A PONTYPOOL musician who appeared on The X-Factor has teamed up with the creator of a dyslexia learning programme to help children with learning difficulties who have been learning from home.

Russell Jones has spoken previously of his own experiences of going through education with dyslexia, saying how he felt "let down" by the school system after teaching himself to read by memorising and performing songs.

And with children having to learn from home over the past 12 months, the former X-Factor contestant wanted to ensure children with dyslexia were not being left behind.

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Georgina Smith created Codebreakers, a programme designed to help children with dyslexia to boost their reading and spelling skills.

As part of the programme, Ms Smith and Mr Jones called families from across the UK via Zoom to discuss learning from home, the challenges it presented and how best parents can help support their children’s learning.

“They were asking questions like how I would feel in different situations,” said Mr Jones.

“If I was in their shoes, I would struggle teaching. And if I was at home being self-taught, I would probably struggle so much and then close myself off.

“This year has been a new situation for parents and it’s been so difficult for them having to balance this with work.

“I was just giving them advice for learning from home. One thing I wanted to say was how it can be fun instead of all being on paper – learning practically instead.”

Mr Jones cited how doing things you enjoy, such as music, cooking or gardening, could be used to teach children practical skills which are important to their education.

Ms Smith said she was hoping to raise awareness and see an increase in funding to support children with learning difficulties, after a 2015 study found that 21 per cent of 15-year-olds in Wales did not have the minimum level literacy skills.

“What I wanted to try and do was raise awareness of how kids are dealing with learning in lockdown,” said Ms Smith.

“I was looking at how it was affecting children not just on an educational level but also at a social level. For some children, they like being in school and having that structure, but others like being at home and learning from home.”

Ms Smith said there were some benefits to learning from home, such as teaching children more IT skills and developing their independent learning skills as well.

“It’s great to have such a positive role model in Russell,” she said. “Russell has gone and made a career from doing something he loves. A lot of kids feel anxious about themselves and say they can’t do that. The message that Russell wants to convey is that they can do whatever they want.

“Really dyslexia shouldn’t be a barrier to people achieving what they want to achieve. There are many positives to dyslexia and how the dyslexic brain processes things differently. The stigma around dyslexia shouldn’t be there.

“We need to have more teacher training, raise more awareness, and make more funding available to help with this.”