Surveying Specialist Skills and Insights: 

Brief Biography    

Linda is passionate about dyslexia tuition, dyslexia assessment and dyslexia training. She has a deep understanding of the issues facing people with dyslexia and those trying to find out more about dyslexia. Linda has two postgraduate dyslexia specialist qualifications and has been awarded AMBDA FE/HE and AMBDA  by the British Dyslexia Association.

Linda has trained teachers to become specialists and is a Learning and Teaching Scotland CPD Provider. She has ongoing experience as a parent to children with dyslexia and as an adult with dyslexia. Linda has also been awarded the SpLD Assessment Award Practising Certificate so she provides 'diagnostic' assessments for universities, colleges and employers, as well as parents, on a regular basis.

Linda is well respected by those she has taught, assessed and trained. She has provided assessments for large organisations such as the NHS and Strathclyde Police.  She has worked closely with disabilty empowering agents, like The Shaw Trust, to support employees and employers. She has been an invited speaker for Dyslexia Scotland and Enquire Conferences, contributing to CPD training for teachers and other specialists.

Inside View by Linda

People often see dyslexia as a problem. This view can be passed on to children and adults with dyslexia. As a result these adults, or children, can focus on their difficulties. This can lead to a range of negative outcomes. It also means individuals with dyslexia often don't value their strengths. Their employers and teachers usually want them to succeed but hardly ever have sufficient training on how to support them. As a person with dyslexia and as parent to four children with dyslexia I needed to take action.

I found out that my oldest son was dyslexic over twenty years ago. Dyslexia never held him back but other people's understanding of dyslexia made life very difficult for him at that time. His experience was much like my own and over the years it has become very apparent that many other people with dyslexia have had extreme difficulties rooted in misunderstandings.

I failed at school and have had many workplace difficulties. My confidence was very low. Having my own dyslexia recognised, and having it explained to me as a different way of learning and doing things, changed my life. I started doing short courses. I learned more about human development and learned the kind of information I needed in order to explain about my own, and my children's, dyslexia. I started up interest / support groups and continued my studies.

I've had hundreds of meetings with schools and learned a lot about our education system from firsthand experience. Unhappy with this, I chose to home educate for a while. I continued to study and addressed my own literacy and maths difficulties. I worked as a childminder and self-employed artist, and worked with children and other adults in a variety of voluntary roles through Dyslexia Scotland, pre-five, Guiding and Scouting associations. I also provided workshops about dyslexia for adult literacy workers, local authority learning support teachers, classroom teachers and parents.

I studied with the Open University and eventually achieved a 2:1 Honours Degree In Psychology. During my studies I'd worked as a primary school classroom assist and also worked as a nursery nurse (achieving these qualifications too). I gained my first post graduate level dyslexia specialist qualification in 2002 and my second in 2006. I then worked with adults as a Further Education lecturer. I trained Nursery Nurses, Classroom Assistants and Nursery Managers and became a GTCS registered and qualified teacher. I taught a wide variety of subjects but was mainly utilised to teach additional support needs and developmental psychology units. During this time I worked in secondary schools teaching child care (Skills for Work Courses) and Scottish Higher Psychology. I also taught art for people with more general learning difficulties within supported classes. 

Alongside Further Education lecturing I provided dyslexia specialist tuition, assessment and consultation, and supported my children through school and employment dyslexia issues. I also delivered adult literacies support (i.e. literacy, numeracy and IT) and lectured in a different Further Education college (PDA Dyslexia Units; training people to support adults with dyslexia). I provided presentations / training at conferences via Dyslexia Scotland. I was employed for a short time as a Dyslexia Advisor for a university, mainly providing Needs Assessment and provided specialist support to higher education students funded through the Disabled Students Allowance awarded by SAAS. During this time my youngest son was identified with Tourette Syndrome and OCD (shortly after withdrawing him from school to home educate) so I learned a great deal about this too. A few years later I was diagnosed with ME and became too ill for college work.

ME gave me the opportunity to develop my dyslexia work. I started to provide dyslexia assessment and support for employees and employers, mainly through The Shaw Trust. I became a Learning and Teaching Scotland CPD Provider and continue to provide training for education staff in all sectors of education. I started providing evidence of disability / dyslexia via assessment of Higher Education students via colleges etc. For a short time I also became an Education Tutor for teachers training to be dyslexia specialists on the Post Graduate Certificate in Dyslexia course run mainly through e-learning. I also obtained a distinction in my Masters of Arts Degree in Education (Equality and Diversity).

I left school feeling like a failure. I viewed myself as non-academic. As an adult I lacked confidence in dealing with schools and with managers. I would frequently stay up all night to prepare for a meeting. Then, I'd be in floods of tears at the meeting, but I persevered. I've learned that you need someone to believe in you before you can believe in yourself. I now feel privileged to be the person believing in others. I hope by writing this I will 'pay it forward' so that you can develop your abilities, believe in others, and positively change lives.

Key Qualifications:

• Master of Arts in Education (Equality and Diversity) with Distinction
• Bachelor of Science (Honours) Psychology (2:1)
• Teaching Qualification (Further Education)
• Hornsby Diploma in Teaching of Students with SpLD
• Post Graduate Certificate in Professional Studies in Education (Difficulties in Literacy Development)
• Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Studies in Education (Researching Education)

Key Awards:

•  AMBDA
•  AMBDA FE/HE
• SpLD Assessment Award Practising Certificate
• GTCS Registration
• CPD Provider LTS
• MBPsS

Dyslexia / Disability Voluntary Work:

• Various roles inc. Council and Board, Dyslexia Scotland (1991-current)
• Helpline / Information Line (1990-current)
• North Lanarkshire Access Forum (2009-2010) North Lanarkshire Council
• Dyslexia Scotwest Adult Group, Chair (2003-2004)
• Disability Forum (2000-2001)
• Activities Coordinator, Islay Disability Endeavours and Action (1996-1997)