By Nigel Sutton President of Community Learning Association through Schools; Director Wellington High School Community Education Centre
It is not completely settled as to how many people have neurodiversity, but it is thought to be 1–4 percent of the population. In the US it is likely over-diagnosed at 6–8 percent of the population and in New Zealand it is likely quite under diagnosed at 1 percent of the population.

Whatever the percentage, you will be dealing with neurodiverse learners and kaiako at some stage. Common names for some specific types of neurodiversity are:

• Autism (Neurodevelopmental condition affecting around 10,000 New Zealanders)
• ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
• OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
• Dyspraxia (challenges with fine and gross motor skills, motor planning and coordination)
• Dyslexia (persistent difficulties with reading and writing)

Here at the Wellington High School Community Education Centre we offer parents wanting to know how to support their children a popular 2.5 hour talk by a dyslexia specialist.

Dyslexia often has dramatic negative effects on a person’s entire life journey. It can lead to illiteracy and all of the problems that result from that. Many dyslexic people fall outside of the system and can end up in trouble at work, in life and with the law. All too often neurodiverse people fail to achieve their potential and sadly they have a suicide rate that is triple the usual rates. In our talk, our expert reframes the subject so that people stop thinking about dyslexia as a deficit and start to see the positive features of it. Our Dyslexia specialist explores how parents and supporters of a dyslexic person can use practical techniques to support that person to achieve their potential.

As our society’s understanding of the human brain develops we see more people realising that they are neurodiverse. Whether it is dyslexia or something else, there is a growing wave of people who do not operate in a neurotypical way. Some of our learners and kaiako will be neurodiverse and we all need to become much more aware of how we can help and support such learners and kaiako. Our “Dyslexia – How You Can Help” talk is one very small move in this direction.

You can help people with dyslexia by helping them understand that:

• it is not an illness, it is a lifelong specific learning difficulty that has benefits of out-ofthe- box thinking, enhanced creativity and improved spatial reasoning
• it will manifest individually for every person with it – it is highly variable and may be a group of disorders rather than just one
• it is a condition – the word dyslexic does not define them – so use “people with dyslexia” not “dyslexics”.
• typefaces help: select and use the “Dyslexie” type face – it has been designed to help people with dyslexia read
• typing on a keyboard (rather than handwriting) will be vastly preferable for people with dyslexia. Also allow use of spelling and grammar checkers.
• It is better to use well spaced-out handouts – rather than asking people with dyslexia to copy from a board
• reading aloud can be difficult for people with dyslexia as they may skip words or misread – which is embarrassing
• a person with dyslexia will learn better visually or through hands-on experience
• It is important to provide praise and support.

And there’s lots more we can learn!