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Supporting Students Supporting Students with Dyslexia in with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Disability Liaison Officer Officer School of Nursing & School of Nursing & Midwifery Midwifery

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Page 1: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Supporting Students with Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Dyslexia in Clinical

PracticePracticeSarah TraylorSarah Traylor

Disability Liaison OfficerDisability Liaison OfficerSchool of Nursing & MidwiferySchool of Nursing & Midwifery

Page 2: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• Under the Equality Act 2010 the protected characteristic of disability applies to a person who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities

DisabilityDisability

Page 3: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• The extent to which students on nursing and midwifery courses who are diagnosed with dyslexia experience a ‘substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’ may vary.

• However dyslexia that produces these adverse effects is categorised as a disability

Dyslexia as DisabilityDyslexia as Disability

Page 4: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• The Equality Duty is a duty on public bodies and others carrying out public functions. It ensures that public bodies consider the needs of all individuals in their day to day work – in shaping policy, in delivering services, and in relation to their own employees.

Equality Act 2010

What is the Public Sector Equality What is the Public Sector Equality Duty?Duty?

Page 5: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• The Equality Duty also explicitly recognises that disabled people’s needs may be different from those of non-disabled people. Public bodies should therefore take account of disabled people’s impairments when making decisions about policies or services. This might mean making reasonable adjustments or treating disabled people better than non-disabled people in order to meet their needs

Equality Act 2010

Equality Duty and DisabilityEquality Duty and Disability

Page 6: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• An important part of our responsibilities under the Equality Duty is the identification of those of our students who are disabled and their support needs. The Equality Act 2010 requires a proacative / anticipatory approach to this.

• At Keele central services arrange for disabled students to have their support needs identified by a Needs Assessment. However this is focussed mainly on needs associated with academic study.

Support NeedsSupport Needs

Page 7: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

What is Discrimination?What is Discrimination?

• Treating a disabled person less favourably than one treats or would treat a non – disabled person for a reason that relates to that persons disability. (Corlett 2004)

Page 8: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

DiscriminationDiscrimination

Can occur in two ways:

• When the HEI treats a disabled person ‘less favourably’ for a reason relating to their disability.

• When the HEI fails to make a reasonable adjustment placing the disabled student at a disadvantage compared to their peers.

Page 9: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Reasonable AdjustmentsReasonable Adjustments

• If a disabled student is at a substantial disadvantage the education provider is required to take such steps as are reasonable to prevent this disadvantage. This might include adjustments to course requirements or work placements, the provision of support strategies and alternative ways of delivering courses.

Page 10: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Maintenance of Educational Maintenance of Educational StandardsStandards

• It is NOT expected that educational standards should be lowered to accommodate disabled students and one of the criteria for determining whether an adjustment is reasonable is the maintenance of course standards both academic and in clinical practice.

(Corlett 2004)

Page 11: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Defining DyslexiaDefining Dyslexia

The British Dyslexic Association definition:

‘…a complex neurological condition ….The symptoms may affect many areas of learning and function, and may be described as a specific difficulty in reading, spelling and written language. One or more of these areas may be affected.

Page 12: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

BDA definition cont’dBDA definition cont’d

• ‘ Numeracy, notational skills (music), motor function and organisational skills may also be involved. However it is particularly related to mastering written language, although oral language may be affected to some degree.

(Crisfield 1996)

Page 13: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Characteristics of Dyslexia?Characteristics of Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is often described in terms of deficits:• Problems with space, time and numbers• Difficulty in reading and recognising words• Poor short term memory - particularly auditory or

visual sequential memory• Difficulty differentiating between left and right• Weak organisational skills

An individual won’t necessarily have all of these difficulties.

(Sanderson-Mann, McCandless 2005)

Page 14: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Students with Dyslexia in Students with Dyslexia in NursingNursing

• Dyslexia can effect 3 – 10% of the population. However there is evidence that people with dyslexia may be drawn to people orientated professions, and to careers such as nursing and midwifery.

(Sanderson-Mann, McCandless 2005)

Page 15: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Students with DyslexiaStudents with Dyslexia

• People react to learning that they have dyslexia in a variety of ways. Many mature nursing students are only diagnosed when they start their nursing programme, while others may have been diagnosed at school or college.

• Most students will share anxieties that when other people know they have dyslexia they may be treated in a negative way and their ability to function effectively in clinical practice may be questioned.

Page 16: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Students with DyslexiaStudents with Dyslexia

• It is important to recognise that students diagnosed with dyslexia may have a range of deficits that affect them to various degrees.

• Many students have developed effective coping strategies for managing the deficits they have.

.

Page 17: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Support offered to Students with Support offered to Students with Dyslexia in the UniversityDyslexia in the University

• Students with dyslexia are allowed 25% extra time in examinations. Those with poor short term memory will also be allowed the use of a prompt sheet. If reading and understanding text under time constraints is an issue they may be allowed the services of a reader for the exam question. The use of a computer to type their answers or in some cases an amanuensis may also be recommended.

Page 18: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Support offered to Students with Support offered to Students with Dyslexia in the universityDyslexia in the university

• A Tintavision assessment will indicate if the use of a coloured overlay would assist them in reading text printed on a white background.

• Recording lectures, seminars and tutorials assists with difficulties in note taking.

• In some cases the services of a note taker in lectures may be recommended.

Page 19: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Disabled Students AllowanceDisabled Students Allowance

Students with Dyslexia are eligible to apply for DSA which is divided into three sections:• Equipment – IT hardware + software, digital

recorder, handheld spellchecker.• Non-medical Helpers – note taker, dyslexia

tutor• General allowance – often used for books,

photocopying/coloured paper etc.

Page 20: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

A decision needs to be made with the student regarding:

• Anticipatory support – organised before the student starts their practice placement

• Reactive support – support is only put in place once difficulties in practice have been identified

Support in Practice – When and How?

Page 21: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Anticipatory Support

ForMentors are prepared and can anticipate difficultiesSupport in place earlyShared responsibility and collaboration established earlyReduced risk of student failure due to lack of appropriate support.

AgainstPresumption that student will have difficulty in practiceStigma affecting performanceAll problems automatically associated with disabilityStudents fear of discrimination

Page 22: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Reactive Support

For Student goes into placement with no preconceived expectations from the mentor.The risk of stigma is reducedIf no difficulties arise no support is needed which can enhance the students confidence and self esteem.Support is tailored to specific identified difficulties.

Against Before support is called for the student will experience difficulties which may damage their confidence and self esteem.The relationship between the student and mentor may be damaged by the mentors identification of difficulties.Collaboration between clinical and university staff is delayed.

Page 23: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• Anticipatory support is usually well accepted by students in theoretical assessment and helps them to achieve success and hopefully avoid the experience of failure.

• Reactive support is much more common in practice assessment but if focussed action is taken as early as possible it can be very effective.

Anticipatory v Reactive Support

Page 24: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

The Role of the MentorThe Role of the Mentor

• Students need to feel that their mentor is open and approachable and will react to their disclosure of dyslexia in a positive and supportive way.

• The mentors aim is to work with the student to help them to develop strategies that enable them to achieve the required standard of performance in practice. This may involve ‘reasonable adjustments’ within the practice setting.

Page 25: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Support Strategies for Students Support Strategies for Students with Dyslexia – in Clinical Practicewith Dyslexia – in Clinical Practice

• The use of taped handovers in many placement areas is very helpful for students with dyslexia as tapes can be reviewed to check information. If taped handovers are not used then the student should be encouraged to take notes and staff should be understanding of slow note taking and the need to ask questions to check the accuracy of notes.

Page 26: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Support Strategies for Students with Support Strategies for Students with Dyslexia – in Clinical PracticeDyslexia – in Clinical Practice

• Poor short term memory is a common feature of dyslexia and students with this problem should be encouraged to use a notebook to record information and aid recall.

• The recording of information on a digital recorder may also help and assist with repetition to aid recall.

• Students will often have personal strategies that they can use in practice and they should be encouraged to share these with their mentor.

Page 27: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Advice you might give to students with Advice you might give to students with dyslexia on clinical placementsdyslexia on clinical placements..• If in doubt ask someone to check that you

have completed work correctly.• Write messages and instructions down if

you are worried that you may forget.• Keep a notebook and use it to record

things you may want to look up later.• Repeat instructions to ensure that you

have understood them.

Page 28: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Advice you might give to students Advice you might give to students with dyslexia on clinical placementswith dyslexia on clinical placements• Make a list of words that you have

difficulty spelling and refer to this when completing documentation.

• Use a handheld spellchecker if you have one.

• Photocopy forms that you need to be familiar with and practice filling them in. Fill a photocopy in in rough then redo it, until you gain confidence.

Page 29: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Clinical Needs AssessmentClinical Needs Assessment

• Although generic advice can be helpful to both students and mentors more specific information gained through a Clinical Needs Assessment allows support to be focussed on the students specific needs in placement.

Page 30: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

It’s a process by which:• a students specific support needs in relation to

their clinical practice performance are identified• strategies to support the student and/or

reasonable adjustments to the environment or to the way in which the student performs a practice element are discussed

• An appropriate course of action is agreed

What is a Clinical Needs Assessment ?

Page 31: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• The Student and their Clinical Mentor are the main participants. The Link Lecturer and /or the Personal Tutor and Student Support Lecturer can also offer useful advice and support.

Who is involved in the process?

Page 32: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

This can happen in a number of ways for example:• The student may find a particular element of clinical

practice challenging and may raise this with their mentor or a member of University staff

• The mentor may have concerns about the students performance in practice and may raise this with the student and a member of University staff

• The student may have had a Clinical Needs Assessment in a previous placement and the Personal Tutor / Student Support Lecturer may recommend that a new assessment is carried out at the start of subsequent placements.

How is the process initiated?

Page 33: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Discussion should take place between the mentor, student and lecturer and:

• The element of practice that the student needs to perform competently should be clearly defined and recorded as the clinical need. The clinical learning outcomes should provide the focus for this

e.g. Completion of accurate and timely care plans for the patients in her care.

How to complete the Clinical Needs Assessment form

Page 34: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Clinical Need

Clinical need

Completion of accurate and timely care plans for the patients in her care.

Page 35: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• Ways in which the student can be supported to achieve competence should be clearly defined and recorded as support strategies/reasonable adjustments.

Support Strategies

Page 36: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Support Strategies/Reasonable AdjustmentsSupport Strategies/Reasonable Adjustments

Clinical need Completion of accurate and timely care plans for the patients in her care.

Support Strategy/Reasonable Adjustment

Keep a list of most used words / phrases in a notebook and use this in practice. Use handheld spell checker in practiceAllow extra time for the completion of care plansUse green overlay to aid reading in practiceMentor to help with proof reading documentationWork with specialist tutor to develop spelling and proof reading strategies

Page 37: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• Details of who is responsible for actions to ensure that the support/ reasonable adjustments are put in place should be identified and recorded

Who is responsible for actions?

Page 38: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

ActionsSupport Strategy/Reasonable

AdjustmentKeep a list of most used words/phrases in a notebook and use this in practice.Use handheld spell checker in practice Extra time for care planningUse green overlay to aid reading in practiceMentor to help with proof reading documentationWork with specialist tutor to develop spelling and proof reading strategies

Actions

Student

Student/CLASS

Student/MentorStudent

Mentor

Student/CLASS

Page 39: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Keele University School of Nursing and Midwifery

Clinical Needs Assessment Students name: Cohort:

Placement Area:

Mentors name: Date of Assessment: Date of Evaluation:

Clinical need Support Strategy/Reasonable Adjustment

Actions

Completion of accurate and timely care plans for the patients in her care.

Keep a list of most used words/phrases in a notebook and use this in practice.

Use handheld spell checker in practice

Allow extra time for the completion of care plans

Use green overlay to aid reading in practice

Mentor to help with proof reading documentation

Work with specialist tutor to develop spelling and proof reading strategies

Student

Student/CLASS Student/Mentor Student Mentor Student/CLASS

Page 40: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Take and deliver accurate telephone messages

Assess telephone skills with a

role play exercise Use notebook to record detail

of messages Design a message template

and use this to ensure that all details are recorded

Student/Lecturer Student Student /Mentor/

Lecturer

STUDENTS SIGNATURE………………………………………. DATE………………………………… MENTORS SIGNATURE……………………………………….. DATE………………………………… LECTURER ROLE / NAME……………………………………. SIGNATURE……………………………… DATE…………………

Page 41: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• It is student focussed and enables student participation in the process of designing support.

• It enables individualisation of support based on the growing amount of guidance available.

• It provides a written record of the support agreed, evaluation of the support and details of the individuals responsible for taking action

Advantages of using the Clinical Needs Assessment

Page 42: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Competence in PracticeCompetence in Practice

• Although mentors/assessors and supervisors are responsible for meeting students support needs in practice, the student must ultimately be able to reach the standard of safe and competent practice in all outcomes. In order to do so they may require ‘reasonable adjustments’ in practice and the Clinical Needs Assessment can help to identify which strategies will be most useful.

Page 43: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

For all of us in health professions education the dilemma is the same:

How to balance the needs and rights of disabled students

V

The needs and rights of vulnerable service users.

The educational dilemma The educational dilemma

Page 44: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

• It enables the documentation of an objective support process that fully involves the student, helps to tailor support to individual needs and clarify areas of responsibility for making it happen.

• The focus is on support to facilitate success with recognition that at the point of evaluation there is clear evidence of reasonable adjustments if the student does not meet the standard of performance required for safe and competent practice.

How can the Clinical Needs How can the Clinical Needs Assessment help?Assessment help?

Page 45: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

Sources of Advice and SupportSources of Advice and Support

• Sarah Traylor is the Disability Liaison Officer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Keele University.

Sarah can be contacted by e mail at:

[email protected]

or by phone on 01782 679662

Page 46: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

ReferencesReferences

• Crisfield J (ed) 1996 The Dyslexia Handbook. BDA Reading

• Corlett S. Special Educational Needs and Disability Act. Skill - National Bureau for Students with Disabilities.http://www.skill.org.uk/news/senda.aspAccessed on 13.10.05

Page 47: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

ReferencesReferences

Equality Act 2010

EHRC – Equality and Human Rights Commission

Page 48: Supporting Students with Dyslexia in Clinical Practice Sarah Traylor Disability Liaison Officer School of Nursing & Midwifery

ReferencesReferences

• Sanderson-Mann, J. McCandless, F. 2005

Guidelines to the UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the SENDA 2001 with regard to nurse education and dyslexia. Nurse Education Today (2005) 25, 542-549