ANNUAL REPORT 2012 - Dyslexia International

MOVING 

FORWARDS 

ANNUAL REPORT 2012

Contents 

3 Dyslexia International at a Glance 

Vision; Objective; History 

6 Letter from the Chair 

9 Operational Review 

e-Campus; Teacher training; Webinar 

14 People 

15 Accounts 

17 Auditor’s Report 

2/18 Dyslexia International Annual Report 2012

Dyslexia 

International 

at a glance 

Vision 

To see dyslexia addressed within education systems worldwide, 

and fully understood as an inhibitor to personal development and 

social integration unless it is identified and addressed. 

Objective 

To build the Dyslexia International e-Campus into a sustainable 

service for education authorities, trainers and teachers worldwide 

- a venue for education providers to share knowledge and ideas, 

and for teachers and trainers to access quality, scientificallyvetted 

courses and resources, free of charge, to enhance their 

teaching capabilities. 




at a glance 

History 

2000 2000 2001 

2003 


International Tools 

and Technologies 

ASBL, not-forprofit 

organization, 

founded in Brussels 

and registered in the 

Moniteur belge. 

BBC Language 

Shock – Dyslexia 

across cultures, 

awarenessraising 

film with 

accompanying guide 

widely distributed, 

also to ministries of 

education. 

Her Royal Highness 

HRH Princess 

Margaretha of 

Liechtenstein 

becomes Patron. 

Tintin helps dyslexic 

learners – The 

Mystery of the Lost 

Letters a tri-lingual 

self-help tool to 

assist mentors and 

encourage learners 

on a journey of selfdiscovery, 

produced 

by the BBC for 

Dyslexia International; 

launched at the Royal 

Palace Brussels 

in the presence 

of Her Majesty 

Queen Fabiola, and 

later disseminated 

worldwide. 




at a glance 

History continued 

2006 2008 2010 

2012 2012 


International (DI) 

granted operational 

status with The 

United Nations 

Educational, 

Scientific and 

Cultural Organization 

(UNESCO). 

With Microsoft 

School Technology 

Innovation Center, 

Brussels organization 

of a webinar in 20 

countries on Dyslexia: 

Neuroscience and 

cognitive psychology, 

with Professors 

Stanislas Dehaene, 

José Morais and 

John Stein. 

First World Dyslexia 

Forum organized at 

UNESCO ministries 

of education of 

over 190 countries 

invited to attend; 

UNESCO Goodwill 

Ambassador HRH 

The Grand Duchess 

Maria Teresa of 

Luxembourg spoke of 

the pressing demand 

for free access to 

higher education – 

an ‘e-Campus’. 



organized a 

second webinar 

with 10 countries 

on Illiteracy in the 

prison population 

hosted by Microsoft 

School Technology 

Innovation Center. 

With professors Elena 

Grigorenko and Linda 

Siegel, and experts 

Marion Walker and 

Melanie Jameson. 

A fully functional 

Beta version of 

the e-Campus was 

launched at UNESCO 

on 5 October, World 

Teachers Day, in the 

presence of Dyslexia 

International’s Patron 

and UNESCO 

Assistant Director 

General Education, 

Mr. Tang. 


Letter from 

the Chair 

In 2012 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon 

announced his ‘Education First’ policy at 

UNESCO, urging all NGOs working in education 

to make a major drive, ‘Un Grand Effort’, to reach 

the Millennium Development Goals by 2015: 

quality education for all. 

Dyslexia International fully endorses this policy 

and addresses it by ensuring that Open Education 

Resources for teacher training in literacy and 

inclusion are accessible to teachers worldwide. 

In February, following a meeting at UNESCO on 

‘Relations with Member States, Intergovernmental 

and Non-governmental Partners’, Dyslexia 

International was honoured to be granted 

‘consultative status’ in its partnership with UNESCO. 

From September through to December we took an 

active part in meetings to determine new criteria for 

these relations. 

Much of our energy throughout the year went into 

re-positioning ourselves as we followed up the 

conclusions of our forward planning activities, 

finalized in early 2012. We looked at how best to 

maximize the benefits of new emerging technological 

solutions that allowed us to meet our primary 

objective: to make enhanced teacher training 

widely available as a means of attaining free and fair 

education for all and equal opportunities for students 

with specific learning difficulties whose needs are 

still not being met. 

‘Policies that effectively address teacher training 

and retention should be at the core of national 

education policies. 

‘Children have a fundamental right to free 

primary schooling of good quality. Governments 

have pledged to uphold this right. I am deeply 

concerned that education is slipping down the 

international priority list. Education First stems 

from my resolve to answer the call of parents 

everywhere for the schooling their children 

deserve - from the earliest years to adulthood. We 

must place education at the heart of our social, 

political and development agendas. 

‘When we put education first, we can end wasted 

potential and look forward to stronger and better 

societies for all.’ 

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General 

of the United Nations 

The high point of 2012 was the launch of our new 

Beta site offering, for the first time, scientificallybased, 

high quality online teacher training materials 

on how to identify and address dyslexia free of 

charge. All visitors to www.dyslexia-international. 

org were able to access our Open Courseware and 

Open Educational Resources at an ’e-Campus’ 

for teachers and trainers, a ‘Meeting Place’ for 


Letter from 

the Chair 

education authorities and a ‘Country by Country 

Contacts Directory’ for guidance to local ministries, 

universities and associations in over 190 countries. 

Following the Congress we warmly welcomed 

experts in OER Neil Butcher and Professor Ken 

Harley who accepted to join our Open Educational 

Resources Advisory Panel, and Professor Diane 

Laurillard of London University, a member of the 

Management Committee of the UNESCO Institute 

for Information Technology in Education. Their 

guidance has been invaluable. 

Our plans are to ensure that our new OER site is 

regularly updated and replenished systematically 

by our consultants and research assistants with the 

support of our associate universities. To formalize 

this system we are working towards setting up a 

consortium of universities, one in each of the official 

languages of UNESCO – Arabic, Chinese, English, 

French, Russian and Spanish. This would become 

fully operational in 2014 by which time we will have 

submitted a formal application to the ‘UNESCO 

UNITWIN’ programme for a four-year research 

programme, chaired by a lead university in online 

teacher training, literacy and inclusion. The research, 

involvement at all levels and outcomes will be 

recorded on the e-Campus. 

32m 

‘Some 32 million U.S. adults lack basic prose 

literacy skills. That means they can’t read 

a newspaper or the instruction on a bottle 

of pills.’ – U.S. Education Department, 

January 2009 

20 % 

‘One fifth of school-leavers are so illiterate 

and innumerate that they struggle to cope 

with challenges of everyday life.’ – U.K. 

The Guardian, 7 May 2010 

The way forward 

We now greatly look forward to working with the 

Coursera team of Stanford University, USA, who 

have agreed to collaborate with us on a new version 

of the online course. The challenge is to make 

this available as part of Stanford’s Professional 

Development program for teachers in May 2013, 

either through our own team or with a Coursera 

partner university. 


Letter from 

the Chair 

Dyslexia International will continue to expand 

awareness of its activities through social media and 

to raise the requisite funds. 

Acknowledgements 

Our heartfelt thanks go to the Oak Foundation 

whose support enables us to respond to these new 

challenges. 

Our progress and achievements are due to the 

commitment and generosity of all our associates 

– our Board members and supporters, our skilled 

volunteers who give so generously of their time, 

our Scientific Advisory Panel and Consultancy 

team, our Regional Ambassadors in China, Ghana, 

Lebanon, Cameroon and other countries and those 

acting as Special Envoys training in situ in Africa and 

elsewhere, our excellent webmaster, our auditor our 

Teacher training consultant and the President of our 

Literacy for All fund-raising team. 

Dyslexia International does not sell 

or buy education. 

It is sustained principally by 

charitable grants, private 

sponsorship and then by a measure 

of state funding. 

It welcomes charitable giving by 

all those who desire equality in 

education and all children and adults 

given the right to read. 

Times of transition as we move office and streamline 

our activities are demanding. For reliability and 

efficiency Barry O’Halpin as Office Manager 

deserves special commendation. 

The presence and encouragement of Our Patron 

HRH Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein remain a 

constant source of encouragement and inspiration to 

us all. 

We look forward to building on the sure foundations 

we have laid this year by fully exploiting the 

new ways forward technology offers in both 

communications and teacher training. 

Judith Sanson 

Chair, Board of Directors 


Operational 

Review 

1. e-Campus 

2. Teacher training 

3. Webinar 

Highlights 

20,000 

e-Campus: 20,000 pages visited in 

March 2013 

3,000 

Teachers in 3,000 francophone Belgian schools 

are being trained. 

8 

Eight leading research scientists and 

psychologists join our Scientific 

Advisory Panel. 

Web traffic, top six, by bandwidth, 

March 2013 

Others (not specified) 

Belgium 

UK 

France 

South Africa 

Switzerland 


Operational 

Review 

1. e-Campus 


3. Webinar 

1. e-Campus 

In 2012 the web site was completely redesigned 

and restructured in both French and English, 

running under a content management system 

with clear menus and submenus to help viewers 

find the materials. 

A film library was created which includes excerpts 

featuring success stories from our CD-ROM Tintin 

helps dyslexia learners. Added to this part, thanks to 

generous funding provided by our founder member, 

André Poncelet, is a dubbed version in English of 

the film Dyslexia – How to weave a solid structure 

of support, which was first created in French to 

augment the online course in that language. 

There is a software section of free IT aids, critiqued 

by E.A. Draffan of Southampton University. A Test 

Centre has been added with addresses of web sites 

that provide free diagnostic tools. 

A Reading Room includes articles and papers by 

Professors Shaywitz and Stein, and Drs Ramus and 

Chasty. The latter is a greatly expanded and updated 

version of the paper Dr Chasty delivered at the World 

Dyslexia Forum in 2010. It was prepared for us by 

students in the department of typography at the 

University of Reading, UK. (This team is also working 

on the English version of Dr Milne’s book Teaching 

the brain to read.) 

Images above. Screenshots from the e-Campus 

Image below. Dr Milne’s book 

The ‘Laboratory’ explains how modern scientific 

methods of research are throwing ever greater 

light on the causes of developmental dyslexia, 

including the fields of psychology, neuroimaging, 

electroencephalography, genetics, molecular biology, 

neuroscience and anatomy. 


Operational 

Review 

1. e-Campus 


3. Webinar 

1. e-Campus continued 

‘Language Departments’ is in embryo as we work 

towards sites with materials and links principally 

to the other four of UNESCO’s working languages, 

namely Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish, but 

there also some materials already in German, Italian 

and Portuguese. Portuguese and Arabic translations 

have been made and await adaptation into the online 

format. Chinese, Russian and Spanish adaptations 

are under discussion. 

Monitoring the web site 

Google Analytics and Advanced Web Stats are 

compiled and examined every month. They show 

heavy use in the UK, USA, France, Belgium and 

Switzerland, with Brazil and South Africa, Germany, 

Italy and Spain also prominent. These data correlate 

well with other sources of information such as 

reports and letters from ministries, which are 

recorded and updated on our web site. 

Favourite downloads are Dr Milne’s book in 

French Apprendre au cerveau à lire and Harvard 

Professor Jenny Thomson’s survey of best practice 

in Anglophone countries presented at the World 

Dyslexia Forum. Also downloaded are tests and 

word lists from the online course. 

Image above. Far right: Dr Franck Ramus, senior 

research scientist at the Laboratoire de Sciences 

Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département 

d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 

Paris, France; member of Dyslexia International’s 

Scientific Advisory Panel. Middle: Mr Ronald 

Thorpe, President of the National Board for 

Professional Teaching Standards, USA 

Image below. From left to right: Toon Cox, 

journalist; Barry O’Halpin, Office Manager; Judith 

Sanson, Chair of the Board of Directors; Buthaina 

Yassim Dlain, special education adviser, Bahrein; 

Dr Vincent Goetry; Fialta Salembier, stagiaire, 

Free University of Brussels; Victoria Eulaerts, 

President, DI Literacy for All Campaign 


Operational 

Review 

1. e-Campus 


3. Webinar 


When Dr Vincent Goetry, Director of our online 

course Basics for teachers: Dyslexia – How to 

identify it and What to do first presented the 

English and French versions at UNESCO in 2010, 

access was given only where three partners were 

involved: a local education authority, a university 

researcher and a local association. This policy 

was put in place initially to ensure sustainability, 

accountability and ministerial commitment. But 

once the course was released as Open Courseware 

this year all restrictions were removed. Web metrics 

show it is being used in numerous countries and 

ministries looking to raise literacy levels continue to 

look to see it implemented in their teacher training 

pre- and in-service teacher training programmes, 

most recently in the Swiss Cantons. 

‘I learned more on this course about teaching 

reading than I did in three years of teacher 

training at college’ – Teacher 

‘I must congratulate you on your phenomenal 

achievement in bringing together scholarship, 

evidence, exercises, illustrations and audio visual 

material. I am delighted to take part in this new 

departure.’ – Professor 

Mr Delsarte of Minister Madame Simonet’s Cabinet 

in francophone Belgium was the first to ensure 

that teachers across the entire system, in this case 

throughout 3000 schools were organized to receive 

training in the online course. The interim report is 

available on our web site. Switzerland, Barbados 

and other countries followed suite. It is rewarding 

for all concerned, our consultants and sponsors, 

that wherever the course is put to use, feedback is 

consistently positive and enthusiastic. 

Less progressive education authorities who do not 

follow cost-efficient, online models of training for 

all their teachers to raise their education standards 

‘need to be challenged’ said a speaker at the World 

Open Educational Resources (0ER) Congress at 

UNESCO in June 2012. 


Operational 

Review 

1. e-Campus 


3. Webinar 

3. Webinar 

In March we organized a webinar Illiteracy in the 

prison population. 

Please visit our web site under ‘e-Campus – Lecture 

Hall’ for a summary, complete recording and the 

presenters’ slides: 

www.dyslexia-international.org/presentation 

Slides from the webinar 


People 

Patron 

Her Royal Highness 

Princess Margaretha of 

Liechtenstein 

Board members 

Executive members 

Honorary Members 

Judith Sanson Chair of the 

Board of Directors 

Educationalist qualified 

in teaching students with 

dyslexia 

Petra Zollner Secretary of 

the Board Regulatory affairs 

manager 

Larry Moffett Business 

consultant, D.I. regional 

ambassador, Europe 

Hugh Terlinden Treasurer 

Financial adviser 

Minos Van Joolingen 

Lawyer 

DI mourns the recent loss 

of a rare, dear and valued 

colleague, Catie Thorburn 

14/18 Dyslexia International Annual Report 2012 

Ronald Baker founder member 

and consultant 

Gabriel Bara computer scientist, 

linguist 

Sarah Castle parent 

representative 

Dr Pauline Cogan expert, 

researcher and developer of 

screening test 

Shirley Cramer consultant 

Anthony Crasner consultant on 

development 

Diane and Dominique de Mas 

Latrie parent representatives 

Barbara Del Arbol parent 

representative 

Victoria Eulaerts President, 

Dyslexia International Literacy for 

All Global Campaign 

Cecilia Gonzalez Regional 

Ambassador, Peru and Spanishspeaking 

countries 

Karen Hiddink business 

consultant 

Jacqueline Johnston 

development executive, UK 

media projects 

Carol MacCarthy founder 

member DYSPEL, Luxembourg 

Jipson Mathew business 

consultant 

Dr Duncan Milne consultant, 

author, researcher, Director of 

Literacy Tools 

Adelaide Mkhonza education 

consultant, Regional ambassador, 

Swaziland 

Gunilla Löfgren Nisser 

consultant, researcher and 

teacher 

Dr Daniel Ofori educationalist, 

Regional ambassador, Ghana 

André Poncelet founder member 

(D.I.T.T., 2000) 

Donald Schloss Chief Executive, 

Adult Dyslexia Organisation, UK 

Elizabeth Scott Founder 

member APPAAL, Association 

for Autism, Luxemburg, Learning 

Support, European School 

Luxemburg 1 

Dr Ian Smythe expert, 

researcher, World Dyslexia 

Network Foundation

People 

Other key individuals 

For the Dyslexia 

Consultancy team and 

Regional ambassadors 

please visit the ‘About’ page 

www.dyslexia-international. 

org. For the OER Advisory 

Panel and partner 

universities please look at 

‘Academia’. 

Dyslexia International 

Consultancy Programme 

Members of the Scientific 

Advisory Panel who 

have already offered to 

be Special Envoys for 

Dyslexia International 

include Professors Siegel, 

Fawcett and Doctors Chasty 

and Goetry. They share 

expertise at local level in 

latest research findings, 

effective teaching practice 

and the use and possible 

adaptation of the Open 

Educational Resources and 

Open Courseware we offer. 

Thanks to UNESCO’s 

Participation Programme, 

Dyslexia International is 

working with the National 

Commissions in Burkina 

Faso and Ghana to share 

expertise and to deliver 

training and suitable 

training materials. In Ghana 

participants from 39 Teacher 

training colleges are to be 

involved. 


Accounts 

Dyslexia International asbl 

Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2012 

2012 2011 

€ € 

Assets 

Cash at bank 7.864,19 30.180,71 

Debtors and prepayments 788,00 1.752,86 

Office Equipment (note 2) - - 

8.652,19 31.933,57 

Liabilities 

Creditors 1.920,31 24.340,13 

Restricted Fund 8.160,00 - 

General Fund 

Year Opening 7.593,44 39.680,80 

Increase/ (9.021,56) (32.087,36) 

Year Closing (1.428,12) 7.593,44 

8.652,19 31.933,57 

Notes: 

1.Transactions in currencies other than euros are recorded at standard rates of exchange. Exchange 

differences have been written off at year’s end. 

2.Office equipment costing €5.166,93 has been fully depreciated, prior to 2011. 


Accounts 

Dyslexia International asbl 

Income and Expenses for the year ending 31st December 2012 

2012 2011 

€ € 

Income 

Donations and Sponsorship 93.267,82 89.943,25 

Reimbursement of Expenses - 1.991,19 

Interest 226,46 448,06 

93.494,28 92.382,50 

Expenses 

Projects 

e-Campus 19.732,69 15.434,29 

Senegal Schools - 3.100,00 

Teacher Training 6.250,00 6.250,00 

Online Learning - 1.179,75 

UNESCO Forum - 3.333,33 

Office 

Rent including charges and taxes 6.054,48 7.657,29 

Telephone/Internet 945,43 2.923,66 

Postage - 414,97 

Supplies/Photocopies etc 1.703,97 2.947,93 

Insurance 246,60 189,13 

Office Manager’s Fees 13.403,78 4.573,80 

Fundraising 796,34 - 

Payroll and Related costs 43.178,88 72.123,31 

Consultancy 8.100,00 - 

Travel and Entertaining 1.488,90 2.058,61 

Meetings and Conferences - 250,00 

Miscellaneous 16,79 217,98 

Bank Charges and Exchange Differences 597,98 1.815,81 

102.515,84 124.469,86 

Increase/(Decrease) in funds (9.021,56) (32.087,36) 


Auditor’s 

Report 

I have audited the accompanying balance sheet 

of Dyslexia International ASBL as at December 

31, 2012 and the related statement of income and 

expenses for the year then ended. These statements 

are the responsibility of the management of Dyslexia 

International ASBL. My responsibility is to express an 

opinion on these statements based on my audit. 

I conducted my audit in accordance with generally 

accepted standards on Auditing. Those standards 

require that I plan and perform the audit to obtain 

reasonable assurance about whether the financial 

statements are free of material misstatement. 

An audit includes examining, on a test basis, 

evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures 

in the financial statements. An audit also includes 

assessing the accounting principles used and 

significant estimates made by management, as 

well as evaluating the overall financial statement 

presentation. I believe that my audit provides a 

reasonable basis for my opinion. 

In my opinion, the accompanying financial 

statements present fairly, in all material respects, the 

financial position of Dyslexia International ASBL as 

at December 31, 2012 and its income and expenses 

for the year then ended. 

Ralph G. Palim 

Chartered Accountant 

Brussels, March 19, 2013

ANNUAL REPORT 2012 - Dyslexia International

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