The growing awareness of dyslexia and the huge pressure it is putting on Otago schools to support pupils with specific learning disabilities, has prompted Speld New Zealand to train more teachers in the region.
Executive officer Jeremy Drummond said the search was on to train more teachers to help Otago's dyslexic learners.
``Support services have never been more stretched,'' she said.
``The shortage in Otago, particularly Dunedin, is heart-breaking for some parents.
``They become aware that their child has dyslexia and are desperate to get them help.
``It's really upsetting when they realise they have to be placed on a waiting list for one of our specialised teachers.''
Mrs Drummond said the children often suffered years of failure and despondency at school, and it was critical they got the support they needed to ``learn how to learn differently'' so they did not become disillusioned in the classroom.
``Without this, some may fall through the cracks, never learning to read or write.
``As a result, they may have difficulty holding down jobs and can be immensely frustrated, suffering from very low self-esteem or even depression.''
For the past 40 years, the not-for-profit organisation has provided assessment and specialised one-on-one tuition for those struggling with specific learning disabilities (SLD), and the organisation is now preparing to train more Otago teachers to nurture children to success.
``We train our teachers to use a multi-sensory approach.
``They create specialised one-on-one programmes that target the exact needs of each learner, as revealed by the diagnostic assessment.
``Our teachers learn skills and strategies that can also be applied to the general classroom context, directly benefiting all students they work with.''
Mrs Drummond said research showed learning outcomes for children with dyslexia could be vastly improved by the organisation's tuition.
It was estimated 10% of the New Zealand population has an SLD such as dyslexia.
She said scholarships were available to help teachers cover the cost of attending a two-day workshop in Dunedin on March 8 and 9.
It is an introduction to specific learning disabilities (an NZQA-approved level 3 course) which provides an insight into why dyslexia and other SLDs occur, experience what it is like to have an SLD and acquire constructive, practical strategies to help these learners in the classroom and at home.
She said the pathway for training Speld teachers was an online NZQA-approved level 5 course for teachers with a minimum of one year of classroom experience.
