It is with absolute delight that the Offaly Dyslexia Group can reveal that our fund-raising efforts continue to be successful. Only last Friday we received the news that we have been selected to receive a grant of €1,000 from the Community Foundation For Ireland.
The grant, which was applied for under the Small Grants Scheme was presented in order to help us develop the next phase of the DAI workshops for children with dyslexia. As many readers will already be aware, we currently have nineteen children ranging from ages 7 to 12 years.
In the Autumn of 2010 at least five of our members will be moving up to secondary level education. While this presents challenges for all children making this transfer, children with dyslexia experience more potential difficulties than their peers.
Not only are their days longer, the academic workload increases dramatically. In addition to this children will be moving from classroom to classroom, navigating their way around the complexities of a new school and different teachers for different subjects.
This is a far cry from the security of a one or two class per teacher per classroom situation as experienced by most Irish primary school children. In addition to this many rural classrooms experience small teacher:pupil ratio’s which allow for closer attention to each child’s needs. The secondary school situation couldn’t be more different…
As a result of our members growing up, the Offaly Dyslexia Group recognizes the fact that we too must grow in order to accommodate their changing needs. It is therefore our intention to expand in the new year with the intention of preparing the older children for secondary level education.
Thanks to the Community Foundation for Ireland this new challenge for the Offaly Dyslexia Group may be closer than anticipated. Watch this space for updates on this issue…
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