Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week is National Literacy and Numeracy Week. I think it is titled Partnerships in Learning and it was launched last week here in Canberra by the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. I want to speak today about a very misunderstood learning difficulty—that of dyslexia. There are all sorts of myths and legends about it and most education authorities use this term to define a large group of students who have difficulties learning, which is a bit like speaking about learning disabilities as a sort of catch-all phrase that captures everything.

Dyslexia is a specific reading disability due to a defect in the brain’s processing of graphic symbols. It stems from a neurological difference which is shown to cause difficulties in phonological processing, rapid naming, working memory, processing speed and the automatic development of skills that may not match up to an individual’s other cognitive abilities. It affects reading, writing, spelling, grammar and, in a lot of cases, maths. Two commonly held beliefs about dyslexia are that children with it are prone to seeing letters or words backwards and that the problem is linked to intelligence. Both beliefs are incorrect. The problem is a linguistic one, not a visual one, in dyslexia. Dyslexia in no way stems from any lack of intelligence. People with severe dyslexia can be brilliant.

The effects of dyslexia in fact vary from person to person. The only shared trait among people with dyslexia is that they read at levels significantly lower than are typical for people of their age. It is a widespread problem, but because the identification of its causes is complex and time consuming there has been little work done on it. Dyslexia is causing many bright young people to fall through the gaps in education and to be left struggling to survive in employment that is often well below their intellectual abilities. Too often, the frustration starts causing other problems in both studies and relationships as the person attempts to communicate. There is a stigma attached to dyslexia and many will just try to hide the problem, become adept at circumventing the need to read or write or find alternative ways of coping.

For some reason, some people in Scotland have taken up the challenge and there is some interesting work being done there through their adult literacy research programs. They are looking to develop methods by which somebody with dyslexia can be helped through, first of all, identifying the causes and types of illiteracy and then going on to develop programs and learning plans to help individuals develop their skills in such a way that they can maximise their abilities.

An organisation called Dyslexia Scotland have been working on this for a short while. They have recently launched a new initiative following a study, undertaken by Pamela Deponio, of dyslexic children in primary school and year 7, the first year of secondary school, which looked at the parents and the pupils. Examples of good practice from the research have been used to write new professional development material for teachers—and we hope that flows through to us. Deponio pointed out that the main problem is that many teachers assume that dyslexia is a difficulty with reading and writing whereas it is actually much wider than that and it impacts on every subject. Teachers need to be aware of this and understand the implications for their subjects.

If we are to address the literacy and numeracy problems facing Australia today, we must now approach the causes before trying to deal with the symptoms. In the education revolution, it is important to go back to basics if we are to get it right. We have to have time and funds to address the causes and to try and tease out a better definition than is presently used in Australia so that we do not hide behind ‘learning difficulties’. We must define dyslexia and not lump all the children together under ‘learning difficulties’. We really have to go back to the teaching of teachers and ensure that we have early intervention programs ready for them to refer to and use when a problem is detected.

The work that has been done on this in Scotland is very interesting. I was able to find some figures on their adult population. This research was done some years ago but, according to the survey they did based on international standards, they estimated that 23 per cent of the adult population had low literacy and numeracy skills. Of course, that accords with the general findings that we have right throughout Australia, which are that many people who have low literacy and numeracy skills find it difficult to move forward in the workforce and do not find it easy to find the help that they need.

In Scotland in 2001 they identified three factors associated with low literacy and numeracy. These were: leaving education at a very early age, usually before 16—and that made up 10 per cent of the Scottish population; being on a low income, if they were employed; and coming from, in their terms, a ‘manual social class group’. Another survey in Scotland in 2001 found that low literacy and numeracy skills usually meant people were six times more likely to be unemployed, more likely to suffer ill health, less likely to be able to support their children’s learning and less likely to feel able to contribute to community life. That research also found that people with limited initial education, particularly when they became young adults, were likely to be the unemployed, workers facing redundancy, people with English as a second or additional language, people who lived in disadvantaged areas, workers in low-skill jobs, people on low incomes and people with health problems and disabilities.

All around the world, people with a lack of education or a disability or dyslexia can be at the bottom end of the scale. But there are many opportunities to improve that standard, so we would certainly hope that Adult Learners Week and National Literacy and Numeracy Week 2008 give many people an opportunity to focus on that. I am very pleased that Scotland now has a university that focuses on dyslexia. I understand there is a chair of dyslexia at one of their universities—the first in the world. I would hope that the research and the work that comes from that university helps to drive some broader understanding of dyslexia and especially, as I said earlier, the training of teachers to have a broader understanding that it is not just about reading and writing but goes to every subject. We need teachers to have that knowledge when they are teaching. And I would like to see what we now call learning difficulties become much better defined.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time for the grievance debate has expired. The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 192B. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.