2. Introduction Campaign objectives Promoting the awareness of Dyslexia Creating a dyslexic friendly environment in Singapore’s schools
3. What is Dyslexia? Dyslexia is a neurologically based specific learning difficulty Characterised by difficulties in one or more of reading, spelling and writing. 3% to 10% of Singaporeans may be affected. Signs & symptoms
4. Research on Dyslexia A survey conducted by NTU Gathered information about the level of awareness and perception of dyslexia More than a thousand parents From 16 primary schools
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7. Phase One: Awareness Dyslexic students face more than just a difficulty with reading, writing and spelling Without sufficient knowledge about dyslexia, a student may never realise their potential, their peers look down on them instead of helping them, teachers may never see a bright student succeed and parents continue to believe their children are underachievers Awareness must be raised to foster acceptance and action
8. Phase Two: A ‘Dyslexia Friendly’ Environment Campaign aims to help Primary School children and provide opportunities for early detection Phase Two aims to target key stakeholders in a student’s education – Parents and Teachers Aims to motivate Teachers to become proactive in diagnosing students and to initiate greater action of Parents This will in turn create the best environment for students to succeed in their education
9. Barriers to the Campaign Strategy Fostering acceptance of this campaign among school authorities who may feel an external campaign threatening Accommodating for Singapore’s cosmopolitan society
10. No Child Should Be Left Behind Reading, writing and spelling are essential life skills All children should have the opportunity to reach their fullest potential, so that they may successfully contribute to the future of Singapore Action for dyslexia must begin now!
13. Information Guides Key locations of distribution: Schools, Educational Institutes National Institute of Education (teacher trainees) General Public Spaces, such as malls/popular stores that parents frequent
14. Information Guides Provided all year round at key locations, covering facts about Dyslexia and misconceptions surrounding it Information about the various association that exist to aid children Home remedial methods, basic training methods will be explained Details of counseling services available for parents and dyslexic students
15. Campaign Pamphlets Circulated at key locations 2 months prior to the event launch Covering key aspects of main campaign event
16. Print Media Advertisements on the campaign will be published in relevant family magazines, namely Young Parents Seeks to also raise awareness and change people’s misconceptions on dyslexia
17. Broadcast Media Television Commercials Campaign adverts on LED Screens @ Raffles Place, HDB Hub MRT stations and Malls Generate hype and awareness amongst target audience 1 month prior to event: once a day 2 weeks prior to event: twice a day
18. Broadcast Media Radio commercials Information on the campaign will be read out daily, for 2 weeks by the radio deejays on radio programs that target the parents and teachers Class 95 FM, Warna 94.2 FM, Gold 90.5 FM and Y.E.S 93.3 FM
19. Online Website & Social Networking Site Online promotions Actionfordyslexia blog and Facebook group have been set up and are regularly updated Information will be provided about the campaign details and schedule, together with the list of online resources for concerned parents and teachers
22. Invitation to Media Correspondents Invites will be sent out to journalists and reporters 2 weeks prior to campaign launch to provide coverage of the month long events and seminars taking place. Press releases will also be sent out to provide increased reach of awareness for both the public and media covering the campaign.
23. Main Event Overview Annual Action for Dyslexiacampaign: spread over 2 weeks in June Providing information and ease of access to target demographic to tackle concerned issue Event includes talks, seminars, workshops, free consultation sessions on certain days of the week for concerned parties Seminars and conferences held in Singapore Suntec City Convention Centre Other mini events held at HDB Hubs and shopping malls around Singapore
24. Main Event Rationale Culmination of the awareness and publicity generated prior to the launch Annual campaign that public can easily recognize in the years to come Comprehensive spread of events and seminars over the 2 weeks provides the target market with avenues to tackle concern Extended timeline suitable to cater to needs and time constraints of all parties involved
25. Event Activities Workshop-style Conference and Seminars: Aimed at equipping parents and teachers with methods to aid in solving the child’s problem Concerned parties will be instructed by professionals as to what training methods are to be undertaken to take the problem effectively Celebrity talks: Evening events with celebrities who are dyslexic will be held to expose the normalcy of the problem and attract interest from the public Aimed at increasing the awareness and gathering more public to attend the events Flash Mobs: Break out of flash mobs at popular areas to create a surprise effect and also a creative and refreshing approach to a serious issue
26. Phase Two Phase Two seeks to create a “Dyslexia Friendly” environment and targets parents and teachers. We want to motivate and encourage teachers and more importantly, parents to accept and cater to the needs of dyslexic children. To create an environment where teachers and parents actively work to diagnose students at an early stage and ensure that the students are able to excel.
27. Phase Two Workshops for dyslexic students Carried out by either trained teachers or external speakers Classes tailored specially for dyslexic students Liaised with the Ministry of Education Held during school hours Allow dyslexic students to swap out of the normal English classes to attend special classes
28. Conclusion Issue requires immediate attention. Campaign aims to increase awareness of issue amongst parents and teachers, change existing misconceptions and provide the appropriate solutions to tackle the issue No child has a disability, they only have different abilities
Our campaign objectives divided into two phases, the first one being to promote the awareness of Dyslexia in Singapore and the second one is to make schools more dyslexic friendly in Singapore. So I’ll be explaining our campaign’s context in the next few slides.
But firstly, before we go any further what exactly is dyslexia? According to the DAS, dyslexia is a neurologically based specific learning difficulty that is characterised by difficulties in one or more of reading, spelling and writing. The incidence of dyslexia in Singapore is within the international range of 3% to 10% of the population. There are about 20,000 primary and secondary school students who are dyslexic. An average of 1 to 2 students could be dyslexic in a class of 40.Some signs and symptoms of dyslexia in an individual are that spelling errors occur frequently even when copying, they leave out words/inserts words that are not there, they have difficultiesremembering/understanding what has been read and confusingwith letters that look alike similar sounding words e.g. "one" and "won”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEmLFgk8Uso&feature=player_embedded#
Our group has done some research and found some statistics relating to the awareness and perception of dyslexia in Singapore. The statistics is derived from a survey conducted by NTU which collected data about dyslexia. They surveyed more than a thousand parents of primary 3 students in 16 different primary schools. The survey provided some interesting data regarding dyslexia in the Singaporean society.
The first set of data relates to the Singaporean parents’ knowledge of dyslexia.The results from the survey showed that 49% of them responded ‘Yes’ to the question, “Are you aware of the condition, Dyslexia?” That leaves a significant other half of the population having no knowledge of dyslexia, should the results from this survey be generalised to the whole Singaporean population. Although that might not seem to be an alarming number, wefirmly believe that this situation still requires our attention.In order for our campaign to be successful, we have to educate and inform the public about dyslexia first before moving on to creating a dyslexia friendly environment in schools. Our second phase will not work as well if the public does not even have a general idea what dyslexia is.
The second statistic derived from the survey was related to the parent’s perception of dyslexic children’s special needs.As you can see from the results, most of the parents agreed that most teachers do not have proper training to teach dyslexic students. This is definitely a worrying statistic because dyslexic children suffer the most when they are still schooling and if left untreated, their condition will cause many complications in their later life. Dyslexia affects individuals from an early stage and it is important that their schooling environment is dyslexic friendly so that they will not feel that they are being alienated from school. In a normal school environment, it is inevitable to see dyslexic students with low self-esteem as they view themselves as ‘lazy’ or ‘stupid’. Which is why the first important step to making schools more dyslexia friendly, is to train the teachers to have a basic knowledge of how to handle dyslexic students before it escalates to a more serious problem.Now, Nyssel will explain in further detail why dyslexia is a significant issue and why our campaign will be important.
Blog and facebook group have been set up three months before the launch of the campaign and are regularly updated with events and information as well as trivia and videos to engage with people and increase awareness.Include explanation of why we are using the internet as a platform
LINK TO WEBPAGE
LINK TO WEBPAGE
We intend to partner with journalists to ensure that there’s sufficient coverage of launch of the campaign. This is to enlighten them about the month long events and seminars that will take place during the launch of our campaign – Action of Dyslexia. Press releases will be distributed at the same time to increase the reach of awareness. We are targeting the newspapers and news station of the the four national languages languages of Singapore – English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.
