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Education shortfall turning dyslexics to crime - school boss

12:39pm Saturday 14th July 2007

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BRITAIN'S education system is failing people with dyslexia, plunging many sufferers into a life of crime, the chairman of a specialist Sedgemoor school warned this week.

New research published recently shows that while only 10% of people in the UK have dyslexia, some 60% of prison inmates are affected by the condition.

That's not because dyslexics are pre-disposed to criminal behaviour, but because of the lack of opportunities and education which many dyslexics receive.

At least, that is the opinion of David Atkinson, chairman of Edington and Shapwick School, which specialises in teaching children who have dyslexia.

Speaking at the school's recent speech day, Mr Atkinson warned parents: "Dyslexia poses far greater problems than society has previously understood. New research shows that dyslexia is filling this country's prisons.

"Loss of confidence, self-esteem and deep frustration were all experienced by those who suffered (dyslexia) and these create a background that could lead to crime.

"Specialist schools such as Edington and Shapwick, set up to teach the dyslexic, are obliged to wage an ongoing battle to achieve adequate education authority support and funding.

"Without specialist education there can be no solution to the prison problem."

See Tuesday's Mercury for mor eon this story - or share your views in our forum now.

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John Hayes, Florida USA says...
6:26pm Sat 14 Jul 07

Studies in the US show that while 60% of inmates read below level not all are dyslexic. Many of the 60% do have LD.Many also just never went to school or had poor instruction. Some are dyslexic. Almost all are high school dropouts.

Don't distort the truth. A better focus might be on lowering the high school dropout rate with help for everyone including dyslexics.


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Susan, Exeter says...
3:04pm Sun 15 Jul 07

The problem starts much earlier -back in the Reception class. Children need to be taught how to read by well-trained teachers who understand the Alphabetic Code. 'Dyslexia' is a descriptive term not a diagnosis and simply means that children/adults can't read/spell very well. Prof. Elliott was correct though widely misinterpreted when he said that 'dyslexia' is a myth. Hopefully, the new DCSF reading programme will help reduce if not eliminate the no. of 'dyslexics' in the UK since it is based on empirical evidence and uses the synthetic phonics method :-)

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jayne (an angry mum), bridgwater says...
6:12pm Tue 17 Jul 07

i recently attended a meeting to discuss the relationship between schools and parents of dyslexic children. every parent at the meeting had at some point been told their child had behaviour difficulties not dyslexia. if these children are labelled bad from such an early age and no support is given to help them with their learning disabilties whilst in school no wonder so many end up in prison. also in reply john hayes comment alot of these children drop out of school or are kicked out due to frustrations caused by lack of understanding of dyslexia by a majority of teachers and when they receive no support they cant learn, thus bad behaviour occurs. this is again down to the education systen failing our children.

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trudemac, US says...
3:26pm Thu 9 Aug 07

Unfortunately, the same things are happening in the US with dyslexic children. My son, now age 26 has dyslexia, and I fought with the school system to help him. Eventually, he ended up in prison but I think it is due mainly to low self-esteem. Because the school system does not help these students and the difficulty with school work, their self-esteem suffers. The tendency is to just drop out-of-school and there is the problem--crime is the only alternative because without an education, opportunities for employment are bleak.

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The system is failing people with dyslexia - leading many to a life of crime, and prison, according to a Sedgemoor school boss.

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