Dyslexia (specific impairment regarding reading/writing skills) is an increasing problem affecting children as well as adults (estimated prevalence 8-20%). The long-term effects from it are higher youth unemployment rates, functional illiteracy, high rate of unfinished vocational trainings. According to the European Dyslexia Association, 8% of the population suffers from dyslexia, although some experts claim that the percentage reaches 20%, of which between 2 and 4% are seriously affected.Dyslexia is a functional illiteracy. According to UNESCO, the number of functional illiterates varies from 10% up to 30% in EU. Today, experts estimate that up to 25 million workers in Europe are affected by this problem. On the other hand, dyslexia in the adulthood means a lifetime of underachievement, frustration and often unemployment. Today is well known that the long-term effects of dyslexia on education and labour market are enormous, e.g. higher youth unemployment rates (12%). While this is the general situation of the problem, there is still no common frame of recognized curriculum in most of the EU countries. Experts believe that the problem may be more severe and less known in Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania and Greece, where the knowledge about methodologies to detect the problem is insufficient. There is lack of dyslexia experts and of specific didactic tools in Bulgarian, Romanian, Turkish and Greek. Although several projects within the EU concerning dyslexia have been realized, a general frame toward comparable standards in training is still missing. In this context, the lack of a quality common curriculum in EU is a problem, which leads to different implementations and rather poor results. Particularly in Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania and Greece teachers and parents are often not able to pick up the symptoms that indicate dyslexia or other learning disorders, which, consequently, are diagnosed very late, or even not being identified and diagnosed as such. EUPALT was a successful EU project which successfully approached this problem, covering different levels of education and developing training tools. The products developed in the frame of EUPALT include a country based self-assessment tool; an online resource center and an e-learning course. Target groups of EUPALT project are therapists and teachers working with people with dyslexia. The Understand & Teach project aims to build on the achievements of the EPLAUT and add new tests and learning tools supporting the teachers, trainers, and parents of dyslexic children. Having in mind that the materials and tests of the EPLAUT are only in English, German and Portuguese all the EPLAUT compendium of knowledge and the new tools and materials will be translated in Bulgarian, Turkish, Romanian and Greek. This will give wider access to the knowledge and expertise for identifying and fighting dyslexia in the respective countries and will greatly enlarge the number of direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project. Main aims of the UNDERSTAND & TEACH project is:• Adaptation of the curriculum developed in the frame of EUPALT project to kindergarten/primary school teachers, providing reliable knowledge on dyslexia as well as physiological (psychologists, psychiatrists) and educational consequences and the barriers faced by dyslexic individuals in accessing education and labour market along with ways of eliminating them.• Equipping teachers, tutors and others who have a duty of care towards dyslexic students with the ability to teach and support them successfully and efficiently.• Creation of a network of stakeholders at local and regional level for raising awareness about dyslexia and other learning disorders, for keeping the attention of decision makers and other relevant institutions about the negative impact of learning disorders on the course of education, training and employment of people.• Developing an active attitude in teachers and managers supporting dyslexic individuals as regards access to knowledge and the labour market.
Dyslexia (specific impairment regarding reading/writing skills) is an increasing problem affecting children as well as adults (estimated prevalence 8-20%). The long-term effects from it are higher youth unemployment rates, functional illiteracy, and high rate of unfinished vocational trainings. According to the European Dyslexia Association, 8% of the population suffers from dyslexia, although some experts claim that the percentage reaches 20%, of which between 2% and 4% are seriously affected. Dyslexia is a functional illiteracy. According to UNESCO, the number of functional illiterates varies from 10% up to 30% in EU. Today, experts estimate that up to 25 million workers in Europe are affected by this problem. On the other hand, dyslexia in the adulthood means a lifetime of underachievement, frustration and often unemployment. Today is well known that the long-term effects of dyslexia on education and labor market are enormous, e.g. higher youth unemployment rates (12%). While this is the general situation of the problem, there is still no common frame of recognized curriculum in most of the EU countries. Experts believe that the problem may be more severe and less known in Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania and Greece, where the knowledge about methodologies to detect the problem is insufficient. Teachers and parents are often not able to pick up the symptoms that indicate dyslexia or other learning difficulties, which, consequently, are diagnosed very late, or are not diagnosed and as such. EUPALT was a successful EU project which approached this problem, covering different levels of education and developing training tools. The products developed in the frame of EUPALT include a country based self-assessment tool; an online resource center and an e-learning course. Target groups of EUPALT project are therapists and teachers working with people with dyslexia. The “Understand & Teach” project has built on the achievements of the EUPALT has added new simplified tests and a guide. While not so highly academic, through extensive research and qualitative questionnaires, the “Understand & Teach” has achieved a more accessible result, which is not aimed at professionals in the area of children with learning difficulties, but at teacher, educators, parents and students, who have or are in touch with people suffering from dyslexia. This greatly increases the number of direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project. The “Understand & Teach” project has accomplished several things during its course. First of all one of the main goals during the two year period was publicity and understanding of the issue. While not entire misunderstood in all EU and partner countries, many of the countries such as Bulgaria and Turkey still diagnose dyslexia as a disability and adapt to it as such. During the project we have managed to publicize and promote a different viewpoint on dyslexia, especially the lighter causes, which can easily be overcome by adaptive teaching and understanding in the classroom environment. The next result that the “Understand & Teach” has provided is an online resource, which provides easy to use guides and tests for self-testing. While not as accurate as professional scientific questionnaires, the tests posted can provide two different effects – either relief that the child/student is not affected by dyslexia or to warn of possible signs of dyslexia and point in the direction of a professional for further testing. Through the tests, another benefit is understanding what the condition of dyslexia comprises of and how it works and to a certain extent that it is by no way a disability in the conventional understanding of the word. Another result that “Understand & Teach” has provided is the creation of an accessible (translated in 6 languages) and easy to read guide to parents, teachers and people suffering from dyslexia. The guide provides practical advice on how to both understand the condition and adapt to it to achieve easier learning and less harmful effects for the future development of the student/child and just other people in general. The other results from the project are building up on and publicizing the EUPALT compendium of knowledge with even more sources, so that further academic research into the topic can be continued and developed. The project has also managed to attract the attention of several governmental institutions and a possible side effect which would further develop the cause, would be the continuous work and implementation of regulatory framework on the topic and unification of European support frameworks in schools for children/students with dyslexia.