Levelling the ground for dyslexics
Victoria Seiketso Sethibe | Thursday August 4, 2016 14:41
Preparing for examinations is quite a stressful exercise for most people and even more so for dyslexics. Some of the common challenges dyslexics face due to their inability to read and write extensively include:
Low vocabulary, especially when communication is done in their second language. As a general rule, people who use their ability to read and write to their full advantage are able to build a wealth of vocabulary.
Without a doubt, this advantage enables them to have quick and outstanding comprehension of written work. It is therefore, important to note that dyslexics do not have the same privilege, especially if they do not receive special accommodations during the entire learning process.
Elevated anxiety, during both learning and examination time, resulting from their limitations. It is for the above mentioned reasons that affirmative action is necessary for these people who have been wired to learn in non-traditional ways, throughout their learning and examination periods.
The following accommodations are therefore, necessary for dyslexics:
Assistance with reading; which makes a whole lot of difference to help out a child, brother, sister or friend who is dyslexic by reading out past examination papers to them, and giving them an opportunity to independently figure out answers to the questions.
Dyslexics usually have low vocabulary, which can easily limit their comprehension of questions. This does not necessarily mean that they do not know answers to the questions. It is therefore, necessary to always find out if they understand questions when assisting them. Some of them have low self-esteem as a result of interacting with people who wrongly label them as having low IQ.
Over the years, some of them give up asking for clarification, unless they find their assistant very relatable and feel safe in their space. Below is a fictitious scenario of what could happen when assisting a dyslexic person during a mock examination time.
Mothusi* is a special education assistant who majors in history. He has been tasked to help Mpho*, a dyslexic learner, to prepare for an official math examination by reading out loud some past examination questions.
One of the questions reads; Lobelo* takes 30 minutes to drive a distance of 60km from Lobatse to Pitsane. At what speed is Lobelo driving? Lobelo pauses for a second and asks Mothusi to explain the question further since he does not understand what the word speed means.
Mothusi, having a clear understanding of Mpho’s limitations regarding vocabulary, paraphrases the question and asks Mpho to numerically explain how fast Lobelo has to drive if he is to take 30 minutes to cover a distance of 60km from Lobatse to Pitsane.
Mpho quickly gives Mothusi a nod followed by a correct answer, something that might surprise those who are used to seeing Mpho under-achieve.
Some people feel that it is wrong to paraphrase questions for people like Mpho, since it is a candidate’s responsibility to comprehend examination questions. I argue, STRONGLY that Mpho did not choose to be wired differently from other learners, so he deserves justice. After all, in order for Mpho to be a mathematician, he does not need to have high aptitude for words. So it does not make any sense to judge him with his knowledge of words.
Assistance with writing or scribing is one of the common ways of helping dyslexics is to write or scribe for them. Since they already face language barriers due to their limitations, sometimes it might even require listening to them answer in a language they understand best and translating that to a language required by the examination. It would however, be unethical to get a scriber who specialises in a subject the dyslexic person is being tested on.
Some people feel that scribing for dyslexics gives them advantage over their non-dyslexic counterparts since their spellings would be taken care of by their assistants, who could be holding higher education than the examination requires. I further argue that a dyslexic person could have been experiencing marginalisation, during the learning process than the examination can tolerate.
There is nothing more unfair than asking a dyslexic person to spell out a word for you when scribing for them. It makes them feel humiliated.
It is like going to a hospital when you feel sick and the doctor asks you if it is flu you are suffering from, and the doctor accuses you for saying you do not know.
The whole point of getting professional assistance is to bridge a gap when you have been wired in a manner that limits you from spelling words correctly or to get proper diagnosis and treatment when feeling sick.