At what point does helping a children with any kind of barrier make it worse than not helping at all? A 10 year old I know has dyslexia.  Verbally, he’s near the top of the class, but as soon as he picks up a pen it all falls to pieces.  His reading isn’t too bad, but writing and spelling are a horrendous task that even with an enormous amount of effort, bring very little success when compared with his peers.

Soon the whole school is taking part in a sponsored spell to raise money for a local charity. The thought of having to spell unknown words, and his presumed low score bringing in less money than his peers caused sleepless nights and tears.

His parents were in a dilemma. Should they ask school to excuse him from the task? This would stop the worry over the spellings, but it would make him different to his peers and would he be able to raise any money?

Should he be given an alternative list of words? Again, this would make him different and may reinforce his perception of his barriers to learning.

His parents chose a third way – getting him to participate in the sponsored spell with the same words as his peers.  All sponsors would be a fixed amount rather than per word, so the pressure to have to do well to raise money was lifted.  They also spoke to him about how many he thought he would spell right.  He said about a ¼. They gave him a target of spelling ½ correctly and the other half phonetically, more if he could but whatever he managed they would be proud of him for giving it a go and facing his fears.

Did they do the right thing? Is it right for schools to have sponsored spells and other tests that may highlight differences, but may also give students the chance to succeed and shine?

Barriers to learning can make students feel different.  Do we need to stop them feeling different, or to make them embrace the unique, amazing person they are? Should we be celebrating the differences rather than making them feel they have to conform to reaching level 4, for example, at age 11 (and yes, I know the new primary curriculum has got rid of the levels!!)?

Please leave any comments or questions and I will do my best to answer and respond.