Employers: How to Manage Dyslexia in the Work Place

Dyslexia is a hidden disability that affects 10 per cent of the population. It predominately causes reading and writing difficulties but memory, mathematics, organisation and sequencing skills can also be affected.

If un-addressed, dyslexia can result in underachievement. However, it does not affect intelligence and need not be a barrier to success.

There are many brilliant dyslexic professionals following a wide range of careers. But for those struggling, it is important for an employer to be aware of the ways they can help.

The UK  Equality Act 2010 covers dyslexia so all workplaces need to comply with it if a staff member is dyslexic. This act repeals and replaces the original UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

1 Know the signs
Indications of dyslexia in the workplace will reflect the nature of the work and will vary depending on the individual’s difficulties and their severity.

Key indicators might include performance that is not reflective of potential, written documentation that is unexpectedly poor or seems careless, confused memos or messages, deadlines regularly not being met or taking longer to learn new skills.

Have you noticed whether the individual appears forgetful, seems disorganised, has low self-esteem or suffers unduly from stress or anxiety? These are behaviours that may be attributed to dyslexia.

2 Seek confirmation
Many adults do not know that the difficulties they have are the result of dyslexia. If confirmation is required, referral to an occupational psychologist or an expert trained in screening and assessment for dyslexia should be considered.

3 Provide support
Effective support can often be simple and inexpensive. This may include;

• holding regular one-to-one sessions to reinforce aims and objectives;
  
  
• help with prioritising and organising workloads by using calendars with deadlines clearly marked, diaries or electronic reminders; 
• allowing regular breaks; 
• setting realistic objectives and negotiating deadlines; and, if required, 
• professional training and coaching.

4 Use technology
Many products can be incorporated into an office environment,

• spellcheckers are commonplace, 
• encourage the use of a dictaphone for note-taking, or 
• change the set-up of the person’s PC to make it more usable (Consider doing this from both an ergonomic and in terms of operational, as in software default layouts – font size and colour, and the use of a preferred background colour to clarify reading). 
• Consider investing in Assistive technology such as EasyReader, and /or
• voice-activated software such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and /or 
• planning software such as Inspiration may also be helpful.

5 Look at your practices
Develop dyslexia-friendly practices across the business for recruitment, assessment, training and health and safety.

Consider how accessible your communications are and provide alternative formats such as large print or audio.

Plan training sessions and inductions that accommodate extra time or support to ensure retention of information.

For instance, give the individual training materials in advance or present communications in a more dyslexia-friendly layout. This may include:

• bullet points;
• font size of no less than 11pt;
• sans-serif typefaces such as Arial;
• left-justified margin;
• cream or off-white background;
• increased spacing between lines;
• important points in bold (not italics).

6 Consider individual needs
Do not assume or generalise. Dyslexia is complex and the number, type and severity of difficulties will vary.

This will also be influenced by the individual’s ability to manage their own dyslexia. Discussions about support strategies should consider fully what the person feels they need. Listen to them. Do not impose on them.

7 Seek specialist help
You are not expected to be a dyslexia expert and, given its complexity, it may be wise to discuss specific strategies and adjustments with a specialist.

If dyslexia is suspected and formal identification is required, contact an occupational psychologist or specialist service provider.

Avoid New Age alternative therapy 'solutions' and only consider support and assistance from medically or educationally qualified consultants and institutions.

In the UK, the Citizens Advice Bureaus should be able to point you in the right direction.

8 Increase awareness
Encourage better understanding among all staff by including accurate information about dyslexia in internal communications.

Key Points

• Dyslexia need not be a barrier to success, and is recognised under the UK Equality Act 2010.
• Dyslexia is common – an organisation with 50-100 employees could have up to 10 workers who are dyslexic.
• Adjustments can help to maximise potential.
• Do not generalise – treat each case individually.

Teaching Difficulties: 4 Reasons why People Don’t Want to Learn

4 reasons people may not appear to want to learn:

1. Pride - They don’t think they need to learn anything – This is the one that frustrates us the most, and it’s the one we accuse people of the most. It’s true, arrogance is common in leadership, but it can also rear it's head amongst those who need to be led. Many leaders feel they are in a position because they are the only ones who could do the job. Everyone around them may know that’s not true, but they can’t see it. They don’t care to learn from others, because they aren’t willing to admit or see they have anything to learn. Sometimes those who still have much to learn are too proud to admit it.
2. We don't know what we don't know - They don’t know they need to learn anything – It may sound similar, but this is a different reason. It isn’t arrogance than causes this one, but rather ignorance. We’ve all been there at times. Many times we assume that we know the answers already. It isn’t because we were not interested in learning more, it's just that we didn’t know there was more to learn and the older we get the more we realize how much we don’t know yet. Some of that comes with maturity and age. Some of it comes with experience, but, many times we don’t think we need to know anything more because we just don’t realise the shortcomings in what we believe we know.
3. Credibility - They don’t want to learn from you – This is a hard one for leaders to accept, but it’s actually quite common. It could be a relational issue or a positional issue…it might simply be a personality clash, but for whatever reason, it keeps them from desiring to learn from you. If you are a parent of teenagers, you will know that your kids are good at learning more from others than they do from you. You can welcome appreciate the people who provide positive advice. We have all worked with leaders who are supposed to be leading us, but in fact, we knew more about a subject than they. It takes a very humble or enlightened person to learn from those you’re supposed to be leading. Allow your people to learn from whatever sources they prefer, as long as they're accurate.
4. Learning styles -Maybe they want to learn on their own – There’s nothing wrong with this, as long as they remain approachable and open i.e. teachable. In fact, as long as your people are learning and progressing they should be encouraged in every way. Some of the best lessons in life come from simply trying something and perhaps you succeed or perhaps you come near to failure. Give people the freedom to explore their environment independent of you. Support them in their efforts and give them permission to fail and a license to succeed. It will help them, you and any organisation you are attached to, to grow and develop in ways you could not imagine.

We all are aware that you can’t teach someone who doesn’t want to learn.

That’s why the best leaders, teachers, parents etc. spend more time motivating the learner than they do teaching them.

In the book “Switch”, authors Dan and Chip Heath call it “motivating the elephant”. If you, as a leader, desire people to learn from you, first motivate them so that they really want to learn.

Sir Ken Robinson on How Finding Your Element Changes Everything

Ken Robinson on Passion from The School of Life on Vimeo.

Sir Ken Robinson has previously challenged and delighted us with his vision for changing educational paradigms to better optimize a broken system for creativity.

In this wonderful talk from The School of Life, Robinson articulates the ethos at the heart of The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything — one of 7 essential books on education — and echoes, with his signature blend of wit and wisdom, many of the insights in this indispensable collection of advice on how to find your purpose and do what you love.

The Technium: A New Way of Reading

The Technium: A New Way of Reading

......... it demands more than our eyes. The most physically active we may get while reading a book is to flip the pages or dog-ear a corner. But screens engage our bodies. Touch screens respond to the ceaseless caress of our fingers. Sensors in game consoles such as the Nintendo Wii track our hands and arms.

We interact with what we see. Soon enough, screens will follow our eyes to perceive where we gaze. A screen will know what we are paying attention to and for how long. In the futuristic movie Minority Report (2002), the character played by Tom Cruise stands in front of a wraparound screen and hunts through vast archives of information with the gestures of a symphony conductor.

Reading becomes almost athletic. Just as it seemed weird five centuries ago to see someone read silently, in the future it will seem weird to read without moving your body.

Books were good at developing a contemplative mind. Screens encourage more utilitarian thinking. A new idea or unfamiliar fact will provoke a reflex to do something: to research the term, to query your screen “friends” for their opinions, to find alternative views, to create a bookmark, to interact with or tweet the thing rather than simply contemplate it.

Book reading strengthened our analytical skills, encouraging us to pursue an observation all the way down to the footnote. Screen reading encourages rapid pattern-making, associating this idea with another, equipping us to deal with the thousands of new thoughts expressed every day. The screen rewards, and nurtures, thinking in real time.

We review a movie while we watch it, we come up with an obscure fact in the middle of an argument, we read the owner’s manual of a gadget we spy in a store before we purchase it rather than after we get home and discover that it can’t do what we need it to do.

An extract from a very interesting article in the August 2010 issue of the Smithsonian magazine, their 40th Anniversary issue. They commissioned 40 views of the future. This one is about the future of reading, or what they titled Reading in a Whole New Way

Mindroom - Learning without boundaries

Mindroom - Learning without boundaries

A charity dedicated to helping children and adults with learning difficulties.

Mindroom was founded by Sophie Dow and her husband in response to the lack of support they found when they discovered that their daughter Annie, was suffering from learning difficulties.

Sphie Dow is originally from Sweden and her husband is Scottish. They raised their daughter in Scotland and despite the good intentions of the local health care providers, there was still a lot to be done to truly support the children and families.

Mindroom was set up to address some of the shortfalls and to act as a knowledgeable reference and trusted adviser service for teachers, parents and families, faced with the stress and bureaucratic maze that accompanies the many disorders that fall into the category of 'learning difficulties.'