Introduction
According to the Special Education Review Committee report, the term special education needs refers to pupils “… whose disabilities and/or circumstances prevent or hinder them from benefiting adequately from the education which is normally provided … or for whom the education which is generally provided in the ordinary classroom is not sufficiently challenging…”(NCCA, 1999, p. 6). As the S.E.R.C. report outlines, the term itself is not easily defined. It incorporates a broad spectrum of educational needs.
The special need or learning difficulty I will be discussing in this essay is Dylexia. I am a third class teacher in an all girls school. I have taught a diagnosed dylexic student only once to date and have a student this year who has been referred for assessment, who is showing dylexic tendencies. Dylexia can and often does present many challenges to schools and class teachers when it comes to providing that child with the appropriate education that they are entitled to. One of the main challenges that schools and class teachers face, when dealing with special needs pupils, is the development of a differentiated curriculum for the student. As outlined in the Primary School curriculum, “All children have a right of access to the highest-quality education appropriate to their needs” (Government of Ireland, 1999, p.29). All children are entitled to an education best suited to their needs and teachers and schools need to make sure that each child receives that education. It is vital that schools and teachers work together to alter aspects of the curriculum to cater for the needs of the gifted pupil and provide them with an appropriate curriculum that they can participate in.
I am going to discuss what dyslexia is, and how one would recognise a student, who may be having this
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