ABUJA (Sundiata Post) Nigeria’s first and only Dyslexia Foundation is set to hold her first National Conference on Dyslexia in Lagos on the Tuesday 10th of October 2017. The theme of the Conference is ‘’Dyslexia in Nigeria: Problems, Prospects and Possibilities,’’ and will take place at the iconic MUSON Centre, near TBS Lagos, from 9am till 3pm.
According to the statement which was signed by the organisation’s BoT Chairman, Ben Arikpo, The aim of the conference is to increase awareness on dyslexia in Nigeria, review the problems, prospects and possibilities;, address the need for improvement of the policy and legal environment; gain the support of the government and other stakeholders towards dyslexia intervention in Nigeria.
The statement further reads that the Deputy Governor of Lagos, Dr Oluranti Adebule, who also doubles as the Commissioner of Education, and other dignitaries including leading Educationists, and members of the Education and Health Committees of the Lagos State House of Assembly will be in attendance. Hon. Justice Titi OjukutuOshode will chair the session on Policy and Legal Environment for dyslexia in Nigeria.
According to Ben Arikpo, Chairman, Board of Trustees of Dyslexia Foundation, about 20% of Nigeria’s population suffer from this reading disability. However lack of awareness has given room for wrong interpretations and sometimes harmful intervention from parents or teachers.
Some other major symptoms of dyslexia are speech delay, inability to read at a particular age compared to peers, inability to write legibly, inability to comprehend a read piece, taking too long on assignments including any expected academic work, taking too long to carry out or deliver a task in the workplace. This has been the major cause for the existence of this Foundation in Nigeria whose special intervention and training programs have been producing success stories for dyslexic persons due to the cognitive skills enhancement training provided through BrainRx Nigeria.
Major stakeholders like Parents, Teachers, School Proprietors, Educationists, Education NGOs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, Neurologists, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, High Commissions, Religious Institutions, School Children and the Media are all invited to participate in the all-important conference, and should visit the official website www.dyslexiafoundation.org.ng for registration for the conference.