A quality benchmark has been introduced in the Island to support children with dyslexia.

Local schools are being given up to ?1,300 to help them achieve a widely recognised qualification, known as the Dyslexia Aware Quality Mark.

It's a joint initiative, involving the department and the Manx Dyslexia Association (MDA), from which five primary schools have already benefited.

To achieve the award a school must show it is 'dyslexia aware', and meets the needs of most of its dyslexic learners through, what are termed 'reasonable adjustments'.

The Department says that the award 'celebrates the ways in which policy, practice ethos and culture combine to enable dyslexic learners to be the best they can be'.

Among other things, training provided for schools promotes dyslexia as a learning difference, not a difficulty, and encourages the needs of dyslexic learners to be met in mainstream classes.

Around ten per cent of all children have some degree of dyslexic difficulty and it's hoped more schools will take up the offer of assistance.

The Department has pledged to help schools attain this award by offering to make up the difference between the ?500 per school offered by the MDA and the total cost of the training, which can be up to ?1,300. 

The schools which have benefited so far are Cronk-y-Berry, St Mary's, Murray's Road, Rushen and Willaston.

Joyce Monroe, Chartered Educational Psychologist with the Special Needs and Psychology Service, comments, "Knowledge and understanding of the nature of dyslexia, gained as a result of this training, will further equip teachers to enable all young people to become successful learners, responsible and aware individuals, confident and assured people and purposeful contributors to Isle of Man society."