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Dyslexia Scotland is to receive grant funding of £40,000 to bolster its existing dyslexia toolkit for teachers.

Education Secretary Michael Russell made the announcement today following a meeting at the Scottish Parliament to discuss how best to help teachers develop skills to assist all of Scotland's pupils.

The online toolkit is a comprehensive teachers resource for the assessment of literacy difficulties and dyslexia. The additional funding will be used to update the material on how to support pupils with dyslexia, to make it more accessible for teachers and to support local implementation.

Mr Russell said:

"The Scottish Government is working to improve the life chances of all Scotland's children and young people. If we are going to realise that ambition, learners need to receive support to overcome any barriers they may have to realising their potential. Clearly, our teachers play a crucial role in delivering this and I'm determined they have access to resources for professional development which enable them to meet the needs of all their pupils.

"Every child deserves an education which unlocks their potential and this additional funding will help teachers make that happen. Clearly resources like the Dyslexia Toolkit, coupled with the creativity and commitment of our schools and teachers can transform a child's life chances. "

Sir Jackie Stewart said:

"Both Dyslexia Scotland and myself as President are very grateful to the Scottish Government for its commitment to support the expansion of the Assessing Dyslexia toolkit. By extending the reach of the online toolkit so that it guides teachers to not only identify but also support young people with dyslexia, it will hopefully enable more of Scotland's teachers to provide greater assistance to young people with dyslexia than has perhaps ever existed before".

The Dyslexia toolkit was launched by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and Sir Jackie Stewart OBE in June 2010. The Scottish Government provided Dyslexia Scotland with £39,000 in 2009/10 to develop the toolkit and a further £10,000 in 2010/11 to run a series of seminars across Scotland to raise awareness and understanding of the new resource.

The additional funding was announced following a meeting at the Scottish Parliament attended by the First Minister Alex Salmond, the Minister for Children and Young People Angela Constance, representatives of the Universities involved in Initial Teacher Education in Scotland, Graham Donaldson author of Teaching Scotland's Future, Sir Jackie Stewart President of Dyslexia Scotland and other representatives of Dyslexia Scotland.

The Universities involved in Initial Teacher Education (in Scotland) include: University of Edinburgh; University of Strathclyde; University of Stirling; The Open University; University of Dundee; University of the West of Scotland; University of Aberdeen and the University of Glasgow.

Dyslexia Scotland have also published 'Dyslexia and Us: A collection of personal stories' on October 31, 2011.

Sir Jackie Stewart OBE, the former world champion racing driver, was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 38.

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