welcome to dyslexia a2z
The Premier Dyslexia Website for Specific Learning Difficulties
This site is dedicated to raising awareness of specific learning difficulties (SpLDs). It is operated by
Maria Chivers who is an international author on Dyslexia and other learning difficulties. We specialise in providing information on:
Dyslexia – Dyslexia is a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLDs), to describe a “very great difficulty in interpreting written or printed symbols.”
Dyscalculia – Like dyslexia, dyscalculia can be caused by a visual perceptual deficit. Dyscalculia refers specifically to the inability to perform operations in mathematics or arithmetic. It could be described as an extreme difficulty with numbers.
Dysgraphia – Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder, dysgraphia symptoms are characterised by the inability to write properly. Dysgraphia in fact refers specifically to the inability to perform operations in handwriting. It could be described as an extreme difficulty with fine-motor skills.
Dyspraxia – It is still not certain what causes dyspraxia but it is thought to be due to an immaturity of neurone development in the brain. Students with dyspraxia may have difficulties with the simplest of tasks.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – A child who can’t concentrate; moves around constantly; has poor school performance (in contrast with his intelligence) and has disruptive behaviour may be suffering with ADHD.
Nonverbal Learning Disabilities (NvLD) – is a neurological syndrome consisting of specific assets and deficits. The assets include early speech and vocabulary development, remarkable rote memory skills.
Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD); Speech and Language Therapy; Giftedness and Left-Handers.
Dyslexia Conferences / Courses etc
Outdoor Classroom Day – Hey, Teachers ! Get children outdoors to play and learn on 18 May. Register here.
Dyslexia Awareness Week – 2nd – 8th October 2017
Dyslexia: The 12th BDA International Conference (IDA) – 12th April 2018
Dyslexia & SpLD’s News
15/05/17 – Ditch your keyboard. With DRAGON, you just talk your ideas and it types it on the page for you. Yes, it’s that easy!
15/05/17 – What is Dysgraphia?
15/05/17 – What is Dyscalculia?
15/05/17 – What is Dyslexia?
15/05/17 – What is Dyspraxia?
15/05/17 – What is ADHD?
– An estimated 10% of Chinese are Dyslexic, just imagine what it must be like when they have over 50.000 characters?
– National Storytelling Week –
– How hearing skills could be key to treating dyslexia
– Eddie Izzard is dyslexic. Or “partially dyslexic”, as he puts it. “I always thought I’m dyslexic but then met somebody who is more dyslexic than me?
– Can Bullying cause Obesity & Heart Problems?
– ‘If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, of what then, is an empty desk a sign of?’ – Albert Einstein.
– Jennifer Aniston and her 20-year battle with Dyslexia
– Top 10 books for reluctant and dyslexic readers
– Dyslexia – I’m Not Marking This Mess, I can see his face ready to blow (poem below)
– Dyslexia – is Worst for Me (poem below)
The news archive for Dyslexia A2Z can be found at News Archive. Here you will find previous articles which have appeared on our Homepage as well as other items which have previously appeared within the website.
Poems on Dyslexia
I’m Not Marking This Mess
Mark (12 years of age)
I can see his face ready to blow
he shouts so the whole class will know
‘Sir, Sir I’m stuck, I need more time.’
‘I told you what to do, don’t step out of line’.
I find it hard and embarrassing with him yelling
about my reading writing and spelling.
‘Hurry up, get on with it, I’m not marking this mess’
I say, ‘I need more time, I’m doing my best’.
He tells me little kids can do better than me
‘I’ve seen better from my daughter, she’s only three
where’s your full stops and capital letters?
now go and sit down until you do better.’
It’s hard to do my work I find
I never rest, it’s always on my mind
then I get frustrated, rude and angry
because he doesn’t understand me.
Extract from: Dyslexia: The Inner Hurt
Taken from: Dyslexia – The Inner Hurt
Dyslexia Awareness Week – 2nd to 8th October 2017
The BDA is committed to raising achievement for dyslexic people both adults and children.
Further information, please follow: The British Dyslexia Association (BDA).
Dyslexia – The 12th BDA International Conference – 12th April 2018
The 12th BDA International Conference – Thursday 12th April 2018.
Further information, please follow: The British Dyslexia Association (BDA).
National Storytelling Week 2018
National Storytelling Week is celebrated by all ages. Folk tales, fairy lore, figments, phantoms, dragons, serpents, storms at sea. A good teller will conjure intriguingly. please follow: National Storytelling Week. – Date to be released
Complementary & Alternative Medicine
Can ideas from complementary and alternative medicine help those struggling with dyslexia?
Maria Chivers investigates.
Alternative approaches to Dyslexia
Special Educational Needs (SEN) Magazine
recent work by Dyslexia A2Z
Radio interviews
Interview on Dysgraphia:
BBC Wiltshire Radio – 14th June 2016. In Maria’s first interview in nearly five, she discusses Dysgraphia with Graham Seaman.
Reinstate allowances regarding spelling for pupils with dyslexia
Thousands of dyslexic children will be marked as failures under the government’s controversial new primary writing assessments. Pupils will be expected to spell almost 200 words on government wordlists if they are to reach the ‘expected standard’ for writing at the end of Year 6.
No allowance will be made for the tens of thousands of pupils with dyslexia.
One headteacher of a large state comprehensive school said the change would mean that a pupil who had shown a good knoledge and understanding of for example, history – but who had spelling problems due to dyslexia – could well end up with a worse grade than a good speller who had done less well on the history questions.
