'It would level the playing field to have more time': Dyslexic student calls for extra exam time
A budding young writer who is due to begin her Leaving Cert exams on Wednesday has called for a creative rethink of how dyslexic students like her are supported.
Alice R Perks, head girl at Midleton College, had her first book published just as she turned 18.
Her collection of poetry, entitled Thoughts From A Teenage Mind, is an anthology of her writing between the ages of 12 and 17.
Thousands of students across the country are due to begin their Leaving Cert exams this week as the State examinations get under way on Wednesday morning.
Alice hopes to study creative writing in Galway next year. 'I find I'm not very good at English, despite being a poet and despite writing all the time, because there are a lot of rules around structure. I prefer to write creatively.'
While she has a spelling and grammar waiver, as well as a reader, she is not entitled to additional time. Extra time is not available as standard for second-level dyslexic students in Ireland.
'I really like talking about my dyslexia because I think it's an important thing. I was always taught to never be ashamed of it but more like it's a part of who I am.'
However, she is 'not a fan' of the CAO process, particularly CAO points. 'When you are dyslexic, you are taught to hold yourself to your own standard. A lot of the time, it's different to others academically.'
The CAO takes away the idea of your own individual standard, she believes. Like many dyslexic students, she finds she often runs out of time during exams.
'In the sitting of Leaving Cert exams, information is processed differently and has to come out through a different route, and I just don't think a lot of the time, in a lot of the exams we're given the time to do so.
'I was always very interested in writing a novel, which is still my dream, but it was always so hard because school took up so much of my brain power. I could never keep up with the idea of doing two things at once, which I know a lot of dyslexic people struggle with.'
Dyslexia Ireland has been campaigning for the introduction of additional time as an exam accommodation for students with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. Picture: Mark Stedman/RollingNews.ie
She find this also applies in exams. 'I do subjects like history and those are heavy essay writing subjects, and that's just not something that can happen as easily as I've seen it working for my peers without dyslexia.
'But it can work,' she added.
"It just doesn't work within the parameters we've been given. There's a lot of things about the education system that don't fit into the idea that everyone learns differently."
For example, she takes higher-level maths "through a lot of hard work and determination".
'I do find myself running out of time often, because I work it out differently and I do it differently. I can do it, I've had to edit the way my brain does maths and it does take me longer, but I can do it.
'It would level the playing field to have more time because a lot of the time, we're not being given the chance to do it to the standard we are teaching ourselves to.
With comprehensions in English, I have to read them maybe three or four times to understand what's going on. Time constraints really do not allow dyslexic people to fully engage their minds and it takes us longer.
Dyslexia Ireland has been campaigning for the introduction of additional time as an exam accommodation for students with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. It has called on the State Examinations Commission to publish a detailed timeline for the ongoing review into its Reasonable Accommodations at Certificate Examinations.
Dyslexia Ireland said it was "deeply disappointed" to see the terms of reference for the review when it was published recently.
"There is no clear timeline or sense of urgency on this issue, and no voice for those most affected on the review's steering group," Dyslexia Ireland said.
"This review directly impacts learners with dyslexia and other learning difficulties who currently face serious challenges and anxiety in exams without access to the accommodation of extra time. Yet the voices and representatives of these young people are missing from the steering group."
A spokesman for the SEC said it is "absolutely acknowledged that there is increasing complexity in the special educational landscape and, by extension, the impact on candidates with special educational needs taking the certificate examinations".
"For the 2025 examinations, on a pilot basis, we are extending the provision of additional time to vision impaired candidates under the care of the visiting teacher service of the NCSE from 10 minutes per hour to 15 minutes per hour or part of an hour. This is a minimum of 25% additional time for this cohort of candidates."
There will be "extensive" consultation with as broad a range of stakeholders as possible, including young people with special educational needs, their families, and representative organisations, he added.
Read More
Campaign for dyslexic students to be given extra exam time gains momentum
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
39 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
Leaving Cert 2025: English Paper One – how would you get on?
From Margaret Atwood to the Booker Prize-winner and a short story about a reckless character, the paper was varied but much to be expected for students. In case you haven't had a bout of Leaving Cert nightmares recently, check out if you could answer the below questions that came up on today's paper. The paper is split into two sections, with reading comprehensions making up the first section and a personal essay in the second section. Section one Section one contained three texts based on the underdog effect, a speech by Margaret Atwood, and edited extracts from Samantha Harvey's novel, Orbital. Text 2 focused on a speech given last year by Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale. It focuses on Atwood's advice to the younger generation. A timely question given the recently released season finale of the series inspired by Atwood's novel. Do you think you could answer these three questions? Text 3 featured edited extracts from Harvey's novel, Orbital published in 2023. It tells the story of six astronauts in an H-shaped spacecraft rotating above the earth. Orbital is also current, with the novel taking home the Booker Prize in November 2024. Can you answer this question? Section two Section two features a choice of seven different composition assignments intended to reflect language study in the areas of information, argument, persuasion, narration and the aesthetic use of language. Questions varied from asking students to write a feature article, short story, discursive essay, speech and personal essay. Check out these three questions to see if you'd be up to the challenge.
Sunday World
an hour ago
- Sunday World
Dylan McCarthy's mum says world has been ‘destroyed' by son's death in ‘mob attack'
Marita McCarthy told the court her son went out to celebrate the birth of his nephew and came back in a coffin. The mother of a young man who died after he was assaulted during a melee outside a Kildare pub while celebrating the birth of his nephew nearly three years ago has said her world has been 'turned upside down' by the 'senseless attack' on her first-born child and only son. In an emotional victim impact statement, Marita McCarthy said the Cranberries song 'Dreams' came out when her son Dylan was born in 1993, but now she cries when she hears it because her son's dreams were 'snuffed' out by the fatal assault. The money she had saved for her son's wedding had gone towards his funeral instead, Ms McCarthy said. Ms McCarthy told the court her son went out to celebrate the birth of his nephew and came back in a coffin. She said her world has been turned upside down by the 'senseless and unprovoked mob attack on my family'. Her husband Eamonn, who was with Dylan on the night, and who was himself assaulted during the incident, said he had to discharge himself from hospital to attend his son's funeral. Sean Kavanagh (26). Pic Collins Courts Dylan's sister, Orla McCarthy, said she had asked her brother to be her newborn son's godfather just hours before he was killed. The statements were read out at a sentencing hearing on Tuesday afternoon for Calvin Dunne (25) and Sean Kavanagh (27). Dunne was acquitted of murder but convicted of Dylan McCarthy's manslaughter by a Central Criminal Court jury following a trial earlier this year. He was also found guilty of a charge of violent disorder. Two weeks into the trial, Dunne's co-accused, Kavanagh, with an address at St Mary's Lane, Church Avenue, Monasterevin, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing harm to Eamonn McCarthy. A charge of violent disorder was taken into consideration. After a defence application, Ms Justice Biggs then directed the jury to find Kavanagh not guilty of the murder of Dylan McCarthy, a charge he had denied. It was the State's case that Mr McCarthy (29) died following an incident in which he received punches and a kick to the head from Dunne while he was attempting to get up off the ground. Two eyewitnesses told the jury that Dylan McCarthy was kicked in the head, with one describing the noise as 'a loud thud' that was 'like kicking a football', while the other said it sounded 'like a car door' shutting. Dunne contended, however, that he was acting in self-defence, that Mr McCarthy was himself 'involved in violence' on the night and that he did not kick the deceased in the head. Mr McCarthy's cause of death was a traumatic head injury and spinal injury caused by blunt force trauma. Calvin Dunne (24). Photo: Collins Courts State pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers told the jury it was not possible to determine whether a punch or kick caused the fatal injury that led to Mr McCarthy's death. In his impact statement, which was read to the court by his wife, Eamonn McCarthy said his previous life disappeared on the night of August 21, 2022 and he had lost his 'son and best friend'. 'I'm a broken man. The future is bleak.' He said following the assault he was on a liquid diet for 12 weeks and now has five plates and permanent nerve damage on the right side of his face. Eamonn McCarthy said his last memory of his son 'gurgling' and of his 'eyes rolling back in his head' will haunt him for the rest of his life. Mr McCarthy said his son was 'not a fighter' and everyone who knew Dylan knew he never hit or fought with anyone. He said he hasn't been inside a pub since the night his son was killed because he has anxiety around crowds. He said his life has become very isolated and he doesn't want to leave the house. Mr McCarthy said he felt like he had 'let my son down when he needed me most'. 'I have never regretted anything so much as entering the Bellyard pub,' he said. Mr McCarthy said Dylan had told him that night that he was going to propose to his girlfriend Aoife in the coming months. Marita McCarthy told the court today: 'I have no wedding to look forward to. The money I had been saving for their wedding went towards a funeral. Dylan's mother said her son was hit and kicked to death before those responsible 'calmly walked away'. She said they did not stick around to see what they did to Dylan and had left her husband with life-long, life-altering injuries. Dylan McCarthy News in 90 June 4th 'My world is destroyed, devastated, changed beyond belief every day,' she said. 'Instead of picking a 30th birthday present I was picking a headstone. Every day is like Groundhog Day, wishing it wasn't true.' She said her son died 'on a footpath outside a pub' as her husband watched his eyes 'rolling into his head and his last gasps'. In her victim impact statement, Dylan's girlfriend Aoife Talty said she met him after her 22nd birthday and they fell 'instantly in love with each other'. She said Dylan was 'kind, fun gentle and caring'. He never liked to be the centre of attention she said, but people were drawn to him and his 'infectious laugh'. Ms Talty said Dylan always made her feel 'loved and happy' and she was looking forward to spending their lives together. The trial heard that on the night of the fatal assault in August 2022, a row broke out after a drink was spilled and the group were ejected from the premises. Dunne told gardai that when a group of people came out of the pub and a fight broke out, he saw his former co-accused Sean Kavanagh fighting with Dylan and Eamonn McCarthy. Dunne said that at one point, Dylan McCarthy went to hit Kavanagh from behind, so Dunne grabbed Dylan McCarthy by the wrist. He told gardaí Dylan McCarthy turned to punch him, so Dunne hit him in the 'chin or jaw' area, causing him to fall. Dunne said he then 'lightly kicked' Dylan to what he believed was 'the chest area'. The defendant told gardaí that Dylan and Eamonn McCarthy were being 'extremely violent'. 'Everything I did was to stop them attacking Sean, I didn't drill him or kick him viciously,' Dunne said. Dunne, of Abbey View, Monasterevin, Co Kildare, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr McCarthy on or about August 22nd, 2022. He had also pleaded not guilty to violent disorder on August 21st, 2022, at Dublin Road, Monasterevin. Kavanagh told gardaí he looked into the pub after hearing shouting and saw staff being assaulted. He said he tried to help remove the group causing the disturbance. He said the fight spilled out onto the street at which point members of this group started to punch and assault him as he attempted to remove them. Kavanagh said a man in his 50s put him in a headlock, causing him to feel 'extremely fearful' for his safety. After he got out of the headlock, he said punches were exchanged and he struck the man in self-defence. The jury heard Eamonn McCarthy sustained a fractured jaw and required surgery and five plates to treat his injuries. He also sustained a broken nose and a hairline fracture around one of his eye sockets. He waited until after Dylan's funeral had taken place to have the operation. At today's sentencing hearing, Detective Garda James Young told prosecution counsel Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC that neither Dunne nor Kavanagh have any previous convictions. Mr Ó Dúnlaing said the DPP placed the manslaughter offence in the mid-range of offending attracting a headline sentence of between four and ten years. Michael Lynn SC, for Kavanagh, handed in a letter of apology that his client had written to the McCarthy family. Mr Lynn said the defendant was 24 at the time of the incident. Kavanagh pleaded guilty to the Section 3 assault, he said, and has accepted his responsibility. Mr Lynn said it was clear everything on the night happened in a very, very short space of time and Kavanagh 'deeply regrets what happened' and 'what he did'. Mr Lynn described Kavanagh as 'hardworking' person and a 'good friend' who was spoken of very highly by a very wide range of members of the community from different backgrounds. He said Kavanagh is a decorated sportsman and had represented Ireland in basketball. He said his client has used his sporting talent to contribute to his local club in terms of underage training and involvement with various teams. John Fitzgerald SC, representing Dunne, said nothing he said on behalf of his client was seeking to mitigate or get around the fact the McCarthy family have been given a life sentence. The lawyer asked the court to consider the matter in the wider context and take into account the effects it will have in the future. He said the probation report assessed Dunne as being of low risk of re-offending. Ms Justice Caroline Biggs said she needed time to digest and consider everything she had heard and adjourned the matter to June 30 for finalisation.
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
5 early signs of breast cancer – as Jessie J reveals diagnosis
English singer and songwriter Jessie J revealed to her fans on social media that she has been diagnosed with "early breast cancer" and plans to undergo surgery. In a video posted on Instagram, the 37-year-old singer, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, said: "Before No Secrets [the most recent single] came out I was diagnosed with early breast cancer…cancer sucks in any form but I'm holding onto the word early. "I have been in and out of tests throughout this whole period. I just wanted to be open and share it one because selfishly I do not talk about it enough. I'm not processing it because I'm working so hard. I also know how much sharing in the past has helped me with other people giving me their love and support and also their own stories." She also added that she was going to "disappear for a bit" after her upcoming performance at Capital's annual Summertime Ball event (June 15) to have surgery. The announcement brings much-needed awareness to this common disease. Here, Dr Cliona Kirwan, consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon and chair of the scientific board at Prevent Breast Cancer, explains what the different stages of breast cancer are and the five key early symptoms to look out for. What are the different stages of breast cancer? "Initially, breast cancer starts as pre-cancer, as cancerous cells trapped in the milk ducts, and that's called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which you can only really see and find on a mammogram," says Kirwan. "Then it can break through the wall of the milk duct and become a true invasive breast cancer within the breast, so usually that would be a little lump inside the breast, and that's the stage that most ladies present symptoms at." The next stage is when the breast cancer spreads up to the lymph nodes, most commonly to the lymph nodes in the armpit next to the breast it originated from, adds the breast surgeon. "That's what we'd call locally advanced breast cancer, or lymph node positive breast cancer," she explains. "Then, eventually, the cancer breaks through the lymph nodes in the armpit and spreads around the body. That would be advanced/ metastatic/ secondary breast cancer. At that stage, treatment is more about control than cure." What are some early warning signs? 1. Lumps "The classic one is a lump. So, people should regularly examine their breasts about once a month," advises Kirwan. "If you are still having period I would recommend checking your breasts a week after your period because you tend to be lumpier before a period and the hormone sensitive bits of breast swell a bit naturally. "A lump in the armpit could also be a sign that the cancer has spread to the armpit." 2. Dimpling "Also look for dimpling," says Kirwan. "Dimpling is when you lift your arms up and you see an area of the pulling in that didn't used to do that, so it's a shape change in the breast from the normal move curvature that you'd have." 3. Nipple changes "Look out for any nipple changes, like nipple inversion or rashes on the nipple," recommends Kirwan. 4. Nipple discharge "Bloody nipple discharge is another sign to be aware of," adds Kirwan. 5. Skin or size changes "Also, look out for any general skin changes around the breast area," advises Kirwan. Cancer Research UK also adds to note down any changes in the size and shape of the breast. When should you seek medical advice about these symptoms? Early diagnosis is crucial, so make sure you book an appointment with a GP if you start to present with any of these symptoms. "You would first see a GP and then be referred to a breast unit where you'd be seen by a breast specialist who would decide whether any scans or biopsies need to be done," explains Kirwan. "Ladies under the age of 40 are usually offered an ultrasound scan, and for ladies over 40 it's usually a mammogram." How is breast cancer treated? "The only way you can cure breast cancer is to remove it, so the main treatment is surgery," says Kirwan. "In the early stages most ladies can have breast conserving surgery. In other words, they get to keep the breast and we just remove that area where the cancer is and often we then remodel the breast and try and keep a nice shape to the breast. "However, sometime ladies will need a mastectomy, and that is often when the lump is big compared to the size of the breast, and so taking out the area of disease would mean there just wasn't enough breast tissue left for it to be worth saving. Surgery on armpits is also common, to check if any cancer has got into the lymph nodes." Many patients are also offered chemotherapy and / or radiotherapy.
