A chara, – Parents of children with dyslexia are often led to believe that their children are not capable of learning Irish and that Irish is exacerbating their dyslexia. This is not the case and arises from a fundamental misunderstanding of how languages are taught and learned. When children in English-medium schools start to acquire literacy skills in Irish, they do so by building on the skills they have already acquired in English or in another home language. In practical terms, this means that they already developing their ability to read words and decode text; they can use the visual cues in pictures, and they can break words into syllables. What they do need to learn, however, is that some letters and vowels in Irish have different sounds from English and are pronounced differently. Contrary to claims in some quarters, there are phonic-based approaches to teaching Irish, as well as a range of assistive technologies now available for Irish including speech synthesis, speech recognition and dictation technologies.
Literacy skills in Irish are taught in line with best international practice for teaching additional languages. Irish reading and writing as a student’s additional language should not be taught as English is taught. Doing so would be a disservice to the student, ignoring all they have already learned.
These misunderstandings, among others, have led to the perceived rationale for granting exemptions from the study of Irish at primary and post-primary level. A student granted an exemption is not assessed in their ability to learn Irish. Instead, they are assessed to see if they have significant literacy difficulties. Some people argue that if a child has such literacy difficulties, they should be exempted from studying Irish because they can’t cope with two written language codes. There is, however, no basis to the claim, as attested by the strong representation of children with dyslexia in Irish-medium and Gaeltacht schools. Equally, there is no such thing as a language learning disability. If a student has severe dyslexia, there is no need for them to be exposed to two written codes simultaneously. Using an inclusive approach to teaching and learning, the student can be exposed to oral Irish, listening and speaking, with reading and writing delayed until the student has a greater command of one written code.
It is worth stating that an exemption does not support the child with the learning challenges they are experiencing, nor is there an alternative system in place that provides meaningful support for their oral Irish development.
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Instead, students with an exemption from Irish are lead to understand that Irish-language learning is beyond their capability. It is critical that this deficit approach to disability is no longer sustained, but that children and young people are actively supported to enjoy all the social, linguistic and cognitive benefits of learning Irish, as well as the long-term career opportunities. – Is sinne,
An tOllamh PÁDRAIG Ó DUIBHIR,
An Dr EMILY BARNES,
Gaeloideachas,
Institiúid Oideachais Marino,
Baile Átha Cliath 9.
