§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what contact she has with private organisations which provide assessment and training of dyslexic persons; if she will consider offering them support in the light of the success of their work in training such persons; and if she will make a statement;
(2) what is her estimate of the proportion of people suffering from dyslexia; what action she intends taking to help people overcome this problem in the educational field; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasI welcome the initiative taken by private organisations232W which provide assessment or education for people with reading difficulties, but I have not been asked for support. My noble Friend Lord Belstead had a useful exchange of views with the British Dyslexia Association in January; and Her Majesty's inspectors keep in touch with current developments. I am anxious in particular that all children with reading difficulties should receive adequate help, but, as I explained to the hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Alfred Morris) on 16th October, it would not be profitable to separate so-called dyslexic children from the rest.—[Vol. 861, c. 34.] My right hon. Friend's Advisory Committee on Handicapped Children believes that there is a continuum spanning the whole range of reading difficulties.