A Wiltshire dyslexia school decided to mark Dyslexia Awareness Week (1st - 7th November) with an engaging public art project in Salisbury.

Appleford School in Shrewton is a specialist school for pupils with dyslexia and associated learning difficulties. Head teacher Lesley Nell says “As the theme for this year’s awareness week was Dyslexia Strengths, we decided to get our message out to the wider community who often see dyslexia as a negative.”

The term ‘dyslexia’ is Greek for ‘difficulty with words’ and affects how pupils read and write. “People often focus in on this, rather than seeing that it can actually be a gift in some ways,” says Lesley.

“Dyslexics often make up for their difficulties by developing other talents such as visual creativity which lead to fields of work such as inventors, artists, engineers, architects and performers. This is in much the same way that blind people can develop their hearing.”

“For the project, our pupils typed out what dyslexia means to them....