Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east mum arranges dyslexia workshop after struggling with lack of support for her sons

achael Smith with her children who suffer from dyslexia (L-R) Brook, 15, and Archie, 8
achael Smith with her children who suffer from dyslexia (L-R) Brook, 15, and Archie, 8

A mother has unveiled plans to help parents learn about dyslexia claiming her own child was told by teachers that he was just lazy.

Rachael Smith, of Sandend, realised that her three sons,  Brook, 15, Taylor, 13, and eight-year-old Archie had the condition shortly after they started primary school.

Her husband Barry was diagnosed with dyslexia and it became apparent that their children had all inherited the difficulty too.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


But she claims it was a “battle” to get staff at the school to accept their children were struggling with the condition which can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling.

It was only after seeing her oldest son speak to Archie about how he copes with it that she felt inspired to organise a workshop with a professional to help other parents.

She has arranged for a session to be held at Portsoy Primary School next month and hopes parents and teachers will both benefit from the discussions.

The restaurant manager said: “It started for us when Brook went into primary one and, despite us recognising the signs and asking the school if he had dyslexia they just kept telling him he was lazy.

“In primary six he was diagnosed and thankfully his primary seven teacher was cracking and got him prepared for academy.

“For Taylor, he loves to read but late in primary five he was also found to have dyslexia.

“He got help but then there was nothing more said until he got to second year and was found to be struggling.

“Luckily the support he was given was fantastic and he’s getting on well now, as is Brook although he has been offered a scribe for exams.”

Their youngest son Archie has a more severe type of dyslexia and really struggled in his early years at school.

“He would write words backwards but the letters would also be backwards,” Mrs Smith said.

“We were told all the way until the end of primary three that ‘it’s just the way Archie is’ but we knew it was dyslexia.

“Finally in summer his new teacher recognised it and confessed to us that she didn’t really know what to do and I could have cried.

“We managed to then sort the help he needed and now he’s come on leaps and bounds –  a completely different boy.

 

 

“Fingers crossed this workshop helps and it means even one less child being told they’re just lazy when they’re actually dyslexic.

“Maybe there’s even someone out there who could turn this into a regular thing so we can build a support network for the kids.”

Mrs Smith has arranged the session with Sharon Hall from Dyslexia Scotland to be held at the primary school on February 19 from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

She added: “It’s disheartening we had to go through this constant battle, especially with no-one to talk to.”

A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council said: “All schools across Aberdeenshire follow the ‘Addressing Dyslexia’ toolkit to help identify and then support learners who are showing signs of dyslexia.

“This is a comprehensive nationally-led online resource and we also offer in-house training to complement this toolkit.

“We welcome the event in Portsoy, held in partnership with the school to offer additional support for parents.

“We’re committed to supporting all learners to achieve of their best, by putting in place the right support at the right time, and would encourage any parent with concerns about their child to discuss this with their head teacher in the first instance.”