so some households, especially the low-
that they can be exempted from their income ones, may not have access to the
mother tongue language, particularly programme, notwithstanding the bursaries
Chinese, this in itself should not be a offered.
reason for not improving the process of
identification. Rather, the process should be The MOE’s SDR programme and DAS
enhanced such that such parents will not programmes are currently limited in terms
be successful with their false claims. of its scope. The SDR programme is
limited to English remediation, while
students with dyslexia are likely to be also
struggling with their mother tongue
language, mathematics and science. DAS
programmes are more broad-based at
the primary school level, covering the

a e
c e
a c
d h
e a
m n
i d
c d
s r
u a
b m
j a
e .
c M
t o
s s
a t
n p
d a
r
n e
o n
n t
- s
a i
c n
a t
d h
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m f
i o
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o u
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s r
s o
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c p
h c
o
a n
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s u
p r
red that DAS programmes to t t
programmes were enhance their h h
helpful, with one children’s memory, as r a
parent attributing her well as processing, i t
son’s successful organisation, and v
admission to the application skills that e s
Express stream in “they will take along . h
Secondary 1 to the for the rest of their e
DAS programme. At lives rather than for O
the secondary school just a period of time.” n r
level, the DAS While such e e
programme is programmes are c
similarly limited to useful, these are o e
English remediation. additional classes f i
outside of school v
Parents in the focus hours and incur t e
groups gave additional costs. There h d
feedback that their is therefore a limit to e
children would the number of such f
greatly benefit if DAS classes that t e
DAS could expand students can afford e e
its secondary school and are able to a d
programme, and attend. Additionally, c b
cover other requests were made h a
academic subjects for courses organised e c
such as to enable parents to r k
mathematics, teach their children s
humanities, and with dyslexia at home f
sciences. One – “something that i r
parent voiced a empowers us.” n o
“need for someone t m
to break equations The mainstream e
down for their kids. schools generally do r h
Not many DAS not appear to provide a v e
teachers can do this. supportive i r
A queue for a environment for e
mathematics students with dyslexia w s
teacher will be very to e t
long and one or two d u
teachers will not be d
enough. It will s e
probably take DAS a h n
year to find a good a t
teacher.” The r s
parents also e
indicated the d t
usefulness of non- h
academic
at they found the disability. For d e
MOE’s Learning instance, the e
Support children we s t
Programme to be observed c r
too fast-paced for participating in r i
them. Given their DAS classes i e
difficulty in exhibited much b s
keeping up with more confidence, e
the classes, most wanting to impress d s
students with us with their o
dyslexia are knowledge and h
perceived as progress, which was e h
“lazy”, “slow”, very different from r a
and the nervous, r
“uncooperative”, uncertain children s d
and end up described by o
performing parents in the focus n b
poorly in the groups. Most of ’ u
mainstream their children had s t
schools. This received dyslexia
then affects their intervention only at e h
self-esteem and the upper primary f e
confidence, or secondary school f
resulting in a level. o k
downward spiral r e
in academic Similarly, the t e
performance. wellbeing of s p
students with s
corroborated dyslexia is t
stories of their significantly o f
child being affected by a
bullied by other teachers and fellow l i
students and students who do e l
even by teachers, not show an a i
which further understanding of r n
impacted their their learning n g
child’s self- difficulty, and may .
esteem. These have even laughed C
“comments stay at their linguistic h T
with them” and, difficulties. Some of i h
as a result, they these students with n i
“always refer to dyslexia also have e s
themselves that difficulty with their s
way.” Earlier mother tongue e i
intervention, language, : s
then, is critical to particularly
help them cope Chinese. One mother “ d
with the learning H e
moralising.”
Other

parents in the focus group shared that Lack of Focussed Attention on Students
while they requested that their child be with Severe Dyslexia
exempted from the mother tongue
subject, the school would typically grant Since 2008, DAS has proposed the
the exemption only when the student establishment of a specialist school for
performed poorly in the subject. As a students with dyslexia. This is intended to
result, the parents had taken actions such provide a conducive and safe
as carefully dissuading their child from environment for students to learn, without
studying the mother tongue language or the stigma attached to having dyslexia.
withdrawing them from tuition classes, The school will follow a modified MOE
with the intent of having their children do curriculum to the extent that it pays
poorly in the subject, so that the school particular emphasis on literacy and
would accept their exemption request. numerical skills. All the classes will be
taught by special needs teachers, who
Students with dyslexia are currently are trained in pedagogy that caters to
subject to the schools’ discretion in the and helps students with dyslexia to learn
granting of examination access academically. Other non-academic life
arrangements. From the focus group skills that are useful for people with
discussions, we found a lack of dyslexia will also be taught.
consistency across the schools’ practices.
For instance, some schools have not The MOE’s objection to such a specialist
granted an additional time of 10 minutes school is primarily on the basis that it is
for every 1 hour of examination to keen to promote integration between
students with dyslexia, except for the students with dyslexia and normal
second Semestral Assessment. To the students, which benefits both groups.
surprise of other parents, one parent Such experiences are also intended to
shared that her daughter’s school had help these students cope when they
granted her request for her daughter to transit to their working lives, where they
take her examination in a classroom on are expected to work together. As cited
her own “so that she could read to herself in the literature review, students with
out loud.” The MOE has clarified that dyslexia can benefit academically and in
access arrangements are granted based terms of social skills from mainstream
on the level of needs of each individual schools if they receive adequate support.
student. Normal students may also benefit socially
from their interactions with students with
Overall, given their dissatisfaction with the dyslexia.
mainstream schools, 92% of the 856
parents who responded to a DAS parent Parents in the focus groups felt that it was
survey in July 2011, as well as parents in unfair for the MOE to push for integration
the focus groups have supported the when the mainstream schools were not
establishment of a specialist school for providing sufficient support for their
dyslexia, as an alternative path of children. In their opinion, the teachers
education. had shown a lack of empathy and
understanding of dyslexia as a learning

d u
i p
f p
f o
i r
c t
u a
l n
t d
y t
, e
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d h
i
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o
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p ir
r c
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v il
i d
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.
t O
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e
n r
e s
c t
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s d
s e
a n
r t
y s
s m
ight also bully the The benefits of b
students with integration should be e t
dyslexia, as they evaluated against the t o
were granted costs and harms of t
“privileges”, keeping students with e f
including extra time dyslexia in the r e
for their mainstream schools. a
examinations. The Students who feel i r
parents attributed ostracised generally n
the negative have difficulty b
behaviour of interacting with others, a e
teachers and which puts into n i
students in general question the ability for n
to a lack of students with dyslexia e g
awareness of to truly integrate with n
dyslexia as a learning their peers. Further, v l
difficulty. The the MOE’s decision to i a
difference between keep students with r u
mainstream teachers severe dyslexia in o g
and DAS teachers mainstream schools n h
“is really just has affected some m e
training.” During our students’ self-esteem e d
classroom visit, we and confidence, as they n
observed that DAS continue to fail t a
teachers regardless of how t
continuously made much effort they put w .
encouraging into their studies. h
comments such as Finally, dyslexia as a e T
“good job” or “you learning difficulty does r h
can do it” to nurture not imply that students e e
confident responses. with dyslexia are not
Even when the able to learn to t b
student stumbled, communicate h e
the teacher had the effectively in a e n
flexibility in the small specialist school. In y e
group setting to fact, they can probably f
prompt the correct learn to communicate d i
answer through a o t
line of questioning, s
rather than by simply n
giving the right o o
answer. Parents t f
greatly appreciated
this method and h i
could see obvious a n
improvements. v t
e e
gration therefore 5.3 Service Support “
appear limited in T
this context. Scarcity of e
Adequately- a
The Trained Teachers c
establishment of and Allied h
a specialist school Educators i
essentially n
provides students There are currently g
with severe insufficient
dyslexia and resources a
parents with the dedicated to n
choice of an supporting the d
alternative path provision of
of education. services for people
Students with with dyslexia. The
dyslexia and their mainstream
parents should be teachers and
given the Allied Educators
freedom to (Learning and
choose, especially Behavioural
when the Support) have not
students have been able to
attempted to, but provide adequate
have not been support to students
able to integrate with dyslexia.
and excel in the Parents in the
mainstream focus groups were
schools. The dissatisfied with the
MOE should not teachers’
assume that it competency,
has made the availability of time
right choice for and resources, and
these families attitude in
simply based on supporting their
the objective of children with
integration, dyslexia. While 10%
without of primary school
recognising that teachers and 20%
the education of secondary school
system has not teachers are
been able to Teachers trained in
fully benefit and Special Needs and
accommodate the younger
students with teachers will have
severe dyslexia. attended the 24- to
36- hour NIE
module on
Managing Diverse Learners”, the majority significant frustration among the parents
of teachers remain untrained to support in having to explain their child’s learning
students with special needs. This is difficulties with every change in teachers.
significantly below the level of teacher
training in other developed countries. Parents in the focus groups are generally
aware that each school has at least one
Parents in the focus groups all cited Allied Educator (Learning and Behavioural
negative experiences in their interactions Support). However, they questioned the
with the teachers and schools regarding adequacy of the training that these allied
their child with dyslexia. While there educators received such that they were
were a few teachers who tried to help able to effectively provide differentiated
their child, the parents found that most learning and remediation support to their
teachers had a poor understanding of child. The parents also found that the
dyslexia as a learning difficulty, and allied educators were generally
lacked the empathy and training to help “overwhelmed” by the number of students
their child. Below are the comments from that they were managing. They felt that
parents in our focus groups: the allied educators tended to be dealing
more with behavioural issues of students,
“Teachers usually do not address the than focussed on providing learning
real problem. Instead, they punish our support to students with dyslexia. As a
child for not completing the result, the parents were of the consensus
assignment. Dyslexia is not only about that the mainstream teachers and allied
learning difficulties, but it also involves educators did not provide sufficient
emotional problems, and mainstream’s support to their child.
professionals do not seem prepared to
cope with it.” Low Utilisation of Technological Tools
“As long as children with dyslexia are There is a lack of provision of ICT and
passing their exams, teachers ignore assistive technology to help students with
their problems.” dyslexia with their learning and taking of
examinations, relative to other developed
As their child progress to the next countries. Our literature review shows
academic level, parents in the focus that the use of technological tools can
groups often had to repeat the process of provide important learning support for
informing the new teachers of their child’s students with dyslexia. Parents in the
dyslexia and the associated learning focus groups were supportive of the use
difficulties. While there is the School of computers, tablets, calculators,
Cockpit System – an existing academic electronic dictionaries, and other
record for each student, the parents felt technological tools in the classrooms. The
that such records might not have been parents concurred that “dyslexic kids are
updated, and even if they were, the new better in terms of technology ... they can
teachers did not seem to have referred to play around and fix things in a different
the records. The lack of a proper way.” They believed that these tools
handover of the students had led to would speed up their children’s

u h
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r i
s f
t fi
a c
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d l
i ti
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a w
n it
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o e
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t .
technology] usage. R e
Unlike other The real world is e
developed computers now, not d O
countries, students pen and paper. Why u f
with dyslexia are are schools n f
generally not able to focussed on spelling d e
use technological when the real world a r
tools during their is moving away n i
examinations, from that?” c n
except for a digital
i g
dictionary for DAS has been e s
Chinese. Parents in exploring the s
the focus groups felt increased use of B
strongly that the technology as a a a
MOE should review complementary n s
its policy and be teaching tool. For d e
more instance, it conducted d
accommodative a trial on the use of M
towards students iPads as a teaching i o
with special needs. aid at a few of its s n
The use of learning centres in s
dictionaries during 2014. Given the e o
English exams was positive feedback d u
mentioned as a from the teachers and r
useful aid, as a way students, DAS intends O
for a “child to to invest in and expand p f
become “unstuck” the use of iPads across p i
when he or she gets its learning centres. o e
stuck.” The parents DAS is also considering r l
questioned the the investment in other t d
emphasis on assistive technology to u w
spelling and support its students’ n o
grammatical learning. i r
accuracies for
t k
students with
i
dyslexia, given the
e a
availability of
s n
technological tools
d
the children could
i
eventually use to
n d
support their writing
i
at work. One parent
S s
commented that:
e c
r u
“Classroom needs v s
to facilitate more i s
IT [information c i
ons with their programmes w
stakeholders, we to minimise any i
observed that duplication or t
there is scope for inconsistency in the h
improved curriculum and
coordination encourage the D
between the sharing of useful A
MOE and DAS in curriculum S
their curriculum resources and good .
planning, to practices.
ensure
consistency and We found that the
continuity in the MOE has not
intervention regularly
offered to communicated its
students with academic
dyslexia. There expectations and
are currently curriculum changes
students who are to DAS and its
attending the teachers. While the
MOE’s Learning MOE’s syllabus is
Support publicly available, it
Programme in will be useful for
Primary 1 and 2, the MOE to
and are highlight and
concurrently explain the changes
attending DAS to DAS, so that the
classes. latter can refine its
programmes
Following the accordingly.
School-based
Dyslexia An experienced
Remediation teacher from DAS
programme in recalled that the
Primary 3 and 4, frequency of such
some students in communication
Primary 5 and 6 was about once in
may attend DAS three years. She
classes to commented that
continue with the she would find out
remediation. about such
There is curriculum changes
therefore a need as a parent at her
for the MOE and daughter’s school,
DAS to regularly instead of through
exchange the MOE’s
informati on on communication

Limited Investment in Research and Our policy evaluation criteria covers four
Regional Collaboration key elements:
There has been limited research on the a. benefits of policy option;

effects of dyslexia and the effectiveness b. costs of policy option;
of various interventions on the local c. political feasibility; and
population, as compared to other d. capacity to implement policy
developed countries covered in the option.
literature review. Besides the small
population size, the other key impediment Each element of the criteria is elaborated
is the lack of publicly available data on as follows:
people with dyslexia in Singapore. Such
research is useful in the design and a. Benefits of policy option
development of new pedagogy and  Reach of policy measure
technology to help people with dyslexia (number of people with dyslexia
learn and work effectively. that will benefit from the policy)
 Quality of intervention
From our discussions with the academia, (curriculum, pedagogy,
there are currently limited collaborations timeliness, and coordination
within the region to study topics of between MOE and DAS)
common interest such as the teaching of  Quantity of intervention
the Malay language to students with (number of hours of classes)
dyslexia.  Quantity of intervention (scope
of academic and non-academic
DAS has made some progress in this subjects)
regard with the organising of conferences  Capacity-building for future
with its regional counterparts in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia and Bandung, b. Costs of policy option
Indonesia, to facilitate the exchange of  Operational costs (manpower)
knowledge and teaching experiences.  Training costs
Such collaboration will serve to augment  Technological costs (for the
local research and improve the adoption of assistive
pedagogy to benefit students with technology and ICT)
dyslexia.  Infrastructure costs (physical
facilities)
 Research costs
6. Policy Viability Evaluation Criteria
c. Political feasibility – support from
We have developed an analytical the Government/MOE in terms of:
framework to assess the viability of our  Financial support
policy recommendations that are  Data availability for research
developed based on our field work and  Partnering with DAS
literature review.  Partnering with other voluntary
welfare organisations, the

privatep
sector, ti
and theo
public n
  Fi
n
a
n
ci
al
c
a
p
a
ci
t
y
 A
d
e
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a
c
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o
d. C f
a s
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ac e
it ci
y al
to n
i e
m e
pl d
e s
m p
e r
nt o
p f
ol e
ic s
y si
o o
nals with dyslexia. We have ( n
(availabilit ranked the following r o
y of five policy e l
specialised recommendations c o
degree based on their o g
and importance and m y
diploma priority, taking into m
programm account potential e (
es) socio-economic and n r
 Availability p o l i ti c a l d e
of physical constraints. a c
facilities Under t o
 Availa recommendation 1, the i m
bility priority is to establish a o m
of systematic and cost- n e
techn effective screening n
ologic process to identify 3 d
al students with dyslexia. ) a
resou With an expected , t
rces increase in the i
 Parental number of students i o
support identified with dyslexia, n n
the MOE and DAS will v
Depending on the have to expand their e 4
policy option, some service volume, nature, s )
of the detailed and support offered to t ,
criteria may not be these students, i
relevant and are including expanding n a
therefore not applied teacher training g n
in our assessment of (recommendation 2), d
the policy investigating the i
recommendations. feasibility of a specialist n i
school for students n
7. Policy with severe dyslexia a c
Recommendation s r
s s e
i a
Based on our s s
research findings and t i
analysis, we i n
recommend a broad v g
expansion of the e
current provision to t
improve the t h
identification, e e
intervention, and c
support for people h r
each of public students with t
awareness and dyslexia, which h
anti-bullying could be achieved e
campaigns to by creating a y
support unified approach
integration into across all current m
mainstream service offerings, a
schools including screening y
(recommendation for dyslexia,
5). We believe curriculum r
that these planning, and e
recommendations access c
will contribute to arrangements. In e
the Government’s the longer term, i
efforts to build an the key v
inclusive society, stakeholders (DAS, e
where all citizens MOE, parents of
have the students with e
opportunity to dyslexia, and a
achieve their teachers) should r
aspirations. work towards a l
harmonised y
Recommendation 1: approach in
supplying and
DAS and MOE expanding the
should service provision in
harmonise their a coordinated
intervention manner.
strategies across
multiple The expansion of
stakeholders and dyslexia provision,
streamline supported by an
existing increase in
interventions in cooperation among
order to supply key stakeholders,
and expand will increase the
dyslexia reach, as well as
provision in a quantity and quality
coordinated of intervention.
manner.
The enhancement
One of our main of dyslexia support
findings is the begins with a
need to increase systematic process
the effectiveness of identifying
of current students with
provision for dyslexia, so that

intervention, which is proven to be more 1 after students have undergone their

effective. This lays a stronger foundation foundational year of education. This
for them to advance their studies to the would be similar in principle to the model
best of their potential and contribute to for the UK and Australia in identifying
society in future. Further, as the MOE and children with dyslexia and the MOE’s
DAS both have plans to expand their existing screening test for the Gifted
existing dyslexia provision, it is important Education Programme, which is offered to
for the expansion to be done in a academically gifted students in the top 1%
coordinated manner, instead of doing so of the national cohort. To identify these
on separate tracks, which increases the students, the MOE conducts a screening
risk of duplication and inconsistencies in test for all Primary 3 students to assess
approach. their intellectual ability and potential. In
addition, the MOE, with stakeholder
Cooperation among key stakeholders will feedback, should seek to standardise the
provide economies of scale, while psychological assessment, given that
reducing duplicative efforts and clarifying there appears to be varying practices
the approach can achieve cost savings. across psychologists. While the MOE
The partnership between the MOE and generally accepts the psychological
DAS has worked well, particularly in the assessment of DAS, the MOE should
MOE-aided DAS Literacy Programme. consider maintaining an accepted list of
There is further potential for other psychologists whom it recognises.
collaboration. DAS has offered screening
tests, parental support, and awareness Streamline curriculum: the MOE and DAS
campaigns at the school level. Such should work towards streamlining the
activities could be scaled up with the curriculum for students with dyslexia who
MOE’s support and coordination. go through MOE’s Learning Support
Feedback from parents of students with Programme in Primary 1 and 2, and are
dyslexia, DAS teachers, and mainstream concurrently attending DAS classes.
teachers will be useful in considering the Further, the MOE and DAS should ensure
expansion of such activities. In this consistency and continuity in the
regard, we recommend that DAS and intervention offered through the School-
MOE streamline their existing based Dyslexia Remediation programme
intervention strategies, to achieve the in Primary 3 and 4, and the continued
benefits and cost effectiveness from remediation through the DAS programme
implementing a unified intervention in Primary 5 and 6. There also remains
method in the following areas. scope for the MOE and DAS to regularly
exchange information on useful curriculum
Short-term measures (within 2 years) resources and good practices.
Determine the most cost-effective Publish access arrangements: the MOE

screening process: the MOE should should publish the list of examination
establish a broader and more systematic access arrangements that may be
screening process to identify students at granted to students with dyslexia, so that
risk of dyslexia. The screening process parents know the available options they
could be conducted at the end of Primary
c h
a a
n t
t
a h
p e
p a
l c
y c
f e
o s
r s
t a
h r
e r
i a
r n
c g
h e
il m
d e
r n
e t
n s
. a
T r
h e
i c
s o
w n
il si
l s
a t
l e
s n
o tl
y
e g
n r
s a
u n
r t
e e
d
t a
cross the schools for its programme for t s
students with secondary school h i
similar severity of students, to cover e b
dyslexia. In addition, other academic s i
parents have subjects (besides e l
requested spelling English), including i
leniency for mother tongue s t
students with languages, t y
dyslexia, so that mathematics, u
they will not be humanities, and d o
penalised during sciences. The parents e f
exams for their in the focus groups n
spelling and have also indicated t e
grammatical errors. interest in non- s x
academic programmes . p
Long-term measures to enhance their a
(more than 2 years) children’s memory, as T n
well as processing, h d
In the long term, this organisation, and e i
unified approach will application skills. n
serve as a good Additionally, DAS M g
foundation for the should consider the O
MOE and DAS to further expansion of E t
expand their current its learning centres to h
provision. The meet the expected s e
existing MOE-aided increase in demand for h
DAS Literacy dyslexia services with a o p
Programme should more robust screening u r
be expanded to process. l o
offer subsidised For students with mild d g
intervention to or moderate dyslexia, r
preschool and post- we agree with the c a
secondary school MOE’s ongoing efforts o m
students. Empirical to expand its School- n m
studies have shown based Dyslexia s e
that early Remediation i
intervention for programme to all d t
dyslexia among primary schools by e o
preschool children 2016 to support r
results in better o
outcomes, and that t t
students with h h
dyslexia in tertiary e e
education continue r
to require effective f
intervention. Further, e a
DAS should expand a c
ademic levels, as Allied Educators
well as to other (Learning and
academic Behavioural
subjects such as Support) to better
mother tongue meet the needs of
languages, students with
mathematics, and dyslexia.
science, given
that students The improvement
with dyslexia are of mainstream
likely to also teachers’ and allied
struggle with educators’
these subjects capabilities to
besides English. better meet the
These subjects needs of students
should be taught with dyslexia was
in specialised one of the pressing
classes by issues raised by
specialised parents during the
teachers within focus groups. We
the mainstream have identified that
schools to the majority of
students with teachers are not
mild or moderate adequately trained
dyslexia. The to identify and
experience from support students
other developed with dyslexia. This
countries has contributes to the
shown that such relatively low
continuous and proportion of
broad-based students identified
interventions with dyslexia in
have been Singapore at 1.3%,
effecti ve in compared to the
improving international norm
students’ of at least 4%. By
performance. improving the level
of training, these
Recommendation 2: teachers and allied
educators will be
The MOE should better equipped to
expand identify students at
professional risk of dyslexia.
learning
pathways for The expansion of
mainstream professional learning
teachers and

pathways for teachers and allied training and certification of Teachers

educators will also enhance the quality trained in Special Needs (TSN) beyond
and quantity of intervention. Teachers will the existing 10% of primary school
be more prepared to meet the needs of teachers and 20% of secondary school
students with dyslexia within the teachers. These TSNs should be trained
classroom, which should improve their to plan and adapt the curriculum for
learning process, self-esteem, and students with special education needs.
performance, and thereby develop their The MOE should also ensure that tertiary
potential to excel in future. institutions have tutors, who can support
students with dyslexia. These tutors
Our recommendation will involve should be trained in special needs
moderate operational and research costs, education, and be able to help the
as we suggest an expansion and students understand academic concepts
intensification of the programmes for pre- and develop study skills at the tertiary
school, primary, and secondary teachers, level.
as well as allied educators. We expect
low infrastructure and technological costs Raise awareness: general awareness
since it is possible to utilise the existing needs to be raised among teachers and
physical facilities and resources. principals pertaining to students with
special education needs, so that they are
Our proposed expansion of the current better able to support these students,
training programmes is consistent with the including those with dyslexia. The
general policy objectives of the National Institute of Education’s special
Government and MOE. We also expect needs training programmes should be
parents to support such initiatives in followed up with annual workshops
raising teachers’ competency to work with covering: (a) daily classroom and exam
students with dyslexia. skills; (b) identification/screening process;
(c) technology-based curriculum; (d)
There continues to be limited data that is public awareness; (e) how to
publicly available for research on special communicate with parents; (f) how to
needs in Singapore. Part of the reason manage the transition process when
could be due to the low engagement of students change teachers or academic
universities in the special needs research levels; and (g) emotional consequences of
field. Researchers locally and within the mishandling a student with dyslexia. The
region should therefore be encouraged to MOE could also engage DAS to conduct
conduct more academic studies on dyslexia awareness talks to mainstream
dyslexia and special needs, and teachers.
contribute to the availability of public
data. Training in identification: preschool and
mainstream teachers, as well as Allied
Short-term measures (within 2 years) Educators (Learning and Behavioural
Support) (AEDs) should be adequately
Expansion of training in special needs for trained to identify students with literacy
teachers: the MOE should expand its difficulties and dyslexia. This should
entail a careful observation and
a g
s a
s c
e ti
s v
s i
m ti
e e
n s
t i
o n
f c
t o
h m
e p
s a
e ri
s
s o
t n
u w
d it
e h
n t
t h
s e
’ ir
r p
e e
s e
p r
o s
n .
s T
e h
i
t s
o i
s
r s
e i
a m
d il
i a
n r
to the approach responsibilities, more d l
taken by the UK and people should be y t
US. The teachers attracted and s y
and AEDs should incentivised to l
also be equipped to become AEDs, and e n
advise parents on thereby increase the x a
the appropriate number of AEDs per i v
follow- up school. Ideally, there c i
measures, including should be at least one , g
a formal AED for each academic a
psychological level, given the need h t
assessment and for a low student- o e
dyslexia teacher ratio to w
intervention. effectively conduct t
intervention p h
Career progression: programmes (DAS e r
the MOE should set maintains a ratio of 4:1 o o
out the potential for its classes). p u
career progression l g
for AEDs and ensure Long-term measures e h
that they are (more than 2 years)
adequately w s
remunerated, to Our literature review i c
mitigate their high shows how important t h
attrition rate. In research studies on h o
addition, given the local population are in o
existing concern that designing teacher’s t l
some AEDs are training modules. In h
preoccupied with other countries, i a
students’ researchers within s n
behavioural issues, their own disciplines d
the MOE should have begun asking l
consider separating questions about e o
the responsibilities of what it is like a t
AEDs such that there being r h
are dedicated AEDs n e
who provide learning i r
support to students n
with special needs, g l
while other AEDs i
provide behavioural d f
support. i e
f
With enhanced f s
career progression i i
options and clearer c t
delineation of u u
ations, and how In addition, the
the cumulative MOE and DAS
psychological should partner with
impact that their regional
persistent counterparts to
academic trauma conduct research
and stress has on studies and teacher
people with cross-training to
dyslexia (Sykes, benefit students
2008). These with dyslexia. One
answers are area of potential
critical in collaboration is
preparing with DAS
teachers to counterparts in
better support Malaysia and
students with Indonesia in the
dyslexia in the teaching of the
classrooms. Malay language.
The MOE should Recommendation 3:

increase the
availability and The MOE should
transparency of investigate the
data pertaining to feasibility of a
special needs specialist school
students and for students with
education, in severe dyslexia.
order to promote
research on the With an enhanced
local population. process for
The MOE should identifying
also consider students with
funding external dyslexia, we have
research to considered how
investigate the best to support
effectiveness of students who are
dyslexia support identified to have
offered in the severe dyslexia.
mainstream The options are to
schools through maintain the status
the School-based quo, create special
Dyslexia classes for students
Remediation with dyslexia
programme and within the
AEDs, and make mainstream
the necessary schools, or
enhancements to establish a
its intervention.
separate specialist school as proposed Second, given that DAS proposed a

by DAS. In partnership with the Institute specialist school will follow a modified
of Southeast Asian Studies and based on MOE curriculum, students who are
the best practices of specialist schools in equipped with the necessary learning
the US and Canada, DAS has submitted a strategies may return to the mainstream
proposal to the MOE in October 2008 for schools, while still receiving intervention
a specialist school for students with support from DAS. Third, the specialist
dyslexia, and followed up with a refined school will have economies of scale in the
proposal in January 2012. However, the design of pedagogy, training of special
MOE has indicated its preference for the needs teachers, and use of assistive
status quo, where students with dyslexia technology, which contribute to capacity-
remain in the mainstream schools to building for the future.
promote integration with other students.
While the establishment of a specialist
We have assessed that the status quo is school may incur higher operational and
untenable given that the mainstream infrastructure costs than the other two
school environment is unable to cater for options, its benefits in raising the quality
and support students with severe dyslexia, and level of intervention, as well as its
and has harmed their self-esteem, efficiency and reach may outweigh the
confidence, and ability to achieve their costs. The school fees are expected to
aspirations. Creating special classes for be substantial given the expected quality
students with severe dyslexia within the of the programme and intensive
mainstream schools lacks the economies individual support for each student. DAS
of scale and the capacity to adopt a has not provided an estimate of the
different pedagogical approach to quantum, but has indicated that it will be
facilitate the students’ learning process. lower than similar specialist schools
Further, students in these special classes abroad. To ensure access to the
may develop a stigma since they appear specialist school, DAS has proposed a fee
to be unable to cope in the mainstream -subsidy scheme, with appropriate
classes, unlike the rest of the students. It means- testing and funded by donations
may also be difficult to find mainstream and the MOE, to enable deserving
schools that are willing to house such students to attend the school (DAS,
special classes within their premises given 2012).
the potential stigma attached to students
with learning difficulties. DAS has expressed that without the
MOE’s support, it would not be able to
We recommend the establishment of a finance the specialist school on its own.
specialist school for students with severe The DAS proposal is for its specialist
dyslexia to achieve the following benefits. school to be funded in the same way the
First, the specialist school will provide a MOE funds the Pathlight School, a special
conducive and safe learning environment school for students with autism that offers
with intensive individual support for mainstream academic curriculum with life
students with dyslexia to achieve skills. It is proposed that the MOE covers
academic success and acquire life skills. the land costs and 90% of the budget for
standard facilities, furniture, and
e n
q s
u b
i y
p D
m A
e S
n .
t D
, A
w S
h h
il a
e s
t r
h e
e q
b u
a e
l s
a t
n e
c d
e t
w h
il a
l t
b t
e h
r e
a s
i p
s e
e ci
d al
i is
n t
s
d c
o h
n o
a o
t l
i b
o e
operated on a per integrate into the a m
student MOE annual mainstream schools. r
grant, which is four From the DAS parent e t
times the recurrent survey conducted in h
expenditure for July 2011, 92% of the v e
primary school 856 parents surveyed a
students. On this supported the l m
basis, the specialist establishment of a i a
school is estimated specialist school. d j
to breakeven and be Parents who are not o
self- sustaining after supportive of the c r
the first four years of specialist school were o i
operations. DAS has mainly concerned n t
also committed to about the potential c y
raise funds to offset stigma attached to e
any annual deficit of the school and its r o
the school budget students’ ability to n f
(DAS, 2012). assimilate into the s
mainstream schools in , p
The MOE’s support future. a
for the proposed t r
specialist school There is also concern h e
would demonstrate on the foregone e n
its commitment to benefits of inclusion in y t
create “a variegated mainstream schools, s
education landscape where students with s ’
with diverse dyslexia and normal h
pathways” (MOE, students have the o s
2015b). The MOE opportunity to gain u u
teachers in social and l p
mainstream schools developmental skills d p
would also be less through their o
strained in terms of interactions. While n r
time and resources if these o t
students with severe t
dyslexia were f
supported by the d o
specialist school. e r
t
As for parental r t
support, the a h
establishment of a c e
specialist school will t
be greeted by s
parents with children f p
who are struggling r e
to learn and o c
ialist school and communications
the offering of a across various
choice of an school channels.
alternative path
of education. The use of assistive
technology and ICT,
Given our including mind-
analysis of the mapping, mind-to-
benefits, costs, speech, and
political spelling
feasibility, and applications, to
implementation help students with
capacity, we dyslexia in their
believe that there learning, have
is merit for the demonstrated
DAS proposed effectiveness in
specialist school. other countries
However, this has surveyed in our
to be balanced literature review.
against the However, assistive
concerns of the technology
potential stigma remained
attached to the “underutilised at
school, future the systemic level”
assimilation, and in Singapore, as set
the opportunity out in the Enabling
costs of Masterplan (2012-
segregation. We 2016). Interestingly,
therefore the low utilisation
recommend that was not attributed
the MOE to a lack of
investigate the resources, but low
feasibility of a awareness of such
specialist school devices and the
for students with lack of coordination
severe dyslexia. of resources at the
national level.
Recommendation 4:
In terms of
DAS and MOE benefits, it should
should identify be recognised that
and invest in based on research
assistive studies, the
technology that academic
help students performances of
with learning
and enhance

students with dyslexia have significantly Short to long-term measures (continuous

improved with the appropriate use of investment required)
technological tools. Besides the
improvement in performance, students The MOE and DAS should incorporate the
have shown a greater interest in learning. use of technological tools and assistive
The challenge lies in the selection of technology in its programmes to support
effective technological tools and students with dyslexia. To encourage
coordination in the use of these resources. schools to do so, the MOE should ensure
that its Support for Special Needs Grant is
As the Enabling Masterplan has set out, adequate and that a certain portion of
the low utilisation of assistive technology the fund is dedicated to investment in
in Singapore is not primarily due to high, such tools. Further, the MOE and DAS
prohibitive costs. Instead with the influx could work together to provide the
of a wide range of applications, the costs schools a recommended list of such
of such technological tools have generally resources. The MOE and DAS should also
decreased. However, there remain coordinate the necessary training to
significant costs in determining the ensure that the teachers and allied
appropriate tools in the local context and educators are able to effectively employ
in training teachers and allied educators these tools. The MOE should also
to use these tools effectively. consider expanding the current
examination access arrangements to
The MOE and DAS can play an important grant students with dyslexia an allowance
coordinating role in the selection of for the use of technological tools such as
technological tools and training of their digital dictionaries for English.
teachers. Both institutions have the
capacity to initiate pilot trials to assess The MOE teachers should ensure that the
the effectiveness of technological tools School Cockpit System is adequately
that have worked in other countries. The updated, particularly for students with
institutions can then contribute to a special needs, to ensure a proper
recommended list of special needs handover of the students at the beginning
resources, which the mainstream schools of each academic year. An
can consider investing in based on the understanding of the students’ learning
needs of their students. difficulties will help the new teachers to
better accommodate and teach these
In relation to funding, the MOE’s Support students, as well as to better interact with
for Special Needs Grant provides schools their parents.
with the financial capacity to invest in and
utilise technological tools. Parents are Additionally, the MOE and DAS should
also expected to support the use of such improve their communication with parents
tools to support their children’s learning. of students with dyslexia regarding their
academic and non-academic progress.
An online communication portal will be
useful for teachers to update parents on
what their children are learning and

p n
r t
o h
v e
i n
d h
e e
l
f p
e r
e e
d i
b n
a f
c o
k r
o c
n e
w
t h
h a
e t
i t
r h
p e
e t
r e
f a
o c
r h
m e
a r
n s
c h
e a
. v
P e
a t
r a
e u
n g
t h
s t
c t
a h
eir children and worker may provide ( e
request additional some information and f
information or set up support, but the level o g
meetings, as of effort currently u e
necessary. The MOE varies across schools. n n
and DAS should d e
ensure that the Increasing the public’s e r
online portal is awareness of dyslexia r a
secure and that the is expected to provide l
information a number of benefits. o
exchanged remains Other developed f p
confidential. countries have been u
able to effectively t b
Recommendation 5: launch informational h l
campaigns and point to e i
DAS and MOE success stories in the c
should increase the corporate world. This C
reach of public has led to increases in h m
awareness the number of children a a
campaigns to identified and led to r y
identify children more children being l
who may require identified earlier. e b
dyslexia s e
intervention and A positive spillover
initiate an anti effect may also be a S m
-bullying campaign change in social c o
to aid integration stigma. By promoting h r
efforts. success stories, such w e
as Charles Schwab a
The identification of b a
students with c
dyslexia tends to C c
occur only after poor o e
performance is r p
observed in the p t
classroom. In o i
addition, teachers r n
and students receive a g
minimal information t
about the i o
consequences of o f
bullying, especially to n
children struggling ) t
with a learning , h
disability. Schools o
with a school t s
counselor or social h e
struggling with led through social H m
dyslexia and media, such as o a
more willing to Twitter or w t
identify whether Facebook. e e
their own v
children struggle Given the social e t
with it. This may stigma that r h
also create an accompanies any , a
environment learning disability, t
where students the MOE and DAS i
with dyslexia may encounter t i
can integrate resistance from s
better into the parents, students i
mainstream and even some s
schools. teachers of
mainstream schools i
The costs can be for two key m
very high to reasons. First, anti- p
develop a bullying campaigns o
successful nation- may be dismissed r
wide campaign, by some of these t
such as television stakeholders a
or newspaper because bullying, n
advertisements. for years, has been t
However, there considered normal
are ways to as part of the t
implement these learning process or o
types of as harmless child’s
programmes in a play. However, d
cost- effective these campaigns e
way. Until there intend to promote v
is financial the opposite. e
capacity, a team l
could Today, victims of o
disseminate bullying tend to p
information experience higher
about dyslexia rates of a
through public depression and
spaces. This can, other mental s
at a minimum, instability as a c
start the result of h
conversation in harassment. o
new forums than Second, teachers o
the ones may resist any l
currently being criticisms of their
tapped. In teaching style and c
addition, pedagogy. l
campaigns can be i
conducive to learning, regardless of the child with dyslexia should be equipped

students’ abilities. with a deeper understanding of “positive
dyslexia”, which emphasises the strengths
Anti-bullying is increasingly becoming a of people with dyslexia. In particular,
priority in many schools in the US and UK people with dyslexia tend to be strong in
because bullying is no longer confined to big-picture and 3D thinking, integration of
the classroom, but continues at home complex information, and strong pattern
through social media channels. A awareness. Such capabilities have
significant worry of most of the parents in helped a number of people with dyslexia
our focus groups pertained to the to achieve success in a variety of careers
emotional well-being of their children due (West, 2014). This emphasis on positive
to constant misunderstandings that arose dyslexia is important in encouraging
between their children and teachers and/ parents to continue to invest and believe
or other students. One of the MOE’s main in their child’s prospects, and not simply
priorities is the integration between lower their expectations given their child’s
students with dyslexia and mainstream learning difficulty.
students. This means that bullying must be
addressed early and consistently. Establish anti-bullying campaigns for all
Tapping current resources, school students and teachers: the MOE and DAS
counselors or social workers, to help should leverage regional studies to
broaden the current piecemeal initiatives develop an anti-bullying campaign
will keep costs of pursuing such a targeted at reducing the bullying of
programme low. students with dyslexia in mainstream
schools. The campaigns could include
When financial capacity increases, it will educational videos, classroom activities,
be imperative to measure the success of and other programmes customised to age
these campaigns to understand how -levels, which are aimed at enhancing
these campaigns are directly linked to student integration.
increases in identification of students with
dyslexia or decreases in parental
complaints regarding bullying. Such 8. Limitations of Study and Future
studies will provide more tangible data on Research
which to b a se f u r t her
recommendations. Partnering with local In the course of our study, we faced
universities or local voluntary welfare limitations in conducting a more precise
organisations could also provide a cost-benefit analysis of the policy options
spillover benefit of increased research due to the lack of data availability
interest in the area of dyslexia in regarding costs of dyslexia provision both
Singapore. in Singapore and in the other developed
countries covered in the literature review.
Short to long-term measures (continuous For this reason, our assessment relies on
investment required) qualitative criteria rather than quantitative
data. Given the scarce data on the
Raise parental awareness: parents of a prevalence of dyslexia in Singapore, our

Expanding the Provision for People with Dyslexia in 272
Singapore
the benefits of early intervention,
field work was conducted primarily pre-school and post-secondary
through qualitative research, which support, as well as provision for
required an understanding of processes, adults with dyslexia, weighed
events, and relationships in the context of against the costs of non- or delayed
the social and cultural situation of the intervention such as the loss of
learning disability in the country. There is labour productivity.
also a limitation to the generalisability of focus groups, Aligned with the
the comments made by parents in the given the small recommendations
sample size. This of this report, we
was mainly due understand that
to limited DAS intends to:
interest among
parents to a. expand its
participate in preschool
such focus programme
groups, although and use of
our sessions technology,
were conducted including
over the the use of
weekend and iPads and
limited to two other
hours per assistive
session. technology,
Nevertheless, as
the qualitative complemen
research was tary
extremely useful teaching
for obtaining tools;
insights into b. expand the
situations and range of
problems subjects
concerning the under its
current Specialised
provision for Educational
students with Services,
dyslexia in including
Singapore, the support
which were for post-
critical for secondary
shaping our school
policy students
recommendatio and adults
ns. with
dyslexia;
and 9. Summary and parents, and cation;
c. continue its Conclusions subject poor
efforts to matter public
increase public Despite efforts experts, we awarene
awareness of from the MOE, find that the ss and
dyslexia, DAS, and other root causes the
including relevant for the gaps social
“positive stakeholders, there in provision stigma
dyslexia”, remain significant are in three attached
which gaps in the main areas: to
emphasises provision for dyslexia;
the strengths people with 1. Service and a
of people with dyslexia in Volum lack of
dyslexia and Singapore. In e: sta n d a r
thereby quantitative terms, there d ised
increases their there is a is a p sy c h ol
self-esteem. potential gap of signific og ic a l
Future 14,000 students ant assessm
research who are not under- ent for
should identified as identifi dyslexia.
therefore having dyslexia, cation
explore these and therefore are of
areas of not receiving any studen
expansion and type of ts with
their intervention. dyslexi
effectiveness, a in
especially in From a qualitative Singap
terms of perspective, the ore.
services that are This is
currently in place mainly
are limited in due to:
scope and there a
are insufficient relianc
resources to e on
support dyslexia teache
provision. rs’
observ
Based on our ations
literature review when
and comparison they
with other are not
developed adequa
countries, as well tely
as discussions with trained
local stakeholders, to
including the MOE, make
DAS, teachers, the
identifi
2. Service Nature: the current 1. DAS and MOE should harmonise

interventions are limited in terms of their strategies across multiple
age group and scope of stakeholders and streamline
intervention. In particular, pre- existing interventions in order to
school and post-secondary school expand dyslexia provision in a
students are not offered sufficient coordinated manner. The priority
support. The existing focus on is to establish a systematic and cost
English remediation is also -effective screening process to
inadequate, as students with identify students with dyslexia.
dyslexia are likely to struggle with Further cooperation between DAS
other subjects. and MOE will facilitate the
expansion of current provision,
3. Service Support: there are increasing the reach, quantity, and
insufficient resources dedicated to quality of intervention.
supporting the provision of services
for people with dyslexia. First, 2. The MOE should expand
mainstream teachers and Allied professional learning pathways
E d u c at ors ( L e ar n ing an d for mainstream teachers and
Behavioural Support) have not been Allied Educators (Learning and
able to provide satisfactory Behavioural Support) to better
intervention due to inadequate meet the needs of students with
training, time constraints, and a dyslexia. In particular, we propose
lack of empathy. Second, there is an expansion of training in special
low utilisation of technological tools needs for teachers and dyslexia
to help students with dyslexia with awareness workshops; training in
their learning and taking of identification of students with
examinations. Third, there is scope dyslexia; and the development of
for improved coordination between enhanced career progression
the MOE and DAS in their curriculum options and clearer delineation of
planning, as well as collaboration responsibilities for allied educators.
between Singapore and other
regional countries to enhance local 3. The MOE should investigate the
research and improve the feasibility of a specialist school for
pedagogy to benefit students with students with severe dyslexia. We
dyslexia. have considered that its benefits in
providing a conducive learning
Based on our research findings, we environment, effective intervention,
propose five policy recommendations to and economies of scale have to be
expand the current dyslexia provision. balanced against the concerns of
The recommendations are assessed the potential stigma attached to the
based on an evaluation criteria, school, future assimilation, and the
comprising benefits, costs, political opportunity costs of segregation.
f e a s i b i l i t y, and c a p a c i t y of
implementation.

4. D o
A g
S y
a
a n
n d
d I
C
M T
O t
E o
h
s e
h l
o p
u s
l t
d u
d
i e
n n
v t
e s
s w
t it
i h
n d
y
a sl
s e
s x
i i
s a
t i
i n
v t
e h
e
t ir
e l
c e
h a
n r
o n
l i
ng and campaign for all 11. R i
examination students and c
e
access teachers to aid y
f
arrangements. integration
e
Additionally, efforts. R
r
the MOE o
e u
teachers We expect our report
n n
should ensure to support an ongoing
c d
that the discourse about the
School Cockpit e t
policies and means to
System is ensure that Singapore s a
b
adequately embraces dyslexia and
Austral l
updated to provides the i e
ensure a conditions for all a s
proper students, including
handover of those with dyslexia D –
the students at and other special e
the beginning needs, to excel and p S
of each succeed in life. a t
academic r u
t d
year. The m
MOE and DAS 10. Acknowledgemen e
e
should also ts n
n
improve their t
t
s
communicatio This research was
n with parents conducted as a Policy o
f w
regarding Analysis Exercise under i
students’ the Lee Kuan Yew t
E
progress by School of Public Policy h
d
using an online for our client u
communicatio organisation, DAS. We c D
n portal. thank our faculty a y
advisor, Ng Kok Hoe, t s
5. DAS and MOE for his guidance on our i l
should research. We also o e
n x
increase the thank the MOE, Angela . i
reach of Fawcett, Thomas Sim,
a
public DAS teachers, and (
awareness parents for their 2 D
campaigns to insights and 0 i
identify participation. 1 s
children who 4 c
may require )
u
.
dyslexia s
intervention s
P
and initiate an i
o
anti-bullying o
l
n
Paper. students-with- Dyslexi e
Retrieved disab ility/ d i a c
from sab ility- i
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education.go - s l
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_accessi Retrieved from l
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DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE (DAS)
Our Mission: Helping Dyslexic People Achieve
Our Goal: To build a world class organisation dedicated to helping

dyslexic people and those with specific learning differences
in Singapore.
Our Aims:
 To put quality first in delivering a comprehensive and effective professional service for
dyslexic people and those with specific learning differences on a not‐for profit basis.
 To provide an assessment service for individuals at risk of having dyslexia and/or specific
learning differences.
 To provide educational programmes and other support services for individuals with
dyslexia and/or specific learning differences.
 To raise public and professional awareness of the nature and incidence of dyslexia and
specific learning differences.
 To enable others (teachers, parents and professionals) to help dyslexic individuals and
those with specific learning differences.
 To assist and elicit financial and other support for people with dyslexia, those with
specific learning differences and their families.
 To promote and carry out local research into dyslexia, specific learning differences and
to disseminate results.
 To network with other organisations in Singapore and internationally to bring best
practices to the DAS and Singapore.
DAS as a Social Enterprise

 We provide high‐quality, professional, innovative and client‐focused solutions to create
and sustain services for the dyslexic community in Singapore and the region.
 We operate as a financially viable and cost‐effective business which at the same time
ensures that no dyslexic person is unable to access our services because they cannot
afford it.
 We generate social returns on our investments through the development of a dynamic,
motivated team of highly qualified and experienced professionals.
 We have a heightened sense of accountability to stakeholders through our professional
management team.
Registered in 1991, the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS) is today a vibrant voluntary welfare
organisation with over 240 full‐time staff who provide a wide array of services for dyslexics not only
in Singapore but in the region. DAS Specialist Psychologists conduct assessment and diagnosis for
preschool students to adults. DAS Educational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists and
Specialist Teachers provide support for over 3,000 preschool, primary and secondary
school students in 13 venues all over Singapore. Increasingly, DAS provides support for dyslexics
who also suffer from other Specific Learning Differences such as ADHD, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia and
Non‐verbal Learning Differences.
The DAS Academy is a Private Education Institution (PEI) registered with the Council for Private
Education (CPE). It is a wholly‐owned subsidiary of the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS). Like
DAS, the Academy is also a registered charity with the Commissioner of Charities. DAS Academy
delivers a wide range of workshops and courses including a Master of Arts in Special Educational
Needs. DAS Academy provides the bridge that links professionals, caregivers and people with
special needs.
Guidelines for Contributors
Overview
The Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences (APJDD) will be unique in addressing a
range of special educational needs including dyslexia, autism, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, ADHD in the
Asian context. The journal will cover theory into practice and will provide a showcase for research
in the Asian context as well as highlighting research areas which have implications for further
research within Asia and beyond.
Frequency of Journal
The Journal will be published twice a year in January and July.
Contributions Considered for the Journal
Primary consideration for publications will be given to manuscripts that are focused on
developmental differences within the Asia Pacific region. Manuscripts will be peer reviewed and
included in the journal on the following criteria:
 They contribute to the further understanding of developmental differences as well as

the applications and implications in the educational, social and cultural
environments.
 They include sound research methods, interpretation and validity of results
 They contain organised and clarity of writing
 They contribute to the local Asian context
 They should original papers that have not been submitted to other journals or
publications.
Submission of Manuscripts
All manuscripts are to be sent in electronic copy (MS WORD) as well as a PDF copy of the final
edited document. PDF copy is required to verify the word copy and for publishing purposes. There
is no need to submit hard copies of manuscripts.
Submissions are to be emailed to the editor at both email addresses below:
Angela Fawcett Deborah Hewes

DAS Academic Director Managing Editor
Dyslexia Association of Singapore, Dyslexia Association of Singapore
Emeritus Professor, Swansea University, www.das.org.sg/publications/journal
angela@das.org.sg deborah.hewes@das.org.sg
Preparation of Manuscripts
It is expected that all manuscripts be submitted using the American Psychological Association
(APA) standard of referencing and publication. APA style is detailed in the Publication Manual of
the American Psychological Association (6th ed), which offers sound guidance for writing with
clarity, conciseness and simplicity. Authors should follow the APA style in preparation of their
manuscripts.
Volume 2  Number 2  July 2015
Contents
112 Editorial Comment

Angela J. Fawcett
114 Behavioural interventions and developmental learning

difficulties: Factors influencing effectiveness in a
Kuwaiti school context
Abir Al‐Sharhan and John Everatt
132 The use of ubiquitous bottle caps as concrete aids to learn

to read and spell for struggling readers
Ong Puay Hoon, Ong Puay Tee, Ong Puay Liu, Carol Persad,
Wallace Lee Boon Liang and Alban @ William John Lisen
144 Evaluating the progress of dyslexic children on a small-group
maths intervention programme
Rebecca Yeo, Tim Bunn, Aishah Abdullah, Siti Aisha Bte Shukri,
and Anaberta Oehlers‐Jaen
158 Improving the fluidity of whole word reading with a dynamic

co-ordinated movement approach
Piero Crispiani and Eleonora Palmieri
184 Improving English exam skills for dyslexics in primary

education in Singapore
Edmen Leong
202 The Dyslexia Experience: Difference, Disclosure, Labelling,

Discrimination and Stigma
Neil Alexander‐Passe
234 Expanding the Provision for People with Dyslexia in Singapore
Carolina Landulfo, Crystal Chandy, and Zeng Yi Wong

www.das.org.sg

Improving English Exam Skills For Dyslexics in Primary Education in Singapore

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Asia Pacific Journal

ISSN 2345-7341 (print)

The Managing Editor

Printed in Singapore by NPE Print Communications Pte Ltd

Editor‐in‐Chief Associate Editors

Email: deborah.hewes@das.org.sg Professor Sunil Karande Professor Akira Uno

112 Editorial Comment

114 Behavioural interventions and developmental learning difficulties:

Abir Al‐Sharhan and John Everatt

144 Evaluating the progress of dyslexic children on a small-group maths

158 Improving the fluidity of whole word reading with a dynamic

Piero Crispiani and Eleonora Palmieri

184 Improving English exam skills for dyslexics in primary education in

202 The Dyslexia Experience: Difference, Disclosure, Labelling, Discrimination

234 Expanding the Provision for People with Dyslexia in Singapore

Carolina Landulfo, Crystal Chandy, and Zeng Yi Wong

Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Diﬀerences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

shows significant improvements in fluency Singapore critiques the provision for

The final article by Landolfo and

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

Introduction related problems among adolescents in

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

socioeconomic backgrounds and were comparison with any improvements

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

allowed and only the pace of creating these positive self-statements

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

Positive Relaxation Positive Relaxation

LD Multisensory 1.40 3.56 4.85 9.17

spelling score. For both the LD and non-

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

Figure 1. Pre (blue)

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

conditions compared to baseline. technique LD groups, but more than

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

children with developmental learning changes in self-esteem: some have

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

management for students diagnosed

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

Shimabukuro, S. M., Prater, M. N., Jenkins, A.,

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Diﬀerences

This paper describes the use of ubiquitous bottle caps as concrete

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

Introduction total of 142,612 of this cohort failed at

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

There has been a range of

A permanent red marker pen is

Structure of syllabus for reading

Step 1: The first session

© 2015 Dyslexia Association of Singapore Asia Pacific Journal of Developmental Differences

Step 7: Upon mastery of CVC

Figure 2 Number of sight words read correctly

Note. p <.05. p < 01. p < .001

Note. p <.05. p < .01. p < .001

Note. p <.05. p < .01. p < .001