§ Mr. Eggarasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) if his Department intends to take any steps to make teachers, doctors and the public aware of the problem of dyslexia;
(2) what advice and guidance is available to local education authorities from his Department on the ways in which dyslectic children should best be helped.
§ Dr. BoysonSuccessive Secretaries of State for Education and Science have been guided by and have commended the reports of the Tizard (1972), Bullock (1975) and Warnock (1978) committees. The burden of their advice was that the term "dyslexia" could not usefully be employed for educational puposes, and that there were different kinds and degrees of learning difficulties which required skilled remedial teaching in ordinary schools or in special centres. The Tizard committee offered useful guidance and recommendations on helping children with such difficulties in its report "Children with Specific Reading Difficulties". My right hon. and learned Friend has commissioned a substantial programme of research aimed at throwing further light on these problems.
§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, to mark the International Year of Disabled People, he will seek to increase the funding of research projects into the study of dyslexia.
§ Dr. BoysonMy right hon. and learned Friend is concerned to ensure that the needs of all children with specific learning difficulties are better understood, and the Department is currently sponsoring a programme of research in this field at a total cost of over £0.5 million. The nine projects involved concentrate on the identification and assessment of such children and the examination of various methods of helping them.