Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House to mark Dyslexia Awareness Week. I refer in particular to her role as Minister of State with special responsibility for special education and inclusion. As the Fine Gael spokesperson on education, further and higher education, research, innovation and science, I welcome the statement from the Minister of State and the aims that she mentioned. She spoke about empowerment for young people and for children. She spoke about us in the 21st century having the voice of young people at heart of our society, about inclusion and full participation. All these aspects are crucial.

Dyslexia is a common difficulty. People are affected by it when they are reading text. It is a specific learning difficulty and intelligence is not impacted. The main disruption caused by dyslexia is the difficulty with phonological awareness and the ability to understand sounds and letters. It is incredible when we realise in this context that approximately 10% of students may be affected by dyslexia. It also means that 10% of people in any workplace may be similarly impacted. We are focusing on education at primary and secondary levels, but many of the people, some 10%, that we deal with every day in any workplace or environment may have a specific learning difficulty.

I thank my colleague, Senator Tim Lombard, for organising an informative session for us today with representatives of the Dyslexia Association of Ireland, DAI. The Minister of State referred to that in her opening statement. The representatives from the DAI spoke to us about many concerns. The organisation represents adults and teachers, and it conducted a survey involving more than 800 adults and 400 teachers with experience of dyslexia. They based their findings on those surveys. Some of the areas they highlighted included the early identification of dyslexia, resources and supports, teacher training and the provision of the technology required to support these children. I refer as well to the impacts in this regard on mental health and well-being.

The incredible part of this context is that our budget under special needs and inclusion and education is one of the largest ever allocations. Some 17,000 special needs assistant, SNA, posts have been allocated to primary, post-primary and special schools. The Minister of State also mentioned there being 13,600 special education teachers. It is important that we are seeing this allocation of funds to support children in schools and to deal with the immediate need. There are delays in children getting assessed, but we are dealing with an immediate need in respect of children in schools. It will be possible to support them straight away with the SNAs that are available in classrooms. I refer as well to the school inclusion model. It was based on policies devised by the NCSE and it is concerned with providing the right support at the right time and having people with the right qualifications and skill sets. The provision of certain therapies in schools, such as speech and language, as well as the allocation of SNAs and the training they require, is being considered as part of this inclusion model.

One aspect I would like to ask the Minister of State about is teacher training. Training is now being offered to teachers, but it is not mandatory. If the number of people with dyslexia is 10% of the population, or perhaps 15% as has been reported in some results in the UK, then perhaps this is an aspect that we might engage on with our teaching providers. Turning to the early identification of dyslexia, that is crucial. The support being put in place in respect of access to SNAs is important. Early identification, though, is something that we would particularly like to see. Supports should also be in place for children as they are developing. What is important here is giving children confidence when they start in school and giving them the confidence to succeed later in life as well. It is important, therefore, that they have that confidence at the initial stages when they start school.

I sit on the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, along with some of my colleagues. We are looking at the reform of the leaving certificate examination now. This is timely, because this reform of the leaving certificate is concerned with examining how we can ensure that it is fully inclusive of all abilities and needs. Exam settings sometimes do not garner the maximum potential from our young people. An important aspect that should be borne in mind when we are examining reform of the leaving certificate, and this was highlighted for us in our session this week by representatives of the Irish Second–Level Students' Union, ISSU, and the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, is to have a model where there is potential for some kind of continuous or secondary assessment that will allow us to get the most from our students. Sometimes the exam model is not the best one.

I also highlight that a great deal of research is happening in this area. It is taking place in the context of Erasmus+, and globally in institutes across the world, including in the United States. This research is examining the supports that are in place. The Minister of State referred to the existing technologies. It is important that we see the deployment of those technologies to support children. This is something that the Department of Education should be looking at in future. I refer to how we will be preparing our children for the future, a future which will be even more digital. We must imagine having these types of technologies that can really support young people with dyslexia.

As has already been mentioned, people with dyslexia do not suffer any impact on their intelligence. Many people with dyslexia have high levels of creativity. When I was doing some background research on this topic in recent days, I was surprised to see the incredible artists who have been identified as having dyslexia. They included Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci. They had difficulties with dyslexia. It is incredible to think that there have been amazing artists with dyslexia. In more modern times, Noel Gallagher from Oasis also has dyslexia. I could not believe that when I read it. It is important to have people who are role models and who will demonstrate that having dyslexia does not hold people back in life and that there are ways to succeed.If we can showcase these models and people who are role models, it would be important, but the Department should take the lead in some areas. I thank the Minister of State.