Off and running

A young athlete’s processing difficulty led to dyslexia awareness for his whole club

Declan has been in the Law and District Amateur Athletic Club for a year and a half and has thrived since. But as part of his dyslexia, Declan struggles to process the sound of the start gun.

This sparked a big learning curve for the coaches as they didn’t know a lot about dyslexia to begin with. They asked what they could do to support him.
After conversations with coaches and the club secretary and contacting Scottish Athletics for support, they had a plan.

Now, when Declan does a track race, he can have an adjustment to the race start signal. This uses his other senses with either a tap on the shoulder or a visual aid like a white flag at the same time as the start gun. These give him an equal chance at the race and support him in being the best athlete he can be.

This has helped to raise awareness throughout the club for other athletes who have trouble processing sounds or instructions. A lot people think that dyslexia is only about reading and writing but as Declan knows, there is more to it.