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Ah, good question. So "SEN" is short for "special educational needs". Sometimes you'll hear "SEND" (special educational needs and disabilities). A "SEN Statement" sets out what the pupil's special educational needs are, describes the provision and accommodations they'll require to help meet those needs, and advises for the educational setting they should attend. In essence, it makes a child's dyslexia, or autism, or ADHD (or other needs) official. And EHCP (I called it in the video "an educational support plan") is short for "Education, Health and Care Plan". Again, it can identify the child’s specific needs, and lay out what additional support should be provided to meet those needs. It can be put in place to support the child with special educational needs (see above) if their schools struggle to find the resources they need to support them. Essentially, the first is an official statement of need; the second is a plan of action. In some places, you won't get the "statementing" anymore, you'll just get the EHCP, which takes a more holistic approach to the child’s needs, and covers all sorts of things from their educational needs through their health needs to their social care needs. You don't need to have a formal diagnosis to get an EHCP, you just need "needs". My apologies to you and others who aren't familiar with the jargon. It's very easy, especially when trying to "run a short video off", to forget that certain terms need explanation and aren't universally understood. Thanks for the heads-up!

Thank you. Your work is greatly appreciated and needed. Every human being has so much to offer and a capacity that is so much more than our society currently understands. Your work is definitely moving toward a more loving and accepting word that everyone deserves.

Hi Paul, honestly, I wish I knew. I'm always a little frustrated when this happens - and it's not just the focus, it's the light settings: sometimes I appear really dark or a strange blue-ish hue. I'm working on it. I don't actually know what settings I'm using (this is probably where the problem lies!), but I need to be more mindful about the outcome. Honestly, thank you for your patience. I hope I can make improvements. ❤

VERY impressed! I've always seen it as a sign that we dyslexics do indeed have talents and skills that are so necessary in the world; but that education, those formative years at school, drains the success out of us.

🤣I'd love to do the maths if I was able! 🤣

I'm so sorry Jeremy, yes, it's draining, humiliating, and filled with the pressures of shame imposed from outside - and not at all your (or any other child's) fault. Opposition is indeed communication. As that famous quotation by Annette Breaux goes, "nine times out of ten, the story behind a child's misbehaviour won't make you angry, it'll break your heart". I can only hope you found the strength and the space to grow beyond those awful experiences. ❤‍🩹

@DyslexiaBytes For the most part, I have come to terms with my own neurodivergence. Helping my children navigate their own neurodivergence and the associated struggles is daunting. Thank you for your work and thoughtful insights.

Your mum sounds awesome. Never stop telling her that (I hope she's still with you). ❤

"Your struggle with dyslexia is really about your fear of making mistakes." - what a fascinating insight (and I think, so true - I've just come off a call with a colleague who'd said I'd "confused her", and I read that to mean I'd "disappointed her". I have an inbuilt fear of disappointing people and looking bad in their eyes. And yes, definitely - I know so many people who are so much cleverer than I am, who haven't "achieved" in their own eyes; and that goes for me too: I constantly wish I could achieve more. Thank you for your comments. I really do appreciate them.

Thank you, I really appreciate your comments. And really great points. You also have an excellent take: it's a balance of pros and cons. It is a very very blurry area, yes. I was discussing with some friends / colleagues recently about what would legally constitute "affects day to day living" in different contexts. So for instance, there was a case in the UK of two women who successfully sued their school / education authority for not recognising and accommodating their dyslexia, and basically causing them to fail their exams (I say they were "successful", but the High Court later overturned the decision, no doubt for political and financial reasons). I think I'd really struggle to successfully sue my school / education authority though, because I now have a PhD, and it would be very hard to argue that my schooling had "failed" me (even though I got held back a year twice, I got next to no O-Levels / GCSEs, and I was the bottom of the class in nearly everything). Has my dyslexia affected my day-to-day life? Yes, without a doubt. But the level of the impact seems crucial (and very subjective). I work. I got my qualifications. I even enjoy a good book. The fact that I'm slow at my reading and writing, that I'm highly disorganised, that I have emotional overwhelm, that I keep getting my maths wrong, that I'll often spill / drop / break things and choke on my cups of tea (dyspraxia) is real to me, but to a court of law? It's all about arguing that "it's affected me [here], like [this]". And I hate to say it, but that all depends on how good the lawyers are. 😕

@@DyslexiaBytes well put. Yes, the effect is that you and I took longer and had to work harder to attain our qualifications. I too left school with no qualifications. It wasn't until I joined the army, who noticed I wasn't thick, good at problem solving and gave me responsibilities etc that I became more trusting of my potential . Nonetheless, as I've got older I find reading/concentration more tiring and my previously very mild ADHD has become much worse. Now I've started studying the mind of the Dyslexic I can look back and see how it's been of benefit to others or myself. Whether that's finding a way of making my machine cut the smallest letters that our sign company got more contracts than the competition (I was just 16 and a half) or how, I changed lives for other teachers via developing easy to use project booklets that sold all over the country (realised the job is impossible to match all levels and stay on task if absent so I designed projects that addressed this problem). I've been fascinated by your videos. I'm now putting together a business for teachers, parents and dyslexics to find ways to help with spell. I think I'm also going to do a podcast channel and I'd love to have discussions with you when the time comes. Please keep in touch 😀 info@dyslexable.com

@@MikeEdwards-rw4bd I'd be honoured to. (Incidentally, I've tried finding dyslexable.com, but couldn't find a web address. I don't know whether you know, but I've been building The Dyslexia Map - www.TheDyslexiaMap.com - and would be very happy to include Dyslexable on it, if and when you have it running)

@@DyslexiaBytes Hi, I've not launched yet. In the process of setting up. I've the trade name and domain, designed the website etc etc. I'm planning on launching in November or sooner. 👌😎

@@MikeEdwards-rw4bd Exciting times! Please keep me informed. ✊

I'm so glad you finally got the support you deserve, and deserved all along. It's so common that people's dyslexia isn't picked up in schools, and it's so damaging - as your story illustrates. Remember (I'm sure you know) - you're not thick, you were failed. There's an old quote by Walter Barbe, “If you've told a child a thousand times and he still doesn't understand, then it is not the child who is a slow learner". Never a truer word said.

Yes, there's a huge co-occurrence between dyslexia and Irlen's Syndrome. Have you seen this video? It's very good, and seems to describe a lot of what you mention. czcams.com/video/FARizLljRkc/video.html

Hi Mr Jasper, and thanks so much for you comment, I do appreciate all comments and "pushback" like this is very helpful and important. I'm sorry I didn't communicate my point well enough to you. I'm not saying that dyslexics aren't disciplined or good at academic disciplines (I don't think I said anything like that in this video); and I didn't classify any dyslexic traits like that at all here. In fact, I don't think I talked about dyslexic traits at all in this video. Perhaps I did in another video? (honestly, I'd like to know where, so we can discuss it in a sensitive and constructive way, like you obviously do) My point in *this* video is that a disproportionate number of dyslexics suffer from mental health problems, and that this doesn't receive the attention (or attract the research) that it should. These mental health problems aren't dyslexic traits (although, in another video, I do point out research that shows how many dyslexics are more emotionally sensitive than "neurotypicals" and that due to executive function challenges many dyslexics find these emotions difficult to regulate), they're what we suffer because of low self-esteem (often as a product of poor schooling, bullying, poor job prospects and low income, etc) and the effects of individuals, society, and socio-economic structures. I hope that helps explain what I clearly didn't explain well enough in the video! ❤❤‍🩹❤

❤ Oh... I'm honestly not sure what to say. Thank you, so much - but I'm not sure I've earned that. But I'm honoured and absolutely humbled to think this video might have helped ❤ I hope you know that I have no power to save your life, compared with you own ❤❤❤

It does sound like a (very common) mixture of dyslexia and ADHD. I'm so sorry you were bullied, it's incredibly common among dyslexics and other neurodivergents. I can only pray you've found ways of staying positive. 💔❤‍🩹❤

@@DyslexiaBytes I am working on it moving more towards spirituality and trying to understand the brain better and what it is made. My logic is if I can remove heavy metals, eat to enhance its function things should improve.

I'm so sorry. If you're still looking for help, wherever you are in the world, perhaps you'd like to look at my Dyslexia Map, where I'm plotting dyslexia-focused organisations onto a Google Map, all around the globe. If you'd like to, please take a look at it here: www.TheDyslexiaMap.com ❤

@@DyslexiaBytes man the amount of times my teachers would make me redo my papers cuz they couldn’t read my hand writing 🥲I just gave up

I feel you my friend. Horrible wasn't it. ❤‍🩹

Great comment - and yes, I agree, there's a number of ways of judging people: in one sense, I value and love everyone, even those I despise (or I try to, but doubtless fail); but of course in another (probably in the sense we're talking about here), it's far better to judge people (dyslexic, non-dyslexic, borderline...) on both their achievements and to a greater extent their moral character (there's some interesting evidence that dyslexics value certain virtues more than non-dyslexics, but I'm a little hesitant about the robustness of that study). So if, as you say, "a dyslexic person is judged on the merits of their success", are we saying that their success is (a) directly or indirectly down to their dyslexia, *and* (b) these dyslexic strengths are representative of all us us with dyslexia? And then, do they have to be representative of us all?... I really don't know! And I agree that a lot of those dyslexics we idolise have had the kind of start in life we can only dream of (although some have indeed "made it by themselves"). I wonder, if that's the case, that setting them us as "examples of people like us" is kind of psychologically damaging. It just... well, it just plays on my mind sometimes. But thank you for this, I really love these thoughts and angles of thinking about things. And thank you for your positive support, it means a lot. ✊

Part of being dyslexic is lateral thinking which increases ones ability in strategical thinking too. Personally love or hate Trump he seems very able at twisting things on him back on them. To me Trump is a very clever strategical thinker in that he reverses devestating situation to his advantage. I noticed that, because the press were not allowing him to put his point across, that he conjured a brilliant move to make this backfire upon them. He called a press conference saying he was about to reveal something so big that the whole nation needed to see it live. The press turned up in droves. His agents made sure they were rolling live or wouldn't be one of the outlets that got this footage. They walked into a room with him and three woman. All these woman were victims of Clinton rape (one had won a case against him). You see, all the press ran was his pussy grabbing comment over and over but omitted to reveal what they could have brought up against Clinton. He found a way to dupe them . Like him or not - that was an impressive strategical move.

Oh, what a thought! 😃 When I was younger, I used to fence (and quite well too, even though my dyspraxia meant that it took me a long long time to learn, and to not hit people too hard with my foil; and even though in the end I kept injuring myself). I'd love to think I'd excel as a duellist, or a hussar, or something! 😍

To know that others are different like me but I am definitely different from them.

@@CarolAnnAlexander Yes, I agree that knowing there are others like us can help, and I'm truly happy when people feel that (in fact, I've certainly felt it, and sometimes still do). I don't want to "tell" anyone that it can't, and I hope I didn't come across like that. I was really arguing against the "deification" of certain dyslexics, and the "sweeping under the carpet" of others, at their expense. I think I was really calling for balance. ❤

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Fantastic to hear success stories like this! Thank you @housedesigns ❤❤❤

Oh Riki, I'm so sorry you've had to suffer all that. Yes, I really hope there are people who can help you. Depending on where you are in India there are dyslexia associations who you might want to speak to - have you seen my Dyslexia Map? I can help you locate help nearby: www.TheDyslexiaMap.com I truly hope you can find support. I know it must be there. ❤

@@DyslexiaBytes thank you I will look into it 😊

Fantastic, MJ. That's one hell of a long time (over thirty years) to hide your true self away. I can only imagine how emotionally exhausting that was.

Happy to, Mike. You can find me at www.DyslexiaBytes.org/Contact ❤

❤ Spot on!!! ❤

🤣 Good point! 🤣

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My heart really goes out to you ❤ I'm so sorry you were basically failed in this respect by the world around you. "Emotions on steroids" - what a perfect description. You read other people's emotions, but then you empathise and feel them so much it's like you're carrying their world in your heart. I hope you know you're not alone. ❤

Yes! And you've discovered something you can almost certainly do better than other people. What's so frustrating is that throughout your childhood, you were told what you couldn't do, rather than what you could do. And that almost certainly held you back and hurt you emotionally. 💔

😢🎉

I'm so sorry it's been so hard - I can really relate. You have so much more "emotional weight" to carry, and nobody (I'm guessing) has ever taken that seriously. How unfair is that! I just hope that you know - you're not alone. ❤

So true. 💖 🙌

These are great points Ralph, and yes, there's a huge tension between different models. I suspect (and I think that this is a big reason behind making the video) that much of my problem with "the social model as the only and complete explanation" is that I see it, and the medical model (and the functional model, etc) as imperfect and incomplete constructs, and that we might need to throw them out with the bathwater at some point. Ether was a great way of understanding our place in the cosmos for a good few hundred years; but once we created better constructs, we breathed a sigh of relief and found that we could explain and predict the universe much better without it. What makes me uncomfortable is the feeling that many people see "the medical model" and "the social model" as (the only available) mutually exclusive opposites, and that doesn't sit well with me. Your point of how we're complex individuals is a great one. And again, perhaps you've put your finger on something I *could* have mentioned but didn't think to: because we're so complex, it feels uncomfortable blanketing everyone with the same model. The people are being asked to fit the model, rather than the model being stress tested to see whether it accommodates the people. In a way, it's the problem with traditional monolithic views of national cultures. In truth, they're little more than racism dressed up as intellect. People are complex, organic, and overlapping (and mutually influential) intersections of so many influences. Static models of culture don't capture that; and I suspect, nor do static models of dyslexia. Regarding your earlier point, though, I should clarify: when I said that people don't talk about the problems of whiteness, I should have been clearer: what I meant was that where white people don't feel that being white is a problem (and some do, I understand that), or where men don't feel that being male is a problem, they don't feel the need to create "a social model of whiteness", or "a social model of masculinity". It's *only* where we see something as a problem that we construct a social model to explain it away societally. Non-white, non-male observers may well see white masculinity as a problem, and they may actually construct very good social models where white males are the structural barriers. I agree with you. I think my point was that where we have things that aren't initially problematic (such as maleness for many men, or whiteness for many white people), we don't construct social models to explain them societally; and so, where we do construct social models to explain problems away, the thought is that people see them as problematic in the first place. Does that make sense? Perhaps if I put it like this (please forgive me, I'm trying not to trip up over my own explanations)... 1. there are white men who don't have a problem being white men; 2. so they don't feel the need to construct a social model of white manliness to explain their predicaments; 3. but there are (let's say) non-white women who feel they have a rough deal in the world; 4. so these women feel it's natural to create a "social model" to explain this (=> white men have created a predominantly white male society that disadvantages them); 5. therefore, those who create a social model of dyslexia are saying, from the off, that being dyslexic is a problem that needs a societal explanation. I'm completely unable to say "6. therefore, those who talk about the social model of dyslexia are saying dyslexia is a problem", which I think is my worry; but it's really where I was coming from. I worry (invalidly, I know, but still...) that using the social model is inadvertently smuggling in a negative perception of being dyslexic through the back door. I also get it: there's "nothing wrong" with being a non-white woman here either. I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with it. Perhaps I worry that while there's nothing wrong with being a non-white woman, as a dyslexic man I feel that having to construct a social model to explain stuff away somehow implies that there's something about me (rather than my situation) that has to be explained kindly away, and that feels a little insulting. I may be going round in circles. I may have hit upon something. I can't quite decide. But I hope you understand that what I was opaquely saying was trying to be non-negative about dyslexic people and our situation, rather than (clumsily perhaps) implying that the world doesn't talk about "the problems of masculinity or whiteness".

Thankyou Will, I really do appreciate that. You asked: "do you think other nuerotypes will in the future be regraded as nothing more than a variation of human cognition instead of "x nuerotype"?". In answer to your question, I'd say yes, and this will probably be part of a journey. I'll explain what I mean (and I'm prepared to be totally wrong, of course). - I think, ultimately, this is starting to happen, albeit slowly, and in different ways in different parts of the world. I can see it progressing. "Neurodivergent" will become "another form of human cognition". People such as Kate Griggs are pushing this narrative (although they might be pushing it a bit too far). We are, in the end, simply different from that which is typical. - But I also think it's part of a journey. I think that there'll come a point, perhaps not too far in the future, when we realise firstly that almost no one is "simply dyslexic", or "simply ADHD"; we're a complex intersection of neurotypes (Amanda Kirby has done some work on this). Once we see this, it may be that we'll stop referring to people as "dyslexic", because that doesn't really cover what any individual is. We're all far more complex than that. And then, as Joe Elliott argues (I'll be releasing an interview I did with him shortly, so please watch this space), perhaps we'll realise that a diagnostic assessment of "dyslexia" doesn't in itself carry much content, it's far more useful to talk about a person's presentations (manifestations / needs / advantages / etc). That'll be more useful in getting the accommodations required, and it'll also open the door for those who can't afford an assessment to also get accommodations. I'm not sure what direction things are going to take, but we might even see words like "dyslexic" and "autistic" someday as being as offensive as... well, you know and remember those words we used to use about certain groups when we were children. We don't talk like that about people these days. I think that because diagnostic assessments of dyslexia (etc) differ from place to place; and as people's dyslexic manifestations are different from individual to individual; and as we realise that no one is simply one neurotype but a complex overlapping of different neurotypes; and as we see that one label doesn't always explain any individual's needs without having to have further explanation on top of that label; and as language changes and social attitudes towards language evolves;... that maybe one day we'll drop the dyslexia label altogether. *It may be - it may be! - that words such as "dyslexia" are vehicles that get us so far in a necessary journey, and have to be discarded as we find more suitable vehicles that'll get us up different mountains.* I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I'd be mightily surprised if, in fifty years' time, we're still referring to people as dyslexic or autistic or ADHD in the same way that we currently do, expecting the same responses (at least, in Britain and America. It's harder to predict what might happen internationally). I'd love to know what you think about this.

@@DyslexiaBytes I like to lean into the optimistic side as much as I can without being overly so. It is funny to me how terms such as "dyslexic" and "autistic" have gone from misunderstood scientific terminology to words of insult and discrimination, and now today regraded as to proud terms of self identification. It seams even the most derogatory terms used to describe neurodivergent people these days are less acidic than they used to be. Honestly, I'm enjoying watching how this is all developing. I look forward to listening to your conversation with Joe. Apologies for the late response :-)

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Exactly this, Ronan, thank you. First, thanks for pointing me towards Tom Shakespeare. I should admit, I've heard of him but not read him - something I think I should do. But yes, I think it has both positive and negative sides, and we should speak about both of those. Great points. 🙏👏

Love this analogy. Finding the right glasses. Excellent! 💚👓💚

Looking forward to it Ralph. Sleep well and I'm looking forward to your thoughts, thank you. 🙏

Sounds awful - and reminiscent of my own school days, I really sympathise, and I'm so sorry. 💔 It's as though those of us with dyslexia (and ADHD - snap!) are being hobbled right at the very beginning. The structure of our education system is so weighted against us.

Thank you Dr Sai 🙏❤🙏

Brilliant! We should do another video to talk about this.

I love this. Far better questions than what they throw at us in maths class. Somebody once asked me: "is (are?) mathematics objective?" I answered: "No, maths is a human activity. But are numbers objective? - Again no, they're things we've invented to represent certain concepts. Are these concepts objective? -- Actually, I have no idea!"

Please do - I'd really enjoy talking to you about this. Can you contact me through my Dyslexia Bytes page? dyslexiabytes.org/contact/ (I'm sorry for directing you to this rather impersonal page, but I hope you can understand why I'm slightly reticent about giving out my contact details on CZcams!)

Beautiful. And so true.

Well Chat GPT has changed the landscape - it's revolutionised things, in fact. The fact is, technology is changing all sorts of paradigms, such as how we measure learning, intelligence, capabilities, etc. The GCSE is stuck in a world that doesn't understand the future, and it's putting undue stresses on your daughter. If this helps (and I don't know whether it will), I failed almost everything at school: I was bottom of the class in most subjects and I was held back a year twice. In the end, I scraped my way out of school. Now, I have a PhD. Why? - because learning, as so much else, gets easier once we escape standardised testing. Your daughter is still stuck in this awful system, but she'll be free soon, and she'll flourish. I wish her all the best. ❤

@@DyslexiaBytes So True.💯

Interesting questions! So forgive my geekiness here, but there's actually research linking tone deafness with phonemic awareness struggles. In other words, there's research linking being tone deaf with having one of the key components of dyslexia. Put simply - you're spot on, it's possible (though with all these things there are few certainties) that dyslexia can actually cause tone deafness! Regarding the whistling - well it could be that if you have either dyslalia, or oromotor dyspraxia, then you may struggle to form the shapes with your mouth that allow you to whistle. I whistle a lot, but badly, and it took me years and years to develop the ability to do it - *way* later than most people, and with a ton of practice! And I still can't whistle in the way that most people can (and I can't "wolf whistle" or "cat call whistle"). And I'm dyspraxic as well as dyslexic. I love it when people ask questions like yours - they're fascinating, and really help join the dots where a lot of issues are concerned.