Dyslexic Children: Education (Hansard, 18 November 1986)

§ Lord Ritchie of Dundee
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are considering carrying out any research with the object of discovering what proportion of school under-achievement is traceable to dyslexia.

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, it is the Government's view that the needs of dyslexic children be considered within the broader framework of children with special educational needs and so the Government have no plans to carry out the research referred to in the Question.

§ Lord Ritchie of Dundee
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply. Does she agree that the 40 per cent. under achievement rate that we hear of in our schools is a matter of grave concern; that it seems likely that the root cause in a large number of these cases is a deficiency in the basic skills of English, and that in a number of such cases a neurologically based reading disability is a cause? In those circumstances, would not an investigation of this sort be profitable?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, the Government are aware of the problem and are concerned about it. They have already funded research in the general field of specific learning requirements; for example, the Warnock Report published in May 1978 identified a number of areas where further research was considered necessary. The Department of Education and Science subsequently funded a programme of four research projects. Details of the findings were published by the department following a seminar on those projects. The Government are aware, are concerned and are following through the matter.

§ Baroness Faithfull
My Lords, may I ask my noble friend the Minister whether Her Majesty's Government and the Department of Education and Science regard dyslexia as a separate condition and do not just include it with an enormous number of other conditions? My impression is that it is not recognised as a separate condition and difficulty.

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, the Government recognise the existence of dyslexia. A number of committees have advised successive Secretaries of State for Education and Science on the subject. They include the Tizard Committee and, as I said, the Warnock Committee. In the light of their findings, the Government take the view there are children of at least average ability who have severe or long-term 126 difficulties in one or more areas of reading, writing or numeracy. The difficulty is that there are apparently a number of causes of dyslexia. The problem must be tackled on a broad base.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that men and women in schools and within the Department of Education and Science who specialise in trying to tackle dyslexia are of the opinion that there is an increase in the number of children who suffer from dyslexia, which is disturbing, and that there is an urgent need not merely to halt the increase but to try to start curing dyslexia? That is why they are asking that more money should be made available and a special department set up within the Department of Education and Science, or some medical department, to liaise in order to try to reduce the incidence of dyslexia and then to find a cure for it.

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, I am not aware of the increase to which the noble Lord refers. Under the Education Act 1981, local education authorities and school governors are required to identify children who have or who may have special educational needs, including those with special learning difficulties.

§ Lord Taylor of Blackburn
My Lords, is the Minister aware that in many primary and junior schools the pupil teacher ratio is 30:1, and that it is impossible to diagnose dyslexia until the children are aged 11 or over? That is a great drawback. Will the Minister ask her colleagues in the Department of Education and Science whether they are prepared to look again at the pupil teacher ratio and to bring down the number so that these children may be diagnosed earlier?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, this matter, with many others, is obviously kept under review. The difficulties of teacher diagnosis are understood. Parents also have a duty. That is why under Section 9 of the Education Act 1981 a parent who feels that his or her child is in difficulty has the right to ask the local education authority to carry out an assessment of the child's needs. The local education authority must comply with that request unless it finds that it is in any way unreasonable. It is clearly a case where there must be co-ordination between parents, governors and teachers.

§ Lord Glenamara
My Lords, does the noble Baroness not recognise that there is a special difficulty here? A great many educationists do not recognise the existence of a malady called dyslexia. Is there not a particular need for the kind of research suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Ritchie, if only to convince educationists that there is such a thing as dyslexia? Is this not the kind of research that could have been undertaken by the Schools Council, and were not the Government very foolish and ill-advised to abolish it?

§ Baroness Hooper
My Lords, the Government are obviously in contact with the specialised organisations on this specific subject, particularly voluntary organisations such as the British Dyslexia Association, which is the umbrella organisation for all the local associations working in this field. So, within the general framework of special educational needs, 127 supported, I believe, by the British Dyslexia Association, the Government are carrying out research and trying very hard to get their priorities right.