International recognition for Cape speech therapist tackling illiteracy

LONDON — South Africa has a serious problem in literacy rates among Grade 4 pupils. It ended at the bottom of a list of 50 countries in the Progress in International Literacy Study known as PIRLS conducted in 2016. It is estimated that 78% of Grade 4 pupils cannot read for meaning. Compare this figure to 3% in England, 4% to the United States,13% in Chile and 35% in Iran, where gender discrimination takes place. The most common cause of difficulties in reading, writing and spelling is dyslexia, which account for 5-10% of the world’s population. It is estimated that 70-80% of people who have reading difficulties, are dyslexic. A Cape town speech language therapist Elizabeth Nadler-Nir has come up with a computer programme, Virtual Reading Gym to help delayed older readers and it has been recognised at the London Book Fair where she won the Educational Learning Resources Award and came second in the Education Initiatives category. Elizabeth who is none other than the sister of colleague Chris Bateman spoke to Biznews in London and said that dyslexia is largely undiagnosed in South Africa. - Linda van Tilburg