South Wairarapa Rotary News

Emma Rose

Di Banks, Leader of Learning Support and Vocational Pathways at Kuranui College spoke to Rotary about students that face various obstacles to learning and one of most common is dyslexia. This means that they have considerable difficulty reading and writing although they are often very creative and intelligent in other ways. Dyslexic children used to be thought to be slow, difficult or “allergic to school” but now dyslexia is much better understood. Some dyslexics have become famous and high achievers including Richard Branson, Orlando Bloom and Thomas Edison.

Rotary granted $1200 for the purchase of three C-pens, a device which converts text into speech and also includes a dictionary. This gives dyslexic students independence from readers.

Kuranui College -Speech Competition Finalists

All speakers radiated enthusiasm for their topics which ranged from the serious to the light hearted. They were all very articulate and well presented and left us with food for thought.

Emma Rose spoke about how fiction and storytelling give us perspectives on the world that we would not otherwise have. She referred to two books, The Great Gatsby and Once Were Warriors, which enabled her to experience ways of life that are quite different from her own, like a reality simulator. She also emphasised that this type of learning may not be available to the underprivileged who need it as much as the rest of us and we should help them have access to books.