Ms Sive O'Brien:

As I have said, we need these accommodations for affected students to keep up with their peers. Many people in my school have come to me since visiting the Dáil or attending the young scientist competition asking whether extra time is coming in. There are many people out there stressed out because they are not receiving these vital accommodations. At the young scientist exhibition, many parents came to me asking for advice for students with dyslexia. Many people would benefit from this. It would help so many people around this country.

Another issue I wish to bring up is the classroom accommodations. I have never felt fully supported in my classrooms. There is a lot of taking notes down from the board, which is something I really struggle with, as well as correcting homework. Outside of the classroom, I have to do extra work to try to relearn this information in the ways I learn. This is something many people I know who have dyslexia struggle with. When I walk into a classroom there is no understanding of the fact that when I take down notes, I can take them down completely wrong. I then go off and study the wrong information only to write it down in a test and be told it is incorrect and asked where I got it from. I tell the teacher those are the notes they gave, but I took them down wrong. We need to look at accommodations in classrooms and helping students with dyslexia in the classroom. Extra time in exams is one of the biggest issues. It would benefit many different people and we really do need it.