Kate Griggs

FROM MADE BY DYSLEXIA

In this episode of Education Corner Podcast, we welcomed Kate Griggs, Founder and CEO of Made By Dyslexia. Kate spoke with us about shifting the narrative on dyslexia, how she and her company continue to advocate for better support and opportunities for dyslexics and how Dyslexic Thinking can thrive in a future powered by AI.

Kate herself, and much of her family, are dyslexic. She told us: “I had a very rough start at school where I was basically told that I was never going to pass any exams and that my parents shouldn’t have any hopes for me doing anything academic.” However, her prospects and life were turned around when: “I was then sent to a brilliant school aged nine that actually recognised within a couple of weeks that I was dyslexic, I was perfectly capable, perfectly bright and also really focused on dyslexic thinking skills, all the strengths that I had as a dyslexic child.” It is this experience which showed Kate the power of positive education as well as understanding and knowledgeable teachers: “My life literally transformed once teachers were able to recognise why I was struggling and could support the things that I was really good at.” wonderful kids that are just being told that they’re stupid and ‘less than’ from such a young age.”

The most common misconception about dyslexia is that it’s just difficulty with reading and writing, which Kate believes is a potentially harmful misunderstanding, stating: “Dyslexia is so much more than reading and writing.” She went on to explain: “Also dyslexia affects maths [...] maths is quite a wordy subject often, so that can really hold dyslexics back. They’ll know the answer, but won’t be able to tell you how they’ve got to that solution, and with a very exam focused system, we do need extra time.”

Kate is keen to highlight not just the ways in which dyslexia may hold people back, but also how it can be a strength: “The thing that is really, really important is these incredible skills, the dyslexic thinking skills that come with dyslexia.” The term ‘dyslexic thinking’ has recently been added as an official by LinkedIn and added to the dictionary, and refers to: “An approach to problem solving, assessing information and learning often

When Kate’s son, Ted, was at school, it again became clear how few teachers were trained in dyslexia. “I ended up going and training myself and then thinking, ‘You know what, I have to do something about it,’” Kate recalled: “because these are brilliant kids, absolutely amazingly bright,

Made By Dyslexia

used by people with dyslexia that involves pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, lateral thinking and interpersonal communication.” Kate highlights that whilst dyslexics may struggle with things most often assessed in school, such as “rote learning, spelling, punctuation and grammar,” the dyslexic thinking skills such as “interpersonal skills, complex problem solving and creative thinking” are those which cannot be replaced by AI and are becoming increasingly important in a fast-changing modern world. Made By Dyslexia recently released a new report called Intelligence 5.0 and Kate explained their findings: “In the report, we’ve worked with Randstad, the world’s biggest recruitment company, and they have found that those skills that are completely aligned with dyslexic thinking are the most sought-after skills in every workplace in every sector globally.”

In 2009, Kate’s work campaigning for better education about dyslexia in schools resulted in the Rose Review, which recommended that all teachers in the UK be trained in dyslexia. Since then, Kate finds: “we’ve gone forwards in some ways, in that I think phonics is the right way to teach reading.” However, she feels there is still progress to be made: “policies around a knowledge-based curriculum, lots of exams, spelling, punctuation and grammar being so vitally important in everything is a step in the wrong direction. I think that there is too much focus in education on that.”

To support parents in this, Made By Dyslexia has many resources and training videos available, and encourages parents to “be their [child’s] champion, talk to the school about the things that they’re good at, ask the school to make sure they really focus on those things and not just too much emphasis on strict curriculum and passing exams.”

Kate hopes that positive change will continue to take place. “Identification is the first thing because for a dyslexic person, it enables you to understand why you can’t do what other kids can do, and that’s really helpful for parents and teachers too.” She emphasised, “We 100% have to put as much focus on strengths as challenges because it’s the confidence that you can build through the things that you’re good at that helps you to really persevere and hunker down to do the work that you need to do to keep up.” For schools, she suggests projectbased learning and embracing and celebrating the strengths of all children, to enable them to build confidence and thrive: “Every dyslexic child will be brilliant at one or several things and that’s what you need to really nurture. So just recognise that the future is not all about academic passing exams because that’s not important when you get into the workplace.”

Kate also told us how AI can be used to support dyslexics. “For any dyslexic who’s used ChatGPT, it is an absolute, absolute game changer,” she shared. She praised how AI can help with things