2016 Statistical Report about Dyslexia Scotland’s Services
The Dyslexia Helpline
Dyslexia Scotlandaims to inspire and enable everyone to reach their full potential. This is achieved througha range of support and services, one of which is its flagship service, the Dyslexia Helpline.
Helpline enquiries come in the form of telephone calls andemail enquiries as well as a webchat service.
In 2016 the number of enquiries recorded was 1730 which is a slight decrease on the previous year.
Enquirers come from all walks of life. Opposite, the chart indicates that parents continue to dominate with a 57% share of the total number of enquiries. Adultenquiries represented the next greatest number of enquiries with 28% of the total enquiries.
So, what age is a young person when a parent makes an enquiry to the Helpline? In 2016 the age of the young person being discussed was 9 years old (16%). The next largest group was from young people aged 8 or 10 years old 14% respectively.
Overall, enquiries about primary school aged young people remains higher than those within secondary school.
GEOGRAPHICS
Dyslexia Scotland receives calls from all 32 local authorities in Scotland. However, the table above focuses on the number of calls (blue columns) compared to the population in that region (red columns). Population columns are shown as a percentage of the total population in Scotland (5,373,000, 2015, National Records for Scotland). Advisors have dealt with the highest number of enquiries from the City of Edinburgh, yet its population is less than that of Glasgow (Over 100,000 of a difference). We would have expected there to be more enquiries from Glasgow.
As can be seen, population numbers do mostly coincide with the number of enquiries. The top 4local authority areas in terms of population size are also the areas from where we receive the most calls.
What type of help are people looking for?
The greatestnumber of enquiriesto Dyslexia Scotland’s Helpline Service areabout getting assessed (43%). As you can see, this is lower than 2015 but higher than 2014. General Information is the next most popular category (24%) followed by Tuition (21%).
When we talk about ‘assessment’ this represents all ages; young people and adults. In the first instance, Helpline advisers alwaysdiscuss and recommend that parents work with the school using its staged intervention and contextualised assessment systemswhich can help to identify and support a young person, enabling them to access the curriculum.
Tutor List Service
Dyslexia Scotland’s Tutor List Service provides contact details for self-employed specialist tutors who have significant experience of supporting people with dyslexia.
In 2015, there were 69 Tutors on the National Dyslexia Scotland Tutor List; during 2016 the number of tutors increased to 78 - with some new tutors enrolling and others retiring or withdrawing from the list because of changes in their circumstances.
Each year we get a large number of requests for tutors – these may come from parents looking for a tutor for a child in primary or secondary school; from students in Further and Higher Education; or from adults. In 2014, we sent out 388 lists; in 2015, the figure was 334; while in 2016, we sent out 299 lists.
The percentage of requests for each age group varies from one year to the next – though the largest percentage of requests is always for dyslexia-specialist tutors to support primary school pupils.
In 2015, the percentage of families looking for tutors for primary school children increased from 50% to 61%. However, this year the percentage fell to 54%, while requests for secondary tutors increased from 24% to 29%. The number of adults looking for a tutor has increased over the last 3 years - from 11% in 2014, to 15% in 2015 and 17% in 2016.
This chart gives a breakdown of the number of tutor lists we have issued over the past 3 years per month.
Although Dyslexia Scotland receives requests for tutors throughout the year, demand is greatest in January / February and August / September. The figures above represent the situations where we were able to supply one or more tutor contacts when asked to do so. However, in 2016, we received a further 64 requests for tutors where it was not possible to send out even a single contact. This was either because demand had exceeded supply in that particular area, or because there were no dyslexia-specialist tutors on our list in that part of Scotland.
Ensuring that there are sufficient tutors in each area to meet demand is a major challenge for the Tutor List Service. Not only is there a shortage of tutors in rural areas (eg there are currently only 2 tutors in the whole of Highland region), but there are also shortages in cities. Although there are more tutors in urban areas, the volume of requests can mean that tutors reach capacity very quickly – or travel patterns within the city may mean that the tutor is not easily accessible for the family.
Dyslexia Scotland continues to advertise for tutors by a variety of means – by word of mouth; at events; through our branches and via social media. This year we included a ‘Tutors Wanted’ flyer in our Education Conference mailing (which went out to all schools in Scotland) and put information about tutoring in the delegate packs at the Conference. This led to a number of teachers asking for information about tutoring and Dyslexia Scotland was ultimately able to add a number of new tutors to the National Tutor List.
Dyslexia Scotland’s Website
At the start of 2016, Dyslexia Scotland switched its website analyticalsoftware to Google Analytics. As a result it has been found to be more accurate in recording traffic on our website. The website is a key vehicle in helping to deliver high quality information, advice and support to dyslexic people and to those who support them. The website also helps with increasing awareness among potential members, employers, educators, supporters and the general public. It is, therefore, essential that our website is up-to-date and relevant.
In 2016 we recorded 59,275 visitors to our website. Of this figure 21,396 were unique visitors and 37,879 were returning visitors. The webchat service is limited to 3 sessions per week, due to capacity issues. The advisers have reported 30 webchats having been dealt with during 2016.
The chart on the left shows the number of visitors to the website on a month-by-month basis.
The months that showed the highest number of visitors in 2016were October and November. This coincides with major events happening such as the annual EducationConference and Dyslexia Awareness Week.
Geographic Locations
Dyslexia Scotland’s website is accessed by people not just from the UK, but from across the globe.
In 2015 we had visitors from as close as Ireland to as far afield as Russia, China and Australia.
Most Popular Information Sources
The followinginformation leafletswere the most popular leaflets viewed on our website:
1. What is dyslexia? – has returned to the top spot. Although regularly in the top 5, this has been its most popular year since 2012.
2. Dyslexia checklists and indicators – this new leaflet in late 2015/early 2016is proving very popular!
3. Mindmapping – although not a new leaflet, it is showing for the first time in the top 5.
4. Info about tutor service – also a newcomer to the top 5.
5.Dyslexia-friendly formats – has consistently been in the top 5 documents since 2013.
Social Mediaand Ellie’s Dyslexia Blue Ribbon Campaign
Membership
Membership is dealt with centrally by the main office.
The graph on the right shows the membership trend over the past 3 years. There has been an increase in the number of members during 2016. However, work continues to promote membership in various ways including promotion at our Education Conference, during Dyslexia Awareness Week and the many other events run throughout the year.
Members can now join and renew their membership online:
Volunteers
Volunteers are vital to the work of Dyslexia Scotland. Without them, the organisation would not be able to function in the way that it does.
Over the past year, six volunteers regularly assisted in our main office. Three of these volunteers were Helpline advisers; three volunteers assisted with general office duties, and one volunteer organised and updated our resource library. One Adult Network Chair facilitates our Adult Networks in Glasgow and Stirling and three volunteers were involved in setting up the Adult Network in Edinburgh. Three Media volunteers were involved in our Media Sub-group.
We had 10 dedicated Events volunteers who helped with various events throughout the year and 21 volunteers helped at the 2016 Education Conference. Seven active Young Ambassadors raised awareness of dyslexia with young people. Three new Careers Mentor volunteers have recently been recruited to support our Employment Service. In 2016, from our Stirling base, 30 active volunteers gave a total of 1927 hours of their valuable time to the work of Dyslexia Scotland, in a range of different roles. That is 161 hours per month; roughly equivalent of a full time member of staff! Some volunteers have several roles.In addition, our President, Vice-President, Board of Directors, Council and Branches all contribute a significant amount of time and energy to Dyslexia Scotland’s work, all on a voluntary basis.
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