Inclusive education: Assessment 1

Part 1:

D is a high school student in Year 8, who has been diagnosed with Dyslexia.

Dyslexia not only affects D’s individual reading ability, but also writing, spelling,

memory, motor skills, phonological awareness and the understanding of sequences

(Australian Dyslexia Association, 2018). For D, the words often look jumbled on the

page and because of this she is focused on the actual process of reading she cannot

comprehend what she has read. D also struggles to comprehend what she has read,

especially when she is asked to annotate a text without any prior vocabulary

instruction. Therefore, she struggles more with English than Mathematics. However,

her teachers all report she is very good at vocalizing her needs in relation to her

disability, providing assistance to the necessary actions teachers can take. Her

teachers also notice she is much more engaged in an English class when there is a

film/video involved or a short poetry text. D is very creative and likes graphic design

and technology. Since writing and articulating thoughts is difficult for D, she tends to

excel and enjoy some aspects of mathematics more. Her teachers believe she is

very capable, but only attempts to complete a task when she feels she is able to do it

According to D’s character profile and the additional information that has been

provided by her teachers, there are certain issues that can be addressed. D’s teacher

can consider the needs when planning for an inclusive classroom. There is a strong

theoretical hypothesis that students with dyslexia have “different brain hemispheric

processing patterns” (Exley, 2003, p.213). Students with dyslexia usually have a

learning style preference such as auditory, visual and kinesthetic. As Exley (2003)

believes students with dyslexia learn more when taught to their strengths. Therefore,

knowing your students and how they learn is crucial when planning for adjustments.

Teaching methods should be directed at D’s strengths and in the way she learns

best. Dyslexia is not an intellectual disability but rather a language learning disability.
Inclusive education: Assessment 1

Therefore D and other leaners with dyslexia should not be perceived without

expectation. This notion is supported by the Australian Dyslexia Association (ADA),

claiming there is no correlation between dyslexia and IQ (ADA, 2018). Fostering an

inclusive classroom, whereby students with dyslexia are taught by their strengths will

result in successful learning goals for students.