4,000 Children Caught Cheating in exams – Immoral or Ingenious?

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One of today’s headlines focused on the 4,000 children who got caught ‘cheating’ in their exams.

The majority of these children were apparently caught using their mobile phones to download answers to their exam questions.

I was so shocked when I heard this – not because I think these children were wrong – quite the opposite, I think they should all be praised and given an award for their ingenuity.

Isn’t it a bit peculiar how, in the twenty-first century, schools test children on the amount of information they can hold in their heads and then regurgitate on demand – when with a couple of clicks on their phones all this information is available to them!

Shouldn’t the schools be testing children on their ability to use electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers to search the World Wide Web for information that will be of use to them within the context of their lives?

It concerns me when I see hundreds of nervous looking children sitting at desks scribbling down pointless facts, figures and formulas that will most likely never surface again from their overloaded brains once they have left school.

Shouldn’t we be seeing lots of confident children sitting, walking or lying down wherever they want to, using a range of electronic devices that they can use to create or access knowledge with?

So, I think the 4,000 children who used their heads and went with the times should be given an award.

There is little doubt in my mind that many of these children, if praised rather than criticised, will go on to be leaders in education and commerce – as they have an innate intelligence to use the best tools available to them to get the job done!

Well done to all 4,000 of them for highlighting how ludicrous our educational system is!

Written by Antonio Farruggia

Co-founder of Dyslexic Brain

Let us know what you think about this topic by posting your comments in the box below – it will be great to read them… or email Antonio at antonio@DyslexicBrian.com

Dyslexic Quotes

Post your dyslexic quote in the comments box below…

Lets have some Dyslexic Fun

Here’s a Dyslexic Quote from Dyslexic Brian to get the ball rolling:

“2 d or knot 2 d – that is the question…”

Making Reading Right | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

The Bristol Evening Post , October 31, 2005

Dyslexic academic Antonio Farruggia has made the leap from dunce to doctor. Now he wants to help others overcome the condition which proved such a handicap in his childhood. TOM HENRY reports on the self-help dyslexia website he has set up with his brother.

When he was young, Antonio Farruggia was labeled a dunce by a teacher who placed a cone on his head with a large ‘D’ scrawled on it, and made him stand in a corner for three days.

His crime? To fail to keep up with his class during a reading lesson. While others were forging ahead in the literary stakes, Antonio was still on ‘Peter and Jane’ books. He could barely spell his name and he was ten years old. While still in short trousers he had been written off by an education system which couldn’t understand why he couldn’t understand.

Overcoming the odds: Antonio Farruggia has set up a website to help people with dyslexia

Fast forward 30 years and Birmingham-born Antonio is coming to the end of a PhD study into dyslexia., the condition he suffers from and which was barely recognised in mainstream education until relatively recently.

From dunce to doctor is quite a leap, but it is one which Antonio has been determined to make since he pulled himself back from what was turning into a life of crime and violence – and realised he had more to offer than he ever thought.

Now he wants to share the skills and knowledge he has built up through years of study with other dyslexic people and with his younger brother, Alessandro, he has set up a website to do that. It was called previously: beesthewrongwayround.com [now known as DyslexicBrian.com] and the name will be familiar to dyslexics who are often asked ‘do you get your b’s the wrong way round?’

“It’s also a bit ungrammatical” laughs Antonio.”I think it should be ‘bees the wrong way around’. Typical dyslexic eh? Maybe it’s because i’m from Birmingham. We’d never say ‘around’, always ’round’.

Such technicalities might not matter in the grand scheme of things, but they do to Antonio. He has had to work hard to achieve what many of us take for granted -basic literacy and numeracy – and he’s determined that others should succeed where he once struggled.

The website which Antonio runs from an office in the Fishponds Trading Estate has been in the development stage for about six months and now, in its fourth version it has finally gone live.

Beesthewrongwayround.com is a highly-comprehensive source of information, both for dyslexics and non-dyslexics, and as well as sections detailing his own and other responses to the condition, the website offers paid one-to -one tuition for those who need real-time help and support via means of a webcam.

“We’ve done a test of this method,”says Antonio, “and it’s worked very well indeed. You can be anywhere in the world and if you are dyslexic and struggling with something- an essay or a dissertation or whatever it may be -we can help you. Dyslexic students in the UK can pay for support or tuition using their DSA (Disabled Student’s Allowance) and this is something we’re keen to promote.

“Of course, there’s no substitute for face-to-face tuition in the same room and the website is not going to replace that, but there are many people out there who for one reason or another can’t access the kind of specialist support they need, which is a sham. This is where we come in.”

Antonio knows how it feels to be confronted with what seems an enormous and frightening pool of words. When he was completing his first degree, the worry of writing essay sand dissertations used to cause him to loose sleep.

“I found it very hard to express myself,” he said, “and just couldn’t get my head around simple things like paraphrasing or quotes or references.

“I had a real understanding of the subject I was writing about and i really wanted to express something about it, but couldn’t get it out.”

In his youth Antonio had joined a boxing gym and the coach there became a mentor to hi, encouraging and supporting him through difficult times. Now, Antonio sees himself in that role, coaching and nurturing those people with dyslexia who feel like he did when confronted by words.

“I have a lot of empathy with other dyslexic people,” he said, “because I’ve been through it. And believe me, if I can learn to read and write and study for a PhD, anyone can.”

In addition to running [Dyslexia Support Service], Antonio is also keen to take his skills out on the road. He is looking for a venue, either a school, college, university building or a youth and community centre, in which he could facilitate a discussion group for dyslexic people, students, parents of dyslexic children or anyone else with an interest in the subject. He says there would be no charge for this; it is his way of sharing his knowledge and experience.

He also wants to become involved in the training of dyslexic employees on behalf of companies, and is already working with one company, HL Training in Fishponds, to help train forklift drivers who feel that their levels of literacy and numeracy may act as a barrier when they seek future employment.

“I’d be very keen to work with other training providers or companies to help them deliver a better service to dyslectics,” he said.

[...]

“As the research for my PhD has progressed I’ve become so much more aware of my own dyslexia,” said Antonio, “and I’ve come up with a seven-stage overview of how an individual first becomes aware of their literacy and numeracy difficulties to the stage where they have accepted it and are not frightened to deal with it.

“It’s a long process – it took me more than 20 years -but I’ve got there. And so can others, if they’ve got the determination to do it.”

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

Proud to Be Dyslexic | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

Bristol Evening Post ‘Seven magazine’ 4th April, 2003

Having been branded a dunce at the age of six, Antonio Farruggia left school virtually illiterate. He’s now close to completing a PhD on a subject close to his heart – dyslexia. Tom Henry meets this remarkable man who has embraced dyslexia and made it his great strength.

As names go, Antonio Giuseppe Farruggia is somewhat harder to commit to paper than John Smith. Even as I write it, I’m not entirely sure if I’ve got the Giuseppe right. Is the ‘I’ before the “e”, or the “e” before the “i”?

He laughs about it now, but this is the sort of scenario 38-year-old has had to face ever since he started school. When other kids were clumsily learning to spell their names, Antonio was drawing a blank over his own, and eventually it has to be abbreviated to “Tony” to make it easier for him. When elementary reading lessons began, Antonio could not grasp the differences between the “ch”, “th” and “sh” sounds and he began to fall behind“

The one person who should know is Mr Farruggia himself – but even he, I feel, is not entirely confident. Recently, he was asked to write out his middle name at an office counter, but he just couldn’t remember how to spell it. With a queue of increasingly impatient people behind him, he had to ring his dad to ask him.

That was it from then on,” he says. “When I was 10 I was still on the Peter and Jane books. I just couldn’t get it, and yet when I was about six years old I went to Sicily one summer with my parents and I came back speaking Sicilian. Instead of the school recognising and encouraging me, the teacher folded up a piece of paper into a cone, wrote a ‘D’ for ‘dunce’ on it, put it on my head and made me stand in the corner for three days.

“I was crying and crying, and it was a horrible feeling to know that you’re missing out on what the rest of the class is doing. I fell badly behind after that, and by the time I came to take the exam for secondary school, I had a definite knack for trouble.”

Antonio was dyslexic, of course. He was one of the unlucky generation which the education system failed because his difficulties with reading and writing were not spotted by teachers who considered he was “thick”, “unteachable”, “backward”, “slow”, “remedial” or, in one phrase Antonio vividly remembers, had “bad blood”.

“It was because my dad is Sicilian,” he laughs. “I think they’d been watching too many episodes of the Godfather!”

Nonetheless, leaving school almost illiterate was no laughing matter, his frustration at falling behind resulted in him becoming extremely aggressive. He joined a gang in Birmingham, and violence became a way of life for several years to come until he eventually channeled his energies into boxing, and through a boxing coach who became a sort of mentor, he went on to train other youngsters.

Remarkably, Antonio is now in the middle of exhaustive research for a PhD in the condition which disrupted his early life. He is now able to see that dyslexics are not “handicapped”, but instead have talents, abilities and ways of learning that are different from what we might describe as “normal” and it is this positivity that will eventually lead to him being called “doctor”, not “dunce”.

“After I left school I ended up in the building trade and I moved around the country doing flooring for new Sainsbury’s stores,” he said. “I could get the concept of the design in my mind very easily, and I was able to create come lovely flooring which really gave me confidence.

“I eventually set up in business on my own, but the recession came and I lost a lot of money. I decided to change career and because I’d had experience coaching boxing to youngsters I applied for some youth work jobs. But I needed a qualification and so I applied to a college. The entrance exam I took was scribble, but to my surprise I was offered a place.

At first, Antonio felt like a “fraud”. Although his literacy had improved since school, thanks to his own effort, he still struggled with the written work, and would still misinterpret what he was told. “We did quite a lot of role play,” he said, “and one of the assignments was to act out a scene which involved working in Paris . I had all these images of France going on in my head, but when I was figuring out what I was going to do I looked around the class and everyone else seemed to be doing something different.

Eventually, the penny dropped. “I was supposed to be working in pairs, not Paris! I’d completely misread the instructions.”

Despite such elementary mistakes, Antonio’s determination to succeed saw his marks go up. He passed the course, then went on to take a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in education and community youth work. Now there was no stopping him. Although he wasn’t sure himself, a friend in the world of academia encouraged him to go on a PhD course.

As a result of his research Antonio is now of the opinion that dyslexia is something to be embraced, not overcome. “I’m not broken and I don’t need to be fixed,” he asserts. “I have got confidence in the fact that I have a different way of expression than other people. We can’t all play or read music, for example, and if you cannot so it is accepted and understood. However, we are only taught to read and write in one way, and it’s a case of ‘one-size-fits-all’.“But we are all individuals and we all do things in different ways. A lot of my research is based around the ‘person-centred’ approach to the teaching of dyslexics, which finds out what the child is interested in and teaches skills based around that core interest. “The perception a person holds of their own dyslexia is far more important than what a professional tells them it is. Personally, I’m proud to be dyslexic. It’s something special, something different, and for me it is about exploring that difference and celebrating it.”

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

From Dunce to Degree | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

Birmingham Evening Mail, The Life Mag. 16.04.00 by David Jones

Education experts have made great strides in the teaching of dyslexic children, but understanding of the condition has been a long time coming. Birmingham youth worker Antonio Farruggia tells DAVID JONES how he conquered his dyslexia to gain a degree

“I WAS in my first year at school when I first realised I had difficulty reading. At the age of four, the other kids were already progressing more quickly than I was. The first problem I remember was not being able to tell the difference between ‘ch’, ‘sh’ and ‘th’ when I read them on the page.

Of course, I was too young to say anything and there was very little awareness of dyslexia in those days so I was just left to struggle – and that was just the beginning of my problems… By the time I sat the entrance exam for secondary school, I’d stopped trying altogether. I was messing about all the time and getting into fights. I think a lot of it was out of sheer frustration because, looking back, I know I wasn’t ‘stupid’ at all.

…the prospect of having to read out loud in class would fill me with terror. I would start messing about in the hope that I would get thrown out – anything to avoid having to read. On the few occasions I did have to read to the class, it was a nightmare. I would be okay for a sentence or so then I’d stumble and I would feel myself starting to panic, which just made it worst. Then my vision would go blurry and the words would start jumping around the page. All the time I could hear the other children getting restless or giggling – it was so humiliating

Of course, he teachers went through all the traditional options to try and get me to improve. I was sent to an educational psychologist and it didn’t take long for them to stick me in the remedial group. It didn’t help my reading and writing, but I met an amazing bunch of kids. We were all stuck with this label that we weren’t as cleaver as the other kids but it seemed everyone in that class was good at general knowledge, quizzes and so on. It seems clear now that it wasn’t the kids who were failing – it was the education system that was failing them. Looking back, I reckon there must have been a lot of dyslexic kids in that group, but there just wasn’t enough awareness of dyslexia to realise the type of specialised teaching we needed.

Eventually I left school with no qualifications and very low self-esteem. I was a complete rogue really, always getting into trouble, drifting from one labouring job to another. Fortunately, there was one teacher who took an interest in me in my final year at school and got me into weight-lifting. He suggested that I go along to the Birmingham City Amateur Boxing Club, so I did and I immediately found somewhere that I felt I was wanted. I started going regularly, working out on the weights and helping the youngsters who used the gym. It really gave me a sense of self-worth and the feeling I had something to offer. If it hadn’t been for the club, I could easily have ended up in prison

Since then, I’ve interviewed hundreds of dyslexic people for my research and I’m now doing a part-time PhD looking at the links between crime and dyslexia…

What I really want to do now is set up a support service for dyslexics and their families so that I can use my research to help as many people as possible. I’ve got a real passion for learning now and I want to put that to good use. I don’t know how ‘clever’ I am – I suppose that’s what I’m finding out, and if I can spare anyone else the pain I went through as a youngster whilst I’m at it, then so much the better.”

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

Dyslexia Inspired Song by Nizlopi

A HEART-WARMING song about a little boy riding in his father’s digger has become a sudden favourite for Christmas No1 2005. (Click here to read the story)

I’m 5 years old and my dad’s a giant sitting beside me.
And the engine rattles my bum like berserk
While we’re singin’ , ‘Don’t forget your shovel if you want to go to work!’

My dad’s probably had a bloody hard day
But he’s been good fun and bubblin’ and jokin’ away
And the procession of cars stuck behind
are gettin’ all impatient and angry, but we dont mind.

An’ we’re holdin’ up the bypass
woah
Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
oh-woah

I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
woah
And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

Oh no

and we pull over to let cars past
And pull off again, speedin’ by the summer green grass
And we’re like giants up here in our big yellow digger
Like zoids, or transformers, or maybe even bigger

And I wanna transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
And eat up all the bullies and the teachers and their pets
And I’ll tell all my mates that my dad’s B.A. Baracus
Only with a JCB and Bruce Lee’s nunchuckas

And We’re holdin’ up the bypass
Woah

Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
Oh whoa

I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
Oh
And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

And we’re holdin’ up the bypass
Oh

Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
Oh whoa
I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
Oh

And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

-

Said I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round

And we’re holdin’ up the bypass
Whoa-Oh

Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
Oh-whoa
And I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
oh-oh

And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

I said

I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his
Aw, I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.

Upside Down Reader

Unable to make progress in the usual way, this first grade student made a year’s progress in only one month by holding his books upside down. He now can read both ways, but he does better when he holds the book upside down.

Dyslexic Brian Comments:

There’s a good debate about this video and ‘upside down reading’ on the Being Dyslexic Forum.

>>> Click here to visit this topic on the Being Dyslexic Forum <<<

Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach | Level 1

Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach

Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach Programme | Level 1 is made up of:

• 10 two hour long Learning Sessions
• 2 One-to-One sessions with Antonio
• 2 Evaluation Sessions working with your child
• Course work
• Access to Dyslexic Brian’s Online Training Website
• Membership of Dyslexic Brian’s Online Support Forum

Cost: £250*

Please note that we operate an inclusion policy and therefore we offer subsidies to people who are unable to meet the cost of this programme. Please contact us for more information about our inclusion policy.

* The value of this programme if priced for commercial sale would be £1,997.

To book your place on this programme or for more information please contact Antonio Farruggia on +447969789893 or email him at info@DyslexicBrian.com

Dyslexic Brian – LIVE Radio Show about Dyslexia

Dyslexic Brian was interviewed by Maf, one of Bristol’s best know DJ’s, on Bristol Community FM.

The interview was on 29^th October 2009 between 2pm and 3pm (UK time)

Antonio ‘Magico’ Farruggia (co-founder of Dyslexic Brian) was explaining Dyslexic Brian’s perspective of dyslexia and sharing lots of tips and tricks that dyslexic people can follow to completely overcome their dyslexia.

It was a show well worth listening to!

All the best and enjoy the show!

Dyslexic Brian & LIVE BCfm Radio Show

Wow!!! The live radio show with the infamous radio presenter Maf from Bristol Community Radio was an amazing experience!

Our co-founder Antonio Farruggia had a great time talking about dyslexia and also having a laugh with Maf.

We are looking forward to getting back on Maf’s show soon.

We’ll keep you posted re Dyslexic Brain’s next radio appearance.

Let us know what you think of the show by sending Dyslexic Brian an email at info@dyslexicbrian.com

Approaching a career with dyslexia

Dyslexic Brian @ The University of Bristol Freshers’ Fair

Dyslexic Brian went down really well at The University of Bristol Freshers’ Fair. Two of the co-founders of Dyslexic Brian, Goga and Antonio, spent all day telling students about the services that we offer. Goga and Antonio were shattered when they got back to the office but they said it had been worth it due to them having met dozens of positive minded dyslexic and non-dyslexic students. There was a huge interest in November’s dyslexia workshops that are aimed at assisting people to completely overcome their dyslexia. Also, loads of people signed up for our newsletter – we’ll be sending out the newsletters very soon but first Goga and Antonio are sending out a personalised video email to everyone who signed up for it.    Loads of the students we spoke to said that it would be good for us to start a Bristol University Dyslexic Brian Society – we think this is a great idea and we are now looking into setting this up.If we become a society we’re planning to run a free discussion group about dyslexia each month at the Uni – these should be good fun and will hopefully be useful to students who want to increase their awareness and understanding of dyslexia. Check back soon to find out where Dyslexic Brian will be visiting next!  If you’re organising an event and would like Dyslexic Brian to come along then please contact us on info@DyslexicBrian.com or call Antonio on                      079697 89893

Antonio with Owen, President of UBU   Antonio with Ruth and Richard, UBU   University of Bristol

Dyslexic Brian’s View of Dyslexia (Part 1)

As a result of the way dyslexia is currently being viewed, many people within society, i.e. those within medicine, education, employment, and within the general population, regard ‘dyslexic’ people as ‘broken’ and in need of ‘fixing’ in some way.

For instance, some ‘medics’ believe that dyslexia stems from a ‘defect’ or ‘deficit’ that exists within the ‘dyslexic’ individual’s brain, whilst others believe it to be caused by some form of malfunctioning’ within the ‘dyslexic’ individual’s eyes. Some within education, i.e. academics and teachers, hold the view that dyslexia has something to do with the ‘dyslexic’ individual’s ‘inability’ to distinguish between certain letter sounds. Some employers believe that ‘dyslexic’ individual’s have ‘sub-standard’ intelligence and therefore not worth employing as they will be a liability to their company or organisation. And finally, many people within the general population regard ‘dyslexic’ people as ‘uneducated’, not ‘normal’, ‘thick’ or even ‘stupid’.  

At Dyslexic Brian.com we do not regard ‘dyslexic’ people to be ‘broken’, ‘abnormal’ or in need of ‘fixing’ in any way what so ever.

Rather, we believe that ‘dyslexic’ people are individuals who may have a natural orientation to express themselves using a non-word based medium, such as art, music, dance, mime, sport, etc.

Just as some individuals have a natural orientation to use their right hand rather than their left one, we believe that some individuals have a natural orientation to use one (or all) of the mediums mentioned above instead of using written language to express themselves.

Just as it is perfectly ‘normal’ to be either right or left handed we believe it to be perfectly ‘normal’ to be ‘dyslexic’. We believe therefore, that ‘dyslexia’ is caused as a result of such individuals being forced to use their non-preferred medium (e.g. written language) to try and express themselves with.

Looking at dyslexia in this way, we can easily say that ‘much’ has been made of ‘nothing’, which is exactly what we are saying! Just as left or right handedness isn’t viewed as an issue then nor should dyslexia be. And yet, at one point in our history, and as ludicrous as this may seem nowadays, left handedness was seen to be just as big an issue as dyslexia is.

Many people within society believed that left handed people were possessed by the devil. Within education left handed children were punished and forced to write with their right hands. Left handed children were picked on and bullied and left handed adults were mistrusted within society. (Incidentally, the word ‘sinister’ derives from the Latin word ‘sinistra’ which means ‘left’. Thankfully, being left handed is not seen in this way anymore. Unfortunately though, the issue of dyslexia still is!

However, whilst the phenomenon of dyslexia is being framed in the way that it is, (i.e. as a condition that exists within the individual) then the negative effects of this view on the ‘dyslexic’ individual can be profound. For example, if a ‘dyslexic’ person believes that they are ‘broken’ and not ‘normal’ then this may limit their ability to reach their true potential.