UNLOCKING INNOVATION
IN PRISON EDUCATION
EPEA Conference – Antwerp 2015
RELEASING POTENTIAL OF THE 20%
Melanie Jameson, Dyslexia Consultancy Malvern
[email protected]
www.dyslexia-malvern.co.uk
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SPECIFIC LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
Specific Learning Differences [SLDs]
DYSPRAXIA/DCD
DYSCALCULIA
ATTENTION
DEFICIT
DISORDER
DYSLEXIA
NOT to be confused with Learning Disabilities / Difficulties
ABILITIES LINKED TO SLDs
 Creativity & originality
 Visuo-spatial skills
 Visualisation
 Intuitive approach
 Lateral thinking / problem solving
 Affinity for colour / rhythm
 Entrepreneurship
 [Good oral skills]
How can we release this potential?
I
IDENTIFY SLDs
E
ENCOURAGE learners with SLDs
S
SUPPORT them in educn. & training
P
PROMOTE SLD-friendly practices
E
ENABLE, via disability entitlements
Identifying
Offenders with
Specific Learning
Difficulties
DYS - LEXIA can affect:
READING - WRITING - SPEAKING SKILLS - LISTENING SKILLS
DYSLEXIA is an INFORMATION PROCESSING difficulty
DYSLEXIA often affects:
SHORT-TERM & WORKING MEMORY / CONCENTRATION
ORGANISATION / TIME MANAGEMENT
People with Dyslexia may suffer from Visual Stress
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VISUAL STRESS - WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?
1. Dyslexic people are prone to certain eye problems
2. These can be treated by specialist Practitioners *
3. Use of colour may
make reading easier
4. Certain types of text make the problem worse
* SEE www.ceriumoptical.com , www.s4clp.org
& www.dyslexia-malvern.co.uk/visualstress
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ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER
1. Inattention: distractibility, failing to pay attention to detail.
2. Impulsivity: poor inhibition & turn-taking, blurting out
comments.
3. Hyperactivity: garrulous, accident- & addiction-prone.
Further areas affected in ADHD:
listening skills; organisation; awareness of consequences of
your actions; learning from feedback.
ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER [ADD]
dreamy, poor concentration, ‘spaced out’
DYSPRAXIA or
DEVELOPMENTAL CO-ORDINATION DISORDER
Difficulties with
co-ordination: (fine and/or gross motor skills)
speech: poor articulation, lack of control over volume
social skills: may appear tactless, disregard body language
PARTICULAR PROBLEMS
: poor orientation and navigation
: coping with change and new situations.
: poor organisation, prioritisation and time-management
DYSCALCULIA
inability to understand number concepts
subsequent problems with time-telling, money
matters, retaining numbers eg personal dates,
recording dates and appointments correctly,
taking measurements etc.
NUMBERS IN PRISON
Entering your prison number correctly
Form filling (eg canteen form, meal choices)
Using pin numbers for phoning
Dealing with your money
Number aspects of practical training
RESOURCE ON SLDs
KIWIs
K Key facts
I Impact of Specific Learning Difficulty
W Ways of Working with Offenders
I Information & Networks
SEE www.dyslexia-malvern.co.uk
SLDs should be identified as early as possible, so that
difficulties can be addressed during custody.
Screening should be followed by Assessment of those
who screen positive.
The Assessment Report informs the delivery of Support
Chapters 1 & 2
PDF of ‘Releasing Potential’
is freely available from website
www.dyslexia-malvern.co.uk/resources
Encouraging
Offenders with
Specific Learning
Difficulties
Raising Self esteem
Promoting Confidence
Fostering Motivation
HOW?
- Through providing a taste of success
- Through access to the Arts, in the widest sense e.g. London
Shakespeare Workshops
- By valuing and encouraging their abilities
- By giving choice
(people with SpLDs find it particularly
difficult to work on something that is not of personal interest)
Always seek to minimise stress and frustration
(e.g. Prison Phoenix Trust: yoga & meditation)
RESOURCES: Ten Tips & Ten Steps
www.dyslexia-malvern.co.uk/resources
Specific Learning Difficulties / Differences
= a different way of thinking & processing information,
due to neurological differences in brain formation & function
People with SLDs
are often Visual thinkers,
Verbal communication may be challenging
Tom West In the Mind’s Eye (1991)
“For some people the handicap and the gift may be two
aspects of the same thing.
How we perceive it depends entirely on the context.”
Supporting
Offenders with
Specific Learning
Difficulties
Ch 3 Supporting Learners with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia & ADHD
Ch 4 Support for Numeracy & Dyscalculia
Ch 5 Support for Foreign Nationals and ESOL Learners
Ch 7 On-line Learning and Assistive Technology
TEN PRINCIPLES OF SUPPORT
1. Be aware that these are largely visual learners
2. Use a multisensory approach, reinforce learning
3. Teach the subskills (as well as the skills)
4. Break tasks into achievable ‘bite-size’ parts
5. Give frequent feedback and encouragement
6. Use technology to liberate them from weak literacy skills
7. Provide choice and build on areas of interest
8. Include memory and organisational strategies
9. Use mentoring/‘buddy’ systems to help keep them on track
10 Identify individual barriers to progress eg Visual Stress
MINDMAPPING
USING ICT
CASE STUDY
A blow to my self respect was that when I was in school I could
never write a story down although I had them in my head. It was
something about pen and paper and spelling and handwriting.
But I learned to use computers while I was inside.
This has changed my life.
CASE STUDY
I feel I am very disadvantaged if I am given tests or have to
complete timed exercises on the computer. I failed my very first
exam (about spread sheets) because I had to copy numbers
across and place them in the right column - I kept losing the
place and having to start again. Now I realise I can have
extra time, I ask for it. It means I can go really slowly and not
start to panic and make mistakes.
Promoting
an SLD-Friendly
Environment
in our Prisons
Ch 6 Showcasing Good Practice across Europe
examples drawn mainly from EPEA members
Ch 8 An SLD-friendly Learning Environment…………..
STAFF AWARENESS of SpLDs is essential:
for tutors, prison officers & management
ADOPT SLD - FRIENDLY APPROACHES
.. to LEARNING SUPPORT
.. to INDUCTION & ADMIN PROCEDURES
.. to GIVING INSTRUCTIONS
.. to ACCREDITATION and TESTING
.. to WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
ALWAYS TRY TO MINIMISE VISUAL STRESS
Chapter 8
DYSLEXIA-FRIENDLY DOCUMENTATION
minimises Visual Stress
USE
DON’T USE
a clear font, at least 12
small fonts (below size 12)
left justification ONLY
justified right margin
selective use of bold and
bullet points
‘fancy’ fonts and italics
diagrams, charts, icons
bright white or shiny paper
(try cream / pale blue)
images and graphics to
indicate content
text in either red or green
(also a colour-blind issue)
wide spacing
whole words or
phrases in capitals
‘Enabling’ (ex-)prisoners
- through appropriate Work Preparation
- through Disability Entitlements
reframed, in UK, as ‘Equality & Diversity’
- via ‘Signposting’ to specialist services
- by asking about their individual needs
Work Preparation
DOUBLE DISCLOSURE
a) Of an ‘unspent’ criminal conviction
b) Of a specific learning difficulty
Interview practice – a staged process
- Discussion of the job, what it entails
- Explaining your SLD: a three part model
1. your abilities 2 & 3 your difficulties + how you compensate
- ROLE-PLAY Informal questions and answers
- ROLE-PLAY Formal questions and answers
- BEHAVIOUR Greetings, shaking hands, dress code
Ch 9 Resettlement & Employment
Ch 10 Disability / Equality & Diversity Provisions
TERMINOLOGY: WHAT HELPS WHEN?
Vulnerability: ‘a vulnerable court-user’ in need of ‘special measures’
Disability: European Convention on Human Rights, Article 14:
general prohibition on discrimination
Equality & Diversity – much wider than just ‘Disability’
Concept of Accessibility – access to services (digital exclusion)
– accessible communications
Disability Definition in UK embedded in Equality Act, 2010
'a person has a disability if he has a physical or mental impairment
which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability
to carry out normal day to day activities’
IN CONCLUSION
“No-one should be shut off from opportunities,
choice and options in life that most of us take for
granted.
We know that once people are given the chance to
excel, they often do.”
(Reaching Out: An Action Plan on Social Exclusion, 2006)
ANY QUESTIONS?
Melanie Jameson
[email protected]
www.dyslexia-malvern.co.uk
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