Page 39 - IFAFA ebook v4

This involved the use of number/alphabet grids, infra-red eye-gaze

systems and Morse Code. The Locked-In-Syndrome paralyses all muscles

controlled by the neurology of the brain stem. Only eye movement or eye-

blink is preserved. One patient, whom I got to know well, ran her house

using Morse Code based on her ability to roll her eyes up or to the side.

This gave her the basis for using the SOS of Morse Code. In another

patient I found she could voluntarily move her thumb. I searched and

searched for a communication system for her. Eventually I noticed that

Stephen Hawking used a type of bar to control his voice synthesiser. I

contacted his office at Cambridge University, and he was most helpful in

steering me to the wonderful Toby Churchill and his invention – The

Litewriter.

Expertise in the Locked-In Syndrome led me to lecture both nationally

and internationally. But my abiding interest was in the physical reasons

and brain difference in people with dyslexia. Examinations in the VUB

were mostly oral. My final neurology exam was oral. I was asked to

prepare an hour-long lecture in the brain differences of dyslexics. I had

one week to do all the reading and to produce hard copy visuals. My

examiners were all the recently trained neurologists from VUB and the

professor. They each gave a score which was averaged. Consequently, I

was awarded an MSc in Neuro-linguistics.

In 1995 while studying previously with the OU I met a lecturer in

Psychology from Trinity College Dublin. He asked me to contact him if I

ever returned to Dublin.

In 1998 Frank was posted home to Dublin to head up the EU desk. I

called in to say hello to the TCD lecturer who turned out to be Head of

the School of Psychology. He persuaded me to help him answer some

research questions. I therefore walked out with a PhD research topic in

front of me ‘What is dyslexia and can it be predicted by adequate

screening?’ This brought me on a journey of elation, misery, exhaustion,

hope, admiration and disbelief. Finally, after 17 years of hard work and

cooperation with TCD, national schools countrywide, parents and

children, the Department of Education and Skills and teachers, we now

have an early screening test which is fully normed, well researched,

criterion tested, and has an electronic feedback and intervention system

which will predict which children will experience literacy and other

difficulties in their school careers. It was launched by the Minister for

Education and Skills in June 2016. Today it is used to great effect in

many schools and is used as an instrument of Assessment for Learning

(AfL). It tells the teacher what each child needs to be taught.

And so, I look at the photograph, which is before you. I think of the

journey that brought me to this point. In a way it is an artefact of the

vagaries of Department of Foreign Affairs postings. It is a life history,

which I would not change. It may bring challenges but if these are met,

head on, in a positive frame of mind, the outcomes can be fascinating,

renewing and rewarding.

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