From READyslexia to READ: School for dyslexia set to become literary resource centre

Lack of interest, taboos around dyslexia compel founder Shaheena Alvi to make the change.

KARACHI: Twenty-eight years ago, Shaheena Alvi opened what she says was the first school for dyslexic children in Southeast Asia with her brother, Shad Moaris, an educational psychologist. Today, society's lack of interest and the taboo surrounding dyslexia are compelling her to turn the institute, which is now a private limited company called READyslexia, into a literary resource centre called READ.

"Our focus has always been on education, not business," maintains Alvi, explaining that the purpose of the school was to cater to students with learning differences, such as dyslexia and attention-deficit disorders. "But now we want to expand our focus from dyslexia to a much broader paradigm, which includes creative writing courses and teacher training programmes."

For Alvi, dyslexia is neither a disease nor a disorder — it is merely a minor change in how the brain sends signals. "We do not give dyslexic students psychological treatment; it is a remedial process that we provide to them," she says. "Since letters don't work for them but visuals do, we help them learn through visualisation."

A group of five students from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) — Muhammad Ahmed Hamid, Sara Lone, Abdul Samad Nizami, Umme Laila and Sara Khan — have decided to pitch in to help Alvi make the transformation, as part of their coursework. They have six courses in their final semester at the institute; four of these are replaced with an experiential learning programme. "As part of this, we have to approach various companies and help them out with their marketing and finances," explains Hamid.

According to Lone, the company had no marketing strategy at all. "People were not aware about the institute, so the first step was to undertake social network marketing by updating their Facebook page," she discloses. "Then we prepared a marketing strategy that included trainers' profiles, the services being offered, the workshops that have been conducted and the success stories that have been achieved."

The team also decided to rebrand the company from READyslexia to merely READ. "We have to do this to attract people, since dyslexia is considered a taboo in our society," Lone points out, adding that merely having 'dyslexia' in the name discouraged parents from sending their children to the institute.

Alvi's daughter Nida, who helps her mother in running the institute, agrees with them. "It gets extremely difficult to convince parents that their children are dyslexic," she remarks. "We have to counsel them more than the children themselves."

The rebranding does not mean that Alvi plans to stop her work for dyslexic students. Instead, she wants more teachers to join her. For this purpose, she and her young team from IBA are planning to visit different colleges in search of A’ Levels and Intermediate students with an interest in teaching, so that they can be trained at the institute.

"We will also visit schools to brief them about dyslexia, asking them to send students facing problems in reading and writing here to help them learn," says Lone.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2015.