Bucks Patoss held an extremely successful meeting on 19th May at the very smart venue of Booker Park School, Stoke Mandeville. It was a real coup for a small local group to welcome the eminent Professor John Stein of the Oxford-based Dyslexia Research Trust. This was all thanks to Maddy Cornish who had contacted the Trust to ask if anyone was available to update us on the latest research findings. Needless to say, this proved to be our most popular meeting ever – even though it was also our AGM! During this part of the meeting, Julia Try stood down as Chair, and thanks are due to Henri Court for taking on this role.

To a rapt audience of 120 members and guests John Stein assured us that although there does seem to be neurobiological basis for the difficulties engendered by Dyslexia, there do also seem to be ways of helping. One is to deal with the visual aspects of reading – most successfully through the use of yellow or dark blue overlays or glasses. It is also possible that balance exercises work through helping to re-train the eyes. John Stein claims that the Oxford ‘filters’ produce a greater reading improvement than the Reading Recovery programme!

In addition to the impaired Visual Magnocellular System, there appear to be differences in the Auditory Magnocellular System in dyslexic brains. This means that it is more difficult for the brain to detect subtle differences in frequencies, such as those produced by the sounds of b and d. Once again, the auditory system can be re-trained.

The importance of the Omega-3 fish oils was re-iterated. Children need 1 gram a day either through supplements or a diet which includes oily fish two or three times a week. Professor Stein stated that this has less effect on adults’ reading skills, but has been shown to improve attention.

The speaker has kindly put the slides of his talk on the Dyslexia Research Trust website: www.dyslexia.org.uk He may also be able to offer advice about the purchase of deep blue or yellow overlays.

We held two 'sharing' meetings in Great Missenden during the Autumn of 2007, discussing Study Skills. The first session was led by Henri Court who shared many useful strategies for planning written work. The second was 'started off' by Julia Try who shared a couple of successful ideas from Herbie Brennan's book entitled 'Memory'. We then discussed Memory and other learning issues

On Monday 10th March, 7.45pm, there will be a meeting about Dyspraxia led by our local member, Judith Campbell. Venue to be arranged, but is likely to be Aylesbury.

We plan to offer a varied programme of events for 2008/2009 which will support our Continuing Professional Development. This will draw on the considerable knowledge and expertise of our own membership, as well as that of outside speakers. Meetings are expected to take place in several locations across Buckinghamshire. For further details about the programme, or joining us, contact: Maddy Cornish (Membership Secretary) mecornish@btinternet.com or Henri Court (Chairperson) Henricourt01@aol.com.