In 2016 we are launching a new awareness campaign called Make it a Red Letter Day. We would like every dyslexic child and adult in Austra...

My Red Letter 2016 - Make it a Red Letter Day

13:32:00 Dyslexia Australia 0 Comments

Make it a Red Letter Logo
In 2016 we are launching a new awareness campaign called Make it a Red Letter Day. We would like every dyslexic child and adult in Australia to take up their pen, laptop or iPad and write a “Red Letter” to their school principal, teacher, state or federal Member of Parliament, a Government leader, the media or a person they feel may have an influence in creating change for dyslexia locally, nationally or internationally.  These letters will be heartfelt and tell the receiver about the struggles that are faced every day by dyslexic learners and they will ask for change at a school, state and national level.

The letters themselves will be written or printed in red as we reclaim that colour as a symbol of power for dyslexic learners and they should be written in your own dyslexic spelling and sentence construction.  So often we speak in advocacy terms of the struggles that our dyslexic learners battle but it is doubtful that many of the people who govern our country have ever ‘seen’ dyslexia first hand.  Therefore, feel free to let your child plan, edit and write the final thing in neat handwriting but let the principals and politicians see the spelling and organisational challenges dyslexic learners face every day and don’t ‘correct’ their work.  If your child is very severely dyslexic, you might need to write a copy of your own to append to the letter to aid the delivery of the message but in many cases people will know what a child is trying to say.

To help with planning two writing frames are available should you wish to use them, don’t use a writing frame if you don’t want to!  They can be a really useful tool for some dyslexic learners and that is why they are available.

Writing Plan 1: This one is blank and is good to use for planning and with younger children.
Writing Plan 2: This one is more detailed and can be used by older children and teenagers to help organise their letter.  It can also be used by parents and tutors as an ideas sheet to help organisation.

As part of this campaign we are also running a competition for those aged 5 to 18. You can find out more on our Make it a Red Letter day Competition page

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