More help for dyslexic children, but where’s the school?

The news that dyslexia remediation will be provided at 20 more primary schools, in “Initiatives to help students develop potential rolled out” (March 8), comes some time after talk of a school for those afflicted with the condition (“Special school to be proposed for severely dyslexic children”; Sept 7, 2011).

Our school system still puts dyslexic children who are intelligent but have different learning styles at a disadvantage, leading to low self-esteem. They eventually end up in the worst class. How can we expect to bring out the best in them?

My youngest son is in a sought-after school but could not get enough help from its learning support programme, from which he was discharged after he was able to do some basic reading, as the school had worse cases to tend to and not enough resources.

He will take the Primary School Leaving Examination this year but he still lacks motivation, as do his other classmates, being in the last class.

He goes to the Dyslexia Association of Singapore for English lessons twice weekly and DAS International once a week for its Mathematics programme.

It would be ideal if the Government could beef up DAS and convert it to a recognised primary and even secondary school, instead of having dyslexic children going to mainstream schools that do not suit their learning style and with teachers who are not trained to handle them.

Something should be done on a bigger scale for these children.