[log in to unmask] wrote recently:
>I am keen to initialise/facilitate a dyslexia support group for >students here at Southampton Institute - that, hopefully, would be run >by the students themselves once it got going.
At Brighton last year, we advertised a weekly support group in the
lunch
hour, which I facilitated. My brief was to get it going, and gradually
'bow out' and leave the students to run it themselves. It didn't last.
One week, a student volunteered to note down topics people wanted to
cover, and various people said they'd contribute strategies etc, but the
majority seemed to feel dispirited that staff involvement was going to
disappear. The group was neither student- nor staff-generated.
This year, we have published a leaflet listing two terms' worth of
weekly topics; the session is entitled 'Learning Support Group,' and
comes under Welfare. (The room booking timetable sheet on the door
refers to Welfare - i.e. students do not have to go through a door
marked 'dyslexia.')
This leaflet was sent to all the dyslexic students on file. It was also
distributed around the University, but I did not organise that, so I
cannot tell you about it. A large poster was also put out.
The group is held on a Wednesday afternoon, when there are no lectures.
I am there all the time. Sessions consist of a combination of talk,
handouts and other input from me, and student contributions of
strategies that work for them. In the second half, we have a
'free-for-all' discussion of any topics which students suggest; in the
'third half,' I am available for individual or sub-group work (the room
is booked for three hours).
The location is a pleasant ground floor room in a central teaching
block, with small tables which can easily be grouped in the centre, like
a 'board room.' So far, we have had about 12 people each week.
By presenting the group in the manner described, we attract some
international students and some mature students who are returning to
study after many years, as well as people who are dyslexic. This is both
useful and difficult; sometimes, the specifically dyslexia-orientated
agenda (e.g. working memory difficulties) seems irrelevant to
non-dyslexic people and vice versa; but at other times, there is a
feeling of mutual support, in that studying can present problems at
times for various kinds of student, and the solutions may overlap.
I would be interested to hear from other group facilitators.
(By the way, I am doing this work on a sessional basis, and am not
responsible for Brighton Uni's policy.)
David Pollak [log in to unmask]
Library House
Iford phone: +44 1273 487780
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 3EU
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