EDDIE IZZARD ON DYSLEXIA

VERY proud of one of my oldest friends from my school days, Sarah Driver – who is founder of the Driver Youth Trust, a charity dedicated to improving the life chances of children and young people with a focus on those who struggle with literacy, particularly children with dyslexia.

They have Eddie Izzard onboard, showing his support of children with dyslexia. The film, which is driving awareness via the hash tag #youknowadyslexic, is part of the ‘You Know A Dyslexic’ campaign designed to increase public recognition of the one in ten people the UK who have dyslexia.

The Driver Youth Trust are aiming to support children and young people with dyslexia by providing resources for teachers, parents and dyslexics that shows how small changes can make a big difference.

Sarah says: “It was a pleasure to work with Eddie on this project. A dyslexic himself, Eddie knows how important our work is. We are raising awareness of the one million children and young people with dyslexia and ensuring better support is in place by empowering teachers and children themselves to take action.

“We know what works in helping dyslexic children to improve their literacy dramatically and we now want to reach more schools to put this vital support in place to benefit children and young people as early as possible. So please tweet your support for #youknowadyslexic”

The Driver Youth Trust has supported school staff across 31 schools as a key driver in increasing dyslexic children’s progress at school.

Their programme, Drive for Literacy (DfL), trains teachers and school staff to recognise the signs of dyslexia and encourages teachers to assess their classrooms and teaching practice ensuring they are more inclusive. Additionally DfL champions early intervention approaches providing screening to all year one pupils.

The number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) who passed the Year 1 Phonics Screening in 2013-2014, was 32%, which is considerably lower than the 69% pass rate of the national average of all pupils; a difference of 27%.

Pupils in schools using DfL and identified as potentially having a literacy difficulty, such as dyslexia, perform much better with 82% passing the Phonics Screening. This result is not only 50% higher than the national SEN pupil average, it is also 13% higher than the national average for all pupils.

Eddie’s film is one of several short films that will be released by The Driver Youth Trust in the coming weeks. The films will be screened at the Drive for Literacy: Torri’s Day event taking place at The Royal Festival Hall on 12th November.

The event, named after Torri aged 9, from Croydon, who has dyslexia and features in one of the films, will showcase the launch of a new Internet based resource developed to support whole school teams about the impact of literacy difficulties, such as dyslexia, and practical ways to address them.