Only about

an hour to go before it's Christmas. So wishing everyone a good christmas and happy new year.

Exams

A lot of the dyslexic students I work with often struggle to perform on exams.  I was never too good at written tests or exams. It didin't matter how long or what I did to revise. And believe me I have tried a lot of revision techniques. I do manage to pass them in most cases but the difference between exam marks and course work marks were always very significant. For example for my degree my course work would be at 1st standard whils my exams at 2.2 standard. One of the main reasons for my inablilty to pass exams was the speed and ledgibility of my hand writing. Being given extra time and access to a computer were factors in improvememnt in exam scores. I got some good news from a couple of my students about exams. One got his first even A for an exam and another actually passed their first exam at university.

Where is our compassion?

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2011/12/20/no-disability-living-allowance-for-me-nowhere-to-turn-for-many-more/

Sue is a true hero and fighter and her story is far from unique and is becoming the rule for disabled people rather than the exception. Disabled people's right to live in dignity is being eroded by our beloved condem government. Lets not kid ourselves the labour party have done little or nothing to fight or even hilight the injustice that is being metted out by the condems and their press cronies. Unless we form our own political party. One which has inclusion for all, disabled, vulnerable and other disenfranchised groups, as its battle cry disabled people will be legislated back to the victorian era. With disabled people being forced to live locked away in institutions because that will be the only place where they could afford to live. Government with out compassion is tyranny.
 

Lets get serious

Schools, politicians and society disable dyslexics. Lets see schools develop accessible learning curriculums and teachers given access to training in learning stratagies that enable all children in their classrooms to learn and not disable ...them from learning. Lets see concentration on learning of the whole child not just the part of the child that enables them to pass tests for league tables. Lets see a long term stratagy for learning developed. Not one that can be changed and altered or played with according to the political will of those in power. Lets see real money being pumped into education not money and budgets continually being cut. Lets see education taken out of party politics altogether.

Something new I am working on

http://soundcloud.com/raelthing/storm

A new track I am working on for my new album

End of semester

Well for me its my last day of this semester. No more work until students come back after Christmas. All of the students I supported this semester have exams and I wish them all well with them.

It does not mean I am on holiday though. I have lots to do including:

Putting the final touches to a couple new project proposals
Working of the phone app
Looking at Crowd Funding opportunities.

However, I will have a little break for the rest of this week. I have a stinking cold anyway and so will take it easy for a few days.

http://soundcloud.com/raelthing/storm

Some student feedback

Here is some feedback I got from one very bright student I have been working with. Most of it was very positive apart from what he has written in the last paragraph:

Having left school with little or no qualifications and with a real
lack of confidence in terms of academic learning, sport provided me
with an avenue to realizes my potential, on the sporting field and
through employment and education.

Through rugby I was given an opportunity to gain coaching quilication
and in turn gain employment. This was my dream job which I never
thought possible, working as a rugby development officer within Dundee
I gain national recondition for development work I had carried out
within the city through the achievements the club had made in
volunteer and player development within the sport.

After seven years working through my personally perceived difficulties
with dyslexia my confidence had grown and I realized I can achieve
just as well as anyone else within the work place or other wise. I
left my job to do a HNC and HND in sports development which was done
in one year at collage and achieved A’s in all three graded units.
After this I gained direct entry on to BSc Sports development (Hons)
at university. Although at this time I have only received grades for
one assay which was an A18 I feel I’m achieving far high standards of
work I had previously thought possible. With the support and guidance
Steve has provided my this has allowed me to focus my attention on
strategies best suited to my personally strengths and weaknesses.

Although dyslexia should not be a block to achieving anything within
within the workplace or education I still feel there are many negative
preconceived prospection of individuals with dyslexia which can make
life difficult.

This student was so concerned about this he didn't want me to mention his name at all.

Things stay the same:

Way way back in 2005 I did a little research on dyslexia and teachers and discovered that very few teachers told anyone about their own dyslexia. Many through concerns that being dyslexic would adversly affect career and job prospects.

Nearly 7 years later and things do not appear to have changed much.

I was talking with a degree student yesterday who I have been providing dyslexia support over the last semester. A very bright student as well. He was expressing an interest in becoming a teacher but felt that it was not possible for him to become a teacher because of his dyslexia. He was expressing his concerns about telling any prospective employers about his dyslexia. That if he did it would adversly affect his job and career prospects. He would be a great teacher as well in my opinion

There is far to much focus on dyslexia as a negative condition that adversly impacts on our abilities to succeed academically and in the work place. Lets face it what employer wants to take on a dyslexic who can't spell, has poor memory, a brain that does not work properly, who can't read well etc. This is what the average person in the street believes dyslexia to be. Very few mention any of the positives of dyslexia at all. So it is not suprising many dyslexics keep it a secret, including teachers.

For every positive single article on dyslexia there and 20 or more negative ones.If we are ever to change people's attitudes and perceptions about dyslexia we need dyslexic teachers in classroom who are positive about being dyslexic and can act as role models and mentors to dyslexic children.

Many dyslexic children and pupils still go through school with their dyslexia unassessed and or with no dyslexia support. What is needed is teachers who are also dyslexic to act as mentors and role models or dyslexic students. Unfortunately, from one study / project I carried out, I know that many dyslexic teachers fear letting managers and employers know they are dyslexic. Mainly becasue they concerns it would affect their career and job prospects and from my experience it does. I am someone who is very pround and happy to be dyslexic and shout it out from the rooftops that I believe being dyslexic is a very positive thing that it does impact on your career and on how management look at you. There are to many negatives attached to dyslexia and not enpugh focus of the positives. Many of those negatives have been put their dyslexia specialists who continually focus and find new negatives to attach to dyslexics. If dyslexic teachers have concerns about, "being found out", as being dyslexic then what does that say to dyslexic students?

Milestones

Achieved a few milestones this week. Month with most dyslexic students seen, month with most dyslexia appointments, week with most dyslexia appointments and day wiith most dyslexia appointments and month with most income. Phew it was hard work but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Busy busy week

Phew having a very busy week this week. I have 20 dyslexic students to see with including 8 new ones. 12 seen so far only 8 more to go. They are on a mix of different degree course post grad as well as under grad. Today alone I worked with a third year psychology student, second year nursing student a post grad engineering student and first year  student on a computer programmer degree. I have to say I admire all the students I work with for the struggles and battles and barriers they have fought and had to overcome to get and succeed at university. I learn so much from each of the students I work with and get so much satisfaction from working with them.

Social enterprise Ceilidh

On the 17th and 18th of November I attended the 7th Social Enterprise Conference and Ceilidh. The event went very well – 110 attendees (82 from social enterprises) - combining a good mix of older and newer faces. Its was a great opportunity to meet up with other social entrepreneurs and catch up on everyone's progress. Highlight of the day was the Dragon's Den event where there were six contestants all fighting for the big £5k prize. Winners were Strange Theatre (Dragons’ Den: £5k) and Stranraer Millennium Centre (Audience £1,400). Everyone of the contestants performed well under the pressure of the dragons. I know from personal experience what a challange it is to present your ideas to the dragons in front of an audience. More importantly, there seemed to be a great deal of consensus about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for Scotland’s grassroots social enterprise community.

Another track from me from my next album Ambient Topographies

http://soundcloud.com/raelthing/lazy-from-ambient-topographies

self reflective learning

I am a vocal proponant of reflective learning as a tool for enableing self development, as a means for thinking about ourselves in an open and honest way, as a way of problem solving and overcoming the barriers we face within ourselves as well as in society, at work or in a learning environment. I have successfully utilised reflective learning with a great many dyslexic and disabled students in my professional career as a dyslexia and inclusive education specialist working in colleges, univeristies and in my own organisation Dyslexia Pathways CiC.

the right of disabled people to live with dignity

Our beloved, and unelected, condem governemt has been waging a war against disabled people ever since it came to power. Disability organisations have been trying to fight this despicable attack on the dignity of disabled people and their right to live in an equal society. We, disability organisations, are trying to fight a government propaganda campaign suupported by most of the press AND the BBC with good intentions and a fly swotter. There has been a deluge of negative press and BBC coverage all targeted to paint disabled people as nothing better that benefit scroungers who can make no positive contribution to society. Unless we become much more vocal and politically active disabled people's rights and dignity will be steam rollered back to the stone age. With one difference. Back then it was survival of the fittest now its survival of the richest.

A good day

I had a very good day providing dyslexia support to students at university today. One student showed how invaluable good dyslexia support at school can be in later life. He has many great stratagies that have enabled him to succeed on his course. He is laid back calm and reflective. I only wish he were the rule rather than the exception. So after 5 sessions with me he no longer needs support on a weekly basis. Another student was talking to me the week before about his young son and how he was unable to spell or write his name. I suggested he use different coloured platasine to make three dimensional letters with him and to enable his son to feel as well as see the shape of the letters. The student, and proud father, showed me a picture of his son's work today and now his son knows how to spell and write his name. His dad smile when he showed me, fantastic.

Certainty

If there is one certainty about dyslexia, and I think it is the only certainty, is that every individuals dyslexia is unique to them. There are no one size fits all solutions.

A new music composition by myself: Rune

http://soundcloud.com/raelthing/run-new-version

Please any dyslexic musicians feel free to post you music on my dyslexia musicians group on scoundcloud.

Suffer with dyslexia? not me!

I do not suffer with dyslexia I suffer with a non dyslexic world that does nto educate us in ways we can access learning. I suffer with dyslexia experts who continually focus on dyslexia as a problem for the dyslexic and focusses on all the things we do not do well. We, as dyslexics, are like everyone else. We are good at some things and not so good at others. Too much focus on the things we are not so good at and not enough on what we can do well.

Social model of dyslexia

A Social Model of Dyslexia

We challenge the deficit models of dyslexia in favour of a social model that maintains that we are not ‘disabled’ by our dyslexia, but by the expectations of the world we live in.  There is nothing ‘wrong’ with being dyslexic per se. 

We would argue that dyslexia is an experience that arises out of natural human diversity on the one hand and a world on the other where the early learning of literacy, and good personal organisation and working memory is mistakenly used as a marker of ‘intelligence’. The problem here is seeing difference incorrectly as ‘deficit’.

Put in practical terms, for example, it is disabling to expect that everyone:

• thinks in the same way as each other, when dyslexic people are more likely to think visually than verbally (or laterally than logically, or intuitively than deductively….)
• learns to read in the same way; reading is about accessing meaning, the rest is merely strategy and there is always more than one way to learn anything.
• makes sense of information in the same way (they don’t, which is why multi-sensory information is easier for everyone to understand).
• can take in multiple instructions.
• can learn to take notes while trying to listen.

We have learned to expect that definitions of dyslexia will focus on the precise nature of the difficulties dyslexics experience, rather than on the nature of the disabling expectations that lead to these difficulties. But the two cannot be meaningfully separated. For example, if we expected everyone to be able to think fluently in 3D as most dyslexics can, some other people would have difficulty with this.  We might be tempted to describe this as a ‘disability’ and even look for ‘causes’. But without this expectation, there is no difficulty.  So the difficulty can be recognised as a result of the mismatch between the person and the expectations, but turning this difficulty into a ‘disability’ depends on the social value given to the expectation (early reading, good memory etc).

We could begin to map out all the specific requirements that are likely to disable dyslexic people.  These might include requiring ideas to be expressed through linear writing, learning phonics, open-plan offices, using bleached white paper, sitting still while learning or working and so on. However, both ‘disability’ and identifying ‘disabling’ requirements are highly emotive terms.  In practice, almost any specific requirement might disable someone. We would prefer to promote the development of attitudes and strategies that are more inclusive and less likely to disable anyone.  In this way, we would argue that dyslexia-friendly is user-friendly, and values diversity and equal opportunities.  This is why we would endorse the Freedom to Learn Report conclusion, “An explicit dyslexia policy is needed…”

Nevertheless, traditional forms of education, work environments and social expectations continue to create unnecessary barriers and difficulties. Unfortunately, despite the many strengths and compensatory strategies developed by adult dyslexics, many of us become victims of educational and social expectations and systems, particularly if we are trapped at the level of our ‘disability’. The experience can lead to problems of self-esteem, and lack of confidence as well as limiting educational and employment opportunities. This is why it is so important that we have the protection of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act that requires proactive measures to avoid disabling people. 

Many of us who have been made to feel ‘stupid’ by these disabling experiences have adopted ‘dyslexia’ and ‘dyslexic’ as terms of empowerment that confront the deficit model, challenge disabling expectations and requirements, and promotes the many strengths associated with dyslexia such as visual thinking, entrepreneurial skills, vision, creativity, lateral thinking, as well as hands-on and artistic skills.   

Ross Cooper, January 2006

Working week

Had a very busy and stressful week so far and happy that it is Friday today. Provided 15 dyslexia support sessions so far this week. Had some very positive sessions and 4 difficult sessions with people having real difficulties coping with their dyslexia.

I have just finished read a teachers information handbook on dyslexia. It was just pages and pages of negatives about dyslexia. Oh very informative but all negative and it says to teachers dyslexics are a lot more work to deal with.

On a non dyslexia note directors pay has gone up by 49% this year alone whilst disability benefits are being cut. Hmmm it seems we cannot afford to support those in need of support but can afford to pay those with high incomes even more cash.

Thoughts

I am waiting for some feedback about the three funding applications I made a few weeks ago. If I can get one I will be happy. Just a smallest which was for less than £500 would help pay for different clour printing paper and resources to provide dyslexia friendly learning materials etc.

I am still looking into the crowd funding idea as a means to gain funding for my new phone app. Dyslexia Pathways really needs some assistance with looking for funding. Every funding bid requires so much form filling and work. Its not that I cannot do this myself I have made many successful funding bids including to the Learning and Skills Council. For example I made a successful finding bid of £50.000 for one of my projects in 2003. It just takes me such a long time to cpomplete them. I think 99% of funding opportunites are just so dyslexia and disability unfriendly because of ther complexity.

Busy

I have not had much of an opportunity to write to my blog this week as I have been very busy with dyslexia work. That is supporting  dyslexic students at university. Nine students in the last two days alone phew.

I was contacted yesterday by an organisation looking for some dyslexia awareness training. I always enjoy training and awareness raising sessions.

book

Something I have been thinking about for a long time has been writing a fictional book. I have a couple of ideas for stories but the idea of actually starting to write fills me with more than a little trepidation and dread. I have writen a few short stories and lyrics in the past but never found it an easy thing to do.

Quite a few people have suggested that I write a book about my own life as a person with dyslexia. But I have never comfortable with this idea at all and why would anyone want to read about my life anyway?

Still I am great believer in self reflection as a tool for personal growth in my professional and personal life. It is something I suggest to all the students and people I work with. Sefl reflection helped me make sense of a lot of events in my life and with my dyslexia. I do write quite a lot as part of my own self reflection on events and thoughts in my personal and professional life. But until now this has been done in quite a random way

What should I write about if I were to start writing a book? Like us all I have been through some very difficult life experiences. Some of which I have only spoken about or mentioned to a very few people. I don't even give much thought to some of there difficult experiences because they were so painful.

A few weeks ago I put together an outline for a book using a mind map and I think I will start to write this self biography. I think starting this blog has made me more comfortable with this.

Anyways we shall give it a go and see where it goes.

In 1995 I began my teaching career working with young people with disabilities and what was then called disaffected young people. Young people who, for whatever reason didn’t, do well at school. I designed and developed a number of new courses.

One was in engineering for disaffected young people. These were young people who hadn’t attended school, who had become involved in crime and who could barely read and write. The course I designed concentrated on the doing of engineering and there was very little reading and writing involved to start with. This course included mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and sound engineering.

I was them lucky enough to get a place on a Dyslexia training course for teacher in 1998 which I passed and became a dyslexia specialist.

In 2000 I started to manage the dyslexia department at a college in London which I did for about 7 years. Whilst employed at the college I designed, developed and managed a new dyslexia project. It’s basic aim to provide access to free dyslexia screening and assessment for staff at the college where I worked. At that time I was running open advice sessions for staff and I found many were concerned they may be dyslexic or were dyslexic but didn’t know what to do about it. Many felt if it were found out they were dyslexic it would adversely affect their teaching careers.

It was a very successful project and the Adult Dyslexia Organisation said it was one of the most innovative projects they had seen.

I have a very positive outlook towards my dyslexia I just wanted to enable others to see dyslexia in a positive way. The staff became mentors for young people with dyslexia attending the college. In 2005 I gained a Masters unit in Multi sensory e learning and dyslexia.

I do not believe dyslexia is a disability what makes it a disability is an education system that just does not meet our learning needs. I have no problem with disability I am disabled with thyroid condition and type two diabetes. Which is a complication of my thyroid condition.

In 2007 I was made redundant from my post at the college. I decided to move to Scotland. Unfortunately my employer kept all the assistive technology I had got from Access to Work. It was a big blow as I am reliant on the technology to help me with any reading and writing task. This basically disabled me as I am unable to complete application forms etc without it..

I began to seek work but found that dyslexia was way down the priority list within training organisations, businesses and even in the Scottish government. I met and spoke with many individuals who were dyslexia who couldn’t find any support to enable them to overcome the barriers they faced because of their dyslexia. I couldn’t find access to any assistive technology anywhere. However, I was lucky as I successfully applied a charity that enabled me to buy a new lap top and assistive technology.

It was in response to this situation that I founded Dyslexia Pathways, which I did in 2008. We became incorporated as a social enterprise in 2009. I didn’t want to become a charity but I still wanted to have social aims and show that people with dyslexia are not charity cases.

We have provided dyslexia support services to over 200 students and had over 300 requests for advice and guidance on dyslexia issues through out free phone and internet site.In January 2011 I passed an HND course in leadership with the Social Enterprise Academy.

I plan to carry on with Dyslexia Pathways and have a number of ideas to pursue with Dyslexia Pathways. For example I have made designs for dyslexia focussed phone app. Smart phones are one of the most used communication and learning devices we have.

I just want to make best use of it to get the message out about dyslexia. That it is not a life sentence that with some support people can achieve.

I also want to set up a mentoring scheme for students at university who are dyslexic. The idea is they go into schools and mentor children who are dyslexic and show them it is possible to succeed within education when you are dyslexic.

Bankers get bonuses and the only retail sector that is doing well are sellers of luxury items.

30,000 more disabled children in poverty in the UK than previously thought.

Molly Garboden

Friday 07 October 2011 00:01

There are more than 30,000 more disabled children living in poverty in the UK than had been previously estimated by the government, according to The Children's Society.
The charity has published a report today challenging the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) statistics on households below average income.
It claims the DWP has not taken into account the additional costs to households with disabled children and instead counted the child's disability living allowance as part of the household income.
The Children's Society recalculated poverty levels among these families by discounting benefits paid to cover the additional costs of living with disability from household income. This found that child poverty rates among families with disabled children went up from 36% to 40%.
It compares to a poverty rate of 30% across all children in the UK, showing that disabled children are disproportionately more likely to live in poverty.
These figures mean around 320,000 of the 800,000 disabled children living in the UK are living in poverty, more than 30,000 more than previously estimated.
Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of The Children's Society, said: "These findings are staggering and very worrying. It seems that all forms of support for disabled children are seriously hampered when families live on a low income.
"Hidden costs, such as transport, heating and learning aids are forcing more disabled children and young people and their families into poverty."
Reitemeier urged the government not to cut rates of support for disabled children under the Universal Credit. The report also called on the DWP and Office for Disability Issues to develop and implement a disability equivalence value for use when calculating child poverty levels in the UK.
Clear guidance was also needed to ensure all households with disabled children were taking up their full benefits entitlements, the charity said.

Its weird the UK condems want to rip up human rights legislation yet we have been fighting wars in Iraq, Afganistan and Libya so that people in those countries can enjoy those same human rights.

Leaving school at 14 good idea / bad idea?

"PUPILS can leave school at 14 and learn a trade under radical plans unveiled ­yesterday to shake up Britain’s ­education system."

The quote above talks about letting young people leave school at the age of 14 and learn a trade. I was someone who just stopped attending school at age 14 because I didn't think school was for me. I did go to clases I enjoyed art, maths, commerce but the rest I bunked off. I think I stopped going because I was bored, unchallanged at school in terms of work expected of me. Somewhere in there was a belief I couldn't learn.

Had we had this new proposed system of leaving school at 14 I would have been a candidate for this. I didnt show any academic promise what else would I have done.

I was luckier than most young guys who leave school because it was not for them. I became a musician many end up within the prison system.

I didn't find out until I went back into education at around age 35 that I was dyslexic and that I was able to learn. Once I found that I could learn a got a voracious appitite to learn and embarked on 7 years full time education starting with basic skills  and ending with PGCE Inclusive education and many other qualifications since. I would never have achieved this had I not been assessed as being dyslexic.

My point is this. School was not able to engage me academically because I was dyslexic, it couldn't meet my learnind needs and didn't teach me in was that enabled me to access learning. I left school officially in 1975 but this situation still happens. Many children with dyslexia do not have access to dyslexia support at school at all and school fails them.

Its not that they cannot learn it is because schools do not teach them in ways that enable them to learn. Sending them off to technical colleges at 14 may be a good ro bad idea. However, if they do not provide dyslexia support there is a danger young people with dyslexia who are fail at school will contintue to fail in these new colleges. 

I had that same academic potential when I was 14 but was unable to realise it because of the way I was taught at school.

Get Involved and get Informed

Dyslexia Pathways invites you to:

Have your say on how easy or hard your dyslexia assistive technology is use, or how useful, or not, it was to you. Send us a review of any software and hardware you use.
...
Tell us about the companies where you bought your technology.

Send your views and reviews to me via a message on Facebook. Or comment on my blog.
 

Have not been to well the last few days with a temperature and coughing all night, not sleeping. So I got up early 5am, AGAIN!, and sorted out my mail and new students I have to contact to arrange appointments to see for dyslexia support.

Yesterday I decided not to take the counselling course. Purely for financial reasons. There will be other courses and I have added money for a training budget to one of the funding applications I recently sent in.

In times like these its difficult for a lot of people especially for disabled people the elderly and people from other vulnerable communities. Difficult to find money heat their homes, feed their kids, to find employment and maintain their dignity. This puts not getting on this course into context. There will be other courses and other oppertunities in the future.

Good teacher Bad teacher?

We all know there are good teachers and bad teachers but I do not see how they can have all the blame for the lack of support for kids who are disabled. I was lucky I did my teaching qualification, PGCE in Inclusive Education which was all about inclusion, multi sensory learning etc. Students on other PGCE courses got very little training in inclusion and dyslexia wasn't even mention as far as I remember. So if teachers are not getting training how can they provide support in the classroom. I di my teacher training in 1995 and I am pretty sure things have hardly changed for the better since then. Government interference in the way schools work and with their budgets does not help at all. Government policies have meant teachers have to teach kids to achieve targets for league tables rather than teach kids to achieve their own goals. It is easy to know teachers as they are always first in the firing line. I was a teacher for over 15 years before left the profession. I was a good teacher always getting good feedback from students and from inspectors. But inspections for inspections sake, teaching to targets, the squeezing of the curriculum and a long time being bullied by a line manager who just didnt support me with my disability issues or my dyslexia etc took all the enjoyment out of it for me. I would never go back into teaching withing a college or school now. I am better doing my consultancy work I still get to do what I enjoy which is the teaching but without any of the hassle

Spent the day up dating Dyslexia Pathways web site. Have to say a big thanks to Denise one of our volunteers for looking overs the pages of our site and making corrections and suggestions for up dating it..

Had a great day today. Met four new students and had four very positive dyslexia support sessions. More new students next week plus those who came today. Excellent stuff.

a new year starts

Due to the work I dyslexia work I do I work to the academic year. It been tough financially this summer. I seem to have done a lot of work developing ideas and moving forward with them. Doing a lot of free work through the Dyslexia Pathways web site and phone line. Also do attending meetings with the Preventative Spend committee, Goodison Group etc at the scottish parliament. But little paid work has come through.

Still I cannot complain I didn't start Dyslexia Pathways and do the entrepreneur thing to make a lot of money. Just to be able to support other dyslexics like I was supported and enable them to succeed is great.

Still the university work has started. I have four students for dyslexia support tomorrow. I love it when I meet new students and work with them. If I can see between 10 and 15 students per week from now on I will be happy.

Going to start investigating Crowd Funding as a possible means to take my app further and look at a couple of companies who develop apps to see if I can get them interested.

Might be lucky and get a mentor as well.

I must be daft I am going to start a new company which is not going to be a social enterprise but will have a dyslexia focus. I have a logo design and product designs and ideas to work with.

Being a dyslexia teacher / specialist entails a good deal of counselling work or at least it seems to for me. I would say as much as 30% in counselling. I do have counselling training but wanted to update my skills by starting a new course. Unfortunately I cannot at this time because of costs. Still I have added costs for training in one of the new funding bids I have made so here's hoping for success.

Music

A long time ago before I became a teacher I used to be a musician for a good many years. Had a lot of fun doing it as well.

I gave it all up in 1988 to go back to school and apart from a few weeks playing bass guitar in a band in 2006 I had not done anything musically.

I got a great music programme for my Christmas last year and a couple months ago I started writing new music with it.

So far I have written 11 tracks with about 4 or 5 I am really happy with. I have always been a creative dyslexic and it felt really good to have gotten back into writing music. I am learning more and more about the capabilites of the software and keyboard and hope to continue writing more new compositions in future.

For all you dyslexic musicians out there I have set up a group on Soundcloud where you can posts your music compositions. You do not have to join the site to listen but if you want to add your music to the group you will need to join. It is free for a basic membership which is what I have.

You have to double left click with your mouse to use the link.
My music on Soundcloud

Monday morning

Got up early this morning 5.30am. Hardly got any sleep as well so I am shatterd before I started . However, I completed another funding application for Tesco this morning so thats three in the last few days. This is an application for £4000 to purchase new dyslexia friendly software, a printer and a few other things. It will be around 3 months before I hear anything about this.

Only another 3 or 4 more to do including a couple of lottery ones.

Wish I could find a volunteer with experience of doing this. It's not that I cannot do these applications it just takes me so long to do them. Not getting out the ideas and what I want to write but doing the proof reading and organising it is a real pain because of the dyslexia.

I am not going to moan about this because I don't believe I would be doing or have achieved what I have if I were not dyslexic.

Today I am going to do some work on the dyslexia phone app games using Inspitation mind mapping software. Had a very productive meeting about this last week which I hope will enable me to move on with this. Will have to see if I can find an artist to help realise the avitars I have in mind for this.

Completed two new funding applications on Friday. One for the Innovation fund which I only found out about the day before the closing date for applications. Had to work very hard to write that one and had little time to look for my typical dyslexic errors. Thats the one thing I still find difficult finding my own errors.

The second one was for a Dragons Den event run by Senscot. Senscot is an organisation that supports social enterprises like Dyslexia Pathways and are pretty cool in my view. Dragons Den gives 5 people or organisations to sell their ideas to dragons. Dragons being other successful social entrepreneurs and to the audience.

http://www.senscot.net/

The Dragons Den event is part of the Senscot Annual Ceilidh which we have attended the last two. There have been seven in all so far. Other activities include:

Sell your business and its products in under 3 minutes to other social enterprises. Equally, this is a great networking opportunity. 

Access to free legal advice

Presentations from other successful social entrepreneurs

On the evenng of the first day there is a dinner and dance with music from a ceilidh band

Then there is an opportunity to meet with friends and catch up with the news from other social enterprises.

I have done a dragons den presentation a couple of years ago. It was quite nerve wracking. Not so much presenting to the audience but to the 4 dragons in the panel. I didn't win but enjoyed the experience. So I am giving it a go again this year. Just hope I get selected as there are only 5 places and many many entrants.

MRI scan

Just got back from an MRI scan on my brain gawd what an experience lol. The nurse was very helpful and explained all that was going to happen. I was warned the process was going to be noisey and so to counter that I had to wear a pair of headphones. I was also informed that I could choose from a selection of music to play in the headphones.  Not much of a choice of music all middle of the road stuff like the infamous clog dancin trio ABBA NOOOOOOO!!!!! In the end I went for a 60s and 70s compilation.

First of all I had a lay down on a bed and have a cage clamped down over my head and was asked not to move at all whilst the scan was taking place. Then I was given a panic button that I was to press if I was panicing. I was then pushed into the MRI scanner. To say it was a snug fit would be an understatement. Blimey so glad I am not clausrophobic.

The music started to play and the sound was sooooo tinny with hardly any bass at all ouch. The first song was Wonderful World Louis Armstrong. Now I like this song but I have always associated it with funerals which was quite ironic as I felt like I was in a coffin. Although I am certain there will be more room in my coffin than in the scanner.

Then the scanner started and the noise levels quickly built up so that I could hardly hear them music. As I looked upwards all I could see was the whitness of the inside of the scanner so I just closed my eyes. The noise kinda pulsed which got faster and faster till eventually I coundn't hear the music at all.

The scanner noise reminded me of gadgets in old sci fi programmes like Dr Who. All the gadgets had to make really annoying loud screachy sounds. The noise being there for no other reason than to signify it was working and fururistic. Blimey who would have thought all those Dr writers and writers of sci fi predicted the furute world of gadgets would be soooooooo loud.

A few minutes later the first scan finished and there was a new song playing. I have no idea what it was but it was another cheerful little ditty I don't think. I didnt recognise any of the songs at all apart from the first one.

I have no idea how long I was in the scanner for but it felt like an age. Won't have to wait long for the results though. I will just be happy if they have found a brain.

Well the dyslexia support at the unis has started to come in which will bring with it some much welcomed income.

Hmmmm I have an MRI scan on my brain to go through today. NOT! looking forward to that at all. But hey its has to be done. Maybe I will be lucky and they will find a brain and that I am not just a scarecrow lol

Funding

I have been looking around for various sources of possible funding for the dyslexia focussed phone app and games I have designed. I am currently looking at BuzzBanking. Has anyone got any experience of this and like to share their experience of using it?

I think the app will take between 4 to 10 thousand pounds to develop

Dundee meeting

The meeting at Cultural Enterprise Scotland went well. Got some new leads to follow and some good ideas on how to move forward with my dyslexia phone app and games.

It's getting a bit frustrating that its taking so long to move forward. I would programme it myself if I could but its more than just programming. I have characters for the games that need designing and I do have some rough outlines but I am no artist I have a good idea how I want the app and games to look and how they would work and have some componants of the app ready to go. I have composed some music for it and have my mind map plans.

Like everything else in life you have to keep pluging away at it and hope for a bit of good fortune.

I am off to a meeting in Dundee with a representative from Cultural Enterprise Scotland. Its about the dyslexia focussed phone app I have designed. Hoping for a good meeting with some positive outcomes. Maybe even some leads to funders or a student who may want to buld the app as a project for their course.. I have been working with this for a good while to get it off the drawing board but no luck just yet. Lots of positive feedback about it though.

Had my neices here with us for the last few days they are going to be stayiing for 8 days. Blimey kids are hard work lol but great fun. There is Layla she is just over two years old and Charmaine who is 14. Layla is cheeky she was putting a  peppa pig figure in here mouth and was told to take it out of her mouth. She relied, "not in my mouth on my teeth". Kids lol.

Got a piece of artwork from my brother for my Soundcloud music compositions. Might write a couple more and put tiogether a CD.

Dyslexia discrepency model sigh

Sigh will we ever move away from this dyslexia discrepency model? I am an individual and like every other individual I am good at some things and not so good at others. I do not have a learning disability, specific or otherwise. Would we characterise someone who is not very good at art as being dysartistic, or someone who is bad at driving dysmotoristic? Would they be labled as being disabled? Yes ok, so I found reading difficult, I still do, spelling can be a real pain in the arse, my organisation well I am about as organised as daffy duck. On the other hand I have great problem solving skills, I have fantastic oral presentation skills, I am a creative musician and creative person in general. I believe all the things I am good at are because I am dyslexic. The things I am not so good at hey thats life. I love being dyslexic, I do not want to be cured, I am sick of reading about disability discrepency model of dyslexia. 90% of the time a dyslexia expert opens there mouth its to tell us what we can't do and why we can't do this or that. Who wants to be told being dyslexic means you are disabled or your brain does not work correctly?

You know how irritating it can be to make that crucial dyslexic error? Well I made one not so long ago. I had an appointment today with an apps specialist regard the phone app I have designed. I got there at two pm and the appointment was 11am d'uh lol. The e mail read as follows appointment 12th August 2011 @ 11am. Now read it as 12th August 2 and took that as the time of the appointment.

Funding bids

I have 6 new funding bids to write over the next few weeks. I have done this before and made several successful funding bids in the past. The project I am most proud of was, "Breaking the Barriers of Dyslexia". I did this whilst I was working as co-ordinator for dyslexia at a college in London. I put together the project in response to a number of factors.

Whilst working there I started afternoon dyslexia surgerys for students and staff. It was very successful and the surgerys were always busy. Many of the teachers who came to see me had concerns about their own dyslexia or about the possibility they were dyslexic. one of them knew about the Access to Work scheme managed by Jobcentres.

I was also finding that many male students were just not accessing dyslexia support services at all. The numbers of female students were much higher. As a result I went out into the college to aks students about their perceptions of dyslexia. I have to say their perceptions were not very positive at all particularly amongst male students. I had even had a few teachers approaching me telling me in no uncertain terms what they thought about dyslexia such as they didn't believe it existed.

The profile of dyslexia at the college itself was not high at all. When I got the job as Co-ordinator for dyslexia I was the only full time member of staff providing dyslexia support. There was one other part time member. This was at a college spread over four different sites with a student population of around 10.000. There was not a place for us to work with students and prior to myself taking dyslexia support staff had to walk around the college looking for a quiet class room to work with students in. The college hired me to change this and to be fair I was given free reign and support to change this situation. By the time I left each site had its own dyslexia support room and the team had expanded to two full time staff and three part time.

The basic idea behind, "Breaking the Barriers to Dyslexia", was to provide access to free dyslexia screening, dyslexia assessment and training it dyslexia friendly work practises to staff at the college. It was a 12 week project and my project proposal was accepted and fully funded by the Learning and Skills Counscil in London. At the start we had target to screen 100 members of staff in the end we screened nearly 200. We had a target to provide dyslexia assessments to 8 staff and we ended up assessing 23 staff. We provided training to all assessed staff in dyslexia friendy work stratagies and support with applications for Access to Work funding. Moreover, we had a co-hort of staff who were able to act as mentors and role models to students at the college.

It was a very successful project and one that needs to be repeated in every school, college, university and training provider in the UK.

Well it's Friday to and the weather is wet and manky outside. Had a very positive meeting with the Goodison Group and Scotlands Futures Forum. Must have been well over 100 people there all told. I am never very comfortable meetings like this where there are Lord and Ladies, Directors from large companies and organisations etc. But there were also other teachers, educationalists and I met a number of nice people. I am really just a teacher and I started Dyslexia Pathways so that I could keep using my dyslexia specialist and teaching skills and because I couldn't find any teaching work in a college as a dyslexia teacher. I will go into the meeting in more detail once I get it.

Have o say there was a great luncheon after the event so I got a free lunch from my troubles lol

I have been getting little hints from contacts that it is getting increasing harder to gain funding for disability learning support. The amount of paper work and proof required is getting greater and greater. I have even heard chatter that sudents claiming Students Disabled Allowance may even have to borrow money to pay for hardware such as a laptop etc. If this is so it will make it much tougher for disabled students to succeed at university or even go to university. This is not happening this year but maybe in the next two years.

Some questions for you to answer

As you all know I have put together a new project and a while ago I asked members to write about their experiences. In order to aid this I have put together a series of questions as prompts and make clear what I am looking for. If you can send your answers to my pm box here or to steve_mccue@hotmail.com
1 When were you diagnosed or have you not been diagnosed yet?

2  What problems/discrimination did you have before diagnosis?

3  Did this alter after being diagnosed?

4  What problems/discrimination have you suffered in school (all levels), further   education and/or      work?

5  How does dyslexia affect your everyday life?

6  What helps you deal with your dyslexia effectively?

A long time ago before I went back to school and university I was a musician. Had a lot of fun doing that for a number of years. One day in 1988 I just decided to quit music and go back to see if I could learn. Hardly picked up my bass guitar or six string since then. Not written any lyrics or composed one song.

When I frist moved up to Edinburgh I did get back into playing here and got a lot of fun out of it playing covers with some others here.

About two months ago I got the yearn to start composing again and have written twelve new tracks. I had quite forgotten how much joy I got out of playing music.

I believe the musician stuff I did way back then helped me to overcome barriers that my dyslexia had made unsurmountable to me at school.

I remember I just stopped attending school when I was about 14 just gave up on it. I got into gangs and trouble with the police for a while there

When I was actually old enough to leave school at 16 I did so an angry counfused young man who was a failure. Music changed all that. It showed I was good at something and could achieve and it chilled me out. It got me focussed on doing something positive with my life and away from gang culture altogether.

I have gained a place on a counselling course starting at the end of September 2011. A significant amout of time spend working with dyslexia students involves the use of counselling skills so I thought this might be usefull. It will also add another skill set to my currant ones. Hopefully it will open avenues for more work in the future.

Dyslexia a disability?

The dyslexia adenga is being driven by experts who have a vested interest in dyslexia as a disability rather than dyslexia and ability. Every week it seems some expert or another will have research that show us what we can't do, tell us what we need and basically how clever the experts are. These experts have a very medical model of disability paradigm in that only they know what is good for us. Dyslexia is not a medical issue that a doctor can cure anyone of. There will never be a pill to make it all better and even if there were I would not be taking it. Dyslexia is an education issue, or rather a lack of education issue. If we were taught in schools using multi sensory teaching methods a lot of the issues we face in later life could be overcome. It is our education system that makes dyslexia a disability not dyslexia itself.

I have no problem with the lable disabled as I have two medical conditions that are considered disabilities. But being dyslexic is not a disablity. The professionals will tell you that you have dyslexia like it is an illness, there is something wrong with you. I would say I am dyslexic its a part of me, my psychy, my life and I wouldn't have it any other way

ooops sometimes dyslexia bites back lol

You know how irritating it can be to make that crucial dyslexic error? Well I made one today. I had an appointment today with an apps specialist regard the phone app I have designed. I got there at two pm and the appointment was 11am d'uh lol. The e mail read as follows appointment 12th August 2011 @ 11am. Now read it as 12th August 2 and took that as the time of the appointment.

a little request

I have just completed a new project proposal for a dyslexia mentoring project. The project may well embrace other learning differences but right now I am concentrating on dyslexia. It might help the proposal if we could get brief details from people who have been negatively affected thru non diagnosis of dyslexia at any stage in their lives, or those who have suffered discrimination. Just to add to evidence of need. Just looking for a couple of sentences from anyone willing to get involved with this project. Plese contact me via PM here or at stephen.mccue@dyslexiapathways.co.uk. Many thanks for reading.

A lille biographical introduction

I am very positive about my own dyslexia. Dyslexia is a part of me and whilst it did meant a I struggled at school and was not a great speller and my hand writing was terrible and not readable I wouldn’t want to change anything in my life. Dyslexia is about a different way of thinking and learning and that many schools just do not teach us in ways we can access the learning. It is ironic that many of the strategies that work for dyslexics would work for all is schools making the curriculum more accessible for all.

Like many people with dyslexia I left school with no qualifications. I went from one crappy job to another for a while. I was lucky in that I got involved in music. Not in a big way but music became my live. I kinda dropped out played my bass travelled around with the peace convoy and stuff.

When I was around 35 I decided to leave music and go back to school. I was lucky in that I got on an Access course for a year and I fell in love with learning. This started in 1988 when I took my basic skills and ended in 1995 when I got my PGCE in Inclusive Education. Whilst taking my degree I did some voluntary work going into primary and secondary schools in east London mentoring and thats when I discovered a love for teaching. I also discovered I was dyslexic in my second year at university.

I am dyslexic myself as well as being a dyslexia and inclusive education teacher who was working in Further Education until 2007. In my last teaching post I ran the dyslexia department at a college in London between 2000 and 2007. I qualified with a PGCE in 1995 and was a teacher up until 2007. Whislt I was employed there I became hypothyroid and type two diabetic and had to battle against this as well as going through being bullied over a long period of time by my line manager.

I also developed and managed a number of different projects. My last project, “Breaking the Barriers of Dyslexia”, was basically about screening and assessing college staff for dyslexia. We also offered training in dyslexia friendly work practises and applications to Access to Work. It was a very successful project. Originally there was a target of giving 8 dyslexia assessments over a three month period. In the end we assessed 23 members of staff over a four month period. The idea was that staff could them mentor or act a s dyslexia ambassadors. However, even after all the assessments and training all staff did not want their managers to know they were dyslexia and didn't even want the college prinipal to attend the end of project party.
I am very happy to be dyslexic, in fact I would shout it from the roof tops. I totally believe dyslexia is not a disability and that what disables is society.

Here is an example of this. I was made redundant from my last teaching post. However, the college where I was working kept all the assistive technology I had been given through Access to Work technology that I relied upon to enable me to read and write more efficiently. Even Access to Work would not support me in attempting to take the tech with me. I was effectively made disabled again.

I then moved to Scotland, basically to support my mum who was ill, but to also make a new start in the country where I was born
I took some time off from work basically a little holiday to settle myself here. However, when I felt it was time to get myself back to work I struggled. Firstly, I had no assistive technology and I couldn’t  find anywhere in Scotland where I could gain access to assistive tech so it made filling in application forms very difficult, unless I got somebody to fill them out for me. With my assistive tech and computer theses application forms are an easy thing for me to complete. This is what I mean by its society that disables and not dyslexia itself. It’s an irony that assistive technology is to expensive for many to buy and access. I certainly couldn’t have afforded to buy the computer and software myself.

In the end I was lucky enough to get cash from a charity to buy a computer and printer. I started looking for teaching posts, hourly paid teaching etc. But I had no luck at all. Oh yes colleges took me on for hourly paid work but I got not one hour of teaching in two years. I went to a local college and was basically told I wouldn't get any teaching work because my qualifications and 12 years teaching experience was gained in England. That I wouldn’t understand the Scottish system.

So here I am with my honours degree, my PGCE in Inclusive Education, Dyslexia Diploma and Masters Unit in Multi Sensory e Learning and Dyslexia and 12 years of teaching experience and I couldn'r get one hour of teaching here in Scotland.

I applied to do BRITE training but was not able to do the training because I don't actually work in an FE college here. It seemed everywhere I turned I was being given reason why I can't work. All the barriers I had to overcome in England were there in front of me again.

Whilst doing all this I discovered there is a complete lack of access to dyslexia services for unemployed adults and young people here in Fife and Edinburgh. So I decided to set up Dyslexia Pathways. I was lucky enough to get some work at Heriot Watt university as a dyslexia consultant / teacher. Indeed Dyslexia Pathways has a contract to supply dyslexia services to the university.

I got involved with social enterprise and decided that Dyslexia Pathways become a social enterprise. In October of this year I won Scottish Government £12.000 Level 2 Award from the Social Entrepreneurs Fund. This was great and is helping me deliver services and pay myself for a year. There are other opportunities beckoning here in Scotland and I have an outline for a new project aimed at supporting young people with dyslexia in training and in the transition into employment. I am hoping I can get this off the ground in 2010.

Well I hope I have not put you all to sleep. But I think my story gives some insights into the barriers we have to overcome just to be able to earn a living and just how far we have to come before we have an inclusive society.