A right to read

The purpose of this project is to inform people about dyslexia and the importance of library as a place that can provide an access to information for everyone including the librarians, speech pathologists and other experts together in their creative work of repressing the children's resistance to reading and give them opportunity to read. Also, a group therapy makes good environment for repressing the fear and raising a self-confidence. Background About 10 % of school children in Croatia are fighting with dyslexia that disables them to read and learn efficiently. Although their IQ is very high and they are talented for many things, these advanteges are not recognised and valued enough. Parents and teachers attribute the problems with reading and writing to pupil's laziness since the awarness of this problem is still very low. Even if the problem is recognised, the lack of experts specialized for dyslexia makes waiting for the therapy very long. On the ground of that, Croatian Association for Dyslexia and National and University Library are preparing programs for children with dyslexia. There is a lot of literature, but still not enough practice. Methods used for the study This project was conducted in a few phases. The first - informing phase (brochures, questionnaire, exhibitions), the second - educational phase (lectures) and the third - practical workshops for children. Broshures were given to parents in schools and libraries in order to raise the awareness of dyslexia problem and to promote library services and books about it. Exhibition was set up in the public library for the same purpose. Questionnaire was given to parents in order to help them determine child’s reading abilities and possible problems. Educational lectures were conducted for parents, teachers and others interested in the topic. Workshops included games, reading, talking, practical work, dramatization, artistic expression... Findings Because of the lack of systematic approach to the issues of discovering specific difficulties in reading such as dyslexia in first classes of primary school, teachers education level and competencies to make difference between specific and non-specific pupils mistakes must be very high, as same as knowledge for practical treatment of dyslexia problem. The library role in this project was fundamental because in informing, educating, but most important discovering dyslexia and providing creative way of therapy as a result of interdisciplinary cooperation of librarians and experts. In that way, for children with dyslexia the library was recognized as a helpful and comfortable place to learn, play and socialize. Importance and interest of the study The importance of this study is in its possibility to influence the people in the local community and change their way of dealing with the dyslexia problem. Value of paper Paper presents a model for group creative therapy of dyslexia on the local and regional level, and an example of good practice for other libraries.