PRESENTER: Hello, and welcome to "Have Your Say". Today on the programme we have Thomas Scheidler, co-founder and director of the Greenwood School, a boarding school for bright boys with dyslexia and related learning disorders, and Helen Morgan, head of Townley comprehensive school. Thomas, if I may start with you – when and why was the Greenwood School founded? THOMAS: Well, it all began in 1978, when my wife Andrea and I noticed in the course of teaching that children who were poor readers, and generally behind in language skills, were proficient when it came to creative thinking. There was a big discrepancy between their ability to perform in artislic areas and their (liability to perform in language areas, so the school was founded with a view to expanding their creativity. PRESENTER: Helen? HELEN: I have nothing but respect for Thomas and for the Greenwood School, which does sterling work in fostering creativity among dyslexic children ... but I do feel that there are now the resources to integrate pupils with dyslexia – or those who are reading- or learning-disabled, as psychologists and special education teachers call them – into the mainstream educational stream, even if there weren't back in 1978. THOMAS: True ... but our focus is, as you know, on creativity and the boosting of self-confidence among our pupils. HELEN: But that means segregating them from the majority of children, who have normal reading skills, which is surely harmful for dyslexics in the long run. What about when they leave school and go out into society and find out that they are different? THOMAS: Well, the aim is to minimise those differences – to close the gap, if you like, between dyslexic children and other children – so that the former do not feel disadvantaged and can perform and function successfully in all areas of life – and that includes literacy skills. HELEN: But nowadays even schools in the poorest inner city areas have special needs teachers and a range of facilities for dyslexic pupils. THOMAS: On a one-to-one tutor-student basis, as we do? HELEN: Well, not all of them, admittedly – although at Townley comprehensive we are fortunate enough to have a one-to-one ratio for dyslexic pupils. THOMAS: And do you have time to encourage the pupils to be artistically creative? HELEN: Hmm ... we try, but that is not so easy, given the time limitations on our timetable, as well as space considerations. THOMAS: We have none of these problems at Greenwood. Our timetable is more flexible than that of a conventional school, and our arts and crafts department is purpose-built. HELEN: I can't fault you on any of that. I might, however, accuse you of discrimination. THOMAS: Discrimination? In what way? HELEN: In that the school accepts only boys. THOMAS: That may appear to be discriminatory, but there was – and still is – a good reason for it. I'm sure you are aware of the fact that dyslexia affects boys proportionately more than girls. In fact, there are three times more boys than girls who have dyslexia. So you see that we decided to concentrate our efforts on those who need help most. There was never any intention of promoting gender bias. There are, after all, a number of mainstream schools that are single sex, mainly because of parent preference. HELEN: Nevertheless, I wonder whether a school which segregates both by sex and according to disability is not discriminatory. THOMAS: Our pupils and their parents would know that that was nonsense.