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Description
Children with reading difficulties go often unnoticed in the school system and it is widely believed that poor reading skills are due to low intellectual abilities and laziness. Although reading difficulty and dyslexia are not related to intelligence, these terms are still associated with false shame in Estonia. This creates a favorable ground for the spread of myths and misinformation.
In order to move towards an open and tolerant society, it is necessary to normalize dyslexia and provide better and more effective support measures for people with dyslexia so that they could reach their full potential. We must pay more attention to the views of parents of children with dyslexia when shaping education policies.
The involvement of parents in the process of educational policies is a resource that has been little used so far. The Reading Association has long-term and unique experience in the field of dyslexia in Estonia, among our members are also parents. With the project, we want to increase our ability to become a respectable partner in the design of educational policies by uniting the parents. To move towards that goal, we think that is necessary to increase the visibility of dyslexia topics and increase the parents’ awareness.
As a result of the project we have formed a parent group under the Reading Association and their activities are based on a long-term strategy. The topic of dyslexia has gained wider coverage in society through speakers and digital information materials. As a result, the Reading Association has a greater potential to be involved in shaping educational policies in the field of reading difficulties. In the final phase of the project, we will carry out an analysis, which will be an input for future activities.