Questions about dyscalculia and dyslexia support in Europe

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Dyslexia: News from the web:

The European Union has a rule 117 that goes as follows:

Rule 117  : Questions for written answer

1.    Any Member may put questions for written answer to the President of the European Council, the Council, the Commission or the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in accordance with guidelines laid down in an annex to these Rules of Procedure(1) . The content of questions shall be the sole responsibility of their authors.

2.    Questions shall be submitted in writing to the President who shall forward them to the addressees. Doubts concerning the admissibility of a question shall be settled by the President. The questioner shall be notified of his decision.

3.    If a question cannot be answered within the time limit set it shall, at the request of the author, be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the committee responsible. Rule 116 shall apply mutatis mu t andis .

Since the chair of a committee is empowered by Rule 193(1) to convene a meeting of that committee, it is up to him, in the interest of the proper organisation of proceedings, to determine the draft agenda of the meeting he has convened. This prerogative is without prejudice to his obligation under Rule 117(3) to place a written question, at the request of its author, on the draft agenda for the next meeting of the committee. However, the chair has the discretionary power to propose, in the light of political priorities, the agenda and procedural arrangements for the meeting (e.g. a procedure without debate, possibly with the adoption of a decision on action to be taken, or, where appropriate, a recommendation to carry over the item to a subsequent meeting).

 

4.    Questions which require an immediate answer but not detailed research (priority questions) shall be answered within three weeks of being forwarded to the addressees. Each Member may table one priority question each month.

Other questions (non-priority questions) shall be answered within six weeks of being forwarded to the addressees.

Members shall indicate which type of question they are submitting. The final decision shall be taken by the President.

 

5.    Questions and answers shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union .

So here is a member who is now asking Questions about the support for Dyslexia and Dyscalculia and in general children with learning disabilities:

Parliamentary questions
15 January 2014
E-000349-14
Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 117
Roberta Angelilli (PPE)

 

 Subject:  Possible funding for a project for children with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs)

Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) are neurobiological in origin, affecting approximately 2.5-3% of school-age children and evident as an impairment in reading, writing and arithmetic skills.

The best known of these is dyslexia, which affects reading speed and/or accuracy, often also affecting the understanding of the text being read.

SLDs are closely associated with one another: reading difficulties (dyslexia) are often also associated with problems with spelling (dysorthography), handwriting (dysgraphia) and arithmetic (dyscalculia).

They concern intelligent children, who do not have sensory (vision, hearing) and neurological problems and who have had plenty of opportunity to become familiar with written language.

SLDs are unfortunately the leading cause of educational failure in children, and, if not identified in time, can lead to major psychological problems such as anxiety and depression as well as possible failure to attend school.

To avoid these and other consequences, it is necessary to identify the special educational needs of each child through compensatory measures. These are educational tools and technologies that help children deal with an activity that is made difficult by the disability, but without making their task any easier in educational terms. To this end, the JOINT TO LEARN project launched by an Italian non-profit organisation, provides teaching that is flexible but above all individualised and personalised. It does not use aids targeted at an individual disorder but simply uses augmented reality in a 3D environment, and thus human-machine interaction that helps children to increase their attention time and their potential. The project is based essentially on a teaching course that is developed through a logical strand of stories and adventures as well as through repetitive exercises that allow children to learn while having fun.

Given the above, can the Commission answer the following questions:

1.

Is funding available for non-profit organisations set up for social care purposes?

2.

Are there any funds dedicated to projects for helping children with Specific Learning Disabilities?

3.

What is the overall situation?

Read all about it HERE

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Book about Dyslexia winners

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So now we have a book about people who had dyslexia and turned out to accomplish great things. As a moral support for the children who suffer day in day out from this disability it is probably ok and to highlight these great people is probably also appropriate. It should however be crystal clear how much suffering goes on as a result of lack of funding for resources for our children to adequately deal with dyslexia in the school system.

In their own words:

In Leaders, Visionaries and Dreamers: Extraordinary People with Dyslexia and Other Learning Disabilities, Paul J. Gerber, Ph.D., the VCU School of Education Ruth Harris Professor of Dyslexia Studies, and Marshall H. Raskind, Ph.D., look at 12 incredible people with LD and dyslexia whose lives are characterized by major accomplishments and contributions that they have made in their respective fields as well as on the contemporary American scene.

Read all about it HERE

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Dyslexia and blinking your eyes

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People with dyslexia seem to have an issue with a bridge connecting two pieces of the brain. It is as if the bridge is damaged and some messages come across late or garbled.

Dr. Condor discovered this through high speed photography of chilldren. When they started to blink, one eyelid started down just a fraction of a second before the other one. When they started to smile, one corner of the mouth started up just a fraction of a second before the other one. When they reached for something, one hand started to move just a fraction of a second before the other. The slow side was always the same, and the delay was the same size for everything.

Since this peculiarity was only present in dyslectic kids, he concluded that their CC’s had to be out of shape somehow. I will always be impressed with the fact that today’s brain scans still show the same-sized time delay that Dr. Condon cleverly found in 1982 with nothing but a low-tech, high-speed camera!

Read all about it HERE

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A service from Math and DyscalculiaServices.com