We're very excited to announce that BBC's Comedy Classroom - which we mentioned in our blog in July 2016 - is returning this year.

The new competition, Red Nose Day Comedy Classroom, is aimed at 6-12 year olds, asking them to write and submit three original jokes.

On the website there are free curriculum-linked lesson plans, a flexible teaching guide and some tips and tricks on how to get pupils  writing comedy. The resources have been produced  in conjunction with the National Literacy Trust.

Submissions need to be made by 28th February 2017.

Click here for full details about the 2017 competition on the BBC website.

Disappointed to learn that BRITE (Beattie Resources for Inclusiveness in Technology and Education) - a 'not-for-profit' initiative which received core funding from the Scottish Funding Council and provided advice and information about assistive and enabling technologies and their use in the support of learners - is no longer active.

We listed them in our Useful Stuff section, under People, Groups & Organisations and also listed their excellent and well liked Guide to Dyslexia under Things.

We have now removed these entries. The website - see here - is still available and contains links to useful contacts that may be of interest.

​Thanks to a keen-eyed visitor to our website for bringing this to our attention.

Calling all teachers!!

Need resources for this summer term? Kids want to enter a competition? The BBC has just the thing for you.

Explore comedy in your lessons and submit your students’ ideas to the BBC’s Comedy Classroom Competition. Winners will have their ideas broadcast in the autumn. So, how cool is that?

And even better is that those students who may struggle a bit to engage with some lessons, may shine as they explore their creative sides.

Check out the BBC pages here for more information on resources and entering the competition. Entries close at midnight on Sunday 24th July, so best get a move on.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a new dyslexia story, but we’re very pleased to be able to publish this one by Patrice Steele from Miami, Florida.

We were actually asked to publish it by local dyslexia support group Dig-iT, so thanks to the crew in Tamworth for putting us in touch.

Patrice - a Graphic Design graduate - has also done some recent YouTube videos regarding her personal experiences of dyslexia. To start you off, we’ve included one here, but do go and check out Patrice’s YouTube page to see more.

Recently, we were contacted by final year Graphic Arts student Riona Moore, who has created a new typeface for people with dyslexia.

Riona is looking for feedback so please take a moment to read her brief project summary, take a look at the samples attached and then add a comment in response to this article to let her know what you think.

Project Summary:
Hi, my name is Riona Moore. I’m currently in my final year at the University of the Arts London, doing a course in BA Graphic Design and Communication studies. For my final major project I have been designing a typeface for people with dyslexia. I understand there are already other typefaces that have been designed for this purpose like Dyslexie, Open Dyslexic, etc. but have found that these typefaces are not found to be useful for all readers.

Dyslexic readers have different font preferences and different problems with reading so one typeface is never going to be perfect for everyone. I’ve created a font with a different style to previous dyslexic typefaces while taking into account the font characteristics listed on the British Dyslexia Association website as being preferable for Dyslexic readers, as well as based on what people didn’t like about previous dyslexic typefaces in order to give people an alternative font option.

My font has long ascenders and descenders on the t, y, p, f, j as well as wide openings in the e and c. Certain letters have been designed to ensure they don’t look similar and are easily distinguishable such as a from o and d, G from C, rn from m, u from v, Q from O, b from d, capital I from lowercase l.

Since the purpose of my font is to provide another option for dyslexic users, which is clear and easy to read and has more distinct letterforms, I need to test it out with my target audience and see how it is received. Any feedback/comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

For further information, please see Riona's Tumblr. 

Full character set sheet and sample text sheet can be downloaded here: 

Are you dyslexic? Are you proud of this? Want to take part in a fun, entertaining and positive film project? Then we know just the people you should get in touch with.

The "I Am Dyslexic" documentary project being developed by Thom J. Davies wants possible participants to contact him and get involved.

The project is funded by a successful Kickstarter bid. Have a look at the Kickstarter video below to get a taste of what you'll be getting into.

Then get in touch via Facebook and Twitter. DO IT! Do in NOW!

We haven't published a new dyslexia story for quite some time, so it's great to be able to tell you about our most recent one.

Dan is a computer programmer who decided to write a website overlay for his wife Julie who has visual stress in order to help her during her degree studies.

Having written a Google Chrome extension he decided that he would make it public. It's now available on the Google Chrome Store and is called nOverlay. There is a small charge for it, but Dan donates some of this to worthy causes.

We've now added nOverlay to our list of Useful Stuff>Things page.

Read Dan's story here.

In this very interesting blog article, Neil Gilbride discusses how the main (often competing) theories of dyslexia might be drawn together to explain the variety of traits seen in the dyslexic population.

He calls for a re-think on what dyslexia is and how it links together with other 'co-occuring' conditions. 

He suggests that more research is needed to explore more fully network of skills involved in learning and literacy.

Read Neil's article here.

Olivia Loder , an eleven year old girl with dyslexia, wrote to Michael Gove after being inspired while watching Nelson Mandela's funeral on the TV.

Olivia wanted tell the Education Secretary about her experiences of being a struggling dyslexic student in mainstream schools, including the bullying she endured.

A copy of Olivia's letter and Mr Gove's response are posted in an article here.  Do you have an opinion on this that you would like to share? Please feel free to add a comment.

Have a look at this BBC Ouch! article on last month's Dyspla Arts Festival which focussed on handwritten work produced by people with dyslexia.

When asked why she wanted to showcase handwritten work, Lennie Varvarides of Dyspla said "Because we want to celebrate our dyslexia, not hide it behind a perfect piece of text that can be produced on a computer using spellcheck and specialist software."

And this is why we applaud Dyspla and their Arts Festival.