In this episode of the Real Life Real Kitchen podcast, host Zoe Willis speaks with Laura Bloomberg, a specialist in dyslexia and specific learning difficulties. They discuss Laura's journey into the field, the complexities of dyslexia, and the importance of understanding individual learning profiles. The conversation highlights the overlap between dyslexia and other conditions, the challenges faced by dyslexic learners in traditional education systems, and the need for tailored teaching strategies. Laura emphasizes the strengths of dyslexic individuals and advocates for better training and support for educators to empower them in helping all learners succeed. In this conversation, Zoe & Laura discuss the challenges faced by children with learning difficulties, particularly dyslexia. They explore the need for better training for teachers, the importance of understanding and supporting neurodiverse learners, and the stigma surrounding learning challenges. Practical strategies for parents and educators are shared, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and communication. The discussion also touches on the significance of working memory in learning and the need for effective reading comprehension strategies.

Welcome to the Real Life. Real Kitchen Podcast with your host, Zoë F. Willis, English mother-of-many, Mum Mentor, and your host at this weekly gathering of real talk, real food, and real family life.

Each week I sit down with someone whose work nourishes minds, bodies, or communities. From the kitchen table to the wider world, these are the quiet voices making a loud difference.

👤 About Laura Bloomberg

Laura Bloomberg (BEd Hons, Dip RSA), founder of Dyslexia Understood, has had over 30 years’ teaching experience in state and private schools. She is a specialist dyslexia teacher (Level 5 OCR) and previously an assessor (Level 7 OCR). Laura works with local authorities, schools, and parents, helping to remove barriers to learning for pupils with specific learning difficulties (SpLD). She is also an accredited trainer on the evidence-based ‘Inference Training – Reading Comprehension Intervention’ programme and she delivers training online in the UK and Internationally. Laura also delivered the Level 5 OCR Diploma in ‘Teaching Learners with Dyslexia/Specific Learning Differences’ and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, School of Education. Laura is also a qualified NLP Mindset Coach, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique – Energy Tapping) Practitioner and a Hypnotherapist.

🌐 Where to Find Laura Bloomberg

1. Website: http://www.dyslexiaunderstood.co.uk
2. Email: Dyslexiaunderstood@outlook.com

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Takeaways

1. Laura Bloomberg has over 30 years of teaching experience.
2. Dyslexia falls under the umbrella of specific learning difficulties (SPLD).
3. Neurodiversity includes various conditions like dyslexia, ADHD, and autism.
4. Understanding each child's unique profile is crucial for effective support.
5. Dyslexia is primarily a processing difficulty affecting reading and writing.
6. Teaching strategies should be multi-sensory to engage dyslexic learners.
7. Dyslexia can be seen as a superpower, fostering creativity and resilience.
8. The education system often lacks adequate support for dyslexic students.
9. Parents and educators need to work together to support dyslexic learners.
10. 10% of the UK population is estimated to have dyslexia. Only 10% of teachers receive training on learning difficulties.
11. Empowering mothers to take control of family life is crucial.
12. More training on specific learning difficulties is needed for teachers.
13. All neurodiverse difficulties need to be recognized and supported.
14. Confidence is the best gift for dyslexic learners.
15. Collaboration between parents and teachers is essential.
16. Working memory is a key factor in learning challenges.
17. Copying tasks can overload a child's working memory.
18. Reading comprehension skills need to be explicitly taught.
19. Dyscalculia is an important topic that deserves attention.

and welcome to the Real Life Real Kitchen podcast.

2

I want to say thank you so much for joining us this week.

3

We've got Laura Bloomberg, founder of Dyslexia Understood, very special guest who has had

over 30 years teaching experience in both English state and private schools.

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She's a specialist dyslexic teacher and previously a dyslexia assessor.

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At the moment, she works with local authorities, schools and parents, helping them to

remove barriers for learning for pupils with specific learning difficulties.

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She's also an accredited trainer on the evidence-based inference training, reading

comprehension intervention programme, and she delivers training online in the UK and

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internationally.

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She's also delivered level five OCR diploma in teaching learners with dyslexia and

specific learning difficulties and was a visiting lecturer at the University of

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Hertfordshire in the School of Education.

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Along with the many other hats that Laura wears, she's also a qualified NLP mindset coach,

EFT practitioner and a hypnotherapist.

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And later in the year, we are going to be talking with Laura in her capacity as a em

infertility coach.

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So.

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Something to look forward to in the future.

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But for now, we're going to be talking about dyslexia.

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The reason I'm coming to this is because as many of the listeners and readers of my blog

will know, I'm homeschooling and I have a range of abilities with the children.

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Having not been a trained teacher, it's been so interesting to come across the different

ways that children learn.

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So I thought it'd be quite wonderful to have Laura on and ask questions.

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But first of all, Laura, you've had a lot of time as a teacher, but how did you come to

actually specialise in dyslexia?

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Well, thank you so much Zoe for that lovely introduction.

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There's not much more I can add to about my backgrounds more than what you've already just

said.

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em But how I got into dyslexia in the first place was when I em started a family, I was

working in the private sector.

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And when I returned to work, they weren't overly keen on me continuing to be a class

teacher on a part-time basis.

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So they asked me if I would be able to work alongside the special needs coordinator and

help support her as well as set up an English as an additional language department within

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the school because we had a lot of overseas international students who would come in with

absolutely no English.

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So I shared an office space with the Senco and I would see what she was doing with helping

support learners with specific learning difficulties.

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and dyslexia and dyscalculia.

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And that's where my interest and passion grew from there.

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So I then trained myself to become a dyslexia specialist teacher and then went on to

become a dyslexia specialist assessor.

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And that's where the passion started and I haven't looked back ever since.

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I love that.

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This is one of the stories that keeps on popping up with the women I talk to.

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Life changes.

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One door closes and another opens.

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Yes, you've got no idea what's going to be on the other side.

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That's beautiful.

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And also the fact that you're fitted in around the children and then these are the doors

opened up.

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over your time, because with dyslexia, it is a...

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learning difficult.

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I'm going to use inverted commas.

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It is a learning difficulty.

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Now I just want to say apologies if I'm using like incorrect terms, if I sound like some

sort of 19th century colonialist.

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Apologies.

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So please, please em correct me and if necessary.

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So dyslexia is in inverted commas a learning difficulty.

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It comes under the umbrella category of SPLD, which is specific learning difficulties.

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So when we talk about specific, we're looking at dyslexia, we're looking at dyscalculia,

and we're looking at dysbraxia, and then there's also dysgraphia.

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Okay.

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So these are all your, the word dys comes from a Greek origin, but the

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dis means difficulty and then obviously lexia with the written or the language, the

calculia, the number, praxia with the coordination and graphia with the writing.

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So those are what we call the specific learning difficulties.

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However, specific learning difficulties and the word neurodiversity all fit together as

well because it's important to appreciate that there's an overlap.

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Okay.

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em Yes, we might just have one area of difficulty or one area of a co-occurring difficulty

as well, but generally there's often an overlap.

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em And the term neurodiversity encompasses all the specific learning difficulties that I

just talked about, as well as ASD, which is Autism Spectrum Disorder, SLI, Specific

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Language Impairment.

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ADHD, a detention deficit, hyperactive disorder or ADHD.

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So it encompasses and the implications are really far reaching because if each pupil is a

mix of different aspects of SBLD or neurodiverse, it means that we can't necessarily

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assume anything em and we need to know what their profile is in order to give them the

correct support, intervention and help.

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that meets their own specific needs.

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I mean, one of the first things that kind of springs to mind is with something like, I

mean, something like the, the, the autism, if you're in a really overstimulating

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environment, that's obviously going to have effects on is it

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hearing, absorbing, memory, everything.

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There's so many different elements of all the different areas that will impact.

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So some children are dyslexic with autistic uh tendencies or have autism as well.

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You know, there's a real overlap.

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So interesting.

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eat well, you know, it's the it's the the beauty of the individual isn't it each child is

just wonderfully complex and with their own personalities, temperaments, challenges that's

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but what fascinating work because you I presume you are called in you say I have little

Freddy little Freddy is struggling and then you've got to kind of go right got to unpick

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find out what the yeah.

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important, obviously, to get a detailed understanding of that child.

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And again, it depends.

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I support lots of schools now, sort of do online unnamed pupil surgeries where a school or

a teacher will come to me and say, I've got X, we're not allowed to mention names for data

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protection, year five, struggling with reading or struggling with writing or spelling or

memory.

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whatever it is, this is how they work in the classroom and then they come to me with their

concerns and then I sit there and I work out, I give advice based on the information given

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to me on next best steps.

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So yeah, it's quite a wide range of support there.

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That's amazing.

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That's incredible.

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And wonderful as well that the teachers are clocking and going, right, this particular

child needs that something different.

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And then with your years of experience, you're able to say, right, I'm seeing the

patterns.

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This is what needs to be applied.

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So, OK.

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So I have a question, actually, a bit of a tangent.

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Boredom.

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Yes.

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that something that you're going to, I presume that's going to be part of the tapestry

because if you've got a child who has got a lot going on visually, they find that they

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can't read, they find the writing hard, the maths hard, whatever it is and they're in a

classroom, they're going to be bored.

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barrier's gone up.

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It's more than boredom.

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It's not that they're listening, but they're just bored by what you're saying.

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not really...

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mean, dyslexia is primarily a processing difficulty, which then affects the reading, the

spelling, the writing, the memory.

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But if they're finding it hard to access either one or all of those areas or some of those

areas...

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em The boredom will kick in or the switch off will go, the barrier will go up and they're

just not going to be listening, they're not going to want to be engaged.

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em So it's all about making sure that however we teach our children, ideally it's going to

be in a multi-sensory way, that we're meeting their needs at where they are at.

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in the way that we present information, what we actually require them to do.

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It's like you going to a country that speaks another language.

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Let's go for Russia or for any country.

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It doesn't matter which country it is.

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And you're put into a classroom and the teacher's speaking Russian and you're expected to

engage in that classroom from nine o'clock in the morning to 3.30 in the afternoon or

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whether it's at home as well.

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And you know, you're finding it difficult to understand what the teacher is saying.

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And if you're without the visual support or without the other support, you're just going

to switch off after a minute because it's going to make no sense to you.

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Yeah, and you also and having been in that situation in other countries where I've had

like basics of language and you're surrounded by you are exhausted.

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You are so tired by the end because your brain is just like what's going on and trying to

pick up on all the clues that will help.

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You're exhausted, the memory, the overload.

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And then what happens is these pupils get homework.

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So they're expected to come home and then do some more work at home.

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And that's often where parents receive the very unhappy, um very traumatized or

overwhelmed, exhausted, ratty, rude child.

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because they've had this whole day at school where they're trying to hold it together

because they don't want to necessarily show that they're not coping in front of their

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peers or in front of the staff.

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And then they come home and that's where the behavior starts to kick off, whether it's

after school or at the weekend.

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em So yeah, it's a really fine balance is understanding how to support these pupils

appropriately.

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And it's not always just about following what we would call the norm.

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It's thinking outside the box and giving permission for teachers to find different ways of

setting home, maybe a game, or to watch something.

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em It doesn't always have to be putting that pen in their hands and writing or reading and

giving them something more to do that they're already struggling with.

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Yeah, yeah.

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mean, one of the things I do with one of my children who...

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Actually, I'll take it back a couple of steps.

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I had a conversation with this child, said a few years ago, where I said, what happens

when you're looking at the word on a page?

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Because I could see by this point, I was like, you're a bright child, but there's clearly

a struggle for you.

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And I asked what's going on.

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And this child said, I can see the letters.

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Yes.

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and it takes time to put them together.

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But then when they're in a sentence, something happens.

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And I know that when you look at it, something happens, but that doesn't happen with me.

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And it was quite, I was like, wow, that's really powerful.

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This realization that something's meant to happen.

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but it's not quite the neural pathways are em not necessarily going in the same way as

other people.

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There's a of a myth about letters on pages as well sometimes getting mixed up with visual

dyslexia um and that's not necessarily always the case.

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em

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em It's often what causes em weak or incomplete is the phoneme, the letter sound mapping,

okay?

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It's the mapping between the speech sounds and spelling is not always fully there.

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And the brain has to work a lot harder, rely possibly on guesswork and constantly

self-correct.

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And that's exhausting a lot of the time.

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So it's not necessary, the problem is not m mixed up letters and the way that you see

them.

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It's the code that has not been made fully visible and learnable, if that makes sense.

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uh

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doesn't help that English is that mixture between the Latin and the Germanic.

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mean, I...

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them.

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There's a beautiful poem that I show on one of when I do some presentation em about

reading and you know we expected children at the age of five to master the different same

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sort of sound patterns but pronounced differently.

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em You know it's an awful language as in it's great language but it's very confusing.

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Yeah.

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the postman here.

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I'm going to have to pause.

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I'll be back in one minute.

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That's okay.

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See the children were fine, I wasn't expecting the postman though, but never mind.

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things happen.

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This busy life, busy kitchen as you say.

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my dog, I'm expecting my dog to do a bark at some point in today's podcast.

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So that's fine.

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Brilliant, brilliant.

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is the reality.

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oh so, yeah, mean, English just being such a tricky language, it really is awkward.

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And again, because I've learned all the languages, with them being phonetic, just

immediately, you know the code, and you know how it's to be pronounced.

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So English is already that challenge.

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But I'm going to come back to this child who finds the words or would say, you know,

something's meant to happen.

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Mm-hmm.

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So two things with this child.

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then said to this wee one, you can look at a Lego brick and you see entire worlds.

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I look at a Lego brick and I go, um It's a bit of plastic that hurts when I stand on it.

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That's all I see.

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It's the different ways of looking at the world, looking at space, kind of processing

ideas.

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having, I mean dyslexia is a superpower.

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No, no, some of the most Laura, some of the most interesting people I know.

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Absolutely.

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And why is that?

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Because they're using the, well, our brain is divided into two hemispheres and we would

generally use whichever side depending on the activity that we're doing.

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But what happens is the wiring of the brain is slightly different in a dyslexic learner

compared to a non-dyslexic learner.

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And what we're doing is we're tapping more into the right side of the brain, which is the

more the side, more

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sort of the rhythm, the images, the color.

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And if you think about the people that perhaps you either know personally or famous

people, know, Jamie Oliver, Winston Churchill, Cher, Muhammad Ali, Walt Disney, Hans

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Christian Anderson, all those people, plus many more, they're very creative and they are

famous for who they are possibly because of their dyslexia.

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So we say dyslexia is...

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It's not a, oh gosh, it's dyslexic and shows you under the carpet.

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It's great, let's celebrate it.

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It's a superpower because actually you're gonna have so many strengths that so many other

people will either envy or not have at all.

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But it's about tapping in.

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It's about tapping in and encouraging and acknowledging that there are different ways of

thinking and seeing the world.

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uh I mean, one of the other things I have said to this child as well, because obviously

you still get pushback because unfortunately, Lego is optional.

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The reading is not.

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It's not.

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so I still get the pushback to which my observation is it is hard.

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Really tricky.

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But it's really tricky, but the blessing is you know what hard work is.

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You will always know what it is that there are things you will have to work hard for.

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For people who find other things really easy, and there are a lot of people who thrive in

the current academic situation, who can do an exam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, it's not a

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challenge.

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And when they come to a challenge later in life, they go, this is hard, I'm not going to

bother.

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Yes, you build up resilience from an early age.

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um If you're supported correctly and you're given the right guidance as well by the adult,

whether it be the parent, the teacher, both or whoever, and you learn to use your

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difficulties to your advantage and you don't give up the minute you come across an issue

that you can't cope with.

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then absolutely you're building skills from a really young, early age that's going to give

you those important life skills later on.

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Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

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Now you talked about in the brain with a child who or a person who has dyslexia, maybe

your child, other with a child, things are not kind of connecting.

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What anatomically, physically is happening?

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Or I don't know, what's the actual process?

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That's a tricky one for me on this one.

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That's the whole presentation itself.

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Where do we even start with this one?

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So let's take it to a child who goes, oh, I can read, it's fine.

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What's happening in their brain?

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And then you have a child who's like the word, it just, what's happening in their brain?

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Or the child who looks at the numbers, what's kind of going on?

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It's all to do with the language processing in the brain em and it's a lot in terms of

reading.

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Forget the numbers side for the moment.

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It's m the dyslexic students are not necessarily reading by letter shape and they're not

necessarily randomly mixing letters in their heads.

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em Skilled reading, we put it this way, is driven by speech sounds mapped to spelling.

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not by if that makes sense.

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yeah, so em it's to do with the code.

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We've got to make sure that the speech sounds are clear to them.

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Not quite sure if this is very clear what I'm describing.

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It's quite scientifically em based here.

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yeah, it's we can't, dyslexia is not a visual problem, which is a myth, which a lot of

people think it's about.

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em

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It's about...

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can hear the children in the background there.

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Hopefully the magic of this technology will be able to knock it out.

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then, look, nobody's dying.

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Nobody's dying, nobody's wounded, nobody's weeping.

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We're winning, so it's fine.

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Yes, em so it's it's the underlying thing going on is mapping speech sounds mapped to

spelling em that a lot of the dyslexic learners struggle with doing that.

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And it's what we call the phonological loop as well.

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em The appreciation of the sound structure of the English language.

229

And they haven't got that.

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em

231

ability to do that and that needs support.

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Yeah, yeah, at that early age.

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I think, yeah, and just from my observations, you're right.

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It's that visually, my particular children who find this a struggle, they've got no

problems with visual stuff and pictures and all of this.

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That's fine.

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But in taking that abstract concept of a couple of wiggles on a page and then turning it

into the words, I don't know, occasion or something, how do the two connect?

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Whereas,

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and again I'm going to come back to the child with the Lego and all of this, that child

can listen to audiobooks now of Lord of the Rings and it's in there and I will sit and be

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doing for example the Latin or the grammar with him but it's all spoken because if we were

to sit there and to write it just I mean I get bored.

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that transfer, it's that transferring from what's going up in there onto paper as well and

mapping, mapping those speech sounds, the speech sounds mapped to spelling.

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That's where, you know, that's where they are struggling.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I just find it just so magnificent how they can hear something and it's in there.

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Yeah, yeah, it's just it's it's incredible.

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just I mean, this whole kind of way of learning how different people learn.

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It's just just amazing.

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Yeah, it really is.

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not one size fits all just because you're dyslexic doesn't mean you necessarily are going

to, know, dyslexic, there's a bit of a wider new definition of dyslexia at the moment.

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It's not like you necessarily have to always struggle with reading or always struggle with

spelling or, know, you can have a dyslexic learner who's actually quite good at spelling

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or dyslexic learners good at reading, but it could be

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processing difficulties that are causing the issue.

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em There's been a new definition actually m released this year.

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There's an updated definition of dyslexia em and it encompasses quite a lot of things, not

just what one might necessarily have originally thought dyslexia is.

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Yeah, yeah.

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So I'm going to come back to the support of the children.

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We have an education system where there is, I mean, obviously I've had struggles with it.

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This is why we're home educating.

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em But there are particular goals children have to achieve at particular ages.

260

There are exams children have to achieve by a particular age in order to get out in the

world.

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em

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There isn't really the option to repeat a year, start later.

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I mean, for the American listeners, mean, children are starting primary school here at age

four, you know, and may not be turning five.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah,

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that they achieve particular phonic tests because then the school's ranking and the local

system is also affected.

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one, yeah.

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It's not really designed or the mainstream schools there obviously are a few specialist

schools and obviously they will be specialist but the mainstream schools and the general

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sort of educational uh system in in large puts it that way is not overly set up to support

children well with learning difficulties.

269

Yeah, yeah.

270

I mean, what does that?

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I think we probably know the answer, but kind of long term for those children that fall

through the cracks and are, as you described, switching off.

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It's difficult.

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creates a lot of problems.

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um Sometimes parents are really on it and then obviously it can afford to get them extra

support outside of school.

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Obviously that's not the case for a lot of parents.

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So then again, that's difficult.

277

Then you have behavioral problems manifesting and it get back and obviously see new

challenges as well as well as the existing ones.

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So it's

279

It's about getting my my my dream would be to make sure that the educators, whether that's

teachers, parents, both em are sufficiently em empowered and and given the knowledge of

280

knowing best ways to support a dyslexic learner or learner with SPLD.

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That's my my aim.

282

Obviously, there are other areas that other professionals will be able to support with the

speech and language.

283

and the, you know, the autism, but my areas as being a specific learning difficulty

specialist, em that's, you that would be my aim is to make sure.

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And that's why I support schools, I support teachers.

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I like to go and help if I can deliver some information on the teacher training courses,

because there isn't anything, if they get an hour across their whole three years, four

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years of training to be a teacher on dyslexia, they're lucky.

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Wow.

288

Wow.

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Cause that's...

290

every course is different and every degree is I want to generalise it, but just generally,

don't, know, generally that the SBLD support or knowledge is not really given more than a

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couple of hours if that's over, you know.

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So teachers...

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that's such a huge, I mean, what is the, do we know a percentage of the population who

have these learning difficulties?

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in terms of, I can't give you in terms of em other areas, but in terms of dyslexia, you're

looking about 10%.

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10 % is roughly the, the m UK is estimated to have dyslexia.

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The 10 % of a class of, on average 30, that's three in the class that will have it.

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And then others will have tendency type difficulty, dyslexia type, yeah, difficulties.

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And there's only that limited amount of training for the teachers about this.

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yet that is a that because even one or just one child, two children who are switched off

board or need that extra focus, that disrupts the whole class.

300

And then you've got the pressure on the teachers because again, they've got things they've

got to achieve a lot.

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And then there's all the, yeah, it's, huge.

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It's a huge, yeah.

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Laura, if I could boot out Bridget Phillipson and make you Minister for Education.

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Actually, is she still even Minister for Education?

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I'm losing track, but the point is...

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track, don't trust any of them so...

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yep.

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I agree.

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so let's turn this.

310

OK, so the part of the reason this podcast is also not keen on the word to empower women,

to empower mothers, but to encourage moms to say, yes, I can take control, uh more control

311

of kind of family life, my life and a bit more sort of sense of autonomy.

312

OK, so that's the reason.

313

Now, I'm going to make you nonetheless Minister for Education.

314

Mm-hmm.

315

kind of quick fixes could change within a school setting that would support these

children.

316

So we obviously start off the whole school and then there's going into the classroom as

well.

317

But em if I was to be education minister or if I had a say in what goes on in Parliament

today and I was to be sent down there to give advice.

318

m A to make specific learning difficulties dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia.

319

More out there, more known teachers to be having more em

320

training on it, which is what happened many years ago with Sir Jim Rose.

321

He was asked to investigate dyslexia and learning difficulties and he produced a whole

report and it recommended that every school should have a dyslexia specialist teacher on

322

board and that's where all the training came in.

323

That kind of seems to have now gone because there are other areas out there that seem to,

it goes in like circles.

324

at the moment, and I'm not saying that other areas aren't important, because absolutely

they are, but it's about, think everyone focuses on one thing for a few years, then that

325

thing gets completely dropped, and it gets forgotten, whereas everything needs to be

remembered altogether.

326

So all the neurodiverse difficulties need to be em recognised and to have policies on how

schools should be, you know, there should be a whole country or a whole world's

327

policy on how to support children in the classroom at primary and secondary level with

specific learning difficulties.

328

But it's not up to, and not left up, not left for each school to decide whether they wish

to follow it or not.

329

It should be, it should be compulsory, you know, let's have, let's make sure.

330

A lot of the support that you might give a dyslexic learner is not just going to support

this, that 10 % of the classroom, it's going to support everybody in the classroom, but

331

it's going to really help those dyslexic pupils really move on as well as if they've got

other areas of difficulty as well.

332

So it's, yeah.

333

And I think another thought that kind of comes to mind as well is the idea of sort of a

stigma.

334

you can't read by the time you're seven.

335

You can't do this by the time you're...

336

That's not...

337

So what I've discovered, again, on the sort of the home education journey, and also in my

own family, I've got relatives who could not read until they were 12 or 13.

338

And it just went kind of overnight, just went click.

339

And in the home education world, it's been fascinating talking to mothers who've kind of

left when I say ignore their children, they haven't really, but it's like we will do bit

340

of reading every day.

341

Yep.

342

but then it just clicks at about 13, 14.

343

There's one lady who was saying her teenage boy all of a sudden is like, I better take

this seriously because when I'm texting my friends.

344

Yes, yeah, absolutely they need it and texting and it will and obviously comes things come

with maturity things develop as well.

345

I'm not saying every everyone's going to suddenly have that click because that's not

necessarily always going to be the case.

346

you know, sometimes it's great.

347

um But there are you know, there are ways that we can support a dyslexic learner.

348

um And it's fine.

349

It's almost making sure we find different ways of attacking or approaching an activity.

350

that's, you know, I can give you lots of what I would call general support ideas and more

specific ones for specific subject related.

351

You're with me.

352

So, yeah.

353

Yeah, it's really, it's fascinating.

354

Yeah, sorry, I'm going to come back just a couple of steps to the stigma.

355

But if more people were conscious of the fact or aware that people reach different levels

of maturity readiness at different stages, I think that, I don't know, things would almost

356

be easier.

357

You know, you'd go, okay.

358

I do think more and more is being talked about now in terms of just mental health and

learning difficulties.

359

And I think the stigma that we perhaps knew maybe in our generation when we were when we

were youngsters or beforehand, you know, grandparents, it definitely was a stigma.

360

But I think I would like to think now there is more out there.

361

People are more open, you know, people.

362

stigma of seeing a therapist or you know it's becoming less and less of a stigma more and

more of a a you know an acceptance and people are now aware.

363

So I'd like to think that the stigma of being it's it's for us to demystify that stigma if

that makes sense to make it to turn it on its head and it's actually it's not something

364

bad it's actually a strength it's as I mentioned to you the word before it's a superpower

and I think more and more people are realizing that now.

365

em But again, it's when it's your own child that's been diagnosed, you know, it's do I

tell them that they've put them through the assessment process, put them through all of

366

that and then not tell them that they've actually been diagnosed with dyslexia.

367

I had a pupil whose mother took it took her three years to tell her son that he had

dyslexia.

368

And the minute she told him, they made a whole big like reveal, gentle, but you know, kind

reveal.

369

And that child has completely changed for the better.

370

knowing that he's got that.

371

And she said, why didn't I tell him three years ago?

372

You know, it was like, what was, it was her own personal stigma, that it was her own

personal kind of issue that she was holding onto.

373

had she told the son that he had it and approached it in a way, know, a friendly way and a

fun way and an exciting way, there were books about it, there were video clips, you know,

374

actually it can become something.

375

So celebrate.

376

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

377

I remember a family we knew and the boy was struggling and then the school said, yes, he's

got dyslexia.

378

And one of the parents was devastated because at school they had been in special needs.

379

Everybody had gone, oh, well, you know, all of this.

380

And all of a sudden his, it was...

381

you could see him become that child again and he was so it was yeah yeah

382

the case, especially like with maths, parents go, yeah, I was awful at maths at school, or

I couldn't do this, or maths is awful maths.

383

And then that feeds onto the child and the child begins to take on that message, don't

they?

384

And they adopt that attitude.

385

So again, as a parent, it's really important to make sure that whatever messages we give

our children,

386

Even if it's something personal you've experienced, not to necessarily let that go onto

your child because they'll pick up from you.

387

So, you know, supporting a dyslexic learner is, you know, it's all about making things

fun, meaningful.

388

I mean, I think we can go through some of the ways of supporting a dyslexic learner in a

moment.

389

I mean, a few tips for the listeners, for the mums who've gone, hmm, something's happening

here, or the mums who already know and are just like, bring it on, let's have some more.

390

I'll start off with the whole one first.

391

I always say the best free gifts you can give a dyslexic learner are confidence, okay,

which is built on understanding.

392

So if you are a parent and you suspect your child has got dyslexia or has got dyslexia or

it displays dyslexic type tendencies, go and do your research first, you your knowledge

393

and understand what it is your child is, why your child is finding X, Y and Z difficult.

394

So, know, and then to build confidence within your child based on understanding.

395

Okay, so you got, see, time, time is really important because we know that they take time

to process, they take time to respond.

396

And if you put pressure on your child to respond quickly and, you know, little bit like

they do in school, you don't have much, that time can actually be the key to everything.

397

So give yourself, that child, confidence, built an understanding, time and compassion.

398

Those are what I would call the three free gifts that I would love all teachers to also

give in the classroom.

399

It's not always easy, but you know, to not pick on a child and say, Harry, that's a name

out the blue there, you know, can you read this out now in front of the class or Harry,

400

what's the answer to this question?

401

Harry, I'm going to ask you the answer, ask you a question and I'm going to come back to

you in five minutes for the answer and let Harry have time to process that.

402

You know what I mean?

403

Yeah.

404

Yeah.

405

Take your time, Harry.

406

You've been warned and then it'll come.

407

Yeah.

408

m or pre-teaching as well, pre-learning.

409

em Again, if a way that you've taught a child has or supported a child's home or at school

hasn't worked, find a different way.

410

You know, there are lots of ways of teaching fractions.

411

There are lots of ways of teaching how to spell words.

412

Don't just stick to one way because that's the way that you feel most comfortable with or

you think is the best way.

413

It might be for you.

414

It might not be for your child or your pupil.

415

So give yourself permission to think outside the box.

416

Okay.

417

I ask a question?

418

We talked earlier, you were saying, you know, the child's at school all day and getting

this kind of barrage and then they come home and then there's homework.

419

When I had my children at school, I would personally, I would push back and say, no, we're

not doing things.

420

No, this isn't right for home life.

421

No, I would do that.

422

I'm not sure that the teachers or the head teachers were especially thrilled.

423

No.

424

I would very much say, no, we're not going to do that because of XYZ.

425

Is that...

426

I know I would encourage other mums to do that, to protect their children and their sanity

and their home life and the confidence.

427

What would you suggest would be a good...

428

suggest a middle ground there.

429

I would suggest that the child does something of that piece of homework but maybe it's

done in a different way.

430

So for example maybe they were expected to write em I don't know a couple of paragraphs

maybe they could dictate it or you could type it and they could speak out loud or maybe

431

they were required to do something maybe they draw a picture instead or you have so I

think I think the child

432

key thing is we don't want the child to be em punished and we don't want the child to go

back to school the next day knowing that they've not done the homework that all their

433

peers have done and they might get humiliated in the class by the teacher.

434

Where's your homework Harry?

435

I can't use the word Harry here because we don't say.

436

You know why and then that could be even worse.

437

So sometimes, so you know it's not doing it at all could be worse than doing something but

a little bit more sort of specific to how they learn.

438

Does that make sense?

439

But as the parent, as the mum, you need to advocate and let the teacher know, we're not

going to writing this.

440

It's been dictated.

441

I am writing this.

442

This is how the child looks.

443

Yeah.

444

Yep.

445

Yep.

446

Yep.

447

And I think if a child's got a diagnosis of dyslexia and the teacher knows that and that

it's all kind of, not above board, but it's all kind of common knowledge, that's a lot

448

easier because, you know, it will be in the report, it will be in recommendations about

how to support that child.

449

And you can always refer back to that document.

450

If a child is struggling but hasn't had the fortuitous opportunity to get a diagnosis,

451

then it's keeping that conversation open between parents and school, parent and class

teacher or head of year or whoever it is that has that child's interest there em and

452

making them know that your child is struggling, first of all, em and to make sure that

they don't go, because if they're quiet and they just get on with things, but they might

453

mask it, you know your child best.

454

Right?

455

A teacher knows every child, but it's divided into a fraction of 30 for argument's sake.

456

You know your child the best.

457

And if your child's coming home and having tantrums or meltdowns or whatever they're doing

and they're struggling, tell the teacher, have that conversation, write an email, have it

458

on record.

459

Always put things in an email or follow up conversations, follow up telephone

conversations in an email.

460

Have it recorded.

461

Have it written.

462

and make the teacher know.

463

If the teacher doesn't know how they're going to know to do something differently or to

have those different expectations or outcomes.

464

So yeah.

465

collaborative.

466

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

467

work.

468

Limit copying.

469

Copying is the biggest sin.

470

Copying is because...

471

uh

472

In terms of copy work, know, here's a text that you need to copy for sort of handwriting

and spelling.

473

No, no, go on, why not?

474

Well, it depends, I guess, what the copying is for.

475

I guess if it's copying it to help with the memory for spelling.

476

So you're reading it, you're saying it out loud and then maybe you cover it and then write

it out yourself.

477

If that's part of the learning process, then great.

478

But what I'm saying is, for example, if you've got a chunk of information on the

whiteboard or chunk of information on a sheet and you just say to a can you just copy it?

479

So they're literally just copying.

480

Yeah.

481

What's the learning benefit of copying?

482

Well, apart from taking it from one format into your exercise book, you're actually

placing a huge demand on that child's working memory.

483

And often working memory is an area that is a difficulty in dyslexic learners.

484

And it faces a huge burden.

485

em And it's what's the learning opportunity?

486

What is, I think you've got to ask yourself, what is the learning outcome or learning

benefit

487

from asking them to copy huge amounts of information.

488

Even something like copying the date and the learning objective.

489

I've done a lot of classroom observations where the class have been given a load of

instructions, right class now gets on with it, but first you need to copy the date and the

490

learning objective into your book.

491

then, well, I've seen one whole lesson where a child went completely unnoticed, spent the

entire lesson copying the date and the long sentence, which was the learning objective.

492

They didn't even get on to doing the task.

493

And if they had, they would have forgotten what the task was.

494

Are you with me?

495

So if they don't need to, yeah.

496

so I was just going to ask, coming back to working memory, can you, what does that mean?

497

Can you just define what that is?

498

Okay, so really quickly, well not really quickly, working memory is like the mental work

pad space in the brain.

499

em It's about being able to hold on to information, hear it, absorb it, manipulate it, and

then exercise it, if that makes sense.

500

So you've got short term.

501

Go on.

502

no I was just gonna say what most mums have lost by about four or five o'clock in the

afternoon.

503

Yeah, we use our working memory all day long.

504

We use our working memory when we're reading, when we're spelling, when we're writing,

when we're every we're using it all day long without realizing it.

505

But what's happening is em we are holding on to it.

506

So, for example, you might say to your child, right, I want you, Harry, to go up the

stairs.

507

When you get to your bedroom, I want you to shut the window, put your books away, make

your bed and then come down for tea.

508

Right.

509

That's like four quite detailed instructions.

510

Well, they might remember come down for tea.

511

They might remember the close the window bit, but they might have forgotten the middle

bits.

512

That's because you're overloading their memory capacity and they're having to listen to

you.

513

Hold on, do something, do those jobs and then finally, are you with me?

514

So it's

515

no, no, I've got one child where I realized I could only give two, two, two maximum,

three, anything and just chaos.

516

But again, it took me a while to notice this pattern going something.

517

There's a limit here and it is two.

518

So.

519

computer with loads and loads of post-it notes.

520

It's your mental workspace.

521

And if that gets overloaded and burdened, which it will do naturally in a classroom, in

day-to-day learning, it's going to, because you've got the teacher giving instructions,

522

you've been given tasks to do, you've got children talking in the back, there's loads

going on.

523

That's when the exhaustion, that's why we get so exhausted.

524

Fascinating, so interesting.

525

Do we need learning objectives?

526

Do they need to be written down?

527

Or can the teacher just...

528

yeah, think the child just knows what they are and why can't you just stick them on?

529

Why can't you?

530

We've got printers that are really easy.

531

Why can't they get printed out on labels and stuck in?

532

You know I mean?

533

Why do you need a child to let you sit and write the learning object?

534

So just get on with the activity in a dyslexic friendly way if they're dyslexic learners.

535

Yeah, yeah, so hmm.

536

Okay, Laura, to lots.

537

Well, lots for me personally to mull over and think about.

538

Now, I also know that you run semi-regular workshops where parents, educators can come in

and get extra support from you and extra skills from you.

539

If anybody was interested in partaking,

540

How do they get in touch with you?

541

What's the best thing to do?

542

a website em www.dyslexiaunderstood.co.uk and it's a very simple dyslexic friendly, I'd

like to think so anyway, website.

543

There's only like four or five tabs and explains, you know, who I am, what I do.

544

And then it has a list of workshops that I offer online.

545

Obviously, it's local schools.

546

I can go in, but I'm based in Bushey and Hertfordshire.

547

But online is great.

548

I do lot of online workshops.

549

em All to do with areas of different areas related to specific learning difficulties,

things like dyslexia understood, em maths difficulties or dyscalculia understood.

550

em We've got one on working memory and learning.

551

There's a range of different and I can always put something together if there's a specific

area of interest that

552

that's not necessarily shown on my website.

553

um I'm also an accredited trainer on the evidence-based reading comprehension program.

554

So um I deliver online training two or three times a year to show teachers or I've had

home educators on there as well, how to support their students, their pupils, their

555

children with reading comprehension skills.

556

That's often an area that's really overland.

557

That's not just for dyslexic learners.

558

Comprehension is often an area of weakness and difficulty because the children are not

given the strategies that they need in order to be able to read and understand with

559

greater meaning from what's going on in the text.

560

So I'm a Quentin trainer on that and I deliver that oh every so often.

561

Why is that?

562

Is that because there's so much time spent processing the word, the sentence, in the

paragraph?

563

not, they generally don't get taught the skills that are needed in order.

564

So what happens is they, a lot of pupils just read and bark at the print and they don't

necessarily absorb the information.

565

They don't have the strategies like visualization.

566

They don't have the strategies of being able to think like a detective and engage with the

text.

567

So, and obviously working memory is going to be a huge impact.

568

We're talking about pupils here that can, that can.

569

read almost at age-appropriate level or decode anyway, you know, it's not a phonics

program, that's something totally different.

570

And I advise on interventions, other interventions as well.

571

I've got very good maths one that's brilliant that I've just actually had a meeting just

before you with the producer of.

572

But comprehension one, what happens in school when children are given text?

573

They're often given the text, they might talk about it and then just a list of questions.

574

and then that's the opportunity they've got to go away and just answer the questions.

575

Well, that's great when you've got the skills, the underlying skills in order to be able

to answer those questions.

576

But if we don't teach those skills explicitly from a young age and encourage them, that

pupil is going to find it really difficult to read for meaning, sort of making those, me

577

turn the heating off, making those really important inferences.

578

So, em you know, it's fine to make those literal retrieval questions where you have to

look in the text and just find the answer, which is there.

579

You know, what color was the bus?

580

Oh, the bus was red.

581

It's more of the what we'd call the subtle, the inference style questions.

582

So there is an affordable, very affordable, evidenced based, I think it's the only

evidence, one of the only, should I say, evidence based intervention programs out there

583

with an online electronic resource folder.

584

that has over 75 texts that you access, plus all the materials needed, which is not a lot,

but it's to deliver the intervention.

585

then, it goes, the texts are suitable for children in years three to years, well, it

actually goes up to GCSE now.

586

Yeah so up to so that's well finishing at 16 ish.

587

How old are they year three?

588

I'm so out of the system.

589

Eight okay okay okay.

590

not to say that that's because at that point we assume that they're able to start reading

independently and access.

591

It's not to say that however that children of a young, I I train infant schools, the

reception foundation to year two, so they're much younger kids, not necessarily to access

592

the texts, but for the teachers to be able to use those strategies and skills in the

classroom.

593

so that by the time they are independent readers and can access texts, they actually don't

need the intervention because they're already used to having those skills embedded in part

594

of their day-to-day learning.

595

Would that be, sorry, I just want to take to make sure I'm sort of tracking with this.

596

So for example, if you're reading a story and say the woman was sad and then you would say

to the child, know, how do you think that feels?

597

What does that feel like?

598

What would she look like?

599

It's those kind of, so it's taking it that way.

600

Yeah.

601

Yeah.

602

said in the passage categorically or explicitly that the woman was sad.

603

It might have said something like, you know, uh her face looked and was buried in her lap

and she had no smile on her face.

604

Yeah, how do we, what are the clues that we know that the woman, yeah, but there's a lot

more to it, yeah.

605

Yeah, yeah.

606

Okay, but thank you.

607

All right.

608

That's fantastic.

609

Laura, at some point, I think you need to come on and talk about dyscalculia.

610

I mean, I can see like an entire series here.

611

It's like dyslexia, dyscalculus.

612

How did you say it?

613

Dyscalculia and dyspraxia.

614

And it sounds like they all kind of have different, they're affected different bits of the

brain.

615

I mean, I wouldn't necessarily, for dysgraphia, you'd probably, no, not dysgraphia,

dyspraxia, you would probably need to speak to an OT, an occupational therapist or

616

physiotherapist.

617

They would be probably, I mean, I can, but I wouldn't say I'm the most specialist in it.

618

Yeah.

619

was part of my specialist training, so that's absolutely something I can give a

presentation on and feel that I am qualified to speak to an audience.

620

em And then there's dysgraphia, which is not often, know, again, an OT, an occupational

therapist, it's to do with the writing, the physical elements.

621

So again, that's probably the least one that's least spoken about.

622

not saying it's not important, but least spoken about.

623

But yeah.

624

I'd love to give a podcast on dyscalculia, because that's really, yeah, that's really,

yeah.

625

And a lot of dyslexic learners might not have dyscalculia, but they will have dyscalculic

tendencies because of their processing difficulties or their reading difficulties makes

626

maths for them more difficult, but doesn't mean to they've got necessary dyscalculia.

627

So dyscalculia and maths difficulties would be kind of a good topic because, you know,

yeah.

628

Okay, we shall come back.

629

I have one last question and then we shall wrap up.

630

I'm going to come back again to the English being not phonetic.

631

other countries, are there similar levels of dyslexia?

632

Is it as much of a challenge in the classroom?

633

Do we know?

634

Do we have like cross-cultural...

635

got any specific statistics to reference to, so I wouldn't want to make any kind of claim.

636

em English is definitely em a hard language.

637

We've got, I've to say how many sounds we've got in our English language.

638

It's definitely more complicated.

639

Other languages are not quite as em complicated.

640

But again, there are, it's everywhere.

641

It is everywhere.

642

Yeah.

643

Okay.

644

it's not just about the mapping of the sounds, whatever.

645

It's also to do with processing and memory.

646

So it encompasses a much broader range now.

647

So I can't speak for other countries.

648

I just know that in this country, there's a lot more known about it.

649

There's a lot more understood about it.

650

There's a lot more training on it.

651

So it's definitely on the rise here.

652

Okay, fantastic.

653

Laura, bless you.

654

I thoroughly enjoyed that.

655

Thank you for coming on.

656

And there'll be details in the show notes so people, can follow Laura and get in touch if

you've got any more questions.

657

Thank you very much, everyone.

658

Okay, God bless.

659

Bye.

660

in session for all and then.