Matt Hancock calls for school dyslexia test as huge event comes to Birmingham
The NEC is hosting Europe’s largest dyslexia event today
The former Health Secretary, Matt Hancock MP, who has dyslexia, has called for a change in the law to require all primary school children to be tested for dyslexia.
The MP's bill comes at the same time as the Dyslexia show comes to the NEC - the biggest event of it's kind in Europe with thousands of people attending.
Dyslexia is a learning disorder which involves difficulty in reading due to problems in identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters. Dyslexia affects the areas of the brain that are used to process language.
It is estimated that ten percent of people in the UK have dyslexia with around one in six adults having the reading age of an 11-year-old.
Mr Hancock was tested for dyslexia while at university after his tutor discovered a stark difference between his communication skills versus his writing skills. After discovering he had dyslexia, The MP described it as a “lightbulb moment” and was able to manage better knowing his condition.
The former Heath Secretary told us about his efforts to change the law: "in this country, only one in five dyslexic kids get identified in school, and I want to change that”.
Mr Hancock continued “I am talking to the education department about making sure we get that early identification in primary schools and then of course have teacher training because every teacher is a teacher of dyslexic children”.
Mr Hancock is calling for all primary schools to test children for dyslexia and has brought a bill to parliament. Mr Hancock said his bill has broad support in parliament, from “Iain Duncan Smith to John McDonald supporting the bill”.
Creating awareness for dyslexia
Birmingham’s NEC will host the Dyslexia Show from Friday 25th to Saturday 26th March.
The Dyslexia Show aims to create awareness of dyslexia and other neurodiversity conditions prevalent in the UK.
Arran Smith, who organised the event and lives with severe dyslexia, said while he does struggle with reading, writing and spelling every day, he focuses on the positives of his condition.
Mr Smith said the positives of dyslexia include, “problem solving, seeing things differently and using communication skills”.
We asked Mr Smith about Mr Hancock’s bill, and he said “what Matt Hancock is doing is interesting, given that over 6.9 million people in the UK have dyslexia, it is positive to screen more people to create awareness and support them”.
For more information please visit the Dyslexia Show.