30 April 2013 Dyslexia International (DI) recently held a ‘Give the Gift of Literacy’ lunch at the European Parliament in Brussels in the presence of its patron, Her Royal Highness Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein. www.dyslexia-international.org

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Dyslexia International (DI) recently held
a ‘Give the Gift of Literacy’ lunch at the
European Parliament in Brussels in the
presence of its patron, Her Royal Highness
Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein.
The lunch was an occasion to thank all DI’s
sponsors, in particular those that supported
its e-Campus, an open education resource
offering high-quality, free, online training
for teachers. The e-Campus, which is
available in French and English with more
languages to follow, is equipping teachers
with the means to teach reading and writing
to all their students, including those with
specific difficulties.
At the lunch, Nirj Deva, the Member of
the European Parliament for South East
England, said that he has family members
and friends with dyslexia and recognizes the
advantage of early detection. Those that are
not diagnosed till later in their development
are more likely to suffer from problems of
self-esteem, he added.
Among the attendees were representatives
from DI supporters including Ludvig
Forrest of the King Baudouin Foundation,
Elise Bouvy of the Generation Europe
Foundation, Christine Lenneberg, director
of Internationalisation Support Unit,
Brussels Invest and Export, André Poncelet,
founder member, and Jean-Francois
Delsarte, education councilor at the Cabinet
de la Ministre Marie-Dominique Simonet.
Experts, including Dr Chasty, a member of
Dyslexia International’s Advisory Panel and
a psychologist and international consultant
on learning abilities, have argued that 90%
of all children with dyslexia (or difficulties
with reading, writing, spelling, memory and
organisation) can be taught in a mainstream
class provided their teachers are adequately
trained. Technology such as the e-Campus
is now making it possible to train all
teachers at no extra cost to the government.
Judith Sanson, chair of the board of
directors, DI, said: “There is no reason
why ministries cannot now ensure that all
their teachers are given the opportunity
to upgrade their skills based on latest
research and learn what dyslexia is, how to
identify it and how to adapt their teaching
approaches and methods to be equipped to
include those children with special needs
in mainstream classes.” The francophone
ministry of education in Belgium have
successfully piloted the e-Campus and are
leading the way in showing how its Open
Courseware, free online training can be
used to raise teaching levels across the
country.
Meanwhile, DI is in discussions with
Stanford University Coursera team with
a view to introducing the online training
in their programme so that it will be more
Giving the gift of literacy
30 April 2013

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widely known and available in all parts of
the world.
Next year’s World Dyslexia Forum in
Brazil represents an opportunity to expand
the training further – the training is now
also available in Portuguese. Dyslexia
International promotes free and fair
education for all and equal opportunities for
those who struggle with reading and writing
by making teacher training the priority.
www.dyslexia-international.org