What have you learned from reading the background reports and the resources about teaching students with dyslexia, dyscalculia, autism and ADHD?

Dyslexia

Considered to be one of a number of specific learning disorders or disabilities

Classed as a reading disorder

Umbrella term because more than one type exists

It can be both ‘developmental’ and ‘acquired’

Developmental dyslexia is what most people are referring to when they use the term dyslexia

Acquired dyslexia arises through traumatic brain injury or a stroke

Dyslexia affects between 5% and 12% of children

Dyslexia may include problems with things like

Phonological awareness (knowledge of/ability to manipulate the sound structure of words

Rapid automatised naming (speed with which a series of familiar stimuli can be named (aloud))

Reading fluency (ability to read single words/connect text with accuracy and speed (so as to support efficient comprehension))

Dyscalculia

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a disorder that affects people’s ability to learn school-level mathematical skills (particularly arithmetic)

The main reason for this is that the brain processes and functioning that underpin dyscalculia are far less well understood than dyslexia and other similar conditions.

Some 1,077 academic papers were published about dyslexia between 1985 and 2006 compared to 231 about mathematical learning disability, including dyscalculia

The British Dyslexia Association website describes many symptoms associated with the condition

Difficulty counting backwards

Poor sense of number/low ability to estimate

Difficulty remembering ‘basic’ mathematical facts, even after rote learning (e.g. relying on strategies such as counting on fingers/adding to remember timetables

Inability to grasp place value/ the meaning oof zero within number systems

Forgetting mathematical procedures (especially as they become more complicated)

ADHD

Affects around 6% of children and 3% of adults worldwide

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) produced by the American Psychiatric Association (2013) describes two different types of symptoms

Inattention

Hyperactivity

However, three different types of ADHD may be diagnosed by an Educational Psychologist

Inattentive (mainly or entirely attention problems)

Hyperactive-impulsive (mainly or entirely hyperactive

Combined type (both types of symptom present with no single dominant type

Autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a diverse set of neurodevelopmental conditions.

ASD is characterised by ‘difficulties in social communication and unusually restricted, repetitive behaviour and interests’.

About 1% of people globally have ASD and it affects more males than females.

Less than half (around 45%) of people with autism have some form of intellectual disability

Successful treatment of autism is all about the ‘creation of a supportive environment that accepts and respects that the individual is different’