Pony-Up for Literacy. You will be giving the gift of reading to someone, and a child will thank you.

Meet Julia. She’s 9 and has JUST finished Year 3. She’s been an independent reader for a while and finds it quite easy – especially if it involves her favourite subject, mythology. Actually, she loves any fiction, but mythology is the specific topic of desire. And she’s our newest literacy champion!

If you are a fully competent reader, writer, listener and speaker, you may have never considered how this skill is essential to the most basic functions of living a rich and full life. I certainly hadn’t thought or truly understood the impacts of low or disordered literacy until I joined the board of Connect42 (formerly Chatter Matters), a Tasmanian organisation which has the mission and vision of 100% literacy locally and nationally.

Dyslexia is a learning difference that makes reading and spelling difficult. Dyslexia is common – over ten percent of the population on its continuum. That’s more than 51,000 Tasmanians. It’s likely you have a friend, family member or work colleague who has dyslexia. But they probably won’t tell you. Perhaps because of fear of being thought to be stupid, or the potential impact on expectations regarding their capability, or it could be because the cause of their difficulty with reading was never identified.

‘Speech pathologist? Why does he need to see a speech pathologist? He has no problems with his speech.’

My mum didn’t quite get it when I told her that one of my sons was having sessions with a speech and language pathologist (SLP). And I must confess, when we first received my son’s autism diagnosis, and his paediatrician recommended speech pathology sessions as part of his ongoing therapy, I was a bit confused too.

Both of my boys are notoriously chatty and articulate, and have been from a very early age. The only person I knew that had ever had ‘speech therapy’ was one of my cousins, who worked with an SLP when he was a little boy whose speech was very difficult to understand. It turns out that, like many other people who have had little to do with SLPs, my understanding of the profession was rather narrow.

Have you ever travelled to another country where you didn’t speak the language? Do you remember feeling frustrated when simple tasks, such as ordering a coffee or asking for directions, required more effort and lead to communication breaks down? This is a daily experience for people with Developmental Language Disorder or DLD.

For someone with dyslexia, reaching functional literacy on their own can be like climbing an insurmountably steep hill. But effective support from dedicated people creates a gently sloping ramp that makes the impossible achievable. More broadly, the steep hill can represent the journey toward functional oral and written communication for people who struggle with language and literacy. This includes those with dyslexia, Developmental Language Disorder (a significant language difficulty without an obvious cause), and other neurodevelopmental conditions.

Ground Level Literacy brought literacy teaching to two formerly homeless men in 2017. The men became tenants of Common Ground Tasmania, a dignified apartment facility to accommodate people who have been sleeping rough. 

A young student, pen in hand, was writing a word while making the speech sounds. The Principal was looking on. d…r…e…n…ch… drench.